Showing posts with label Dance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dance. Show all posts

Sunday, November 15, 2009

FROM THE STREETS

DALLAS TEXAS
The long anticipated relocation and grand opening of the new location "The Brick/Joe's " will open at 5:00 pm Friday night 11/13. Drop by this weekend for a sneak peak! They are also accepting applications for all positions. Inquire at the club.
Be sure to come back here and give us the details and inside scoop!



The Brick / Joe's Dallas
2525 Wycliff Ave., #120
Dallas, Texas 75219
214-521-3154
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BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
During the past few years an alarming trend has been quietly stripping the black gay community. Fast and furiously black gay owned, operated or patronized bars and clubs are becoming a thing of the past. The promoters and owners are finding a number of obstacles to remaining in business. Poor judgement and behavior by patrons in local neighborhoods, high rents and changing zoning issues are but a few of the nails in many of these coffins.
The most recent bar to face closing is the well known landmark "Starlight Lounge". A fixture in the Bed-Sty/ Mid-wood neighborhood for decades. According to published reports the building that housed the Starlite was secretly and abruptly sold and the oldest Gay bar in Brooklyn, was given the boot, three months to vacate. No doubt this will mean increased business for the newer Caribbean hot spot "Langstons/ Moore's Bar and Lounge" that is located a few blocks away @1073 Atlantic Avenue just off the corner of Franklin & Atlantic Avenues.
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SALT LAKE CITY UTAH
Make room for the Mormons on the supporters list. This week Utah unanimously passed an anti discrimination ordinance, the first in Utah to ban employment and housing discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the New York Times reports. I'm not sure how many of our brothers and sisters live in Utah but this has to be good news for the gay community at large.
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PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND
For nearly a century, gay black men have contributed to the state’s political, academic and cultural life.
“People always ask me, ‘Have things gotten better for you, the blacks?’ ” said author James Baldwin at a 1985 reading at the First Baptist Church in Providence. “I survived it. That’s the best I can say.”

A new exhibit at the John Hay Library examines the lives and accomplishments of more than 30 gay black men with Rhode Island connections, including the late Baldwin.
Curator Robb Dimmick tells the stories of these men — many of them local artists, actors, public servants and scholars — through letters, photographs, playbills and even State House laws, items he has collected over a 30-year span.Some, like House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, are openly gay. But many others prefer to remain in the background. Just before the Nov. 5 opening of Dimmick’s exhibit, “Black Lavender 2,” one participant withdrew his name.
“It is such a rich community and it is not connected at this point. Our hope is this presentation will spark a new discussion among gay black men.” Dimmick became interested in gay black literature in the mid-1980s, after he took a job as a book scout for Ray Rickman, the founder of Cornerstone Books, a rare and used bookstore in Providence. A year later Dimmick joined the store as a business partner. At Cornerstone, the two men — Rickman, then a black state representative, and Dimmick, the white star of a one-man show about Abraham Lincoln — specialized in black literature at a time when many stores did not have an African American section. “If they did,” said Dimmick, “it was in the back, on the floor, in a dark, dank corner. But we were right on the cutting edge.”

James Baldwin visited the store. So did poet Maya Angelou and Pulitzer Prize-winning civil rights historian Taylor Branch. A frequent customer was Henry Louis Gates Jr., the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard and the author of the PBS series, “African American Lives.”
“I knew there were black gay writers, but where were their books? That became the start of my hunt,” said Dimmick, who started collecting newspaper clippings, obits, programs, fliers, posters and pamphlets — anything connected to black gay men — in the mid-1970s.
Often, such items are thrown away after an event, said Dimmick. Some of that material found its way into the first “Black Lavender” exhibit in 2005, which focused on black writers. But Dimmick wanted to do a second show that centered on Rhode Island.

At the Nov. 5 opening, Rhode Island College English Prof. Daniel M. Scott III talked about his oral history project. Gay black men in Rhode Island, he said, struggle to fit into two worlds: the small, church-centered African American community and the larger white world, a tight-knit Catholic community. For many, “it gets very complicated,” Scott said.The men in the “Black Lavender 2” exhibit are connected to the state in various ways. Some, like Baldwin, visited only once –– but sparked a round of soul searching. Others have studied at Brown University or the Rhode Island School of Design before embarking on careers elsewhere. Others in the exhibit include the painter Robert Dilworth, who chairs the University of Rhode Island’s Department of Art and Art History, Trinity Rep actor Joe Wilson Jr. and Michael Evora, executive director of the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights. “The big surprise is that black gay men exist in the state and have flourished,” said Dimmick.

The exhibit, funded by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, is open weekdays through Jan. 8, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the John Hay Library in Providence.
By Paul Davis
Rhode Island Journal Staff Writer
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WASHINGTON STATE
The people of Washington State have spoken loud and clear as they approved a win for gay-rights in their state as voters in Maine rejected that state's same-sex marriage law, while in Michigan, voters in Kalamazoo overwhelmingly retained that city's anti-discrimination law protecting gays and lesbians.
Washington States Referendum 71 results were disappointing to religious conservatives, whose aggressive efforts to get the expanded partnership law thrown out had gained momentum in recent months. Passage of referendum 71 "For gay and lesbian Washingtonians and their families,is a major step forward in assuring that we're all treated equally under the law."
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DOMINICAN REPUBLICJean Luis Valdez Flores (Wey Jam), the confessed killer of the television producer Juan Miguel Breton Mieses (Miky), told the National Police that a disagreement in room 3 of the Princesa Motel, located on the 30 de Mayo Highway, was the reason for the fight that ended up in the killing. "These were immoral things, that we are asking the media to omit in order to preserve the moral of the Breton Mieses family", said Nelson Rosario, the spokesperson for the National Police, as he explained the circumstances of the killing.According to the accused, the discrepancies over not fulfilling some of Breton's requests, turned into the fight that left the victim badly wounded. While Miky was bleeding in the room, Jean Luis, fearful for what could happen if the producer survived, went to get the knife that he had in his backpack in the KIA Sportage SUV, license G-203287, and with which he stabbed Breton two times: In the stomach and in the neck. Valdez Flores, 20, took flight in Breton's vehicle. The prosecutor for the National District, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra, said that due to the nature of the crime, the accused would probably be sent to preventive prison for a year.
The simple version, Miky picked up trade- a well known dominican rapper - and they took the episode to a canbana (motel) where the accused rapper insists although he agreed to have concentual sex with Miky he later changed his mind when Mikey alledgedly wanted "to tap that booty." He than killed him and stole his jeep. The accused will most likely get no more than a year because it involved a hush hush crime that is not to be discussed or mentioned. This type of behavior and cover up is becoming increasingly frequent in DR.

