JMG: Blog Year Ten
JoeMyGod@gmail.com
Gay culture, short stories, politics, and fabulous disco trivia.
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WorldPride has been forced to cancel their August 10th march, aftering being denied a parade permit by Jerusalem police, who claim that the escalating war in Lebanon make them unable to provide WorldPride the "extensive security" needed to protect marchers from anti-gay protesters. WorldPride organizers intend to carry on with all other events, including the film festival and shows, and vow to reschedule the march to take place in Jerusalem at a later date.
Bed Bath & Beyond, Chelsea, Saturday 2PM
OK class, settle down. Everybody take out their Big Book Of Camp Icons. Turn to Chapter 11, Big-Haired TV Girls Of The 80's. On the right hand page, right under Heather Locklear and Delta Burke, you'll find Lisa Welchel, "Blair" from The Facts Of Life. Now take out a big black magic marker and CROSS THAT BITCH OUT. (via Jimbo.info)
Yes, kids. A Broadway show that I am dying to see. Kiki & Herb, the beloved SF institution that moved to NYC years ago, will open at the Helen Hayes Theatre on August 11th. For the uninitiated, Kiki, a boozy septuagenarian lounge singer, is the nom de drag of Justin Bond and Herb is her gay retarded Jewish pianist, played by Kenny Mellman. I adore them. The New York Times called them “the most hilariously disturbing show you’ll see this season grand, vivacious and sordid." I saw their last show, Coup de Theatre, three times and my friends and I are still reciting our favorite Kiki one-liners. Kiki, speaking about her dead daughter: "I was a good mother! I mean, where could a child GO on the deck of a ship?" I saw Justin Bond walking on the Upper West Side a few weeks ago and I almost had a completely uncool New Yorker moment and called out to him. Almost. Kiki & Herb's Carnegie Hall Show was a sold-out smash. Get tickets for Alive On Broadway, here.Yesterday's vigil at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations was moving and frustrating. We heard passionate and eloquent speeches about the appalling treatment of gays in Iran, but the speakers were frequently drowned out by passing traffic and horn honkers. Some sort of bullhorn or portable PA was definitely called for, but I suspect that may have required a permit of sorts.
Below: But most protesters stuck to the issue of Iran's treatment of gays.
Below: Mark Green, candidate for New York State Attorney General. Kudos to Green for appearing and speaking. Where was Sean Patrick Maloney?
Below: Many signs advocated for asylum rights for gay Iranians.
Below: Ann Northrop, lesbian/AIDS activist and talk show host, addresses the crowd.
Below: Glams Against Genocide, I presume. Sweet boy.
Below: Jonathan Tasini, labor organizer and Hillary Clinton senatorial opponent.
Below: Tom Harrison, of the Campaign For Peace And Democracy, speaks.
Below: Some of the protesters displayed their signs to passing New Yorkers, most of whom hardly broke stride or missed a beat of their cellphone conversations as they passed. "I don't know. Something about killing gays."
Below: Artist Jason Rondinelli and his haunting recreation of that famous photo.
I noticed a very passionate young woman, she seemed to be a reporter, and she was interviewing attendees, asking them if they knew that there was some controversy regarding the facts of the hanging, whether we knew that some believed the young men not to be gay at all, that the father of a raped 13-year old boy had actually testified against them. I'm curious to know whom she represented. To his credit, I overheard a young man tell her, "Does it really matter if they were really gay? Iran has a death penalty against homosexuals!".Pity poor Louis Rosano, who passed out drunk on the NYC Eagle roofdeck on Monday night and was accidently locked there until the middle of the next day, when the parking lot attendant across the street heard him crying for help and called 911. Cops and firefighters hoisted a three-story ladder to the top of the building and cut through the fence to set him free. I think I'd have to move to another state.
