Logo's released it 50 Best Gay Bars in America list and if you check out the list, you can read my write-up on three of them: L.A.'s The Abbey, New York's Pieces and El Paso's O.P. Daniel Nardicio mentions Denver's Tracks and says "It's better than anything New York's had in years." He's absolutely right.
Asked for a reason he actually opposes gay marriage, anti-gay marriage lawyer Dan Schweitzer flounders before Bill O'Reilly, comparing gay and straight relationships as being as different as winter and summer. Bill-O, after trying to give the guy as many opportunities to come up with a reason as possible concedes that all the justifications are lame and bigoted. I know this has been up for a bit, but if you haven't seen it, you should.
Weezer Gives Chris Crocker an Extra 15 Seconds of Fame
Which should be enough for me to dismiss them forever, but c'mon! It's Weezer. It's the You Tube-eriffic "Pork & Beans", the first single from the Red album, out June 3rd. I hope Rivers deloused after giving Crocker a hug. That kid doesn't need a hug. He needs a nice long stay in a sanitarium. Think I'm being mean? Here's what the kid's been up to lately.
Taking the AP Headline "Artist Robert Rauschenberg Dead at 82" and prefacing it with the word "Gay", Advocate* paid tribute to the influential pre-pop visionary by unceremoniously -- and inaccurately-- outing him.
The problem? Throughout his life Rauschenberg actively avoided being called "gay" or "homosexual", preferring, when pressed to describe himself as "pansexual". When Rauschenberg's "Combines" show came to L.A. in 2007, I ran a story by art historian Bill Picture called "Why Won't Robert Rauschenberg Come Out?" that covered the issue.
In the article, Picture wrote "according to [Harvey Milk Institute founder Jonathan] Katz, Rauschenberg doesn't identify as a gay man. "He considers himself pansexual," Katz explains. "You have to remember, though, that while we think of the term 'gay' today as a political identity as well as a sexual one, during the 1950s [when the Combines series was created] homosexuality was a pathology." Regarding the standing decision of curators and art historians to skirt the gay issue, Katz believes it has to do with more than just appeasing conservative museum-goers. "I think they're [also] opposed to the idea that there can be any kind of code that will unlock these works".
None of this was in the Advocate piece, which was printed verbatim from the wires except for the addition of the word "Gay" to the headline. What's the big deal, right? Even if Rauschenberg isn't totally gay, he's pretty gay. Obviously, I think a story about Rauschenberg in a gay publication is appropriate, but to tack on the label "gay" to someone on their death, when in life that person had a much more nuanced view of their sexuality is shoddy journalism.
That Advocate makes the claim without bothering to elaborate is just frustrating in its mindless reductionism. Would they print "Eleanor Roosevelt, Gay First Lady, Dead" or "Leonard Bernstein, Gay Composer, Dead"? It would seem so. While both figures are certainly worth talking about in a gay historical context, calling them gay and leaving it at that would be irresponsible. Same goes for Rauschenberg. If you're going to eulogize someone who's sexuality is not cut and dry, you at least owe it to your readers to report on it. The utter laziness in throwing "Gay" onto an AP headline and leaving it at that is infuriating. That it's coming from a gay publication is mind-boggling.
*Full disclosure: I write for Advocate from time to time.
Here's some of what I've been working on this week:
An interview with Arthur Dong, director of Hollywood Chinese, a fantastic documentary about the Chinese-American experience in Tinseltown. I could have talked to Arthur for hours-- a really funny, fascinating and thoughtful guy. (The Advocate)
A QnA with photographer Paul Mpagi Sepuya. Sort of got me thinking about how the media's job is to define and label things (this is a trend, it is about these kinds of people, it fits into this category) and fine artists are all about introducing ambiguity and challenging the nature of the boxes we stuff things into. Not that any of that shows up in the piece. (Popnography)
The 400 pound gorilla this week is my big feature story on "The Boys of Buzznet", Jeffree Star, Clint Catalyst and Matthew Lush. I'll probably write another blog soley about the backstory to this piece. For the moment, I'll just say I'm pretty proud of it and really thankful for my editor, Shana. (Out.com)
My friend Chris Schulz, who runs Pinups mag, used to joke about starting the Steve Carrington Foundation for Faggotry, quoting a line from Dynasty. Randomly, I thought of it today and found the original quote from the script. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and get married. See it here.
