DANCING TO ARCHITECTURE™
P HOTO F EATURES FROM THE VIDEOS "Happy Pride Day Moscow" AND "Life Is Better With You"
INCLUDES
Dancing To Architecture ™ Music Reviews & News with a Queer Ear by Bill Realman Stella
LOU REED 1942 - 2013 A great title of an article about Lou after his death came from Zachary Lipez, writing for Noisey.Vice.com (appropriately enough — you can't make this stuff up.) It, simply, was this: LOU REED: NO EPITAPHS This is my story. The short version.
down-and-outest Bowery, instead asks us whether it would be OK, because we got there before they could reserve a table for him, if Mister Lou Reed sat with us? "Oh. Sure, Tina! Lou Reed? Really? I love Berlin!" Am I just elaborating with the detail that Tina admonished me to take it easy on Lou, that he was really very shy? I don't recall I'm barely a teenager, and only in my private late-night whether I was dismissive, wasn't listening to her (brat) or moments do I indulge in Gay lust fantasies, when "Walk On whether I made it up later. You mean, on top of all this exThe Wild Side" hits Top 40 AM radio. Its only precedent (in my citement, I get to not just meet, but sit with Lou Reed? You mean, reader, you think I thought I was gonna behave? limited experience) was The Kinks' "Lola", and it just adds to Much as my ego was battered by what seemed at the time as my my adolescent confusion. At 14, 15, I'm compounding confuunique experiences of adolescence, very tentative peeks out of the sion as fast as my interest in boys-to-men is rising. Jump to 1976, and high school, and my best friend Richard's closet and anti-intellectual peers, I was shocked that the man sitting at "my" table wasn't willolder brother went to Rhode ing to engage in banter with Island School of Design with my witty manchild self. If these semi-amateur musicians you ever want to manipulate who are taking advantage of me into behaving, simply rethe burgeoning Punk and New vert me to my 17 year old self, Wave scene in dirty New York and act like a stoned-onCity to play at CBGB's. My downers, non-communicative, friend's brother's friends are excited to be there, bored by the band Talking Heads. Richme and my friend lump. ard takes me to see them a That's not entirely true. few times there. They don't Eventually the shock wore want to jinx it, but news is thin, and because of or dethey not only have a record spite being a little stoned, I contract with a major, but had a patented bright idea they're recording and it's going for how to get revenge on well. The final time we get to Reed for putting up with his see them together at CBGB silent treatment of us. When before their debut album is Portrait ©Timothy Greenfield-Sanders it came time to leave, I released, it's Spring 1977, and there's a buzz about them in hip circles. Everyone wants to see quickly stood, grabbed my backpack up and slung it onto my them, possibly the Next Big Thing. Richard and I, both still 17, back, held out my hand (He took it! He automatically took my get to CBGB early, very early, not just 'cause we heard it'll hand in his limp fist, and he's shaking my hand!) and said: "Lou, it's been great not talking to you." probably be packed, but Richard's brother passes along the And I stomped away. knowledge that the best chance to get in when neither of us Something about that handshake I had meant to unnerve Reed are legal is to get there as early as possible. It was more excitwith wound up haunting me. It started a tradition: I collected ing to get in underage than it was to get to drink. No small feat: Not only are we in, we're early enough to handshakes the way other fannish boys coveted signatures. Cut years ahead, past how I got WRSU-FM shut down for score a table in front. Like, touch-the-stage in front. And the the night in 1979 because I played his profanity-peppered buzz rush does arrive. Did I need to mention we're nerds, not punks, making us more live album, although it was after 11 PM. Past how knowing IN HIS WAY REED'S A CROONER IN A TIN PAN brats for being there Robert Quine was his guitarist won me tickets to a Billy A LLEY TRADITION , A POPULAR SONG than if we were punk Bragg show. Past his New York, the last great '80's album and the first great 90s album, and past the "Halloween Parade" FACTORY LABORER AT A PLANT OVERRUN BY wanabes? Brattier still and the "Dirty Blvd". Past Magic and Loss. ITS WILDCAT WORKERS, A MAN WHO HAS because we've met the Cut to 2001? '02? Funny how I don't well recall which recent members of the band? WADED THROUGH BEATNIK - POLLUTED year. But that one year I volunFOLKSTER STREAMS TO FIND COMPATRIOTS And here comes Tina, DION AND JOHNNY CASH STANDING ON THE my ego seriously thinks teered at GLAAD's Media Awards I HAVE MULTIPLE, EQUALLY TRUE, at the Marriott Marquis in New ALTERNATIVE TITLES FOR THIS PIECE: BANKS, FLATTENING MELODIES CLOSE TO she's coming to talk to York, I was happy to learn Lou LOU REED WAS MY FIRST. SPEECH BUT INCITING A SOFT REVOLUTION, us. Tina Weymouth of Reed and Laurie Anderson would Talking Heads, this band LOU REED, TALKING HEAD(S). STARTING AN URBAN/SUBURBAN UPRISING OF be presenters that night. LOU REED TOUCHED ME, PUNK'S JITTERY, BLUNT, BUT SENSITIVE that almost no one out It struck me then that I had an of town has ever heard AND I'M FOREVER GRATEFUL. ASSAULT OF A POET'S VOICE — AN ESSENTIAL of that's hot in a hole in opportunity to repair my karma I BLEW OFF LOU REED. SOMETHING-IN-THE-AIR WHEN THE TASTE OF the wall bar in down- from the night Lou sat with me and YEAH… THEY ALL SOUND DIRTY… SUBURBAN ANGST FLAVORED "URBAN" RAP and-out NYC, in the (continued on page 15) AND STUPID, BECAUSE NONE OF THEM POETS AND GAVE HIP HOP AN ALMOST REALLY REFER TO ANYTHING SEXUAL. UNTRACEABLE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE. ALL IS BUT THEY ARE TRUE. ART, ALL IS POETRY, ALL IS ROCK AND ROLL.
