Sundays at Café Tabac - The Podcast

Wanda Acosta

"Sundays at Café Tabac" is both a documentary film and a podcast that explores the legendary lesbian nightlife scene at the New York City club, Café Tabac, from 1993 to 1995. The podcast, co-hosted by LGBTQ+ nightlife icon Wanda Acosta and Karen Song, features personal coming-out stories and reflections from the community that frequented the club. It highlights the club's significance as a space of refuge, self-expression, and cultural impact during a time of social change and the AIDS crisis.

  1. Episode 23: Multidisciplinary Creative, Sara Elise

    07/10/2024

    Episode 23: Multidisciplinary Creative, Sara Elise

    SARA ELISE is a multidisciplinary creative, splitting her time between Brooklyn and The Catskills, New York. She works primarily in the hospitality, well-being, and food industries and is the co-founder and designer of Apogeo Guest House, a boutique hotel concept space in Nicaragua that centers QTPOC, as well as the founder of Harvest & Revel, a NY-based sustainable event catering + design company. She is the author of A Recipe for More, her debut book released with Harper Collins in May 2023. Sara Elise has been featured in Dazed, Autostraddle, Playboy, Interview Mag, Essence, Afropunk, mindbodygreen, Bon Appetit and Healthy-ish, Well + Good, Nylon, StyleLikeU, and them, among other publications. And was named one of BK Magazine's 50 Most Fascinating People in 2022. She has been invited to speak and host workshops at places like Brown University and Squarespace and has modeled for brands like Sephora, Mercedes Benz, Bombas, Instagram, MCM, AG Jeans, Madewell and more. As an autistic Black & Indigenous femme, she spends much of her thoughtspace contemplating pleasure + pain, collective joy + healing, otherness, embodiment, remembering + reclaiming, self-destruction, and growth— and how inextricably those concepts are linked. To that end, Sara Elise has deep interests in ritualization, BDSM, relationship dynamics, and the development of decolonized personal awareness and well-being. With all of her work, she aims to challenge our collective reality by first re­imagining and then creating alternative sys­tems and spaces for Black & Indigenous people of color and LGBTQIA2S+ people to thrive. You can join her community-making on Instagram, and find more of her writing at Send a text Support the show Recorded at The Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. Special thanks to Joseph Hazan & Karen Song. Produced by Wanda Acosta • Find us: @cafetabacfilm on Instagram & Facebook • Email us: info@cafetabacfilm.com • Website: cafetabacfilm.com/podcast • LEAVE A REVIEW

    1h 8m
  2. Episode 20: Drag King Legend, Comedian - Murray Hill

    10/06/2023

    Episode 20: Drag King Legend, Comedian - Murray Hill

    MURRAY HILL is a NYC legend, comedian, TV host, MC,  an international entertainer,  a relentless shtick slinger, larger-than-life personality, and freewheeling ad-libber. He plays Fred Rococo in Bridget Everett’s Somebody Somewhere (HBO). The show was awarded many “Best of 2022 & 2023” Awards, including “Best New TV Series” from AFI and was just renewed for a third season. He hosts the new competition show Drag Me To Dinner (Hulu). He can be seen on Amy Schumer’s Life & Beth and Welcome to Flatch (FOX) and upcoming in Paul Feig’s movie Grand Death Lotto (Amazon Studios) starring John Cena and Awkwafina. Murray was just a special guest correspondent for ABC News and Hulu’s live historic “Pride Across America” which featured Pride marches in SF, NYC, and Chicago. NBC News selected him as one of the 30 most iconic and influential drag performers in modern history and was selected as one of Logo30 for being a change maker in entertainment. Murray was awarded the New York Voices commission from Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, where he debuted About to Break. His infamous holiday show A Murray Little Christmas has been a perennial sold-out destination for a decade at Joe’s Pub in NYC. He performed his solo comedy show at Just for Laughs, New York Comedy Festival, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For 10 years, Murray hosted Dita Von Teese’s international tour Strip Strip Hooray. He starred for two seasons at the Sydney Opera House in Club Swizzle, which toured major festivals throughout Australia. He’s in music videos for Peaches, Countess Luann, TV on the Radio, The Regrettes, LeTigre, Joan as Police Woman, Bridget Everett, and Gossip. The New York Times anointed Murray “Downtown’s New ‘It’ Boy.” He’s been included in “Best of New York” lists in the Village Voice, Time Out, PAPER, and New York Magazine; inducted into PAPER’s Nightlife Hall of Fame; selected as OUT’s Top 100 influential performers twice; included in New York Magazine’s “Fifty Most Iconic Gender Benders of All Time” and PAPER’s “Top Ten ‘It’ Boys in NYC Nightlife History”; and named one of the Top 12 gender-bending performers in NYC by Time Out. He was recently awarded the Trailblazer Award by Queerty. His campaign for Mayor of New York in 1996 was inducted in the New York Historical Society. Photo: Patrick James Miller Send a text Support the show Recorded at The Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. Special thanks to Joseph Hazan & Karen Song. Produced by Wanda Acosta • Find us: @cafetabacfilm on Instagram & Facebook • Email us: info@cafetabacfilm.com • Website: cafetabacfilm.com/podcast • LEAVE A REVIEW

    45 min
  3. Episode 19: Costume Designer, Stylist, Patricia Field

    02/28/2023

    Episode 19: Costume Designer, Stylist, Patricia Field

    PATRICIA FIELD,  is a native New Yorker and one of fashion's greatest visionaries whose multi-faceted career has spanned more than five decades.  Her distinctive approach to dressing is evident through her work as a costume designer. Field single handedly changed the way women dress through the HBO series Sex and the City  and it's feature films. For her work on SATC Field won an Emmy Award and received five nominations for Best Costume Design.  Field also received an Academy Award nomination for the film, The Devil Wears Prada  as well as continued recognition for her work on television series such as Ugly Betty, Hope & Faith, and most recently for the hit Netflix series, Emily in Paris. Field is also a seasoned retailer, establishing her eponymous boutique in New York City in 1966, which remained a fashion landmark for 50 years. In 2016 Field sold her iconic retail property and launched a new concept, ARTFASHION.  Born out of her long personal ties to New York art community legends like Keith Haring and Basquiat, ARTFASHION now sees Field as curator, working with an impressive group of today’s talented visual artists who, under Field’s guidance, have applied their unique aesthetics to hand painted one-of-a-kind clothing. In February 2023, Patricia published her memoir, Pat in the City: My Life of Fashion, Style, and Breaking All the Rules, where she chronicles everything from love, passion, culture, and the phenomenon that occurs when all three intersect with art. Pat Field on instagram Send a text Support the show Recorded at The Newsstand Studio at 1 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC. Special thanks to Joseph Hazan & Karen Song. Produced by Wanda Acosta • Find us: @cafetabacfilm on Instagram & Facebook • Email us: info@cafetabacfilm.com • Website: cafetabacfilm.com/podcast • LEAVE A REVIEW

    46 min
5
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

"Sundays at Café Tabac" is both a documentary film and a podcast that explores the legendary lesbian nightlife scene at the New York City club, Café Tabac, from 1993 to 1995. The podcast, co-hosted by LGBTQ+ nightlife icon Wanda Acosta and Karen Song, features personal coming-out stories and reflections from the community that frequented the club. It highlights the club's significance as a space of refuge, self-expression, and cultural impact during a time of social change and the AIDS crisis.