2009 Trentadue Old Patch Red and Lamb Stew With Sweet Potatoes and Spinach

By West Village Bill

My sweetheart, Tony P., picked up a mostly zinfandel California red wine the other day after tasting it at our local wine shop, and we've both really taken a liking to it—and have bought several more bottles. It's the 2009 Trentadue Old Patch Red, which is made from a mix of 77% zinfandel, 11% petite sirah, 11% carignane, and 1% sangiovese.

The Old Patch Red has typical-for-zinfandel dark-berry-and-spice flavors, including a touch of anise, and a nice aroma with a hint of maple. It's a round, satisfying wine at a bargain price of $15.

We had a bottle Friday night with a delicious variation of Lamb and Sweet Potato Pie that Tony has made for me twice now. He makes a stew rather than a shepherd's pie–type dealie, and he tweaks the spices a bit, including leaving out the star anise. He uses the freshly grated nutmeg, though, like Martha says to, and the whole dish is a wonderful melange of fruity, spicy, earthy, meaty deliciousness.

Perry Brass: That Rock and That Hard Place Finally Meet at the LGBT Center

                                                                             LGBT Center, 208 West 13th Street

It began fairly innocently enough: a group called Siege Busters, composed of a few people (I gather) ardently against the Israeli blockade of Hamas-led Gaza, wanted to have a party (or program) at the LGBT Community Center on West 13th Street and they wanted to call it “Anti-Israeli Apartheid Week.” Siege Busters had actually met at the Center before, and the person in the Center office responsible for booking rooms, in the Center’s long-standing tradition of inclusiveness (which it actually has, despite some posturing by Center critics to the contrary) booked the room.

News of the meeting/party was put up on the Center’s website, and from there all heck broke loose. Several well-placed and well-heeled supporters of the Center, which it needs, because, after all, the Center is in New York and not Nebraska, went into a screaming fit. They organized a phone blitz on the Center’s staff, threatening the new ED of the Center, Glenda Testone, and other staff members, that if this offense to Israel were allowed to take place, they would “reconsider” all of their past support for the Center and cut off every penny to it in the future. 

Primary among them was porn-star entrepeneur Michael Lucas, who ran an email blast to his several thousand nearest-and-dearest asking them to “Boycott the LGBT Center,” stating of course that Israel is America’s only democratic ally in the Middle East (no lie) and that only in Israel are gays and lesbians given any real chance for personal freedom and freedom from injury and possible death, as they are in the rest of the Arab-Moslem world. (Again, no lie: you can slice this and dice it as many ways as you wish, but it is the unfortunate truth.)

Digging Out from February

Molly Sweeney

"Molly Sweeney" at The Irish Repertory Theater, February 5, 2011

I haven't had much exposure to the work of Brian Friel, other than the revival of Faith Healer with Cherry Jones and Ralph Fiennes in 2006.  I remember that piece primarily because of the excellent performances turned in by Mr. Fiennes and Ms. Jones, as well as Ian McDiarmid. 

For that reason and that I had yet to see a production from Irish Rep, I was excited to attend Molly Sweeney. 

If only this production had met my high expectations.  This tale of a woman, blind since early childhood, follows a similar pattern as Mr Friel's Faith Healer, but in this play the monologues of the title character (Geraldine Hughes), her husband Frank (Ciaran O'Reilly) and the surgeon, Mr. Rice (Jonathan Hogan) are randomly interspersed as each characters tells his/her version of the story.  The result is a documentary-style disclosure of the events in Molly's life. 

Gruesome Playground Injuries

"Gruesome Playground Injuries" at Second Stage Theatre, February3, 2011

Despite some excellent make-up effects, Rajiv Joseph's two-hander about two friends who spend their lives meeting up at the emergency room with injuries ranging from nausea to sprained angles to missing teeth and eyes doesn't quite find a focus.  (I could practically hear Darren McGavin saying, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid.")  Mr. Joseph adds to the confusion by bouncing the plot in non-sequential five year increments.