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Media Outage™ Queer Clippings from print and web sources by Bill Realman Stella "About a Girl" by Sabrina Rubin Erdely ~ Rolling Stone #1195, November 7, 2013 (Paul McCartney cover) Another heart-wrenching, revealing article in Rolling Stone, this time about transgender kids. But not Trans teens, as most of us familiar with the issue would guess. This story is about a self-identified transgendered six-year-old, her extra-ordinarily supportive, protective, listening parents, and their struggle with her school and her community. A complex story is introduced in a few sentences: By the time Coy Mathis was four years old, he knew one thing for sure: He wasn't a boy. ... "The school is being mean to me," Coy said after being pulled out of first grade. "They're telling me I'm a boy when I'm really a girl."
Paul Berge, Editorial Cartoon October 17, 2013 Disclaimer: Out of respect for the talents and craft of cartoonists, I will not reprint cartoons in full without permission (unlike too many bloggers and columnists). Not even when I dislike the work and need to comment about it.
Paul Berge is an iffy editorial cartoonist. He's another one of those "He's gay; he's producing "gay content" so of course you like him" creators whose quality (typicslly) doesn't really rise above the level of pandering to the gay ghetto. Worse, since he's an editorial cartoonist — a line of work I live in absolute total awe of — it's a PC double whammy, since his work focuses on "gay news" stories, "...and you're a gay news junkie, aren't you?" It becomes:
"Can Brandy Clark Save Country Music?" by David Cantwell on Slate.com . Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally are the co-writers of "Follow Your Arrow", the song I most focused on from Kelly Musgraves' Same Trailer, Different Park - still among my five favorite albums of the year - in an issue of Challenge from early this year. Oh, look. The mainstream has discovered they (Clark and McAnally) are Gay. Huh. Look at that. And might "save country music" too, maybe, while they're at it: "The country tradition has long given us songs about feeling pride .... Songs about cherishing the small town where you grew up, and songs about feeling trapped there, as well—and ones about feeling both those emotions at the same time. ... But a country music that neglects for too long the down-on-the-ground experiences and feelings of its audience—the marrying and the cheating, the fun and the pain (and the numbing of the pain, and sometimes the transcendence of it), the promise and the regret
How much am I supposed to love him? — But I don't. Sure, he's of the strongly-influenced-by Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury) school (note the face on the character speaking in the cartoon, particularly the nose) and quite possibly also by Tim Barela (Leonard and Larry), two great cartoonists to take on as influences. But I often have to wait months between appearances of Berge cartoons in the Philly Gay News before I see something with a hint of insight and wit, both minimal requirements for a good editorial cartoon. To be fair from the start, this particular cartoon is an example of Berge at the height of his figure-drawing abilities: facial expressions, proportions, and character traits are well-rendered. And I'll grudgingly admit that the contrast between the "News Item" and the contents of the word balloon retains enough perception of the bizarre to approach Wit's Territory. But FUCK YOU, Berge, if you, or any other FUCKING gay fascist thinks that I will tolerate the implication of that word balloon's text: FUCK YOU that you require me to know that FUCKING song lyric! I'm beyond fed up with gay men shaming other gay men for not being GAY as THOU. Fact: I'm am so FUCKING glad I didn't know that line, even after all the times I've heard that damn song. Whenever I do hear that song, those lines are one of the many reasons I bring my shoulders up high and close to my head, to try to shield my ears. No, I will not identify it; no I do not like it, nor the musical from which it's derived, nor the singer with which it's most identified. I've disliked them all since near the time of my birth, so, no, I will not return nor allow you to rescind my "gay card" simply for having better taste than average. Except to lampoon them, I will not enjoy them to the end of my days. (continued on page 6)
S HA N E M C A N A LLY : T HEN , A N D N O W .
