A Summer Red Recommendation

By West Village Bill

Tony P. and I had the 2008 Fox Run Vineyards Lemberger from upstate New York last weekend at the Slice on Hudson Street. Tony had tried it at our go-to local wine shop and enjoyed it.

The best word to describe this wine is soft. And even though that's not really a quality I'd usually seek out in a red wine, it wasn't a bad thing at all in this case.

The label described the wine as having "a soft and flavorful palate structure." And Tony said it drank "like it was made with soft water."

The flavors were different from any I've experienced in a red wine before. I didn't detect a lot of ripe fruit; there was more a perfumey suggestion of fruit. "It's got some fruit but it's not too fruity, and it doesn't have that freshly fermented alcohol burn," Tony said. "It's what Beaujolais should be."

I'd never heard of the Lemberger grape before. It's more commonly known as Blaufränkisch.

The FRVL was $21 retail. Give this interesting local wine from an unusual grape a whirl sometime.

THE PURPLE PANTHERS

"History provides us with many examples of GLBT resistance. Through the years, queer people continued to live, work, love, cruise, have sex, find lovers and create literature and art in spite of repeated attempts to kill, maim, jail, raid, fire, evict, cure or vote against us. Acts of gay resistance happened all the time, and at the most unexpected places. One of those acts took place 49 years ago in South Florida’s Dania Beach, now John U. Lloyd Beach State Park. Already a favorite gay hangout, in 1962 the gay men on Dania Beach faced two enemies: police officers who harassed and arrested them for “lewd and lascivious” acts and teenagers who rode their dune buggies at top speed to scare the “fags.” Though police harassment remains a problem till this day, the young gays on Dania Beach eventually took care of the riders. According to the late Jerry Mitchell, a South Florida activist, some gay men buried pieces of wood with protruding nails in the sand. When the buggies came by later that day, their tires got punctured. Angered by this turn of events, the riders jumped out of their cars only to be attacked by gay men wielding baseball bats they had hidden in the sand. These gay men, the “Purple Panthers,” are now a proud footnote in the history of GLBT resistance."
(written by Jesse Monteagudo)

Harlem Grid

Pedestrian Overpass to Riverbank State Park. 

If Mondrian and Pollack Had a Baby

And then someone handed her a camera...

Lambda Literary Awards

Last night, I chatted with Edward Albee about the reason for his loathing Palm Beach, and with Claire Buffie who was eager to take off her crown, and I took their pictures. Edward Albee was not too pleased with being honored with a Pioneer Award that seemed to him like rumors of the Rapture.

.

Fish Scales

Riverside Drive at West 125th St.

Florent: Queen of the Meat Market

By West Village Bill

Last night, my boyfriend Tony P. and I caught Florent: Queen of the Meat Market, a documentary about Florent Morellet, the out, HIV-positive owner of the dearly departed bistro-diner on Gansevoort Street that became wildly successful and started the gentrification of the Meatpacking District. We really enjoyed it.

The movie features a lot of celebrity cameos, but the most fun came from the stories told by employees such as longtime hosts Harry Erickson—who looks like the love child of Roger Daltrey and David Bowie—and Darren Anthony—who relates how he dealt with a customer who had stripped to his underwear and covered himself with grape jelly—and hunky former waiter Tom Eubanks.

The real star, though, is, appropriately, Morellet, who comes across as a real mensch who enables and revels in the sea of craziness around him. We see him as an activist and entertainer—he does drag for the "high holidays": Halloween, New Year's Eve, and Bastille Day—and a preserver of historic things and places who despises nostalgia.

Neither Tony nor I had ever eaten at Florent, and it was a hoot to spend some time there almost three years after it closed.

Florent is playing at the Cinema Village on E. 12th Street.

Дядя Ваня- A Review

I recently attended the Moscow State Mossovet Theatre's touring production of Дядя Ваня (or Uncle Vanya for those of you who somehow never learned to read the Russian alphabet) held at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center on May 14th and 15th.

I suppose I could sum up the entire production in one word:  Intense.

"Foxxy Face Couture Club Wear" by Marcello

Geary Marcello

All the freaks came out to support the launch of the new label by fashion designer Geary Marcello that was hosted by Herbert Fox Prod. at the Chelsea Hotel.


