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Cruising the West Side piers in 1976
02.17.2012
04:55 pm
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A series of decaying wood and steel structures extending into the Hudson River along the West Side Highway from Christopher Street up to Chelsea, the piers were popular gay cruising spots back in the 1970s. The vibe was open, loose and sexy.

The years between Stonewall and the advent of Aids were a period of sexual freedom and celebration in the West Village and the piers were at the center of a scene that in retrospect seems bittersweet.

Nelson Sullivan’s “The Piers in New York City in 1976” is a short 8mm clip which captures a transitional time between hope and harsher realities.

Until his fatal heart attack in 1987, Nelson Sullivan spent much of his life documenting the Manhattan downtown scene of the the 1970s and 80s. You can see his work at the 5 Ninth Avenue Project on Youtube. It’s a treasure trove of videos, including Lady Bunny, RuPaul, Larry Tee, Michael Alig and the Club Kids, Sylvia Miles, Michael Musto, Albert Crudo, John Sex, the Pyramid Club, the Limelight and Palladium.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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02.17.2012
04:55 pm
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Texas conservative radio host in hit and run at gay bar


 
Yet another interesting situation that a conservative homophobe has gotten himself into at a gay bar! Well, well, well…

I heart these kinds of stories, don’t you?

Michael Berry, the Houston-area syndicated conservative radio talker (and former City Councilman) who markets himself as“The Czar of Texas Radio” is the same asshole who was forced to apologize for saying that he hoped the “Ground Zero Mosque” would be bombed back in 2010. The station Berry works for, KPRC-AM, is part of the Clear Channel network.

It looks like the “outspoken”—some might say bigoted—Republican bloviator was having a drink in a gay club called T.C.’s Show Bar last month. When he left, he hit a parked car before speeding off without stopping. Problem was, it was the bouncer’s car, he was standing outside, saw the whole thing happen, got Berry’s plate number and there are videotapes of Berry in the bar.

Lucy’s got some s’plaining to do, obviously. Via Raw Story:

The video shows a man who looks like Berry entering the bar while men in drag performed nearby. He ordered a beer and went to the bathroom on at least two occasions.

After leaving the bar at around 11 p.m. on Jan. 31, Berry allegedly backed his black Chevrolet Tahoe up 70 feet before smashing into Bennett’s Volkswagen Passat.

Bennett told police that he clearly saw Berry behind the wheel, but they refused to file charges.

“I’d say that’s the government at work,” he said. “I mean that’s corruption at its best. You know, a hit and run is a criminal, whether or not you’re an average individual or somebody who has his political pull that he does,” Bennett added in an interview with KHOU.

But here’s where it gets oh so good: IT’S ALL A LIBERAL CONSPIRACY as Berry intimated on his radio show… (Via The Houston Chronicle)

“I’ve always said when you do what I do, the way I do it, you make enemies. When you poke your finger in as many people’s eye as I do every day, you make enemies,” said Berry.

He said that his detractors “will accuse you of most anything” and he added, “You have to trust that in the end, the system works itself out, that there are checks and balances, there are people who will verify. But you also recognize that there are some people who want you to be crushed. There’s some people who hate you.  There are some people who privately would benefit from you not being on the air.”

He said he does not respond to reporters who question him “on their turf” because it is subject to editing.  However, at no point in his broadcast did he deny being behind the wheel and at no point did he address his presence in the club.

“You simply cannot go out there and chase down every nasty thing that is said about you.  Just because someone says something nasty about you doesn’t make it true,” he said.

The flip side of that?

“Videos don’t lie,” T.C.’s Show Bar bouncer Tuderia Bennett, the victim of the hit and run, told KPRC. “They don’t paint pictures that don’t exist.”

I’m inclined to believe that this escapade will be quite difficult to wriggle out of for Mr. Berry. Not just legally, but with his wife…

“If you’re going to stand up and say anti-gay things and be conservative and be Mr. Good Guy, and then when something happens that points you out and puts you in a place with the exact business that you aim to shut down, it kind of makes it seem like I need this to go away and I need it to go away quickly,” he said.

That’s not possible anymore in this day and age as Michael Berry is finding out. Will these fellows never learn?

