Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Posted by Mondschein

"Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, March 27, 2011

Rajiv Joseph is having a terrific season in New York.  His Gruesome Playground Injuries recently ended an Off-Broadway run at 2nd Stage.  Now Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo gets a production on Broadway starring no less than Robin Williams.   Mr. Joseph's effort here is better, in this story of a tiger killed by a US Marine in the Baghdad Zoo during the occupation in 2003.  Bengal Tiger... offers a stronger premise and better construction as the existential Tiger (Mr. Williams) shares a cat's-eye view of the absurdities of war and God. Even with the improved structure, Mr. Joseph maintains his penchant for the bloody and violent.


Spoiler alert

Invisible Kinky

by Ivan Vargas

On this glorious day of, uh... Spring (well, let's call it that---the layers of clothes told a different story) I decided to hit the City and enjoy its sights. Everything was on time: the PATH was handed to me in a silver platter, and I was glowing all the way to Borders Bookstore on 34th and 7th where I was about to meet a date for an afternoon coffee. And then two things happened. The first was the discovery of what I thought was a long-lost dinosaur under a red awning that announced itself under the unglamorous name "Peep Show". The second, was that my stomach grumbled, almost in a reaction of negative emotion, a gut feeling if you will. Or maybe not. Who can tell? I've never been in one and I could swear they were eradicated with Giuliani's Giant Scrub Brush to a point where they existed in memory and Midnight Cowboy. So as I stood there, perplexed and facing an oncoming predicament, I took my iPhone out and shot this picture:



More, including the Spanish version, on next page...

Shopping at Mood

By West Village Bill

On a day off from work yesterday, I visited Mood, the fabric store in New York's Garment District that everyone knows from Project Runway.

I like unusual prints, and it's hard to find men's shirts that aren't plaid, solid, or striped. And I was inspired by that show—and a guy I used to work with who made his own funky-print shirts—to "someday" give shirtmaking a whirl. My sweetie remembered me mentioning that eventual goal, and so he gave me a beginner's sewing machine for Christmas.

I've got a lot to learn about sewing because I haven't touched a machine since eighth-grade Home Ec class. I bought a book that appears to be the only English-language one on shirtmaking. And I went to Mood today to get some tools, such as fabric shears, the book said I would need to get started. And also some printed cotton fabric that will eventually become a shirt and some plain, cheap muslin to practice on.

How To....Succeeds

Posted by David

Resisting any and all temptation to invoke metaphors that involve magic or sorcery, I will simply say that the new revival of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame, for those who live under a rock), is pure, blissful entertainment from start to finish.

Radcliffe, who made his Broadway debut in Equus in 2008, is back on the boards again. Although this time, instead of playing a terribly disturbed young man in a mental institution, he now plays a terribly ambitious man in a corporate institution.  And he sings!  And dances!  He is joined by veteran television actor John Larroquette and a cast brimming with talent and enthusiasm in a candy-colored production that nearly blows the roof off the Al Hirschfeld Theater on 46th Street.

Newest Member of the QNY Family - Ivanhoe Vargas

"I'd always wondered where was it that all these people who blog under an umbrella blog had met and come together (or where could I meet them) and for the longest time I'd toyed with the idea of contacting QNY, but I'm a little shy sometimes."

That's what Ivan said after getting word that the QNY family had voted him into its ranks. Please welcome our new contributor, a 40 year-old native New Yorker turned Jersey boy Libertarian gym rat with a blog who spends most of his time in Manhattan. What's not to love?

(PS: Do you write about New York City from a queer perspective? Think your voice would be a good addition to QNY? Don't be shy. Apply.)

Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Post by Mondschein


"Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes" presented by  Signature Theatre Company at the Peter Norton Space, March 17 and 22, 2011

This revival, which opened last fall, was the hard-to-get ticket and I can see why.  The cast has evolved a bit, some changes more successful than others, but in the end, this production confirms the strength of Tony Kushner's writing about the height of the AIDS crisis.

If you're not familiar with the plot, there's an adequate summary here.

