Ru? Chantay You Stay!

I am, without a doubt...an unapologetic, unabashed, rabid, excited fan of Rupaul's Drag Race.   My cable package doesn't carry LOGO, so every tuesday for the last three years I've been parked in front of my computer screen watching the fiercest diva of them all teach some amazing gurrrls how to 'wurk et'!  

The prizes have gotten better, the digs the girls work in have become nicer....but I have to say the jury is still out for me on this season.    My two faves so far are Sharon Needles and Jiggly something.   I'll learn the other girls names as the herd gets thinned out.  

Of course Rupaul's Drag Race joins the legion of competition shows who've taken the Project Runway format and repackaged it.   RDR though has something special in it's head Diva.  It also has catchprhases galore, wit, camp and hefty girls doing full bomb splits.  

I remember watching Ru's biography on A&E (yes for real gurrrl) and what a life our Drag Superstar has had.   She must be the hardest working man in Drag Showbiz and I love her for it.

If you've never seen Rupaul's Drag Race, I definitely recommend it!   You can watch it on LOGO and on logotv.com.

Ru?  Chantay, you stay!

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The Muppets Don't Like FOX "News"

Bert and Ernie might be "just friends and roomies" but far outside the sanitized realm of kids TV awaits the dynamic duo of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy! Neither of whom are shy about sharing their disdain for FOX --make that FAUX News!

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Our Featured Artist of the Week!

He's one of Miami's most celebrated Artists, and he's out and proud:  Hernan Bas.

Hernan Bas was born in 1978 in Miami. A graduate of The New World School of the Arts in Miami, his work has been seen in many solo and group shows and is held in private and public collections throughout the US including the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

With a style all his own, Hernan Bas' works seem to hold an 18th century style combined with 19th century dandyism and Goth.    He counts 'The Hardy Boys', boy scout manuals, youth culture and fashion layouts as inspiration.

Bas has said he wishes his painting to speak directly to his audience.  Especially his early work which is influenced by his own experiences of being gay.   During an interview with Edition Copenhagan, Bas said, "My art is always going to be queer in some way simply because of my interests---it probably has that sensibility but I would not want to end up in an art historic gay champter, I would like my art to touch on universal matters."

An up close and personal look at OUR Artist Of The Week: Hernan Bas. In this clip he talks about being gay and how that has influenced his work. Posessing an infectious laugh and a fresh and open outlook, this clip is fascinating! Get to know the Artist on a personal level

Jessie J, the British-born, Essex-bred vocalist encompases several genres, while displaying vocals reminiscent of Motown-era greats. Although she may not be able to play the piano, Jessie is armed with the chops to blow people away, and the song-writing skills to pen a worldwide hit.

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Granny's Packin Heat

Every day, Law Enforcement Officers meet victims, it's part of the job.  Criminals prey upon the weak, the sick, the elderly....it's just the way it is.

During a routine traffic stop, one Minnesota Police Officer met the exception to that rule. 

"Not a fucking thing" indeed. 

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The Note

I ran across this photo as I was cleaning out some files on my computer today.  At the last radio station I worked at in Idaho, this note was taped on the backside of my office door.


Yes, it was real.

That station had some great people, but the owner had a habit of repeatedly hiring a couple of guys who had.....shall we say..... a few 'problems' (like court ordered mandatory urine tests.)

The gig at this particular radio station was a rebound job I landed after being fired from my previous position at another station...one I'd held for 15 years.    I had never been fired before and it was quite a life altering situation, so even though this new job was at a smaller operation and was in a little podunk town about 45 minutes away....I was optimistic...until I shut the door to my office and found 'the note'.

Often, just when you think things are going smooth, life takes you in a different direction. It's almost always unexepected, and usually a bit scary.  When I closed my door on that first day and found that note taped to the back, I remember standing there dumbfounded....staring at it and wondering what in the hell I was doing there.    I kept that job for a year and then moved on.....I'm sure there were some lessons I had to learn during my tenure at that dilapidated group of stations...but I'm still figuring out what they were.