UPDATE: Here's a fun YouTube clip. I didn't realize 'til watching the clip that Steve Carrington's glinty eyes remind me of a certain overly protective father from Heroes. That's right; Noah Bennett used to be a gay. By the way, stick 'til the end. It's worth it.
If you're into such things, Real Gay L.A. is a great new site that's filled a huge hole (yeah, it's intended) in L.A.-- a site for the gay and lesbian community in SoCal. The site is the brainchild of Matt Falber, who I met a few years ago when he randomly walked into a Mediabistro Party at the Abbey. He's an extremely passionate advocate for the young gay community and I look forward to seeing how the site develops.
Worried that my blog had become all-Obama, all-the-time, a friend and Hillary supporter sent me this video today, saying "Sure, Obama supporters have big name endorsements, but Hillary has Sophie B. Hawkins' unfettered support." As I picked my jaw up off the floor , he (yes, he's one of those young, white males who like Hillary!) added, "There is a certain charm to this video, actually. I mean, that Sophie B. Hawkins still exists and isn't doing heroin somewhere in the San Joaquin Valley is charming in and of itself.But clearly, she asked her lesbian girlfriend to film an impromptu music video on a shitty winter day in Venice-- probably for the best that she scrapped the line about 'coming inside her jungle book'.
Discussion Questions:
What is the significance of the graffiti tiger?
Who are the people in that apartment?
Who still carries around a boombox?
Why all the timecode?
Was the ASPCA monitoring the dogs used in this video?
Is that 'A Woman's Place is in the White House' bumper sticker especially made for this video?
The same news outlet that called Barrack to task for employing "ex-gay" gospel singer Donnie McClurkin strongly endorses Senator Obama in their latest issue. Read the full endorsement here.
What tipped the influential pub? Bill Clinton and the race card, it seems. The paper says "the LGBT community should lend its voice to a growing progressive chorus in turning its back on this kind of politics. For us, winning in the ghetto is no longer good enough - not for blacks, not for gays, not for anyone."
FunMaps, one of the oldest gay and lesbian travel guides, and I have teamed up to bring you FunMaps TV, a series of fun and informative videos about popular travel destinations in North America.
Check out the first one on Big Sur & Paso Robles here. If you're a regular tMR reader, you'll recognize a lot of this. Look for upcoming pieces on Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, New York & Montreal.
Jamie Kirchick Warns Gays of Their 'McGovern Moment'
Read his Washington Blade article on how the gay movement's opposition to ENDA imperils it's future as a viable political force. That over 300 gay groups stand opposed to Barney Frank would be ridiculous if their opposition wasn't also going to defeat a bill; not because it pushes them back, but because it doesn't push forward enough for their tastes.
It's aggravating to look at how, in spite of the facts on the ground-- we live in a time where gay rights are increasing across the board-- many leaders of the "gay movement" will accept nothing less than some sort of federal version of the Emancipation Proclamation: marriage for all, special protected status for gays, restitution for every mean thing ever said or done to a gay person ever and a national holiday for Cher all wrapped up in one neat little bow. Anything less is a failure. That there are civil unions in some places, that you can get married in the Bay State, that hate crimes legislation has passed means nothing to these people. And they are your leaders.
Should gender identity be included on this bill? Hell, yeah-- nobody who supports the bill would argue with that. Is it a betrayal to support a federal bill that recognizes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation unless it include gender identity? Um, no. The bill sets a far ranging precedence across the board that will effect not only its own provisions, but how gay rights are viewed from a legal perspective generally. Yeah, it sucks transgender people are not included. Having this bill passed, however makes it a lot more likely that protection will come in the future then if it's defeated. It's not selfish to support this bill. The only people are selfish are those who oppose it, to presume that they speak for all of us, and by doing, hold us back from greater protection and equality under the law.
