April 29, 2008

Man on the street

I’m listening to “Ghost Rider” from Suicide by Suicide.

Technorati Tags: ben & jerry's, philadelphia

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Men at 11:08 PM
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April 25, 2008

Cloverfield

Brilliant! Cloverfield is a huge middle finger to the new yuppies and hipsters who have ruined New York City in the wake of 9/11. The sight of all those disappointed twenty-somethings trudging across the Brooklyn Bridge after Lower Manhattan has been destroyed is priceless. The vapid, self-absorbed characters are just about perfect. I simply don’t understand why 99% of film critics just didn’t get this movie. Oh, it’s really scary, too.

I’m listening to “South Rampart Street Parade” from South Rampart Street Parade by Bob Crosby & His Orchestra.

Technorati Tags: cloverfield, film

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Film at 3:54 PM
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April 23, 2008

Man of the week

There are posters of this character all over New York City, some of them several stories high. I love him.

I’m listening to “The First Visit” from Brideshead Revisited by Geoffrey Burgon.

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Men at 10:30 PM
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April 22, 2008

Umm...yeah

Since this picture is from a demonstration in San Francisco, I’m sure everyone thought it would be wrong to correct this idiot. Thanks to The Distributed Republic.

I’m listening to “Paris 1919” from Paris 1919 by John Cale.

Technorati Tags: olympics, San Francisco

Posted by HighStrungLoner in News? at 12:51 PM
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April 21, 2008

Fritos, the Musical

Thanks again to THE CRUSHER.

I’m listening to “Dancing Bear” from Complete Anthology by The Mamas & The Papas.

Technorati Tags: fritos, fritos, john waters, cry-baby, broadway

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Travel at 1:31 AM
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April 15, 2008

Entertainment

SEPTA seems to be selling subway violence as an entertaining “perk” that comes with your TransPass purchase. I saw this billboard today at 2nd Street station, just a few blocks from a recent fatal beating on the same subway line. It might be time to shitcan this particular ad, guys.

I’m listening to “Fools In Love” from Look Sharp by Joe Jackson.

Technorati Tags: philadelphia, public transit, SEPTA

Posted by HighStrungLoner in SEPTA at 5:23 PM
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April 13, 2008

Sex education

As ”local color” in Provincetown went, I figured Ellie was just a another harmless tranny. She was always there, outside Town Hall in a mini-skirt, singing some lounge standard karaoke-style, with a battered boombox and a hand-lettered sign billing her as “Provincetown’s Oldest Showgirl, 72 Years Young!” (75 now.) Yesterday I stumbled upon Ellie’s Provincetown Liberator, her endless, stupefying manifesto on every subject imaginable. I discovered, among other things, that father and former minister Ellie really seems to believe that she’s a 25 year-old woman with killer gams. “Integrating” her male and female identities seems to have inspired some shocking child rearing techniques:

realistic, hands-on sex education

Her kid or kids will have access to mom and dad’s room any time of the day or night. If a child wanders in while she is getting laid, and asks, “What are you doing, mommy?” she’ll tell her/him to wait until she comes - and then she’ll give an explanation. Meanwhile, the child can have fun watching.

Ellie’s kids will be home-schooled and her kids won’t feel like they’re doing hard time. She’ll pick up on their interests and encourage growth in those areas. Naturally, a big area of interest will be sex. Eliot/Ellie will give hands-on instruction in sex. She’ll teach any boy how to jerk-off; Eliot will teach any girl how to rub-off. It’s more fun that way.

The course really gets practical as well as exciting when the finer points of screwing are taught. Mom teaches a boy by screwing him. Eliot teaches a girl by screwing her. Their boys and girls can screw around with each other at will. You could say it’s a close-knit family! Truly: “ALL in the family”!

I’m speechless.

I’m listening to “Il Sogno, Act 2: Lovers Arise” from Il Sogno by Elvis Costello, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.

Technorati Tags: ellie, gay, gay sex, provincetown, sex education

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Gay at 9:02 PM
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April 10, 2008

Plowing

I found the wonderful book cover of Agricola and Germany while obsessively doing Google image searches to see if my Barack Obama poster makeovers (here and here) have any traction. It’s a detail from Helvetii Sending the Defeated Army of Cassius Longinus Under the Yoke in 107 BC, 1854/8, Charles Gleyre, Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. The link was to Mystic Bourgeoisie: blogged books, a strange collection of book and movie reviews including Self-Help crap like The Clitoral Truth: The Secret World at Your Fingertips, New Age crap like Create Your Own Reality: A Seth Workbook, and utter crap like Snakes on a Plane.

I’m listening to “Pedro Bound!” from Contemplating the Engine Room by Mike Watt.