LIFE STYLE AND CULTURE

Just the funniest and cutest thing!



I realize a gang of professional and college athletes have received some much deserved bad press regarding their homophobia recently but you have to "see them" at play. Hysterically funny and homoerotic.
As society on the whole becomes more familiar and tolerant of alternative lifestyles, the lines of what is acceptable behavior between the groups has gotten very blurry. Everyday I see young so called str8 men wearing more and more outlandish colors, prints and patterns. Don't lie you see them, the ones in the hot pink and fuchsia sneakers and blouses! What's with the pants saggin (n i g g a s) lower and lower every year. Certainly if you have your cheeks hanging all out hot and sexy, you are sending a message loud and clear, no matter to whom it is intended. The down low phenomenon is less and less on the DL as homies are smacking each others asses more openly, you know a lot of touchy feel stuff that most gay men refrain.
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"Not exactly Americas Next Top Model"
Speaking of breaking out of the "DL mode". An interesting new book "Follow the Model: Miss J's Guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise, and Power" by J Alexander -of ANTM Fame - was released this week. In his first bio slash self help offering "Miss J" talks about his early years growing up in Bronx, NY and goes on to tell how a public casting call for a Jean Paul Gaultier runway show led him to take his first impeccably clad step on the catwalk and confirmed his conviction that he belonged in the world of high fashion!How he has influenced the careers of many of the most sought after models, actresses and actors alike.
It is a nice easy read tailored to a female audience but entertaining and recommended non the less.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS

WOULD YOU? COULD YOU?

One weekend a few years ago I was hanging out with the gang laughing, joking and having a good time. "Stellas" was the local strip bar known for weak but cheap drinks, attractive but hungry street hustlers and strippers. As was the routine back then we were checking out the Saturday Night Revue when one of them caught more than just my eye. What followed was a hot affair with plenty of sex, lies and drama. After more than a year of ups and downs we reached a fork in the road. It was time to take the next step and commit- Hit it one last time and move on- or put the rubbers away and "just be friends". This proved to be a far more complicated decision than I expected. Yeah, that trickster feelings had something to say about the whole thing! On the one hand I had become very fond of him. Hooked on that hot pot and wicked dip stick. The fact he was a latin lover was extra. BUT, there is always that BUT! he was a hustler, a stripper which meant he had a past! How could I commit and TRUST him? The people I trust most felt I should go with my heart and if it was what I wanted they could support it.I wasn't sure "I" could deal with all my friends knowing what he looked like naked, had hung dollars from those little strings he wore every weekend. To top it all off there was the question of his "girlfriend" what the f--k?If I committed, how many times would it be thrown in my face that he had had thousands of hands all over those toys. Ultimatey, I was not strong enough to deal with any of the possibilities and put the rubbers away and we have had some great times as "just friends". Sometimes f--king friends and other times just laughs, jokes and beers.
What do you think, what choice would or could you make? Do relationships kindled from these types of fires survive?


Sunday, June 14, 2009

LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE

"THE BIG LATIN APPLE"
This past weekend was the Annual Puerto Rican Festival and Parade. The one week a year when all things in New York City become Puerto Rican with all the color, pagentry and hot latin flavors. 2009 proved to be just as spectacular with everyone from all the tri-state governors, senators and celebrities on hand for the festivities. Each year its seems the parade gets longer and better. Sunday the parade started at 11:00 in the morning with the last group marching across the finish line at 5:oo pm.
"LA GRAN MANZANA LATINA"
Este fin de semana pasado fue el Festival Anual de Puerto Rico y el Desfile. La una semana al año, cuando todas las cosas en la ciudad de Nueva York en Puerto Rico con todos los colores, cálidos y pagentry latín sabores. 2009 resultó ser igual de espectacular, con todo el mundo, desde todos los tri-estatal gobernadores, senadores y celebridades a la mano para las festividades. Cada año su desfile se parece más y mejor. Domingo el desfile comenzó a las 11:00 de la mañana con el último grupo de marcha a través de la línea de llegada a las 5: oo pm

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

PASSPORT & JETWAY

CHICAGO, ILL


ONE LOVE N' ChiTown
Caribbean Association of Midwest America presents

Jerk Fest Saturday June 6th 2009 ·
In Union Park, Chicago, IL
11:00am - 10:00pm
1501 W. Randolph St / Lake St CTA Green line
Dedicated to National Caribbean American
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
June 8, 2009
http://www.chitownjerkfest.com/
The Second Annual Chicago Caribbean JerkFest will be a festive celebration of Caribbean culture. An escape to the Caribbean without the expense of an airline ticket!


"NEW YORK "THE BIG APPLE"