Pablo Schreiber is Doug, whose injuries are always much more physically damaging than those of Kayleen, played by Jennifer Carpenter.  Both make a valiant effort to bring credibility to their roles, but the evening is undercut the painfully overlong transitions when the actors must change their costumes and sets themselves.   Ms. Carpenter is, to quote a casting director I once heard, "strong by wrong."  I'd like to see her again in a role that suits her better.  Mr. Schreiber is much stronger than his material, as well as being a good bit more physically robust than the accident-prone character he portrays.

"Soulful Stitching" and "Harlem Views/Diasporan Visions" at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

By West Village Bill

Yesterday, Mark, Hanif, and I went to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem to check out Soulful Stitching, an exhibition of patchwork quilts made by women of African heritage who live in southern India.

The women are part of a group of people known as the Siddis. They're descended both from early (1st millenium CE and circa the 12th century) African immigrants who traveled from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and parts of South Asia and from slaves who were taken by the Portuguese to Goa in western India.* The earlier settlers took jobs as merchants, soldiers, sailors, and administrators, and some achieved power as leaders in government, religious groups, and the military. The slaves moved south after escaping from their bondage, and their descendants were joined at various times by offspring of the earlier settlers. Today, about 20,000 Siddis live in a remote area of thick forests and high plains in the Western Ghats mountains.

The quilts are called kawandi and are made from old clothing of family members, so the colors and patterns vary greatly. The women use one or more pieces of sari fabric as backing material, and the finishing touches on every quilt are small bundles of square fabric that have been folded into triangles and sewn on the corners.

The New York Idea

"The New York Idea" presented by Atlantic Theater Company at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, January 30, 2011

I'm not sure if it's the play itself, or just this latest adaptation by David Auburn, but Langdon Mitchell's premise of a divorced woman, newly engaged to a divorced man was better told by the prolific Phillip Barry in The Philadelphia Story, which premiered on Broadway some six years after The New York Idea's last revival.  One can't help but wonder if Mr. Barry had seen that production.

Set in 1906, Mr. Mitchell's work plods through the unseemliness of divorce at the time, punctuated by the dithering and frowns of the mother and aunt of the groom.  The result is an evening of theatrical fluff, verging on lint.

The cast is up for the game and make noble if unsuccessful efforts to breathe life into the stodgy plot.  As Cynthia Karslake (the divorced bride-to-be), Jaime Ray Newman is perky, but trapped.  Jeremy Shamos's John Karslake, her ex, comes across as mostly embarrassed to be caught up in the proceedings, and not from just his character's perspective.

At The Hotel Chelsea

from Patti Smith's wonderful book Just Kids:

I was wearing a long rayon dress with white polka dots and a straw hat, my East of Eden outfit. At the table to my left, Janis Joplin was holding court with her band. To my far right were Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane, along with members of Country Joe and the Fish. At the last table facing the door was Jimi Hendrix, his head lowered, eating with his hat on, across from a blonde. There were musicians everywhere, sitting before tables laid with mounds of shrimp with green sauce, paella, pitchers of sangria, and bottles of tequila.

I stood there amazed, yet I didn’t feel like an intruder. The Chelsea was my home and the El Quixote was my bar. There were no security guards, no pervasive sense of privilege. They were here for the Woodstock festival, but I was so afflicted by hotel oblivion that I wasn’t aware of the festival or what it meant.

Love Hangover

(Homemade Valentine detail, Feb 2011)

I don't know what my fellow QNY Bloggers did for their Valentine's but mine started with a fairly mellow evening of drinks at the Cellar Bar in the basement of the Bryant Park Hotel followed by an early dinner at Koi where we finished off some pretty spectacular specials with a rich, dark chocolate fondue and homemade donuts.  Cards were exchanged, his highlighting our 15th Valentine's Day together while mine, a homemade piece of calligraphy I'd been working on for some time, mentioned various platitudes of our days and nights together.

And then we got home and, quite unscripted, I was presented a little black bag holding a purchase from The Leather Man down on Christopher Street.  

