World AIDS Day Premiere of "All the Way Through Evening"

QNY"s Perry Brass sends us this tip:  "I hope you will join me on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, World AIDS Day, for the world premiere of Australian filmmaker Rohan Spong's moving documentary tribute to several composers who died of AIDS, "All The Way Through Evening." The film's title comes from a series of 5 "Nocturnes" set to my poetry by the composer Chris DeBlasio who died of AIDS in 1993 at the age of 34. The premiere will be at 7:30 PM at the DMAC-DUO Multicultural Arts Center, 62 East 4th Street, in the East Village, and will also feature a program of live music and dance produced by Downtown Music Productions. Tickets are $20 through Smart Tix, and $25 at the box office."

The trailer, and  more information about how you can support the film,  are after the break

QNY Fave: NYC Photographer Andrew Weir

I love his work. Here is his portrait of twins, Travis and Troy Cannata. Check him out in YVY Magazine. And here.

NYC Designing Men: It Gets Better

ENJOY THANKSGIVING

Coming Home from a Hike Upstate

George Washington Bridge at Dusk

 

Riverside Drive around West 158th St. 

The Greatest Love/Hate Relationship in the World

In a bathroomless New York City, Starbucks offers us more than complicated caffeine. They also provide the life-saving bathrooms that make our daily routines possible. Here's a picture of my Starbucks on Columbus Avenue.

Sometimes a homeless person will tie up the bathroom literally for hours, and God save the person who is next in line.

Do we really want our barristas cleaning those bathrooms? There has got to be a better way to manage this human condition in the greatest city in the world.

Turkey Talk: Gag Or Gobble

These celebs, including some QNY faves, answer the eternal question: "His body's bangin' but his face is booty! Do you do him or don't him? 25 favorite gaylebrities, including MICHAEL MUSTO, ROBBYNE KAAMIL, and COLTON FORD get down and talk turkey!

Wine-Pairing Advice From Astor Wines & Spirits and a DVD Recommendation for After the Meal Is Over

By West Village Bill

Yesterday, my squeeze Tony P. and I took a walk to the East Village to check out Astor Wines & Spirits. I loved the Match Game–style window display that offered recommendations on which kind of wine to pair with various elements of your Thanksgiving meal.

I realize it's hard to see everything because of the weird angle and the window glare, so I'll note that the pairing suggestions are: cabernet franc with herb (stuffing), pinot noir with roast (turkey), zinfandel with spice (cranberry sauce), chardonnay with butter (butternut squash), sherry with pie (it probably should have said sweet instead), and riesling with char (Brussels sprouts).

I was impressed with the breadth of the bottles inside. There were many wines I'd never heard of.

As you'd expect with any large store, there were some items that seemed like bargains and others that seemed overpriced. Tony and I have been drinking a lot of Oregon pinot noir lately, and we saw one from Benton-Lane Winery that we'd drank before that cost a couple dollars more than at stores in our neighborhood. But we spotted an enjoyable pinot gris from Montinore Estate for the cheapest price we'd ever seen it: $12.99.

Private Lives

Posted by Mondschein

"Private Lives" at The Music Box, November 15, 2011

This London transfer brings Kim Cattrall back to the Rialto for the first time in 25 years, leading this production of the Noel Coward classic.  Her Amanda was hailed in London and she arrives in New York with a new Elyot in the very handsome Paul Gross.

The crossing seems to have had an impact on the production.  I will confess that there was much to live up to in my eyes, having basked in the glorious revival of 2002 with Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan. (Unfair?  Perhaps.)

A "Burning" Quandry

Posted by Mondschein

I can't call it a review I have to write about today, though it is about a new play I attended over the weekend.

Let's put some things on the table first, stipulations, if you will:

• Getting a new play produced, particularly in New York, particularly by a company of the reputation of The New Group, is an incredible feat of effort.
• Provocative topics and situations are excellent fodder for playwrights looking to get attention to their work (see The Submission).
• "Downtown NYC" is a great place to exercise those skills.