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Sad Goodbye

When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with Welcome Back Kotter.   While my heart belonged to Vinnie Barbarino (aka a young John Travolta....I sent him fan letters with money to call me), I also had a crush on Juan Epstein or as any true WBK fan will know, "Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein" played by Robert Hegyes.   I dunno...I was exploring my exotic taste at a young age.   There was something about Epstein that I just loved.   He was a fiercely proud "Puerto Rican Jew" a tough wise-cracking guy, and his walk.....as distincive as Barbarinos but wholly his own....sex-E.
I was thrilled when TV Land honored WBK and like many, I was shocked and saddened to see what time and poor health had done to my childhood crush.  But Epstein was still there inside the talented actor who brought so many laughs to so many people.

The Sacramento Bee had a great piece on Robert Hegyes life: 

"Hegyes was born May 7, 1951, in Perth Amboy, N.J. He graduated from what is now Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., and worked as a substitute teacher between acting jobs before landing the part in "Welcome Back, Kotter."
After the show ended, he played Chico Marx onstage in a national touring production of "Groucho" with Kaplan in the title role. Hegyes later had a recurring part as Detective Manny Esposito on the 1980s TV police drama "Cagney and Lacey," did stand-up comedy and tried writing screenplays.
But he would be best remembered for "Welcome Back, Kotter."
"It's a job where I went to work and laughed every day," he told the Los Angeles Times in 1995. "So how do you beat that?"
Indeed....how do you beat that

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Pop Culture Friday!

It’s a Pop Consumerist’s dream this week, well it is for me at least, and I am going to enjoy it! I have my popcorn, rootbeer, chocolate and of course…my Forever Lazy (which is a knockoff of The Snuggie but with feet!) So be forewarned…..hands off the remote cause it’s all mine!


Friday January 27th, it’s Dateline “What Would You Do?” and the situation is gay marriage. The preview clip I saw had One man proposing to his partner and nearby fellow diners both supporting and freaking out. It looks to be GREAT!

Saturday or Sunday (I haven’t decided yet), it’s off to the movies to see Liam Nielson in “The Grey”. A bunch o’sweaty mens surviving in the arctic after a plane crash? Sign me up. Liam may be 65, but dayum….the man is hot.

Wednesday Feb 1st it’s Rupaul’s Drag Race Season 4!!!!! Halleloooo! I can’t wait to see Ru in all her fabulous glory and for the new crop of contestants to “Lip Synch…….fuh yah lifffffe”! I wrote Rupaul a fan letter a long time ago, he wrote back and called me “pumpkin”. True story.

Friday February 3rd it’s “Who Do You Think You Are?”!!! I’ve done the whole family history research thing and it was obsessively fun for me. I love watching most of the stars go through the same journey! In the season premiere, Martin Sheen tracks down his family history through Ireland and Spain. (Remember when he played the President of the US in the West Wing and verbally bitch-slapped that Dr Laura character over gay marriage??) --Love Martin!

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Time Travel Thursday

A sunny day, a beautiful meadow filled with blooming flowers?  How could two men resist?

Today's Daily Aural is "Confessin That I Love You" By Rudy Vallee, 1930.

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Queens Take Notice!

LMAO at "Watermellon Fuckin Watermellon".   (click post to see what I'm talkin bout)...Yup.  It's that kinda day.   BTW, "Rupaul's Drag Race" season 4 kicks off monday Jan 30!

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Excuses

Words have power. Fag. Slut. Degenerate. Doomed to Hell. Mistake. Deviant. Worthless.

Choice.

A lot of attention has been given to Cynthia Nixon’s recent speech where she loudly proclaimed her “homosexuality was a choice” .

Some gays gave her a pass saying it was an intellectual truth. Others hauled out the spigot to roast her alive.

All over one powerful word: Choice.

Why all the hubub?

Because the gay rights movement has been fighting the fight for acceptance, the right to pursue our happiness and for our civil rights. Words have meanings. To say we, or anyone else chooses our sexuality is stupidity at it’s highest level. I would say a majority of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people know this.

But the sad truth is, that all it takes is one person with the platform of celebrity….a newbie no less, to get behind a microphone and open their uninformed big mouth to put each of us in danger.

