ZeitGAYst

Disco Diva Grace Jones Born (May 19, 1948)

30 years before Lady Gaga, Grace Jones was making herself known with her striking presence, outrageous fashion sense, distinct singing voice and inventive performance videos. 

 

Born and raised in Jamaica (birth name: Grace Mendoza), she moved with her family to the snowbelt city of Syracuse in New York state when she was in her teens.  Before becoming a singer she was a model who became part of Andy Warhol's glam circle.  To me she resembled an Amazonian version of Eartha Kitt.   

 

 

Every year between 1977 and 1982 Grace released an album (and ten overall) but none became big commercial hits.  Her highest charting LP, 1981's Nightclubbing, made it to only to #32 on Billboard's album chart.  However, songs such as I Need a Man (her first); Do or Die; and Pull up to the Bumper were big club hits.  Besides those, favorites of mine include La Vie en Rose; Nipple to the Bottle; Unlimited Capacity for Love; and Slave to the Rhthym.  Her music style was hard to categorize - a bit disco, a bit new wave, a bit R&B.

 

 

In the 1980's, her Warhol years behind her, she tested her mainstream appeal by appearing in action movies such as Conan the Destroyer and was cast as the villain in the James Bond movie A View to a Kill.  She also appeared in TV and print ads for Honda scooters.

 

 

 

 

Love to Love You Baby: Remembering Donna Summer (May 17, 2012)

Disco queen Donna Summer died on May 17, 2012, joining other beloved performers such as Sylvester and Loleatta Holloway on the great dance floor in the sky.  

 

Simply put, Donna Summer = Disco.  My coming out in the late 1970's paralleled the beginning of her ascent to superstardom.  Her double-LP Once Upon a Time (pictured, right) was the first disco album I owned, bought during the summer of 1977.  I remember watching her TV special in November 1979 that coincided with the release of the double LP Live and More which featured MacArthur Park.  (Every time I've gone to the Monster on Tuesday's Classic Disco night they always play the entire 17-minute MacArthur Park Suite.)

 

Interestingly, Summer won a Grammy in the rock category in 1980 for Hot Stuff and received two other nominations in the category in 1982 and 1983.  And on the same LP that had the rock song Protection on it she also had a gospel song titled I Believe in Jesus, which I actually liked.  Besides these types of songs and her disco smashes she also had quite a few beautiful songs with slower tempos.

 

Even after her popularity began to wane in the mid-80's I enjoyed these later albums and their treasure trove of tuneful songs that were overlooked by many.  In the summer of 1999 I saw her in concert at Jones Beach on a Friday night before heading out to my Fire Island share for the weekend.  It was when she had a comeback hit with I Will Go With You (Con te Partiro).

 

I have 100 of Donna's songs on my iPod.  It was quite a challenge to narrow them down, but here are my most favorite songs, most which weren't big hits:

 

• Love to Love You Baby (16:44 12-inch version)
• Try Me (18-minute version) - from the LP "A Love Trilogy"
• I Feel Love - "I Remember Yesterday"
• Faster & Faster to Nowhere - "Once Upon a Time"
• Queen for a Day - "Once Upon a Time"
• Now I Need You - "Once Upon a Time"
• Sunset People - "Bad Girls"
• Mystery of Love - "Donna Summer"
• Dinner w/Gershwin - "All Systems Go"
• Bad Reputation - "All Systems Go"
• Fascination - "All Systems Go"
• Supernatural Love - "Cat Without Claws"
• Carry On

 

Donna also sang a beautiful version of the holiday classic The Christmas Song. 

 

 

 

 

 

Oprah Winfrey Gets the Low Down on the "Down Low" (April 16, 2004)

The term "down low", or DL, refers to men of color who, while not identifying themselves as being gay, have furtive sex with other men.  This slang was picked up by the media about 10 years ago and it picked up steam a few years later with articles in TIME, The Village Voice and the New York Times Magazine.  Then Oprah introduced it to her viewers during an episode of her show that first aired on April 14, 2004.  

 

Of course, while the DL may be a black construct, men with wives and girlfriends who sneak off to have sex with other men is hardly limited to blacks.  It's been explained that the term was coined because of an aversion many black men have to being labeled gay.  (Based on the black men I've known, quite a generalization.)  Apparently, in the minds of these men, having sex with a man isn't the same thing as being gay, which they equate with being effeminate.  (I wonder if a similar term has been coined in Arabic for Muslim men?)   

 

Today, thanks to online chat rooms and the iPad app Grindr, sneaking off for a quickie has never been easier or more tempting.  (Fooling around in the steam room at the gym is so 20th century.)  Wives and girlfriends would surely be freaked if they knew the extent to which husbands & boyfriends play around with gay guys before work, during lunch and after work.  