The Jena Six: Gays on the Bandwagon -- and Why They Shouldn't Be
A billion emails today about the Jenna Six, a group of six Louisiana teenagers charged with beating a white teenager. So, there's a lot of charges of racism and now everyone's mobilizing in defense of these kids (though, most of them are 17). Gay bloggers and activists, spurred on by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) are saying, "Your plight is my plight too-- Let's organize!"
And thanks to the ever-awesome, Jamie Kirchick, I get to have the night off. In an Advocate article titled "What's in the Jena 6 Case for "Us"? Nothing", he explains why this is not the cause for us to rally around. As he says, "In American law you are not entitled to beat a defenseless and innocent person because someone with the same skin color as that person offended you months earlier."
I understand the desire to create a link between black civil rights and gay civil rights (and I genuinely think there is a continuity there) and of course all Americans should stand up against racism, but why is it that prominent gay org's like HRC and that other one (rhymes with "bad") seem to jump at every opportunity they get to send out a strongly worded press release condemning the latest water cooler issue? Of course, they can do whatever they want, but considering their prominence, to many, they speak for the gay community.
What are your thoughts? Where's the MoveOn for the gay movement? Actually, we need more than that. We're in desperate need of a transparent organization that encourages direct involvement, but also is a self-reflective and proactive agenda setter. We need not just gay activists, but gay leaders.
The first issue of The Advocatesince its redesign hits the newsstands today. As you can see, it's got an interview with Hillary that's a must read. Clinton says nothing new, but the piece, by Sean Kennedy, does a great job dissecting the relationship between Hil and the gay community.
Also, I've got two pieces in this issue. One is on Pete Jones, Project Greenlight winner and accidental homo (read it here) and another with Dan Savage about the forthcoming musical adaptation of his book, The Kid.
Cruising, the 1980 Al Pacino flick where he plays a cop searching for a killer in New York's underground gay S&M scene is playing until the end of this week on the big screen at the Mann's Chinese 6 in Hollywood. When the film came out it was loudly denounced by gay groups, but hey, it's got Pacino getting slapped by a black cowboy in a jockstrap, so it can't be all that bad. The film, directed by William Friedken, will be released on DVD Sept. 18th.
Hurray for having something newsworthy to video blog about. My take on Kenneth in the 212's decision to post naked photos of Thomas Roberts. There was a rumor going around at the NLGJA Conference that he had these photos and was planning on releasing them. Why?
Sorry for the long delay in posting. As you might know, I spent the last few days in San Diego at the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists' Association National Convention. I met Logo's Jason Bellini, and we got into a whole discussion about blogging and video blogging, especially, which inspired this, my first video podcast. It only took about 3x the amount of time I hoped it would.
In today's podcast, I cover the first day of the conference, which is the LGBT Media Summit, focusing specifically on gay media.
That's right, I forgot to post today. I've got more stuff planned for Snark Week (and a half, maybe?), but in the meantime, check out this classic David Bowie video. Not to sound like a hopeless cynic (it is Snark Week, though), but this one video is more transgressive than every "gay music video" (though I do love this one) I've seen, combined. It's creative, sexy, unmistakable without being sophomoric or pedantic.
One of the problems with having a "gay identity" is that it's by definition, limiting. If gay is this, then it's not that. Culturally, the idea of sexual "orientation"-- straight, gay, bi, whatever--is brand-new new. For most of history, there were just sexual "acts". Now, I'm not advocating returning to that time, but I think lately I've been very aware that my idea of what being gay is, isn't necessarily the same as other gay people. Put more simply, my values and outlook are not the same as every gay man out there, and vice versa.
