Wednesday, April 3, 2019

A spirited sendoff for Hattie Hathaway



On Monday night, friends of Hattie Hathaway, aka Brian Butterick, gathered in Tompkins Square Park for a festive sendoff for the gay cultural icon who died on Jan. 30 from lung cancer at age 62.

From the Park, the group — stretching nearly a block long — marched through the East Village to La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theater on Fourth Street for a "night of memories, performance, dancing and celebration."

Organizer Chi Chi Valenti, who worked in collaboration with Howl! Happening, Jackie Factory and DJ Johnny Dynell, explained how the evening came together:

"When [Howl! Director] Jane Friedman approached us about helping to stage a big public funeral for this figurative and literal giant, we knew in Hattie's spirit it had to include the East Village community. We organizers were inspired by the Drag March every year from Tompkins Square during Pride weekend, and decided to add such a procession. We did part of the planning from our second home in New Orleans, so naturally the Second Line tradition was also an inspiration as were the LUNGS community garden parades in the East Village that Hattie so loved."

EVG contributor Stacie Joy tagged along with the group, and shared these photos starting in Tompkins Square Park...









Accompanied by a brass band, the group headed out of the Park and onto Avenue A...





The group stopped outside the Pyramid Club on Avenue A, where Hathaway served as creative director...









... and then to LaMama on Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery...









At LaMama, the full house enjoyed a three-part program with a variety of poems, tributes as well as spoken word and musical performances.



As one participant said, "It was a sendoff fit for a queen."

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