The Atlanta public access show that helped launch RuPaul
By Thomas Wheatley
Published on March 24, 2026.
A free screening of "The American Music Show," a public-access staple that helped shape Atlanta's LGBTQ+ culture, will take place on Sunday. The show ran from 1981 to 2005 and was the first to put RuPaul on TV. The filmmaker and writer Matt Terrell explored the show's archive at Emory University's Rose Library to create a "supercut" documentary. The screening is sponsored by Atlanta's Office of Cultural Affairs and will be held at Tara Atlanta. Each episode was produced on roughly $5, or the cost of a VHS tape.
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