The Laramie Project...

this afternoon friends and i are attending a production of The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman. it is being performed this weekend at Dominican University Performing Arts Center in River Forest, Illinois. it is a powerful piece of work. i've seen it before and there is also a film version.

The Laramie Project is a play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project about the reaction to the murder of [Matthew] Shepard. The play draws on hundreds of interviews conducted by the theatre company with inhabitants of the town, company members' own journal entries and published news reports. It is divided into three acts, and eight actors portray more than sixty characters in a series of short scenes. It was later adapted into a film of the same name.

if you are familiar with the history of the play and if you have been keeping up with the news for the last couple of weeks, you will know that it has been consistently targeted by Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church with hateful and unchristian taunts and protests at a lot of performances. Phelps and his daughter were barred from entering England last week and prevented from leading a protest at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, Hampshire. though England has free speech laws, it also has laws that forbid inciting violence with hate speech.

from the timesonline.com article -

"Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

"The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.

"We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country.

in the United States we allow all groups to use their free speech right no matter how inciteful or hate-filled it is. that is a debate for another time.

a little over a month ago Dominican University discovered via the Westboro website [i will not provide a link] that the group is planning a protest the hour before today's performance. the latest communication i had from one of the manager's is that the daughter is scheduled to be part of the protest.

students at the University found out about the protest and have organized a counter-protest. they have, with great humility and conscience, decided to make it a silent counter-protest. it is the right thing to do. [IMHO]

below is a video of the song American Triangle that Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote about the murder of Matthew Shepard. the piece is powerful in itself. this version was put together with scenes from the film version of The Laramie Project. you will see some of the scenes that include the Phelps' group. the man playing Phelps eerily looks like the original. the signs they carry are exact replicas of the ones the group always carry.

besides productions of the play, for quite some time now Phelps and his crew have been doing these protests at the funerals of servicemembers killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq - with the exact same signs! one of the saddest things about the protesters is that they have always included their children, some as young as 5 or 6. the children use the same language as the adults.

i am going to post about what happens either when i get home this evening or tomorrow. i will also try to provide some photos, if possible. the University and the River Forest Police Department have prepared for this. they have set aside two areas - one for the students and one for them. i know all will go well. i will help, if need be. i may have to pull all of the Vietnam War protest techniques and experiences out of the back of my head. somehow i think it's going to be like riding a bicycle - once you've learned, you never forget.

and i did learn from some of the best...

please watch the video below. i have also included the lyric afterward.

and, please, send your good thoughts, feelings, prayers, vibes, novenas, or whatever your belief is to support the students of Dominican University.

American Triangle

Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin


Seen him playing in his backyard
Young boy just starting out
So much history in this landscape
So much confusion, so much doubt

Been there drinking on that front porch
Angry kids, mean and dumb
Looks like a painting, that blue skyline
God hates fags where we come from

"Western skies" don't make it right
"Home of the brave" don't make no sense
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire
Left to die on a high ridge fence
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

See two coyotes run down a deer
Hate what we don't understand
You pioneers give us your children
But it's your blood that stains their hands

"Western skies" don't make it right
"Home of the brave" don't make no sense
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire
Left to die on a high ridge fence
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

Somewhere that road forks up ahead
To ignorance and innocence
Three lives drift on different winds
Two lives ruined, one life spent

"Western skies" don't make it right
"Home of the brave" don't make no sense
I've seen a scarecrow wrapped in wire
Left to die on a high ridge fence
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold, cold wind
It's a cold wind blowing, Wyoming

just havin' some fun...

and needing a silly break...

yesterday was the 100th anniversary of Carmen Miranda's birthday. this is my favorite song for some obvious, and some not so obvious, reasons. enjoy...


Happy Birthday, Carmen Miranda.

she would have been 100 today. she's a hoot and always will be. this is my favorite of all the extant footage of her. yes... it's so gay!



The Lady In The Tutti Frutti Hat


Sung by Carmen Miranda
Written for: The Gang's All Here (1943)

Lyric: Leo Robin

Music: Harry Warren






I wonder why does ev'rybody look at me

And then begin to talk about a Christmas tree?

I hope that means that ev'ryone is glad to see

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.

The gentlemen, they want to make me say, "Si, si,
"
But I don't tell them that, I tell them,
"Yes, sir-ee!"
And maybe that is why they come for dates to me,

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.

Some people say I dress too gay,

But ev'ry day, I feel so gay;

And when I'm gay, I dress that way,

Is something wrong with that?

