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January 12, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

on the airoff the press

Hal Sparks isn't a gay man, but he plays one on TV

by John Graves

Actor Hal Sparks spoke to USA Today's Arlene Vigoda about the challenge of, and his initial apprehension toward, playing the very gay Michael Novotny on Showtime's Queer as Folk. Sparks, who said the show would go "over like a lead balloon" in his hometown of Peaks Mill, Kentucky, told Vigoda, “As an actor, there are psychological ramifications with any character. On top of that, the part involved messing around with my own sexuality, and that's a slippery slope for some people."

Sparks told Vigoda that he didn't think going to gay bars would help prepare him for the role. Instead, he said, "I tried to corral my emotions into figuring out who Michael loves and why."

Sparks opined that Michael's kindness was the key to his character, saying, "Michael's all heart. He's this quasi-nerdy variety store manager who's in the closet at work and totally out with his friends."

Sparks said that he panicked a bit when his role called for some pretty graphic gay loves scenes. "I thought, 'What if I like it?"" Asked if he did, Sparks told Vigoda, "It was about as sexual as being in a doctor's office and turning your head and coughing. Now," he went on, "I'm more comfortable than ever with my sexuality.'

Sparks also told Vigoda that his real-life girlfriend, actress Stefanie Sherk, was very cool about the show. It takes a certain kind of woman to deal with me as a gay man, and she's able to handle it."

Net film awards show announced

VillageTV.com, "The Gay TV Channel on the Internet," will broadcast its first video awards show, The VillageTV.com 2001 Webcast Video Awards live from Club Centaur in Los Angeles on Superbowl Sunday, January 28, 2001 at 7:00 PM PST (10:00 PM EST). The awards show, put together to give thanks and honor the innovative gay-oriented video features created by Internet video producers and websites, will be hosted by the Geoffrey Karen Dior. Dior, who shared a kiss with Lucy Lawless when he guest-starred on

White

Continued from page 9 aware of this empty space and feel the loss keenly.

E.W.: I think that we all wanted that to happen. There are very few artists from the past that we would know if they had died before forty. That being the case, since all these lives were cut short, we do have to confront that we mostly have shards and not too many realizations.

T.M.: I especially was struck by some of the surprising corners of the book as in the story of Bruce Kelly, the landscape architect of Strawberry Fields in Central Park. When faced with the enormity of how many artists we have lost to AIDS, how did you face the daunting task of choosing which life/art stories to include in Loss within Loss?

P.M.: We thought mostly about the writers who we felt would have something interesting to say. We did try, with differing degrees of success, to also strike a balance between performing arts, visual arts and literature.

T.M.:Where does Loss within Loss fit in within the mission of the Estate Project for Artists with AIDS?

P.M.: We are basically historians at the Estate Project. Who was lost? What was made? What does it reveal about our culture? I think that there have been very few non-fiction books written about AIDS that take such a subjective view. Whether it is a film, a video, a dance score, a painting or this book, we hope that someone many years from now will understand the actual experience of AIDS rather than just the facts.

T.M.: What would you hope the book will bring to the readers lucky enough to en-

Xena: Warrior Princess, will also debut his new Stacey Q duet on the show.

Award nominees, picked by VillageTV.com viewers, include Showtime's headline-making, provocative series, Queer as Folk, the short films Larry's Visit, Just One Time, Tommy Trick and Queer Duck, a new animated series about a gay Jewish duck created by Mike Reiss, starring the voices of Jim J. Bullock and RuPaul. Queer Duck can be found at www.Icebox.com, a censor-free website created last June by TV producers (XFiles, King of the Hill and The Simpsons) John Collier, Ron La Zebnik and Howard Gordon. Entertainment for the VillageTV.com 2001 Webcast Video Awards show will include musical performances by several up-and-coming singers who will perform songs with gay-oriented lyrics and the game show Battle of the Masseurs, a contest of knowledge, skill and good looks.

Begun in 1997 as an effort to counteract messages of hate in the media, VillageTV.com was the first website to broadcast a new show every day. With four thousand unique viewers per day logging on to watch gay TV shows, short films, animation, documentaries, interviews, movie trailers and other video, VillageTV.com is the most popular website that specializes in gay-oriented video streaming. You can tune in free to the VillegeTV.com 2001 Webcast Video Awards at to watch the live broadcast or view the archived show on RealVideo at any time. You can view the show free at http:\\www.villagetv.com. Grammy nominations bad, good

As you may already know by now, controversial rapper Eminem has received four Grammy nominations this year, including Album of the Year for The Marshall Mathers LP. The album, whose homophobic and misogynistic lyrics have enraged some listeners but won critical acclaim, was also nominated for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo performance. Eminem was also nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Forgot About Dre" on the album Dr. Dre 2001. Although The Marshall Mathers LP was nominated for Album of the Year, the National Academy of Recording

counter Loss within Loss? Especially maybe the young reader who might be encountering these stories for the first time

E.W.: I think for the gay community in general we need to really see the biggest problem looming in the world right now is AIDS in Africa. I'm not sure that gay AIDS organizations like GMHC can do much in a concrete way for Africa. But there are skills we can share. I hope that a reader who spends some time with Loss within Loss can find that empathy for these lives that were lost and maybe encourage in someone an ability to imagine ourselves into other people's lives who are dealing with AIDS right now all over the world.

For a younger reader, I hope that it makes the disease and its consequences and the actually experience of living and dying with AIDS intensely vivid.

The average age of person becoming infected with AIDS globally is fifteen.

I'm not saying lots of fifteen-year-olds are going to buy this book, but I hope it gives everybody, young or old, a new vivid reason for trying to stay negative.