A few more things to stipulate:

• I've seen a lot of lousy theatre in New York and have walked out on the full range, from multi-million dollar Broadway to dusty, uncomfortable black-box off-off-off Bway productions.  
• I've even performed in a couple of the latter types.

As a member of the ITBA, I see frequent invitations to attend and review theatre of all sorts in the city, as mentioned above, Broadway to black-box, off-off-off Broadway productions.  I don't see everything, but I was excited to see the invitation from The New Group for their production of the world premiere of Burning by up-and-coming playwright Thomas Bradshaw.  I've seen a couple of other productions from this company and looked forward to this.  The premise sounded interesting.  The director has made a name for himself.


This play was the first time I've ever walked out despite having been invited to write a review.

Perry Brass: Lost Gay New York: Who Would You List as the Greatest Gay Activists?

Perry Brass talks about LGBT History at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Oct, 2011

Something interesting happened in the wonderfully closed, back-biting, infighting, but definitely useful world of gay historians and politicos. It began when CLAGS, the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies at CUNY (City U. of New York) announced that it was sponsoring a major conference, Sept. 27 -30, 2012 in New York on the life and work of Harry Hary, on the centennial of his birth. I had heard about this conference a few weeks before it was announced, and was of course ebulliant. To me, you cannot overstate the contribution of Harry Hay to what is now the vast, diverse lgbt movement. What Harry had to say was significant: out of the personal dreams, stories, consciousness, and yearnings of every single one of us can come a movement toward our own liberation--it is singular, personal, and we can't do it alone. 


The announcement, though, came right on the heels of another historic event: the death on Oct. 11, 2011--National Coming Out Day--of Frank Kameny, which made the front page of the New York Times (a paper which up to about 20 years ago could not use the word "gay" in it). But Frank Kameny, a life-long curmugeon, professional cranky old man, totally stubborn as all get up, who single-handedly took on the Federal government back when it fired him for being gay in 1958, was now being sited as, literally, the "Father of the Gay Movement."


It. The Whole Deal. 


This was unfortunate, although not completely out of left field. One of the problems of our movement has been a lack of visibility in the form of leaders. In the 1950s, there were no visible queer leaders aside from a few, a bare inkling, of people in the arts who for whatever reason had nothing to lose by being open. Often they were European culture figures like Jean Cocteau, fairly exotic and flamboyant, but in this country to be even vaguely open and a "face"--it just didn't happen. We did have Gore Vidal whose professional life was destroyed for about a decade after he published, in 1948, The City and the Pillar, a book that became as national code word for "queer," and that went on to sell a whopping 2,000,000 copies. We had Allen Ginsberg, but he could hardly be taken that seriously (again "exotic and flamboyant") and Tennessee Williams ("Broadway's Sex Poet," said Time Magazine)--and after that, if you dared showed your face in public, you were hung out for the vultures to get you. 

QNY's Perry Brass is LGBT History Month Speaker at MCC

"On October 27, 2011, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York staff celebrated LGBT History Month. Renowned author and social activist Perry Brass presented a version of LGBT history that mixed his life story with general societal progress on LGBT issues. In 1969, Mr. Brass co-edited Come Out, the first gay liberation newspaper in the world. LGBT Program Manager Paula St. John and LGBT Alternate Program Manager William J. Ryan, Ph.D. moderated the program, which concluded with a question and answer period."

Laurie Anderson's Forty Nine Days in the Bardo: The baad lamb Interview

It's no secret I'm a major fan of Laurie Anderson's work. For more than 40 years, this world-famous visual and performance artist has been captivating and thought-provoking in nearly every medium: performance, sculpture, music, painting, spoken word, video projections, photography and pheromones. (OK, I'm not sure about the pheromones, but if she hasn't used them yet, she will!)

