10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 23, 2001
on the airoff the press
Three new LGBT movies are coming soon
by John Graves
Although not as numerous as in previous seasons, the February 16, "Spring Movie Preview" issue of Entertainment Weekly listed a few of films of interest to the LGBT community.
Opening this month is Southern Comfort, a Sundance documentary prize-winner about a transsexual community in Georgia.
An aspiring Italian screenwriter meets a gay Jewish playwright in Hit and Runway, opening in theaters next month.
Finally, the eccentric life of artist and Andy Warhol confidant Brigid Berlin is the subject of Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story due out in April.
Surprising crushes
Since the February 16 issue hit the newsstands just before Valentines Day, Entertainment Weekly asked a number of stars to name their first celebrity crush. Openly gay rocker Michael Stipe replied, “Susan Dey and David Cassidy-simultaneously— from The Partridge Family." The effervescent Bruce Vilanch responded, “Sandra Dee, but that was before I discovered Tab Hunter."
Just Shoot Me star David Spade, who came under fire for some off-the-wall comments he made about gays in the past, said, surprisingly, "My first: Farrah, of course. My most recent: One of the Backstreet Boys." And for film star Penelope Cruz it was, "Marilyn Monroe and Shirley MacLaine. I'm not a lesbian... but you can feel attraction in so many ways."
Plenty of Teletubbies left
Sad to report that the BBC announced that production will cease on Teletubbies,
the delightful kids show that aroused the Christian right to warn parents that one of the show's characters, Tinky Winky, might be gay.
But don't put away Tinky Winky's red purse just yet, says Entertainment Weekly. A Teletubbies spokesperson says there are 205 episodes that haven't been seen in the U.S. that will eventually air on PBS, which recently renewed the show through 2008. 'Queer Duck' may be back
Queer Duck, Icebox.com's popular animated series about a gay Jewish duck, disappeared when Icebox went under. However, USA Today reports that Showtime has picked up the series, starring the voices of Jim J. Bullock and RuPaul, to run on its web site, sho.com. Showtime also has an option to produce a full length movie version of the show.
'I like closeted men'
Married actor Patrick Dempsey has been playing Will's love interest on NBC's Will & Grace lately. When Us Weekly asked Dempsey, whose character chose Will over Jack, which character would be more his type, Dempsey replied, "I think Jack is too overtly gay for me that flamboyant, enjoyable queen energy. I would be more attracted to the more closeted guy." 'Amy' has gay-straight alliance
The struggle of gay-straight student alliances found it's way into the courtroom on CBS' Judging Amy recently when a student was brought up on charges of truancy. It seems the principal had banned the gaystraight student alliance that had been formed at his school and the student had
joined other members of the alliance in Springfield biopic coming staying out of school in protest.
It turned out the principal's decision to throw out the gay-straight student alliances was in violation of federal law by denying equal access to all student groups. But, as happens much too frequently on network TV, the LGBT legal group that represented the student was portrayed as strident and overbearing—there not so much in the interest of the student, but for some grand "gay agenda."
Twins have two moms
Shane and Sia Barbi, the Barbi twins of Playboy fame, recently revealed they were raised in a lesbian family. The twins talk about growing up with their two mothers Marsha and Kimberly and their struggle with eating disorders in their new book Dying to be Healthy.
"We have absolutely wonderful parents," Shane told Globe reporter Pete Trujillo "They just happen to be two women.'
Shane said that although their mothers have been married and have lived together for the past 29 years, they were not told they were gay until the twins turned 18.
"Mom and Marsha acted very appropriately around us. They were affectionate but never sexual in front of us. They were more like best girlfriends."
The two mothers' friends included the late lesbian pop star Dusty Springfield who, according to Trujillo, “doted on them and became their godmother."
"We bonded with Dusty right away," Sia told Trujillo. "The only real dysfunctional part of our growing up was having to keep it a secret from the world. There's nothing to be ashamed of."
Madonna's Maverick Films is making a cable film about Dusty Springfield. Although Springfield was widely known in the industry to be lesbian, it was not mentioned in the mainstream media until her death in 1999.
Senior production executive Gary Ventimiglia told Entertainment Weekly's Chris Willman that the Springfield film will be a celebration of her life.
"It's not going to be about a lesbian in a closet," said Ventimigllia. This was echoed by VH-1 vice president of original movies Michael Larkin who told Willman. "It's a central part of the story. We didn't want to move forward unless we could really deal with her being a lesbian and hiding that."
'Gaywaves' on the web
Finally, I'm happy to report that WRUW 91.1 FM, home of my Gaywaves radio show is webcasting once again.
You can now listen to Gaywaves every Friday from 7 to 7:30 pm and the rest of the very diverse programming from WRUW at http://radio.cwru.edu or http:// radio.cwru.org.
Watch for WRUW's power increase to 15.000 watts later this spring when the station will be heard clearly throughout the Cleveland area.
John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian-gay 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 contributed to this column.
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13 stories infused with the lyrical swaying of dance
Witness to the League of
་
Blonde Hip Hop Dancers
by Donna Allegra
Alyson, $12.95 trade paperback
Reviewed by Anthony Glassman
There is a certain tribal urgency to the dance. The bodies moving in an almost symbolic way, carrying out the steps of seduction and desire.
dance, primarily African, Caribbean, and jazz. Allegra herself is a dancer as well as a writer, and it shows through in the musical tone of the books, the lyrical swaying of the prose and the furious footwork of the dialog. However, thirteen dances is a bit much for me.
Listen, though, to my unabashed backpedaling. It is a collection of stories and a novella, correct? So there is no real impetus to read all thirteen pieces one after the other. Reading a story or two, and then moving on to another book before returning for another couple of pieces would keep it fresh. My problem is, I have deadlines. Books get read from start to finish, and then on to the next book to review. Truthfully, the only problem is the repetition of the theme of dancing. There is an old saying, "Write what you know." In this case, it might be "Write what you know over and over, giving it a slightly different spin each time." It does produce a sense of literary déjà vu, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
BLOND
The mixing of dance and desire is not a new one; look at How Stella Got Her Groove Back. The very word groove implies music and dance. Of course, Stella was straight, so we're not going to bother talking about her any more. Donna Allegra, unlike Toni Morrison, wrote a book about women who love women. Actually, a novella and twelve stories, to be precise. They have been collected in the volume Witness to the League of Blonde Hip Hop Dancers, released last October by Alyson. Okay, you're saying, if it came out four months ago, why are you reviewing it now?
HIP
HOP
The answer is simple: I'm still not quite sure what to say about it.
Don't get me wrong, the writing is wonderful. The stories are heartfelt and heartwarming. The repetition of characters from one story to the next gives the entire volume a splendid sense of continuity: two characters who meet in one story have been dating for months three stories later..
However, all of the writing is informed by
The book treads ground that, it has made familiar itself, like Lewis and Clark retracing their steps over and over. There is always something new to see, a sparrow, a cardinal, a savage puma eating one of their guides, but there is still a familiarity to it all.
And, truthfully, if Afro-Caribbean lesbian dancers can become familiar through the pages of one book to a short, fat, Jewish gay man from Michigan, that's pretty impressive..