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Newsletter December 2000
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The Queens Throne by Marisa
Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
Well, we finally made it. No, not through the election—although cutting off Florida and giving it back to Spain did occur to me—I am talking about the end of the Millennium. It began with The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing and ended with us asking Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Now, I know what you are thinking: We did that a year ago. No, we ended the Centennial, the 1900's, but the 20th Century finally ends this month. Each year, I like to use my December column to look back at the year, but it isn’t very often you get to review an entire Millennium. These opportunities only present themselves approximately every 1000 years, so just in case you’re not around the next time, I thought I would review this time.
In reviewing a Millennium, how does one go about doing that? We talk all the time in this community about diversity--some like it while others abhor it. But even those who fear diversity are often forced to admit that it does exist among transgendered people. So I thought I would review some of the key events in my life. It just provides a little insight into who I am as a person. Of course, I have not been around for the entire Millennium. I may be getting close to 30 (thereabouts....), but I am not that old! Before you read any further, I should mention that this month’s column is about me. It has nothing to do with gender or even sex (assuming I could remember what that was like.....). So here goes!
My First Memory: My third birthday party. I got a red rocking chair, a toy mechanical mouse, and a yellow laundry hamper–just what every three year old craves.
My First Airplane Ride: From Nashville to Dallas for my Aunt’s wedding. I was still only three and was even allowed in the cockpit. I was the ring bearer in the wedding, but I was more interested in the cake back at my grandparents’ house. That is why I took a sample of the icing before the service.
The First Time I Saw a President: May 1963, President Kennedy’s open top motorcade through downtown Nashville. It was the exact same limo used in Dallas just six months later.
My First Funeral: A first grade classmate named Janice was killed in a car wreck the day before Thanksgiving on the way to her grandmother’s.
My First Concert: Dave Brubeck, Red Rock Theater, Denver, Colorado, Summer 1965.
My First Corrective Lenses: Second Grade. I hated wearing glasses. I still do.
My First Rock Concert: The Beatles, D.C. (now RFK) Stadium, Washington, D.C., August 1966. And yes, I screamed. I thought it was required.
My First Television Appearance: Bozo Show, WSIX-TV (now WNGE). I blew up a balloon in a contest. Despite what my friends said about me producing a lot of hot air, I lost.
My First Time Out of the Country: Juárez, México, August 1967. I mostly ate cheeseburgers.
My First Professional Ball Game: Los Angeles Dodgers at Cincinnati Reds, June 1969. When we pulled into Cincinnati, the car ran out of gas and I had to get out and push. I did, however, get to meet pitcher Pedro Ramos on the hotel elevator (he was holding a pineapple with a straw in it), talk to NBC broadcaster Tony Kubek at Crosley Field, and I even found a copy of Playboy in the hotel room drawer.
My First Time Out of the Hemisphere: A six week trip to Europe in the summer of 1969. I missed the first moon walk since it was 4 am in Rome. When we got home, our house had been robbed.
My First Major Embarrassing Moment (out of many to come....): I was in 6th Grade and we had a co-ed day in P.E. class. We were doing relay races in the gym. I was wearing cutoff blue jeans for shorts, and they fell down to my knees. Fortunately, I was wearing the right gender underwear. I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself.
My First Date: 7th Grade class dance. Her name was Becca. I still don’t think she needed to cut her hair that night for me!
My First R-Rated Film: The Godfather. My mother took me. She wanted to see it too, so I did not have to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
My Worst Speech: I was running for School Treasurer at the end of my freshman year. I began by forgetting my name and the office I was seeking. In the middle of the speech, I also lost my place and then discovered I could not read my own handwriting. Today, I type all my speeches.
My First Time Locking the Keys in the Car: Junior year of High School. I was getting a basketball out of the trunk, put the keys down, and slammed it shut. I locked them in the ignition the very next day. My father was not too amused. Fortunately, those are the only times I have ever done that.
My First X-Rated Film: July 1975, Midnight Cowboy, New Haven, Connecticut. A few days later, I saw a double feature of Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones in Times Square. I didn’t invite my mother.
My First Fake ID: Senior year of high school. I used it to go to certain downtown bookstores to look at....well, if you’re reading this publication, you already know that one!
My First Auto Wreck: February 1976. It was my first time driving in snow here in Nashville. I lost control of my Dad’s car on I-265.
My First Standing Ovation: Senior Year of high school from my classmates.
My First Ticket: The day after graduating from high school, I was at a party in Murfreesboro. After several drinks (including a coconut daiquiri that included the entire coconut....), I foolishly tried to drive home. Fortunately, I was pulled over in Davidson County, not Rutherford, and I only got a careless driving ticket for $17.
My First Legal Drink: Obviously, this one had to be qualified. Anyway, I was a freshman in college and the night I turned 18, I had a shot of vodka to celebrate. I then went back to studying.
My First Vote: November 1976–President, Peter Camajo, Socialist Workers Party; U.S. Senator, Ted Kennedy; U.S. Representative, Tip O’Neill. I am still quite proud of those votes. That night, we only had to wait until 3 am for Mississippi to decide the Presidency.
My First Organized Mass Political Protest: I was a college junior in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the issue was to support divestiture of stock in companies invested in South Africa’s apartheid regime. I actually wanted to attend the anti-Nixon rally at the height of Watergate when he came to Nashville to dedicate the new Opry House, but I was not yet of driving age and I couldn’t figure out how to ask my parents to take me out to Opryland to protest against the President of the United States.
My First Letter to the Editor: A criticism of the white dominated regime of Rhodesia in The Tennessean, June 1979.
My First National Political Convention: 1980 Democratic Convention, Madison Square Garden. I was there as a lobbyist. During the roll call vote for President, you can see me gasping for air while being crushed between Ned McWherter’s butt and the rest of the Tennessee delegation. The next day, one delegate returned to Nashville for a funeral and signed over his credentials to me. I voted for Walter Mondale to be the party’s Vice Presidential nominee.
My First Auto Purchase: A 1980 silver Datsun 210 with money inherited from my grandfather who had passed away in Dallas a few months earlier. I named it The Millennium Pigeon.
My First Women’s Professional Ball Game: Women’s Basketball League, Minnesota Fillies at San Francisco Pioneers, San Francisco Civic Center, March 1981. Ironically, it was the last regular season game for the league. Sadly, it was not the last time I attended the final game of a women’s professional basketball league.