I have yet to see Laurie's current multi-media exhibit at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philly, Forty Nine Days in the Bardo, where she very publicly works through her grief over the loss of her beloved dog and constant companion, Lolabelle (the Bardo is the 49 day intermediate state of transition from death to rebirth as described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead). I jumped at the chance to speak with her, and ask questions about this new work as well as discuss some of the major themes of her recent (and past) work.

bl

I see the “transitioning” theme of this show - between life and death, death and rebirth, loss and remembrance, underlined in a section of “Animal Stories” from the live lecture: The world as Pre-9/11 and Post 9/11. [note: watch the video above]

LA

“That was just one story, I’m not sure I would be so global about it, but now that you mention it, it is kind of  a different world in many ways... I can’t think of any 10 years in my life time that are more different.”

New York City Marathon 2011

A beautiful and record-smashing day. A record 47,438 competitors started.

"In the Family"

Posted by Mondschein

This film by Patrick Wang opened at Quad Cinemas last night with a pretty strong review from the NY Times.  Check the review out here.  There's not much I would add to Mr. Brunick's observations.

Leaving the theatre, Mr. Wang was standing shyly on the sidewalk, waiting to get some direct feedback about the film.  Within minutes, Stone Phillips (who looks even better since he stopped coloring his hair) was leading the conversation among a group of us who had stopped to congratulate Mr. Wang, exploring some of his plot choices and inspirations.

As you'll see in the review, Mr. Wang hasn't had much success in his distribution efforts.  The film runs a little long, but it's well worth seeing.

Check it out at the Quad before it closes next Thursday.  Get tickets here.

Opening Fireworks New York City Marathon

At our kitchen window tonight, we watched the fireworks over Central Park signal the opening of the 2011 New York City Marathon.

New York City Marathon - this Sunday

All week long, the preparations have overtaken Central Park West. The sidewalks are flooded with cables.

BLOWOFF - This Friday

Always a good time.

Bad Public Art On Broadway

These animals are just plain boring. What is it about the public art selection process that seems to prohibit any good stuff?
You be the judge.
Here's one. Two more by the same "artist" after the break.

Last Rose Of Summer 2011

Given Saturday's freakish snowstorm, this photo of a Central Park rose made last week by BaadLamb won't be repeated for many months to come.

Halloween Fright Tonight

On West 69th Street

More photos after the break!

Happy Halloween!

Mario Cantone and Jerry Dixon tie the knot

Mario Cantone is officially a married man.

The comedian and the musical theater director recently married after 20 years together.

"I got married for the same reasons you did," Cantone, 51, said on Friday to The View co-host Joy Behar, who also recently said 'I do.' "We're older now. We've been together 20 years. After 20 years you're like, 'Thanks for the anti-climactic honeymoon government!' "

Pastor Jay Bakker, son of the late Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, presided over the ceremonious affair.

Cantone gushed about his special day with Dixon, saying, "It was beautiful, just my family there. I love him. He's a good man."

Happy 125th Birthday!

To Lady Liberty, not me. She was only 25 years old when my grandfather first saw her.
I bet every one of us has a Statue-of-Liberty-photo to share?

Go here for livecam views of Lady Liberty, and, at 11AM EST, five live cams mounted in her crown will go live, providing spectacular NYC views. That same link will get you those views.

Pop Souk!

Last Sunday, we stopped into the Hiro Ballroom for that delightful occasional bazaar known as Pop Souk. Among the merchants was Scooter Laforge who was live-drawing, and offering for sale some of his erotic/nefarious iterations of pop childhood imagery.



Pop Souk founder, Lady Fag, describes the event this way:


"Nightlife personalities, artists, musicians, DJ’s, designers, fashion sluts, drag queens and the rest of us who make up the creative landscape of downtown NYC are usually blessed — and cursed — with fabulously overflowing closets.

For one day only, on Sunday, October 23rd, from noon to 6pm, both floors of the majestic Hiro Ballroom will make way for POP SOUK. More than just a marketplace, it’s an event where some of the most talented New Yorkers will be hanging out in their own personal pop-up shops selling treasures from their own closets or of their own designs.