Americanos tell me that my hat is high,

Because I will not take it off to kiss a guy;

But if I ever start to take it off, ay, ay!

I do that once for Johnny Smith

And he is very happy with

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.





You hear a lot of people shouting, "There she goes!
"
You see a señorita dressed in flashy clothes,

In Rio de Janeiro, ev'rybody knows

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.

When she begins to sing a song in Portuguese,

The temp'rature goes up a hundred more degrees;

Although they're freezing prices, they would never freeze

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.

It isn't any wonder that
She likes her native habitat,

'Cause when she has to pick a hat,

She picks it off the trees.

She always has a half a dozen Romeos,

And when they come to sing a serenade, she throws

A lemon or banana like you throw a rose,

But Casanovas still prefer
That hep and happy character,

The lady in the tutti-frutti hat.


they were really dirty lyrics back then...
not to mention the bananas...
i wonder what they were really thinking???

silly me...


Some people say I dress too gay,

But ev'ry day, I feel so gay;

And when I'm gay, I dress that way,

Is something wrong with that?

wow! i went to TWO movies this weekend...

my friends tease me because i hardly ever go to see a movie at the theatre. i usually wait to see in on cable or DVD.

the problem i have is i always end up with the people who jabber on the cellphone during the movie or some other rude thing.

when i went to see the Bourne Ultimatum, there was a couple who had brought there 2-3 year old with them. first it was inappropriate for her to be there because of the type of movie and second they let her crawl around on the floor under the seats! obviously, they had not gone to any parenting classes. BUT giving her a flashlight was the last straw for me, as well as others. before i could get up, someone had already made it to an usher or manager who was right there telling them to either control her or leave. like i said, it was inappropriate for her to be at this film anyway.

so you can see why i don't like going to the theatre. it's just my luck.

i do, however, go to see movies with special effects that would be much better seen on the wide screen than the small. this sent me this Friday to see The Day the Earth Stood Still, that plus a curiosity to compare if with the classic original.

neither the updated story nor the special effects disappointed me. i loved it.

the special effects in the first 10-15 minutes are some of the most spectacular i've ever seen. they were so because they were both subtle and understated. they didn't stop there, but continued through the entire film. in addition, the story updating was believable for today's world, and contrary to others, i think that Keanu Reeves played Klaatu the only way possible, and the robot would scare the s*** out of me.

if you want pure escapist fare, i recommend it. if you're a sci-fi aficionado, don't miss it.



i just came home from the second movie - Milk.

what can i say?

as a piece of history, it is believable; as a reflection of what it is to fight for yourself, it is insightful; as a piece of art, it is incredible; and as a journey of a man and a movement, it is beyond important.

could i identify with all of it? absolutely, positively yes.

did i emotionally loose it at any point? yes, but i won't tell the part unless you've seen the movie. i did get a little teary-eyed at the end, but it was so well done and so dramatically understated to make a point, that it brought the entire project full-circle.

i went with straight friends. they were totally impressed. Sharon said that Sean Penn's performance was one of the most realistic and the best she's ever seen, and she can see 4-5 movies a week, if she can. my other friends said it was one of the best movies they've ever seen also.

i have to tell you that i hesitate referring to them as friends. we have known each other for 40 years and we are more family than friend. we go on vacations together; we celebrate holidays together; and we do lots and lots of things together. the one thing that we are is totally supportive and loving of each other.

since we are friends/family we have a relationship that is such that we talk just about everything. well, sex is probably the one thing we don't talk about, but it's because it's nobody's business. well, i can't really say we never talk about it, but it's not something that is, like, tabletalk during a card game.

my orientation is never discussed either. it is my choice and they understand that. my sexuality is only a part, and a very small part, of who i am. it does not define me; though it adds to my definition.

though the argument in Milk is "let everyone know you're gay because when they know one of us, they know us all" is powerful, but it also tells the story of how we are all alike, and that is the point of demanding and what underscores everyone deserving equal rights. the other thing that is unique about the movie is that it is a love story with a wonderful telling of Harvey and Scott's relationship. a relationship that was just like everyone else's - straight or gay.

if i came away from the movie with anything, it is that everything i've believed, everything for which i have stood, everything that i have done, i have done as a human being. i left the theatre with everything reinforced, everything intact, and everything having more importance.

to use a cliche with which i identify -

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
And the ways our differences combine
to create meaning and beauty.

my how things have changed...

politically, that is.





big time.

the singular most spectacular dance sequence...

