Category: Entertainment

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New Music: Faultlines “Rain”

Ashley Morgan, John Flanagan, Todd McCool in “Rain” (screen capture)
Ashley Morgan and John Flanagan, of the folk-pop duo Faultlines, are causing a political storm with the re-release of their anti-Trump song, “Rain,” the first single from their next full album, Bittersweet Revival. “Rain” focuses its spotlight on the threat to women’s, LGBTQ, and immigrant rights. “As we are approaching the 2020 election, it’s so important to remind everyone that we cannot endure four more years,” says John Flanagan. “Donald Trump is not a president for the majority minority of America. We want to encourage everyone to get out and vote.” “I honestly wake up every morning and think there’s no way it can get worse than this,” Ashley Morgan reflects from her Los Angeles home. “Then I read the news and sure enough, it gets worse. I truly don’t understand how this man became our president when all he does is encourage violence, white supremacy, fear, and hatred.” Their unique brand of folk is a mashup of modern pop and roots country. Interestingly, the duo has become known for their signature three-part harmonies.  To achieve their sound, they rotate between two talented guitarists, Sean Beck and Todd McCool (who sings the third verse of “Rain”). “Rain” is available on all major digital platforms.

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Halloween Costumes: This Cookie Monster Has His Eye On A Snack

Ray (left) and Zed (right) try out some sexy Halloween costumes (All images via Grindr)
Grindr asked real-life YouTube couple Zed and Ray to share some early Halloween fun by trying on some pretty sexy costumes in advance of the October 31 holiday. First up, the men serve up some Sesame Street realness as Cookie Monster and a Cookie snack. Ray is clearly feeling the vibe telling Zed (who looks snack AF), “I’m really ready to eat. Can I bite you?” Next up, the guys are an updated take on Cher and Dionne from the movie Clueless. Trust and believe, these guys do NOT wear polyester hair. “As if!” We knew some Disney characters had to be in the mix and sure enough, check out this sassy version of Jasmine and Aladdin. The men laugh as they try out a few lines from the animated film after scoping each other out: “A whole new world!!” Ray and Zed bring some swagger to Tigger and Pooh as Zed keeps telling Ray, “I really like this one on you.” Zed’s Pooh knows some honey when he sees it. The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things. A shirtless take on Troll dolls puts the men in a party mood as the guys don huge colorful wigs and face glitter. “Give me a Troll kiss,” says Zed, and Ray leans in for the smooch. There’s more in the clip, so hit the play button below. And make sure you hang in until the end to see which costumes the guys vibe with. You can follow Ray and Zed on YouTube here and on Instagram here.

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Student Filmmakers Go Indie After Losing School Resources

A team of LGBTQ student filmmakers at the University of Southern California’s prestigious School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) have decided to produce what might have been their senior film project independently in the aftermath of the school’s transition to online instruction and lack of access to school’s resources. Back in April, the team of filmmakers was chosen by faculty to create one of four senior thesis films this fall. Along with SCA’s professional-grade equipment, editing labs, and soundstages, the school also provides the team with $7,500 in funds to help complete the project. But now, without the school’s resources, the students have launched a crowdfunding campaign at Seed & Spark to raise the necessary funds to achieve their educational and creative goals. The students explain their project, titled Anti-Venom for a Snake, will explore “queer love and loss at the height of the AIDS epidemic, within the context of the COVID pandemic.” “The story follows Marcos, the voyeuristic drag artist by the name Evita Envy, as he copes with the loss of his soulmate and his own weakening body,” adds the creative team.

The budding filmmakers aim to use COVID-19 as “a time to pay tribute to the tragedies and experiences of the AIDS epidemic, to sympathize with characters once alienated as ‘sinful’ or ‘other,’ and to connect audiences to the power of queer love in the midst of a global pandemic.” The description for the project reads, “1993, New York. When an upcoming drag queen’s power is shut off, she is forced to deal with the unbearable silence of an empty apartment.” “With Anti-Venom for a Snake, I want to use my own experience with homophobia to connect audiences of all demographics with the power of gay love,” says the film’s director, Cameron Kostopoulos. “Most importantly, I hope to give voice to stories and characters that have long been ignored, in hopes of a more inclusive tomorrow.”

