Care of The Sword’s tireless editors, we bring you this roundup (by
no means complete, or even-handed) of stuff going on for those of the
homo persuasion this weekend in not just two meccas, but now three! San Francisco, New York, and LA. (Sorry, Cheyenne, we still may never
get to you).
Our heavily editorialized listings after the jump..
Not only did last night’s episode of Project Rungay take a bunch of New York City drag queens out of their natural nightclub habitat and force them to be “funny” under both glaring television lights and the discomfiting stares of Heidi Klum, but they also paraded the entire cast of trannies OUT OF DRAG. Our eyes are still burning. And is it just us, or do Suede and Hedda-as-a-man look like sisters?
In a move that is sure to be looked back upon as a milestone in the straight-ification of gay life, that bastion of banality, Hallmark, has released a series of same-sex wedding greeting cards. One, showing two headless men in tuxedos holding hands, says “Two hearts, one promise.” Yes, sure, it’s just more dollar diplomacy and company trying to cash in on our greater social acceptance, and sure there’s already been plenty of small-press greeting cards out there in gay ghetto gift shops for years, but somehow this news still depresses us.
Ricky Martin’s became the father of two twin boys that were conceived “via gestational surrogacy,” according to his publicist, who added, “Ricky is elated to begin this new chapter in his life as a
parent and will be spending the remainder of the year out of
the public spotlight in order to spend time with his children.”
Condoms have never been all that cool in India, so the BBC World Service Trust India–with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation–has released a cell phone ring tone that features a professional singer chanting the word “condom” 50 times, a capella. Not being all that into ring tones ourselves, and not being from India, we don’t exactly relate to the concept of a singing ring tone being a terrific mode for getting a public health message across.
Somehow we missed this last week–actually, truth be told, the only one of us who cared was out of town last week–but NYC downtown DJ-promoter-wunderkind Cazwell released the video for his new single “I Seen Beyonce at Burger King,” featuring Johnny Makeup and some drag queen as Beyonce, as well as some rad low-fi graphics. Enjoy (after the jump).
Rumor has it that former New Kid on the Block, Jonathan Knight (Jordan’s little brother) has long been openly gay and is planning to go public with the news–outside the hallowed halls of PerezHilton.com that is–any second now! Jonathan probably hopes for the great wealth and accolades which have followed on Lance Bass’s similar announcement of last year (JK!). We sort of doubt that Knight’s non-fame will land him the cover of People, but maybe this will drum up some gay buzz for the NKOTB reunion tour, which for all we know is going on right now.
Dear Pete Doherty,
How do we loathe thee? Let us count the ways! Not only did you bring heroin back in style (1) and cost us a few of our German friends who followed you into Crackville, U.K. like rodents to a collapsing pied piper; but you singlehandedly ushered in the fedora, the most obnoxious fashion trend (2) since Ashton Kutcher tossed us the trucker hat.
Maybe it’s the squatting. Maybe it’s the legs in the air. Maybe it’s the OMFG-it’s-too-big face he makes when he’s flipping through the air. Olympic diving may be full of compromising positions, but Chinese diver He Chong takes the cake. He maybe the world springboard champ, but you don’t learn those moves in the pool. So we did some snooping …
In an intimate ceremony at their home attended by 19 guests, dyke power duo Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi we married this weekend, as reported on Ellen’s website. Today, photos have surfaced of the ladies.
In other news, more organizations and individuals are heaping millions into the coffers on both sides of the Prop. 8 battle in California. In case you’ve been on a bender or institutionalized since May, Prop 8 is the ballot measure, up for a vote in November, to approve an amendment that would explicitly remove the right for same-sex couples to marry in the CA state constitution.
We love the ever-versatile, chameleon-like Jean Franko, and in this brief promo from Lucas Kazan’s Italians and Other Strangers, Franko discusses his frustration with the fact that nowadays, “everybody is porno star.” Added bonus: the square-jawed, 22-year-old twunk Alessio Mancini.
When we saw the recent cover of the Sports Illustrated,
we knew something looked familiar. So we took one part Unsinkable Mr.
Phelps and mixed him with a the designing doyenne of the Upper East
Side, Tory Burch. While we might not make it onto Project Runway yet, maybe the International Olympic Committee should expand into evening wear …
Yes, as we reported earlier, the venerable weekly star/mess showcase that is Trannyshack came to a close at The Stud last week, and the queens went out with a Jonestown style mass suicide with Heklina commanding everyone from Suppositori Spelling to Glamamore and Peaches Christ to “drink the juice” and fall in a pile on the tiny stage. A poignant, funny end to an era.