Come listen to some of your favorite New York DJ’s spin, hang out on the top floor lounge and watch the action of people shopping in the stalls below, saddle up to the bar for a drink, get your nails done, taste the delicacies you never knew these night creatures could make and, of course, shop!

Pop Souk is also perfectly timed to hit the week before Halloween, for costume needs, and just as the season demands changes in wardrobe.

We’re excited to welcome on board our media sponsors OAK, Patricia Field and StyleLikeU who will all have their own sections with goodies for you to scoop up. We’d also like to thank the generous support and corporate sponsorship of Perrier, who are providing us with complimentary bubbles to sip on while chilling out in the lounge or browsing the shops.

Pop Souk: where downtown folk sell, not sell out. Join us!"

"Milk Like Sugar" at Playwrights Horizons, October 21, 2011

A few years ago, there were news reports of unhappy high school girls who formed pacts to all get pregnant and drop out of school.  Playwright Kirsten Greenidge has written this concept into the premise of Milk Like Sugar, in which Talisha (Cherise Boothe), Margie (Nikiya Mathis) and Annie (Angela Lewis) are planning their gift list for their shared baby shower including Coach diaper bags and better cellphones.  Margie is already pregnant. Talisha has plans in place.  Only Annie seems to be dragging her feet even though Talisha has picked out a partner for her as well, Malik (J. Mallory-McCree).

As the play opens, the girls have turned up at a tattoo parlor after hours for Annie to get free ink from an uncertified tattooist.  This only one in a continuing series of bad decisions.  Annie's mother Myrna (Tonya Pinkins), cleans offices to support her family.  She fancies herself a writer,  but doesn't seem to understand why she can't use the computers in the offices she cleans.

QNY Film Review: Weekend

By West Village Bill

Last night, Tony P. and I caught Weekend, the much-acclaimed* British film about two men who hook up at a club on a Friday night and spend much of the following weekend together working out whether they have something between them that deserves to continue. That decision is complicated by a plan that one of the two guys has made to move to Portland, Oregon, on Sunday.**

Russell, a lifeguard at a community pool, lives in council housing and grew up an orphan. He's out as a gay man to his close friends but isn't comfortable sharing details of his life with anyone, including his best mate, a straight man named Jamie who grew up with him in the same circumstances, in and out of foster homes. Glen, an aspiring artist, wears his queerness on his sleeve and rants about the larger heterosexual world's disgust with or disinterest in gay men's lives. Glen is insistent that he doesn't want a boyfriend; his fag hag, Jill, explains to Russell that Glen was hurt by an ex's serial cheating and dishonesty. In their first speaking scene together, Glen asks Russell to talk into a tape recorder about their sexual encounter the night before, explaining that it's for some vague art project he's working on. Later, Glen learns that Russell has been cataloging his own sexual encounters on his computer.

TOM FORD TOMORROW

@8pm

Our Night At Studio 54

Linda Morand, Tilal Imani, and David Frank Ray

Having been to the opening night of the original Studio 54, I was excited to attend "One Night Only" with my friends Linda Morand, Jane Thorvaldson and Tilal Imani. It was a mad scene with celebs galore (Cameron Diaz, Susan Lucci, Issac Mizrahi to name just a few that I saw) and I had forgotten just how grand looking the old space was with it's chandeliers etc. Where there used to be white banquettes to lounge on with the likes of Andy Warhol, Liza, and Halston there are now theater seats. But the dance floor remained the same except there were no lights swirling about from above and no moon man with a coke spoon to ogle. And the crowd dancing away to 1970s hits seemed just a little more frantic then I remembered......but all in all it was a fun time. Ah yes I remember it well!

ONE NIGHT ONLY

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI - News) announced today that the legendary club Studio 54 will reopen at its original location, for the first time in more than 25 years, for one night only on Tuesday, October 18.