 

  

However, it's hardly a new phenomenon.  In the book Gay Manhattan, which talks of gay life in the first half of the 20th century, author George Chauncey revealed that it wasn't uncommon for straight blue collar guys to have a gay acquaintenance on the side to get them off (without reciprocation) whenever their wives weren't able to provide for all their sexual needs. 

 

 

 

Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe Dies of AIDS (March 9, 1989)

AIDS claimed Robert Mapplethorpe today in 1989 at the age of 42.  He became famous for his striking b/w photographs, many with an explicit homoerotic edge.  Whenever I hear Mapplethorpe's name three things come to mind: Patti Smith, the photograph "Man in Polyester Suit" and Cincinnati. 

 

 

• Rock singer Patti Smith & Mapplethorpe were romantically involved as young adults and lived together in NYC from the late 60's to mid-70's (when he realized he was gay).   

 

• "Man in Polyester Suit" is one of Mapplethorpe's most famous photographs.  It shows a black man wearing a suit with his rather large, uncut penis hanging out of the fly of his pants.  It's the image I remember most after viewing a Mapplethorpe exhibit at the Whitney Museum in 1988.  And since it was life-sized it really grabbed your attention. 

 

 

• In 1990 Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center and its director went on trial on charges of obscenity for organizing a Mapplethorpe exhibit that included some of his explicit homoerotic images (e.g. Mapplethorpe shoving the handle of a whip up his ass).  They were found not guilty.    

 

Actually, the Cincinnati suit was about just a few photos in the exhibit.  And as the following video tribute shows, Mapplethorpe's body of work covered much more than just Gay S&M:

 

 

 

Although many books have been published of Mapplethorpe's work, the documentary Black White + Gray reveals the life he had with his partner Sam Wagstaff, whose financial support and social connections were instrumental in boosting Mapplethorpe's career.

 

Acclaimed Lesbian Movie "Pariah" Gets Little Distribution (Winter 2012)

Independent films have a tough row to hoe.  Even the most acclaimed of them find it difficult to gain wide distribution in theaters.  So imagine the challenge faced by the movie Pariah, an indie that tells the story of an African American teenager in the process of coming out as a lesbian.  Even Tyler Perry's broad comedies starring Madea open in half as many theaters as a typical Adam Sandler flick, so the hurdles faced by an indie movie targeting a niche audience (lesbians) within an already niche audience (African Americans) were great.  Spike Lee, who was executive producer of Pariah, has expressed similar frustrations with the marketing of his own films. 

 

Despite the critical acclaim it received at Sundance last year, Pariah never appreared in more than a handful of theaters nationwide (and it received no boost in theaters during February's Black History Month).  But where it played it did well (based on per-screen revenue), but it will still gross less than $1 million.  Thankfully for those who live outside the few markets where the movie played there's always Netflix.  

 

 

From Icon to Punchline: The Tragic Demise of Whitney Houston

As much as I enjoyed her music (see the list of my favorites below) I found myself more angered than saddened by Whitney Houston's death.  She seemed to have it all but squandered her talent, much of her fortune and the public's goodwill.  Ironically, one of her hit songs was titled Didn't We Almost Have it All?  For a brief time it seemed she did. 

 

She was embraced in gay circles for her various dance-oriented hits which evolved from upbeat pop in the early years to cynical commentaries on life.  These later songs, It's Not Right But It's OK and I Learned from the Best, became huge club hits.  

 

The defiant tone of her later hits corresponded with her confounding downward spiral.  Sadly, the more of a mess she became the more popular she seemed to become with her gay fans.  A parody of her video for It's Not Right that was regularly shown in gay clubs showed a female impersonator with coke coming out of her nose interspersed with the "crack is whack" comment the real Whitney made during her infamous interview with Diane Sawyer.  She went from being an icon to a punchline.

 

 

  

Unlike icons before her who also died young, e.g., Marilyn, Judy and Diana, I doubt Whitney will ever be thought of in the same loving way as they are.  Sure, she was a tragic figure, but nowhere near as sympathetic a figure as the other three.  Of course, the others didn't live during the era of reality TV.  Unfortunately for Whitney her reputation never recovered after she appeared on her husband's reality series Being Bobby Brown.  But even before this show she had become notorious for being a nasty bitch with a huge chip on her shoulder.    

 

Although she's gone her magnificent body of work remains - and we'll no longer be witness to the train wreck that her life turned into over the past 15 years.

 

And now for my twelve favorite songs (in chronological order):  

• Saving All My Love for You
• Hold Me in Your Arms - A beautiful duet with Teddy Pendergrass.
• Take Good Care of My Heart - Another great duet, this one with Jermaine Jackson. 
• Love Will Save the Day
• So Emotional
• I'm Your Baby Tonight - Perhaps my favorite of all her songs.
• After We Make Love
• Lover for Life
• Exhale (Shoop)
• It's Not Right But it's OK - a grrreat dance song!
• I Learned from the Best
• Million Dollar Bill - From her comeback CD of a few years ago, it has the more bubbly tempo of her earlier hits. 

