Through two main figures – John Greenwell and his drag queen persona Rachel Wells, and troubled gay activist Bill Smith – along with host of supporting characters, he weaves together a full narrative about the 1970s queer urban experience in the South. Padgett chronicles a decade of Atlanta’s gay community evolution (and revolution), anchoring the story in Cheshire Bridge Road’s once-famous performance venue, the Sweet Gum Head.
In the preface to A Night at the Sweet Gum Head: Drags, Drugs, Disco, and Atlanta’s Gay Revolution, author Martin Padgett writes, “Relatively few stories of the queer revolution have been recorded … History is a bridge made of sand.”
