The BBC has ruled against a radio presenter who was forced to leave his show after calling a homophobic campaigner a ‘bigot’.
Iain Lee, who up until November 2015 hosted the BBC Three Counties Radio show, had interviewed a member of extremist group Christian Concern after a prison gardener was disciplined for quoting Bible passages including calling homosexuality an ‘abomination’.
During the interview, Lee challenged the homophobic campaigner Libby Powell’s views as ‘bigoted’.
He said: ‘Do you support bigotry? Yes, homophobia is bigotry … I guess you don’t know what the definition of bigotry is – and considering you’re from a legal centre, that’s a little bit worrying.’
Both the station and Lee issued an apology, even though the latter said he stands by both interviews in terms of their content and tone.
In a ruling published today (8 March), the trust said the interviewees were ‘not treated with respect but instead faced significant personal criticism and challenge and that, overall, the tone of the interviews was inappropriate’.
They added: ‘They believed that the BBC’s local radio output had a critical role to play in terms of enabling the widest possible public debate and that local radio presenters had considerable leeway to be provocative to engage audiences.
‘However, they considered that where presenters appeared to defend a particular stand on an issue in an inappropriately combative manner the effect was not to broaden debate but was likely to be the opposite – as potential callers might be less likely to contact a radio station if they felt they would not receive a fair hearing.’
Reacting to the report, Lee held strong to his belief that he did nothing wrong in the interview.
LGBT television network, Here TV has announced the premiere of its first original game show, Modd Couples. The show, hosted by Emmy-nominated Here TV personality David Millbern and comedian Olivia Harewood, features two couples – one gay and one straight – battling it out over three rounds to win fabulous prizes. All six episodes are available now on Here TV as well as on various streaming services including Here TV’s Hulu channel and YouTube Premium channel.
“Modd Couples is really a comedy dressed up like a retro ’70s game show but with a fresh twist…STRAIGHT vs. GAY, where all couples are equally hilarious!” says host and producer David Millbern.
Modd Couples brings couples together to prove how well they know one another. Over the course of each episode the couples rely on how well they know each other as they compete across three rounds of play with escalating challenges. The result: some of the most hilarious and unexpected antics on TV. The three competitive rounds include:
Couples Speak – One person from a couple is given a word or phrase and must get their partner to guess it by using only their own unique references. Before guessing, however, the opposing couple has a chance to steal the point if they can guess the word or phrase first.
That’s Super Awkward – During this second round, one person from each couple is pulled away by Olivia to dance, drink, and party to the music coming from their headphones. Their respective partners are then asked intimate, funny questions about their relationship. They then answer how they think their partner will answer. Once reunited, the couples guess and reveal their answers. During this segment, Olivia also heads out to the street to get some person-on-the-street answers from the public.
The Lightning List – Round three begins with the “Kiss Off” segment, where the couples get intimate by kissing for 10 seconds. David and Olivia then judge which couple had the hottest kiss, and that couple begins the final round. Both couples then compete to give the correct answers to survey questions as asked to Internet participants. For example, according to HereTV.com, name the top answers given to a specific question.
After the couples complete three rounds of play, whichever couple earned the most points wins a fantastic prize package.
“Here TV continues to push beyond traditional television boundaries and create authentic and entertaining programs. That’s why we’re so excited to present our first game show. Modd Couples is funny and unpredictable, with mainstream appeal because it really shows that, gay or straight, couples are very much the same,” notes John Mongiardo, Here TV’s Senior Vice President, Programming Operations.
Modd Couples was created by Paul Colichman, Millbern, and Terry Ray. Colichman and Stephen P. Jarchow are the Executive Producers. Millbern is the Producer and directs the series along with Mike Scantlan.
It could be argued that this book doesn’t count as an “LGBTQI book,” so to speak, and part of me agrees—I, too, get frustrated when LBGTQI-oriented spaces feature icons, allies and vaguely hot men over folks in the community. I do have few arguments in favor of me writing about it. The first is that Michelle came up through the New York ball scene of the 1980s and 90’s and she knows she owes her career to her fellow voguers. The second is that this site does queer looks on cis/het literature and features those considered icons/major figures from time to time. The third is that one major target audience of this book is gay men.
Besides, an advice book is very “new year, new me.”
For the uninitiated: Michelle Visage is RuPaul’s right-hand gal and fellow judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race and has recently made a turn on a season of Celebrity Big Brother over in the UK. I personally don’t care for some of RuPaul’s politics and the quality of Drag Race as of late, however, I still maintain a very special affection for Michelle. Perhaps it’s because we’re both of the bridge-and-tunnel sort, but from different sides. Perhaps it’s because she reminds me of aunts and other relatives on the Italian-American side of my family. Perhaps it’s because she’s very accessible, either on social media or on tour. Perhaps it’s simply because I know some of her story already.
The story of the lady who becomes Michelle Visage begins with her being born to a young Joanne in New Jersey and being adopted by Marty and Arlene of South Plainfield. She graduates high school with dreams of becoming a Broadway star and attends the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Encouraged by her mother to get out in the world and into the clubs, she goes to The Underground and ends up finding her crowd which includes Cesar Valentino and Willi Ninja. Soon, she becomes a member of the House of Magnifique and competes in the Vogue and Face categories. (Her stage name comes from the fact some of her friends used to call her “Cara,” Spanish for “face.” Tired of other people thinking her name was actually Cara, she went with the French translation: Visage.)