Justin Rymer and textile designer Louisa


Andy and Punk of Punk Kouture


Mark and designer Jamie Pesavento with photographer Rob Ordonez

We'll Soon See.

Last Halloween, the Baad Lamb took this photo of me one step ahead of the Rapture.
Tomorrow that sign will end up in the trash, one way or the other.

Brian Farrell Art Opening at Vanessa Noel Shoe Boutique

QNY guest Writer/Photographer: Miguel Dominguez


Artist Brian Farrell

The opening night exhibit of artist Brian Farrell, arranged by patroness Vanessa Noel at her sumptuous shoe boutique located in the southeast corner of 64 & Lex, was not exactly a “gay” happening, not in the strictest sense of the word, but there were enough Daddies of our persuasion (and hot ones too!) milling about, to make me dizzy with indecision about where I ought to focus.

When David Frank Ray, aka Darling!, who is my dearest friend and also a contributor to QNY, plus his own blog “Vintage a GoGo”, asked me to come to the event, I was delighted. When he told me that one of his closest chums whom I also admire immensely, Linda Morand, publisher of Supermodels Hall of Fame.com, MiniMadMod 60s.com and LindaMorand.com, was going to attend along with her daughter Mirjana, both of them showing off cocktail dresses by Pesavento Couture, I just couldn’t miss being there to make a photo report of the event.


Shoe designer Vanessa Noel with David Frank Ray

May Day, Central Park Great Pond

she who must be obeyed

Nicole Atkins " Mondo Amore"

It's a cold winter day in February. I drive to work and I'm station surfing looking for something to spark up some heat into my bones. I stop on a station I'd not listened to before, but they're playing a song I haven't heard in a long time. Okay so I'm singing some warmth into my body, but I need more... And as I sit there, I'm suddenly taken over with this unexpected pounding coming from the speakers! The skies darken and her voice is bewitching, "Careful where you walk"... "Vultures circle in"... My heart is pounding to the beat of every instrument and I don't know who she is, but I'm going to sit here until I do!
It's a hot spring day in May 2011 and I'm sitting next to that voice that had me so bewitched. I now know who she is, Nicole Atkins, and I am visiting her at her home! She's playing her latest and second album, "Mondo Amore" and I sit here taken over by the admiration I have for this young woman and her talent. She's not just another voice. There's flesh and bones of course, but there's so much heart in her lyrics. A deep soulful sound, there's that darkness, but with a light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel life is all about connections, like a game of connect the dots, forming lines, curves, and circles, until you finally get the big picture. Throughout my life I've always tried to connect to others and find what common ground we share. I felt it for the first time as I heard her music, and as she speaks of herself it's nice to find we share that common ground.

Lo Siento, No Hablo

On the day of the royal wedding, I went to my local laundromat. There are two TVs in the place; the one closest to the desk is sometimes tuned to an Asian language channel (for the owners), but the other is always tuned to a Spanish language station. I was a bit surprised to hear the words "el palacio de Buckingham" as I walked in, but apparently this obsession was more international than I realized. That's cool, I guess. Kate and Wills, they seem like nice kids. I like a big show as much as the next guy, but this one hadn't really captured me for some reason. I didn't get too worked up about it, one way or the other.


Others in the room, however, had much stronger opinions. The older woman seated next to me was watching the coverage intently. Suddenly she piped up, "why is this important?"

I replied without thinking, "Yeah, it does seem a bit silly, doesn't it?"

This would all be fine, if it weren't for the fact that we had this interchange--short simple words, short simple concepts, present tense only--in Spanish.

ROAD SIGNS

REPOST: Telepan Tribeca

I'm reposting my review of Telepan Tribeca that got sucked into the void when Blogger crashed last week. QNY's Dr. Jeff was able to recover it for me. This week is the last week to try TT at the Pecan Cafe.

By West Village Bill

Lou and I had an interesting but not completely satisfying dinner tonight at Telepan Tribeca, a pop-up variation of the Upper West Side restaurant that's serving supper for just four weeks, and only from Wednesday to Friday, at Pecan Cafe.

I'm a huge fan of the fresh-from-the-Greenmarket aesthetic that chef Bill Telepan is known for, but I wasn't super excited about the offerings tonight.