The problem is, I think the gay community is too narrow in its vision of what it means to be gay. I don't think it's internalized homophobia to not want to be associated with a community who regularly demonize those who don't agree with them and who show a provincial tendency to fight voraciously for their own rights, but who casually segregate themselves racially and economically all the time. It's frustrating to be told by straight people that being gay means liking Madonna, feather boas and loving musical theatre. It's downright infuriating to have other gay people tell you that. Its not that there's anything wrong with those things, it's just self-limiting to say that's all you can be. It's something I've tried to do as an editor at Frontiers; I understand that these things are important parts of what is historically the gay identity (hell, I like my share of musicals), but I think it's vital to punch holes in that identity: To not just state who we are, but to ask what else we can be.
Bowie is a great example. He went from being an iconoclast who changed the world by shattering it, to a bland self-parody of all that. I look around parts of the gay community and I see people who are afraid to venture into new territory, to leave the safety of their own comfort zones. Identity is a tricky thing: it can be the glue which binds you and gives you resolve, but it can also be a trap, limiting your vision--and thusly, your reach.
And for once it's not for a recovery program. I'll let Jackie explain it in her own words:
I am hosting the Gay Erotic Expo again this year (3rd time!) at the L.A. Convention Center on Sat & Sun August 11 & 12.
This year I am bringing in some great entertainment such as Punk Bunny & Selene Luna! I am also having The Sir Heffigton Dancers to do a sizzling fully whore-e-o-graphed number on both days, BUT... They have several members and I need to pay them more than what the current budget allows.
That's where your porn/dildo/lube company comes in! I am looking for a sponsor to donate a mere $500 in exchange for signage (you must supply it) AND the dancers have agreed to even feature your product or business in the actual dance number! Imagine the geeenius Sir Heffington Dancers flying about while holding your porn/dildo/lube or whatever!
First come first serve! So GET ON IT!
This event is PACKED every year so it really is a lot of sexposure!
-JB
Now, $500 is not all that much and the idea of having your product in a dance number does sound kind of great. Don't have a product? Why not just print out some posters with your face on it and have Jackie and Co. perform a glorious homage to yourself? Personally, I'm hoping Pinkberry sponsors. If interested, you can message Jackie on her MySpace page.
You were reading my blog, I was ranting about Craigslist
As you may have guessed from my recent "Chance Meetings" post, I love Craigslist's Missed Connections. They can be funny, scary and poignant. But there's a certain kind of "missed connection" that makes me furious-- the scorned ex-boyfriend "blind item". I mean something like this:
I will miss you. But we're both looking for different things. And timing is off for both of us. I want and deserve the opportunity to have a full-time boyfriend with equal rules. You are a great catch, but so am I.
your friend always A.
I get how this could seem like a romantic gesture. I mean, the whole reason I read missed connections is for fun winsome sentimentality. I can see how it happens. You're up late one night and think- 'Hey, I'll write this really important message on Craigslist, because if it's meant to be, he'll read this, know that it's me and just like inSerendipity, we'll wind up united by luck and kismet'. Well, that's just fucking stupid.
As a conceit for a romantic comedy, it's lazy, but in real life it's cowardice. If you have something to say to someone you ostensibly care about, you owe it to them to tell them. Posting it on Craigslist is just a way to make yourself feel better, because you get the feeling of being a great sensitive guy, but without any of the difficulty or responsibility of facing an actual living, breathing human being. It just seems to me that if you're going to take the time to articulate something about someone you care about, you ought to tell it to the person in question and face the consequences, one way or another. Don't miss out on real connection if you can help it.*
And to the guy I saw walking on Santa Monica with his boxer-- call me.
*And no, I don't have any personal missed connection story/ history. I'm just easily irritated.
So, one of the promises I made to myself when restarting blogging was to be more personal. Everyone says 28 is some magic year of major life transition and so far, for me, it has been. This has mainly occurred through recognizing bad habits I have developed over the years. By far, one of the biggest, that I'm finally owning up to is my love of "bad boys".
A friend of mine handed me Addickted: 12 Steps to Kicking Your Bad Boy Habit by Kristina Grish yesterday, and I haven't been able to put it down. This is sort of embarrassing in itself. I'd like to think that I'm not the sort of fellow who would read chick-lit self-help. I mean, this is from the author of something called Boy Vey. But she's speaking my language. I mean, how many times have I told myself, "I'm the only person who understands this guy!", caught up in the complexity and mystery of their tortured soul.