P.M.: First and foremost, I hope the reader finds a recognition of what richness artists bring to our lives aside from the relative importance of their art work. America is so caught up in success that I think we often forget about the great value of individuals just living their lives. AIDS compresses a life so much that we need to measure an individual's accomplishments in a different way. ♡

Tim Miller is a solo performer and the author of Shirts & Skin, published by Alyson. He can be reached at http:// hometown.aol.com/millertale

timmiller.html

Arts and Sciences declined to nominate Eminem's most controversial song, "The Real Slim Shady", in the Record and Song of the Year categories.

Before the nominations were announced, GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation issued a statement saying, "GLAAD appreciates the conflicts and complexities inherent in reporting on Eminem and his music. Eminem's music and production values have been acclaimed as artistic breakthroughs by many of the nation's music critics. Yet his lyrics advocating violence against lesbians and gay men send explicit messages that endorse hatred. Eminem's target audience is largely comprised of adolescent boys beginning to form their adult attitudes towards gays, lesbians and women in general. As such, GLAAD believes it is important for journalists to discuss issues of lyrical and corporate responsibility when reporting on Eminem, especially if his work is recognized in the general categories."

On a much better note, a number of lesbigay artists are up for awards. Melissa Etheridge received a nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song "Enough of Me" on her Breakdown album from Island/Def Jam Music Group. George Michael's Songs from the Last Century album from Virgin Records America is up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album while Ned Rorem's New World Records CD Rorem: Evidence of Things Not Seen received the nod for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Openly bisexual lead singer Michael Stipe and his group R.E.M. received a nomination for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, TV or Other Visual Media for "The Great Beyond" from Man on the Moon on Warner Brothers Records.

Three gay composers are competing in the Best Musical Show Album category. 'Sir Elton John was nominated for his work with lyricist Tim Rice on the original Broadway cast recording of Aida on Buena Vista Records. Michael John LaChiusa was nominated for his music and lyrics for the gayinclusive original cast album of The Wild Party from Decca Broadway. The late Cole Porter received a nomination for the new Broadway cast album of Kiss Me, Kate from DRG Records, Inc.

Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra have been nominated for Best Orchestral Performance for Tchaikovsky: Symphony Number Six (Pathetique), Romeo and Juliet, Etc. (Philips), compositions by the famous gay composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. The late Benjamin Britten's gay-themed Billy Budd was nominated for Best Opera Recording, on the album "Britten: Billy Budd", produced by Brian Couzens for Chandos, featuring performances by Richard Hickox, Simon Keenlyside, Philip Langridge, John Tomlinson, the London Symphony Orchestra.

The late gay Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca inspired a possible Best Recording Package for art director Dan Ibe for The Concert for Garcia Lorca on GoJazz Records. The Pet Shop Boys, with gay lead singer Neil Tennant, got a mention as part of the portfolio that made Peter Rauhofer a nominee for Remixer of the Year (Non-Classical). New Year's Eve with the queer stars

US Weekly magazine recently asked celebrities to recall memorable New Year's Eve celebrations, both good and bad. Ellen Degeneres responded, "Every New Year's Eve seems as though it's just horrible for me. But on the worst one ever, I was at this huge, crowded party, and I was waiting in line for the bathroom forever. I finally got in there, and while I was sitting on the toilet, I heard, ‘10, 9,8... ...' It figured. I thought, 'This is so perfect for me. All by myself, listening to everybody count down, and woo, here I am on the toilet seat.

999

Openly bisexual Practice star Camryn Mannheim had a much more exciting New Year's Eve story. Mannheim told "US Weekly, "Last year, I was partying at Danny DeVito's

house. I was dancing with Paul Reubens (Pee Wee Herman) when, at midnight, someone came up from behind and turned me around. It was Courtney Love, and she french-kissed me. It was not. Do you know how many people wished they were in my place? Better yet, do you know how many people wished they were in her place? It's the title of my next book: Courtney Love French-Kissed Me at Midnight... and Other Tales With Celebrities."

More Children news

Asked if she was worried about conservatives voicing opposition to Bianca's lesbian storyline on All My Children, show creator Agnes Nixon told Soap Opera Weekly, “I'm not concerned about any adverse reaction. If we're ever going to live together in this world, it's going to be because we love each other and respect each other no matter what our individual ways of life are, and I think we're doing a great story." Head writer Jean Passanate agreed adding, "(Homosexuality) is something we all feel is part of the fabric of life, and that's what All My Children is about the fabric of life. And it always has been." When Soap Opera Weekly asked actress Eden Riegel if a same-sex kiss was in the works for her character Bianca, Riegel replied, "Everybody asks, 'Is there going to be a kiss?' That's not what it's about. It's not about one kiss. It's about all these months and months of character development, beautiful writing and beautiful story we've developed here. It's about this really rich relationship between this mother and daughter."

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New seasons and a new show

Look for Paula Marshall in a recurring role as a lesbian friend of Jack who competes with him for women, on the new sitcom, "The Weber Show", on NBC Thursdays at 8:30 PM.

Will Fanny forgive Althea after finding her wrapped in the arms of the porn actress Sergei hired to try and break up the interracial lesbian couple? Find out what happens next on the new season of Strip Mall, now in its second season on Comedy Central, Sundays at 10:30 PM.

Openly gay TV executive Malcolm has just found out his father is dying. Find out what follows and see if the lesbian couple are finally going to have the baby they wanted on new episodes of Beggars and Choosers now airing Tuesdays at 9 PM on Showtime-2 and Tuesdays at 10 PM on Showtime itself.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, an LGBT public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute material for this column.

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