and more—is a genre in crisis. Maybe even a genre in need of saving. ... [Clark's new album] 12 Stories is so good that you almost think [she] really could achieve Nashville’s salvation. … “Follow Your Arrow,” … co-written by McAnally and Clark, who are gay, and by Musgraves, who is not, ... has already generated a bit of controversy as a “gay anthem.” Well wouldn't Country Music Salvation-By-Gays just be a kick in the rubber parts! (A tip of the wig to Harvey Fierstein for that phrase.) Looks like Steve Grand (see Challenge's Summer 2013 issue) isn't the only All-American Country Music Queer turning mainstream heads.
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New Jersey Marriage Rules ("rules" the verb, that is!) Questions and Answers about Same-Sex Marriage in New Jersey Introduced by Allen Neuner and Bill Stella When civil marriages for same-sex couples became legal in New Jersey on October 21st, Judge Mary Jacobson's decision left many questions unanswered. Some of these questions were addressed in the marriage equality bill that was vetoed by Governor Christie in 2012. Now the state has posted some answers to frequently asked questions at the New Jersey Department of Health website www.state.nj.us/health/vital/faq.shtml#ssm. We felt they warranted reprinting here: If I was married in another state, do I need to enter in a marriage in New Jersey in order to have my marriage recognized in New Jersey? No. Just as with opposite-sex couples, so long as your out-of-state marriage is consistent with the laws and public policy of New Jersey, your marriage is valid and recognized in this State and you will not need to enter into a New Jersey marriage. If I am in a domestic partner- ship, and enter into a marriage with my current domestic partner, does the domestic partnership automatically dissolve? No. Your domestic partnership will remain intact and will still be on file with the Office of Vital Statistics and Registry after you enter into marriage with your domestic partner. If I am currently in a civil union and wish to enter into marriage, do I have to dissolve my civil union prior to entering into marriage? You will not have to dissolve your civil union in order to enter into marriage so long as you are marrying your current civil union partner. However, if you wish to marry someone other than your civil union partner, then you must have your civil union dissolved before you can enter into marriage with someone else. If I am currently in a civil union and subsequently enter into a marriage with my current civil union partner, what happens to my civil union? Civil unions remain valid. Your civil union will remain intact and will still be on file with the Office of Vital Statistics and Registry after you enter into marriage with your civil union partner. Will my New Jersey Civil Union automatically convert to a marriage or must I receive a marriage license and thereafter engage in a marriage ceremony in order to be married in New Jersey? Civil unions will not automatically convert to marriages. Civil unions remain valid and couples may continue to enter into civil unions if they so choose. A civil union couple will have to apply for and receive a marriage license and thereafter engage in a marriage ceremony in order to receive a marriage certificate.
Can same-sex couples continue to apply for and enter into civil unions? Yes. The Civil Union Act remains in full force and effect. If a same-sex couple is already legally married in another state and wishes to enter into marriage in New Jersey, would the couple be entering into a marriage or a remarriage? The couple would be entering into a remarriage. Any couple married outside of the State that wishes to renew their marriage commitment in New Jersey may do so by applying for and receiving a remarriage license and thereafter engage in a remarriage ceremony, as set forth at N.J.S.A. 37:1-7. The 72 hour waiting period does not apply to remarriages. If I am currently in a civil union and applied for a marriage license with my current civil union partner, must I wait 72 hours before receiving my marriage license? Yes. All individuals, including those already in a civil union, who apply for marriage licenses must comply with the 72 hour waiting period unless a New Jersey Superior Court Judge enters an order waiving the wait period due to emergency circumstances. If I am currently in a civil union and wish to enter into marriage with my current civil union partner, should I apply for a remarriage license or a marriage license? Couples who are currently in a civil union and have not entered in a valid marriage outside of this State must apply for a marriage license, not a remarriage license, and must wait 72 hours before receiving their marriage license.
