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Film, Video Follow The Music Interview: Geno Dunnington

Video interview with Geno Dunnington conducted by Leslie Liao

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[ Transcript of Geno Dunnington interview. Transcript has been edited by AFC staff to remove sensitive information. ]

About this Item

Title

  • Follow The Music Interview: Geno Dunnington

Names

  • Liao, Leslie (Interviewer)
  • Liao, Leslie (Recordist)
  • Dunnington, Geno (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Silver Spring, Maryland, May 15, 2023

Headings

  • -  Underground music
  • -  Gay culture
  • -  African American dancers--United States--Interviews
  • -  House music--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  AIDS activists
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Ethnography
  • -  Moving Image
  • -  United States -- Washington (D.C.)

Genre

  • Interviews
  • Ethnography
  • Moving Image

Notes

  • -  Summary: Geno Dunnington, a native Washingtonian, talks about growing up in DC in a home with a father in the military and strict gender roles. He found his way in dance in clubs like The Clubhouse, The Mill, The Delta, and Tracks. He talks about Marion Barry's intentional city planning, as well as traveling the East Coast to chase House Music at Membership Only Clubs: Bums in Baltimore, Catacombs in Philadelphia, and Studio 54 in New York City from the 70's to 90's, and House DJs like Tantra, Housecat, Thommy Davis, and Sam Burns. He highlights how the HIV crisis (previously known as GRID) affected club membership, and how Club organizers created activist organizations, like Us Helping Us to serve Black gay communities. He talks about navigating life with HIV and drugs, and becoming a community activist and HIV advocate with organizations like Max Robinson Center, Whitman-Walker, ACT UP, DC Fights Back, and Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV Planning Council.
  • -  Keywords: Native Washingtonian, Soul Train, Hustle, gender bias, membership only clubs, Gay-Related Immune Deficiency, GRID, HIV, AIDS, Us Helping Us, Black gay men, mental health, Afro house, Latin house, classic house, support groups, transmen, mental health, intergenerational, gentrification
  • -  Venue: Recorded at Urban Artistry Dance Academy, Silver Spring, Maryland, May 15, 2023.

Medium

  • 1 moving image file (MP4): digital. 1 manuscript file (PDF): digital.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Series: Washington, DC

Source Collection

  • Follow the Music: Exploring Multi-Linear Legacies of House Culture: Community Collections Grant Project, 2022-2023 (AFC 2022/012)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • video
  • pdf
  • image

Rights & Access

The American Folklife Center and community fieldworkers who carried out these Mellon-Foundation-funded Community Collection Grant projects (2022-2024) feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. Researchers are asked to approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

With the consent of the community fieldworkers and people documented in these collections, the Center is providing online access to these materials strictly for educational and research purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other holders of rights (such as publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of the items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. The Center cannot grant permission to use items in its collections, because it generally does not own the copyright to materials in the collections. Whenever possible, however, staff will provide the most accurate information available regarding copyright holders, based on what is known about the materials in our collections.

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Credit line

Follow the Music: Exploring Multi-Linear Legacies of House Culture, Community Collections Grant Project, 2023 (AFC 2022/012), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Liao, Leslie, Leslie Liao, and Geno Dunnington. Follow The Music Interview: Geno Dunnington. Silver Spring, Maryland, 2023. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2022012_073/.

APA citation style:

Liao, L., Liao, L. & Dunnington, G. (2023) Follow The Music Interview: Geno Dunnington. Silver Spring, Maryland. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2022012_073/.

MLA citation style:

Liao, Leslie, Leslie Liao, and Geno Dunnington. Follow The Music Interview: Geno Dunnington. Silver Spring, Maryland, 2023. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2022012_073/>.