He's my friend
from The Unsinkable Molly Brown

look at the dance moves carefully; they're remarkable... in heels, full length gown, one single take - incredible...

Happy Birthday, Debbie Reynolds!

now this is a campaign i can totally support...

Support Harvey Dent

you can find out all about Harvey Dent and his campaign to rid Gotham of all the scum. Click here

I believe in Harvey Dent

to go directly to the campaign website.



[on a side note - i saw the trailer for Batman: The Dark Knight last night when i went to see 10,000 B.C. (special effects are phenomenal, story line shaky at best, some eye candy). i will definitely go to see Dark Knight. it was really hard to tell that Heath Ledger was playing The Joker. what little there was of him in the trailer was unbelievable.]

bosom buddies...

Bosom Buddies
from Auntie Mame
Lucille Ball & Bea Arthur

they are few and far between. i have been blest with a group of buddies for 40 years. three of us began working together 40 years ago and have been closer than any family could be. we've been through the proverbial thick and thin with each other. we spend holidays together, vacationed together, been through births and deaths together, supported each other and loved each other. we've picked up husbands and boyfriends and fiances over the years, but we've stayed constant and close. i wish everyone had friendship like this. it would make the world a better place for all...

universal healthcare policy...

...he departs A. W. O. L. to establish a community clinic in a little up-State village where his father, a physician of the horse-and-buggy school, is dangerously overworked. Naturally the local housewives didn't like disclosing intimacies to such an upstart, and the young doctor meets all kinds of opposition — no mention, of course, is made of the American Medical Association—until he correctly diagnoses the mysterious ailment of one of the town elders. Movie Review, New York Times, Dr. Kildare Goes Home, September 19, 1940.

And the solution to all of the opposition? Dr. Kildare, in the movie, starts the clinic with the idea that everyone in the town of approximately 1,000 people pays the clinic 10¢ a week to support and keep the clinic open to ALL, not just those who can afford healthcare. Oh, and he also has a very radical idea to keep the costs down - preventive medecine.

It seems that the issue of universal healthcare has been around for a long time. Fighting the same battles, meeting identical roadblocks [notice the sly mention of the AMA in the review], and jumping similar hurdles.

Let's see... 1940 to 2007........ hmmmm, that's 67 years, and where are we now?

Sounds like an indistinguishable battle to me. Mr. Bush wouldn't even sign the S-CHIP bill to support our kids. The first link on the government's website for the program is Low Cost Health Insurance for Families & Children. Read low cost as the real reason the Tsar and his compatriots will not support it.

Where's the money in it for them?

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." - the more things change, the more they stay the same...

do we need a Dr. Kildare and a mysterious ailment of epic proportions to force the change to happen?

just asking...

busy week(s)...

Posting is kind of limited for me the past and current week. I'm working a couple of days. [I love working only 4-5 days a month!] There are also a lot of social type engagements planned.

Last Friday I went to what probably is the second best opera performance/production I've ever seen - Handel's Giulio Cesare. Great, great, great! You can read the reviews here, here and here.

On Sunday I went to a discussion with David Daniels, the star of the opera and spoke briefly with him at the reception after. Fascinating. The #1 countertenor in the world, highly sought after by all the big opera houses, considered one of the biggest opera stars of the day, and totally out as a proud gay man.

Last night, friends took me to see "Jersey Boys". Great music. I didn't know much about the history of the group. If what they presented is true, it wasn't very pretty. The second act was heartbreaking.

Thursday I'm going to the opening night gala and screening of the movie "Shelter" at

The Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival is in its 26th year. I've read a lot about Shelter and can't wait to see it. It sounds great. Actor Brad Rowe from the movie is going to be there.

The week ends with dinner at friends' home on Saturday that is always a great meal.




i gotta tell ya. i highly recommend this retirement thing to everyone. i'm glad i didn't wait until i would be too old and feeble to enjoy it and took early retirement. anyone who worries about not knowing what they'll do if they retire has nothing to worry about. i'm always busy, even if i'm not doing anything! that sounds weird, but it's true!

one thing i know for sure - i'll need next week to recuperate. fat chance! next week there's another opera, more films at the festival, and on and on and on...

here's a video of the Tony Awards show with a medley from the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. enjoy...

and what about the rest of the world?

Bill Clinton when asked what his mission would be should Hillary be elected president indicated that he would most like to help bring the rest of the world back into diplomatic parity with the U.S. It might be more accurate to say bring the U.S. back into parity with the rest of the world.

