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April 2016

The Brilliance of Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday

The very first time I saw Audra McDonald on stage was in the brilliant ‘Master Class’ with Zoe Caldwell. Back then, in the long-ago 90’s, she played a supporting role to an imperious diva – Maria Callas – yet she absolutely stole the show with a purity and grace and innocence that was both beguiling and beneficent. As written by Terrence McNally, it was Ms. Caldwell’s tour-de-force, but Ms. McDonald’s talent could not be ignored, and she won a Tony for the turn.

The next time I saw Audra McDonald was in the original run of ‘Ragtime‘ – for which she also won a Tony (which was quickly becoming a good habit). Her voice lifted that production, and as much as it was an ensemble piece, she managed to shine and hit the high notes that confirmed her break-out status.

Since then she’s won a few more Tony Awards, but I didn’t get the chance to see her again until HBO broadcast her stunning turn as Billie Holiday in a recording of ‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill’ – and what a revelation it was. As I was watching, I was struck by a certain full-circle moment wherein Ms. McDonald had taken the proper lead role that mirrors the monstre sacré to which she had to be subservient in her ‘Master Class’ role. In this production, it is McDonald who plays the diva, and she does it with the fiery exhibition and subtle devastation that makes a Broadway play strike to the very heart of the human spirit. When she slams down the piano cover or fills her own cocktail glass with ice and liquor, she completes the transformation into the iconic status she merely flirted with in ‘Master Class.’ It is a gratifying promise perfectly kept.

This is a mesmerizing performance, punctuated by the brilliant rendition of Ms. Holiday in which McDonald not only inhabits her voice and mannerisms, but takes it to a searing, desperate and doomed emotional level wherein fear and adulation and the ultimate craft of an artist’s brilliance collides with her subject’s iconography. It would be easy to emulate and imitate, but McDonald goes wondrously beyond such mimicry: she becomes Holiday in a way that resurrects her history, and offers both redemption and condemnation. There is truth in that, and courage, and an amazing show that’s as difficult to witness as it necessary for the soul.

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In the Midst of the Day’s Eye

Having missed a lovely trip into NYC for a friend’s wedding thanks to snow squalls and winter-in-April insanity, I was hungry for something hopeful, something sunny, something that elicited the promise of spring in the face of all the cold and wind. I turned to future plans for Boston, as well as warm and fuzzy memories of fun times past in that fair city.

When I did that, I started thinking: so much of my life is about the planning and the anticipation. Very rarely do I inhabit the moment and let loose, and for the longest time it’s what I’ve strived to do. There have been periods of happiness when I managed to succeed. As silly as it sounds, Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ album helped me do that. It was all about the moment, and making the most of it, and I truly lived in the moment the summer after its release. To this day, I try to reclaim that freedom. Maybe this is the spring and summer it will happen. I hold out the hope…

Even so, it’s fun to plan ahead, and it’s always good to have something to which we might look forward. I know no other way to get through the difficult days. Not in dwelling in the dismal past do we find a way forward. And so, I look ahead to the next party, the next vacation, the next big thing. And the new… always the new… ever the new… Cheers to the new.

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April Shower Cap

Well, an April shower recap to be more precise. In the last week we’ve had hail, snow, rain, wind, sun, and 70 degree temps. Don’t ask why I’m so nutty. If you lived in these extremes you’d be batshit cray cray too. I’m hoping things level off – they’re better when they’re placid. Let’s get into the recap…

The week began with this cock (tail).

The beautiful Matt Vose inserted some hunkiness into the early days of the week.

Things shifted to family affairs, beginning with this look back at my brother’s birthday.

Easter was spent in Amsterdam this year, with Andy and Emi mugging for the camera.

It was the weekend that the twins turned six, and they are as precocious as ever.

A reminder of what this site has always striven to be.

And proof that contradiction is the sign of true genius.

Things returned to their dirty gay porn ways with Hunk of the Day Leo Giamani.

Continuing that thread, a full-frontal cock-tease.

The Delusional Grandeur Tour continued its merry march.

The Warrior Retribution section saw me looking all sorts of ridiculous.

Sunday in New York, backed by Shirley Horn.

Since the cock seemed to rule the week, here’s the Hunk of the Day feature for Joaquín Ferreira.

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New York on Sunday

Early this morning, Suzie and I will (weather-permitting) drive to the station to hop a train to New York. We will dine at the Plaza Hotel, then browse the scents at Bergdorf Goodman. After which we’ll make our way to a friend’s wedding, then board the train back home. I can’t think of a lovelier way to spend a Sunday.

And I can’t think of a better soundtrack than Shirley Horn. Here’s her rendition of ‘Sunday in New York.’

New York on Sunday, Big City taking a nap,
Slow down, it's Sunday, Life's a ball, let it fall in your lap.
If you've got troubles, just take them out for a walk. 
They'll burst like bubbles in the fun of a Sunday in New York.