Decades after the opening of one of the most celebrated discos in the world, SiriusXM reunites with members of the original team that worked behind the scenes at the club during its 1977-1981 heyday. They will re-create what will be billed as "One More Night" of the iconic '70s nightlife glamour inside the famed Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

The hand-picked collaborators who choreographed Studio's nightly parties will create the Studio 54 experience for one more night. The team includes: Karin Bacon, Studio 54 entertainment producer; Scott Bromley, Studio 54 architect; Marc Benecke, Studio 54 doorman; Myra Scheer, assistant to former Studio 54 co-owner Steve Rubell; Chuck Garelick, Studio 54's former head of security; Scott Taylor, Studio 54's former bartender and other insiders.

On hand to capture the club's liberated atmosphere, original Studio 54 DJs Nicky Siano and Leroy Washington will play the iconic era's dance classics. Celebrity guests, some from Steve Rubell's master call list; and lucky SiriusXM listeners will be in attendance to flashback or dance for the first time in the internationally renowned club.

The evening will feature authentic, over the top details that helped define the Studio 54 experience, including the famed theatrics, backdrops, aerialist performers and dancers.

"There has been a great response to the launch of Studio 54 Radio and we want to continue that excitement with this special one-time event," said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer, SiriusXM. "We are working with many of the members of the original team that Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell so brilliantly assembled to create one more night."

Tom Ford Looking Good

The Comfort in Schadenfreude

by Ivan Vargas

I'm rarely at a loss of words for anything. So imagine my silent gape as I saw the kid puking his guts out in front of Fuse TV last night as I made my way towards the PATH train station which would whisk me home. It wasn't a little bit of puke - this was 13 year-old Linda Blair-possessed-by-the-Devil puke. I'd rate it not as thick, split pea but more of a combination of ham, minestrone, with a hint of pumpkin and chicken pot pie. Let's say I didn't get too close to make an assessment so I decided in my mind this was what he barfed out, what became his contribution to the City.

Orvieto

One of the most beautiful places on earth.
And the balls of freshly made Mozzarella cheese on the salad at the ClanDestin cafe/bistro were heavenly and paired with a superb local Orvieto vino bianco classico.

Perry Brass: Lost Gay New York: Death of Frank Kameny

Frank Kameny in front of signs Mattachine used for protests in the early 1960s, 

image courtesy Wikipedia.

Franklin Kameny: 1925 -2011




Frank Kameny died yesterday, on National Coming Out Day, which is purely appropriate. A Harvard PhD, he served in World War II, and he was fired from a federal job he held as an astronomer for being gay, in 1957; he openly fought his firing, and came out in the process. With Jack Nichols, he founded the Mattachine Society of Washington, DC, in 1961.


Frank was a great and wonderful guy. I remember, distinctly, hearing him at Columbia University in 1967, when the Columbia Homophile League organized a forum on homosexuality and he spoke. What he said was so incredibly clear and logical—and he was actually booed by closet-case queens in the audience who didn't want to hear it; they'd gone out of some sense of morbid curiosity, but couldn't accept what he said, which was basically that human complexity, like animal complexity, gave sex other dimensions than procreative. He said, "Sheep do not grow wool in order to be sheared by humans; it's the same way with sex." I was 19 years old and just stunned by him. He was already at that time an "old man," in his 40s, and for me to hear a distinguished adult say something positive about myself was wonderful. 

Man and Boy

"Man and Boy" presented by Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, September 10,  2011

Back to reviving classic American theatre, the Roundabout has scored Frank Langella to lead Terrence Rattigan's 1963 story of a corrupt, big-money, business mogul.  Set in 1934 New York, Gregor Antonescu (Mr. Langella), who single-handedly saved the the Franc in 1926, is viewed as the Warren Buffett of his day.  The parallels to today continue with the Great Depression era during which dissatisfaction with Roosevelt sound a lot like the criticisms of President Obama. The truth turns out to reveal Antonescu as a Madoff-like cretin, who created an elaborate Ponzi scheme which is about to collapse.