2013 New Jersey Elections by Bill Stella with Allen Neuner
New Jersey voters have a General Election on Tuesday, November 5, Election Day, in which the voters will choose a governor, all 120 members of the Legislature, and assorted local officials and school board members. It is often said that elections are decided by those who show up to vote, and that if you don't vote, you are not allowed to complain about the results afterwards. To this, we add: No candidate's election — or defeat — is a foregone conclusion unless voters refuse to cast their votes. On November 5th, vote early: Polls open at 6:00 a.m.. Vote late: If you're in line by 8:00 p.m. you still get to vote. But dammit, VOTE!
N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3 Dancing To Architecture P a g e 4 (continued from page 1) Richard at CBGB. If I could move myself into just the right position, I could be within an arm's length of him when he walks a red carpet-like path to the ballroom entrance. I could offer him my hand again. Maybe he'd shake it. And I wouldn't say anything stupid this time. So I did. With just a little maneuvering, I got into just the right place. Then some schmuck-nobody, paparazzi photographer came through, belligerently insisting that every celeb smile for his camera, ("C'mon! You HAVE TO SMILE for me! It's for a hot new website! Don't be a dick!" he would say) totally cheesing up the good will I was trying restore. I had to think of some better plan. I had to say something to get Lou Reed's attention before he saw me, to compete with Mr. Blowhard Paparazzi-head, and stay unobtrusive and respectful yet in-range. Extending my hand, I used only these words as Reed approached: "Thank you Lou. Thank you, Mister Reed." Maybe the third time I said it, Lou Reed took my hand and, gently, shook it. And a little of my bad karma vanished. Who cares right? I was never his friend. Who cares. He wasn't the only prickly musician who rebuffed me for thinking I had a right to approach him. Who cares that the second handshake allowed me to dare to imagine that I might approach him again someday and that I might not fuck it up this time. But I didn't try again. Who cares. I'm still no convert to some core tenets attributed to Reed's music: I turn toward melody before I do energy-infused noise, for instance. But I also believe there is no shame nor soulsapping contradiction in raising up great music and poetry built from materials others discarded. Call Rock and Punk and Hip Hop, the shit they called garbage, what it is: higher art, transformational, highest human connection. Reed was a great artist, not least because "Transformer" was not merely a great album title: He was great at transforming shit into gold. Reed kept up with Laurie Anderson, he took up Tai Chi, he remained in love and did what mattered, from then to the end. Reed was one of the men whose music, whose art, didn't settle for received wisdoms and easy, illusory answers to How to Live a Life Well. He put it out there, he
put himself out there, an obstacle, shifting our perceptions, shifting my path, an example of how to aspire, to speak up and have my say when I didn't know I had a voice. And he taught by example how to recognize great voices, voices both unconventional and audacious. Thank you Lou. Thank you, Mister Reed. Yeah, the Lou Reed story means I'm putting off my promise yet again to write about Justin Vivian Bond, Sean Kagalis, and Jay Saturn. However I must offer A CORRECTION AND APOLOGY for misspelling Nhojj's name last issue. Nhojj gave a vocal performance at Easton Mountain's Out In The Woods Queer Music Festival I was thrilled to experience. He earned my admiration and respect, so I knew how his name is spelled; I should have caught myself. His 2008 album Soul Comfort (link) has my recommendation. (See its cover on page 11.) Q ◂ Scott Free's intense and compelling new song "Happy Pride Day Moscow," a protest rant to remind us that, dammit, sometimes music can make a difference, rang so incessantly through my mind as I read Andy Skurna's "It's A Small World" (see page 10) that I had to fit its lyrics at the article's conclusion. You owe it to yourself to hear this ska-punk blast of outrage. Download the single for free at TheScottFree.bandcamp.com, and see its gripping new video at: youtu.be/Jlp-w19o11c . Screenshots from it form a photo-feature, which follows, below. From that YouTube page: "Scott Free's musical sarcastic response to Russia declaring their anti-gay laws are applied equally to all people, and therefore not discriminatory. Illustration by Darren Clark." Still photographs from AllOut.org, WoduMedia.com, TheWildMagazine.com, CBC.ca, Telegraph.co.uk, TowleRoad.com, RFERL.org, GayLiberation.net, EndBigotryIn VenangoCounty.blog spot.com, BudapestPride.hu, HuffingtonPost.com, HumanRightsFirst.org, Catholic.org, NPR.org, Queerty.com, PinkNews.co.uk, UKGayNews.org.uk, 76crimes.com, DemocraticUnderground.com, VOANews.com, SameSame.com.au, LGBT-Teachers.blogspot.com, T h e A t l a n t i c W i r e . c o m , S p i e g e l . d e , R T. c o m , TheGuardian.com. Dancing To Architecture ©2013 Bill Stella. All ©, ® & ™ items included for review purposes are ©, ® & ™ their respective owners. The stylized Q indicates albums by (or significantly contributed to by) Out Bisexuals, Gay Men, Lesbians and Transgendered persons. GAAMC is pronounced "GAY-mick".