First up were three amuses-bouches: Beef Tenderloin With Fennel and Parmigiano, Ricotta Toast With Fava and Mint, and Sepia With Chili Oil. The toast was my favorite: eight bites of springtime. Lou really enjoyed the tenderloin. Neither of us is particularly fond of squid, but we had fun trying it. I made a point of eating a baby squid, body and all, after consuming a few separated tentacles, because I wanted to briefly get outside my comfort zone.

Next up was Egg Drop Soup in Mushroom Broth. The first few spoonfuls were satisfying, but I grew bored with it. I should point out that I'm not generally a big fan of mushrooms; it's a textural thing.

For our entree, Lou and I both selected Pasture Veal With Garlic Wild Greens and Lemon. (The other option had been Soft Shell Crabs With Sugar Snaps and Arugula.) We both found the veal to be unpleasantly chewy. I should have taken up my waiter on his offer to take it back to be cooked longer.

CNN Anchor Don Lemon Comes Out

The man who has the most beautiful mouth on television is now officially gay, having effectively stolen Anderson Cooper's thunder.

When a Couple of Gay Birds Move In ...

By West Village Bill

... the birdhouse looks fabulous.

I think it must actually be the work of schoolchildren, seeing as how it was in a tree outside an elementary school in the West Village. But it was so cute, I could picture a couple of male bluebirds, Bondi and Peri (short for Periwinkle), happily setting up house in there.

"BORN THIS WAY"

Lady Gaga rules on the cover of V magazine.

“Men With The Golden Eye” Photo Exhibit at Posh Bar & Lounge

QNY guest Writer/Photographer: Miguel Dominguez


Logo's "A List" Rodiney Santiago with agent Martin Berusch

When two nights ago on May 9, photographer and homoerotic art collector David Jarrett invited me to visit his apartment to look over a small portion of the breathtakingly superb art pieces he keeps in New York, he capped an already wonderful evening by taking me to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants in Hell’s Kitchen.



9th avenue and the upper 40s is the hottest gay strip in New York since the Stonewall riots and a hell of a lot more exciting than even mythical Christopher Street in the 70s. After dinner, we toured all the haunts, and on a Monday night at 11 pm, the neighborhood was still jumping but with more room to breathe.

More gorgeousness after the break!

David Beckham in his tighty whiteys

sigh

Derek Nicoletto's Hustler With A Rescue Plan. Scooter School

The latest in a downtown school of music video that really needs a name. The messy helter-skelter livid paint and stuffed animal homoerotic playful horror thing. I don't know why I like this but I do. Very Scooter LaForge.

In fact, I'm christening this movement "Scooter School".

I think Gio Black Peter is an example of Scooter School.

spotted

michael musto spotted at 10pm riding his bike down 5th avenue, crossing 42nd on the light change, while on his cell phone.

Perry Brass: Lost Gay New York: Doric Wilson

Doric Wilson, 1962, at the Caffe Cino, courtesy doricwilson.com

Doric Wilson died last Saturday, May 7, at the age of 72. The exact time and cause is at the present unknown, but he died in his apartment at roughly the same time as a new play by Joshua Conkel called “I’m Gonna Destroy You” was being read by TOSOS II, Doric’s own glbt theatre enterprise, as part of the Robert Chesley/Jane Chambers Playwrights Project. I know: this last sentence was a mouthful, but it seems like every word in it (Bob Chesley, a wonderful, early HIV-killed friend of mine; Jane Chambers: “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove”; TOSOS—The Other Side of Silence, Doric’s bang-up of a name) brings back some part of Lost Gay New York to me, and now Doric Wilson is definitely a piece of it. Lost for us, or maybe not. Because as a playwright you live on, and Doric will.