So it is like this: after almost 16 years together, there is still room for Valentines, romance, and surprises...even in the most jaded corners of the city.

Don Celender and the American Dairy Association, 1970

Had not heard of Don Celender until browsing through the fascinating exhibition at Zieher Smith Gallery, where a show called Sculpture in So Many Words ended Saturday. I love the ADA's equally playful response to Mr. Celender's absurd request.
Embiggens nicely to read.

Enjoy your Valentine's day in Kat Man Doo this year.......

The next gay male only weekend is themed 'Be my Valentine?' and happens from 18 to 20 February. There is the extra option to stay Sunday night for free …

Michael Smith, proprietor of Kat-Man-Doo, says: “We do not conform and follow the rest of the world … we do Valentine's our way, when chocolates are cheaper and roses are more plentiful. Come relax and indulge in far more romance than could ever be experienced on the 14th. Each of our suites is a private celebration of love with room service in a setting of unimaginable decadence. It is complete with a busker on call, candlelit gardens and starry skies: Valentine’s at Kat-Man-Doo promises to be a once in a lifetime romantic experience.”

Situated in the weekend retreat town of choice and home of the best trout fishing in South Africa - Dullstroom, Mpumalanga, Kat-Man-Doo is only two hours drive from Gauteng and offers a first in South Africa – five-star weekends once a month for discerning gay males who want to flee the rat race to be pampered, entertained, wined and dined.
Offering an excellent restaurant, spa facilities, steam room, jacuzzi, sauna and excellent service, Kat-Man-Doo takes place once a month at Dullstroom’s leading boutique hotel. It is AA superior graded and has a five-star rating from the SA grading council. Its rooms range from 107 square meters with mini-bar, fireplaces, satellite television and all other mod-cons like underfloor heating in the bathrooms to other that are more intimate and small: like a tin with marshmallows and skewers to treat your lover with a barbecued sweet treat … Kat-Man-Doo is an exclusive gay-run retreat, set in the heart of the magnificent trout fishing village of Dullstroom. It reveals the timelessness of a bygone era combined with the luxury, elegance and breathtaking surroundings. Your hosts welcome you to this exceptional retreat and gracious country house with personal service and attention to detail.

Dinner, bed and breakfast are all included. The rate is R800 per person sharing per night; and if you book for Friday and Saturday you get Sunday night for free – there is no charge for the third night …

To book for 18 to 20 February, email Chris on kat-man-doo@live.co.za.

Brian Williams on the NYT Discovery of Brooklyn

James Dean and Ronald Reagan

We honor the birthday of actor and icon James Dean who would have been 80 years old today.

Watch this strange bit of television, in which he plays opposite Ronald Reagan.

James Dean lived on the Park block of West 68th Street where he was photographed by Roy Schatt.

Queers Against Equality

The College Art Association is having its annual conference in Manhattan on Thursday, February 10, 2011. The Queer Caucus for Art will be hosting a "Creating in the Queer Diaspora" panel that will include Ryan Conrad who is a leader of "Against Equality", a group of queers who give voice to the currently rather unpopular stance that we should not be fighting for things like marriage equality. It's a position that interests me often. Many of those in the queer community love to sing out "I am my own special creation", while concurrently and nonsensically dreaming of the picket fence, the SUV, the 2.5 kids and assimilation. I, however, part ways with "Against Equality" because we should fight for our rights now, even if we never avail ourselves of those opportunities won by equality. Not everyone who worked for the repeal of DADT will enlist. Many will now focus on the deeper issues of anti-war and international policy.  Not everyone who fights for marriage equality will want that license. Some will go on to the greater battle of getting marriage out of the hands of government entirely.

Anyway, Ryan Conrad will be on the panel, and I suspect it would be worth attending. He and "Against Equal" have produced a book about their stance on marriage equality.