From there she gets noticed by the Queen of NYC nightlife, Susanne Bartsch. While working for her, she first encounters her future friend RuPaul, and Madonna sees her and friends perform at the first Love Ball. After college, she gets a day job working as a receptionist for a clothing showroom, doing auditions when she can. Hearing from a friend about a girl group being formed, she wows the producers and thus Seduction is born. The group lasts a year, due to in-group tensions and touring with the infamous Milli Vanilli, but puts out the hit single “Two to Make It Right.” (There’s also her stint with The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. and the hit “It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day.”) Looking for work, she almost auditions to be a stripper, but ends up as an emcee for the strip joint instead. Through her connections, she lands a radio gig that leads to various other radio and television hosting gigs.
Eventually, she and RuPaul find each other again and start working together. However, when the chance to be on Drag Race comes around, her boss doesn’t let her take time off to be on it, because he doesn’t want to “harm the station’s image.” The situation temporarily sours her and Ru’s relationship. During this time, she also suffers a major anxiety attack that prompts her to change some things in her life. When the chance to be a judge comes around again, she’s able to get it with a little pep talk from her friend, Leah Remini. The rest you’ve probably you’ve seen on television.
Michelle is arguably on her third career, having been a singer, then a radio and TV host and now a TV personality. (Most people usually only have one or two, at best.) I think it’s inarguable that she’s a celebrity now that she appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, since it’s right there in the name. But even if Drag Race wasn’t a breakout hit, she would still be a gay cult figure / icon, only lesser known.
What is interesting to me is that she has become popular during this period of renewed interest in LGBTQI-originated and oriented nightlife of the 80s and 90s with a new reverence for its importance. While she is most known because of the show, she is also part of RuPaul’s and World of Wonder’s Oprah-esque media empire that includes and features personalities from the club scene such as James St. James. Her career has come full circle in a way.
But beyond my musings is an important question: Will you enjoy this book? Depends.
Do you like Drag Race? Because reading this book is a bit like marathon-ing all seasons of the show, even All-Stars. It’s a show that hasn’t met a pun or innuendo it won’t make and Ms. Visage is no slouch in this department either. (Another reason she feels like an aunt of mine.) Sometimes these jokes fall flat on the page, because what often makes these jokes work is how they are said. Arguably, I’m just making the case for listening to the audiobook version.
Also, are you in the mood for advice? There’s good and bad advice, but good portion of advice’s power comes from a person being open to it. Michelle’s advice ranges from general platitudes with a fabulous twist to the very practical. It helps that her “diva rules” are given alongside the story of her life so far. It’s not presented as “Do this!” but instead as “Here’s what I did in this situation, it might work for you too.”
Occasionally, I found the “my gays” and “my people” rhetoric a bit tired; it made me feel like a brand was trying engage with an audience. However, when it came to specific people in her past, they are handled with more sincerity. She recognizes that she—a straight white girl from Joisey—was taken in by folks of vastly different circumstances than hers and writes of her friends of the balls and piers with both affection and honesty.
But, dear reader, let me tell you that something magical happened to me after finishing this book. For the most part I enjoyed the book, even if it’s a bit eyeroll-worthy with the deluge of puns, innuendos and references, and containing some side-eye worthy phrasing. However, in the process of writing the review, I thought about Visage’s interesting career path. A little bit unsure of my own next steps, looking at her career helped put mine in perspective; I learned that a career path doesn’t necessarily need to be in a straight line to be successful. And for that, Michelle, I thank you.
– See more at: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/oped/03/02/michelle-visages-the-diva-rules-serves-up-advice-from-a-queerly-tinted-career/#sthash.B4TY8Ekc.dpuf
Filmmaker Aaron Brookner set out to find the lost negatives of ‘Burroughs : The Movie’ a critically acclaimed film made by his uncle Howard Brooknerwho had died of AIDS in 1989 aged just 34 years old. Before his untimely demise Howard had made just two feature documentaries …..the other one was on Robert Wilson the avant garde Theater Director …..and he had also just shot his first narrative film ‘Bloodhounds of Broadway’ which was in post-production at the time of his death.
The 1983 movie on the celebrated queer writer and Beat Generation poet William S Burroughs got Howard involved with some of seminal cultural icons of that period including Warhol, and in fact Tom DeCillo was the cinematographer on the film, and sound recordist was a a very young unknownJim Jarmusch. It is in fact Jarmusch who now helps Aaron in retrieving Howard’s archives that have remained untouched for years in Burrough’s old windowless basement bolt hole in The Bowery known as The Bunker. It had all been left in the care of the eccentric poet John Giorno who for some unexplained reason, initially obstructed Aaron in his quest. Once they do get their hands of this wealth of material, Aaron is able to eventually produce a restored version of his Uncle’s classic film which is later released by The Criterion Collection, and this documentary however is how he got to piece it all together.
