they say more snow is on the way

Harlem Sun & Moon

Miami Beach International Fashion Week

by baad lamb

Last night we attended the kick-off event for Miami Beach International Fashion Week, held at Mondrian South Beach, and sponsored by Tiffany & Co., as a benefit for the Miami Fashion Week Foundation.

Now before all you New York fashionistas jump on a plane thinking you’re missing this showcase of international fashion design talent, take note that the dates for Fashion Week are March 3 through 6, and then plan accordingly. (Although with the huge piles of snow burying New York, you may still want to book a flight for immediate departure.)

Last night’s prelude, the Second Annual Humanitarian Awards, was an evening to honor ten outstanding philanthropic members of the South Florida community, and raise money for the foundation that will provide scholarships to aspiring young fashion professionals.

But there were plenty of designers in attendance, and a fun crowd enjoying the poolside setting overlooking Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami’s bright lights.
Lots of fun and fashion fotos follow….

Snow Day, January 27th.




Churchyard at W. 139th St and Hamilton Blvd.

 

Thai Restaurant, 135th and 12th Ave.



Jefferson Market Library, the Village.



This Day In Gay History

For the past year or so, sometimes with a few interruptions, Bo Young and Dan Vera of the White Crane Institute, the publisher of the venerable White Crane Journal, have been putting out an online column called "This Day In Gay History."

It is fantastic. Truly amazing. Not just because it's informative—there have been a lot of glosses on this topic over the years, and many of them never get too far away from Madonna's birthday—but because it's such a passionate assertion of what I have called for ages "gay tribalism." This is the idea that there is an invisible cord running through the soul and spine of queer men and women that links us. Christopher Isherwood referred to this as "our kind," as in his wonderful book Christopher and His Kind.

This does not mean that we all have something in common, like Judy Garland (OK, maybe we do all have her; who can look at Meet Me In St. Louis or The Wizard of Oz all the way without tearing up?) but that we have an understandable, common core of sensibilities and feelings that we can tap into and that are indeed the real "gay roots." I love this idea; it feeds me every day. This is our own family, and it has sustained me all my life. It is seen in a line of glbt writers, thinkers, acters and actors, explorers, scientists, martyrs, lovers, fighters, soldiers, doctors, lawyers, philosophers, artists, dressmakers and artisans, and just plain common folk who were brave enough either to come out or not be hidden totally at a time when hiding was forced on us.

So get to This Day in Gay History. Bo and Dan run it on the White Crane website, and it also runs on their FaceBook page. You can reach it at:

http://www.facebook.com/l/e4fbbh-zovzPFisRD3_u7nPB03A;GayWisdom.org 


And let them know how much it means to you. 

overheard on the subway

Said by an excited child looking out the window as the F line exits the tunnel and over the Gowanus Canal:

"I can see the rooftops.  I can see the whole world.  I can see the Statue of Liberdy.  I can see the trucks and garbage."

How I Got Here: Patrick

This is part of a series.  You can read other contributions, here, here, here and here.  If I've failed to link to other entries, please let me know.  (Thanks to Tony for giving me two more links; are we still missing people?)

 For years I swore I would never live in New York City.

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Sorry ladies, George says he won't get married again....

Awwww. Does that mean we fellas may still have a chance?

Videos of My Two Latest Musical Obsessions

By West Village Bill

The first time I saw this video of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" over at Joe.My.God. last month, I was immediately hooked. My favorite part of the video is when she shimmies in her chair and sings (backed by the sound of clapping hands?), "Throw your soul through every open door. Count your blessings to find what you live for." Nice! And I dig the sword-wielding dancer kicking up dust. And the bouncing glasses of water set in motion by the insistent bass drum.



I bought the song and video and played them almost obsessively. And then I played it for my friend Jen, who also got immediately hooked and bought Adele's first album, 19. Adele's second album, 21, which includes "Rolling in the Deep," will be released on Feb. 22.

The New York Nicks

Which one do you prefer? NYC model Nick Ayler or Calvin Klein boytoy Nick Gruber?

If you had to choose....



(Nick Ayler photo by Richard Gerst / DNA Magazine September 2010)

Calling all gay chefs........