Dubious Distinction #1: I invented “The Wave“. Well, okay, maybe I didn’t do this all by myself. Al Gore helped me. Game 3, American League Championship Series, New York Yankees at Oakland Athletics, October 1981. You can see me in the center field bleachers wearing a Yankee cap.
My First Race for Public Political Office: In 1982, I ran for Alameda County Democratic Executive Committee. One night, while I was putting up campaign signs, I got meet several of Oakland’s hookers. There were 11 of us in the race. I finished 11th. But I am thinking about demanding a recount.
The Largest Stadium Crowd of Which I Was a Part: Brazil v. France, 1984 Olympics, Football Finals, Rose Bowl. There were over 100,000 in attendance. We introduced the world to “The Wave“.
My First NCAA Final: North Carolina at George Mason, Fairfax, Virginia, Women’s Soccer, November 1986.
My Silliest Moment: Three friends and I crashed a bachelorette party in College Park, Maryland, in February 1987 and did a striptease. I know I said I was not going to mention sex, but believe me when I say, the four of us were too drunk to be sexy....
Dubious Distinction #2: I was one of the anti-war protesters in January 1991 in Lafayette Park who disturbed President Bush’s sleep. I have rarely seen so many Police and Secret Service in one place in my life.
Most of my activities over the last decade have already been outlined in this column over the years: working, taking care of family, traveling, and, of course, finding myself and getting involved in the gender community which includes my work with this humble little support group. In this list, some of you may have found experiences of mine that are similar to your own, while others may not be able to relate at all. Obviously, we are all quite different. It is our diversity within the Rhythm Nation that is the transgender community that makes us strong. I just hope your Millennium was as good as mine. If not, work harder at making the next one better. Now, make sure you have renewed your membership or this will be your last newsletter of any Millennium and I will see you on the other side. Maybe then, I might finally get my wrist radio and magic decoder ring.
A Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead byJulie Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
The 12
Wigs of Christmas
by Charles Dickens,
as told to Julie
Phillips
(Note: Not THE Charles Dickens, the famous writer,but another guy named Charles Dickens that Julie met in a bar in Memphis.)
.
It was Christmas Eve at the Discount Wig Warehouse and salesclerk Julie wanted to get home to her Mr. Wonderful to celebrate the holidays.
“Bah, humbug! You and your holidays are going to break me, yet,” snarled her boss.
“Would it be a problem to get off a little bit early,” she asked her boss? “ I don’t think anyone else will want a wig on Christmas Eve?”
For those few who don’t know this classic story, you need some background. Julie’s boss was the gorgeous--yet wicked--former drag queen and current wig shop owner Sofonda Screwed. At one time, Sofonda was the toast of the drag circuit; lip-synching the top hits at the finest clubs coast to coast. But then she got greedy. When loving fans would tip her a dollar, she would bitch-slap them and ask for a five. While this worked just fine in some S/M clubs, it didn’t go over well at most nightspots. Soon, she was reduced to lip-synching Captain and Tennille songs at the Holiday Inn. That’s when she opened the Discount Wig Warehouse.
While she had retained her gorgeous looks, her heart had turned to stone. Plus, she was grouchy, prone to mood swings and irregularity and no longer held the spirit of Christmas in her heart.
“Just go, would you! Bah,” Sofonda finally growled.
“Oh, thank you Miss Screwed,” Julie chirped as she dashed out into the winter cold in her lovely faux fir leopard coat.
Late that night, after all the stores in the strip mall had closed, wicked, yet lovely, Sofonda headed home.
As she entered her un-fabulous wood-paneled apartment, she heard bells ringing, then a familiar voice.
“Sofonodaaaaa…..It is me, your old partner, RuPaul.”
“Bah! It’s my imagination. RuPaul has been in New York for ten years now.”
“Sofonda, you wicked old thang!”
Sofonda gasped, prone to overacting as drag queens sometimes do “It IS RuPaul! Ohhhh, do not harm me!”
“Pluh-leeze! I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot lip liner pencil. But tonight, you will be visited by several ghosts,” RuPaul’s disembodied voice said.
“Very well. But why does you voice sound so funny? You’re not…….dead,” Sofonda asked.
“I’m talking over the speakerphone, you moron! Girl, get your head together! Gotta run; the limo’s waiting. Good luck, baby.”
No sooner had a frightened Screwed crawled into bed when the Styrofoam wig head by the bed began to speak.
The wig head said, “Sofonda, I am the ghost of drag queens past. YOUR past! Do you remember the time you broke a nail and filed a workers comp claim? How about the time a girl lost her wig during a number and you Superglued it back on her head? Or the worst offense of all—the time you wore BLUE EYE SHADOW?????”
“Nooooooooo!” screeched Sofonda, overacting once again. “Recount no more of these stories from my past!”
The Styrofoam wig head spoke again. “OK, fine. Then keep that applause going for our next performer, the ghost of drag queens future!!!”
As Sofonda’s closet slowly opened, a mist began to stream out.
Wide-eyed, Sofonda asked, “Is..Is..Is that the ghost?”
From the closet, a voice rang out, “No, it’s the fog machine you have hidden in here—the one you stole from the last club you worked! I must have bumped into it.”
Emerging from the fog was a ghastly figure: one dressed in an orange floral print muumuu, red hair towering at least a foot above her head, several Press-On Nails missing, a boa made of turkey feathers, and wearing comfortable flats.
Sofonda recoiled in horror at the sight.
“I am the ghost of drag queens future. This is what you will be looking like in another three years—four tops— if you don’t change you evil ways, baby.”
Truly horrified at the prospect, tears rolled down Sofonda’s cheeks. Her mascara, naturally, did not run, since she only used the waterproof variety.
“What can I do to turn my life around and save my beauty?” Sofonda inquired of the specter.
Reading from a prepared statement, the ghost listed the following demands: “You must no longer be mean and nasty to your admirers. You must no longer hog all the Madonna songs for yourself to perform. And you must give your old wigs to the needy and hairless.“
“Oh, thank you! Thank you, horribly dressed ghost of the future. I promise to do all those things,” a relieved Sofonda sighed.
As she walked into the smoke filled closet, the ghost thought of one more thing. “Oh, and give that Julie girl a raise. Dermablende ain’t cheap, and we both know she goes through that stuff like spackle on a bathroom wall.”