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N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3 Dancing To Architecture P a g e 6 (continued from page 2)
I hated being put in a box as a kid, and I remain appalled how gay people put each other in numerous boxes to this day, even as we reach some of our political and social goals for equality. To fight back with metaphorical judo, when I was barely no longer a kid, at age 17, I co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced "The Box Movie" with my best friend and my girlfriend (yes). A never completed short film made on Super8 stock, we intended it to parody the predominant high school lesson each of us were aching to escape: the conformity of these stupid-run fiefdoms, the cliques and the stereotypes and the tracks we were put on and the repressive, frustrating, exasperating, hopefully not inescapable boxes we got put in. As an adult I'm beyond hating it, past self-recrimination, on to working to keep kindled that fire for Individual Personhood and Creativity we often call Hope. How fucking DARE you compound that frustration to the nth power by presuming we know that cartoon's punchline! The utter lack of insight! You don't realize that you're not satirizing Kuwaiti policy makers so much as you're making an awful, crippling, culturally stultified deadend of a stand in as a signifier for all of us, just so you can meet a weekly deadline, just so you can attempt a joke? It's "the gay joke" as an in-joke, wouldn't you say? Right? It's really making fun of the Kuwaiti, for being so dumb that they've stereotyped us all into one type, right? Right? At least let on that maybe, maybe, you've put that much thought into it, your previous work as evidence to the contrary to the side! Even so, the joke requires we get the reference, and the reference has become so sadly beside the point of anything that's really Gay anymore that it only functions at best to set up an us vs. them for a chance to get the joke. Any research, even just asking one's boyfriend (which is what I did) to learn the reference, destroys whatever potential for humor resided. At worst the joke assumes the same Gay stereotyping of our character which we've struggled and often succeeded in distancing ourselves from. BUT IN THE MUSIC WE, GAY PEOPLE, ARE ASSOCIATED WITH, WE INSIST ON CONTINUING TO IDENTIFY OURSELVES EXCLUSIVELY WITH A NARROW FRAGMENT OF OUR TALENTS!!! WE CONTINUE TO DENY OTHER GAY MUSIC EXISTS!!! There are reasons I pay attention to Gay people who make music, and those reasons are not to inscribe in some misty-memoried, hallowed hall of faux-fabulousness an exclusionary history of accomplishments by closet-keepers. The relentless assault that is most unsettling is that Berge probably does know his audience well-enough and most of them probably do get the sickeningly self-loathing, self-disrespecting joke. It sickens me (often literally) that some gay folk are just as prone to serving it up as anyone. Some social workers and shrinks call that kind of treatment "toxic". I call it "Conformity Poisoning". Ask me sarcastically again to tell you how I really feel, tell me again to lighten up, that this is "just normal", question whether I'm Gay again... and imagine me doing to you what the doc is doing in the cartoon, without being professional or friendly about it. Only one good defense is known to prevent a potential Conformity Poisoning from worming itself into your brain, and that is to confront the toxic speech with two words spoken from the heart - and from the gut: Fuuuuuuuuuuuck . . . Yoooooooooooooooooouuuuuu!!!