Berry’s already been “immortalized” in a novelty rap song by rival radio jocks at station KILT:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.17.2012
03:17 pm
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No, Homo: ‘Unintentional Gay Rap Lyrics’
02.17.2012
01:53 pm
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“Mr Cheeks”, perhaps the most unintentionally gay name in rap

Unintentional Gay Rap Lyrics is a blog that compiles, well, unintentionally gay-sounding lyrics from rap songs. Most of these rhymes were not designed to be, ahem, taken that way but it’s still pretty hilarious thinking of these über-butch (and in some cases homophobic) dudes in that kind of situation. Here are some choice examples:

GURU: “To all you herbs, i got something for that ass - the tongue of terrifying fury” 

(From Gangstarr’s “Tongue of Terror”)

BEANIE SIEGEL: “I’ll blow a nigga for a box of Huggies.”

(From “Toney Siegel aka The Barrell Brothers”)

BEENIE MAN: “How can i make love to a fella in a rush”

(From “Who Am I”)

BIGGIE: “We fucked in his bed, quite dangerous, I’m in his ass while he playing against the Utah Jazz”

(From “I Got A Story To Tell”)

DMX: “Suck my dick. And while you niggas that’s been to jail before know it’s about to get thick. Let’s get it on baby. I’m gonna be goin’ against 4 niggas and you think you crazy?”

(From “What’s My Name”)

SNOOP DOGG: “I got a pocket full of rubbers and my homeboys do too.. so turn out the lights and close the door (but for what?) we don’t love them hoes!”

(From “Gin and Juice”)

So let’s be clear here: You’ve got condoms, so do your boys, you just turned off the lights and closed the door. And you hate women. That’s so gay.

BIG PUN: “When you awaken, your manhood will be taken.”

(From “The Dream Shatterer”)

Thaaaat sounds like rape, and I bet you’d wake up if a 400 pound Puerto Rican man started deflowering you in your sleep.

There’s much more over at Unintentional Gay Rap Lyrics.
 
Thanks to Dalai Dahmer!
 

Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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02.17.2012
01:53 pm
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Newt gets a flat tire in West Hollywood, does not have a gay old time


Photo by @ImChrisHughes via Twitter

Of all of the places in America for that slimy amphibian’s tour bus to get a flat!

It’s really a pity this didn’t happen in front of Rage!!!

Via KPCC radio’s website:

The presidential hopeful who recently called gay marriage a “perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism,” set off a Boystown brouhaha last night when his Newt 2012 campaign bus broke down in West Hollywood. 

Newt Gingrich’s bus, missing a tire and flashing its hazards, was stranded half in a lane of traffic near Sunset and Crescent Heights for hours. It was unknown if he was on the bus at the time of the incident. Calls to Newt’s headquarters were not immediately returned.

Gingrich, who is in Los Angeles campaigning, did not receive much sympathy for his vehicle’s mechanical difficulties. Instead, locals took to Twitter with red-white-and-blue language, unsolicited advice, claims of voodoo, musings on karma, and at least one mention of a glitter-bomb:

 

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.16.2012
10:28 pm
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Joan Crawford justice for Rick Santorum
02.08.2012
03:54 pm
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Santorum may have beat Mitt in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado, but he’s no match for Mommie Dearest.

Joan, next time bring out the heavy artillery. A wire hanger!
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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02.08.2012
03:54 pm
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Rick Santorum is a big dumb stupid turd


 
That’s how Republican Presidential contender Rick Santorum parsed the news about today’s gay rights victory in California on Twitter.

Predictably, the reaction was withering to say the least. A selection can be seen on Wonkette.

But getting spanked on Twitter is one thing. In the real world, tonight, Santorum’s Christionist bigotry will be rewarded by overwhelming victories in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota by GOP voters!

About the nicest thing I can think of to say about Rick Santorum—besides “Hey, schnazzy sweater vest ya got there, honky!”—is ... absolutely nothing.

Below, Rick Santorum gets a not-so-warm reception in New Hampshire… and these are Republican college students booing him!
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.07.2012
10:08 pm
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‘Anal-obsessed’ anti-gay activist scolds Oprah, ‘Madea’ and ‘Big Momma’ for promoting ‘perversion’


“If what you got is common sense, hell, I don’t want none!”

If you enjoy radio shows where supposedly straight men discuss buttsecks, then “Peter LaBarbera’s Americans For Truth About Homosexuality Radio Hour” program is the show for you! On a recent installment, LaBarbera welcomed fellow anti-gay activist, North Carolina Pastor Patrick Wooden.