Film director Cameron Kostopoulos (screen capture)
It’s notable that the students, while not blaming SCA for the situation, are stuck in an unenviable position. Ranked as number one among the top American film schools, students attend SCA not only for the prestige of the institution’s pedigree but for the access to expensive production resources. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that includes 10 working soundstages, industry-standard postproduction editing lab, sound mixing stages, a color correction suite, as well as a small armada of cameras, lighting and sound equipment that is used to outfit each student production.” All of that allows the students – who pay undergraduate tuition of $59,260 per academic year – to enter the workforce with finished short films in hand to act as a calling card. Many of the senior films go on to screen at film festivals giving the students the chance to catch the eye of Hollywood players. “Part of the film school and the SCA experience is that you’re promised that when you enter the school you’re going to graduate with tangible films that you can send to potential employers,” Kostopoulos told THR. “Being in a school like SCA is, in a sense, an equalizer,” says Kostopoulos. “We all have the same resources and a support system, and when you lose that, you lose the whole reason you go to film school.”
USC’s School of Cinematic Arts (photo: Joe Mabel – CC license)
Faculty has reportedly suggested to students that don’t own professional-grade equipment to shoot projects using smartphone cameras. Also – even though most classes are now only available online, SCA has not scaled back the cost of tuition. Said one junior, “We are essentially being asked to pay full tuition to make a home movie.” Some students considered taking a leave of absence for the semester hoping to skip the challenges or disadvantages of not having a full ‘hands-on’ experience. But the school warned students that a leave of absence could mean they might not “be guaranteed placement in these courses in future semesters.” And, those courses are necessary in order to graduate from SCA. It’s a tough position for the students and the school, but you have to give it to Kostopoulos and his team who have decided to forge ahead on their own to create the queer love story they want to tell. Their project, which will explore grief and healing as well as serving as a tribute to the AIDS epidemic, has raised $10,195 of the $12,000 goal they’ve budgeted with just under a week to go in the crowdfunding campaign. For more info about Anti-Venom for a Snake – or to make a donation large or small – head over to Seed & Spark.

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New Music: ONR, Clinton John, Kennedi, Seth Sikes

There’s definitely something for everybody in this round-up of new music from out artists. First up, rising Scottish songwriter and producer ONR (aka Robert Shields) returns with the powerful single “Must Stop,” featuring Sarah Barthel of Phantogram. The single features a catchy hook and production that takes you on a ride straight to the visceral, primal scream release. The 90s-inspired black & white/color music video is the perfect dramatic visual for the song as ONR repeats his mantra, “Must stop falling in love, stop falling in love…” “‘Must Stop’ is a song about being repeatedly hurt,” ONR says. “A desperation to be in love and to be loved by someone, anyone — and the blows you can take when you leave yourself so open.” Follow ONR on Instagram here.

Clinton John’s “Fresh” is exactly that – a fresh, exuberant take on the rush of new romance. “After my first break-up it was hard for me to imagine having feelings for someone else again,” says John. “I found myself comparing any new love interest to my previous experience and how everything after that just fell short.” “The next time I was interested in someone, it took me by surprise and definitely caught me off guard,” he adds. “It was almost like a light bulb went off in my head, letting me know I was capable of developing feelings again. That realization happened almost instantly, they were exciting and felt so fresh”. The ebullient pure pop bop is a comfortable earworm that definitely has me bouncing. Follow Clinton John on Instagram here.

In advance of her upcoming autobiographical EP self, out singer/songwriter kennedi drops the lyric video for her single, “Liquor Love.” The sensual synth-pop track offers an airy, vulnerable peek into the addiction that love can be. self is the first of a highly personal two-part project, set to be followed up by kennedi’s EP SABOTAGE in 2021. Having been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, kennedi created two EPs to distill both sides of her mental nature. Each carry their own unique tone and represent one hemisphere of her emotional state; self being the delicate light to SABOTAGE’s manic darkness. “The self EP is exactly what it sounds like — myself and all of the raw emotions that come with me,” says kennedi. “It’s a snapshot into how I felt in the moments during the time I was writing these songs. It tells the story of my journey over the past year — my relationships and life experiences. Honest and raw. That is self.” Follow kennedi on Instagram here.

After sending us musical missives from his summer on Fire Island, Seth Sikes returns to New York City and renews his love affair with the Big Apple via Stephen Sondheim’s “What More Do I Need.”

