shaftway

Testimony

Keith Haring at The Center

Continuing with the Keith Haring thread the mural he did at the The Center in what was once the men's bathroom is now on view to the public during The Center's opening hours but only until March 31.

More information by clicking on the following link:

Keith Haring mural at The Center

Winter Wrap Up

Posted by Mondschein.

Ok, it's been entirely too long since my last post.  Though silent, I've seen the following:

• Wit, presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at Friedman Theatre, January 17, 2012 - Cynthia Nixon takes on the role of Vivian Bearing, Phd, dying of cancer in this erudite memory play that retells her last days of suffering.  For all the heady use of language throughout the majority of the script, playwright Margaret Edson makes a puzzling turn away from the powerful use of language as her lead characters moans and wails through the last 10 minutes.  Ms. Nixon is effective, but didn't quite master the central gravitas of the role.
• Merrily We Roll Along, presented by Encores! at New York City Center, February 10, 2012 - Sondheim's awkward child gets another revision with a lengthened run courtesy of Encores!  It's nice to see the show after knowing the score for many years.  Most of the flaws remain, though there are some quality distractions.  Lin-Manuel Miranda nebbishes it up nicely as Charlie and Celia Keenan-Bolger discards glamour for the drunken Mary.  Elizabeth Stanley powers in a great Sherie Renee Scott knock-off as Gussie, but Betsy Wolfe doesn't quite give her Beth the charm and vulnerability we might have enjoyed from Kelli O'Hara. 
• Carrie, presented by MCC Theatre at Lucille Lortel Theatre, February 15, 2012 - Stephen King is back on the boards and watered down with a flavor of Footloose.   In the title role, Molly Ranson sings sweetly, but gets held back by the tepid script.  Marin Mazzie as Margaret White, Carrie's mother, misses the bat-shit crazy mark needed to convey the danger of the religious fanatic.
  

Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum

Runs March 16 through July 8, 2012

Keith Haring at the Brooklyn Museum

Click on the above link for more information from the Brooklyn Museum website.

Queer Sailing in NYC - First time on the water in 2012!

Yesterday, my sisterwife Daisy Shaver and I hopped the PATH train, met Static, our Captain, at the Newport Marina, and took our first sail of the season.  When we arrived at the marina there was still a bit of fog, so we worked on getting the ship in shape and hoisted the jib sail into position.  In the pic above you can see Static teaching me a new knot, the bowline, a skill I know I'll use quite often!  Finally the fog lifted mid-afternoon and we gave the jib a shakedown run in the harbor.  The Sonadora was the only sailboat in sight and one of the few vessels on the water, which was really serene and special! 

I lived all my life in my home state of Kansas until I moved to NYC in 2004.  Naturally, I knew almost nothing about boats and had hardly been on them, until sailing with Static last Summer caused a whole new area of geeky enthusiasm to bloom in my heart!  I've already learned a ton, including that sailing is mostly the domain of middle class white people, and even the gay sailors in NYC are pretty damn straight-laced and staid.  They don't know quite what to think of our crew, but that's okay, because honestly I wouldn't feel like myself if I wasn't scandalizing somebody.  I'm so looking forward to another year of learning more knots, racing around the harbor, and rocking the boat with our crew of radical faeries!  Sometimes I think I'm the luckiest boy in NYC.

After the break, a pic of Daisy with the growing Freedom Tower in the background, along with a snap of yours truly attempting to strike a pose, even in boring, early-Spring sailing clothes.  Stay tuned for more...

A Walk in the East Village

By West Village Bill

Yesterday, my guy Tony P. and I had a wonderful walk in the East Village. It was initiated by a visit to the Michael Mut Gallery on Avenue C between 6th and 7th streets.

We know Michael because he's the partner of the piano teacher for our great friends Bob and Jen's kids. We went to the opening reception of his Look Again exhibit, which is a showing of collages he made that were inspired by works of Pablo Picasso. The collages incorporate fragments of photos of Michael's own paintings. Tony and I both favored Girl in Mirror, which was based on Picasso's Girl before a Mirror. At left is Seated Woman on Wood Chair, after Picasso's painting from 1941. The exhibit runs through April 7.

On the way back to our apartment, we walked west on E. 9th Street, purely by chance. What a charming little street.

We stopped in The Upper Rust, an antiques shop with many interesting finds.

Then we hit Pink Olive, which had lots of items I'd never seen before. I bought two issues of Uppercase, a new-to-me quarterly arts-and-crafts journal.

And finally, we went to Mascot Studio, which is having its annual show of dog art. I bought a couple of cards by New York artist Anne Watkins.

XELLE Debuts at XL Thursday Night To Benefit GLSN

Okay so it's really Friday morning because they don't come on until 2:30AM.
This is rumored to be a very good live performance by XELLE. They will be performing their new club hits "Invincible" and "Party Girl".

19th Annual Winter Party. Miami Beach. 2012

I met so many queer New Yorkers. Attendees seemed to be from either Brazil or NYC.

it's been a lovely day