Antonescu is laying low in NY, and turns to his estranged, illegitimate son Basil (Adam Driver), for help to complete a last ditch deal to re-supply his organization with cash.  Basil has cut ties and abandoned the lifestyle that might have been his after a failed attempt to shoot his father on his 21st birthday.

John Lennon (1940-1980)

John Lennon's birthday would have been today

Taverna de' Mercanti

The BaadLamb and I are in Rome for a hearty dose of La Dolce Vita ( a birthday gift from him to me!) and thought to pause long enough to make a restaurant and neighborhood recommendation. Along the crust of Trastevere where it meets the Tiber is a lovely area surrounding the Church of Santa Cecilia with its excellent excavations and its cortile and beautiful stone bell tower. After touring the church we stumbled upon a glowing and rustic structure that has been turned into a huge restaurant on three levels. It is the kind of authentic old stone structure that panders to people who like "authentic" even though it doesn't have to pander and we wish it had not. The "bufalo" mozzarella in the insalata caprese is freshly made. The garlic and olive oil bruschetta is richly savory. Skip the pizza which was surprisingly bland and go with the wonderfully grilled meats on skewers. After walking more than six miles today, it was good to sit in a warmly lit and comfortable hall.

Interior views after the jump.

Playwrights Horizons - Discount on "Milk Like Sugar"

Posted by Mondschein

The good folks at Playwrights Horizons have made the following offer.

DISCOUNT TICKETS TO MILK LIKE SUGAR for BLOG READERS:

Order by October 25 and use the code MILKGR
$35 (reg. $55) for Fri, Sat, and Sun evenings, Oct. 14-16; Oct 21-23
$40 (reg. $55) for all other performances Oct. 13-Nov 20

Online: www.TicketCentral.com<http://www.ticketcentral.com/>
Call: (212) 279-4200 Noon to 8PM daily
In Person: Ticket Central Box Office, 416 W. 42nd Street

Lemon Sky

"Lemon Sky" presented by the Keen Company at the Theatre Row, September 24, 2011

(photo by Richard Termine)

My experience with the Keen Company has usually been very good - solid productions and strong scripts.  This production is a tribute to the late Lanford Wilson in this autobiographical play.  This is the first time they have missed the mark for me.

17 year old Alan (Keith Nobbs) has traveled west to live with Douglas (Kevin Kilner) his estranged father who has remarried and has two sons by his second wife Ronnie (Kellie Overbey).  Douglas is eager to make up for lost time, and Alan is at first receptive, but as time passes,  Doug's old habits resurface.  Complicating the matter are the two foster daughters, Penny (Amie Tedesco) and Carol (Alyssa May Gold), who bring in needed cash to the household budget with their monthly state allocation.

The Submission

Posted Mondschein

The Submission, presented by MCC Theatre at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, September 11, 2011

Writing a play is a daunting task.  Getting a new play produced takes "daunting" to exponential levels.

Danny (Jonathan Groff) has been writing for a couple of years, trying to get established on the new play festival circuit.  In a unexplained fit of inspiration, he writes a fresh, powerful and highly provocative tale of a young African-American trying to escape from the life his family has led for generations.  He shows it first to his best friend Trevor (Will Rogers), an aspiring actor, who gives him the first inclination that he's written something very special.  Danny finally shows it to his boyfriend Pete (Eddie Kaye-Thomas), who echoes the praise.

Danny, however, has already made submissions to several new play festivals and has just been accepted by the renowned Humana Festival.  All sounds good, looks positive - except for one thing: Danny has submitted under a name that suggests a woman of recent African-American extract.  He justifies the action on the rationale that no festival committee would take him seriously as the author of such a play.  With the pseudonym, the subject matter doesn't conflict with its source, and it seems to have worked.