You can spend time without spending a dime, watching people watch people pass,
Later you pause, and in one of those stores there's that face next to yours in the glass.
Two hearts stop beating, you're both too breathless to speak.
Love smiles her greeting, then the dream that has seen you through the week
Comes true on Sunday in New York.
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THE DG Tour: Warrior Retribution ~ Part 2

The Warrior, then, in his armor and skin, a juxtaposition of defense and vulnerability in one puzzling form. Some battles are begun before we even know what and why we’re fighting. The list for carnage is not solely limited to the animal realm. Certain humans have it too. Never the ones who reluctantly put on their armor and charge into the world to defend something worthy of risk, but those who gleefully gain the submission of others. The bloodthirsty who rarely realize such a want can never be satiated. They will try, though, and the battle to safeguard the world from them falls to the warriors who only fight when absolutely necessary.

Which side is this warrior on? Ahh, that is the question. Many a noble-seeming soldier has turned in the end, many a righteous warrior has fallen victim to glory. That’s the real danger, isn’t it? Who can stay steadfast to the marrow…

“A truly brave man is ever serene; he is never taken by surprise; nothing ruffles the equanimity of his spirit. In the heat of battle he remains cool; in the midst of catastrophes he keeps level his mind. Earthquakes do not shake him, he laughs at storms. We admire him as truly great, who, in the menacing presence of danger or death, retains his self-possession; who, for instance, can compose a poem under impending peril or hum a strain in the face of death. Such indulgence betraying no tremor in the writing or in the voice, is taken as an infallible index of a large nature – of what we call a capacious mind, which, far from being pressed or crowded, has always room for something more.” ~ Inazo Nitobe

“For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” – Sun Tzu

“The dance of battle is always played to the same impatient rhythm. What begins in a surge of violent motion is always reduced to the perfectly still.” – Sun Tzu

THE DELUSIONAL GRANDEUR TOUR: LAST STAND OF A ROCK STAR

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THE DG Tour: Warrior Retribution ~ Part I

“The work of preservation demands that the feelings playing about in one’s guts not be turned into action. Just watch their passing like cherry blossoms.” ~ Maxine Hong Kingston, ‘The Woman Warrior’

“I learned to make my mind large, as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes.”
~ Maxine Hong Kingston, ‘The Woman Warrior’

“Then I said something I’ve always known.

I don’t know where it came from.

I didn’t get it from you, shall we say

And I didn’t make it up,

But I’ve known it for all my life.

‘Elegance,’ I said, ‘is refusal.'” Diana Vreeland

“We’re all under the same sky and walk the same earth; we’re alive together during the same moment.”
~ Maxine Hong Kingston, ‘The Woman Warrior’

THE DELUSIONAL GRANDEUR TOUR: LAST STAND OF A ROCK STAR

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Touring Warrior

This Sunday Suzie and I are attending a wedding in New York (and lunching at the Plaza) as part of The Delusional Grandeur Tour, and next week I touch down in Washington, DC, so our Delusional trek is back on track. Tomorrow’s Tour Book installment features the start of the ‘Warrior Retribution’ section, in which our protagonist fights to win back all that may have been lost in the forest or forgotten in the winter.

Until then, a look back at the sections that have already appeared online:

1) INTRO/CURTAIN

2) SUNSET POOL

3) ON THE ROAD HOTEL

4) ROCK STAR ADDICT

5) ANIMAL DEMONS

6) STEAM PUNK BIRDCAGE

7) RED RIDING WOOD

8) WINTER TOP HAT

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First-Time Full-Frontal Friday

This site has long hinted at the big reveal of full frontal male nudity. Previously, I’ve veered away from even an artful penis pic because full-frontal nakedness is too much of a distraction. Then there’s the post-full-frontal hangover that comes from having seen it all and realizing that we’re all basically the same human stuff underneath it all. Of course that doesn’t quell the desire to see what everyone’s packing, so here are some reveals for some full-frontal Friday fun. The only question is who has been brave enough to let it all hang out…

Let’s take a look at the hottest contenders, the classic guys from whom everyone wants a gratuitous cock-shot. We begin with none other than David Beckham, who’s teased his ass for the longest time. Will he be the one to turn around today?

Or maybe it’s Ben Cohen, who is a fan favorite in these parts. How low does his manscaping go?

With a dirty new video making the rounds, maybe Nick Jonas finally gives a full-frontal glimpse at the goods, as he hinted at in all his gay-baiting of late.

Finally, after many fakes and false leads, perhaps Zac Efron is the mega-hunk who will pull down his Speedo and shake his money-maker (well, both of them) for the very first full-frontal Friday this blog has ever seen…

If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Nick Jonas. He seems brave and cocky enough to do it.

Who do you think will be the first?

Scroll down to see…

A fool.

 

Happy April 1st!

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