The Chicago book launch party for Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria was held Wednesday, Dec. 7, at one of Flint's clubs, 3160, at 3160 N. Clark St. Flint was joined by authors Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen.
Jim Flint, founder and owner of the world-famous Baton Show Lounge in Chicagowhere the finest of female impersonators have been strutting their stuff onstage for more than 40 yearsis profiled in The Boy From Peoria, which chronicles the life of this pioneer of the modern LGBT community.
The book is available from Women & Children First, Unabridged books, the Baton Show Lounge and Amazon.com . The black-and-white version is $29.95 and the deluxe color edition is $89.
After a childhood of poverty and a stint in the Navy, Flint embodied his be-who-you-are philosophy at a time when conformity was king and to be openly gay was a risky business. Running a gay bar in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s meant placating corrupt cops and dealing with shadowy local Mafiosi, as Flint himself testified in a Mob trial in the early 1980s.
During his flamboyant career, Flint also owned a down-and-dirty leather bar, headed a gay motorcycle club, threw lavish Halloween costume reviews, became a founder of the gay sports movement, created the now-nationwide Continental Pageant System, and ran for the Cook County Board of Commissioners as one of Chicago's first openly gay candidates.
Known to many by his drag name Felicia, Flint has attracted colorful people from all walks of life. In Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, you'll meet dozens of the unforgettable characters who populate Flint's world: barkeepers, sports people, politicians, activists, and entertainers, such as Baton stars Chilli Pepper and Mimi Marks, transgender entertainment legends Alexandra Billings and Candis Cayne, and the Continental pageant familya glittering array of the beads-boas-and-sequins crowd who inhabit the spotlights, the dressing rooms, and the glamorous, competitive world of female impersonation.
Their funny, sometimes tragic tales of triumph over adversity will inspire you, amid dangers of addiction, domestic violence, serial killers, murder and, of course, the AIDS epidemic. At the center of their stories is the enigmatic Flint himselfa warm-hearted, generous, quick-tempered visionary of LGBT Chicago.
Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, which also revisits the burgeoning and powerful Chicago gay movement of the 1960s through the 1980s, was edited by William B. Kelley and Jorjet Harper, with design by Kirk Williamson.
Contact: Tracy Baim, editor@windycitymediagroup.com
Owen Keehnen, owenkeehnen@yahoo.com
Photos by Hal Baim