Then laying a finger aside of her nose, and giving a nod, up through the top of the closet she rose.
Sofonda awoke that morning a new woman. Opening her window, she saw Julie walking to work.
Tossing her Discover Card out the window to the street below, she shouted, “Julie, go buy yourself the most painful and gorgeous pair of stilettos you can find!”
Sofonda followed the wishes of the spirits from that day forward, thanking people for compliments, applauding for other performers, and not wearing blue eye shadow . And soon, she was back on top, headlining the weekend shows at the local drag club.
Giggling with delight as she staggered down the street in her stilettos, Julie could be heard saying to passersby, “Merry Holidays to all! Damn, my feet hurt—bless each and every toe!”
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
Christmas!! So many thoughts. So many possibilities, especially in a free society such as ours where there are so many extremes and so much ground in between and so many things to rant or rave about. When I was wondering what to do for Christmas (columnarly speaking), it occurred to me that I had already written a Christmas piece. It has to do with a small child and her hopes for Christmas; Santa is involved and ultimately there is a gift. Any two of these would have been enough. Had that been all there was to it, I would probably have continued to look farther as Christmas deserves better than overdone clichés that miss the point.
What I am going to share with you never started out as a Christmas piece. It was one of my early explorations into my past and my childhood and was intended only for myself. I wrote the first draft around 10 years ago. Why I think it is appropriate in spite of the clichés involves the gift.
The gift celebrated at Christmas is the gift from the Supreme Being of his/her child to tell us that we are loved and we need no longer feel estranged. It is the gift of a message of understanding and acceptance; and it is the gift of a messenger to bring the message. A gift that may not have come easily from the Supreme Being described in the Old Testament who was pretty good at horrible punishments as a means of making his/her point. So part of the gift is that of a Supreme Being reaching out to his/her progeny in a way that hopefully they will understand. A Supreme Being willing to try something new.
In the same way, the gift in the story really isn't material at all. The gift is also one of love, understanding and very much in line with what I think the Christmas message is.
The Blouse
I remember when I was young, three or four years old, my mother had a white blouse that fascinated me. I thought it beautiful then, and today I think it beautiful still.
It was silk, or a silk-like material - smooth and cool. Smooth and flowing; yielding to the touch. When worn, it would flow into different combinations of folds and drapes, and the full-length billowy sleeves would constantly change shape. Bigger, then smaller; covering the wrist, then exposing the narrow cuff; symmetrical for an instant, then asymmetrical as the arms were moved forwards and rearwards; up and down.
I know I was more than two because my first sibling had been born. I know I was less than six because I remember the house where we lived, and that was not the house we lived in when I was six.
Later we moved to my grandfather's house, and then to another house where another sibling was born when I was 6, so I know with certainty that I was older than 2, and several years (and moves) shy of being 6. Even so, in spite of being quite young, I remember the blouse quite well.
As long as I can remember, well before my brother was born; well before I was three; I remember wishing, or hoping, that I could become a girl.
And parallel with this was a desire, even then, to wear girl things.
The most luxurious, desirable girl-thing imaginable was my mother's fantastic dress-up-go-to-town-shopping blouse, with the string bow tie at the collar-less neck, and the fascinating, billowy sleeves.
How I yearned for a chance to put it on; to be like my mother, and to feel the soft smooth fabric envelope my entire body. Sometimes, when we were alone, I would ask to wear it, and sometimes, she would agree. She would help me pull it over my head, and find my hands so that she could button the cuffs. She would make a big thing of tying the bow, and then look at me, and perhaps say something along the lines of, "My, you look just like a pretty little girl." And I would be so pleased. The blouse, of course, hung down nearly to the floor, so I could feel the material about my legs, as if it were some wonderful dress. I don't recall how long I would get to wear it, nor how the dress up would end, but I do recall the sheer delight when I would ask to wear the blouse with the bow at the neck, and when my mother would say "yes."
It is my third Christmas season. It is the day my mother goes shopping, and she is saying good-bye. She is crouched down at my level, in spite of a slim skirt, and is wearing my favorite blouse. She asks what I want Santa Claus to bring me, as she will probably see him.
I know exactly what I want. A blouse just like hers! . . . with a bow at the neck.., for me.., to wear whenever I want.
"I don't know. I'll have to ask Santa," she replies, and kisses me good-bye, and leaves.
The hope that Santa would get me one was immense. I was happy all day. I am sure that I will have my own blouse. I imagine a store with lots of blouses, and my mother finds one just like I want—for me. Santa maybe even helps her pick it out. I can hardly wait for the afternoon and her return.
In the afternoon I am playing on the swings when I spot her walking up the street to get me. She is happy and bouncing up the street, swinging her arms. I run excitedly to her and shout as I run, "Did you get it?!! Did you get one?!!"
I remember a neighbor lady asking what I was so excited about, and my mother laughed, and replied that "He wants a blouse like this.!" and flicked the bow at the neck of her beautiful blouse.
She knelt down and hugged me. "No," she said. "Santa said that they did not make blouses like this for little boys."
She knelt down and hugged me. "No," she said. "Santa said that they did not make blouses like this for little boys."
I want to cry. On the way home I badger her about making me one; about trying another store, ... another Santa. Because I want a blouse like hers so badly. But of course that is the end of it.
As an adult, I understand why I could not have a blouse like my mother's. The child in me did not understand then, and she does not understand today.
Epilogue: Fifty years later, a situation came up where it seemed reasonable to share all of this with my mother, and she seemed to understand. I also told her that if she felt comfortable about it, and a situation developed where "it felt right," that it would be OK to buy me a blouse as a symbolic gift.
For my small child, a validation that her needs did count, and that there was a Santa; and for my mother a symbolic gift to replace the ones she may have wanted to give but never did because of circumstances, society, reigning opinion, or culture. She smiled and saw the possibilities.
The adult in me knows that it might happen. The small child wants to know how soon, and I tell her that we'll just have to wait and see. Besides, it is not Christmas yet.