Celebrating the city and its singular energy, Sikes revels in how it has rebounded in style after the worst days of the Covid pandemic.

In the buoyant, breezy video (directed by Eamon Foley), Sikes is seen enjoying the best of the city: cavorting on the subway, riding a Citi Bike, fighting with neighbors, and traipsing through Times Square. It’s pure MGM movie musical happiness.

The message of the video: Even when you’re wearing a Covid mask, New York City remains the fabulous center of the universe.

Follow Seth Sikes on Instagram here.

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Broadway Shutdown Extended Through May 2021

(photo: Ludovic Bertron/Flickr – CC license)
The Broadway League, which represents theater owners and producers, announced on Friday that all 41 Broadway theaters will remain closed through May 30, 2021. Devastating news, not only for the theatre community but the economy of New York City. Earlier this year, on March 12, the League shut down all shows in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. According to a statement from the League, 31 productions were running at that time, including 8 new shows in previews. Additionally, 8 productions were in rehearsals preparing to open in the spring. The initial shutdown was to last just a month through April 12. But the reopening date has been rescheduled multiple times. The most recent announcement led hopeful theatre artists and audiences to believe the marquee lights would light up again in a staggered fashion beginning January 3, 2021. Theatre producers who had planned to begin performances, like the highly-anticipated revival of The Music Manstarring 2 two-time Tony Award winners Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster as well as revivals of plays including Take Me Out and American Buffalo, will all need to reshuffle their schedules. Playbill reports The Music Man has already moved its first preview performance to December 20, 2021.

The New York Times reports that a bio-musical about the life and career of Michael Jackson, titled MJ The Musical, which was set to premiere this summer, then moved to Spring 2021, has now been rescheduled to next fall. Some productions, like Disney’s Frozen, have announced they will not reopen at all when the coast is finally clear. A new play by Martin McDonagh called Hangmen, and a revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which were both in previews at the time of the shutdown, have suffered a similar fate. The shutdown doesn’t just affect the actors, stage crew, musicians, box office, and production staffers. The ripple effect of closing down Broadway has an enormous impact on local restaurants and hotels that welcome guests from out of town eager to see a Broadway show. According to the Times, in 2019, the industry’s theaters drew 14.6 million theatergoers and sold $1.8 billion worth of tickets. With theaters open less than 3 months this year, the annual grosses will be just a fraction of that. Television and film production has begun to ramp back up with safety protocols in place. But Broadway theaters can be small, cramped spaces to work in even when there’s no virus to worry about. And the high cost of overhead for shows makes operating with reduced audience capacity a nonstarter. Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing professional actors and stage managers in live theatre, released a statement which read, in part: “Today the Broadway League made the difficult but responsible decision to put the safety and health of their workers and audience first,” said Mary McColl, executive director for Actors’ Equity Association. “This is a deeply painful time for everyone who depends on the arts for their livelihood.” “We are at this moment because, seven months into the pandemic, our nation still lacks a coherent national strategy for masks and testing which could help bring the virus under control,” she added. “Too many in the industry need help now as we face another six months without work. The ongoing lack of work in the arts means we face a critical need for federal COBRA health insurance subsidies, renewed federal unemployment benefits, and arts funding. Washington must act.”

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Patti LuPone & Randy Rainbow Parody “If Donald Was Fired!”

Broadway legend Patti LuPone and Randy Rainbow (screen capture)
Political satirist Randy Rainbow is back today with a special guest, Broadway legend Patti LuPone. The duo teams up on a parody of “If Mama Was Married” from the 1959 Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical Gypsy. LuPone took home the Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award in 2008 for her star turn in the revival the acclaimed musical. In the video, Rainbow is attempting to ‘moderate’ a presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, but becomes frustrated in the process. LuPone appears in a puff of smoke: “When gay men are in crisis, I just materialize.” I won’t spoil the jokes, but these are some of Rainbow’s best parody lyrics in some time. Hit the play button and enjoy 🙂

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RuPaul Found A Great Reason To Return To Social Media