Marking the anniversary of the Iranian teens hung for being gay, today there will be a protest at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations, 622 Third Avenue (at 40th Street). Take the 4,5,6,7 or S trains to Grand Central. The Iranian Mission is just a couple of blocks to the south. The vigil starts at 5pm.
Looming over Grand Central Terminal, the 58-story Brutalist Met Life Building, nee Pan Am, was briefly the largest office tower in the world. In 1975, in one of the most spectacular suicides in city history (well, until Doctor Boom), the CEO of Chiquita Bananas used his briefcase to shatter a window. Then him go splat on Park Avenue. Musta slipped on something.
I don't what is more disturbing, those pictures of Arab toddlers posing with machine guns, or this photo of Israeli school girls writing messages on Lebanon-bound missiles. I found this photo on Letters Apart, a pro-Lebanon blog that I thought might yield some interesting blogger/blogger detente' of sorts, but I'm not really seeing that in the comments. Another interesting blog is Ramzi's Blah Blah, with the sad headline "To help save Lebanon, go here (link). To save your life, go north." Also check out Lebanese Political Journal and follow the young author as she attempts to escape the carnage. I found all of these blogs in the UK Guardian's story Watching, Blogging...Bombing.I think it was back in 1983, onstage at the (now) lamentably long-closed Backstreet Fort Lauderdale, one of the best gay nightclubs in the history of the planet, that I saw the Love Twins reclining on lawn chairs, performing their only hit, the inestimably cheesy Miami Heatwave. In the song, the singer is on vacation in Miami, right? And she's missin' her man back in New Yawk, right?
According to Seed Magazine, a recent brain study revealed that the subjects' brains reacted to erotic images 20% faster than all other pictures, before the subjects were even aware that they were looking at an erotic image. The initial study examined women only, but when men were tested, they were found to react at the same speed as the female subjects, contrary to some commonly held ideas about sex drive.
Check out Richard Rothstein's exhaustive review and contemplations on the first AIDS movie, An Early Frost, which has just been released on DVD. Like Richard, I vividly recall watching An Early Frost back in 1985, an experience that changed me and my opinions on AIDS. Now scoot, go read his excellent piece.
Here's an interesting idea. In an effort to increase voter turnout, a group in Arizona has placed a measure on the November ballot which (if approved) will randomly award $1 million to an Arizona voter in every general election. Given Arizona's population, the vote lottery would offer much greater odds of winning than Powerball. Latino activists see the vote lottery as a potential tool for increasing turnout, although some see the measure as merely encouraging people to go to the polls without any concern over issues or candidates. I think I'd like to see them give you a special scratch off ticket as you exit the polling booth. How satisfying would it be to scratch off 3 George Bushes and win a million bucks? (via New York Times.)
Today's press release from WorldPride:
You may remember a January post I made about Hey Tiger, the band featuring hottie JMG-reader and occasional beer buddy Jim Lovegrove on bass. Jim just gave me the heads-up that Hey Tiger will be opening for Nickelback and Bon Jovi tomorrow, July 18th, at Giants Stadium.
You can listen to the band being interviewed tomorrow morning on Scott And Todd In The Morning on WPLJ-95.5 FM. Here's hoping some major label A&R guy is reading this or catches their show tomorrow. I've heard Hey Tiger's first release, September , and I think it's some sweet power pop. 
And all you folks going to Bon Joni tomorrow, make sure you get there in time for Hey Tiger, 5PM. Check out their tunes on their MySpace page here. I especially like I Don't Mind and Breathe. Good luck, Jim! (I totally just said that in my Mission Impossible voice.)
"I can sum up the Republican agenda in nine words: Burning the flag, spurning the fag and earnings that lag." - Barney Frank, speaking to the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus, who did not invite Florida's Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, due to his support of Florida's gay marriage ban. (via NY Blade.)
Is this shirt insulting to the mentally-challenged? At this point in the popped-collar epidemic, I don't think I care anymore. I just want it to stop. Order yours here.
The heat index in Manhattan is expected to reach 105 today.