A year after this conversation, slightly over a half-century after the small child's disappointment in Santa Claus; as a birthday gift, my mother did send me a marvelous blouse. One in many ways like the one I remember and desired so intensely as a small child. In so many ways, at so many levels, it was the most wonderful gift I have ever received.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
Holiday Tunes with a TG Flavor
Okay, it's Christmas time. You're doing your best to keep your holiday spirits up and not think about anything negative, like the fact they you've probably worn the numbers off your credit card by now. You want to relax after all the shopping, parties, gift wrapping, and just plain craziness that goes along with this season. You're sitting in your favorite chair with a heaping plate of those nice little Christmas cookies and a huge mug of eggnog, generously flavored with something extra to keep the chill off. Some nice Christmas music would fit the mood perfectly, now wouldn't it?
Being
the transgendered individual you are, you have some appropriate selections
already on the 'ole CD changer. Of course you have RuPaul's Christmas offering,
"Ho,Ho,Ho", but you're also one of the truly lucky, (or truly demented) ones
to have obtained a copy of Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio's "I Am Santa Claus",
which contains "Walkin' Round In Women's Underwear." Produced by Bob Rivers
with Spike O'Neil, Joe Bryant, Terry Ganstad, and Rob Oxford. (1993, Atlantic
Records), "Underwear" is an incredible parody of the original "Winter
Wonderland", which was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Dick Smith. The
song is performed by The Fifth Inversion (Marc Cassone, Troy Dolendo, Jerry
Jones, Evin Lambert, Roger Treece.)
As far as transgendered Christmas music goes, and there is very little of it to discuss, "Underwear" should be considered a classic. What makes parody tunes so appealing, and so successful, it that the lyrics are sung over a melody that is almost universally known. That's definitely the case here. It's hard not to hear the music to "Winter Wonderland" as you read the words (also classic) to "Underwear."
...and it gets even better near the end with these lines...
The musical arrangement is very true to the original with full orchestration, and the vocal harmonies are tight. It sound like it came from the big band ere of the 1930s and 40s.
You'd almost have to be the love child of Scrooge and the Grinch not to find something to like on Twisted Radio's "I Am Santa Claus". Although "Walkin' Round In Women's Underwear" is the only transgender representation found, the rest of the album is quite funny. Even the liner notes are hilarious.
"The Under Tree World of Jacques Cousteau-chain saw played by 'Big Dog', an authentic Northwest Old Growth logger; big tree felled by Denny Davis; the owls were not harmed; the violin was a total loss."
Then, there is this gem..."If you're looking for the true meaning of Christmas, but this album. Then by all means, keep looking."
Next to spiked eggnog, this album is some of the best stress relief to be found over the holiday season.
RuPaul sounds
like she had a lot of fun recording her 1997 Christmas album, "Ho,Ho,Ho",
produced by Welcome and Joe Carrano. The album contains 13 tracks, and let's
face it, it's a dance album. They slip that ubiquitous four/four dance beat
into every little musical nook and cranny they can find. (Whether it works
or not.) Nevertheless, she covers a truly unique selection of
songs.
The album opens with RuPaul's cover of Dolly Parton's "With Bells On", which is a good up tempo opener for any holiday music collection. She also covers the classic Gene Autry, Oakley Haldeman tune, "Here Comes Santa Claus." It's rare to see a dance music Diva borrow from country music, but that's part of what makes this CD enteretaining-on the first listen, you have no idea what's coming next.
Other Christmas classics are more parodied than copied. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" becomes "RuPaul The Red Nosed Drag Queen". The children's classic, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", gets dragged kicking and screaming into the new century (and beyond) when RuPaul turns it into "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus."
Another parody that's quite funny is "All I Want For Christmas". This is another of those age old children's classics, but here it becomes a transsexual's Christmas wish list of anatomical enhancements.
The true dance numbers on the album are "Funky Christmas (Christmas At My House)", and "Celebrate (New Years Remix)". RuPaul wouldn't be the proper Diva she is without adding the kind of stuff that packs the dance floor.
She also manages to cram several more holiday classics into a long medley called "Christmas Train". It contains "Joy To The World/Deck The Halls/Come All Ye Faithful/Jingle Bells/Hark The Herald Angles Sing/We Wish You A Merry Christmas." Although it sound like there was little thought put into the placement of each tune in this medley, it still adds to the overall holiday ambience of the entire collection.
RuPaul is probably the world's best known Drag Queen. She of course capitalizes on this by making a Christmas dance album. But who else could mix humor, sleaze, country music, and seasonal standards and get away with it, let alone make it entertaining?
Plus, one gets the impression she's a very sincere person in what she believes. "As a kid, I always had a hardtime enjoying Christmas," she says in the liner notes. "We never really had money for presents, and all the images I saw of Christmas were so different from my reality. As I became an adult...I grew to learn the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas is a celebration of the people you love. It's a reminder of how lucky you are to share your love with them. This album is my Christmas gift to you. A little bit of love from me to you."
That's what we all need to focus on in the Gender community; how lucky we are to have each other, and how much we need to share our love with each other.
Happy Holidays, everyone.
news, media mentions, etc...
VCR Alert: Ving Rhames as a drag queen in Showtime's Holiday Heart
Plot
Synopsis:Holiday Heart (VING RHAMES) is a middle-aged drag queen performer
by night, and a choir director by day. He is a man with a generous heart
and the strongest character, but he is growing increasingly unhappy with
his life. The recent death of his lover 15 years earlier has created an emptiness
in Holiday's life that seems too great to fill. Fisher, Holiday's lover,
was a respected member of the Chicago police force who was unable to reveal
to his fellow officers that he was gay, or that he shared his life with Holiday.
At Fisher's funeral, however, Holiday, dressed in full drag, reveals their
love relationship to a shocked congregation and then sings their favorite
Motown classic, "Baby Love."...
One afternoon, while driving to a costume party, Holiday rescues 12-year- old Nikki (REYNOLDS) and her mother, Wanda (ALFRE WOODARD), from being beaten by her boyfriend. Holiday brings the two women back to his house, and allows them to stay in the boarded-up side of his duplex.
When Wanda
and Nikki move into the apartment next door, the three immediately begin
to function as a family. For the first time in a long time, Holiday feels
truly needed and appreciated. Nikki has finally found a place where she feels
safe and begins to love Holiday as the father she has longed for. Their home
is a happy one -- until Wanda falls for a flashy drug dealer named Silas
and begins to lose her battle against drugs. When Wanda begins to fall back
into her former lifestyle, Nikki grows desperate as she watches her mother
deteriorate, at the same time Holiday prepares to leave for his much anticipated
trip to Paris. He realizes at that moment he must choose between his past
and leaving his own pain behind, or starting over by embracing a positive
future for himself and the young girl. -- making it possible for her to have
the kind of life her mother desperately wanted for her but could never give.