There's a great bit that made a light bulb go off in my head, that once read, made everything else make sense: "For bad boys romance is simply a means to having a good time". The doting affection, the wild nights, the impromptu whirlwind trips are just an ends to themselves and aren't actually leading to any kind of deeper love at all. This makes total sense to me, or at least it rings as true.
The first step to liking nice boys is recognizing that you really do have a thing for the bad boys. In no particular order, let's do a quick jog down memory lane of Boys of Japhy's past (cue wavy transition here):
Ben told me he really wanted to be with me, though he said it outside of his bedroom where the other boy he was sleeping with was waiting for him to snuggle with him. He eventually wound up on Judge Judy.
Eric had a problem with coke and when I left him at a bar because he was doing it, he wound up picking up a boy who looked just like me and was one foot in the taxi when I strolled by. He asked me to come along and we sat awkwardly on this guy's couch for an hour before I left. We never spoke of it again. Later, he would call me "trash".
Donald wanted to burn down everyone in our hometown. He threw a text book at the wall during our gay youth meeting one day and never came back.
Nick was a Republican corporate exec. He worked late hours and would make me wait for him outside his building in the cold. "Just one more hour", he'd say. When he finally came down, we went home and he passed out. This happened four or five times.
Met this hot model at a club one night. We went uptown to Harlem where he left me in the subway station while he went to pick up what I later learned was opium. He did it in a Kinko's bathroom and then told me he knew a place where we could go. Turns some guy told him if he brought another guy to his apartment, they could have a threesome. When I finally left, he told me "You're just like all the other guys."
Now, the thing is, I'm not really bitter about any of these guys. They were sexy and exciting and fun. You can hear it in my descriptions if them: Ooooh, I'm dating someone with a substance abuse problem! The problem is that in the end, this usually works out to me crying, wondering what I did wrong and collecting Arizona tea cans in my room for an art project (don't ask). So, I need to wean myself off the high that comes with dating these dudes and somehow, someway learn to see 'nice guys' as interesting, sexy people. But before that, I need to get it out of my head that it's fun to be the only person who really understands your guy, that you can somehow make him into a better person, that gifts are a sign of a deeper commitment and all that bad boy jazz.
Have you dated a bad boy? Any advice? Stories? Comment away.
Great article about GGB in the NY Times yesterday, once again proving my maxim that anything sufficiently important that happens in L.A. will be covered in the Times, so there's no reason to deal with that other newspaper.
I was interviewed, but was sort of focusing on sand castles at the time. Plus, I had just written a story about GGB for Frontiers, so I don't know if I counted as a valid source.
Here's the money quote:
"This is my first time in Venice Beach so I figured this was typical," said Laura Venger, 45, a schoolteacher from Maine who was visiting with her 12-year-old son and sitting right in front of the men spread out on rainbow-colored towels."
Another year, another Outfest Opening Night Party. Oh wait, this year it's 25! To misquote Exodus: "What makes this Outfest different from every other Outfest"? The short list of last night's highlights:
Bill Condon's acceptance speech for his Lifetime Achievement Award was articulate and thoughtful. Though the clips of his body of work were kind of repetitive. He's only made five films and one of those is Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh.
Perez Hilton got into a fight with an Outfest volunteer. Yawn.
The fight happened in front of Tori Spelling. Since both she and Perez are shooting reality shows, this meant the two crews were filming each other as well as Perez's hissy fit.
Save Me is a weird choice for an Opening Night movie. Kyle explains what it's about here. It's a quiet film and while Judith Light is a-mazing in it, it's sort of a downer. It does bring up the tantalizing possibility that gay men could be brothers to each other instead of you know, being overwhelmed by their own abandonment/ sense of entitlement. Instead of Lost Boys, we could be a community bound to each other by shared pain, experience and love. You know, the 'whole responsibility to the living', thing.
Much better party than last year. More food, more bars, an aerialist for entertainment.
