In 1966, an aspiring 18 year old singer auditioned to replace Melba Moore in the Broadway musical Hair, but was instead cast in the German road production of the show, later switching to the Austrian version. Years later, during a stint in the Vienna Folk Opera, she met, married, and had a child with Austrian performer Helmut Sommer. In 1974, …

Pimp. Bitch. Brag..

I took this photo of Mark Green in front of Grand Central Terminal last Friday, as he campaigned for New York State Attorney General. On September 11th 2001, I voted for Green for NYC mayor, a race he would have won, had the coverage of the terrorist attacks not totally drowned out his runoff campaign against Michael Bloomberg, who was …

“Recently I attended a dance party, one of the many evenings of intense music and cavorting available to thousands of gay men in my city each weekend. I looked over the crowd of primarily twenty-something and thirty-something men, shirtless, gyrating, arms reaching to the heavens. I thought immediately at how the doomsayers criticize this population of young gay men, saying …

“I was a missionary of sorts to many a gay man. By then I was already a gay magnet—for some reason they were just drawn to me. And over and over I’d live out the same scenario. Some extremely handsome guy would confess to me that he was all confused about his sexuality, and for some reason he thought I …

Tonight I saw an advance screening Superman Returns, in IMAX and 3D, thanks to my pals Captain Steve and his husband Brian. There was quite a mob scene outside the AMC Lincoln Center Theatre, tons of adorkable boys in Superman t-shirts, with noticeably fewer girls in the lines. I’m not so big on superhero movies, but I can recommend Superman …

Author and gay activist Eric Rofes died of unknown causes in Provincetown yesterday. Rofes was perhaps best known for his controversial declaration that “AIDS is over”, in his 1998 book Dry Bones Breathe. Rofes pioneered many gay activist groups, including founding the Boston Area Gay & Lesbian Schoolworkers and the Boston Gay & Lesbian Political Alliance. In the 80’s he …

It was June 27th, 1969. The day that the fags, dykes, and queens of New York City finally said “Enough!” For some historical perspective, I’m posting the story that the New York Daily News ran about the Stonewall Riots. Note how the story drips with condescension and ridicule. We’ve come a long, long way in 37 years and we’ve still …

It was, in a word, glorious. This, despite that Pride Sunday dawned to blackened skies. I was awakened not by the sound of real thunder, but by the fake computer thunder that the Weather Bug on my laptop makes to alert me that a thunderstorm is imminent. But the threat of a little rain didn’t stop 500,000 of my closest …

This is the story I read at Tuesday’s WYSIWYG… In late September 2004, a friend of mine at ABC-TV called after he forwarded me a press release about to go up on ABC’s site, looking for participants in an episode of 20/20, the Peabody Award winning one-time benchmark of investigative journalism, now currently producing landmark feature stories like “What You …

THIS is Grand Central Station.And THIS is Grand Central Terminal.Now let us not speak of your confusion again.

Maybe I should post a webcam link to the view from behind my desk. I’ve been sitting here for five years and I never get tired of the view.

Confess it. Go ahead, you’ll feel better. .

This Sunday in NYC there will be more ma$$ive big ticket dance parties than you can shake a glowstick at. Once the fireworks over the Pier Dance fade into the Hudson, I’ll be nudging my boys towards Souvenirs, at the East Village’s Element, one of the more swank venues in Manhattan, where I will close my Pride weekend blissing out …

Pick up a copy of this week’s NY Press, their annual Pride edition, which includes coverage of last week’s LGBT anti-violence march, an interview with NYC Council Chairperson (and out lesbian) Christine Quinn, and a fascinating look at the lives of gay New Yorkers who have arrived here to escape persecution in their home countries. You’ll also find another short …

My apologies for two days of radio silence, but I haven’t been feeling well since leaving the street fair on Sunday. Perhaps standing in the sun with a beer cup in my hand for 8 hours is something I shouldn’t be doing anymore. Hopefully next year I’ll plan to arrive later and leave earlier. Yeah, right. Last night’s WYSIWYG was …

For yesterday’s leather street fair, I surveyed my closet for something from my sadly dwindling supply of perv-wear. Chaps? Yeah, right. My chaps are still lying collapsed in a pile of helpless mocking leather-laughter* after my having tried them on before the Black Party. My chain harness? Um, I’m totally not into sharply-defined man-boobs, and I so don’t want to …

“You can’t keep a good queen down! ” – Kevin Aviance, speaking through a wired jaw at Saturday’s NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project’s march against gay bashing.

My favorite weekly feature over at Democratic Underground, is their Top Ten Conservative Idiots list. Our ignoble leader often holds down the top spot and sometimes he is listed several times within the same Top Ten for multiple blunders within the reporting period. I’m especially amused by the little cartoon icon story tags, my favorite of which is “batshit crazy”.