Richard Bluestein
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Richard Bluestein (born March 30, 1967 in Evanston, Illinois) is a queer entertainer and underground Internet performance artist based in Chicago, Illinois. His most notorious persona is that of the "bloated, Jewish lesbian" Madge Weinstein of the groundbreaking indie podcast Yeast Radio, which he writes and produces.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Bluestein was born in Evanston, Illinois to a renowned thermodynamics professor and his wife. In the fourth grade, he moved with his family to Carmel, Indiana. An introspective child with few friends, he was ridiculed by his peers for "his eastern accent, religion and lack of interest in athletics" [1]. Upon graduating, Bluestein got a degree in accounting from Indiana University and moved to Chicago in 1992 after getting fired from his first postcollegiate job at an Evansville firm. There, he began working in the health-care industry and began dallying heavily with narcotics, which culminated in a brief stint living in Amsterdam in the late 90's. Here, Bluestein produced an early incarnation of Yeast Radio without the Madge persona, albeit briefly. These early recordings were unearthed on February 5 2007 and uploaded onto Bluestein's current site [2]. After "crashing and burning" from a bad trip [3], Bluestein quit drugs and returned to Chicago in 1998. In 2000, he bought a video camera and some editing software and began posting experimental clips and personal video blogs, as well as features by underground filmmakers and miscellaneous visual content on his website Insane Films which remains one of the earliest videoblogs ever created [4]. Later, with little qualifications to speak of, Bluestein answered an advertisement in Chicago Reader seeking a director of photography for independent filmmaker Kristi Alshaibi's Other People's Mirrors, an indie art film which explored adult taboos and help refine Bluestein's artistic talent [5].
Eventually, Bluestein developed the popular alter-ego of Madge Weinstein to be featured in a Spinal Tap-esque mockumentary about feminist riot grrls and their lesbian Jewish manager. However, the short film remained unfinished and unreleased until February 2006 when Bluestein finally uploaded some footage to Yeast Radio under the title - "The Origin Of Madge" [6]. Soon after, Bluestein began performing this character in drag with the Feast of Fools cabaret act and in art galleries and underground theatres. In November 2004, Bluestein discovered the growing podcasting community. Seeing it as a perfect medium for expression and still reeling from the re-election of George Bush, he launched Yeast Radio from his Chicago living room [7]. A month later, he sent a demo to former MTV VJ and self-professed "podfather" Adam Curry which sparked Bluestein's professional career in the podcasting medium [8]. Although Bluestein's transgressive form of comedy has drawn criticism and controversy from the conservative podcasting community [9], his show is generally considered one of the most original and groundbreaking and one that "showcases the freedom of speech that (the podcasting movement) can bring" [10].
On September 27, 2006, after a tumultuous year that included the tragic loss of his partner Juan Montealegre and dog Chauncey, Bluestein announced on Yeast Radio that he will be retiring the Madge character due to creative concerns. He took over hosting duties himself until he returned to the character of Madge on November 7, 2006 [11] after rediscovering his frustration and anger against the commercialism of mainstream radio (and as a 'reward' to the listeners for the Democratic victory in the November elections).
[edit] Characters
His other characters include:
- Partial Birtha, an African-American overgrown fetus who was partially aborted.
- Mrs. Bottingheimer, a mentally unstable concentration camp survivor that is missing a finger.
- Penny Pin Chang, a psychotic Chinese girl who steals organs and sells them to rich Americans.
- Richard Ravenpanties, a villainous, greedy, vain, and murderous circus party promoter.