NEW YORK’S “TOP GAY CHEF” COMPETITION -PREMIERE EVENT FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY



Contact Information: SHARMAYNE WESLER- Show Manager

RDP Group, 152 Simsbury Road, Avon, CT

800-243-9774 sharmayne@rdpgroup.com www.originalglbtexpo.com



Looking for professional chefs from the GLBT community to compete for the title of New York’s Top Gay Chef at this year’s 18th Original GLBT Expo.

Where: Javits Center-W 38th St. & 11th Ave. NYC

When: Sat. March 12, 2011-12n-7pm & Sunday March 13, 2011-12n-6pm



The Original GLBT Expo will premiere their latest feature, New York’s Top Gay Chef competition, for chefs of the GLBT community.

those were the reasons, that was new york

PANIC! ATTACK

by Charlie Vázquez

Hello and Happy New Year, Queer New York!

Better late than never (I hope). I've been trying to figure out something to post for the last few weeks, and it was under my nose the entire time. Some of you may know that I curate a reading series called PANIC! at Nowhere in the East Village every last Wednesday of the month. As we began to approach our third year, I decided to begin anthologizing it. The Best of PANIC! ¡En vivo from the East Village! is alive...

I spend a lot of time going to other readings trying to find the right people for PANIC!, and this first volume is a bold testament to Gotham's rich queer lit underground, and one that makes me proud. Featuring established writers such as Sam J. Miller and Lee Houck to burgeoning voices from the LGBT NYC Latino/a writing scene, this is by no means your average collection of queer writing. If you'd like to know more go to this post on my blog.

All Human Wisdom, a new series by Perry Brass: "Men"

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”

Alexandre Dumas Pere, last words in The Count of Monte Cristo.

Men. 

Men of late have taken a horrible rap in this life. Testosterone, aggression, and every kind of gross stupidity and wild-hair-up-the-ass chauvinism have been linked to them. Everything they do is suspect, and linked either to a crime or a social misdemeanor. They are out there alone, unstable, and barely able to make a living in this unbrave new world where neatness counts, “style” is looking exactly like every other stylish person, and labeled as either a sports-nut lughead, a vacuous yuppy, or an airhead pansy. Dad, who used to know best, is gone. He was thrown out of the house after his company was sold from under him, even though it was no fault of his own; he’s feeling utterless powerless (see “God” in next episodes). So unless he’s bringing in a secure, regular, and always increasing paycheck he might as well fly off to the Moon. Our consumer culture is now geared 90% toward women who do that much of the actual buying. If you look at TV, it’s about shampoo, hair coloring, Maybelene mascara, and how to make a 30-ton SUV can look feminine enough for a woman who will have the ultimate say in its purchase.

Man—as the silent ballast, bastion, balance, and security of the world—is over.

Museum of the Moving Image

by baad lamb




I had never been to the Museum of the Moving Image, expecting that it would be a dusty collection of cinema and television memorabilia, and lots of photographs of “celebrities”. As the endorphin addicted East Village club kid Margaret says when dismissing suburban living (Liquid Sky, 1983) “Oh how boring”.
But the press surrounding its recent addition, along with its inaugural day events highlighting both interactive and creative artistic video convinced me I should check it out.

winter wonderland

Samuel Steward Visits New York In 1930

From Justin Spring's wonderful biography:

"NYC is fun," he observed to a friend at the end of his life, "but it drains you quickly (or it always did me) and the entanglements and cross-purposes and switchings and turn-arounds make it seem like an emotional railroad yard, with everything working well but not much actually getting done."

All Human Wisdom, a new series by Perry Brass

“All human wisdom is summed up in two words; wait and hope.”
Alexandre Dumas Pere, last words in The Count of Monte Cristo.

People often feel that wisdom is something associated with age. Not true. Some of the smartest people I have ever known have been young. In fact, they got dumber as they got older because thinking that idiocy was the way to survival, and needing the protective coloring of crowds, they put aside their own important and native beliefs and became as passive and self-satisfied as the rest of the docile masses. Therefore, hold on to the wisdom of youth, but take it with a grain of learning, patience, experience, and even cunning.

Life. What do we mean by life? Is it simply existence, or something deeper and more meaningful and, of course, more satisfying? Life does mean that period of time when we are occupied with sustenance, with existence, with being alive, and with surviving and even overcoming numerous daily problems. But more important life is about being aware, about being present in the moment of existence. If life has a religious significance, and most of us believe it does, that significance is certainly of being aware, being conscious of who we are, what we are doing, and how it effects others and the world. This consciousness is what puts God in life. Therefore life without consciousness is pretty dead, although strictly speaking all of us know a lot of dead people walking around.