The Supremes Make 1st TV Appearance Without Diana Ross (February 15, 1970)

The Supremes were a favorite of Ed Sullivan.  In a 5-year period between 1964-69 they performed on his Sunday variety show fourteen times - and on February 15, 1970 they made their first appearance on the show since Diana Ross left the group in January.  Now led by Jean Terrell, they performed their first single Up the Ladder to the Roof. (If I were a drag queen this is one of the songs I'd love to perform.)  They wore marvelously outrageous form-fitting sequined jumpsuits in Valentine's Day red (see video clip below).    

 

Legend has it that Diana was pissed that these new Supremes hit the charts first (especially since Someday We'll be Together was originally supposed to be her first single rather than the last as a member of the Supremes.)  But "Miss Ross" would more than make up ground later in the year with her #1 smash Ain't No Mountain High Enough.  After that she had eleven more top-10 hits (five which topped the Billboard Hot 100).

 

And although their first two singles, Ladder and Stoned Love, were top-10 hits, the new Supremes would have no other singles to chart that high (but they'd have a number of #1 dance hits including I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking). 

 

 

 

An assortment of The Supremes' TV appearances are available on Amazon on the DVD The Supremes - The Definitive Performances 1964-69.    

 

 

    

Beyonce's Super "Super Bowl" Performance (February 1, 2004)

Since Super Bowl XXXVIII was being played in her hometown of Houston, Beyonce Knowles was honored by being invited to sing the National Anthem.  Not surprisingly, she looked beautiful and did a faaabulous job (I rank it up there with Cher's and Jennifer Hudson's renditions). 

 

However, Beyonce's performance has been long forgotten by most because this was the Super Bowl that witnessed the infamous Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake "wardrobe malfunction" (which, eight years later, still reverberates).  I may have been one of the few persons watching the game who missed this incident as I was in the kitchen washing dishes.  However, I did see Beyonce make Houston proud.   

 

 

"Dreamgirls" Opens on Broadway (December 20, 1981)

The musical Dreamgirls had its Broadway opening on December 20, 1981.  It would win six Tony Awards, including Best Choreography and three acting awards, but it lost out to Nine for Best Musical.  It ran for nearly four years, closing in August 1985.  25 years later the movie version opened, also at Christmastime.

 

 

The show is probably best known for Jennifer Holliday's powerful star turn singing the gut-wrenching And I Am Telling You.  It received extensive airplay on the New York radio stations I listened to, WBLS and WKTU, and I repeatedly saw the video of her performance from the 1982 Tony Awards at Uncle Charlie's bar.  Unfortunately, she sat out the performance on the night I took my boyfriend to see the show for his birthday in the summer of 1982 (it was his first Broadway show).  I stewed for the entire show.  

 

 

 

Two years after Dreamgirls closed its acclaimed director/choreographer, Michael Bennett, died at the age of 44 from AIDS.  In the 1990 movie Longtime Companion, about the impact of AIDS on a group of friends, the title song Dreamgirls was featured in one scene, playfully lip-synched by one of the characters. 

 

The movie Dreamgirls starred Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson (who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Eddie Murphy & Jamie Foxx.  It took years of twists and turns before the movie reached theaters. (It took even longer for Nine to make it to the silver screen - three years longer than Dreamgirls.)  I didn't like it nearly as much as the Broadway production and found the ending (when Jamie Foxx's character realized he had fathered a daughter - which wasn't in the Broadway version) particularly ludicrous.  At least when I saw it I didn't have to worry about whether Jennifer Hudson would be in the show! 

 

 

Mighty Real: A Tribute to Sylvester

One of the shining lights of disco, Sylvester, died on Dec. 16, 1988 from AIDS complications.  He was 41.  Best known for one of the biggest dance anthems of the disco era, the joyous You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), Sylvester also had a string of other dance floor favorites (all featuring his captivating gospel-tinged falsetto), including I Need You; Do You Wanna Funk? (the song of summer 1982); Take Me to Heaven; and Lovin' Is Really My Game.  (The book The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the 70's in San Francisco pays tribute to the performer as well as the early years of disco.) 

 

Other celebrated names in the world of disco to die from AIDS include Patrick Cowley (pictured, near left), producer of some of Sylvester's biggest hits (died in 1982 at age 32; Jacques Morali, who wrote a number of songs for the Ritchie Family and created the Village People (1991, age 44); Paul Jabara (pictured, far left), who wrote Last Dance (1992, age 44); Sharon Redd, who sang the classic In the Name of Love (1992, age 46); and Dan Hartman, who had two huge hits with Instant Replay and Vertigo/Relight My Fire (1994, age 44)