News: Martian Moons, Brad Pitt, Fire, Mitt-Flops, USS Kitty Hawk

Human Rights Campaign: did the gay rights group use underhanded tactics to skew polling over ENDA in order to show support for dropping transgender protections?

Brad Pitt says he'll no longer do nude scenes in films: "I don't want to be embarrassed when my kids get old enough to see my films. I can't see any more nude scenes [in my career.]"

Australian ACT civil partnerships likely to move forward under Labor Party: "The incoming attorney-general, Robert McClelland, says Labor is unlikely to block a proposal by the ACT to legally recognise same-sex couples - a plan that was repeatedly stymied by the Howard Government. The ACT Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, is planning to reintroduce a civil partnerships bill, which will give legal recognition to unions between same-sex couples. The plan was blocked by the Howard Government last year and the outgoing Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, threatened to do so again in February."

LOGO announces reality show about gay basketball team San Francisco Rockdogs.

China's refusal to allow USS Kitty Hawk to dock in Hong Kong not a misunderstanding: "Liu said "erroneous" actions on the part of the U.S. had 'disturbed and harmed' relations. He pointed to Congress' awarding its highest civilian honor to the Dalai Lama last month. Although the Tibetan spiritual leader is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing demonizes the monk and claims he seeks to destroy China's sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet. Also hurting relations were arms sales to Taiwan, an island which China regards as a renegade province, he said. A White House spokeswoman said she was surprised by the explanation."

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter provides new look at Martian moons: "Carbonaceous chondrites are primitive carbon-containing materials thought to originate in the outer part of the asteroid belt. This led to a commonly held view among planetary scientists that Mars' moons are primitive asteroids captured into Martian orbit early in the planet's history. More recent measurements have shown that the moons are in fact relatively red in their color, and resemble even more primitive D-type asteroids in the outer solar system."

Firefighters asked to report people who express discontent with the U.S. Government.

Arsonist continues to plague Provincetown — recent fire was 11th since October: "It's scary and sad that people are going around setting peoples' property on fire. It's ridiculous and wrong, if that is indeed what is going on."

David Beckham nuzzled in New Zealand.

Obama courting Michael Bloomberg as potential VP candidate? "An Obama aide said the meeting was scheduled because of 'mutual interest' and did not know whether the two had met before." Actually, they have: "Bloomberg, according to my spy, said he had met Obama for the first time about a year and a half ago, in the Senate subway, and was struck by Obama's eloquence. But 'he simply is not experienced enough to become president,' Bloomberg, I'm told, said. That's in part, at least, because 'senators have absolutely no idea what executive decision making is all about' — a familiar Bloomberg theme and one that would disqualify a number of candidates."

James Franco and Mila Kunis parody The Hills.

Log Cabin Republicans unleash Romney "Mitt Flops" ad: "The ad by the Log Cabin Republicans notes that Romney signed legislation in 2003 that increased taxes on New Hampshire residents who worked in Massachusetts. It also says Romney raised taxes on businesses, a point Romney disputes by saying he was merely closing tax loopholes...The radio ad represents the second effort by the Log Cabin Republicans to cast Romney as a flip-flopper. Last month, the group aired an ad in Iowa and on national cable that sought to undercut his support among social conservatives."

Sphere: Related Content

Wayne Newton "Had Beef" with Johnny Carson Over Gay Jokes

Recent Dancing with the Stars contestant and Vegas legend Wayne Newton told Larry King that his friendship with Johnny Carson was destroyed because of the late night talk show host's jokes implying that Newton was gay.

So, Newton paid him a visit to threaten him.

Said Newton to King: "'Mr. Carson,' I said, 'I don't know what friend of yours I've killed, I don't know what child of yours I've hurt, I don't know what food I've taken out of your mouth... but these jokes about me will stop, and they'll stop now. Or I will kick your ass.'... Johnny Carson was a mean-spirited human being. There are people he has hurt that people will never know about. And, for some reason, at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me, and I refused to have it."

Video on Newton's "beef" with Johnny Carson is over at PageOneQ.

Sphere: Related Content

On the Stage: Make Me A Song, The Music of William Finn and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Please welcome Kevin Sessums, who last reviewed Bad Jazz for Towleroad. You can also catch up with Kevin at his own blog at MississippiSissy.com.

William Finn is a kind of sophomore Sondheim - though certainly not a sophomoric one. His tunes more jaunty than Sondheim’s, his lyrics less jaundiced (and, yes, less intricately accomplished), Finn is still the musical theatre’s closest approximation to a Sondheim progeny, a lineage that can be traced back to Sondheim’s own mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II.

Finn has created one great and timely musical, Falsettoland, about how the AIDS epidemic affected the modern American family. Indeed, the suite of songs from Falsettoland which anchors Make Me A Song, The Music of William Finn at the New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street, can still sear the heart.