Upcoming Airings (times are Eastern and Pacific): On Showtime:12/31/00 1:00AM
Source: Showtime Online 12/00
Breast implants do not appear to put women at increased risk of breast cancer, results of a long-term study have concluded. According to findings, the rate of breast cancer among women who have received breast implants is virtually the same as that of women who received other types of plastic surgery. However, women with breast implants may be diagnosed with breast cancer at a slightly later stage than women without implants. Lead author Louise A. Brinton, from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., explained that the silicone found in some implants may make it more difficult for doctors to visualize cancer on a mammogram or breast X ray and to feel tumors in a clinical exam. Still, there is no difference in mortality among women who did and did not have any type of breast implant.
Source: The Advocate online 11/14/00
Run for your LIFE! Sex-Changing Eeels Running Amuck Through US Swamps!!
Federal wildlife officials believe that the voracious and largely indestructible Asian swamp eel has somehow made its way to within a mile of Florida’s Everglades National Park and poses an imminent threat to its balance of nature, according to a September Wall Street Journal report. The three-foot-long eel apparently eats anything in its path, has no known enemies, survives in salt and fresh water and on land, can change genders in order to facilitate year-round breeding, lays 1000 eggs at a time, and is so durable that one lived in a wet towel for seven months with no food or water.
source: News of the Wierd 10/00
Kesaraporn Duangsawan captured the hearts of the judges and walked away with 6,000 baht ($138) as first runner-up in a Thai beauty contest this month -- until organizers discovered the beauty queen was a man. A police officer told reporters some of the contestants had complained of unfair competition saying Kesaraporn was actually male. The disgraced 22-year-old beauty queen handed back the prize money through a friend on Thursday, five days after the annual Loy Krathong festival beauty pageant in the central Thai province of Ratchaburi. Kesaraporn had asked only to keep the Miss Media runner-up sash as a momento, the police officer told reporters.
source: Reuters 11/17/00
TG Sues Doctor and Hospital
A Sioux Falls resident who hemorrhaged after receiving sex-change surgery has filed a malpractice lawsuit against Sioux Valley Hospital, saying staff there refused to provide treatment for complications resulting from the procedure.
Jonna DiRito, formerly known as John DiRito, filed a lawsuit Monday against the hospital and family practice Dr. Glenn Ridder claiming both denied treatment. DiRito also is suing Dr. Michael Kuglitsch of Aberdeen and Kuglitsch's clinic, Eastern Plains Clinic of Urology, claiming the doctor did not properly complete surgery to remove DiRito's testicles.
Sioux Falls Lawyer Rhonda Lockwood, who represents Jonna DiRito and DiRito's wife, Sheri, said she and the family would not comment on the case.
Sioux Valley spokeswoman Cindy Morrison said she could not comment on specifics of a patient's care but confirmed that the hospital did evaluate and treat DiRito.
"It is not Sioux Valley philosophy or practice to deny emergency treatment to any patient," Morrison said.
Neither Kuglitsch or Ridder could be reached for comment.
A complaint filed in Minnehaha County Circuit Court states that Jonna DiRito, who is married and has children, began to undergo a sex change in the mid-'90s.
In 1997, DiRito started started using the name Jonna but continued to live with Sheri and their children.
On Nov. 12, 1998, Kuglitsch performed an operation on DiRito in an Aberdeen clinic, using only local anesthesia. DiRito told the doctor that it was painful, the lawsuit claims.
"Jonna screamed in pain through the procedure and had to be held down by two orderlies for the procedure to be completed," the complaint states.
The next day, DiRito returned to the Aberdeen clinic from a hotel room to complain of swelling and bleeding, the lawsuit claims. Kuglitsch told DiRito to return to Sioux Falls, saying that the bleeding would stop within a couple of days.
A week later, DiRito's condition worsened, and a physician's assistant at the Aberdeen clinic told DiRito to see DiRito's Sioux Falls doctor, the complaint states. However, an office manager at Ridder's clinic told DiRito the doctor would not see DiRito "because he objected to her surgery."
"The office manager called back to report that not one other physician on staff could or would see her," the complaint states.
DiRito then went to the Sioux Valley Hospital emergency room, where a physician's assistant confirmed that internal bleeding caused DiRito's abdomen to fill with blood.
The physician's assistant told DiRito that no one at Sioux Valley would perform the surgery needed to stop the bleeding, the lawsuit states. DiRito was told to drive to Aberdeen and spent the next two days in and out of consciousness.
On Nov. 22, 1998, DiRito's wife called an ambulance after finding her husband semi-conscious in bed, with the bedding soaked in blood. The lawsuit claims that the hospital initially refused to accept DiRito as a patient but then treated DiRito after the ambulance driver drove to the door of the emergency room.
DiRito's lawsuit is seeking financial damages for the cost of medical care and for physical and emotional pain and suffering. The lawsuit also seeks damages for Sheri DiRito for emotional pain and suffering.
The lawsuit has not been scheduled for trial.
Source: by Jennifer Gerrietts Sioux Falls (SD) Argus Leader 11/14/00
Jack McFarland gives Cher 'Cher Lessons'
A favorite
of drag queens and Halloween lovers for decades, pop icon Cher, made an
appearance on the NBC series Will and Grace. Her November cameo helped
make the episode to the second highest-rated in the series’
history.
Jack’s obsession with Cher continues when he gets a Cher doll and begins treating it as an actual person. Then it takes a really odd turn when he actually meets his idol in a restaurant and is convinced that she’s simply a drag queen portraying Cher.
“Look, Mister Sister,” he calls the would-be drag queen. She may look good, but she isn’t Cher.