Director Michael Greif and Signature Theatre Company have staged a powerhouse production.  Mark Wendland's rotating sets accommodate the varying locations, give fluid transitions and are well-complemented by Wendall K. Harrington's projection design.  The special effects are particularly well done.

The Book of Mormon

Posted by Mondschein

"The Book of Mormon" at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, March 7, 2011

In their first outing on Broadway, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the Southpark TV series and movies, have teamed up with Avenue Q's  Robert Lopez.  For any of you who have seen the Southpark films, you know restraint is not a feature of their writing style.  In an interview on The Daily Show this week, they confessed that writing a musical has been a common goal for years.

Looking back over many of the Southpark episodes, plus their film, Southpark: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, the two have been traveling in this direction for years.  The TV show has demonstrated a consistent fascination with the Mormon church, even dedicating the majority of one episode to the story of Joseph Smith, so when the opportunity arose to explore their musical theatre interests, it makes perfect sense that they would connect with Mr. Lopez, whose work follows a similar path of irreverence.

Spoiler Alert

Why we must never forget Elizabeth Taylor

From Dana Miller's moving tribute:

Over the next few months as we write the 30 year history of AIDS, this is a call to honor a lady who not only cradled us in her arms; she made damn sure the world did as well. In 2000, Queen Elizabeth named her a Dame. Go forward knowing to so many of us, this Dame was truly our Queen Elizabeth.

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

and one of the most noble is gone. I saw her on Broadway, opening night in The Little Foxes. On that night, she was the white diamond. So bright that the entire theater around her faded to invisible. Below, in Cleopatra, Hollywood managed to give her the royal entrance she deserved. Her devotion to HIV/AIDS research is beyond words of thanks.

FAREWELL ELIZABETH

Elizabeth Taylor died today....may she rest in peace.
('Cleopatra' star won two Academy Awards, known for AIDS work.)

Ghetto Klown

"Ghetto Klown" at the Lyceum Theatre, March 3, 2011

John Leguizamo returns to Broadway with another biographical show, taking us from his childhood to the present.  Much feels like a retread from previous efforts, though we get a bit more about his parents this time around, including the contentious relationship with his emotionally detached and dismissive father and his self-centered mother. 

He points an accusing finger at both to blame them for his own early, unsuccessful marriage, and again over his later troubles in his second marriage.  In his defense, he points the finger at himself as well, but there is still an overall whine in his message.

He also blows his own horn as the opportunities present themselves, including his work with Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio, along with his complete filmography.


Yet, there are still plenty of laughs.  Mr. Leguizamo is still quite the clown, claiming to have returned "home to Broadway" after recounting several films that haven't led to him as a Hollywood leading man.

The only thing that appears to bring him home to Broadway is the chance to pick up some cash.

Ghetto Klown is scheduled for a limited run through May 15.

We live with John Randel

This New York Times interactive will chew up your time this morning and would certainly use up all 20 of the free monthly clicks the NYT plans to give you once they convert to subscription. This is a fascinating superimposition of the modern streetscape with older maps. And be sure to use the "street openings" slider. (This article recalls the Baad Lamb's post of a year ago about an oddly angled building in Hells' Kitchen. A commenter solved that mystery.)

Congrats to JoeMyGod!

on his winning the first ever GLAAD award to a blog!

Arcadia

Posted by Mondschein

"Arcadia" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, February 28, 2011

I've got to say, after my last two exposures to the work of Tom Stoppard, I had some hesitations about seeing this revival of his 1993 Arcadia.  Its Broadway debut in 1995 included Billy Crudup, who returns in a new role this time around.  Mr. Stoppard's skill for construction is at its height here in a double tale of scholars in the same English estate separated by two centuries.  The two-thirds of Coast of Utopia and Rock 'n' Roll were overwhelming in intellectual concepts and history.  Stoppard's structure in Arcadia reveals plot points bit by bit, illuminating from one time period to the other and exposing how the foibles of human interaction distort reality.

Midtown Sunset, March 12th.