According to Right Wing Watch, Wooden:

“[...] responded to critics over his comments that he has an “anal obsession.” Wooden has claimed that gay men have to “wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels” when they are older as a result of shoving cellphones, baseball bats and animals in their anus. Wooden told LaBarbera that anal obsession is “the very basis of homosexuality” and he simply wants to tell gay men to “get it together, let the Lord deliver you and let God give you a woman, a wife, where you can enjoy the pleasures of a wife” and stop “participating in these perversive, sexual acts”

From the interview:

Wooden: Now it is amazing that you and I are called men who have the obsession with the anus, right? Anal obsession, is that what she said? Is that not the very basis of homosexuality? We’re not homosexuals. What we’re saying is, we’re saying to men, ‘hey, let’s get it together, let the Lord deliver you and let God give you a woman, a wife, where you can enjoy the pleasures of a wife.’ Now you’re talking about a case of the pot calling the kettle black, we have no anal-obsession, but we are armed with the truth about the damage that people are doing to their rectums and anuses as a result of participating in these perversive, sexual acts.

After going off on a tangent about Tyler Perry, Flip WIlson and Ru Paul, Wooden is asked about Oprah Winfrey:

LaBarbera: Now let’s go to a black liberal, Oprah, I wanted to get you to comment. I saw one of her final episodes before she went off the air, now she’s on her own network, she ended it and she had this appeal on homosexuality. When I looked in her eyes, I saw somebody who had become a hardened supporter of so-called same-sex so-called marriage, she has evolved, she has rejected her Christian upbringing, whatever Christian upbringing she had Patrick, she was a hardcore supporter of homosexuality and I wonder how that happened. Do you think that’s just a factor of swimming in that Hollywood environment?

Wooden: I think it is; I think it is a factor of swimming. I think and this is just my opinion I’ve never talked to Oprah in my life, I think it is part of the price that she had to pay in order to build her empire. I would say to her if I had the chance, hey Oprah what has a man or a woman profited if they gain the world and lose their souls, if they gain the world and lose themselves?

As the Firesign Theatree once said, “A stiff idiot is the worst kind!” I’d imagine that if Pastor Wooden actually had a chance to voice his anal obsessions to Oprah, she’d probably just react the way most normal people would, by telling him to go fuck himself. and mind his own business.

Listen to excerpts from the show on Right Wing Watch.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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02.02.2012
02:01 pm
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May Day: Massive protest planned for NATO and G8 summit in Chicago


 
Adbusters magazine, the original impetus behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, has issued a new invitation for a month-long direct action and occupation this May in the Windy City. Looks like this one could be quite a party, too:

Hey you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there,

Against the backdrop of a global uprising that is simmering in dozens of countries and thousands of cities and towns, the G8 and NATO will hold a rare simultaneous summit in Chicago this May. The world’s military and political elites, heads of state, 7,500 officials from 80 nations, and more than 2,500 journalists will be there.

And so will we.

On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we’ll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.

And this time around we’re not going to put up with the kind of police repression that happened during the Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, 1968 … nor will we abide by any phony restrictions the City of Chicago may want to impose on our first amendment rights. We’ll go there with our heads held high and assemble for a month-long people’s summit … we’ll march and chant and sing and shout and exercise our right to tell our elected representatives what we want … the constitution will be our guide.

And when the G8 and NATO meet behind closed doors on May 19, we’ll be ready with our demands: a Robin Hood Tax … a ban on high frequency ‘flash’ trading … a binding climate change accord … a three strikes and you’re out law for corporate criminals … an all out initiative for a nuclear-free Middle East … whatever we decide in our general assemblies and in our global internet brainstorm – we the people will set the agenda for the next few years and demand our leaders carry it out.

And if they don’t listen … if they ignore us and put our demands on the back burner like they’ve done so many times before … then, with Gandhian ferocity, we’ll flashmob the streets, shut down stock exchanges, campuses, corporate headquarters and cities across the globe … we’ll make the price of doing business as usual too much to bear.

Jammers, pack your tents, muster up your courage and prepare for a big bang in Chicago this Spring. If we don’t stand up now and fight now for a different kind of future we may not have much of a future … so let’s live without dead time for a month in May and see what happens …

for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ

Below, footage of the confrontation between Chicago police and protesters at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago:
 

 
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Chicago”:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.30.2012
11:41 am
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Glitterbug: Derek Jarman’s final film
01.26.2012
03:37 pm
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derek_jarman_glitterbug
 
Glitterbug was Derek Jarman’s final film, compiled from the many hours of Super 8 footage he had shot throughout his life. Originally made in 1994 for the BBC’s Arena. arts strand, Glitterbug is a visual journal that ties together aspects of Jarman’s life from the 1970s to 1990s.

