When LA, icon, Sean Delear unexpectedly died of cancer in 2017 his friend Cesar Padilla discovered something remarkable: his teenage diary. Before, Delear became the front man of the seminal power-pop punk band Glue, and an influential member of the Silver Lake Punk and nightlife scenes (from the 80’s to the 00’s) he lived as Tony Robertson. On January 1,1979, the Black queer fourteen-year-old committed to writing in his new diary every single day of the coming year and just about did. Robertson lived in Simi Valley,  In that period his parents were the first black family to move to the suburb that was home to so many LAPD officers that the locals called it “Copland.”  On top of that his family were Evangelical Christians. It is under these harsh circumstance that the first queer black boy to live in that community moved beyond just survival, and  taught himself how to thrive.  In his diary, Delear chronicled his days spent listening to Donna Summer, longing for cock, cruising, dreaming of being a street hustler, scheming to be a Hollywood star, and shoplifting porn. This rare document was published by Semiotext(e) last June, co-edited, by Michael Bullock and Cesar Padilla who immediately knew the hilarious, extraordinary text was of value to a broader audience. Bullock explains “ this is the first gay coming of age story where the subject isn’t working on overcoming shame and self-loathing to try learn how to accept themselves. Right from the start DeLear always saw his sexuality as a great gift to be enjoyed… ‘to the max!”  Padilla offers, “We are happy to share our friends exuberant personality, transgressive spirit and extraordinary sense of freedom with a wider audience.’”

On Aug 29th, at 7pm Shayne Oliver and Michael Bullock present a reading of

I Could Not Believe It, The 1979 Teenage Diaries of Sean Delear. 

With readings by:

Michael Bullock

Juliana Huxtable

Slava Mogutin

Shayne Oliver

Gigi Spelsberg

And short films by Stuart Swezey and Markus Zizenbacher