The Birth of the Village People and "Y.M.C.A."

Here's a fascinating roundtable piece in Spin magazine which talks about the origins of the Village People and, more specifically, the anthem "Y.M.C.A." A few choice quotes:

CONSTRUCTION WORKER DAVID HODO: "It was 1977, and we were leaving a photography session on 23rd Street. Jacques Morali saw the big pink YMCA on 23rd and asked, 'What is this YMCA, anyway?' And after laughing at his accent, we told him the Y was a place where you could go when you first came to New York when you didn't have any money -- you can stay there for very little. And of course, someone joked, 'Yeah, but don't bend over in the showers.' And Jacques, bless his heart, said, 'I will write a song about this!'"

COWBOY RANDY JONES: "David's a little off. Yeah, Jacques came up with the idea. But what happened is that when I moved to New York in 1975, I joined the McBurney YMCA on 23rd Street. I took Jacques there three or four times in 1977, and he loved it. He was fascinated by a place where a person could work out with weights, play basketball, swim, take classes, and get a room. Plus, with Jacques being gay, I had a lot of friends I worked out with who were in the adult-film industry, and he was impressed by meeting people he had seen in the videos and magazines. Those visits with me planted a seed in him, and that's how he got the idea for 'Y.M.C.A.' -- by literally going to the YMCA."

Much more at Spin...

And incidentally, that McBurney YMCA is now David Barton, arguably the gayest gym in NYC.

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Tom Cruise Did Not Attend Gay Artist Party with Gay Cowboy

Nor will he be appearing in any book named after a gay disco anthem.

The NYDN's Ben Widdicombe reports on a chat he had recently with the Village People's original gay cowboy Randy Jones, who recently sold his memoir Macho Man to a publisher:

"Jones had a story about meeting Cruise in 1982, when the young actor's most notable film was 'Taps.'...'Tom and I had the same management company at the time,' Jones told me at the new Bowery hot spot Antik. 'I met him at a party Andy Warhol threw for Peter Gatien's Limelight [nightclub offshoot] in Atlanta.' To hear Jones tell the story, it was quite a party. But after calls went out to a spokeswoman and attorney for the 'Mission: Impossible' star yesterday, the book's editor assured me that Cruise's name had been removed from the final version."

Tom Cruise outguns the Cowboy [nydn widdicombe]

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GOP Montana Lawmaker Plays 'Gay Prank' on Fellow Legislator

The Montana Human Rights Network and the Western Montana Gay and Lesbian Community Center are calling on Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) to apologize for a childish prank he played on Idaho lawmaker Mike Simpson:

"On a congressional trip to the Middle East last month, Rehberg left an 'Idaho Travel Package' on the airplane seat of Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. The contents included a stuffed sheep with gloves attached to it, a Village People CD, books on cross-dressing and sign language and a T-shirt that reads, 'My senator may not be gay, but my governor is Butch.' The shirt referred to Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who was caught in a men's airport bathroom sex sting, and Idaho Gov. C.L. 'Butch' Otter. Rehberg's travel bag was first reported by The Hill newspaper, which covers Congress. It said Rehberg was proud of the gift bag and quoted him as boasting, 'I spent a bit of time putting the things together.' It said Simpson was amused but not surprised at Rehberg's action."

Said Montana state senator and director of the Human Rights Network Christine Kaufmann: "It's bad enough that Congressman Rehberg consistently votes against equality for gay and lesbian people; we've kind of come to expect that. But when he uses his gay and lesbian constituents as the subject of pranks, it's beyond the pale."

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Village People Cop: Y.M.C.A. Not About Gay Cruising

Victor Willis, the cop from the Village People, says the lyrics in Y.M.C.A. were not meant to be innuendo about gay cruising but about hanging out with your straight buddies.

(uh, straight buddies like Bob Allen and Ted Haggard, perhaps)

Says Willis' publicist Alice Wolf: "Victor Willis wrote about the YMCA and having fun there, but the type of fun he was talking about was straight fun," insists Wolf, adding that Willis has nothing against homosexuality. 'When he says, 'Hang out with all the boys'... he's talking about the boys, the fellas.... But it's one of those ambiguous songs that was taken that way because of the gay association with Village People.'"

Willis is "mounting a comeback with a tell-all book detailing his frustration with his flamboyant gay bandmates and why they ultimately caused him to leave the group in the early '80s" according to the Canadian Press.

Now sober, Willis has been in the news most often recently for drug abuse and arrests. In July 2005, Willis was arrested after police found a loaded .45 and crack cocaine in his convertible Corvette.

He's mounting a "comeback show" in Las Vegas on August 31st that will serve as the opening for a string of international performances.

"Wolf says Willis's stage performance will include all of his biggest hits with the Village People, and several costume changes involving the group's trademark personas."

Which of course, aren't gay at all.

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