Hillary was on Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight. She made a comment that was very important in dealing with international relations between the U.S. and the World's governments. I don't have the exact quote, but in effect she said that should she become president it would be the end of cowboy diplomacy. She actually used that term.

So what about the rest of the world? What exactly are they thinking? Do they even want to bother in dealing with the U.S.? If the headline below from the International Herald Tribune is any indication, we may be in for a long tough haul.

Supreme disgrace

The Supreme Court exerts leadership over America's justice system, not just through its rulings, but also by its choice of cases - the ones it agrees to hear and the ones it declines. On Tuesday, it led in exactly the wrong direction.

Somehow the court could not muster the four votes needed to grant review in the case of an innocent German citizen of Lebanese descent who was kidnapped, detained and tortured in a secret overseas prison as part of the Bush administration's morally, physically and legally abusive anti-terrorism program. The victim, Khaled el-Masri, was denied justice by lower federal courts, which dismissed his civil suit in a reflexive bow to a flimsy government claim that allowing the case to go forward would put national security secrets at risk.

It somewhat echoes a previous post on this site - exactly what is SCOTUS "refusing" to hear?

Years ago there was a novel and movie entitled The Ugly American. I'm going to quote directly from the Wikipedia entry because it sums it up and reflects on the fact that we still don't get it. Well, at least the people who have the power don't.

The novel describes how the United States is losing the struggle with Communism—what was later to be called the battle for hearts and minds—in Southeast Asia, because of arrogance and failure to understand the local culture.

...because of arrogance and failure to understand the local culture.

Iraq? Iran? France? Saudi Arabia? Russia? China? Darfur? and on, and on, and on...

on the home front, it also comes close to describing the problem with the authoritarian "social" conservatives in our own country with the arrogance and failure they have in understanding our own culture.

doesn't it?

just asking...

I keep bringing this up: Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. - George Santayana...

[writing things like this always makes me sad. i think of my father and uncle, along with all of the other honorable men and women who fought, some paying the ultimate price, to defend in what they believed, to preserve the freedoms in which this government was so adamant at procuring, and to make sure that there was a future for me and others. i think they would be angry. i believe they would be disgusted at what has happened. i feel they would be sad also.]

NBC pulls out of iTunes...

NBC pulled out of the iTunes agreement with Apple over pricing. They want more charged for their shows! So what else is new?

So today they announce an agreement with Amazon.com's Unbox service -NBC in Deal With Amazon to Sell Shows on the Web.

HELLO!

I just looked at the Amazon.com Unbox website for NBC shows. THEY'RE CHARGING $1.99!

AND... instead of the $9.99 for movies, Unbox charges $14.99! Oh, yeah, you can rent the movie for $3.99, but what are the requirements? You can only use a PC; you have to download the Unbox video player; you have 30 days to begin viewing it and once you start 24 hours before it is erased automatically. Netflix is easier. Not to mention cheaper starting at $4.99 a month and you can keep the movie as long as you want and take as long as you want to watch it.

sheesh... maybe NBC is getting a bigger cut from Amazon.com but what are consumers getting from this? the shaft...

i'm going to break a rule...

My friends will tell you that I do not go to the movies in a theater unless it's something like a Star Trek, Star Wars, Bourne (opens Aug 3), or something that I think needs to be seen on a big screen because of special effects. The reason I don't go is because I end up sitting near the people whose cell phone rings constantly and they talk or next to the couple who brings their 2-year old to an adult movie and lets her crawl around on the floor with a flashlight. [Yes, this actually happened to me.] It never fails, so I don't go.

This film is something for which I absolutely will break my rule. It was the winner of the Special Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

The preview below is enough to get me going & not just to go see it...

No End in Sight

more, more fodder on Cheney - part 2...

In the middle of reading part two, Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power of the four-part Washington Post series on Vice-President Cheney's power in the Bush administration [Part One, 'A Different Understanding With the President'], I was struck as to how it reads like a Robert Ludlum novel. The intrigue, plotting, back-stabbing, and spying are a read comparable to Ludlum's books. If you haven't been reading it, you should, if just for the shear enjoyment of a spy story. Of course, the facts of the story may also just bring you to understand that this is really going on in our government, a republican form of democracy based on the paramount document espousing freedom.