QNY Fave Cazwell's New Video "Get My Money Back"

Here's my take on his soon-to-be-released video.
My photo of Cazwell during our interview at BASE on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach:

(photo by Tony Adams)

Perry Brass: Lost Gay New York: Go See “Making the Boys”

                                                                                 Original cast picture from The Boys in the Band

Last Friday night was I lucky enough to attend a special showing at the Quad Theatre on W. 13th Street in the Village, of Making the Boys, Crayton Robey’s documentary about the creation of The Boys in the Band, Mart Crowley's famous play about a gay birthday party where almost everything hangs out. 

This was really Lost Gay New York, and a keyhole into a world I knew only too well. It’s a wonderful movie, very moving at times, a bit over-long (Robey tries to attach everything gay, cultural, New York, American, queerish, etc. to The Boys in the Band; sometimes it sticks and sometimes it just doesn’t.), but ultimately very rewarding whether you were a life-time fan of the play, or like me, someone for whom the play with its bitchiness and bitterness, held a lot of repulsion and embarrassment, because afterall, aren’t we embarrassed by the truth? And The Boys in the Band is the truth. It’s not the only truth by a long shot, but all of us—OK, I know who you are out there—have been to a party at some time in our lives that ends up with drinking too much, saying too much, and hurting others too much, and we’ve lived to tell the tale. Mart Crowley did live, and told us some things that have taken me a lifetime to understand.

Making the Boys does something that is really important, although it doesn’t always get the message right, at least by me. It sees the most important aspect of the play being that moment when Michael, the host of the party (and I hope I have this speaker right) makes what was, in 1968, a truly life-changing statement: “You are a homosexual, and nothing you do will change that. You were born a homosexual and you will die one.”

The Rover

By West Village Bill

Yesterday evening, my friend Eugene and I saw a free performance of The Rover produced by New York Classical Theatre at various locations throughout the World Financial Center. I recommend you do the same.

The cast is clearly having a lot of fun, and the good humor is infectious. Handsome M. Scott McLean, as Willmore, the title character who has a roving eye for the ladies, and April Sweeney, as Hellena, the nunnery-bound young woman who schemes to get her and her sister married off to men they love, against the wishes of their brother, also stood out in a generally good group of actors.

Another source of fun is catching the reactions of people walking through the halls of the WFC who suddenly find themselves in the middle of a play. And also catching the nonreactions of people who are just, say, trying to deliver some food and are not caring that someone is emoting on the escalator next to theirs.

Kin

"Kin" at Playwrights Horizons, March 5, 2011

Playwrights Horizons continues to bring interesting new plays to their stages.  Bathsheba Doran's new play, Kin may not be as high up the quality list as previous productions like Circle, Mirror, Transformation, but it's a respectable effort if a little unfocused.

Anna (Kristen Bush), an English poetry researcher, is heavily involved with an Irish physical trainer, Sean (Patch Darragh).  Her best friend Helena (Laura Heisler) is a struggling actress - manic, nerdy and awkward.  Anna's widowed and distant father, Adam (Cotter Smith), has had a long term, on-again-off-again affair with Kay (Kit Flanagan) who is suffering from cancer.  Add to that Sean's widowed mother, Linda (Suzanne Bertish) who remains agoraphobic in Ireland after a physical assault when Sean was a child.

Spoiler Alert

Bedrock

2011 Winter Party - Miami Beach

JoeMyGod and I attended the VIP reception of the Winter Party, at the invitation of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Marlee Matlin was the guest of honor.



For more photos of the Winter Party.

KARMA IS A BITCH........

John Galliano fired from The House of Dior.

Broadway's Next H!t Musical: A Review

On the heels of the Academy Awards, one might ask oneself "what truly makes for a memorable awards ceremony?"  The answer is quite simply: improvisation.

By improvisation I don't mean a nimble host who can navigate past an ungainly acceptance speech or an awkward award presentation.  I am referring to the kind of improvisation where you pretty much make up the whole thing on the spot.

This challenging and rare skill is on full display at Broadway's Next H!t Musical, performing at The Triad on West 72nd Street.  Broadway's Next H!t Musical has as its subtitle "New York City's Improvised Musical," but that doesn't fully encompass the marvelous shenanigans that go on here.

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.