SPECIAL ONLINE PHOTO FEATURE
The Opposite of Conformity Poisoning: Stills from Michael Franti's new musicvideo "Life Is Better With You" Inclusion & diversity above & beyond the call of duty. |
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T H E L I T T L E B O X O F C O NC E RT S ™ GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! Fri Nov 8
Q ◂ Toshi Reagon Rubin Museum Of Art,NYC, NY Q ◂ Ani DiFranco and Melissa Ferrick Pollak Theatre | Monmouth University, NJ Q ◂ B-52s Keswick Theatre | Philadelphia, PA
Fri - Sun, Nov 8, 9, 10 Q ◂ Sinead O'Connor City Winery, NYC, NY
Sat, Nov 9
Q ◂ Christine Martucci John & Peters, New Hope, PA
Sun, Nov 10 Paquito D'Rivera
11 AM & 1 PM | NJ PAC, Newark, NJ Q ◂ Plastic Passion, Fisty Henrietta Hudson, NYC, NY
Mon Nov 11
Q ◂ Marcia Ball World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA
Thu Nov 14
Q ◂ Dar Williams and Toshi Reagon SOPAC, South Orange
Fri Nov 15
Q ◂ Ani DiFranco Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Sat Nov 16
Q ◂ Johnny Marr Webster Hall, NYC, NY
Fri Nov 22
Q ◂ The Jill & Julia Show ~ Jill Sobule & Julia Sweeney "...team up for a delightful, informal set that pairs Jill’s witty songwriting with Julia’s wildly funny monologues for a show about love lost and found, love wished for and love taken away, the complicated joys of family, navigating mid-life, and living in our crazy, modern world." Sanctuary Concerts.org, Chatham, NJ
Tue & Wed Nov 26 & 27 Robert Randolph & The Family Band Brooklyn Bowl, Brooklyn, NY
Wed Nov 27 Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls Terminal 5, NYC NY
River City Extension, Kevin Devine Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ
Fri Nov 29
Q ◂ Christine Martucci and Dina D Wonder Bar, Asbury Park NJ
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N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3 Dancing To Architecture P a g e 10 Dancing To Architecture, Media Outage, and other DTA items written, edited or compiled by Bill Stella originally appeared in:
CHALLENGE
The Newsletter of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County – Serving New Jersey’s GLBTI Communities Continuously Since 1972 V o lu m e 3 9, I ssu e 9, No v e m be r 2 0 13 The following essay gave me the idea to include Scott Free's "Happy Pride Day Moscow" lyrics in Challenge and to expand it into one of DTA's photo features in this edition:
It’s a Small World (excerpt) by Andy Skurna
We have heard for decades that the world is shrinking, yet how often do we sit down and consciously consider by how much or by what means? How does this impact our LGBT lives? […] As Isaac Newton told us, “To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.” As America’s LGBTIQA community has forged a greater and stronger demand for equal respect, the disciples of oppression have applied force elsewhere. In an age when anyone with airfare can get almost anywhere on the planet, and anyone with a computer or smartphone can connect to “social” media, there really are very few borders these days. No longer does the LGBTI community show up in mass demonstrations with cardboard signs. We take to the Internet, and connect with like-minded people anywhere in the universe. […] The so-called National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was founded in Princeton, New Jersey. It was thinly veiled as a “pro-opposite-gender marriage” lobbying group. When they wore out their welcome and momentum in NJ, they moved to Washington, DC, and began raising funds from a nationwide pool of uneducated haters. As they lost battle after battle, and as the US population has learned that we no longer accept their whispers about spinsters or guys who are “light in the loafers” corrupting the morals of school children, that pool of money and venom continuously evaporated. We have become more visible and less scary in the US. Their political maneuvering has been exposed. Their campaign of corruption has been exposed — and is currently under Department of Justice investigation. Their race baiting has been exposed. So, what’s a hate group to do, you ask? ROADTRIP! NOM has begun transforming into an International Organization against LGBTIQA Equality. NOM is just one of the hate groups that has invaded Uganda in the past decade. For a little perspective, it is important to note that roughly 50% of the population of Uganda is uneducated, penniless, and under the age of 15. The International House of Prayer, a cult of American evangelicals, has been pumping millions of dollars and thousands of brainwashers into the country since 2002. Scott Lively, who is currently facing charges of “crimes against humanity” in Massachusetts, has infested Uganda’s parliament since 2009 with money, pseudoscience, and religion-justified calls for murder. In 2008 or 2009 GAAMC received a request for permission to use the name “Gay Activist Alliance” since we were the last entity still using the original name. We do not own title to that name, so we did not disapprove when Dennis Hambridge created Gay Activist Alliance International (GAAI) in London. Almost immediately the GAAI opened two safe houses to protect hunted and persecuted LGBTs from Africa.
