A QNY interview with Austin Armacost

This is in addition to what I posted below. One of the interviews I did with the cast of LOGO's new gay reality series, A-List. A very guilty pleasure.



photos by QNY's Darling!

Bear Hill, Central Park, Last Saturday, 4 QNY Bloggers,

and my empty chair.

The A-List - Don't Hate Them Because They Are Beautiful

by Tony Adams

With QNY's Darling!, I attended a mixer at Therapy with the cast of LOGO's new gay reality series The A-List. Great fun. These guys are gorgeous, successful NYC socialites who are enjoying lives that they had barely dreamed about in the smaller towns of their childhood. There's romance, sex, jealousy, back-stabbing and everything else you'd expect from a show described as "Housewives. With balls." I taped the interviews with the cast in the low light of Therapy but when I get a moment I'll put up the audio. I came away liking these guys who are very grateful for their good fortunes.

those wonderful water towers

Orlando

"Orlando" at Classic Stage Company, September 21, 2010

(photo by Joan Marcus)


Virginia Woolf's tale of an Elizabethan nobleman, who lives as a man until age 30, then wakes from a 6 month coma to find he has become a woman who lives another 370 years without aging comes to Classic Stage Company care of Sarah Ruhl.  It's an aggressive challenge to take on a work that Ms. Ruhl herself describes as "...language...so exquisite it would have seemed like a terrible bastardization to just leave the narration behind and make up dialog."  Despite the over theatricality of the novel's premise, that quality doesn't guarantee great theatre.  Ms. Ruhl, in apparent deference to Ms. Woolf's erudition, gives us an evening that is part acting, part exposition where the characters recite their activities in third person more often that portraying a role.  In the end, it feels more like a writing exercise than a play.

Theatre Review: Fat Kids on Fire

Posted by David

Pipeline Theatre Company returns to the stage with Bekah Brunstetter's new play Fat Kids on Fire, currently performing at Wings Theatre, in the West Village, through October 2.  This new play follows the adventures of a slighly chubby high school girl who is sent to fat camp, where she learns that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Bess is an earnest, insecure young woman trying to navigate the treacherous multi-tiered society of high school.  She longs to be accepted among the "beautiful" people but finds herself thwarted by her physical appearance and her neediness.  When her over-achieving and fitness-obssessed parents send her off to a motivational camp that specializes in overweight kids, she suddenly finds herself much higher up on the social totem pole than she has ever been, and the height, while at first intoxicating, causes her to lose her moral balance.  Brunstetter's play is both bruisingly funny and painfully accurate in its depiction of the ruthless jungle of teenage social politics.  Her language never rings false nor does she allow easy endings for her characters.  Actions have consequences and there is little room for second chances.

Nicole Spiezio and Sydney Matthews

AB SOTO at Phoenix

By Tony Adams

Taking the recommendation of QNY's Charlie Vázquez, we stopped by Phoenix to catch the performance of LA gay rapper AB SOTO, and we are glad we did. Be patient with the sound quality of the video (after the break, with more photos) and enjoy the AB SOTO and backup boys' footwork that reminds me of VogueBallroom X Rap X DaLipstyxx (And whatever happened to that great downtown threesome DaLipstyxx? I did a search, but most of what I found is at least a few years old.) 


AB SOTO is energetic, banjee, kiddy-clown-with-a-dick and fun. I was expecting a west coast version of Cazwell, but that is not AB SOTO. I hope he keeps making music. It will be interesting to see where he goes.

Queer SOS - Join Them On W26th Street

Details after the break

bridge and tunnel crowd

PANIC! and Skeleton Head (How's that for a headline?)

by Charlie Vázquez



Rolling right into fall and all of its inspiration…

Never a dull moment in the East Village—where nighttime usually finds me—and there are a couple of things I wanted to share with you happening this Wednesday and Thursday should you be interested (or already in the hood with us). Myself and some readers I’ll be hosting this Wednesday for the always explosive HISPANIC PANIC! readings I curate at Nowhere were featured in the Daily News a couple weeks back, if you’d like to read that here. My reading series PANIC! showcases various queer writers from NYC’s massive LGBT literary underground. Nowhere is at 322 E 14th St (1st/2nd), 8PM, free, 21+!

