APRIL 24TH, 2006

IS MILWAUKEE PRIDE THE REAL CHICAGO PRIDEFEST?

I looked at the line-up for this year's Milwaukee Pride - here's Chicago's contribution: Pulsation Band, Aerin Tedesco & Andrea Bunch, Scott Free, Jeffrey Altergott, Ellen Rosner, Jinx Titanic, The Nancys, Flesh Hungry Dog, Stewed Tomatoes & Cathy Richardson Band. Andrea Bunch approached the Chicago Pridefest Committee to see if she could assist in the programming, to feature more out local talent - she got no response. No word yet on who's performing at Chicago's Pridefest this year - we will see....

NOVEMBER 2ND, 2005

I walked past BadBoys on Halsted St. last night, and there was a HUGE poster of 50 Cent in the window. I walked in the store and asked the man behind the counter if Bad Boys was aware that 50 Cent, who they were advertising in their window, is extremely anti-gay in his statements to the press. His response was "it's our window". I told him "yes, of course it is - I just wanted to make sure you were aware that 50 Cent was homophobic". "We know" was his response.

Establishments that want our gay dollars should think twice before helping to promote homophobes.

SEPTEMBER 15TH, 2005

I sent a brief e-mail out to my ex about New Orleans - he left this country many years ago - he lives in Amsterdam. These were my comments about New Orleans.

I'm sure you've seen all the horrible news about New Orleans - Gene & I were actually headed down there for Southern Decadence, which would have been Labor Day weekend. I've been addicted to the news ever since. The Wednesday after the storm was the worst day. The newscasters of CNN and MSNBC were screaming - "we are here - where is our government?" - I have never heard the news make anti-government statements like they did that day. Newscasters were breaking down in tears.

We watched a documentary a few year's back on this very scenario happening - in was on PBS. They had computer models showing how a category 4 storm would break the current levees around New Orleans, and how the resulting flood would cause chaos if we weren't prepared for it. And we weren't! Our government spends billions in Iraq instead of working on the infrastructure of it's own country.

You were so right to leave this place - this stupid country voted Bush in (or he cheated his way in and we let him stay) and now we're paying for it, and we'll pay for it for many, many years.

AUGUST 29TH, 2005

We finally got the LOGO channel on our cable at home, so Gene & I were hooked for a few days, but that quickly grew sour for me. Mostly it was the constant commercials for Morrissey's live concert they were going to feature (it's all over their website too). His career followed so many in rock's rise to the top - be blatantly gay to get attention - then turn, well, if not straight (as Prince and David Bowie did), then turn as incredibly vague as you can be. Don't get me wrong - I absolutely respect him as a songwriter - I even wrote a silly tribute to him called "Meet You At The Church" (although in my twisted way, the song was meant to out him). But at his age, it really looks pathetic. And yes, it's his life, and his privacy, and his choice. The problem is that an all-gay cable stations panders to that. Shouldn't LOGO do the right thing, and ignore him, and instead feature musicians who are openly gay? If he were an in-the-closet politician, would we all be so kind?

MARCH 19th 2004

How's this for pandering to the famous? The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has invited 50 Cent to be a "personal guest" at this year's GLAAD media awards. Here are some quotes of his, to be published in Playboy magazine this April. "I ain't into faggots. I don't like gay people around me, because I'm not comfortable with what their thoughts are." "I'm not prejudiced. I just don't go with gay people and kick it - we don't have that much in common." "We refer to gay people as faggots, as homos. It could be disrespectful, but that's the facts." "But women who like women, that's cool." 50 Cent said he'll never hire a gay man to work for him and then goes on to say he doesn't like having gays around him. Here's one of GLAAD's comments: 'We appreciate his acknowledgement that he is not comfortable with gay people"

MARCH 17th 2004



Went to a big, trendy Chicago Historical Society lecture last week entitled. 'From Cole Porter to Tina Turner to Pansy Division - A History of LGBT Music'. When I first saw the title posted over at Queer To The Left, I shot back an angry letter. I feel that including Tina Turner in a lecture on the history of LGBT music does a disservice to those gays and lesbians who have tried to be recognized for the musical contributions they have made, and are making to our community. I 'redirected' my anger in the question and answer session following the lecture. The speaker, Mitchell Morris from the UCLA Department of Musicology, did spend a great deal of time on what he called 'Diva Worship'. I started my question by stating that last year, for the first time ever in Chicago, we had an all day Pridefest with music stages the day before our Pride March. Less than half of the musical acts on those stages were from the LGBT community. I added that many were heterosexual disco artists. I asked him if the emphasis on 'diva worship' only contributes to this problem. I don't think he gave much of an answer to that particular question, but we did talk at great length after the lecture (very cool guy!) about this subject. He seemed willing to look into my viewpoint, and he certainly agreed that more needed to be done to give recognition where it is due.