"queer" subway behaviour

In this new age of smart phones, ipods and electronic book readers when you enter a subway car you can not help but notice how the majority of people are absorbed by their devices.  In the old days - and not too long ago - you would have instead been greeted by the sight of many newspapers held outstretched.

The newspapers are still there but sadly reduced in number.  Amongst the people still reading the newpaper I've noticed a preponderance of this queer behaviour.   It was there before, but now seems to be more common with the leftover newspaper readers.  I call them "the paper shredders."

I've only seen women do it, usually elderly, but not always.  The reader flips through the paper, seems to be interested in an article and then proceeds to tear the page out of the paper, fold it in quarters and then push it into her oversized purse.  At first I thought it was because there was an important article they wanted to read in depth at a later time, maybe an ad or a coupon they wanted, or they were saving the crossword.  All my guesses in trying to explain this behaviour are discarded as the newspaper reader continues to rip page after page after page, fold them individually and put them in her purse until the whole paper is reduced in this manner.

The newspaper reader never actually reads the paper.  The time spent looking at it is never long enough to do more than scan the headlines.   More time is spent ripping the page, folding it, opening the purse, stuffing the paper in, closing the purse, lifting the paper back up, ripping out another page, folding it, re-opening the purse, over and over again.

I'm completely perplexed.

It truly is a queer behaviour.

QNY Levity.

This is one NYC license plate you'll probably never see.

A QNY Movie Review: I Love You Phillip Morris

By West Village Bill

The Squeeze Boy and I caught I Love You Phillip Morris on New Year's Eve. I was motivated to see the movie partly out of a desire to send a tiny, $13 message to the executives in Big Hollywood that they were foolish to balk at distributing a gay-themed film with frank depictions of man-on-man sex. I ended up enjoying ILYPM quite a bit. It turned out to be a fun, touching, and genuinely sweet movie.

Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell, a con man and escape artist who falls hard for the title character, who's played by Ewan McGregor, when they meet in a prison library. Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa do a pretty good job of reining Carrey in and preventing him from turning Steven Russell into Edward Nygma. And Carrey and McGregor have believable onscreen chemistry. (Unfortunately, hunky McGregor doesn't show much skin even though he's prone to doing that.*)

QNY's Eric Leven Will Read

Even though we rarely hear from QNY contributor Eric Leven, you can hear him read his short story  in What We Brought Back: Jewish Life After Birthright if you go to the Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway at 12th Street, 2nd floor, Tuesday, January 11th, 7-10PM. Here's the announcement:

Join us for a reading with Eric Leven, Shoshana Rubin, Mordechai Shinefield and Jake Marmer, some of the contributors to What We Brought Back: Jewish Life After Birthright, the new anthology project of Nextbook Inc. and Birthright Israel NEXT, edited by Wayne Hoffman. The book includes essays, poems, photos, graphics and more by alumni of Birthright Israel Trips. This event is sponsored by Tablet Magazine, a daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas and culture.

Island House - When The City Gets Just Too Cold

A brief stay at Island House is the best way to thaw out. Here's my profile in this week's South Florida Gay News.

QNY recommends: Eating On The Hump

The sometimes midtown and sometimes downtown Ken Browne has organized a regular Wednesday group of gay and gay-friendly folks who meet for dinner at a pre-selected restaurant of the inexpensive-and-I've-always-wanted-to-go-there variety that abound in Manhattan. The group is open to you, and is a good way to make some new friends and experience a new eatery.

Ken sang for many years with the sadly defunct acapella group called Mystery Date. Such a voice, and he's a great guy. Here's the info.

The next outing will be Wednesday, January 12th, 7-9PM, at the Mesa Grill in the Flatiron District.  Go, and then tell us all about it.

Michael Hartney

(via JoeMyGod)

An acquaintance of several QNY contributors, comedian Michael Hartney, is in a new AT&T commercial. And his laugh is getting noticed. (You may recall his So I Like Superman from the golden age of gay New York blogs.) It's great that his career is on the rise!

it's a wonderful town

ABBA 1980

"No more champagne
And the fireworks are through..."