For the gay kid who is trying to convince his homophobic family that he is not broken…for the gay couples just trying to raise their family…for the hot messes (said with affection) who simply want to walk down the street safely……Cynthia Nixon’s idiocy places us all in danger. Her celebrity….her words reach far and wide. That reach includes the people who demonize us….the people who want to make our very existence illegal and it gives them an argument…and an excuse. That’s another word that holds a lot of power: Excuse.

We don’t need anymore excuses….we can’t afford them.

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Saturated With Stupidity

The field has narrowed, but even with the losses of Bachmann, Cain and Perry, the GOP contenders still appear--to me-- much like circus clowns exiting a very small car.   The only difference is, one of these ereudite nutjobs might just snag his dream job.   (Well, except for Ron Paul of course.)

Frothy Mix, Gingrick, Mittens and Ron Paul (there's no nickname for him...cause after all, crazy is just kuh-ray-zee!  It's a scary lineup.

Out of my 300 or so friends on FB, I'm amazed at how many educated professionals are rabid in their hatred for Obama.   The "Anyone BUT Obama" battle cry is heard loud and often.   Which makes me scratch my head and wonder where their vitriol is coming from. 

I could lump them into stereotypical categories, like the Mormons who will vote for Mittens because the church says they should (hey it happened with Prop 8...remember that?).  Or the Catholics who are practically humping Frothy Mixes leg because of his extreme hatred of sex, gays, and Obama.  Or the wealthy manipulators like the Koch Bros who fund 'repentant adulterors' like Gingrick who just seems to hate or ignore every poor person or minority and wants to put your 9 year old to work as a janitor. 
But could it be that simple??  Or is it pure economics...or race?   I don't know.

I listen to their ranting against President Obama and how they'll vote for ANYONE else and it just seems to me.....if they're going to vote for ANYONE else, that means they're gonna pick someone from the current lineup and those candidates are all just fucking nuts.  So it's not for the betterment (is that a word?) of the country....it's because they hate the current President...the one guy who's actually trying to do his job.  

Newt is doing really well now which just astounds me.  A FB friend of mine, Mike who has a page titled "Democrats for Victory in 2012" wrote:

"Once again the family values crowd has proven that they actually have no family values. They vote for the clown that married his high school teacher only to dump her for a younger model. He cheats on his second wife with his congressional aid while impeaching the president for the same thing. He talks trash about black people having no role models and being destined for welfare. He screwed the taxpayer when he gave himself and the republicans in the house intrest free loans via overdrafting the congressional checking accounts. What do you have to do before an evangelical will not vote for you?.. Is the line being born black? It seems as long as you're a chubby little white feller you can do whatever you want and they'll send you money and love . They have convicted Barack for operating a country while black. What a pathetic bunch of hillbilly pricks." 

I consider that pure fucking poetry.

While channel surfing tonight, I landed on the GOP debate and literally said out loud..... verbatim "Not another fucking debate".   I mean really.....what is the point?   Listening to this lineup lie, distort, pander and shout "No more Obama!".....I can draw no other conclusion than we are just saturated with stupidity.

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Richmond Barthe: OUR Artist of the Week

Richmond Barthé,(1901-1988) was born in Mississippi and moved to New Orleans when he was young.   Growing up in a devout Catholic house, painting, drawing were a source of enjoyment for him which would later help to define his life.  

After contributing some paintings to a church fundraiser, his talent captured the eye of his Priest who encouraged him to apply to the Art Institute of Chicago which he attended from 1924-1928.

It was Richmond's talent as a sculptor which was recognized and encouraged both by classmates and critics in Chicago.   After a one man show in 1928 he moved to New York City, set up shop and began working.   In addition to creating art, he socialized  *--with central figures of the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Huges, Alain Locke, Augusta Savage and Carl Van Vechten


Richmond Barthe was an out gay man and lived a fascinating life.  He **--continued to create sculpture well into the 1960s, some of which was commissioned as public art. He sculpted an American eagle for the Social Security Building in Washington, D.C. and a bas-relief for the Harlem River Housing Project. In 1949, the Haitian government commissioned him to create monuments to the revolutionary leaders Toussaint L’Overture and Jean Jacques Dessalines in Port-au-Prince. In addition to spending time in Haiti, Barthé lived in Jamaica before returning to the United States and settling in southern California. He died in 1989.