The picture he paints of his Uncle starts with his own personal recollections and all the home movies as the two were obviously very close even though Aaron was still a child when Howard died. Much of the detail is filled in by the writer and English Professor Brad Gooch who was a model back in those days when he was Howard’s boyfriend and they lived a rather bohemian life in the Chelsea Hotel. Gooch’s own memoir of that time called ‘Smash Cut’ goes into great detail, and now on camera he talks fondly of Howard’s fiery energy and sheer determination to live life to the full, even after he had been diagnosed with AIDS.
It was very fierce tenacity which propelled this unknown kid from Great Neck, Long Island into winning the trust of the Burroughs crowd, but persuading major actors such as Madonna, Matt Dillon, Randy Quaid and Jennifer Grey into starring into ‘Bullets’ even though it was his first feature film. There are times when Aaron tracing his Uncle’s footsteps that he seems visibly shocked at the high esteem that Howard was held in by his peers and many others who may have normally been out of his league.
This excellent and very touching profile also serves as a fitting reminder that Howard Brookner was a remarkable and gifted filmmaker, but also of the wealth of talent and all the other extraordinary people we lost in the AIDS pandemic. Howard refused to take AZT simply because it impaired his ability to make his movie, and that was the most important thing in the world to him, more so now that he knew that his time alive was very limited.
In his farewell note to his parents, who although they had difficulty accepting his sexuality, they still loved Brad , Howard wrote :- It really isn’t a problem having a short life as long as you have ed it doing exactly doing things that really mattered to you …. and that is exactly what I have done. Uncle Howard was one of the very best LGBT movies at Sundance and is sure to surface in a Film Festival/movie theater near you soon.
In 1969, queer children’s/YA librarian John Donovan had his ground-breaking novel, I’ll Get There It Better Be Worth the Trip published by Harper. It was the first book I, as a twelve-year-old, had read that in any way raised the issue of homosexuality, though it never did so with that word or any of its synonyms. But its story of Davy Ross, living with his single mother, who forms a strong friendship with another boy that culminates in a drunken kiss (and the requisite subsequent death of his beloved dog in a car accident) broke barriers for what was called the “juvenile” market—and I remember a friendly and sympathetic youth librarian handing it to me to read, without a word, other than, “I’d like to know what you think of this.” I am eternally grateful to her forever for this act.
Donovan’s novel became a kind of template for a couple of generations of queer-driven novels aimed at youth readers that required some kind of tragic climax, even if one or more of the protagonists lived to walk into the sunlight as a secure, gay teen. Justin Sayre’s new novel, Husky, I am delighted to say, takes the archetype of the tween-age boy coming to an understanding of his sexuality (and gender-nonconforming personality and avocations) into a new era. What is so exciting about Sayre’s novel is that it does so in a way that is accessible for and feels genuine in its representation of the experiences of an audience of boy (and, no doubt, girl) readers difficult to write for on sexual identity: the tween-agers. Husky is not a “chapter book” (the current term for beginner novels aimed at primary grade students), such as Alex Gino’s equal revolutionary novel about a transgirl, George, nor does it delve, except in very appropriately tentative and almost preconscious ways into the romantic plots of the typical YA queer novel, such as those of David Levithan and others. Not unlike Donovan’s novel, it barely mentions the words “homosexual” or “gay,” and then not until the last pages.
Husky tells the story of Davis, an overweight, smart, likeable, and genuinely decent boy on the cusp of facing middle school, where a whole new set of rules, rituals, and priorities face him and his cohort of friends, all girls who accept and love him for the non-masculine (but cis-gendered) boy he is. He lives with his single mother, his irascible granny (who, for once, is not merely a plot device or cliché, but a genuinely multidimensional character, amusing and annoying at the same time), in Brooklyn, where he must help out with the family bakery and confront his mother’s developing romance with a sympathetic male worker in the bakery. Davis follows his own drummer in many admirable ways—he is already a baby opera queen and does not try to hide his love of the extravagant and emotional dimensions of that art form. Most difficult for him is the transition from the comparatively undifferentiated world of the early years of school, where his all-female posse does not make him the object of ridicule (or comparatively little) to the more gender-polarized jungle of middle school (and what is to come beyond), where the rules of boyhood and girlhood are more dictatorially articulated and enforced. We feel Davis’ pain when new girl, Allegra, who would appear to be the “mean girl,” enters the picture and plans a “spa party” for one of Davis’ best friends and to which Davis is not invited. He is by no means shunned by his mostly sympathetic and warm female friends, but they are themselves growing into the world of attraction and flirtation with boys, a world Davis cannot enter. One thing that is refreshing in Sayre’s use of Davis as a first-person narrator is that he makes it clear that what Davis is experiencing is not guilt about “unspeakable” desires, but confusion as to where in the world he might fit and find his people (without giving away too much of the plot, safe to say that the novel hints at possibilities Davis may have in front of him, if he indeed comes to a gay identity). And even the supposedly “mean girl” has a few surprises that remind Davis (and us) not to assume too much about who is in our corner and who is not. Even the putative bullies Davis encounters are more thoughtless than malicious (and recognize their thoughtlessness and apologize for it), and the novel ends on a positive note, providing hope for our hero and for the young readers who may identify with him (as this 58 year old reader did).