Finn is not afraid to take aim right at one’s heart — or one’s funny bone. In this wondrous musical review of his work, we laugh at the way he turns his political anger into a wry sophisticated lament in “Republicans” and turns that wryness into a hilarious pessimism in “Billy’s Law of Genetics.” Teetering on sentimentality but never taking that final plunge, he keeps his heartwrenching balance — as he keeps us off ours — in the ballads, “I Went Fishing With My Dad” and “Anytime (I Am There)” Though about the latter, he writes in the program, “While my great friend Monica Andress was dying, she asked me to write a song for her funeral that would make people cry. It’s the only song that, while writing it, made me cry endlessly.” The night I saw the show, there weren’t many dry eyes in the audience after Sally Wilfert literally stopped the show with her rendition of the song. The other performers — Sandy Binion, D.B. Bonds and Adam Heller were equally stellar and brought their own singular takes to this singular — Sondheim references aside — voice in the American musical theatre.

T T T (out of 4 possible T's)

Make Me A Song, The Music of William Finn, New World Stages / Stage 5, 340 West 50th Street, New York. Ticket information here.

***
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

There were no works, alas, in Make Me A Song from Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which is still packing them in at Circle in the Square. It is scheduled to end its run in January yet the Sunday afternoon I caught a performance it was standing-room-only. I saw the production when it first opened and it is still one of the most refreshing shows on Broadway. A love letter to all the brainiac nerds - one assumes Finn must have been one at some point in his life — who have endured their adolescences, Spelling Bee is that rare show on Broadway which parents and their kids alike — and even hip urban GLBTs — can appreciate on many elemental and sophisticated levels. If you haven’t seen it, by all means catch it before it closes. An utter delight.

T T T (out of 4 possible T's)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Circle In The Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway, New York. Ticket information here.

Sphere: Related Content

A First Show for Banksy in New York

British street artist/prankster Banksy's first New York show is opening this weekend at the Vanina Holasek Gallery.

Bloomberg reports: "The show will be the first selling exhibition for Banksy in the U.S. since September, 2006, when the Lazarides Gallery, Banksy's London-based primary dealer, held a "three-day vandalized warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, featuring a live "elephant in the room" painted in a red and gold floral wallpaper design. Works on show at Vanina Holasek will include Banksy's 2006 painting 'Jack and Jill,' showing children clad in bullet-proof vests, priced at $300,000, and his 2004 limited-edition screenprint, 'Kate Moss,' parodying Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn,' at $175,000."

Previously
Prankster Artist Banksy Caught in the Act in East London [tr]
Banksy Battle on the Streets of London [tr]

Sphere: Related Content

Archbishop of Canterbury Holds "Secret" Eucharist for Gay Clergy

Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, held a "secret" eucharist for gay and lesbian clergy yesterday, according to the Times. The service focused on "present realities and future possibilities for lesbians and gay men in the Church," inspiring sharp remarks from the conservative branch of a church divided over homosexuality.

The Times reports: "Dr Williams was criticised by evangelicals, who believe that his actions will be interpreted as an endorsement of the Church’s liberal wing. The Rev David Phillips, general secretary of the Church Society, said: 'This is not something that should be happening. There is serious doubt in our mind about some of the people present and their standing because of being in homosexual relationships. We came to the conclusion a long time ago that [Dr Williams] was not really fit to be Archbishop.'"

They report that "secrecy was so tight that a list of names attending was sent to Lambeth Palace with orders that it be shredded as soon as Dr Williams had read it."

Earlier this month, Archbishop Desmond Tutu slammed the church, calling it "extraordinarily homophobic" and criticized Williams for failing to demonstrate that the Anglican church's God is one who is all-loving.

Said Tutu: "If God as they say is homophobic I wouldn't worship that God...It is a perversion if you say to me that a person chooses to be homosexual. You must be crazy to choose a way of life that exposes you to a kind of hatred. It's like saying you choose to be black in a race infected society. Why doesn't [Williams] demonstrate a particular attribute of God's which is that God is a welcoming God."

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, at ‘secret’ gay ceremony [times online]

Sphere: Related Content

Morrissey to Sue NME for Failing to Clarify Immigration Remarks

Comments by Morrissey on immigration in the most recent issue of NME amount to "character assassination" according to the singer's lawyers, who are reportedly threatening to sue the publication. Additional details of the legal action have not been revealed.

Morrissey's comments, some of which I posted yesterday, read: "With the issue of immigration, it's very difficult because, although I don't have anything against people from other countries, the higher the influx into England the more the British identity disappears. If you walk through Knightsbridge on any bland day of the week you won't hear an English accent. You'll hear every accent under the sun apart from the British accent."

Morrissey "expressed concern at how his previous comments could be interpreted" according to the Guardian, and conducted a follow-up interview, in which he said: "I just think that it would be construed that the reason I wouldn't wish to live in England is the immigration explosion. And that's not true at all."

The controversy has sparked a war of words between the former Smiths frontman and the publication, while the article's author Tim Jonze has requested that his byline be removed from everything but the Q&A, claiming dissatisfaction over the magazine's final edit.

Morrissey demands apology from NME [guardian]

Recently
Morrissey Shuns England Over "Immigration Explosion" [tr]

Sphere: Related Content