The Unsinkable Bambi Lake
A Fairy Tale Containing the Dish on Cockettes, Punks, and Angels
​by Bambi Lake & Alvin Orloff

“Bambi Lake was the first trans person I ever met on a regular basis. I have known her for more than 30 years. She would go on before Black Flag and lip-synch to Marlene Dietrich tapes. She got the respect because she was more punk than anyone in the building.”    — Henry Rollins, L.A. Weekly

“Bambi’s life has been a protest march in high heels.” — Exene Cervenka, lead singer, X
 
Trans chanteuse Bambi Lake grew up as Johnny Purcell in the quietly conformist Redwood City of the 1950s. Arriving in San Francisco in 1970, Bambi quickly joined the city's burgeoning "genderfuck" drag scene, working with the Cockettes and Angels of Light. Subsequent adventures include living in a hippie commune, working as a streetwalker, a stint as a  cabaret singer in decadent Berlin, and a final return to San Francisco where she established herself as a punk/drag/cabaret performance phenomenon. 

Following the publication of the book in 1996, Bambi went through a down-and-out period due to untreated bipolar disorder, becoming socially isolated, homeless, and drug addled. After ten years and against all odds Bambi got herself clean, together and returned to performing. Today she is best remembered as the writer of The Golden Age of Hustlers, a song brilliantly and beautifully performed by Vivian Bond and made into a video by Silas Howard.
R.I.P. Miss Bambi Lake
There's a lovely column in the
​S.F. Examiner by Denise Sullivan
about our association: 
 Remembering Counterculture Legend Bambi Lake