Four Great SF Events

The 18th installment of Folsom Street Fair's legendary closing party, Real Bad, takes place Sunday, September 24th, right after the fair ends. Always the hottest ticket of the weekend (and woe to the leatherman who waits too long to buy his ticket), this perenially sold-out volunteer-run event has raised over half a million dollars for dozens of Bay Area organizations. My dear friend Leif Wauters is once again devoting his talents to Real Bad and he promises another fantastic night. I haven't attended Real Bad since 2003, when it was helmed by my favorite music man, DJ Jerry Bonham. Real Bad is real hot, hot, hot. I can't wait.

I'm hoping to stretch my visit into the following week, because the Sunday following Folsom is the 33rd Annual Castro Street Fair, which was founded in 1974 by Harvey Milk and also benefits many HIV/AIDS and gay groups. The fair is always a blast (hello, drinking beer in the sun + hot men = happy Joe), but adding to the week of riches is Remember The Party 5, the latest in a series of events commemorating SF's immortal gay disco, the Trocadero Transfer, where oh happy day, the DJ will be Jerry Bonham.

First Things First

From the Department of About Fucking Time comes news that 260 gay scholars, writers and activists have co-signed a document saying that too much emphasis is being placed on the fight for gay marriage at the expense of other worthy causes important to the gay community. Longtime readers of this blog know it's always been my position that ENDA should come first. The right to marry seems little compensation when you can still lose your home and your job for being gay in most of the United States.

Naturally the gay organizations that this document is aimed at, Lambda Legal, the Human Rights Campaign, etc, are all blustering that they already work hard on the issues raised in this new document, which is called "Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families & Relationships". They should have titled it "First Things First!"

OutGames Get PEP-y

Montreal health officials have begun a bilingual television and print campaign advising the 12,000 attendees of this week's OutGames that they have stockpiled a large quantity of the the HIV post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP drugs, the so-called "morning after" HIV treatment, should any of the athletes do anything "risky" or have a condom break. Astoundingly, PEP treatment is scorned by some AIDS activists who worry that its availability encourages unsafe sex, just like some Christians think that condoms encourage fucking. In any case, what Montreal is doing is certainly unprecedented. I can't imagine any U.S. city being so progessive. Maybe San Francisco. Maybe. (via 365gay.com)

Pass The Tanning Butter

According to today's AM New York, New York City is working on legislation that will require parental consent for children under 18 to patronize tanning salons, a law that exists in many other municipalities. The state is working on similar legislation. Unsurprisingly, the tanning salon industry is alarmed that these laws are the beginning of outlawing tanning salons entirely.

This provides me a good segueway to mention that last week I visited a dermatologist who used liquid nitrogen to treat me for actinic keratosis, small precancerous patches that appeared in several places on my upper face over the last few months. Skin cancer runs in my family, both my mother and my sister have been treated for it. And I grew up in Florida as a gay man during the height of the 70's & 80's tanning craze, during which we took baby oil to the pool and beach, not sunscreen. Was sunscreen even available back then? Can anybody imagine using baby oil in these skin conscious times?

So knowing I've got all the risk factors, I'm very fair skinned, I'm of Northern European descent, I have light eyes, I've been badly sunburned several times and combined with my family history and my own history of heavy tanning, I've been sort of expecting skin cancer to appear eventually. Luckily, the dermatologist was optimistic and after enduring a surprisingly uncomfortable series of shots from her liquid nitrogen blowtorch, she told me I didn't need to return for another year, unless "something happens".

Over the last five or six years I've been rather careful to avoid the sun. I'm always with the SPF 40 if I'm going to be outdoors. Still, when I walk past Hollywood Tans, which is about 300 feet from my apartment, I sometimes look at their signage and think "maybe I'll just dash in for some color". I haven't done it yet and the memory of those nitrogen blasts will dissuade me for the time being. Maybe the city will save me from myself and just do away with tanning salons entirely.

Pride Radio

Yesterday I taped an interview at Clear Channel's studios above Radio City Music Hall for The Ryan And Caroline Show, a gay talk show on Pride Radio, a new gay station. Pride Radio is a commercial-free, subscription-free station streamed on the Internet and broadcast on HD digital radio. The interview will air sometime next week, I'll give a heads-up when my bit is on.

In the meantime, you can stream Pride Radio here, for all your Madonna, Beyonce, Cher, and Pink needs. (Actually, they just played Prince's classic Erotic City! ) Ryan and Caroline and the folks at Clear Channel (Hi Jared!) were fun to chat with about blogging, although I'll confess I don't exactly understand what stake Clear Channel has in a non-revenue station like Pride Radio. Do they have an interest in the sales of digital radios? I know those things aren't cheap.

Caller ID

Thursday, 11am

Receptionist: Joe, someone's calling you from the Gay Attack Force. Do you want to take it?

Joe: Wow! Cool! Who are they? Yes, I'll take it.

Caller: Hi, Joe. It's Marci from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Joe (disappointed): Oh, hello.
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Diablo Cody

The first blog I ever read regularly was Diablo Cody's Pussy Ranch, in which she frankly chronicled her life as a bisexual stripper in Minneapolis. Pussy Ranch was raunchy, enlightening and hilarious. I even sent her a couple of fan e-mails back in 2003. Now Cody has a book and a movie deal. A couple of years ago she announced that she was leaving blogging to concentrate on her newspaper writing, but now I see she has a blog on Minneapolis' CityPages site. I definitely recommend checking her out.