This leads to Cher singing to prove her identity, and Jack giving her lessons on the proper way to “do Cher”.-jp
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The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has ruled that a state law banning sex discrimination covers transgendered people. The ruling came in the case of Ann Hopkins, an associate at the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse, who contended she was denied a partnership because partners considered her too masculine. “This is a very important decision for transgendered people, who have historically been excluded from many civil rights protections,” said Jennifer Levi, a staff attorney at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a legal group. “The commission’s ruling takes note of the still-pervasive discrimination that many people face simply because they do not meet society’s stereotype of what people think a ‘real woman’ or a ‘real man’ should look like. This decision affirms the recent trend correcting the historical error of excluding transgendered people from our laws."
source: The Advocate 11/17/00
The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against grocery store giant Winn-Dixie on behalf of a heterosexual male truck driver who was fired because during his off-hours he sometimes dresses in women’s clothing and expresses feminine aspects of his identity. Peter Oiler, 45, worked for 20 years at Winn-Dixie, a Fortune 500 company with more than 1,100 grocery stores in 14 Southern states. Last year, after Oiler’s supervisors learned that he occasionally cross-dresses off the job, he was fired. The ACLU contends that the firing violates laws prohibiting sexual discrimination. “Peter Oiler followed all company policies, never violated the dress code, and most important, did a good job and earned numerous promotions and raises,” said Jennifer Middleton, staff attorney at the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “His termination strikes at the very core of why these civil rights laws exist--to keep bigotry and bias out of employment decisions.” The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court in Louisiana, seeks unspecified damages as a result of lost wages and emotional distress. “I never expected Winn-Dixie to approve of my personal life or to punish me for it--I just never thought it had any bearing on how I do my job,” Oiler said. “Losing the job I’ve had for practically my entire adult life has been a difficult ordeal, and I’m grateful for the loving support of my wife and the transgender community in Louisiana that has stood by us steadfastly.” Oiler, who has been married for more than 23 years, said he has known since childhood that his gender identity is not stereotypically male and that he cross-dresses to express his femininity. He came out as transgendered to his close friends and family in 1996.
Source: The Times 10/09/00
Community Planner Online for The Center for GLBT Life in Nashville
The new Community Planner is now up and running on the Center's site. It is hoped that this new tool will help you plan your organization's major fundraisers and annual events. The calendar is viewable year-at-a-glance through the end of 2001, or by a more detailed monthly view. Send any dates now that you have set aside for the upcoming year. Tentative dates are also welcome and can be changed when confirmation is available. You can view the Community Planner at: www.nashcenter.org/calindex.htm or by using the link from the Center's home page (www.nashcenter.org).
COMING SOON: The Softer, Hairless Side of Mel Gibson
Opening in theaters December 15: What Women Want
(Mel)
Gibson stars as a sexist Chicago ad executive who, after a bizarre accident
that involves a hair dryer and a bathtub, finds he has an unusual gift: He
can read women's minds. At first he fights his ability (particularly after
finding out what women really think of his tasteless jokes and chauvinist
ways). Then he realizes it can get him inside the mind of a fellow ad exec
(Helen Hunt), a woman promoted to a position he covets. He becomes a better
man and falls hard for her… When Gibson gets the electric shock —
a scene that plays like slapstick ballet — he is decked out in black
hose, nail polish and mascara to try out the products his advertising firm
represents in the hope it will inspire a brilliant ad campaign.
Source: by Claudia Puig
USA Today 11/10/00
official movie website for
What Women Want
Canadian Man Learns to Love His Breasts
A Canadian man who agreed to have breast implants as part of a bet two years ago says he has got used to them and may not have them removed.
Brian Zembick, from Toronto, said he had the implants fitted for a bet which was worth around £45,000 to him.
He will be showing them off on The Man Show, a US television programme filmed in Los Angeles that is based on male-chauvinist humour
Its co-host, Adam Carolla, said of the implants: "They are kind of attractive in an 'Oh my God I'm going to vomit' kind of way."
The show's future features include women jumping on trampolines, footage of co-host Jimmy Kimmel naked and, as the show's website puts it "chicks, chicks and more chicks!"
source:
Ananova 10/25/00
Group Works to Secure Louisville Protections
Bill preparation is being made for a merger between the governments of the city of Louisville, KY, and Jefferson County, where the city is located. The Fairness Campaign, an organization that works for comprehensive civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual and gender orientation, is looking at how the merger might affect current anti-discrimination laws.
Currently, the Louisville law prohibits discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation. The Jefferson law goes further by also including housing and public accommodation. When the governments merge, any laws that serve the same general purpose, but are different in wording or process, will be reviewed and voted upon. There is a chance the laws will be dropped entirely.
The Fairness Campaign is advocating for Louisville to make its law identical to the county's before the merger. That way, said Jeff Rodgers, a member of The Fairness Campaign's leadership council, there is less chance of losing the protections once the merger happens. The Louisville Board of Aldermen has 12 seats.
"We are fairly certain we have five or six 'yes' votes," said Rodgers. "Several others have indicated they could be in favor of the change. We need seven to win passage." Besides trying to ensure the anti-discrimination law stays in place, Rodgers said his organization is looking at how to place progressive candidates in the proposed 26 districts of the merged government. "The group leading the charge for the merger is the Southeast Christian Church," he said. "Its members will put up a slate of conservative candidates to take control of the new government."
source: GLAAD press release 11/20/00
Today
Show's Matt Lauer: Baby Got
Back!
An annual tradition on NBC’s top-rated Today show is their Halloween costume contest. First out was co-host Katie Couric, running down the red carpet pushing a vacuum cleaner as Lucy Ricardo. Next, newscaster Ann Curry rode up on horseback, dressed in a suit of armor. Then a limousine pulled up and out stepped weatherman Al Roker, in a white suit, as rap impresario Sean “Puffy” Combs. Following him out of the limo was his long-legged scantily clad girlfriend Jennifer Lopez. Dressed as Lopez was Today’s co-host Matt Lauer. Inquiring minds want to know how Matt got that cleavage in such a low cut dress!-jp
source: Today's webpage on NBC's official site
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Brockton MA Students Support CD Classmate
In a show of protective solidarity, 20 South Junior High School students Thursday shielded their friend, Pat Doe, from the prying eyes of the media, and urged the public to be more sensitive.
As the 13-year-old eighth grader left school for the second day this year, Doe's friends surrounded him, draped a coat over his head and walked him home.
"He's mad cool," Doe's friend, Tamika Rice, said outside of school. "I don't know why people have to hate on him; all they have to do is get to know him."
Doe, the transgender student who won a preliminary injunction from a Superior Court Judge Oct. 15 allowing him to wear feminine attire to school, returned to South Junior High Wednesday for the first time this year.
Doe's return was uneventful, student and school officials said.