Sayre has a wonderful feel for how boys this age—particularly boys who are likely to identify at some point as gay—see the world and how they struggle to make sense of it through their own narratives. There is not a false note in the writing—the voice feels so real that we can hear Davis talking to us and thinking to himself. It is refreshing to find a novel which does “push” a boy this age into romantic and sexual situations he may developmentally not be ready for, but which allows his journey into selfhood to seem natural and unforced: there is melodramatic car crash or suicide from which Davis needs to contemplate whether he might be gay. Middle school and its challenges does a perfectly good job of that on its own.
I wish the twelve-year-old me (who was also confined to the “Husky” section at Sears) had had Davis rather than Davy as my model of working through the difficulties of becoming a sexual and gendered self (as much as I admire Donovan’s bravery). And an added plus: no dogs are run-over in the making of this novel! In its own brief and somewhat quiet way, Husky is a revolutionary book in queer youth literature, precisely because it understands the lived experience of the boy at his specific age. And we older readers may look back with some gentle laughter, a few unexpected tears, and deep admiration for protagonist and author.
– See more at: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/12/23/husky-by-justin-sayre/#sthash.uu6aYqIx.dpuf
Do you remember the first book that changed the way you looked at the world? The one that made you question the status quo and your place in it? For Juliet, a chubby 19-year-old Puerto Rican queer girl from the Bronx, it’s Raging Flower: Empowering your Pussy by Empowering your Mind by Harlowe Brisbane. Juliet comes out to her family just before leaving to intern with Harlowe in Portland. She’s excited to learn more about radical feminism, women’s bodies, and the actual practice of being a badass queer lady, even if it means spending the summer all the way across the country from her girlfriend, Lanie.
Juliet Takes a Breath is the kind of book that gets the bittersweet pain and longing of growing up exactly right. It’s about the reality of your heroes being human, falling in and out of love, the fierce unconditional love of family, and learning to navigate the world in a way that allows you to retain your humanity. There’s a lot to love about this book, and especially about Juliet, who is at once fierce and vulnerable. None of the characters are bad people. They’re all complicated and sometimes they do things that hurt other people. There are a lot of interesting take-aways from this incredible debut–lots about white privilege and unintentional racism especially within feminist circles. Rivera makes a strong point about education and class within social justice communities as well, when Phen, Harlowe’s previous intern, scoffs at her for not knowing what a preferred gender pronoun is.
Juliet builds a lot of relationships during her time in Portland–with a cute librarian, with Harlowe’s primary partner, Maxine and Maxine’s secondary partner, Zaira. And it’s all a whole lot to take in–the questions about identity, gender, race, and relationship status. Rivera has done an impressive job of capturing the confusion and tender distress that comes with joining a community of people who are older and more experienced than you. To say nothing of the familial relationships that are often forged by arguments and hard times.
One of the most important things the book addresses is the racial dynamics in Juliet’s relationships with both Lanie and Harlowe. How do you react when the person you’re in love with won’t introduce you to their parents? Is it because Lanie’s afraid of how her parents will react? Or because she doesn’t want to introduce them to a girlfriend who isn’t white? And how will Juliet reconcile her place within the feminist community surrounding Harlowe’s book when its primary demographic seems to be white hippies? What does that imply about Harlowe?
This book was a lot of fun to read, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that means it is fluff. Rivera does a great job of illustrating the ways in which contemporary feminism fails to be intersectional, while offering her own perspective on how to begin the arduous task of fixing it. She uses Juliet’s relationship with Harlowe (and, to a lesser degree, Harlowe’s relationships with Maxine and Zaira) to imply that a great place to start is with clear and transparent communication. As with most coming of age stories, there isn’t much in the way of a driving plot–the action is in character development and growth. This is something the author does well. Her dialog crackles with wit and good humor, and her landscape descriptions are brilliantly coded to compare the diversity of the Bronx and the lack thereof in Portland. The title is also a clever nod to the main character’s asthma. Juliet Takes a Breath is an impressive first effort from Gabby Rivera, whose perfect prose and gorgeous characters took my breath away.
Juliet Takes a Breath
By Gabby Rivera
Riverdale Avenue Books
Paperback, 9781626012516, 193 pages
– See more at: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/02/21/juliet-takes-a-breath-by-gabby-rivera/#sthash.640H3l0k.dpuf
Queer Country West Coast is pleased to announce their first show in San Francisco, featuring the sweet porch music and three-part harmony of The P’s & Q’s, prolific and hilarious songwriter Dillbilly in a new collaboration with Misisipi Mike, and Americana singer-songwriter Eli Conley and his band on Friday, February 26, 2016 at 8 pm. The show will be held at El Rio Bar, 3158 Mission Street, San Francisco. It is 21+ and there is no cover.
Since 2011, Brooklyn’s only gay-owned country western bar Branded Saloon has been home to a unique show called Queer Country Monthly. The series, which was conceived by songwriter Karen Pittelman, features LGBTQ country artists like My Gay Banjo and the Paisley Fields, and always includes a performance by hosts Karen & the Sorrows. The shows have helped build a warm community of queer country artists in New York.