Technorati Tags: books

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Men at 10:43 PM
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April 8, 2008

Bipolar

Jason Klemm (Hamletwasbipolar and SAGandEquityDude on gay.com) is a former actor and perpetual drunk who goes on the occasional insane rampage in the Philadelphia Citywide chat room on gay.com. I (TheCreepingTerror) was the target of his rage last night because I’m honest about my HIV status! Everyone knows I’m sero-positve and that I have an active sex life which includes bathhouses and back rooms. Jason believes that makes me a murderer. One can only wonder what this says about him since, when he’s not acting like an ass publicly, he’s privately begging people to let him suck their dicks, regardless of their HIV-status. (Someone sent me an example which follows the rant and Jason repeatedly asked me for sex until I finally told him to stop.) Admittedly, I’m posting this because it’s me he’s talking about and I’m pissed off but, really, does anyone deserve this kind of shit for being honest?

Hamletwasbipolar: im a little tippsy
Matt-of-Mayfair: git out!
Hamletwasbipolar: i went and got tested tonight]
Matt-of-Mayfair: and they said you’re insane?
Hamletwasbipolar: i am SO neg
TheCreepingTerror: you're telling me
Matt-of-Mayfair: truer words were never spoken
Hamletwasbipolar: and your not neg.you just kill people
Hamletwasbipolar: yea, ill put my hiv infected dick into strangers
Hamletwasbipolar: your a piece of shit
Hamletwasbipolar: oh, into the Adonis
TheCreepingTerror: i remember not very long ago when little hammy was begging me to let him suck this aids-infected dick
Hamletwasbipolar: uh, yeah i was BEYOND drunk.......and you do it sober
Hamletwasbipolar: 'sober is the key word
Matt-of-Mayfair plugs in the corn popper..
Hamletwasbipolar: no, hes an HIV infected asshole.......and Im not
TheCreepingTerror: no, you’re simply an asshole
Hamletwasbipolar: oh, yeah, im drunk...lve been in movies youve seen....NOT PORNO
Hamletwasbipolar: you are a toothless OLD drunk,,, ive seen you
Hamletwasbipolar: you are UGLY
Hamletwasbipolar: say no more'
Hamletwasbipolar: you have NO teeth.no face...and you ARE UGLY
MathMan821: oh lord what did I come back to?
TheCreepingTerror: hammy’s drunk, MathMan and accusing me of murder again
MathMan821: ahhhh
Hamletwasbipolar: you are beyond ugly.....we all know it
inkedguy25: wow man whats uo with the hatin’ in here
Hamletwasbipolar: but well be nice
Hamletwasbipolar: you are dilapidated, youre sexual depravity would scare anybiody away from the bar
Hamletwasbipolar: you INFECT people......say no more
Hamletwasbipolar: you and your HIV infected , bathhouse going dick
Hamletwasbipolar: you are , what we call, a piece of SHIT
MathMan821: hmmmm - I’ve always thought of TCT as quite the gentleman
Hamletwasbipolar: depends how you define genlem,an
Hamletwasbipolar: does porno?
Hamletwasbipolar: puts his dick up peoples ass?
Hamletwasbipolar: god, thats why ive ben silent in this room.........hes a piece of crap
woof60: silence of the hams
TheCreepingTerror: if only
MathMan821: I am always amazed at how people who are the consumers of porn look down upon the producers of porn
TheCreepingTerror: no kidding, math
Hamletwasbipolar: if only, you WERENT a piece of crap
Hamletwasbipolar: he is a piece of SHIT
Hamletwasbipolar: im done
TheCreepingTerror: no kidding you're done
Hamletwasbipolar: hes quiet
TheCreepingTerror: i’m just letting you dig your own hole, hammy. keep it coming.
Hamletwasbipolar: what could you possibly say? your HIV positive? you kill people in bathouses?
inkedguy25: wow, can we change the topic
Hamletwasbipolar: you and your HIV infected dick........your a PIECE OF SHIT
inkedguy25: you have been going on about this for quiet sometime now, and honetsly, its tiresome
Hamletwasbipolar: you kill people
inkedguy25: (has he been hitting the sauce?)
Hamletwasbipolar: you KILL PEOPLE
Hamletwasbipolar: oh, its ok, you dont infect them.
Hamletwasbipolar: YEAH
Hamletwasbipolar: you are the worst
Hamletwasbipolar: yes, your neg, you DONT INFECT THEM
Hamletwasbipolar: uh huh
Hamletwasbipolar: YOUR FUCKING PATHETIC
Mattyy77: actually, it'd be “you’re” in that instance
Hamletwasbipolar: oh, i know his face..youd be scared
Hamletwasbipolar: im going to bed.....
sPoconoGuy makes a CUCKOO sound.
Mattyy77: people get fired up in this hizzie
TheCreepingTerror: that was bracing
Mattyy77: u pissed him off somethin fierce
Hamletwasbipolar: yea, we are all braced.........you HIV infected dick
TheCreepingTerror: i didn’t do nuthin, Mattyy
Hamletwasbipolar: you did nothing in your life.....uh huh
Hamletwasbipolar: you are a pice of shit.....we all know that............if they dont know that...well then
Hamletwasbipolar: YOU ARE A PIECE OF GARBAGE
inkedguy25: Hamlet, go to bed
Hamletwasbipolar: if you think that? YOU go to bed
inkedguy25: fucking boderlines
Hamletwasbipolar: ?me says no more
Hamletwasbipolar: waits as hell try to be pleasant
Hamletwasbipolar: ill take off your peels, like you wouldnt even know, you piece of garbage
TheCreepingTerror: any translations on the peels thing??
inkedguy25: he's off his rocker
TheCreepingTerror: well, that goes without saying
Hamletwasbipolar: yes, i am
Hamletwasbipolar: you stupid murderer
Hamletwasbipolar: go ink
inkedguy25: at least be more specific, and less redundant
Hamletwasbipolar: stupid shit
inkedguy25: your knowledge about me is little.
Hamletwasbipolar: but a lot
Hamletwasbipolar: if you pick him over me....lol
TheCreepingTerror: “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Hamletwasbipolar
inkedguy25: i’m not on any side, you’re rambling like a fucking idiot
Hamletwasbipolar: you have "your man"
Hamletwasbipolar: \you still KILL PEOPLE with your HIV infected dick, and you DONT care
Matt-of-Mayfair looks though inky’s bag for some morphine syringes
sPoconoGuy: anyone going to bathhouse tonight?
Matt-of-Mayfair: ooh!.... are they having a sale?
TheCreepingTerror: half price wed & sun
Matt-of-Mayfair: i need some new towels and stuff
sPoconoGuy: free towels and lube
Matt-of-Mayfair: i don't need lube spoc... you can use your SPIT
MathMan821: if it ain’t spit ... it ain’t love
Matt-of-Mayfair: hammy left eh?
Matt-of-Mayfair: ....one less.... bell to answer.
heres_mikey: looks like he left
Matt-of-Mayfair: he tried to pvt me ya know.. but i had to take him off my ”allow” list... god forbid he'd hit me up for sex again. i hate those drunken attempts
sPoconoGuy: he just pulled up in front of your house
Matt-of-Mayfair: i’ll get my gun!
Matt-of-Mayfair: “momma, take the kids to the basement!..... i'll handle this!”
sPoconoGuy: that means he’ll put on his red dress and answer the door
Matt-of-Mayfair: aims loaded Colt .38 though mailbox slot in front door.

