News: GLAAD Awards, Military Hillary, Tapir Massage, Asteroid
Hillary Clinton learns her salute: "For Mrs. Clinton, exhibiting a command of military matters is not just about learning from her husband’s experience. It could be vital to her, as a woman seeking to become a wartime commander in chief, to show the public that she is comfortable with military policy and culture — and with the weight of responsibility that accompanies life-and-death decisions."

Patti LaBelle and Jennifer Hudson stole the show at this year's GLAAD awards. LaBelle: "I didn't know you were this nice. I thought you were a bitch."
New York's Black Party: a wholesome romp.
Global warming may kill certain climates and create entirely new ones: "Species living in tropical areas may be less able to adapt, he said, adding that that is speculative and needs further study. Areas like the Southeastern United States and the Arabian Peninsula may also be affected, the researchers said. And they said mountain areas such as in Peruvian and Colombian Andes and regions such as Siberia and southern Australia face a risk of climates disappearing altogether. That doesn't mean these regions would have no climate at all -- rather their climate would change and the conditions currently in these areas would not occur elsewhere on Earth."

The Beckhams' wild night with Diddy.
Stepford Wives museum director claims harassment from gay colleagues who wanted her to resign: car vandalism, threatened with poisoning, being forced to look at graphic gay photos, and being poked in the eye.
YouTube announces first annual Video Award winners. Here are the videos...
Cleaning day: Mario Lopez has some junk in the trunk, er, garage.
Cute video of the week: tapir gets a massage. I get relaxed just watching it.

Deep impact: U.S. and China at most risk for damage from wayward asteroid. "The team focused on smaller asteroids because they hit the Earth more frequently. An asteroid a few hundred metres across hits the planet about once every 10,000 years, on average, while those larger than 1 kilometre hit only every 100,000 years or so. Small asteroids are also harder to spot. 'We're more likely to be hit by one without much warning,' Bailey told New Scientist. Using maps of population density, the researchers charted the places likely to suffer the most casualties. As might be expected, countries with large coastal populations turned out to be most vulnerable, with China, Indonesia, India, Japan and the US in the top five spots."
Capote producer Michael Ohoven sues fellow producer William Vince for profits: "The complaint, filed Thursday in British Columbia Supreme Court, claims that Vince convinced Ohoven to agree to a 60-40 split of revenue from Infinity films to take advantage of Canadian tax credits. Later, Ohoven alleges, Vince transferred the other 40 percent to himself without Ohoven's knowledge or consent. Ohoven is now seeking 50 percent of all past and future revenue from Infinity films, including Capote."
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seems more like it was the brown party.
Posted by: A.J. | Mar 27, 2007 1:08:16 PM
While Ms. Patti should have retired five years ago once she lost control of her vibrato, at her best she was 50 times the vocalist and diva that Ms. Hudson is. I don't say that to be nasty, just to make the point that flavors of the moment should not make us forget the great feasts of the past.
I was lucky enough to see Patti in her prime several times, backed by a killer band including a wailing female tenor sax, and more than once was spellbound by the way she got off, tripped on the miraculous things she could do with her voice. Glissandi that sound like plastic showing off on all the American Idol wannabes always sounded coming out of Patti as if they were burbling up out of her beyond her control, a vocal orgasm that almost made one feel like a blessed voyeur. There were moments when I would not have been surprised to see her levitate off the stage, her thumping, thundering band and voice itself lifting her to heaven— and not just when she shot "Over the Rainbow" into the strastosphere. It was, as the expression goes, "having church."
Regrets? Never seeing Patti live with the LaBelle in their space costume days. Missing another famous Diva summit: years ago, Bette Midler was giving a New Year's Eve concert in San Francisco. At midnight, to the complete, wet their pants surprise of the audience, from off stage came, "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land...." and out walked Patti to complete the song in her inimitable way and send the lucky crowd into spasms of ecstasy—the feeling not the drug.
And, of course, trivia queens know that Hudson's dream "Dreamgirls" role was spun from the life of Florence Ballard who, after being fired from the Supremes, was replaced by Cindy Birdsong from Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles.
Posted by: Leland | Mar 27, 2007 1:25:55 PM
And in a seemingly endless, year-after-year list, another execrable decision by GLAAD was giving the "Vito Russo Award" to Tom Ford. Russo was a brilliant, passionate activist who helped found GLAAD, wrote "The Celuloid Closet," was vital to many NY GAA accomplishments as well as those of ACT UP almost up until the final moment AIDS swept him away. To Ford, gay activism only means fucking.
Die GLAAD die!
Posted by: Leland | Mar 27, 2007 1:39:29 PM
Boy, that Black Party video certainly makes the nightlife sound glamorous. And by glamorous I mean joyless and desperate. And gross.
Posted by: dangbad | Mar 27, 2007 2:46:14 PM
Leland... i'm one of the fortunates to see Labelle (Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash & Patti LaBelle) tour in the glam days, tho can't remember if they opened for Mott The Hoople or Slade.
After witnessing that, Patti can do no wrong in my books... except perhaps to perform at a glaad event that awards tom ford anything.
Posted by: A.J. | Mar 27, 2007 3:36:58 PM
The Black Party = gross.
I don't believe The Stepford Wives museum director. Being forced to watch gay porn? Get out. That's where I stopped believing her. People don't do that stuff at work.
Congrats to Ask a Gay man and all the winners at the Youtube awards.
Posted by: Jack! | Mar 27, 2007 4:06:29 PM
Some extra feedback for your survey:
I have had pop ups from your site in the past few days. This is not a good thing (No one like pop ups, that's why everyone has pop up blockers).
It cheapens the credentials of what is otherwise an excellent site.
Can't you find extra money somewhere else?
Posted by: Michael | Mar 28, 2007 10:09:26 AM
Nicely written post, Leland. Although I don't think one needs to retire because one's voice aint what it used to be. You just change your style to suit your abilities or range.
And again, Leland: Jasmyne loves Patti too. So, y'all have something in common.
Just kiddin'. Love ya'
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Mar 28, 2007 10:25:08 AM
Saw Patti Labelle at Massey Hall in Toronto. She did a mostly acapella version of "One Sweet Day". She took off her big high heals, put the microphone atop the piano and sang.
I've never seen/heard complete silence from an audience before. Stunned silence and not a dry eye in the audience - the singular most amazing performance I have ever witnessed.
Posted by: mark | Mar 28, 2007 1:03:41 PM