Creating in the Queer Diaspora Panel @ CAA
Thursday, February 10, 12:30–2:00
Regent Parlor, 2nd Floor, Hilton (54th St/Avenue of the Americas) New York
Hosted by – Queer Caucus for Art

Perry Brass: David Kato: One Death Makes A Huge Difference

                                                                  (picture by Steve Parelli, Other Sheep)

Two weeks ago, on a Wednesday, January, 26, 2011, a high school teacher named David Kato was murdered in his small house in a rundown section of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. His skull was bashed in by a hammer attack, and he died shortly afterward in a hospital. There have been a few theories (usually trying to justify it) about his death, like it was simply a garden-variety robbery, that his attacker had not broken open any doors, so he was probably known to Kato, that it was anything except a homophobic execution, which it doesn’t take a lot of horse sense to see it was.

Kato was a leader in SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda), and literally had a price on his head in this large country in East Africa which has become known as one of the most homophobic environments in the world.

First, because Kato’s name, picture, and address were published in October, 2010, in a revolting article in a tabloid, supermarket-style magazine called “Rolling Stone,” that reached 2,000 people in print (print in Africa is often passed around to dozens of readers, so it might have reached 10 or 20 times more readers).

The headline for the Rolling Stone article announced: ONE HUNDRED PICTURES OF UGANDA’S TOP HOMOS LEAKED.

Playwrights Horizons Discount Offer - Kin

Special KIN offer for Third Row, Mezzanine blog readers!

Order by March 21 with code KINGR and tickets are only:

• $40* (reg. $70) for the first 16 perfs (Feb. 25 – March 10)
• $55 (reg. $70) for all remaining performances March 11 – April 3 

HOW TO ORDER:

• Order online at www.ticketcentral.com. Use code KINGR.
• Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily)
• Present a printout of this blog post to the Ticket Central box office at 416 West 42nd Street (Noon-8pm daily).

*A limited number of $40 discounted tickets will be available for purchase. Subject to availability. Valid only in select rows.

Howard Stern Doesn't Like the Word 'Fag'

By West Village Bill

Over the years, I've been alternatively annoyed with, a fan of, and oblivious to New York radio star Howard Stern. But what he says in this clip from his SiriusXM show, via Towleroad, is absolutely terrific.

Fashion Fun In Miami Beach

I loved working with Mark King! (PS: camera work by Baad Lamb!)

QNY's baad lamb - an emerging fashion brand!

OK, so this is probably an example of shameless husband-promotion, but his stuff is really wonderful, don't you think?

QNY's Charlie Vázquez Speaking at Columbia University

Friday, February 18 · 3:30 - 5:00PM, Lerner Hall

More Info IvyQ, the Ivy League's official LGBT organization, has asked Charlie to present at IvyQ 2011, where he will deliver autobiographical persepectives as well as reading work from "The Best of PANIC!" anthology he recently edited based on his downtwon NYC reading series, examining and celebrating queer and Latino intersections.

For more about his work: http://www.firekingpress.com/

Canada Geese

Riverbank St Park, Harlem

There was a time when Canada Geese were romantic evocations of Autum for me.  Growing up in Indiana we'd rarely see them on the ground, but we'd see and hear huge Vs of them overhead on their way south.   I don't ever remember hearing or seeing them heading north in the Spring.  Maybe they got overlooked as other seasonal markers took my attention then. 

Over the last twenty years they've become as common as sparrows.  When a flock of them took down a plane here a few years ago, their status as junk birds became firmly fixed in many minds.  This handful are part of a flock living on the Hudson just a few blocks from my house.  The flock grows enormous in the Winter.  Some are year 'rounders, I'm sure, but I think the increased Winter numbers may also indicate that this is 'south' for many others.  I stop by for a visit every couple of days.  It amuses me that they seem to love the cold even more than me; on days when I'll be one of the few people dumb enough to be cavorting outside, they'll go me one better, and be floating contentedly in the river.  Occasionally, regardless of season, I'll hear them flying over my apartment, heading east, west, northeast, southwest,  no actual migration happening, it would seem, but apparently they like to stay in practice.  Even as the sight of them becomes commonplace, I still delight in them, and the sound of their honking overhead still makes my heart leap, at least for a moment.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

ABBA 1980

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR QNY !!