A SKIN CARE OPTION FOR MEN

EVOLUTIONMAN has created a modern skincare and grooming collection with every man in mind. Whether he’s an outdoorsy type, perfectionist, or workaholic, every guy needs to look and feel his best. Many skin care products on the market use cheap synthetic chemicals that should avoid anyone’s face, but with EVOLUTIONMAN you are promised the highest quality with natural extracts, such as Antarctic seaweed and chamomile. EVOLUTIONMAN is not only polished and sophisticated, but the cutting edge formulations provide maximum results with minimal effort. Check it out here.

New York's Archbishop Dolan Threatens Obama Over DOMA

The Roman Catholic bishops of the United States have uniformly emphasized the notion that a marriage must always and only involve one man and one woman. They claim that same-sex marriage is an attack on traditional marriage, and on the traditional family God intended. On the local level and with each bishop in his own diocese, they reliably express horror whenever same-sex marriage is proposed in their backyards, delivering words that echo the sentiments of their boss, Pope Benedict XVI.

Their opposition to same-sex marriage took a significant and startling turn on September 20^th with the issuance of a letter from New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to President Obama in which Dolan urges the President to end his Administration’s “campaign against DOMA, the institution of marriage it protects, and religious freedom.”

In the course of the letter, Dolan emphasizes that he is not alone in his disappointment with the President. He writes, “The content of this letter reflects the strong sentiment expressed at a recent meeting by more than thirty of my brother Bishops who serve on the Administrative Committee of our episcopal conference. I know they are joined by hundreds of additional Catholic bishops throughout our nation.” His implication is that if the President does not reverse his stance regarding DOMA, he can expect the bishops to campaign against him when he is up for re-election. There are 430 bishops who lead 195 dioceses, or districts, in the US.

Gay In America

GLAAD's Aaron McQuade Interviews Scott Pasfield
Creator of  GAY IN AMERICA

AM Where did the idea for this book come from?

SP: People always tell you to shoot what you love. You have to start with yourself. The epiphany came one night at home. I was surfing the web and realized what a powerful tool it had become for connecting gay men across the country, from all over, and it just dawned on me. I decided that I would meet men from every state, and photograph them in the hopes that I could do a book that would change opinions and educate. And that started with shooting who I was and what my passions were.

AM Why gay men?

SP: That goes back to shooting what I am, and what I know. I originally thought that I would like to try and shoot men and women from every state, but I really think that a woman, or a lesbian, has to go out and do that project, to make it as strong, to be one of them, as this project is for me and gay men. I tried at first, but it became obvious terribly fast that I would've had to masquerade as a lesbian to do the same project. 

QNY's Perry Brass is "Past Annoyance"

Storm damage to his Spuyten Duyvil residence has him camping out at a friend's place from the balcony of which he can see his building. His situation is brought to us in today's New York Times. Hang on, Perry.

(Librado Romero photo for the NYTimes)

Shara Worden's My Brightest Diamond

I absolutely love this. So arresting, haunting, curious and enticing.
Recorded and filmed in New York City.

Follies

"Follies" at the Marquis Theatre, September 8, 2011

Stephen Sondheim's 1972 musical returns to Broadway via the Kennedy Center transfer from a successful run this summer. 

It's got star power with Bernadette Peters and Jan Maxwell as Sally and Phyllis, respectively.  There's some depth in the cast as well, with Danny Burstein, Jayne Houdyshell and featuring Elaine Paige as Carlotta.

Director Eric Shaeffer creates an aptly dark mood with a ghostly chorus line of deco-clad follies girls haunting the stage, already in motion as the house opens pre-show.  His sound designer carried it a bit too far, employing effects from Disney's Haunted Mansion before the show begins.  Derek McLane's sets also straddle the line of success.  The crumbling proscenium and brick-walled set, with iron catwalks and stairs evoke nicely, but draping the entire theatre in dirty oil cloth pushes too far.