In 2015, Berkeley-based alt-country musician Eli Conley played at the series and had such a wonderful time with the kindred spirits he found there that he pitched Karen the idea of hosting a sister show in California. Queer Country West Coast debuted at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley in June with performances by Eli’s trio Sugar in the Salt, San Francisco honky tonk band The Western Skyline, and country songwriter Shane Fairchild. The lesbian two-steppers and genderqueer old time fans in attendance all agreed that it was a resounding success.
Why queer country music? In their own words, “Because sometimes you love a culture that doesn’t love you back. We do it because we love the music and want to build a community to support queer country musicians. We do it because everybody needs a honky tonk angel to hold them tight. We do it because we believe in country music for all cowpeople.”
The distinctive voice narrating Black Deutschland compels an audience to listen. Coupled with the foregrounded erudition and the seen-it-all, felt-it-all, tried-it-all, and lost-it-all world-weariness, there’s a nocturnal theatricality in ample evidence, a stylized posture that would not seem out of place in a cabaret performance. “Guten abend, meine Damen und Herren,” the well-past-youthful performer might begin, spotlit on a bar stool but otherwise unaccompanied on a tiny curtained stage. “Let me tell you of my former days, of my not untroubled stay in a grey and wintry German city, of fleeting love and enduring loss, of the night the Wall fell. Long ago, I foolishly dreamed of being Christopher Isherwood’s spiritual heir and becoming a rootless stranger in Berlin who seduced tough German boys. But. Ja, natürlich, there’s a but. We’re all aware of the best laid schemes of mice and men. With that perennial theme now introduced, drink up! Let your time here tonight be well spent as I reveal my artful tale of woe.”
That voice is intriguing all the more because Pinckney doesn’t reveal much about its circumstances relative to the episodes being described. Belonging to Jedediah ‘Jed’ Goodfinch circa 2014, the voice is recalling a shuffled series of events (from childhood to the late 80s) that mainly took place over a handful of years, right after Jed left behind family, excesses of drugs and alcohol, rehab, failure, shame, and a completed but best forgotten stage of adulthood in Chicago. What happened between 1989, the year at which Jed’s reminisces formally conclude, and the present day he narrates from remains a mystery. He’s clearly looking back without much nostalgia or even fondness at his younger self, his bad, misguided, and impulsive choices, and the indifferent cities that housed him. Despite closing in on sixty and having moved on, he’s also stalled and solitary, “one of the black American leftovers who sit by themselves” in the once-divided city. The mature man who’s scrutinizing actions over two decades in the past appears ambivalent—disdainful and unforgiving without a doubt and yet drawn to sifting through the rubble nonetheless. It’s dramatically fruitful strategy on Pinckney’s part.
To simplify a complex and multifaceted story, Pinckney’s second novel (his first, High Cotton, appeared in 1992) traces an iffy journey of questionable rehabilitation. “I may have fallen apart in the city of my birth,” Jeb remarks, “but the city of my rebirth would see me put back together.” Beckoned by the glowing Mercedes star in the city’s Zoo Quarter, Jeb expects to become “the black American expatriate,” a historically unburdened, if imaginary, figure he admires. This former fat kid with a voracious taste for white wine and cocaine is thirty-three days sober. A drop out who’s no example of “Negro Achievement,” a quality much praised (and desired) by his politically active and expectant parents, he arrives with romantic faith in “Isherwood promises” of freedom grasped and erotic desires realized. Jeb’s sure he’s about to begin an “adult life” marked by seriousness, accomplishment, and cultured successes.
Soon hired to work on a book with an acclaimed architect who’s spearheading West Berlin’s makeover, Jeb resides with his imposing, well-connected, and AIDS-fearing cousin Cello and senses he’s at “the gates of international cool.”
Nothing’s that easy, of course. Frightened by his weaknesses for “disco trash” and intoxicants (but proud that he’s no longer “white wine’s bitch”), Jeb turns his back on the gay “city of orgies and joy.” Sober, though, he “disappeared into the cushions”; he rightfully questions what the monkishness is in fact attaining: “I had not had a drink in more than a year, but I was twenty-eight years old and I had not been naked with another human being in an even longer time than I’d not had a drink.”
Despite AA meetings, A-list connections, and myriad good intentions, he begins sleeping from couch to couch and visiting the ChiChi, a never-closing bar specializing in “life-changing mistakes”: “It was the sort of place where people experiencing a bad night strayed in to finish things off with meltdowns, blackouts, fistfights, seizures. Sex was just a message afterthought, something to do when daylight hit.” Opportunities slow, friendships and family ties explode, drug use spikes upward, and “screwing above [his] sex grade,” Jeb loses a lover.
Clever, arch, bitter, thoughtful, sophisticated, and delightfully jaded, Jeb-the-elder makes what could be a real downer of a downward trajectory into a mesmerizing performance. Bad things keep happening to difficult, petty, conflicted, vain, and contradictory people, and thanks to Jeb’s carefully modulated voice, the tangles are also human messes to savor.
Black Deutschland
By Darryl Pinckney
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Hardcover, 9780374113810, 304 pp.