In 2011, Bishop Christopher Senyonjo and his wife toured the USA in an effort to raise awareness of the plight of LGBTs in Uganda. I was asked by the Church of the Redeemer to be a panelist to interview them. I answered the call, and several people from GAAMC and the NAACP were in the audience that evening. That campaign worked. Earlier this year God Loves Uganda, a documentary exposing the contradictory and illogical evangelically drafted “Kill the Gays Bill,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. […] I have focused on Uganda, but do not think this is an isolated case. It is illegal to be a homosexual in 14 African nations. And do not think this problem is limited to the continent of Africa. Brian Brown of NOM has proudly announced that he was invited to speak before Russia’s State Duma, the equivalent of our House of Representatives. His lies and religious fervor have been used to write the ever tightening laws against LGBTI citizens in Russia. They have already codified discrimination, with fines, incarceration and deportation into Russia’s constitution. Russia is currently working on legislation to remove children from households with an LGBTI head-of-household. Even if you were in a heterosexual marriage and had a child the old-fashioned way, but later came out, they will still steal your child and send them to an orphanage, to live with the other 600,000+ “unwanted” children.As oppressors move around the globe stomping out lives in the name of God, the “pressure” doesn’t go away, it simply relocates…temporarily. A […] woman from Africa, probably Nigeria, but possibly Uganda, told me on the streets of New York that “homosexuality is a disease.” I cannot overstate the significance of this. A woman in her fifties or sixties was so emboldened by hatred and ignorance that she confronted two men on the street in a country on the other side of the world from her home village. Let that sink in for a minute. How many LGBTIs would move to a foreign nation and accost two strangers just walking down the street (either of whom could beat you to a pulp) in an unprovoked attack? The concept boggles my mind. Now, imagine what is brewing in the head of her twentysomething-year old sons or daughters, or her grandchildren. The incident with her enraged me (probably because I was not in a position to confront her at the time) and I guess I will never forget it. It was an attack (even just a few words, but an attack just the same) and it will forever anger me. But, she just mumbled a few words to two middle-aged men on the street. Are her sons or grandsons out bashing high school and college students with baseball bats, brass knuckles, or switchblades? Is her granddaughter texting a classmate telling her to kill herself? “What goes around comes around,” because it is a small world after all.
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H A P P Y P RI D E D AY M O S C O W by Scott Free © 2013
From the song and video of the same name at youtu.be/Jlp-w19o11c | Happy Pride Day Moscow Smoke bombs like an outdoor circuit party Jail cells like a scene from a gay porno movie Had their camouflage on, twirling rubber batons Happy Pride Day Moscow Rocket flares like disco spotlights Riot gear like a leather bar on fetish night Marching in with grenades, Oh I love a parade Happy Pride Day Moscow All that wrestling and roughhousing between men It gets me moist all that kinky kind of S&M If they're not careful they may get injured I don't think they've ever heard of a safe word Hey, you're stepping on that rainbow flag I guess it makes a decent cleaning rag Those skinheads spitting on us — what a shocker We Gay Americans love queer punk rockers Happy Pride Day Moscow The rat-a-tat of the O T S O2's Those sexy buzzcuts and swastika tattoos Those hunky Nationalists certainly have big fists Happy Pride Day Moscow Mock arrest like a hardcore bondage scene Flailing like trade on methamphetamine That wacky float was ideal, those paddy wagons so real Happy Pride Day Moscow
CAUTION: DEEP SARCASM AHEAD. ENGAGE YOUR DETECTORS NOW.
Some wimpy vigil-marching candle-holders Stopped at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier So they prevent us from laying flowers I mean, who cares it was taking hours Those orthodox men they had me panting But I couldn't hear my Cher song over all that chanting Did you say "Moscow is not Sodom"? Well, Hello, you had the wrong Madonna Happy Pride Day Moscow Those flaming Russian in robes and headscarfs You Muscovites elevate drag to an art Those stun guns - oh, how they sting Is that a master/slave thing? Happy Pride Day Moscow The ritual of discipline — How rich Christian militants singing hymns — How kitsch Even Muslims and Jews were coming out there to cruise Happy Pride Day, Happy Pride Day, Happy Pride Day Moscow
If you are reading this DTA on a printed hardcopy, find it online on Issuu.com at http://issuu.com/realman/docs /dta201311nov06_loureed_scottfree_l
This Month's Contributors Scott Free, an original Out musician, made an early impact on the BET network and the fusion of Hip Hop and Punk Rock, was twice named Outmusician of the Year, inducted into the Chicago G&L Hall of Fame. Explore his career further at ScottFree.net, with links to nearly two dozen sites Scott participates in. (pg. 10) Allen Neuner is the Editor of GAAMC Challenge. Andy Skurna is the outgoing President of GAAMC. Bill Realman Stella writes Dancing To Architecture because writing about music is like that. He hosted the eclectic pop music show Highest Common Denominator on the radio for six years, a twenty year vision come true, and will host it again. Bill has collected music since age 4, when for each song he'd hear on the radio, he'd ask his mom "Do they have a record?" Making a record good enough to share is still a small miracle. If you'd like Bill to write, DJ, or promote for you, get in touch. Comments and suggestions also welcome. Write bearealman at gmail; visit http://HowToFindTheBestMusic.blogspot.com (pgs. 3, 10, 11)
Getting Personal
Move To Somerville! Fine houses for sale, many in easy walking distance to train station, near Gay neighbors, vibrant and renewed downtown. Contact Bill (not a real estate agent) via bearealman at gmail.com . Q ◂ Nhojj sang thrillingly at Easton Mountain's Out In The Woods Queer Music Festival this past August. He earned my admiration and respect, so I knew how his name is spelled, but I typed it wrong last issue. His 2008 album Soul Comfort (listen to a free stream at this link) has my recommendation.