The Trannyshack Kiss-Off Party is this Saturday, August 23rd, at the Regency Center in San Francisco. Tickets here.
This week’s Project Runway features some of New York’s best known drag queens–like Varla Jean Merman, Sherry Vine and Sword fave Hedda Lettuce— but based on the new teaser on the BravoTV.com, they might as well have rounded-up cross-dressers at amateur night in the Catskills. Even the audience of aspiring designers had a hard time faking a laugh. Is it possible that drag queens are only humorous at night, when we’re “drunk” and no one can hear them?
Last year, the New York City Fire Department caused a three-alarm scandal when they put Michael Biserta on the on the cover of their first-ever calendar and it was soon revealed that he had also appeared in some ultra-softcore porn swinging around his massive (and we mean massive) fire-hose-of-a-cock.
In an advertising campaign about as original as the CW’s 90210, The Gap reaches its manicured shark fins into the publishing, art, film, and modeling worlds to cast an “unlikely” group of young professionals in the depressing conglomerate’s new ad campaign. To display the universal appeal of their revolutionary (LOL!) brand, the advertisements feature such publishing faces as Cecilia Dean and Ryan McGinley next to fill-in-the-blank Mad Libs.
The Vatican is transferring the body of John Henry Newman, a Victorian-era Cardinal buried with his life-long partner Father Ambrose St. John in a shared tomb in Rednal, England, to a sarcophagus in the Oratory Church in Edgbaston, and gay activist Peter Tatchell is having none of it. While the Catholic Church claims that this step in elevating Cardinal Newman to sainthood is intended to allow pilgrims to come and pray over him separately–it is not traditional for veneration to occur over shared gravesites–Tatchell says it’s just pure, homophobic, revisionist history.
Tour buses have been using the Castro as a photo op in recent months, and the ladies of the canyon are NOT happy.
“God knows we love tourists,” Patrick Batt, the beleaguered owner the Auto Erotica porn store and sex shop told the San Francisco Chronicle, “But these people are a bunch of gawkers.”
What’s the matter with kids today? We were intrigued to hear about author Scott Sherman’s debut novel, First You Fall, about a hustler who becomes a sleuth because, like, we love Klute, though we were surprised to read that he didn’t bother to talk to anyone except, uh, Miss Vivian.
In an interview with Gay Wired, Sherman explains his research with this sleight of linguistics:
Francois may have finished with his studio contracts, but that doesn’t mean he’s swearing off the camera.
By getting Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe to drop trou on stage for Equus, producers cleverly managed to get teams of horny teenage girls and Mrs. Robinson-style housewives to see an otherwise obscure play. So what do producers of Harry Potter dream up to build up interest in an otherwise faltering franchise? Have star Daniel Radcliffe take off his pants, of course!
Britain’s equivalent of our FBI, M15, is contracting with the LGBT rights group Stonewall to actively recruit from the lesbigaytranny population for positions in domestic intelligence. The move marks a decided shift from longstanding anti-gay policies within the British intelligence community that largely stemmed from something we missed in our history classes called The Burgess Affair, involving a gay spy from the 1940s named Guy Burgess, employed by the Russians, who put together a ring of upper crust gays from across Europe who likely contributed to the deaths of almost a dozen Western agents during the Cold War (we’d bet money there is a film script in the making).
The indie-electronic duo The Presets may have been staples of new music festivals like South By Southwest and CMJ, but when they headline this year’s Folsom Street Fair is San Francisco, they can expect a slightly different crowd: the leather community.
We know we spend our days staring at ill-placed tattoos and perineum piercings, and evidently we’re not the only ones. After reporting last Friday on Zeb Atlas’s first on-screen anal, there was a furious chase to identify the lucky bottom, based primarily on a few shots of a distinctive tribal design on the bride’s thigh. Damian Rios, Martin Mazza, Johnny Hazzard were all contenders, but the winning answer?
We were on set today as Zeb Atlas finally took the plunge — literally — and drove his thickness up a pair of warm and firm buns during the final scene of Falcon’s upcoming movie, Best Men, but sadly Falcon is making us keep it a secret. Until then, we’ve got a few photos. Think you can figure out who the lucky duck (above, catching Zeb as he showers) is?