February 2016
– See more at: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/reviews/02/13/black-deutschland-by-darryl-pinckney/#sthash.MH2z4rXd.dpuf
If, by chance, you’re unfamiliar with the name Joe Dallesandro, you likely know his image, which has been ubiquitous in pop culture for more than four decades. His muscular physique, chiseled features and flowing tawny locks made him a popular photographic model, while his uninhibited and often fully-nude turns in a trilogy of films (1968’s Flesh, 1970’s Trash and 1972’s Heat) produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey established “Little Joe” as an instant and enduring iconic sex symbol to gay men around the world. His sensual film work inspired Lou Reed to devote a verse in his anthem “Walk on the Wild Side,” and his likeness was used on the cover of The Smiths’ debut album and infamously on the front of the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers record. Over the years Dallesandro continued to work in front of the camera with many notable directors including Louis Malle, Jacques Rivette and John Waters. Today, Dallesandro, now 67, lives a somewhat less heady existence with wife Kim in Hollywood, where they manage an apartment building while working on Joe’s memoir. To show appreciation for his devoted gay fan base and to help troubled LGBT youth, Dallesandro has donated personal memorabilia and signed photos to raise funds for The Trevor Project, which provides assistance for suicidal queer teens. “He epitomized a special time and place in our culture,” says Phil Tarley, curator of the auction and event which takes place in Hollywood February 6. “Back then to be out was to be an outlaw and who would’t want to fantasize about being in an outlaw gang with ‘Little Joe’ Dallesandro.” Tarley notes that Joe was warm and generous in wanting to support the organization and the amazing things that they do. You can bid on the silent auction here.
Dallesandro spoke with Queerty about why he’s working with The Trevor Project, saying goodbye to costar Holly Woodlawn and whether Lou Reed’s lyrics are factual.
Queerty: You’ve donated photos that will be auctioned at a benefit this weekend for The Trevor Project, where you’ll also be the guest of honor. How did you become involved with the organization?
They asked me. My wife keeps me updated with organizations like this and this is a really great one. We put together come photo collages. It’s good for people to have something like this to turn to. Fortunately, no one in my life has suffered like this, but I think the work they do is very important.
You have grandchildren now. What are some of the lessons you’ve learned over the years that you try to impart to them and other young people?
Well, my grandchildren aren’t old enough to have any problems right now. I was just with my grandson two days ago. He’s eight years old. Life to him is great and a video game. He’s as happy as can be. We’re going to spend some more time together this summer. He and his pops are going to come out to be with me for a little bit. For young people, I’ve always believed we should have someone we can talk to. I know lots of runaways. I was one of those kids who thought he was grown up at 15. You’re not at that age, but I thought I was an adult. So I know how we can get out there and run around with a lot of wrong information. Lots of people need help and people with the right information to give them.
Along with Billy Name, Brigid Polk, Jane Holzer and Viva, you’re among the last surviving Warhol superstars. To what do you attribute your longevity?
I made Paul Morrissey my mentor and I listened to what he’d tell me. He warned me about the fame and about the press. He told me that if I was going to believe all the beautiful things people said about me, I had to believe all the ugly things, too. I just made that my truth. People can feel how they feel about who I portray on screen. That has nothing to do with who I am as a person. I don’t have to fall into that trap. I watched a lot of people with the Warhol group fall into that thing about being “superstars.” I just looked at what they were doing and said they were “stupidstars.” [Laughs]
You were also busy raising a family. I presume that responsibility helped keep you somewhat grounded.
Pretty much, yes. That’s the thing that keeps everybody grounded. When you have children you have to make sure they’re all right. Yeah, they helped keep me grounded.
I’m a big admirer of the trilogy of films you made with Paul. I think they were both ahead of their time in terms of your matter-of-fact nudity and viewed today they offer riveting snapshots into a bygone era.
I did two types of films. The Warhol films were a lot different from Paul’s trilogy. They still were Warhol films because Andy did show up and would participate int he sense that he’d pay for us to make them. They were Andy Warhol films because back then if I had any problem with the nudity… Back then Paul would tell me it called for some nudity. I’d ask him why and he’d say, “Joe, these aren’t sleazy films. These are films that will one day be shown in museums. These are Andy Warhol films. These are art movies, Joe!” I had to trust that what he was telling me was the truth. And the fact is, these movies have had a long walk. I thought they’d disappear, but they’re still here.
How did you first come to the attention of Warhol and Paul Morrissey?
I think everybody knows this story. It’s the story of the famous Campbell’s soup. This guy was famous for Campbell’s soup and I wanted to go down there and get a bowl of soup. I loved that soup. They told me this guy was shooting a movie down there. When I got down there and watched what they were doing I thought it was a home movie. This was not a real movie. It looked like a home movie to me. They didn’t have any soup, the bastards. [Laughs] When they asked me to do a small role in one of the films, I said sure I’ll do it. That was a 24 hour movie that Andy was shooting but it was cut down into a shorter film before it was released in the 24 hour film. It was shown only once in its entirety. When they cut it down it was a film called The Loves of Ondine and that was my first movie with the Warhol people. When Paul approached me at the end of the shot, he said I need you to sign this release. I started laughing. I said, “For what? You’re not going to release this movie. It’s just for you guys.” He said, “No, no, this is a real movie.” I just laughed and signed the release because I couldn’t believe it. I told him I’d keep an eye out for it. I turned out to be wrong about it all, but the soup I got burned on.