"There's been no problems," said Joelle Sarry, a 13-year-old seventh grader. "He's nice, he's funny and he's fun to talk to."
Judge Linda Giles ruled that Doe, who has been determined to have gender identity disorder by a mental health counselor, would be irreparably harmed if not allowed to wear feminine attire in school. The school has to allow Doe to wear clothing that any other male or female is allowed to wear, Giles ruled.
On Thursday, Doe was wearing a denim outfit, a jacket with bell bottom pants and a T-shirt, his friends said.
The student, who was suspended three times last year for using the ladies' room after administrators warned him not to, is now using a central staff restroom, said Superintendent Joseph Bage.
Last year, administrators had allowed Doe to wear female apparel, but found that the clothing choices -- wigs, make-up and padded bras among them -- became too disruptive toward the end of the year. They asked that if Doe returned this September, it would be in male outfits.
The city has appealed Giles' ruling to the state Appeals Court. A final decision is not expected for months.
In her ruling, Giles argued that Doe's differences would be a lesson in tolerance to other students...
Source: by Jocelyn Meek, Brockton Enterprise 11/17/00
UPDATE: Dr. Laura, Queen of the Overnights
Dr. Laura just got one step closer to the TV morgue.
The beleaguered television talk show hosted by popular radio moralist Dr. Laura Schlessinger has been banished from its cushy afternoon time slot to the predawn nether-hours in the key markets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.
CBS owned-and-operated stations in those cities have shifted the ratings-starved Dr. Laura into the late, late, late night 2 a.m. slot. In Philly, the CBS affiliate dropped the show altogether, with the local UPN station (a corporate sibling in the Viacom family) picking it up and sticking it in the 4:30 a.m. slot.
The time-shift all but guarantees Dr. Laura's demise--without big ratings from those big cities, advertisers won't pay and the show will be too costly to produce...
Dr. Laura, ... has struggled through adversity: It was initially targeted by gay-rights activists for Schlessinger's alleged homophobia (she's called gays "deviant" and "biological errors" on her radio show), then Dr. Laura to cut its advertising rates after major corporations pulled ads from the show. Facing advertiser backlash, ever-dwindling ratings and charges of anti-gay bias, the show was subsequently canceled by its Canadian distributor. Schlessinger and producers have twice revamped Dr. Laura's format to boost ratings, but the show still draws only a third the audience of the top-rated syndicated daytime show, Oprah...
Considering
the time and money the studio has pumped into Dr. Laura, it's no wonder
Paramount continues to grit its teeth and support the show. The surprising
thing is how little Paramount wants to offend someone whose causing the studio
so much grief.
According to reports in the New York Post and Los Angeles Times, Paramount has apparently stopped airing reruns of an Emmy-nominated episode of Frasier that spoofs Schlessinger.
The episode, "Dr. Nora," first aired on NBC in April 1999 and featured Christine Baranski as a nasty radio host named Dr. Nora who preached morals, had a lousy relationship with her mom...
The real Schlessinger criticized Frasier on her radio program last March, saying it wasn't right to make fun of her mother, who was not a public figure.
The "Dr. Nora" episode aired in syndication last December but mysteriously vanished when Paramount was preparing to launch Schlessinger's television talk show. The episodes preceding and following "Dr. Nora" have already repeated three times this year in reruns. Both Dr. Laura and reruns of Frasier are distributed through Paramount's syndication unit.
Frasier cocreator David Lee, a gay man who is an outspoken Schlessinger critic, insinuates Schlessinger was behind the "Dr. Nora" disappearance. "Obviously, someone has done this," he tells the Los Angles Times. "This is not accidental."
However, unnamed sources are quoted by the paper as saying Paramount higher-ups made the call to keep from upsetting the temperamental Schlessinger...
Officially, a spokesperson says Paramount "received no request from Dr. Laura" not to air the episode but wouldn't comment on its absence, saying that "Dr. Nora" would be aired during its next rerun cycle in February.
And that means the Frasier folks could have the last laugh: When "Dr. Nora" runs in February, Dr. Laura could be a distant memory.
Source: by Emily FaracheE! online 11/07/00
Sex-change cleric Dian Parry has told how she turned down the chance of becoming a transatlantic celebrity with a permanent spot on the Jerry Springer show.
The 62-year-old Port Talbot church minister shocked his congregation two years ago by announcing he intended to live his life as a woman.
Since then she has made numerous TV appearances on programmes... and has ambitions of becoming a chat show host herself.
Now she has revealed she was courted last year by Jerry Springer but turned down the chance of becoming the show's resident cleric on religious grounds.
"He contacted me to ask whether I would give a blessing to a couple who had been refused a church wedding because they wanted to dress in leather," said Ms Parry.
"It was while he was doing a series of shows in Britain last year and I went to London and did as I was asked but it was never actually broadcast.
"Later on he called me and asked whether I would join the programme and give him and the show a regular blessing.
"He said that if I joined it would entail my going to America on a regular basis and he would also want me to give an on-air blessing calling for high ratings.
"That I would not do and I turned him down. I told him that it went contrary to my conscience. I also felt that it was almost as if he was calling on God to ensure the series was a success...
Source: Ananova 10/13/00
A Massachusetts appeals court judge on Monday ordered a plan to be drafted in the next week that will allow a transgendered teenager to return to school while the case is pending. The judge did not immediately rule on the Brockton, Mass., school system’s appeal of a preliminary injunction that would send the child back to classes. Instead, he noted during the hearing that there is limited information in the case and suggested that the school system and the eighth-grader’s lawyer prepare for a full trial on the lawsuit.
“It seems to me it’s important to get this issue fully fleshed out,” Judge George Jacobs said. “It seems to me that would be a far better way to proceed. I think it will do the issue far more justice.”
Jacobs told lawyers for both sides they have a week to make arrangements that would allow the 15-year-old to attend school while the case is pending. If such an agreement is not reached, Jacobs said, he will rule on the school system’s objection to a lower court ruling allowing the student, who identifies as a girl, to attend class. Brockton officials had appealed a superior court judge’s order allowing the student, known in court as “Pat Doe,” to attend school dressed in women’s clothing.