If you find yourself in Beijing for the Olympics and you’re looking for a gay bar, you most likely will find yourself at Destination, a two-floor “western style” gay bar. But instead of grumbling at your lack of choices, consider yourself lucky: many gay activists were concerned that government officials, who are strictly managing the city’s image, were going to close the bar, the Washington Blade is reporting.
Legendary porn director William Higgins made us a little uncomfortable describing the odd task of tricking a model with the patented “ambush massage,” but we’ll take pointers where we can get ’em.
While most people try to give their properties the most wide-ranging appeal before trying to rent them out, pan-sexual pornographer Mr. Pam is taking SF-style approach with her SOMA loft, listing it on Craigslist as a “Sex Loft” complete with “washer/dryer for playsheets & soiled panties” and
“huge clothing optional panoramic roofdeck”.
Yay!
We’ve seen a lot of stuff on Craigslist — cell phones in assholes, duct taped mummies and PNP retiree daddies. But this is the first time we’ve seen someone submit a charcoal sketch instead of a head shot. Because, like, if he’s on the police’s “Most Wanted” list, he’s OBVIOUSLY going to be wanted by us. The Oakland cub isn’t into “gay dance music” by which we assume he’s employing the derogatory use of gay, which we fully support, though he loses us with his dismissiveness of “crazy anal,” which is really the only anal worth doing. Good luck, Black Unabomber. We’re going to get DP’d by Kate Perry.
Surely Manhunt founder Jonathan Crutchley thought being profiled in Out Magazine would be a boon for business, but the revelation that he’s a Republican and contributed to McCain’s campaign is causing sex-hungry members to hunt elsewhere. Irate commenters on a post by Towleroad related to the story are claiming to have canceled their Manhunt accounts in droves in response to Crutchley’s $2,300 donation to McCain’s campaign.
We’ve been madly in love with New York-based comedian/writer/performer Greg Walloch ever since we saw him suck face with Michael Lucas in his 2001 film F**k The Disabled. Not that we need any excuse to worship him; he’s oozing with talent and in case you have any doubts just watch this clip
Remember the United Negro College Fund? Evidently, the City of Miami doesn’t care much for the sexual education of its black and latino residents: it’s attempting to close Cocodorm.com on zoning violations. The home of Khali Kreme, Adicktion and Supreme Luv is operating in a residential neighborhood which officials claim isn’t zoned for that sort of erotic lifestyle.
Last cycle, Paulina Porizkova critcized as Dominque’s look as “tranny;” this year, her nightmare comes true. US Weekly announced this morning that Isis, a 22-year-old former receptionist will be the show’s first trans member of Top Model. And it’s about time — despite being led by trans superstar Tyra Banks, the show has been openly hostile to some of the less feminine members of the cast. If there are two types of posing (besides “fat”) that the judges don’t like to see: “draggish” and the politely termed “men’s magazine.” Sadly, those are our two favorites looks.
First: “Hey! A gay porn musical. Why didn’t we think of that?”
Then: “Oh, maybe that’s why.”
Chi Chi LaRue’s brilliant “Songs” was, sadly, the first (and last) gay porn musical. It’s more Rentboy than “Rent,” but with guest star Sharon Kane camping it up, it’s much better than either.
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NASDAQ hammered another nail into the coffin of Planetout, Inc., yesterday as they gave them a 90 day warning for not maintaining a minimum market value of $5,000,000 of publicly held shares. If they cannot reach that minimum threshold by October 30, 2008, NASDAQ will delist them from their exchange, essentially making stocks worthless.
TMZ, bastian of heterosexist celeb banality, uncovered a thirteen-year-old shirtless pic of Ryan Seacrest and implied he deserved to be molested for it. From a “ridiculous” photo-shoot Sechrest did, they obtusely point out, before “having his TV talk show canceled” [sic], they suggest he may have been better a serviced by alleged child molester Lou Pearlman than current paramour Merv Griffin.
Two University of Nebraska wrestlers were exposed as amateur porn stars this weekend, after an on-campus blog outted them as “Cal” and “Nash” of Fratmen.tv site. The Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan are under investigation and Fratmen owner John Marsh is talking to University of Nebraska officials about the matter. While the two have both shot solo videos for the site, it’s unclear if they actually had sex with other men.