There’s a popular John Waters quote in which he said you changed male sexuality in the movies forever. Was there any discussion while making Flesh and Trash that they were groundbreaking?
It was mentioned. I had to believe what they told me. When I went to Europe and did Frankenstein and Dracula, which were the last two I did with the Warhol people, I decided those would be the last movies I would do with them. I had a couple of films I was already signed to make in Italy so I decided I wouldn’t make art films anymore, I’d only make shoot -em ups. I did a lot of those silly films in Italy. My manager at the time reminded me that since people expected me to do those kind of films I needed to continue so France was my place to work with art directors. I got to work with a lot of great directors. There was Louis Malle, Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Rivette, who just passed away. It’s an interesting list.
Holly Woodlawn, Jackie Curtis, Joe
You inspired a verse in “Walk on the Wild Side.” Did you know Lou Reed was writing about you before the song was released?
Here’s how that went. Here’s the story from the maestro Paul Morrissey, who has become a real angry man in his old age. Back in the day when Lou had left the Velvet Underground and wanted to continue his career and write some songs, he couldn’t think of any material to write about. Paul suggested he write a song about the people in the Factory. He went to a couple of the films we were in. He saw Flesh and from that he wrote lyrics that are supposed to identify who I am. It had nothing to do with who I am. He’d never met me. We’d never spoken. For me. the savior was the line “and the colored girls go doo doo doo…” It had a great chorus.
I’ve been with a lot of people who’ve passed away so when I was with Holly she was taking her last breath. I recognized it right away. I was able to say a prayer and wish her on her way to a heavenly spot. Hopefully, everything that hurt her down here will never follow her anywhere else. We hope to do a nice memorial to her. It’s going to happen. We’ll see.
It’s been a watershed year for transgender people. How do you think your colleagues like Holly and Candy would fare if they were coming up today?
I think they’d be much happier people. I believe fear and anger cause people to get cancer. I don’t know exactly how Candy passed away but I heard she’d been eaten up. How much of that can we contribute to the pain she had from outside sources? I just think that the way things are today, it’s much easier for people to deal with than back then. But we had a lot of fun back in those days. People came from all around trying to do the Warhol thing. It was great that Paul put people like Candy and Holly in his films. Andy loved to talk to them. It’s not like my life led to my hanging out with people like Candy and Holly. I got to see them on the sets of these movies. What I had going for me is I’m a very friendly and nice guy. I made them feel very comfortable while improvising a movie. Holly could talk really fast. She was going to take control and not let anybody else talk. It was a good thing.
You posed for a series of nude photographs while you were still a minor. How do you prevent those photos from being distributed now?
The way I fight against it, well there’s not much I can do except remind my fans that I was really very, very young when these were taken. I shouldn’t have had myself in that position, but I was. I believe children should be protected. I wouldn’t want that to happen to my son. I didn’t have that kind of protection. I wasn’t looking for it because I thought I was all grown up. One thing led to another that made me feel abused. I’m going to write about it in this book I started.
I’m glad to know you’re finally working on a memoir. What’s your life like these days?
I stopped acting a long time ago. As a building manager, I have 90 tenants and I interact with all of them on a regular basis. It’s difficult working with young people. It really is. Except I have some celebrity to me so they at least take a moment to listen to what I say. There used to be a lot of older people living here, but they’ve died off over the years and now there are a lot of young people. When I started working here about 80 percent of the doors were broken. People here are poor. That’s why they pay such low rent. They don’t have money to go live anywhere else. If there’s no one here to give them the spare key when they lock themselves out, they kick their doors down. It’s not like they can afford to call a locksmith. As a manager I’ve been here and am available to the people. They call me at all hours of the day and night to get back into their rooms.
As someone who’s emblematic of a more hedonistic time, what are your thoughts on the state of the country and the upcoming presidential election?
I don’t watch the news. When I was young, I’m from the Woodstock era, I thought by the time that I was this age everything would be different. I thought everyone that was like me back then would be all grown up and running things and things would be different. They’re not. It’s worse with churches and the way people are. There’s still a lot of people who are not able to deal with other people’s choices. I think it’s no one’s business what choices other people make. Everybody should be free and allow people to have what they need in their lives.
Your life seems to have been largely informed by serendipity. How much of your success over the years do you attribute to ambition and how much to being in the right place at the right time?
All of it was being in the right place. I was not an ambitious person who wanted to be an actor. I showed up and thought of acting as a job I liked doing. I never thought of it as “let me see if I can get this role over this other person.” If someone else was up for the same part as me, I’d say let them have fun with it. I’d only do films that people really wanted me to be in. It wasn’t me being so ambitious and probably I did a lot of really stupid films. I had fun doing them, though. Every time I did one it felt very natural to me. They could never work me too hard. I don’t care if the day was 16 hours long. It was always just what I was meant to do. I only stopped doing it because I felt casting people and agents were too disrespectful to the actors. I had to let it go. I don’t like to be angry about anything so when I find myself getting angry, it’s time for me to let it go.