On October 12, superior court judge Linda Giles granted a preliminary injunction ordering the Brockton Public Schools to allow Doe to attend South Junior High. The school had barred Doe from attending classes dressed in women’s clothing. Doe has not returned to class and is still being tutored at home. But Doe’s attorney, Jennifer Levi, said arrangements are being made for the student’s return and that Doe is looking forward to rejoining her friends. Edward Lenox, an attorney representing Brockton Public Schools, said the schools will abide by Giles’s decision. In his argument, Lenox outlined the school’s case that Doe’s female dress is disruptive. He noted that previous decisions have given schools the right to limit dress and behavior in the interest of maintaining order. “There are 663 students at South Junior High. Only one of them is Pat Doe,” Lenox said. He pointed to 17 incidents in which Doe allegedly disrupted school, claiming Giles “glossed over” that behavior in her ruling.
“We cannot separate behavior from appearance,” he said. But Levi, of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which is representing Doe, said the disruption the schools cited was the result of her client’s behavior, not attire. She said Doe has not asked to be disciplined differently from her peers. “It would be very painful and very difficult for her to attend school if she cannot express her core female gender identity,” Levi said.
Source: The Advocate 11/08/00
SPRING HILL, FLA. -- Inside the ladies' room, Aleisha King felt like one of the girls. Standing in front of the mirror in a cocktail dress and heels, the blue-eyed redhead checked her hair and makeup and joined in on the after-hours banter among several exotic dancers who had gone to Denny's last month for breakfast after the late shift. It wasn't until King headed back to the table that the trouble started.
"She's pretty for a guy, isn't she?" shouted one of the dancers to a male friend across the dining room.
Then things turned ugly, King said.
First, the man across the room shouted anti-gay slurs at King, 37, who is part way through the sex-change process and lives as a woman. Then, the man walked over, grabbed King's arm, spun her around and demanded to know if she was a man. King, while hurt and embarrassed, thought the incident was over after restaurant employees called police and the man walked out of the restaurant. She had been a regular at Denny's on weekends for more than a year and had never before had a problem.
Two days later, though, the phone rang at Differences Pub on Kass Circle, where King tends bar and performs as a female impersonator. King said a night manager at Denny's talked first to her boss, then called back and told her that the ladies' room would be off-limits to King and other transgendered people who had frequented the restaurant on weekends after the pub closed at 2 a.m. The manager also suggested that Lynne Greene, who owns Differences, stand guard outside the bathroom door when King and the others went inside. To King, the new rules made no sense.
"I can take my makeup off and still look like a woman," she said. "I know no other life."
The problem escalated the following weekend, when a group from Differences went to Denny's after the pub's Oct. 29 Halloween party.
This time, police were called when a disturbance erupted between employees and Jamie Benton, 41, a female impersonator and reigning Miss Gay Hernando. Benton, who also performs as a woman at Differences but lives as a man, said employees harassed him even though he took off his makeup and donned jeans and a T-shirt before going in the restaurant, then used the men's restroom when he got there...
After a loud scene, in which Benton said a cook yelled at him in front of a packed restaurant, the group of eight walked out of the restaurant, leaving their food on the table. They have not been back.
"Honey, if I went in there in drag and they want me to go to the men's restroom, I have no problem with it. That's fine with me just as long as I can go pee," Benton said last week. "If they had a problem with something, they should come up and say something, not carry on the way they did in front of the whole restaurant. There's a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things."
King and Benton say the incidents prove that they will be harassed no matter what they do. They, along with other patrons of Differences, have organized a boycott of Denny's and are considering a civil rights complaint.
Denny's manager Bill Cushman declined to discuss specifics of the incidents. He confirmed that there had been problems at the restaurant stemming from men dressed as women using the ladies' room.
"I believe we have it solved," he said last week. "They've been good guests for over a year . . . We're trying to accommodate them."
But Greene disagrees. Her partner and co-owner of the pub, Elaine Wanker, used to work at Denny's and the couple were at the restaurant during both incidents. Greene is considering joining in a possible claim against Denny's. "They basically want us to go away," she said. "I feel that is discrimination."
Jessica Archer, who is director of the Tampa-based Florida Organization for Gender Equality, said the incidents reflect a national trend of violence toward transgendered people and transsexuals.
"The rule is that you use the facility of the gender that you are presenting," she said. "That rule is based on safety."...
"At some point we have to start putting aside our stereotypes and start appreciating people as human beings. Denny's has treated these people as walking stereotypes."
In the early 1990s, the Denny's chain faced frequent charges it discriminated against African-American customers. In 1994, the chain agreed to pay $54-million to settle two class-action discrimination suits. Three years later, Denny's Spartanburg, S.C.-based parent firm, gave $1.5-million to nine civil rights organizations.
Source:© St. Petersburg Times 11/15/00
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
The
Advocate / 11/11/00
San Francisco was host to a most
unusual drag pageant November 12th…
“’Girly boy-girls‘
compete in the Faux Queen Pageant ‘Genetically-challenged drag
queens‘—or women impersonating men impersonating women—take
center stage at the sixth annual Faux Queen Pageant, a fund-raiser for the
San Francisco Sex Information switchboard and the Women’s Community
Clinic... which will award prizes to the winner, runners-up, and the coveted
‘Last Place—Too Fish‘ award.”
Jeannie
Wolf/USA Today /
11/02/00
In her showbiz column, Jeannie
Wolf discussed an upcoming premier party...
“Openings: Queer as Folk,
Showtime's in-your-face series on young gay life, will premiere Nov. 16 in
New York, with stars Hal Sparks (formerly of E!'s Talk Soup ) and
Sharon Gless to be joined by Nathan Lane, Molly Ringwald, Boys Don't Cry
director Kimberly Peirce, RuPaul and more drag queens too fabulous to mention.
..”
Reuters /
11/15/00
Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators
of South Park, are behind schedule on their new sitcom, First Family,
waiting for the Gore/Bush thing to clear up, since the series is about the
president. They weren't too thrilled with either one of the real U.S.
candidates...
“Gore looks like a guy who
was in drag last night and now he's out of makeup,'' Stone said. Bush, by
comparison, ``is much more drab in appearance.''
USA
Today / 11/16/00
Elysa Gardner reviews the Broadway
production of The Rocky Horror Show and is not
thrilled…
“...Granted, spectacle is
a central element of Richard O'Brien's musical...But the high-tech sets and
props and glittering, frequently hilarious sartorial get-ups that dominate
this production...cannot compensate for its fundamental lack of ingenuity
and charm….”