He was an amazing character: delightful, funny as hell, completely irreverent, crusty, difficult at times, but incredibly sweet and affectionate. I’d known him for so long that I can’t remember not knowing him. I think we met sometime during the Gay Activists Alliance era—or possibly even earlier when I’m sure I panted after him. He was a tall, lean, gorgeously handsome red head, and he moved beautifully like a dancer. Years later, after he had gone through health problems and gained a lot of weight and lost the red hair I kept wanting to see that young man inside him. I knew he was there, and both Doric and I missed him. But he was always bubbling with life and discovering new things, which is what keeps us moving, changing, and young inside. He loved opera, all forms of theatre (including tending bar, one of the great forms of theatre and acting), plays and writing them, and keeping gay theater alive in New York (and elsewhere).

white brick

Robert W. Richard’s Homoerotic Trunk Sale

Writer/photographer: Miguel Dominguez


Robert and two of his hotties

Through the years Robert W. Richards has kept himself the darling of the fashion dictators and connoisseurs, and rightfully so. The elegance of his style can turn a sack of potatoes over someone’s torso into the most beautiful of designers’ garments.


Patrick J. Sullivan, Robert W. Richards, Harvey Redding

But it is when drawing the male form that the beauty of his art turns into that “Old Black Magic”. Imagine the most perfect college discoveries by Bruce Weber, or Abercrombie & Fitch’s catalog drool dolls being deified by the ink work that only Robert can create. That’s when you realize you’re not witnessing the proof of a superior artist, but the work of a sorcerer.



(one or two of the images after the break are slightly NSFW)

Two feisty New Yorkers, Barbra and Larry, duke it out.

And I think Barbra wins this round.

(Kramer photo by David Shankbone. Streisand photo by Al Ravenna)

Clarence True, Partially Illuminated by Christopher Gray

Here's a sweet little piece about the man who designed some of the best visual moments of a stroll on the UWS. While I am aware of the fact that writers frequently do not devise their own headlines, I'd have hoped for a little more about what made True's chuckwagon so revolutionary. And I don't think Rome's Farnese Palace ought to be torn down!

(Marilyn Yee photo/New York Times)

Catching Up the Backlog

It's been a busy spring.  Here's a collection of summaries on what I've seen of late.

"The House of Blue Leaves" at the Walter Kerr Theatre, April 11, 2011

This revival was a big hit in it 1986 production at Lincoln Center Theatre with John Mahoney, Swoosie Kurtz and Stockard Channing.  I wish I'd seen it.  Instead we get Ben Stiller, who was also in the 1986 production, with Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  Ms. Leigh is the only one close to being appropriately cast.  Director David Cromer seems to have strayed from what made his last two successful productions work (Our Town and Brighton Beach Memoirs) - focus on the text.  One has to wonder how much pressure there was for commercial success after the unfortunate end of the latter.  Mr. Stiller flails but never nails the desperation of Artie, making the ending twist all the more flabbergasting for the wrong reasons.  This limited run ends July 23, 2011.

"The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures" at the Public Theater, April 13, 2011

Live from the Festival of Ideas

The Baad Lamb phones it in from the Bowery

Festival of Ideas Fashion?

The Baad Lamb has just phoned in this curious pic from the Bowery where he is investigating the Festival of Ideas.

george gershwin wrote rhapsody in blue here

Wonder What the Story is There?

Seen on East 23rd Street.

The School for Lies

Posted by Mondschein

"The School for Lies" at Classic Stage Company, April 30, 2011

David Ives returns to CSC with another update of a classic. This time it's a fresh interpretation of Moliere's The Misanthrope.

And fresh, indeed.  Mr. Ives manages to combine the French salon of the empire with a hilarious farce entirely in verse and using quite contemporary and usually anachronistic language.  It's a similar feat to that of this season's revival of David Hirson's La Bete, but this time it doesn't require the masterful skills of Mark Rylance to achieve success.


Mr. Ives kicks off this grand time with the names assigned to his characters.  The misanthrope, a man incapable of guile or dishonesty, even for the sake of polite society is aptly named Frank (Hamish Linklater).  Celimene (Mamie Gummer) is the widowed owner of the manse where the action occurs, and has a slander charges pending against her. She sports a barbed tongue as sharp as Frank's, but wields it purely for sport, "I never gossip, I just repeat."  Losing the case will render her penniless if her secrets are revealed.  Complicating the suit is Celimene's rival, Arsinoe (Alison Fraser).  She also has three suitors: the obnoxious and untalented, self-styled poet Oronte (Rick Holmes), Acaste (Matthew Maher) a vapid hanger-on, and her oily lawyer Clitander (Frank Harts).  Philante (Hoon Lee) and Elainte (Jenn Gambatese) round out the cast as friends of Celimene and Steven Boyer doubling as servants of both Celimene and Frank.

