Tranny Thursdays: Let's Have a KaiKai

This afternoon's Tranny Thursday offering is a new music video from Los Angeles drag stars Willam Belli and Rhea Litre, parodying The Scissor Sisters' slightly over-played (yet still awesome) "Let's Have a Kiki."

I wasn't rooting for Willam during her time on Ru Paul's Drag Race but everything I've seen from her since then has been hilarious. When it comes to entertainment Ms. Belli is a professional.

The World of Next Tuesday

I have been blessed with a pretty warped sense of humor. And though the lion's share of the blame for that can probably be set at the feet of my of my crazy parents. I'd be remiss if I didn't give a little credit to a classic 90's cartoon called "Ren & Stimpy," which ran on Nickelodeon from 1991-96 and follows the adventures of hyper-violent chihuahua and his sweet-natured (but poorly hygiened) feline side-kick.

Although possibly tame by today's standards (though I doubt it), I'm not sure how "Ren & Stimpy" made it to the air and stayed there, obsessed as it was with nipples on horses and the secretion of fluids. Somehow this amazingly effed up cartoon survived and thrived rubbing shoulders with the likes of "Doug" and "Rugrats."

And when I think back on this crude and savagely violent piece of children's entertainment the episode which always  immediately springs to mind is called "The House of Next Tuesday," which I decided to re-watch today, to see if it held up to my memory. And it does! It is a fantastic homage to the Tex Avery "House of Tomorrow" cartoons from the 50's (which are also super effed-up, but with less violence and fart jokes, and way more sexism), but with a classic "Ren & Stimpy" take. And I realized as I hunted down clips on the youtubes, this show didn't just warp my sense of humor, but it also reinforced the idea that humans are capable of anything.

There is no problem we can't figure a way around (world dominate by giant ants? build giant magnifying glasses!), and even if our solutions cause more problems, well... that just gives us more problems to solve.

Monday Music Matinee: Burning Man

Good morning Fellow Travelers, and happy Labor Day! Here in California, Labor Day is more than a rememberence of railroad workers slain by the US Military (know your history, kids!), it's also the day when all the Burners come home from Black Rock City. Thousands of dust-coated campers, brains fried crispy by the sun (and possibly various hallucinogenic substances), pile into their RVs and make the arduous trek from the that temporary metropolis in the alkali deserts of central Nevada, back home to the glittering sea-side cities here in the Golden State and elsewhere. I say "back home" though many regard that strange and ever evolving city their true home and speak dismissively or disinterestedly about that which the call the "default world."

And though I don't share that sensation of feeling at home there, it's not hard for me to see the attraction. Black Rock City is a world unto itself. A vibrant explosion of color and sound and experience resting in the bowl of a stark dead lake. A city built of dreams and populated almost entirely by people who believe in The Possible. It's an astonishing place, unlike any other place in the world, and it's siren call has pulled me back seven times in the last ten years. The years I don't manage to make the pilgrimage I miss it terribly, and I have developed a number of coping mechanisms for dealing with this light melancholy, not the least of which involves a whole bunch of music.

I'm an admitted late comer when it comes to acknowledging Grimes' awesomeness, her music runs a little synthier than my usual tastes and her lyrics border on repetitive. But something about this video, with it's Mad-Max-meets-Kill-Bill-on-the-streets-of-Beverly-Hills aesthetic, made her click for me (it's pretty much what I'm aiming for all the time on the playa) Now i'm listening to visions and watching my newsfeed for stories of safe returns, and imaging what life would be like if Burning Man where all the time.

Tranny Thursday: Gula Delgatto

Somewhere in the barren plains of central Oregon there is a dusty trail; unmarked and little traveled by any but the most desperate or unsavory. Those who trod the Whiskey Trail tell strange tales. Stories of animals that talk like men, encounters with the ghosts of friends long past, and of a cruel temptress known only as "Gula Delgatto."

Friendsday: Where The Bears Are

Hey gang it's Wednesday-Friendsday and before I head out to picnic in the park I want to share this new web-series with you. It's a mystery-comedy set right here in Silverlake called "Where the Bears Are." It's "The Golden Girls" meets "Murder She Wrote" but gay gayer. And it features my buddies Chad Sanders as a sexy detective trying to solve the mystery and and Mario Diaz the sleazy (possibly evil) bar owner. The episodes are super short and the jokes are genuinely funny, especially several episodes in as the actors really begin to inhabit their characters. Get into it.