And on the following night, the 30th the Phoenix will be hosting two queer live electronica bands. Skeleton Head, which is fronted by the rather handsome Leo Torres, mixes the grooves of 1980s electronic and synth music and tops it off with a laid-back contemporary polish. The group Zbörnak will also perform. Below is a Skeleton Head video for you to look over in the event you want to come hang out with us. Beers. Boys. Music. No drama, no attitude. This is DJ Damian's hot new rock party, Courage, My Love, and he will spin tunes before and after the bands!

Hope to see you soon...xo

Phoenix (13th St/Avenue A, East Village)
Thursday, September 30th:
Skeleton Head and Zbörnak
9PM, no cover, 21+

You Cannot Catch HIV Through A Trial Vaccine.

If I learned nothing else last Friday night in Harlem, I did get that message loud and clear.

The Baad Lamb and I walked across Central Park in tranquil early evening light and went uptown on the 6 train. We attended the screening and announcement of the winning  Generation V videos sponsored by the New York City HIV Vaccine Trials Unit. This event was held at The Poet’s Den, 309 East 108th Street.

We met some very talented and beautiful people, including these men, SeanMichael Rodgers, CEO of EMBRACE TV,  and his partner, the performer/songwriter Dy’Ari.  Their video won the Valor Award for best video targeted to gay men. My interview with them and more after the break.

Laurie Anderson's Delusion: Living,Waking and Dreaming

Photo credit: Leland Brewster

“I love the stars because you can’t hurt them.”

On Saturday Sept, 25, 2010, Tony and I attended “Delusion” Laurie Anderson’s most recent multi-media work that received its world premier at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Many of the stories recounted are from her newest release Homeland, and deeply explore themes of how humans cope with the realities of everyday existence, including the distrustful nature of memory, the blurry lines between waking and dreaming states, and the delusions we engineer to navigate love and loss, life and death.

Delusion unfolds at the BAM Harvey Theater, (an acclaimed Majestic Theater renovation by Hugh Hardy in 1987) a fitting surrounding for this show, since the grand building is more decayed preservation then renovation; the old columned and arched interior looks to have been heavily shellacked in the moment just before collapse.

As the performance begins, a small window high on a wall allows a glimpse of autumn leaves blowing across a grey sky, while an Arabic woman chants and wails (a lament of grief over death?).
Laurie enters dragging her bow across her violin, adding to the sorrow. “I want to tell you a story/about a story…”, she begins, and we soon learn her life of accomplishments is based on her internal construction of tasks and rewards, a carrot and donkey system that served her well. “Then one day, my donkey died”.

Overheard In Central Park This Morning

A young lady to her companion, a young man walking their dog:
"This morning will be beautiful only if you praise me incessantly throughout it."

QNY Theater Review: Lost and Found

Posted by David

The Fringe Festival may technically be over, but I had the opportunity to attend a performance of Lost and Found, a new play by John Pollono, as part of the Fringe Encore series.

Lost and Found is a kitchen-sink family dramedy about an Italian-American family living in Boston and deeply embedded in the police community: the son is a cop, the daughter is dating a cop, and their deceased father was a cop.  The mother is a tough-as-nails police widow.  Life is very combative in the Broncato family household as familial obligations, pressures and expectations ricochet amongst the family members who all live tenuously under one roof.

Into this volatile mix comes an outsider who turns out to be not so "outside" afterall.  If this weren't enough, the new next-door neighbor has stumbled into the lives of the family as well.  Tensions mount and secrets are concealed, revealed, and brandished as weapons as each individual tries to find their footing in a family home that is now situated on emotionally tectonic plates.

8th Annual OpenHouseNewYork Weekend - Oct 9-10

Always a fun and informative way to explore NYC places that are never otherwise open to the public. And free! Each year, the list of places available to tour includes some repeats and some new options. You could never see everything they offer in just one weekend.  Check their site for times and places. Maybe QNYers can make this a group outing? Any interest?