Festival of Ideas for the New City

by baad lamb

This portable plastic people container was developed by the architecture and urbanism group raumlabor berlin. They were invited by New York's own Storefront for Art and Architecture to explore the restrictions and the possibilities of temporary collective use spaces in New York City and other highly urbanized areas. (I took this picture on that original visit, when they were setting up in the Meat Packing District in April, 2009).

The Spacebuster will be only one of the very many events, projects, and symposiums that make up the Festival of Ideas for the New City, today through Sunday. The Festival's base is the Lower East Side neighborhood, especially in the streets around the Bowery near the New Museum, although the extensive list is dotted with locations all over the city. On their website, their mission states that "the Festival will harness the power of the creative community to imagine the future city and explore the ideas destined to shape it".

There will be drawing and dance, art and architecture, food and films, music, rooftop gardens (on buildings AND busses), as well as a "truck farm". Truly, the list is endless and a majority of the attractions are free. Plus, there is a streetfest that promises to NOT follow the standard formula: funnel cakes, tube socks, refrigerator magnets, repeat. Instead, expect booths by Brooklyn Flea Food, Local Artists of Etsy, a solar powered film tent, and the new Van Alen Reading Room (yes, that Van Alen).

Finally, back to the category of creative people-containers: in addition to the Spacebuster, be on the lookout for Worms.

everyone loves the cherry blossoms

"but we've always been New Yorkers"

Protecting LGBT Youth - A Forum Tonight At The Center

After the break, the panel and information about the pre-rally and march

Mystery Fiesta in Sunset Park, Brooklyn

posted by baad lamb


Dear knowledgeable readers and QNY writing team: We need some information help in here!

After a Sunday morning excursion exploring the eerily quiet industrial park behemoth that is the Bush Terminal, I left the Southwest Brooklyn waterfront behind and headed east, up the hill to the blue collar neighborhood of Sunset Park and its namesake greenspace. At the crest of the hill on 57th Street, I turned left on 6th Ave and walked for about 10 minutes before entering into the middle of the the Park. Moments later I luckily stumbled upon this Mystery Festival.      (More pics and video after the jump.)

Gio Black Peter's New Video By Bruce LaBruce

Totally seriously NSFW video, but I call it to your attention because I think Gio Black Peter is the anti-Cazwell. I do NOT mean that as an insult or a compliment to either. The calculations each makes in delivery of his music videos are as different as black and white, and yet the atmosphere and redolence of Gio's [warning: NSFW link ahead] Revolving Door New Fuck New York closely matches Cazwell's Ice Cream Truck. I liked watching the Gio video only by reminding myself that the liquids deployed in its making were probably sugary syrups and sauces with edible bits of commonplace food. Call me vanilla if you will; I'll own it. We are all immune to sexually explicit imagery, and I hardly think this qualifies as pornography. (Riveting is different from titillating.) I liked the color, texture, mood. I do think it lacks story and poetry, two things that Cazwell always delivers.

Also, my comparison is entirely focused on the visual quality of Gio/Cazwell videos. I will continue to watch what both these guys put out. I do prefer the music and lyrics of Cazwell, but I'm pop like that; this will I also own. Come on, you highbrow readers, it's good to get down sometimes.

( Slava Mogutin photo)

Norman Mailer's Place Is For Sale

With the death of his last wife Norris Church, Norman Mailer's Brooklyn Heights apartment with a fabulous view and a wild multilevel interior is up for grabs, along with all the furnishings. With the estate being divided among Mailer's nine children, the logical process is liquidation. Got $2.5 million?

(photo Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

by Ivan Vargas

I'm not one to celebrate the dead, but considering what happened on September 11, 2001, which not exactly a comedy in three acts with a happy ending, this will come as a form of closure to anyone who in one way or another found their lives turned upside-down by those events, and it comes near the ten-year mark of the fall of the Twin Towers in downtown Manhattan. In short, the man behind those attacks who proudly became the face of global terorrism, Osama Bin Laden, is dead.