The film opens with the artist awakened by the memory of dreams, of lovers, of friends, of place - Jarman’s lofts on Bankside, Upper Ground, the Thames River; of self, shaving, washing, breakfasting - those small rituals that prepare the day, the structuring of artifice and order. The world outside, My Tea Shop, the day-time existence, Jarman’s curiosity for the world around him. Then at night another world, we see preparation for Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World, returning to day, a garden party, is this Andrew Logan singing as Little Nell Campbell dances? Duggie Fields watches, Jarman films.

The dreamer sleeps, travels to the country, Van Gogh fields, standing stones, the memory of place, absence of others, a white-washed cottage room, the creation of art, the structuring of order.

The dreamer awake, and we are now watching Jarman at work, Sebastiane, the sea flecked gold, the actors at play, legs entwined. An office, an apartment, ‘phone calls, then filming the artist Duggie Fields, his designs, his face, a prelude to Jubilee, a young flame-haired Toyah Willcox, The Sex Pistols, Jordan and a dress rehearsal for what will become The Last of England, as she pirouettes around a burning Union Jack, Adam Ant, hair-cutting, the Silver Jubilee.

Jarman is showing us the sketches for preparation, the themes he returned to throughout his life. Rome, ritual, the research for Caravaggio, punk, the art of mirrors, The Slits, William Burroughs, Gensis P. Orridge, Throbbing Gristle, Jarman’s fascinations and obsessions, his idols and co-conspirators. The ritual of sharing tea, sharing cigarettes, a shared communion, youthful faces, sun flecked, smiling in the sun, a future ahead, too often cut short by the frost, this the last summer they danced on the rooftop,  ‘Here I am, here are my secrets,’ he is saying, as we plunder through his film diaries, Super 8 scrapbook, glittering trinket chest, memory is what makes us, what sometimes betrays us, what gives us the love we have to share, returning to the Thames, the friends, the lovers, those living, those dead.

Glitterbug Derek Jarman’s Super 8 films, with Andrew Logan, Duggie Fields, Tilda Swinton, Michael Clark, Adam Ant, Toyah Willcox, William Burroughs and Genesis P. Orridge. Music by Brian Eno, specially commissioned for this film.
 

 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.26.2012
03:37 pm
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Francis Bacon’s women
01.20.2012
08:02 pm
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francis_bacon
 
Francis Bacon occasionally settled outstanding food and drinks bills with one of his paintings. It didn’t always satisfy the creditor. One London restaurateur, not taken with the Irishman’s work, sold each painting on as quickly as he received them. What then would this dear gentleman make of the news that a single portrait by Bacon is expected to reach £18m at auction?

Described as “seductive and sexually charged,” the painting shows one of Bacon’s famous muses, Henrietta Moraes, slightly tipsy, lying naked on a rumpled, stained bed, in some Soho apartment. The image was based on a series of photographs Bacon commissioned from John Deakin—Vogue snapper, Colony Room habituee and chronic alcoholic. Deakin always ensured he took enough intimate photos to hock around as under-the-counter porn at ten bob a print.

Though he lived an exclusively gay lifestyle, women were central to Bacon: they were his muses, who loved, nurtured, inspired and developed his talents. Indeed, Bacon surrounded himself with strong women—almost replacements to the mother who had been callously indifferent to her son’s brutal beatings, when caught as a child dressing-up in her clothes and flirting with the stable boys.

In moments of fancy, I think Bacon had the hawk-like look of Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple, especially when all glammed-up for a night on the piss. I can imagine him solving an Agatha Christie, or board game mystery - Professor Plum, in the library, with a candle-stick - for there was the shadow of the country house and jolly maiden aunt (doling out make-up tips to younger girls, and at night reading Mrs Beeton recipes in bed) at the heart of him.

These grim childhood beatings opened Francis up to the delights of S&M: he claimed he fucked all the grooms who had horse-whipped him; said he fantasized about his father—whose purple face screams from so many Popes or glowers from under blackened umbrellas; and had a life of violent relationships with his lovers. 

Even so, it was the women who shaped him.
  henrietta_moraes_francis_bacon_1963 “Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” (1963)   Previously on Dangerous Minds Notes towards a portrait of Francis Bacon   More on Francis Bacon’s women, after the jump…  

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.20.2012
08:02 pm
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