Delusion, by Laurie Anderson at BAM Harvey Theater

Photo credit Lou Reed

Laurie Anderson's newest show, Delusion, debuts in New York City tonight at the BAM Harvey Theater in Brooklyn, and it is running until Oct. 3rd. I wouldn’t miss it.

And since you shouldn’t either, I’m happy to announce that QNY has 2 free tickets to give away to a lucky commenter to this post (details and available dates after the jump).

I've been happy to catch her performances many times over the years, from indoor multi-media computer-tech enhanced events (Calvin Theater, Northampton, MA) to minimalist outdoor collaborations with Tuvan Throat Singers (Prospect Park Bandshell). Why am I a fan? For more than 40 years, Ms. Anderson has channeled her relentless creativity into musical innovation and mixed media performances that prick up our ears, exercise our minds, and both soothe and startle our eyes. She has invented new instruments, collaborated with everyone ever described as avant-garde, influenced everyone else, and is quite likely the first name you’d think of if asked to describe a “Performance Artist”.
Laurie Anderson also completely captivates with her distinctive brand of quietly spoken, matter-of-fact stories, often self accompanied by her MIDI-enhanced violin. With the gentleness of a protective grandmother, she slowly spins poetic yarns that point out the painful and the poignant, the obvious and the absurd of life’s quotidian queerness (in the traditional sense), often with a twenty-first century twilight zone twist that usually packs a sucker-punch wallop or induces head-scratching wonder.

The when & where details:
Delusion by Laurie Anderson at BAM Harvey Theater (651 Fulton St)
Sep 21—25, Sep 28—30, Oct 1 & 2 at 7:30pm
Sep 26 & Oct 3 at 3pm
Tickets start at $20  http://www.bam.org/delusion

New! Shiny! Clean!

Gutting a kitchen in a per-war building in Manhattan is not for the faint-hearted and it helps that I have a husband who is handy. The new floor is done. For the abbreviated saga, go here. Part of the problem is the tendency of contractors to promise the world, demand astronomical fees and then disappear into outer space. I've been managing this myself and have an electrician and a plumber who know the building and have the super's approval. Here's a photo of the spacers between the new tiles. Eerie.

My film debut - Bear City The Movie

As a dancing extra. Inauspicious. At 1:43.

American Idiot

posted by Mondschein

"American Idiot" at the St. James Theatre, September 12, 2010

Green Day comes to Broadway with this staging based on their 2004 album of the same title, broadening the original concept into a story of three friends, Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr.), Will (Michael Esper) and Tunny (Start Sands) who plan to abandon their small-town, suburban upbringing for the bright lights of the big city.  Will gets shot down before the trip begins when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant.  Johnny and Tunny make the trek, but Tunny joins the military in the aftermath of September 11 and ends up in Iraq.  Johnny falls victim to the lure of drugs under the spell of his dealer, St. Jimmy (Tony Vincent).

overheard in new york

spoken between two men in a mexican restaurant:

"My skin is so soft... I'm beautiful!"

TOO FUNNY......

It's true.  You CAN make your own art to hang it on your wall as part of a new decorating scheme and have everything in the world be right for just a few great moments.

it's a fast paced life

Cabfare for the Common Man

"Cabfare for the Common Man" at The Crowne Theatre at The Producer Club, September 16-18, 2010

I'll be appearing in the last act of the first half, a piece called "Passed Hordes" with the lovely and talented Sandy Trullinger, directed by the lovely and talented Brad Caswell, courtesy of Sweet & Tart Productions.  Tickets available at www.theatermania.com.


Bring your friends and neighbors!

To Celebrate Fashion Week at Lincoln Center

Young guys get away with murder. Did this Lincoln Square Starbucks patron deliberately mismatch his socks? Is the LEGO backpack ironic? None of the colors he chose (or did not choose) relate well. The hat is an odd hybrid of military/engineer with a preppy tan band. The beard/sideburns are hesitant. The whole composition works because it appears to be careless, although he may have spent significant time making it look that way. It also works only because he is young and cute. His day will come when he will be forced to match his socks before appearing in public. I'd say he has another ten years until that day arrives.

Upper West Side Housing

Having ripped out the kitchen sink and dismantled the range and D/W and busted up all the old cabinets, I slog onward through the lowest point in the journey to new kitchendom.