(hi chad!)

New Music Monday: Esthero

I've always loved Esthero, ever since those halcyon days when the late 90's became the early aught's and my basic uniform went from Hawaiian shirts and corduroy shorts to fat pants and finger-less gloves. Her first album, Breath From Another, makes up a large piece of my aural landscape from that time and I can't listen to "Heaven Sent" or "Country Livin'" without being flooded with memories of late night drives to the beat-filled warehouses of Los Angeles, or a dozen drug deals that almost went wrong. But despite being awesome, Breath From Another, wasn't a big commercial success.

Esthero's second album, Wicked Lil' Grrls, is also seeped in Los Angeles for me. Though this time the LA of 2005, when I lived my life as study in making poor choices. I was pretty miserable in those days; my dad had just died, my boyfriend and I broke up, and my life generally fell apart. I spent a lot of time getting wasted with unsavory characters and listening to this album. It was also not a huge success, commercial or critical, but was still awesome (despite the awful Myspacian spelling in several of the song titles.)

Now Esthero is going to be releasing her third studio album. It's called Everything is Expensive and its not supposed to come out until October, but she's already released the first single, and if it's anything to go by, this album is going to be a big hit. The lyrics are clever the hook is catchy and beat propels my body into motion. Get into it.

Friendsday: Summertime Realness

This music video by my little brother, Little Rikki, and Chicago-based Bear-hopper, Big Dipper, came out a few weeks ago. But as I was cruising the hot and sticky streets of Los Angeles today I found myself humming it today, and I just had to share. Happy Friendsday everybody, enjoy!

Wednesday: Friendsday

My buddy Jimmy Vogel (he of the eponymous zine) organizes a weekly picnic get together. Every Wednesday we get together to share food and stories, and watch the sunset over the hills to the west. Our little band of brothers is spread out, across the both the sprawl of Los Angeles and the vast empire of America. And the regular meet up provides a very welcome opportunity to bask in some community. We call it "Wednesday Friendsday," I look forward to it every week, and I get incredibly bummed when I have to miss it. A big part of the heartbreak is rooted in the sheer awesomeness of my friends. I am privileged to know some of the most talented and interesting homos in the world. And so many of my talented friends did interesting things in the last few weeks i thought I'd share.

First up a collaboration between between my friends, film maker Aron Kantor and Drag Diva Ambrosia Salad, and featuring some of San Francisco's most adorable boys. The video is an appreciation of Roisin Murphy's long ago leaked future single, 'Simulation.' and it's getting a lot of love all over the internets.

Simulation - Roisin Murphy - ft. Ambrosia Salad from Dirtyglitter on Vimeo.

Chick-fil-a Fallout: A Sign of Changing Times

Yesterday (7/30) R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans, weighed in on the recent controversies swirling around Chick-fil-a after it's president, Dan Cathy, admitted that his company gives financial support to anti-gay causes, and decreed that the whole debate was an "empty calorie diversion from equality." And warned us that an "anti-Chick-fil-a crusade" might play well in the "Democratic Enclaves" (read: godless pits of vice) on the coasts, but in "America's Hearland" (you know, the real America) queers loudly and visibly standing up for our rights is turning conservatives, moderates, and independents against us.

Don't get him wrong, Mr. Cooper doesn't have any problem with us "voting with our feet" and spending our gay dollars elsewhere, he doesn't even mind if we ask our friends and allies to do the same. He just doesn't want us to do so too loudly. You see, Mr. Cooper seems to feel that we've just about convinced social conservatives that we are human beings; and if we stay on our best behavior for just a little bit longer and don't cause a ruckus, then they will graciously grant us our natural rights. And by drawing attention to Mr. Cathy's material support for bigotry we are somehow betraying those conservatives who have stood up for common decency and marriage equality (I love you, Meghan McCain! I hope you don't feel betrayed!). Then he invokes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., (seemingly without irony.) and then Thomas Jefferson.

