Eminem won’t go away. From the Wait-a-Minute-I-Thought-He-Was-On-The-Other- Side Department, a letter to The New York Times (3/4) suggested a tactic against the phobic rapper. To wit: the letter-writer attended Time Warner’s Stockholders’ meeting and read the lyrics to Ice-T’s CD, “Cop Killer.” Ice-T was fired. He suggests the same for Eminem. The writer? Charton Heston. (And for those, including colleagues, who’ve insisted Eminem’s lyrics are actually satirical, I say, well maybe. But for those like myself who have actual physical contact with Marshall Mather’s audience—teens—it is more than clear that “gay” or “faggot” is not a joke to them, but a vile, cutting insult.)
From the “Queens-In-Our-Ranks-And-Kings-On-Our-Side Department. The New York Times (3/5) reports the very democratic heir to the Norwegian throne, Prince Haakon, has the establishment a little nervous: he’s marrying a commoner he lives with, who was a well-known figure at Oslo’s dance-and-drugs house party scene. Her child’s father is a convicted cocaine supplier, but worst of all, Haakon is an outspoken supporter of homosexual rights. If Haakon becomes King, he also becomes head of the official Lutheran Church which has barred the ordination of homosexual clerics. Presumably, the man who would be Haakon VIII could reverse this proscription.
And, speaking of reversing proscriptions, the Chicago Tribune (3/6) reports that the last major outpost of the evil Empire, Red (as in Commie pinko) China has abolished the designation of homosexuality as a psychological distrubance. This ironically places China in a more liberal place than America’s Christian Right.
From the “High Notes High Culture and Hi Gay” Department, The New York Times Magazine (3/4) profiles Bejun Mehta (cousin of Zubin Mehta) as one of the three prominent counter tenor singers in the world. David Daniels, one of the other two high trillers, is openly gay. The article refers to Mehta’s boyfriend, so the guess is Mehta is gay too. Any word on the third prominent male soprano, David Walker?
More high Kulchuh is on the way to Chicago. From an insert to The New York Times (3/4) “The Mother of Modern Dance” [Martha Graham] has been reincarnated into the 6’4″ body of dancer Richard Move. Move has Baryshinnikov and Merce Morris fans, and his dance segments of Martha’s works are ” … homage as [well as]… satire.” The Trocs have done ballet, La Gran Scena have done opera; it’s obviously modern dance’s turn (tho it will be difficult to top the dance diva’s own late performances, which many critics characterized as satires of herself). Move’s coming here Mother’s Day.
And we drop to pop dance music culture—the Chicago Tribune (3/6) in an article on disco as a retro phenomenon reports that gay culture is not credited enough with the creation of the disco scene—that the dance bars existed as places where gay men could find refuge from homophobia. The article suggested Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” (1976) as possibly the best disco song of the era.
The New York Times (3/5) reviews a new book, Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten 1925-1964. The review (and one conjectures the book) neglects to point out both men were gay (tho Hughes’ family insists he was straight; his friends, particularly his lover, say different). Van Vechten was a friend of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Hughes was a prominent African-American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, and figured in a homoerotic art film about it several years ago.
Thanks to Marie Kuda who enlightened me on Van Vechten and also on The New York Times (2/18) review of On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madame C. J. Walker by Walker’s granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles. Walker was a famous party-giver and patron during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance. The second Ms. Walker was quite the lady about town with her girl-and-boy-friends.
Both the Chicago Tribune (3/6) and The Wall Street Journal (3/2) write of the drug firms battling countries in Africa who are abrogating their AIDS drug patents. The Journal has the better lead: “Can the pharmaceuticals industry inflict any more damage upon its ailing public image? Well, how about suing Nelson Mandela?” If the third world succeeds in reducing the exhorbitant prices of these drugs, can the first world and its many indigent gay people living with AIDS be far behind?
Jim’s e-mail address: daunsenbere@prodigy.net