THE COCKETTES – DVD

Founded on New Year’s Eve, 1969 by George Harris, aka ‘Hibiscus’, the Cockettes were a troupe of flamboyant hippy drag performers who took San Francisco by storm. Over the next two and a half years they created 20 outrageous and colourful shows (with titles like ‘A Crab on Uranus Means You’re Loved’) and several films, culminating in an off-Broadway show that highlighted the cultural chasm at that time between America’s East and West coasts. In this documentary tribute, ex-Cockettes and friends tell the story of those LSD-fuelled, gender-bending party days, interspersed with footage of the Cockettes in action and a commentary on the cultural impact the pioneering performers had at the time and in the years that followed, including the subsequent emergence of glam rock and the influence on artists such as David Bowie.