Apparently, I look like Crispin Glover and/or Jeff Daniels. I am so getting a haircut.
Alex has left the building. My boss, the Editor ofFrontiers is moving on to pursue a Masters in Texas. His contribution to the magazine is obvious to anyone who picked it up before he arrived, but I actually owe Alex a lot personally. He basically taught me how to be an editor. I've always been good at telling stories and coming up with cool ways of telling them, but thanks to a year with Alex I learned how to actualize my ideas. A lot of this means learning to email (if you're scoffing, realize I answer somewhere in the neighborhood of 100-200 emails a day) and following up, but the biggest lesson I can attribute to Alex is the value of planning.
Alex never once said that an idea I came up with wasn't feasible or too hard, rather he challenged me to develop the specific route that would get us there. In GTD terms, he's a master of "action steps" and if there's been one weak point in my professional life, it's been follow-through. This may make me sound retarded, but Alex was the first person to get me to see that the only way I can make the awesome things in my head happen is by doing nuts and bolts work on a daily basis.
I know a lot of people really like Frontiers. Before I was an editor, I was a fan. The kind of coverage the magazine has had is the direct result of Alex and the editorial processes he put in place. I'm excited for the future, don't get me wrong, and change is always inevitable, but I'll miss having Alex around--and I imagine so will L.A.
As a Jake Gyllenhall-lovin' Dreamgirls obsessed gay man, this is better than a green tea sorbet with balsamic reduction and kiwi infused vodka shooter. I was going to say "better than a hot fudge sundae", but then I remembered that gay men don't eat carbs. Apparantley, some gays thought the monologue was homophobic. How? Or do you just not have a sense of humor?
Happy MLK Day all. I was trolling through the Prelinger Archives, a public domain collection of films from the 50s and 60s and found something you have to see. I'm actually using some of the films from the archive to fix my music video: 'Fix It'. It was asked to be in the London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and I'm using this as an opportunity to improve a video that was nominated on some dude's blog as 'Worst of 2006' (though in it's defense, not a single person voted for/against it). But I've always wanted to make a better video-- and now I can.
And now that the advertisement is over, here's what I found: Boys Beware is a short film made in 1961 about the "homosexual menace". It's message seems to be: "Avoid men dressed in tuxedo's who want to play basketball with you." It's amazing to see how far we've come and, if you look at the comments people have written about the film, how far we have to go. My pal John Krokidas directed a film that I only now realize is a parody of this film. It's called Shame No More and is also worth a look-see.
My friend Chris Schulz, who runs Pinups mag, used to joke about starting the Steve Carrington Foundation for Faggotry, quoting a line from Dynasty. Randomly, I thought of it today and found the original quote from the script. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go and get married. See it here.
The first issue of The Advocate since its redesign hits the newsstands today. As you can see, it's got an interview with Hillary that's a must read. Clinton says nothing new, but the piece, by Sean Kennedy, does a great job dissecting the relationship between Hil and the gay community.
And for once it's not for a recovery program. I'll let Jackie explain it in her own words:
So, one of the promises I made to myself when restarting blogging was to be more personal. Everyone says 28 is some magic year of major life transition and so far, for me, it has been. This has mainly occurred through recognizing bad habits I have developed over the years. By far, one of the biggest, that I'm finally owning up to is my love of "bad boys".
Great article about GGB in the NY Times yesterday, once again proving my maxim that anything sufficiently important that happens in L.A. will be covered in the Times, so there's no reason to deal with that other newspaper.
Another year, another Outfest Opening Night Party. Oh wait, this year it's 25! To misquote Exodus: "What makes this Outfest different from every other Outfest"? The short list of last night's highlights:
Happy MLK Day all. I was trolling through the Prelinger Archives, a public domain collection of films from the 50s and 60s and found something you have to see. I'm actually using some of the films from the archive to fix my music video: 'Fix It'. It was asked to be in the London Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and I'm using this as an opportunity to improve a video that was nominated on some dude's blog as 'Worst of 2006' (though in it's defense, not a single person voted for/against it). But I've always wanted to make a better video-- and now I can.