For more information on the auction and tickets to the Trevor Project benefit, go here.
If you’ve been observing the 2016 Sundance Film Festival from afar, you’ve surely heard about two films that are receiving the lion’s share of attention for distinctly different reasons. The first is The Birth of a Nation (above), an often-compelling real-life tale about Nat Turner, the heroic black preacher who led a slave revolt in 1831 Virginia, which shares a title with D.W. Griffiths’ 1915 blockbuster that is today viewed as an ugly homage to racism. The drama, which marks an impressive directorial debut for charismatic actor Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), made headlines for its record-shattering acquisition price of $17.5 million dollars, as well as being considered a welcome antidote to the charge of white bias in the film industry. In numerous interviews, Parker declared that he wants his film to act as an agent of change.
Another film that grabbed headlines is Swiss Army Man, which was dubbed by wags as “the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie.” The film, helmed by music video vets Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, stars the former Harry Potter actor as a dead man discovered by Paul Dano’s character, who at one point rides Radcliffe’s lifeless body like a flatulence-propelled Jet Ski. There were countless walk-outs during the film, yet there were nearly as many fans who touted its potential as a future cult favorite.
As always, the festival showcased a number of queer-themed narrative films and documentaries. Other People, which follows a young gay man who sets aside his dreams of becoming a comedy writer to care for his dying mother, was the opening night selection. The autobiographical comedy is the directorial debut of Chris Kelly, a talented staff writer for Broad City and Saturday Night Live, and offers insightful performances from Fargo‘s Jesse Plemons (a young Phillip Seymour Hoffman look-alike) and veteran comic actress Molly Shannon. A very realistic sex scene between Plemons and Zach Woods caused several uptight audience members to head for the exits.
The documentary Holy Hell received a lot of pre-screening attention due to the fact that the name of its director wasn’t disclosed. A very gripping non-fiction look at a secretive utopian community led by a creepy as fuck charismatic guru, until his followers uncover some incredibly disturbing secrets about him. The director was eventually revealed to be Will Allen, a gay man who’d been a follower for more than two decades and he offers a unique insider’s perspective on cult life, although he prefers the term “community.” Allen told the audience that keeping his identity secret until he finished editing the doc prevented interference by the guru, who now resides in Hawaii, and the people who still follow him. Allen also revealed that he didn’t feel safe while working on the film and joked that he was even nervous there might be followers in the audience.
Another insider-access documentary, Kiki, can be seen as a descendent of Jennie Livingston’s beloved Paris Is Burning, as it follows a group of young urban queer kids dedicated to the fierce world of voguing battles in the Kiki scene of New York City. While the dance-off scenes are, naturally, relentlessly entertaining, the film also sheds insight into the plight of at-risk queer kids of color.
Uncle Howard chronicles the short life of film director Howard Brookner, who helmed acclaimed docs about beat legend William S. Burroughs and maverick theater Robert Wilson as well as one of Madonna’s early films Bloodhounds of Broadway, before he died of AIDS at age 35. Howard’s nephew Aaron uses a video diary kept by his uncle as well as a treasure trove of outtake footage he located in Burroughs’ “bunker” to offer both a loving valentine to his late uncle and a perceptive glimpse in the gay artistic scene in 1980s New York.
In the late 1990s JT LeRoy held much of the world enthralled as a literary wunderkind as readers reveled in the provocative tales of his sordid childhood. Presumed to be a drug-abusing transgender prostitute from rural West Virginia, LeRoy was, in fact, the nom de plum for Laura Albert, a forty-something punk rocker and phone sex operator from San Francisco. Albert tells her side of what was referred to as the greatest literary hoax of the century in Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Jeff Feuerzeig’s fascinating non-fiction film tapestry.
Other distinguished films that aren’t queer-specific include: Becoming Mike Nichols, a rollicking look at the life and career of the great director who gave us film adaptations of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Angels in America, produced by HBO; Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You is a valentine to the innovative producer who broke new ground with a string of hit sitcoms in the 1970s, produced by PBS; Director Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall examines the life of the late pop icon from his early days performing with his brothers until his decision to pursue a spectacular solo career, will premiere on Showtime in February; Halal Love (and Sex) is a witty and very progressive comedy from Lebanese director Assad Fouladkar that might forever change perceptions of Muslim women as they search for love and relationships.
Several of the films mentioned above are still looking for distributors so keep an eye out for opportunities to see them at other festivals around the globe. For a more comprehensive list of LGBT movies that premiered at Sundance this year, go here.
Queerty: You’ve donated photos that will be auctioned at a benefit this weekend for The Trevor Project, where you’ll also be the guest of honor. 
Along with Billy Name, Brigid Polk, Jane Holzer and Viva, you’re among the last surviving Warhol superstars. To what do you attribute your longevity? 
How did you first come to the attention of Warhol and Paul Morrissey?
There’s a popular John Waters quote in which he said you changed male sexuality in the movies forever. Was there any discussion while making Flesh and Trash that they were groundbreaking?
You were one of the last people with 
I’m glad to know you’re finally working on a memoir. What’s your life like these days?
As someone who’s emblematic of a more hedonistic time, what are your thoughts on the state of the country and the upcoming presidential election? 