And still people try to protect him from himself.

Hamletwasbipolar: how are ya?
Matt-of-Mayfair: i’m fine
Hamletwasbipolar: uh huh fine
Hamletwasbipolar: your quiet
Matt-of-Mayfair: i’m busy downloading tunes
Hamletwasbipolar: well, being your neg, you can fuck me BB!
Hamletwasbipolar: so, you dont say hi? your not talking?
Matt-of-Mayfair: you KNOW us old guys, we’re slow to act, and cautious..lol
Hamletwasbipolar: come over. im serious. come over
Matt-of-Mayfair: get real jason... please gurl you sound drunk again
Hamletwasbipolar: lol so, come over
Matt-of-Mayfair: yeah, right.... like i’m gonna go out in the cold... and wait for 3 buses and a train at 4am.... LOL... you crack me up
Hamletwasbipolar: i thought you drove.......lol
Matt-of-Mayfair: traipse WAY across town at this hour....no way!
Matt-of-Mayfair: i DO drive... i told you the car’s parked out back for sale. :-) i haven’t even started it since Christmas.

This didn’t really come out of nowhere, so some history is in order. Jason lived in Center City Philadelphia a few years ago. I pretty much thought he was a pompous ass. Then he got a boyfriend and moved to Bristol PA which, unless things have really changed in a couple of years, is just a step above a trailer park. Since he had a boyfriend, he felt free to act like a dick to everyone and not just me. (“You have nothing in your life but I have a solid, loving relationship,” that kind of thing.) Then he “got sober” whatever that means in his case. Just before he moved to NYC with his partner to pursue his acting career, he apologized to me for treating me so horribly. I told him that I accepted the apology but said that I would never trust him. While he was in The City he was hit by a car and was in a coma for several months. When he woke up his boyfriend dumped him. So he moved back here, to West Philadelphia this time, and started acting like a decent guy. I knew it wouldn’t last. He got a job as an usher at the Merriam Theater and quit because he didn’t want to seat black people. There was a short (less than two-week) affair with a much-loved chatter during which he changed his gay.com profile to reflect his then-current opinion that anyone who was online looking for sex was a “slut.” This was before they had actually had a date. Seriously. Now he’s enrolled in school to be trained as a paralegal which he refers to as “Law School” and “a different kind of acting.” Please.