Today's installment has two very interesting points. Well, it has a lot of them, but these are the two that struck me the most:

No longer was the vice president focused on procedural rights, such as access to lawyers and courts. The subject now was more elemental: How much suffering could U.S. personnel inflict on an enemy to make him talk? Cheney's lawyer feared that future prosecutors, with motives "difficult to predict," might bring criminal charges against interrogators or Bush administration officials.

"How much suffering could U.S. personnel inflict on an enemy to make him talk?"

Why would this even be a question for anyone? When I was in high school, the senior high school English/literature class I had dealt with thematic topics. The one that has stayed with me to this day is Man's inhumanity to man. The very idea that one person has less value than another is anathema to me. To inflict suffering for the purpose of forwarding a political agenda makes all of us less human not just less humane.

The second point:

...the president may authorize any interrogation method, even if it crosses the line into torture. U.S. and treaty laws forbidding any person to "commit torture," that passage stated, "do not apply" to the commander in chief, because Congress "may no more regulate the President's ability to detain and interrogate enemy combatants than it may regulate his ability to direct troop movements on the battlefield."

.
I have to think about this one very hard. The Constitution puts the President of the United States above the law? Somehow I don't think that the framers of the Constitution had that accurately in mind. They had just ended a war against a tyrant and sought to limit the powers of the executive to avoid the establishment of a monarchical president.

I mean, come on. This should be a no-brainer for any one who has even a cursory understanding of U.S. Constitutional history. Hell, I remember my high school history and political science teachers making a big deal of it.

George Washington made a big deal of it. He was hesitant about becoming the first president. He disliked the adulation, though no president since has had an approval rating of 100%!

I have this disgust welling up in my gullet with what I'm reading in the Post's series. I also have a sadness that could easily push me. Most of all, I have anger that makes me want to open the window and -



that makes me feel better...

how do you know that you're god?

Simple.
When I pray to him, I find I'm talking to myself.

Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney,
The 14th Earl of Gurney*

A woman in Ohio is beside herself for reading the side of a cup from Starbucks that is contrary to her religious beliefs.

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

Her exact words:

"As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that. I don't think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee," said Incanno, who is Catholic.

This is similar to the controversy when someone saw a quote by Armistead Maupin on a Starbucks' cup a couple of years ago. Here we go again!
Well, wouldn't she just p** herself if she saw this clip, where the initial quote of this post is heard.

The Ruling Class

Well, I got news for the lady in Ohio. I'm offended by the constant barrage of people like her who assault my right to be able to read what I want to read, believe what I want to believe, and say what I want to say without her and other small-minded, unaccepting people being affronted so that they don't want me to exercise the same rights that they have.

I could very easily scream every time I see something about god on the side of a Starbuck's cup, read a huge billboard on the side of the road with a message from their good book, or hear them constantly complain about how everyone is trying to take away their right to believe in what they want. I don't. The reason that I don't is because I very strongly believe and live my life as if they have the right to have what they consider their spiritual beliefs.

I have a caveat though. If I accept that they have the right to believe in what they believe, then they have to accept that I have the same right to subscribe to my own beliefs or lack there of. With one proviso: no one may be physically harmed.

Oh, and I'm not giving up my venti Americano with extra room for anyone, any thing, any belief, or any silliness. Period.

More on the movie The Ruling Class:

*The Ruling Class is one of my all time favorite movies starring Peter O'Toole as the 14th Earl of Gurney. It is a critically aclaimed movie that was nominated for a Palme d'Or at Cannes, Best Foreign Film Golden Globe, Best Actor nomination Oscar, & won best actor at the National Board of Review. It didn't do as well at the box office because of its dark content and the mood of the country with Vietnam.

in a world of dreams...

...we are motes of dust in the eye of imagination.

I seldom watch movies with messages. I like escapist stories that take me away from the concept of reality. I've seen Clear and Present Danger only a couple of times less than The Bourne Supremacy. If I'm flipping channels and come across either one of these movies, I'm hooked again. Usually for the gazillionth time.

The The Dust Factory caught my eye early Sunday morning and, luckily, it was right at the opening credits. I found it to be absolutely charming. I think I also identified with it because I'm going through a grieving process since I decided to take an early retirement in March.

The trailer:



Many people may think that grief is experienced only when someone dies [I hate the term "passes"]. I think life is a series of not only joys but also of griefs. They are a movement forward and away from something, a line of little deaths that we go through daily. Most of them are minor and usually go unnoticed while others are major - retiring, moving to a new home, marriage, divorce, leaving a job....