RuPaul takes to the SNL stage as host

RuPaul takes to the SNL stage as host
RuPaul is back on social media (screen capture via SNL)
Back in July, RuPaul quietly and inexplicably erased all posts from his Instagram and Twitter accounts. He even temporarily deactivated his Twitter. Was it the coronavirus pandemic? Social unrest across the country after the killing of George Floyd? It’s not like Ru went into hiding. We’ve seen the drag star hosting his show and making a virtual appearance during the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards to accept his 5th trophy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program At the time, no one seemed to know what or why the Supermodel of the World retreated from social media. But now we know what brought him back to the Gram of Insta and Twitterverse. Wednesday night, Mama Ru reactivated Twitter to post a photo of international pop star Dame Olivia Newton-John along with the caption, “Olivia Newton-John has started a new foundation to find kinder ways to treat, prevent & cure all cancers, with a strong focus on plant medicine. Follow & support @onjfoundation #beyondcancer @therealonj#onjfoundation onjfoundation.org.” RuPaul also shared the message on Instagram.

The messages came just a day after Olivia announced the launch of the Olivia Newton-John Foundation which will “fund the discovery of kinder therapies and advocate for more effective ways to prevent, treat and cure all cancers.” Olivia, who shared in recent years her breast cancer from 1992 had reoccurred, has said in interviews she’s interested in helping explore the science behind more plant-based medicine. As fans of both stars know, Ru and Olivia have been friends for a long time. Last fall, RuPaul attended Olivia’s charity auction at Julien’s where the Grease star put her famous black leather jacket and pants from the movie’s finale on the bidding block and garnered over $500,000 for charity.
Dame Olivia Newton-John and RuPaul at Julien’s Auctions
Dame Olivia Newton-John and RuPaul at the Flamingo Las Vegas (photo: Denise Truscello)
Ru also traveled to attend the “Physical” singer’s opening night of her Las Vegas residency. And of course, ONJ has been a guest on The RuPaul Show, the web series RuPaul Drives…, and a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Here’s hoping this is just the beginning of RuPaul’s return to social media.

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Teen Suicides Moved Zachary Quinto To Come Out

Zachary Quinto in ‘The Boys in the Band’ (photo: Netflix)
Zachary Quinto, currently starring in the Netflix screen adaptation of The Boys in the Band, recently shared for the first time the reason why he felt moved to come out as gay in 2011. Quinto hit the national spotlight as a series regular in the NBC sci-fi series Heroes in 2006, which he starred in for all four seasons. In 2007, he was announced to play a young Spock in the reboot of the Star Trek film franchise. Quinto told Variety in a recent interview that when he began his career in 1999, he was aware of the “explicit stigma’ that was attached to being an openly gay actor. “I did feel like me coming out would have potentially had an impact on my career and it wouldn’t have been a good one,” Quinto shares. He also recalled being out with a gay friend and running into a studio executive. After the encounter, the actor worried there were “going to be some ramifications” if he even appeared to be gay.
Zachary Quinto in 2012 (photo: Gerald Biggerstaff)
But then, in 2011, after reading the news of a series of teen queer suicides, Quinto had an epiphany. “That was at a time when a lot of young gay kids were killing themselves around the country because of bullying,” says the 43-year-old actor. “There was a huge spate of teen suicides that were happening.” “I just felt like I had an obligation at this point,” he added. “Having enjoyed a certain level of success, I felt like the hypocrisy was too much to bear for me to be enjoying this life that I had created for myself and not acknowledging my identity as a gay man.” “I felt like it was actively harming a group of young people who the choice to come out could benefit.”

Charlie Carver, one of Quinto’s The Boys in the Band cast mates, also shared his own reason for coming out with Variety which involved a colleague slapping him across the face for appearing “gay” at an Emmy Awards party in 2015. The coworker apparently criticized Carver three times over the course of the evening telling him to “get it under control.” When the young actor asked for ‘clarification,’ the man slapped Carver. Said Carver, “That was the moment when I said to myself, ‘I can’t do this. I cannot police myself in that way.’” The new TV adaptation of The Boys in the Band, starring the acclaimed all-gay/bi cast from the Tony Award-winning 2018 Broadway revival, is now streaming on Netflix. In addition to Quinto, the cast includes Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesús, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Tuc Watkins. The new screen version is based on the groundbreaking work of Mart Crowley.

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Wear A Mask: Mary Tyler Moore Edition

Hat tip to kenneth in the 212 for finding this clever side-by-side ‘Wear A Mask’ reenactment of the iconic opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show brought to today’s COVID-19 times.