Does anyone else see a pattern here?? Honestly, it isn’t necessary to get validation for the good things in your life by looking down your nose at others. And begging online “friends” for drinks at Knock isn’t good for anyone’s self-esteem. Get a grip.

I’m listening to “The Wrong Man” by Bernard Herrmann.

Technorati Tags: aids, chat, gay, gay.com, hiv, jason klemm

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Chat at 1:37 AM
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April 7, 2008

The REAL Eiffel Tower

Click on the picture for the full-sized version.

I’m listening to “Van Dyke Parks” from Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks.

Technorati Tags: eiffel tower, gay

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Gay at 12:18 PM
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Absolut pandering

Absolut is running this ad in Mexico. You can read about it at the LA Times. I’d be offended but, as one commenter said, “Can you imagine California if Mexico owned it? Even the Valley Girls would be illegally crossing the border into Missouri. I hate Cali, but nobody wants more Mexico. Even Mexicans, obviously.” Looks like the Mexicans don’t want Seattle either.

I’m listening to “Get On Our Own” from Another Music in a Different Kitchen by Buzzcocks.

Technorati Tags: immigration, absolut

Posted by HighStrungLoner in News? at 11:49 AM
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April 6, 2008

CHANGE

A HUGE thank you to The Crusher for this idea.

I’m listening to “Damaged Goods” from Entertainment by Gang of Four.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, chanel, election

Posted by HighStrungLoner in News? at 4:16 PM
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April 5, 2008

HOPE

I had to do it.

I’m listening to “Air” from Fear of Music by Talking Heads.

Technorati Tags: barack obama

Posted by HighStrungLoner in News? at 11:24 PM
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The gay Eiffel Tower

I’m listening to “Only One Winner” from Nazz III by The Nazz.

Technorati Tags: gay, online profiles

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Gay at 10:42 PM
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April 2, 2008

The Heathens

I’ve been in several bands in my life. My favorite, The Heathens, were together off and on for ten years. I always had incredible, almost paralyzing stage fright when I played onstage but never with The Heathens because I knew we were great. I joined the band on bass guitar after their singer and bass player left, fairly early in the band’s history. We played a set at WXPN studios during Michel Polizzi’s jazz show, of all places, in 1983. We did 13 songs in ten and a half minutes! Three of them are posted here:

We still sound pretty hair-raising but don’t worry, it’s only about a minute and a half total. I have no idea what the titles are. They had lyrics but we never did find anyone to sing them.

The Heathens also had two tracks on “GET OFF MY BACK” the Philly hardcore compilation from 1982. We also played a loft party that included the much-anticipated debut of Ruin who were never less than spectacular live.

So, it was me on Fender Mustang bass, the extremely glamorous B.A.L. Stack on guitar and Sky Kishlo on drums. B.A.L. was also in The Stick Men at the time, maybe the best band ever from Philly, and the amazing Wild Women of Wongo. (As you can see from the poster above, she had a busy night! That’s her in the center.) Sky is one of the best drummers I’ve ever heard. He’s currently playing with long-time Philly band King of Siam (They’re great! Check their myspace page for dates.) and was in Strapping Fieldhands. We also played together for a short time in Size Queen.

I’m so glad Sky gave me a copy of this stuff. I thought it was lost forever.

The picture in the poster above is from Wild Women of Wongo’s debut performance at a Performing Arts Festival in, get this, the Broad Street Subway concourse! (It smelled better then.) That’s the Spruce Street terminus of the concourse behind them. Wild Women of Wongo consisted of guys in loincloths drumming on whatever was available and women in Wilma Flintstone-like costumes doing fake “Jazz Dance.” They were incredible! The crowd loved them. SEPTA did not. They were the last to play and, had there been a plug to pull, SEPTA would have pulled it. Luckily for everyone they were unamplified—but still deafeningly loud—so the powers that be had no choice but to let them continue until they were done.

Good times.

Technorati Tags: music, philadelphia

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Music at 11:13 PM
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Man of the week

La Haine director Mathieu Kassovitz. He also appeared as an actor in Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

I’m listening to “You Don’t Send Me” from Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle & Sebastian.

Technorati Tags: film

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Men at 6:43 PM
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The Rock

This is fucking hilarious. I spotted it at 40th & Baltimore in Philly. If only Obama could do that thing with his eyebrow. (If you don’t get this at all, look here)

I’m listening to “Tell Me” from 100 Days, 100 Nights by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings.

Posted by HighStrungLoner in Philly at 6:33 PM
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