Open Thread Thursday

What are you reading?
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Gay Orgs Erupt With More Infighting

Adding to the woes of WorldPride, who just had to cancel their parade, a coalition of 22 gay organizations has called for a boycott of their events. The coalition includes Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism, Queers For Peace And Justice, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Additionally, religious leaders in Jerusalem are organizing an anti-gay counterprotest which may draw as many as a half-million people. The U.S. State Department has issued a warning to Americans planning to attend, saying that U.S. citizens should "remain vigilant when traveling anywhere in Jerusalem." (via -SFgate.com & Pink News.)

Could this mess get any weirder?

Morning View: 505 Fifth Avenue

Three years ago, when construction crews broke ground at the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, I was quite excited to see what would arise. After all, that intersection is one of the most famous in the world, and the other corners are gorgeously anchored by the Main Library and by 500 Fifth, one of my favorite buildings in the city.

Therefore I am rather dismayed by the 28-story, bland, forgettable glass tower that has just been completed. Granted, it has some interesting angles (if you are viewing it from uptown) and apparently the designers employed some groundbreaking concrete construction techniques that have architecture critics pissing themselves with delight, but does this building say anything about the revered company it shares with this location?

Built by the CIT Group, the financial services company, press releases are calling the CIT Building "New York's newest Fifth Avenue landmark". Hmm, maybe if they put a really interesting store into the unfinished street-level retail space.

I do recommend checking out the CIT Building's interesting lobby, where minimalist light-artist James Turrell has done an installation. I tried to get a picture of the lobby for you, gentle readers, but I was chased out by their security guard who was shouting "NO PICTURES!" Shrug. Just picture a long, featureless white room with completely undecorated surfaces, including the floor. Visitors are bathed in a rotating series of blue, green and red lights, which run along the base and top of the walls. The effect pleasingly reminded me of a posh nightclub men's room. Other than the lobby, I'd rate the CIT Building a major disappointment and an insult to its neighbors.

Sean Patrick Maloney

After happy hour with Aaron and RJ at Grand Central's Cipriani, I ran into openly gay New York Attorney General candidate Sean Maloney and he was kind enough to pose for a photo. According to RJ, I now look like the "firechief of Itchboro, New Jersey". Must be the mustache.

Hype-Casting

Nicolas Cage...as Liberace? I'm just not seeing it. Does somebody smell the hype from this year's Oscars (Brokeback, Capote, Transamerica)? And he's directing it himself. Oh goodie. (via - SFgate.com)

Lunch View: Main Library

I took this on the way back from lunch today. Despite what you saw in The Day After Tomorrow, the Beaux-Arts Main Library doesn't have revolving doors, nor does it face south. The famous lions out front were named "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor LaGuardia in the 1930's, as that's what he thought New Yorkers would need to get through the Depression. However, I'm told real New Yorkers call the lions Uptown and Downtown. That's Downtown in the picture.

She's Madonna

Robbie Williams is dueting with Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant on a single called She's Madonna, the title taken from what Guy Ritchie told his then-girlfriend Tania Strecker as he dumped her, "Look, you know I really love you, but she's Madonna."

According to The Mirror, Madonna green-lighted the single when Williams played it for her and he hopes to get her to appear in the video. The album comes out September 4th. I can already see the ball queens having a field day doing runway to She's Madonna.

Related: Pet Shop Boys play Radio City on October 14th. I'm going!

Yowtch

Staying on the topic of Georgios Panayiotou, check out my buddy Mike Atkinson, aka Troubled Diva, aka Stylus Magazine music reviewer, for his scathing review of George Michael's new single, An Easier Affair. Oooh, it ain't pretty.

"Christians" Outraged, Yawning Ensues

I love this. The Christianist nutjobs over at World Net Daily have got their choir robes in a twist over NBC's having had Queer Eye cast member Carson Kressley provide color commentary during last night's Miss Universe pageant.

With the top-of-page banner headline: "Breaking News: NBC struts 'gay' jokes all over Miss Universe", the lead reads: "With some of the world's most beautiful women on display at tonight's Miss Universe Pageant in Los Angeles, viewers of the NBC broadcast were exposed to a celebration of homosexuality with continuous "gay" jokes and innuendo."

World Net Daily always puts the word "gay" in scare quotes, like we don't actually exist. I think I'm going to start writing "god" from now on. Fair is fair. Anyway, I have a fun project for today. As they often do, World Net Daily is polling their readers about this latest "gay" outrage. I suggest everybody take their poll and show some "gay" love for Carson Kressley. I chose the least popular response: "It was hilarious, great entertainment value", as did 0.85% of the other World Net Daily readers, likely gay trollers like myself. You must register your email to take the poll, I used Gaygaygay@gay.com for mine.

Related: The new Miss Universe, Miss Puerto Rico, Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, has the best name since 1988's winner, Miss Thailand, Porntip Nakhirunkanok.

UPDATE: Good As You picks up the story.

HomoQuotable - George Michael

"Are you gay? No? Then fuck off! This is my culture!" -George Michael, screaming at News Of The World photographers who caught him having sex in the bushes on London's notoriously cruisy Hampstead Heath. George isn't wrong about park cruising being part of gay life worldwide (The Rambles, Buena Vista, Meat Rack, etc), although calling it "culture" is a bit cringe-inducing.

The worst part about the whole thing is that the photographers followed George's trick back to his seedy apartment in Brighton, where the 58-year old truck driver was kind enough for pose for a series of sexy photos. George has proven the adage that money can't buy you love. Or pretty.

Morning View: Grand Central Ticketing

Gold, Silver, Bronze, Bar Tab

Leave it to us gay homosexuals for pushing the boundries of modern sport at the just concluded Chicago Gay Games, where competitors tested the limits of their bodies in a myriad of brutal sports such as billiards, bowling, darts, air hockey, and Ms. Pac-Man. Makes sense, since so much of our life is spent in bars. And any sport that you can play with a beer in your hand is my kind of sport.