For more information on the personal side of his life and career, check out Cassandra Langers article on the Gay & Lesbian Review. 

Watch him at work


 
*, ** source:  blackpast.org

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Sometimes We Need To Be Reminded

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Night At the Movies!

This is where I saw tonight's movie "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". 

The movie?  It was good, not fantastic, emotionally touching or any of that....it was just.....well, good.  The real treat for me was watching the flick in the Orpheum Theater in Twin Falls Idaho.

I have loved this place since I was a kid.

Remember the line in Queen Latifah's "Last Holiday", where she says to the hotel desk clerk, "Don't that ceiling just make you wanna cry?"  That's how I was the first time I saw a movie at the Orpheum when I was 9 or 10 years old.   I remember gasping and whispering to my friends in a sort of reverence.

Tonight was a treat for me, both for the movie and the venue!  Watching a movie at home is fine, but every once in awhile you need to see a movie the way they were meant to be seen: "In Style".

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Edward Avedisian: OUR Artist of the week

You know the drill:   Painters, Artistis, Composers...many have been of the queer persuasian.  For some their sexuality defined their art.  For others it was but a footnote. 
Edward Avedisian is our "OUR Art" artist this week.  

1) Edward Avedisian was best known for his work in the 1960s: brilliantly colored, boldly composed canvases that combined Minimalism’s rigor, Pop’s exuberance and the saturated tones of Color Field painting.

A frequent motif was a cluster of bright seedlike orbs corralled at the center of a vibrant monochrome field by larger rings of color, creating an image that could resemble a buoyant cross-section of some unknown fruit.
Mr. Avedisian was born in Lowell, Mass., in 1936 and studied art at the Boston Museum School. By the late 1950s he was living in New York, part of a generation of promising young painters that included Frank Stella, Larry Poons and Darby Bannard.

From 1958 to 1963 Mr. Avedisian had six solo shows in New York galleries, including two at the Robert Elkon Gallery, where he continued to show almost every year until 1975. By the early 1960s Mr. Avedisian was a rising star. During that decade, his work appeared on the cover of Artforum, in “The Responsive Eye” exhibition of Op Art at the Museum of Modern Art and in four annuals at the Whitney Museum of American Art. His paintings were widely sought by collectors and acquired by major museums in New York and elsewhere.

In the mid-1970s Mr. Avedisian moved to Hudson and became less visible. His paintings soon began shifting toward representation; he took to calling his abstract paintings “a period style.” But he continued to be well served by his feeling for color, scale and surface. His landscapes described his surroundings in blunt, flat shapes and singing hues reminiscent of those of Marsden Hartley and Paula Modersohn-Becker, but also had an undeniably contemporary verve. In the 1980s he also made bright abstract sculptures from painted Styrofoam.

In 1996 Mr. Avedisian showed his paintings from the 1960s at the Mitchell Algus Gallery, then in SoHo. His last show, dominated by recent landscapes, was in 2003 at Mr. Algus’s gallery, now in Chelsea.

Mr. Avedisian’s marriage ended in divorce. His partner, Judson Baldwin, died in 2006. In addition to his son, Joseph, of Brooklyn, he is survived by a grandson.
*1) Obituary

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Time Travel Thursday

It's rare that a vintage photo of two men or women would have an inscription, and unfortunately that leaves the relationship between the two open to interpretation.   But we've been interpreting subtle signals our whole lives haven't we?   Observing details and drawing our own (usually) well thought out conclusions?  

Take this photo for instance.  To the untrained eye it could be two brothers or perhaps two very good friends.   However a lgbt would be more opt to pick up on the signals....a closer than platonic embrace,  an arm on the thigh cupping the knee which is held in place by a hand on the arm. Heads titled, one man's legs crossed toward his "seat-mate" and the other's openly receptive. 

I would doubt these were two brothers or even cousins, but whatever their relationship status, there is a closeness, an intimacy between the two which lends a silent air of comfort to today's viewer reminding us we have always been here, and whatever the circumstances...have always found a way to love and be loved.

To view more of this online collection, click here.

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