"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

Mr. Cooper asks what would we gain if marriage activists "won" and Chick-fil-a went out of business, besides one less source of money flowing into the coffers of hate groups and the transformation of a  fried chicken fast food chain into a "martyr for religious freedom."  But the thing is, this isn't a debate about religious freedom, any more than it is a debate about fried chicken. I don't care one lick if Dan Cathy believes in ten Gods or twenty. I care that Mr. Cathy runs a business that has given thousands of dollars to organizations that work to pass anti-gay legislation all over America. That does "pick my pocket and break my leg" and yours Mr. Cooper, and the collective legs and pockets of our people.

You are wrong, Mr. Cooper. There most certainly is not "room for disagreement" when it comes to marriage equality. Just as there is no longer room for disagreement on school integration. or disenfranchising women voters. These are the positions of the truly un-American. And if Chick-fil-a ends up shutting it's doors for good it wont be because America's 9 million or so homosexuals and a couple of liberal mayors were able to somehow bully them into oblivion, but rather because of a change in American culture. A refusal to accept bigotry and persecution, no mater the scripture sighted to justify it.

And that culture is changing, but the work is far from over. And it never will be if we heed the advice of self appointed "leaders" who tell us to play nice and wait patiently for discrimination to fade away. In the words of Dr. King.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

More Chick-fil-a Fallout

It seems as though the decision by Chick-fil-a to retreat with honor from the front lines of the Culture Wars hasn't done anything to sooth the shit-storm they unleashed last week, especially in conjunction with the 'PR nightmare' they brought upon themselves with their retroactive recall of kid's meal Muppet toys in retaliation for dissolving their contract "For safety reasons," (Hey Chick-fil-a, asking for a cease-fire in your war against loving families, just to open up a front in the war against America's collective childhood? Might be a poor tactical choice.)

Weighing In on the brouhaha, Conan O'Brien helpfully offered up a new mascot to replace the recently departed Muppets.

Steven Colbert sprayed Chick-fil-a sauce on both Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.

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And this young lady called for a use of biblical jujitsu again the faith based fast food chain.

The mayor of Boston, Tom Menino, was joined in his public denunciation of Chick-fil-a by Rom Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, and Ed Lee, the mayor of San Francisco. While Menino himself made his opposition to beleaguered fast food chain official with a letter to it's president. And all three of them were denounced by conservative/gay blogger, Andrew Sullivan and the Big Gulp hating (but fried chicken loving) Mayor of NYC who reasserted his support for marriage equality while saying

“It’s inappropriate for a city government, or a state government, or the federal government to look at somebody’s political views and decide whether or not they can live in the city, or operate a business in the city, or work for somebody in the city,”

Here in Los Angeles the owner of the Hollywood Chick-fil-a took to the Facebooks and posted this very nice letter...

But what Mr. Cillipam doesn't seem to realize is this isn't about the personally held opinions of the executive of a privately owned company (which he is entitled to) no is it about how politely treated I am at the local branch of that privately owned company (which i am sure has exemplary service). This is entirely about what that privately owned company does with those dollars after i spend them. And it just so happens this privately owned company takes those dollars and spends them on depriving my people of their natural rights.

Mr. Sullivan (who I admire greatly) says that the issue at hand is Freedom of Speech, and warns us that our equality cannot come at the expense of other's freedoms. And I agree with that. By the same token, I am deeply uncomfortable with the notion of the State passing out permits based on religious or political beliefs. I love Freedom of Speech with a depth and passion that borders on zealotry. I would defend to the death Mr. Cathy's right to call me a sodomite and an abomination, but I don't have to help buy him a printing press, and I'll be deep and cold in the ground before i allow a single penny of mine to fall into his coffers. And while I'll admit I let out a little cheer when I read Mayor Menino had pulled in the welcome mat to CFA, intellectually, the State picking winners and losers based on political belief is abhorrent to me. But I wonder what if Chick-fil-a was funding Holocaust denial, or terror abroad, or the re-introduction of racial segregation in public schools? How would I or Mr. Sullivan, or Mr. Bloomberg feel then? 

Is it proper for the State to use it's vast array of powers against a private company if that company funds the oppression of it's citizenry?