My situation made me empathetic when I saw this Upper West Side "residence" on Central Park West.

Daniella, Why You With That Felluh?

Here's a sweet song with a plaintive Appalachian lesbian vibe by the group Hurray For The Riff Raff. They are veterans of the LGBTQ scene, performing every year at Idapalooza, and also at GayBiGayGay at SXSW. Ani Drifranco is a huge supporter and comes to all of their shows in New Orleans. 


Hurray For The Riff Raff is currently on tour (Here are the dates), I am terrifically looking forward to seeing them in Brooklyn at Coco 66 on October 15th.


Listen to Hurray For The Riff Raff's Alynda Lee Segarra sing Daniella. Pure and Classic.

she's a lady

TONY WARD ~ DOLCE&GABBANA

Model Tony Ward has been tapped by D&G to be the face of the brand’s new, sixth Anthology scent. The scent, called 11 The Force, was described as a blend of spice and vanilla bourbon and adds to the existing five scents with names that reference tarot cards.

OMG! Colton Ford on the Subway!

By West Village Bill

Earlier tonight, when Tony; Nick and Jason, his visiting friends from Buffalo; and I were on the 1 train, former porn superstar Colton Ford got on at 18th Street. We all got off at 42nd but unfortunately not in that way. Man, I so wanted to take a bite out of him.

Gay Rapper AB Soto Brings his Tricks to the Resurrected Phoenix

by Charlie Vázquez


One of the East Village’s most notorious haunts is now featuring live (and queer at that) entertainment in addition to the standard “DJ” culture that gay bars have locked themselves into. Back during Pride Week the Phoenix unveiled its new house with a bill entitled “Gay Rage,” which showcased four of New York City’s up-and-coming queer music acts. Since then a few others have followed and more are on the way (see below).




In-house star DJ Larry Sparkman’s Saturday night party, “Suspicious Package,” has developed a strong following all its own, and how could it not with such compelling graphics to seduce the restless queer eyes (also see below)? On Saturday, September 11th (10PM), he’ll be presenting Los Angeles-based gay rapper AB Soto, an internet and social media sensation both whimsical and sexy. I’ve included a video for your perusal:








Upcoming concert dates for the Phoenix:

Thursday, September 9th:
Little Victory and Brothers
9PM, no cover, 21+


Thursday, September 16th:
TBA


Thursday, September 23rd:
Horoscope and Sammy and the Supremes
9PM, no cover, 21+


Thursday, September 30th:
Skeleteon Head and Zbörnak
9PM, no cover, 21+

NY International Fringe Festival, 2010

New York International Fringe Festival, August 2010

I managed to get to three offerings in this year's Fringe, Rites of Privacy, 3boys,  and Open Heart.

True to Fringe form, they were all very different, both in premise and quality.

subway time warp

Cocktails: California Gimlet With Lemon Verbena Vodka

By West Village Bill

I made Lemon Verbena Vodka this past weekend by steeping one bunch of lemon verbena from the farmers market in a bottle of 360 Vodka. And this week, I've been making California Gimlets for Tony and myself. And now his new pet nickname for me is Gimlet. Aw.

The lemon verbena sat in the vodka for three days. I maybe could have left it in a few days longer. It's verbeny but not terribly strongly so. The next time I make it, I'll leave it in for a week. And I'll break up the leaves and stems smaller so they'll come right out of the bottle along with the vodka. This time, I ended up fishing out the large bits of herb with a bent paper clip before I poured the vodka back in.

Dale DeGroff calls the type of gimlet I made a California Gimlet because it's made with fresh lime juice rather than Rose's lime juice, which is what bars are likely to use in a gimlet.

When I was visiting my buds Dan and Paul in Cape May a couple of weekends ago, Paul whipped us up some cocktails that Saturday night with what he found lying around the trailer (besides me): Rose's lime juice, vodka and amaretto. I'd write the recipe here, but he doesn't remember the proportions of the ingredients, which made for a fun combo. He dubbed the drink Fun With Fags, or the FWF for short.

Bryant Park At 8PM On The First Day Of September

Summer in the city is not yet over.