N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3 Dancing To Architecture P a g e 12
40 Great Lou Reed Songs, selected by Rolling Stone From Lou Reed: 20 Hidden Treasures
From 20 Essential Lou Reed Tracks
"Here She Comes Now" (1968)
"I'm Waiting for the Man" ~ The Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967
"Sister Ray (3/15/69, Boston Tea Party)" (1969)
"Sister Ray" ~ White Light / White Heat, 1968
http://youtu.be/--cSzOAx99w
http://youtu.be/abo6FWEr18g
"Move Right In" (1968)
http://youtu.be/LYtI6LHAJOE
"Pale Blue Eyes (La Cave Version)" (1968) http://youtu.be/SVKLXiW7IiM
"I Found a Reason" (1970)
http://youtu.be/yUbNc7SsjiY
"Going Down" (1972)
http://youtu.be/1jVRRB0JT0A
"Crazy Feeling" (1975)
http://youtu.be/6N0zGSc_El0
"A Gift" (1975)
http://youtu.be/RDLRp8IY8N4
"Satellite of Love (Lou Reed Live version)" (1975) http://youtu.be/298FDuOPNIM
"Gimme Some Good Times" (1978) http://youtu.be/k8qFbzGvq0w
"Think It Over" (1980)
http://youtu.be/t3AlvGlsaCs
"The Heroine" (1982)
http://youtu.be/4jBNzQqjKJI
"Legendary Hearts" (1983)
http://youtu.be/0XDUh00DbNA
"Bottoming Out" (1983)
http://youtu.be/LUPk1ccIf5k
"New Sensations" (1984)
http://youtu.be/0OqVvYJnklM
"Down at the Arcade" (1984)
http://youtu.be/ERWC5yRw5Aw
"September Song" (1985)
http://youtu.be/RQsJK0voNRI
"Halloween Parade" (1989)
http://youtu.be/1iYD0MyuKfw
"Big Sky" (2000)
http://youtu.be/3z9MoQadD-o
"Tell It To Your Heart" (2004) http://youtu.be/9R1Cn1oklvI
http://youtu.be/hugY9CwhfzE
http://youtu.be/7d69mDT11yI
"Pale Blue Eyes" ~ The Velvet Underground, 1969 http://youtu.be/NcDuR9BF0Oc
"Satellite of Love" ~ Transformer, 1972 http://youtu.be/FH2EgYq_NCY
"Walk on the Wild Side" ~ Transformer, 1972 http://youtu.be/4wNknGIKkoA
"Vicious" ~ Transformer, 1972 http://youtu.be/T0c8Q6doiJI
"Sad Song" ~ Berlin, 1973
http://youtu.be/sc54vcmcZKA
"Sweet Jane" ~ Rock 'n' Roll Animal, 1974 http://youtu.be/7FdWPeHFAMk
"Metal Machine Music" ~ Metal Machine Music, 1975 http://youtu.be/3-Vy4VRRO30
"Street Hassle" ~ Street Hassle, 1978 http://youtu.be/bkG9BKgDvNI
"The Day John Kennedy Died" ~ The Blue Mask, 1982, http://youtu.be/BlWwA5x-P9k "Waves of Fear" ~ The Blue Mask, 1982 http://youtu.be/kpUuWYrv1cQ
"I Love You, Suzanne" ~ New Sensations, 1984, http://youtu.be/0p1TrF-pVwQ "Strawman" ~ New York, 1989 http://youtu.be/0bWYAWULLHA
"Hello It's Me" ~ Songs for Drella, 1990 http://youtu.be/gtF_tFDQGKY
"Egg Cream" ~ Set the Twilight Reeling, 1996 http://youtu.be/JoHW-Tk-d-k
"Perfect Day" ~ Transformer, 1972 (1997 "all-star cover" version) http://youtu.be/WJpQJWpVJds
"Like a Possum" ~ Ecstasy, 2000 http://youtu.be/z0rYAzTpOXw
"The View" ~ Lulu, 2011
http://youtu.be/fJlU_9Vyvqs
"Dirty Blvd." / "White Light White Heat" ~ live, 1997 (David Bowie 50th Birthday duet version) http://youtu.be/qeL5RcbpiM8