Happy 2011!

From Tony Adams and The Baad Lamb

(photo by JoeMyGod)

QNY Review: Eric Yves Garcia - The Chance To Sing

By Tony Adams

I strongly recommend this beautiful album by equally beautiful New Yorker Eric Yves Garcia. And before I go any further, let me give you the good news that you can download it here on QNY for free!

Let's get the obvious out of the way. He's handsome, no? We all harbor private speculation about who would play us in a movie version of our lives. Eric tops my personal list for the musical version of that assignment. He's an actor/singer who weekly entertains the guys at the piano of The Townhouse at 236 East 58th Street. You'll find him there on Mondays, 6-9:30PM. (Check out his other regular NYC gigs.)

I'm picky about coverage of American Songbook and jazz standards. Love the purity of Ella Fitzgerald, the roughness of Etta James, the velvety Diana Krall, the dreamy Chet Baker, the accents on Mel Tormé and Michael Bublé, the sadness of Billie Holiday, and the quirky surprise of Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell or even Miss Ross. (Hate everything by Bobby Short and Rufus Wainwright.) A good cover of a classic is like a bus driver who tells his passengers "I'm taking a different route today, folks. Hope you like it." The detour takes you home, but the scenery is fresh. "The Chance To Sing" is a spectacular detour you'll want to take more than once.

Eric's delivery is bright, clean and spirited. I don't think we should fault him because his voice doesn't have that "I've been through recovery" wisdom of the rebuilt Rosemary Clooney, for example. He's rather a classic crooner, at this point in his career. Just better than most. I was especially satisfied by the perfect balance and interplay between Eric's piano playing and his voice. Neither bends to the other and both are equally dazzling. It's really more of a duet rather than voice with accompaniment.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do, and please stop by his FB fan page. I've got a hunch that we'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from Eric.

I've included a shirtless pic after the jump because I know you want it.

Mummenschanz at NYU's Skirball Center

By West Village Bill

On Sunday, I'm taking my sweetie, Tony P., and my friend Jen and her kids, Abbe and Zane, to see Mummenschanz at New York University's Skirball Center. Tony saw Mummenschanz live when he was a kid, and I remember being entranced by the mime troupe's performance on The Muppet Show back in America's bicentennial year. Mummenschanz is appearing at the Skirball Center through Jan. 8.

Dominance and Submission by Blue Öyster Cult; The Best New Year's Eve Song Ever

By baad lamb

There are literally thousands of Christmas songs, and many hundreds of them get played over and over again throughout this holiday season (which now conveniently starts in October). The repetition makes you so crazy you want to jump in a time machine and go back about 2010 years  to delay a certain family’s departure from Bethlehem on their way to Egypt.

But New Years Eve songs? There can really be only one. And for nearly three centuries it’s been Auld Lang Syne.

It’s really time for a new New Year’s Eve song, don't ya think, and I’ve got one everyone should agree on. It starts with one of the best screams in Rock n' Roll, has plenty of fun, Times Square-centric lyrics; a bouncy call and response chorus that practically forces you to sing along; and contains not one, but two ridiculously fast and furious finger-melting guitar solos.

And it’s from the 1970s, a decade that everyone loves, right?

It starts innocently enough, with an ascending minor key, choppy-chord introduction. But then an emphatic “OH YEAH!” aggressively grabs your earlobes, pushes you to your knees, and sets you up for the fun n’ fear that might happen next. Or not. 

A Winter Wonderland in the Village

By West Village Bill

An angry snowman on Christopher Street. It looks like he's mad that he can't get a cab to stop for him.

The intersection of Christopher and Bleecker

My height-challenged dogs, Rudy and Emme, on Charles Street

A Christmas Tradition

By Tony Adams

My  QNY friend BJ (who is also my bloggodfather) over at the very NSFW BJland has posted, for a seventh year, my favorite Christmas clip in which Dawn Davenport does not get the CHA-CHA heels for which she wished. (For a less NSFW route to the clip, go here.)