Happy Birthday to Sophia Loren

The fabulous Sophia was born 77 years ago on September 20th

The World Premier of Logo's The A-List:Dallas

Not my first trip to the rodeo but one of the most fun, last night's screening and meet-the-cast session at SVA on 23rd Street was a rowdy mix of adoring twinks who screamed at the screen as each character was introduced in the first episode.

When asked how they differed from the cast of A-List New York, the cutesy gay Republican/Christian guy said "We're younger, hotter and have less wrinkles". Them's fightin' words, cowgirl.

Archbishop Dolan: "Yes, a lot of Catholics are leaving the Church."

The archbishop of New York wonders, in his blog, if the Catholic Church should bring back the no-meat-on-Friday rule in order to stop the exodus of Catholics from his church.

While I agree with him that the church has been dishing out Catholic-lite rather than Catholic light for several decades, the exodus of believers is rooted in more than a nostalgia for the "Ancien Régime" of Catholicism. If he really wants to stop the stampede at the exits of St. Patrick's cathedral, he should consider ordaining women, married and openly gay priests. He should also admit that the priest pedophile scandal killed the confidence Catholics once had in the integrity of their pastors. That fact makes pondering meat on Friday a little bit like holding a bake sale to bolster the national economy.

Michael Musto by Anita Sarko in New York Social Diary

Michael Musto had a Supremes cover band in which he sang Diana? Why does this not surprise me much? The morals of this article? NYC luminaries are not built overnight, and, any gossip columnist who can claim friendships that have lasted decades is probably a fine man.

Read the article in New York Social Diary. Incidentally you should always be reading NYSD immediately after you read QNY. We are like wine and cheese....

(In the photo: Chip Duckett, Joey Stefano, Robin Byrd and Michael Musto)

Tom Otterness Dogged By His Past May Lose San Francisco Art Contract.

Thirty-four years ago, Brooklyn's Tom Otterness—you'd recognize his whimsical bronze sculptures that dot the New York City subways and streets—acquired a dog, tied it to a fence and shot it for a film he made. He recently received a $750,000 contract to make sculpture for the San Francisco subway system. Some residents of a city dedicated to animal friend St. Francis are outraged and the city leaders are re-examining the contract.

Otterness had repeatedly apologized for shooting the dog. He has said that his actions were indefensible.

Some questions: Is your reaction to public art colored by what you know about the artist? Should public art be chosen only after the artist has been vetted and proven to have a "clean" record? If so, who would decide which artists are personally worthy of a public contract? Is an often repeated apology enough to permit the setting aside of a person's decades-old repugnant action? What if the issue was the artist's sexual orientation or his race or religion?

We don't allow convicted pedophiles to become public school teachers not because of our distaste for their crime but because we don't want it repeated. Convictions mean the forfeiture of rights. In the case of Otterness and the outraged citizens of San Francisco, his new sculptures would not endanger animals. Should his previous actions be paid for by his forfeiture of the opportunity to bid on public art projects?

(photo by Tyler Hicks for the NYTimes)

A Brave Soldier

Now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is history,

Michael Musto Book Launch At The Copacabana!

One hell of a dazzling party! This one will be long and well remembered. The essence of fab New york City. Here's a glimpse.

And here's a video.

The One

THE ONE

Written and directed by Caytha Jentis

Exclusive Theatrical Engagement begins October 7, 2011

Meet the cast/crew opening weekend at

Quad Cinema

34 West 13th Street, New York, New York 10011

Visit http://www.quadcinema.com/

At the Geary Marcello Fashion Show

A beguiling group in the basement of the Chelsea Hotel on Thursday night:

From left, homoerotic artist Michael Mitchell, artist Ivan C. Morales, make-up artist Kurtis Dam-Mikkelsen, actor Miestorm Serpent, designer Tommy Beall and the host of Elray del Mundo (and QNY's Darling!) David Frank Ray. If I had the lead in a recast Gilligan's Island, this crew would do me just swell.