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Thursday, October 28, 2004 THIS IS WHAT I DID TODAY:3:30 am- i ate oatmeal, took a shower and dressed in my gray PRADA suit. i wear a suit to work everyday. 4:45 am- car service to MIX 102.7 fm. 5:00 am- arrived at WNEW, chatted with GINNY SANCHEZ and read the morning papers. 5:30 am- me, RICK, KIM, JUDY DeANGELIS, ANTHONY and BRANDI went on air with our show. 9:00 am- signed off and caught the subway home. 10:00 am- phone interview with a radio station in CHICAGO (i'll be there this weekend). 10:15 am- phone interview with a radio station in DENVER (i'll be there this weekend). 11:00 am- 12:30 pm- i took a nap (and boy,did that feel good!). 12:45 pm- made phone calls. 2:00 pm- recorded the song MY CONVICTION from HAIR for the ACTORS FUND BENEFIT ALBUM. 3:00 pm- i ran into CHI CHI LaRUE on the street and we spent the afternoon shopping together. 6:00 pm- came home and changed clothes. 7:oo pm- met MICHAEL ROARK for dinner. 8:00 pm- MICHAEL and i went to RHONDA ROSS' show at SWEET BASIL in THE VILLAGE. 10:00 pm- it's way past my bedtime and i gotta go to sleep. after the radio show in the morning, we fly out to DENVER for a gig the same night (CHICAGO will be the following night). . | Permalink Monday, October 25, 2004 THE BOSS' DAUGHTERSok, i'm really jet-hagged from the shows we did in TAMPA - FT. MYERS - NAPLES this pass weekend. i had a fantastic time, though. TIFFANI MIDDLESEXX & STEPHANIE SHIPPAE came to the TAMPA gig, and i was so happy to see them. i know TIFFANI from my ATLANTA days in the early 80's. i'm off to bed now (it's 10 til 9:pm) so i can wake up at 3:am for my daily morning drive radio show called RICKY & RU and the morning crew (MIX 102.7 FM). RHONDA ROSS and TRACEE ELLIS ROSS are coming up to the studio in the morning. they're coming to promote TRACEE'S sitcom GIRLFRIENDS and RHONDA'S nightclub revue, but they don't know that they'll be playing a game i came up with called THE DIANA ROSS TRIVIA EXTRAVAGANZA. let's just see how much they know about MAMA. . | Permalink Friday, October 22, 2004 CAMPUS REALNESSWorld of Wonder, an award winning documentary production company, is currently seeking M2F undergraduate college students of color (18-25) to participate in a documentary that is exploring transgendered individuals/communities on college campuses. We have been researching and developing the project for the Sundance Channel for a couple of months and have traveled to various campuses across the country. We have met some intriguing individuals who we will be profiling throughout the academic year, but are continuining to look for a couple of other individuals to share their experiences with us. Because we are already in production, and are looking to travel this coming weekend, we are eager to meet up with anyone who is interested in getting involved. I am happy to give more details about the project, so please feel free to contact me by e-mail at tsmothers@worldofwonder.net. Also, feel free to pass the note along to anyone you think might be interested as we are hoping to talk with anyone that might be interested this week. Look forward to hearing from you. Thairin Smothers 213-216-8488 . | Permalink Tuesday, October 19, 2004 What it Means to be StraightBy Crispin Sartwell, Chair of Humanities at the Maryland Institute College of Art Like a lot of the straight guys I know, I am a homophobe. I had that realization last week when a guy named Jake gave a presentation to a meeting I was in. I disliked him on sight, though he seemed perfectly nice. And I had the realization that I thought he was defectively gendered. He didn't walk right; he didn't sit right; he didn't talk right. I am not a fan of Jerry Falwell and Jesse Helms. I don't reject homosexuality on Biblical or in fact any other grounds. But I have a visceral reaction of hostility to men I perceive as gay. Homosexuality seems like a performance to me, whereas heterosexual masculinity seems natural. Now sometimes I suppose it's fair to say that homosexuality really *is* a performance. There's no doubt that Greenwich Village drag queens are at play in the fields of gender; that they're very purposefully trying to compromise the categories of male and female. And perhaps Jake, who seemed very androgynous (though in fact I don't know his sexual orientation) was consciously messing around with gender too. But the funny thing is, heterosexual masculinity is also a performance. My ways of walking and talking and dressing and sitting were things I actually remember choosing and learning in my adolescence. At the time when my own sexual identity was fluid, I consciously chose and performed heterosexuality. RuPaul is a performer of gender. But you know what? So is, let us say, Bruce Springsteen. The "plain" clothes (jeans and a white shirt) the studiously unkempt hair, the stage swagger: these are public performances of heterosexuality, no more "true" or "natural" than RuPaul's. In fact, the staging of heterosexual masculinity is extremely elaborate and takes a long time to learn. It is extremely elaborate performance that is supposed to be effortlessly natural. One is simply supposed to be heterosexual and masculine, effortlessly, by nature. But the repertoire of gestures and inflections that mark one as masculine are things that must be learned. Male effeminacy is threatening because it indicates that masculinity is optional, that it is a public performance. The attack on homosexuality has often taken the form of saying that heterosexuality is natural and homosexuality is unnatural. Heterosexuality is what mammals do in order to reproduce; homosexuality is just a distortion or a pathological state of the reproductive impulse. But in fact sexuality has many functions in mammalian life, including various kinds of partnership and bonding. As a philosopher, I have long argued that there is absolutely no defensible distinction between the natural and the artificial. Everything human beings do is perfectly natural: we can no more violate the laws of nature than can a squirrel. Our minds are natural objects. And, by the way, everything we do is also artificial, in the sense that it is something human beings do. Springsteen's outfits are no less artificial than RuPaul's: Springsteen also communicates an identity by his manner of dress. I say this as seriously as possible: natural and artificial are the same. And that's how I try to reason myself out of homophobia. That's how I stopped hating Jake. But it's a constant task, a constant discipline, because homophobia is built into the structure of heterosexual masculinity. thanks dustin. | Permalink Sunday, October 17, 2004 I CARRY ONi'm so very thankful for all the people who've bought my album. we've done very well, in spite of having little support at radio, and virtually no national TV exposure. once a week, i get an email saying "why don't you do ELLEN or REGIS & KELLY?". well, i usually don't respond to those emails because the answer to that question involves many different layers, including how show business works and the history of openly gay, black men who dress in drag in popular culture. bottom line, all the national shows passed on having me on to promote my new album (with much gratitude, i will appear on LIFE & STYLE on october 22). am i disappointed? yeah, a little, especially after i read that MASE (the bible thumping rapper) was scheduled to appear on ELLEN last week. does she owe me anything just because she's queer? absolutely not. doing what i do for a living has never been easy. i've had to fight countless battles in this game that the public has no idea ever happened. the biggest challenge has always been other people's judgment of men who use femininity as a palette. that was the focal point of the NYU conference i attended last week on the legendary singer SYLVESTER. it's fucked up how history remembers the contributions made by people of color, even worst for gay people of color. we must tell our own story for the generations that follow. US WEEKLY said they didn't have interest in reviewing my album, but would i consider joining there line-up for FASHION POLICE. no, thank you. that's like telling a black person that they're not welcome at the all-white party, unless they clear the table and wash the dishes. the message is: my only importance is how i can compliment their straight life...i.e. QUEER EYE... yet, we're all subjected to every riveting twist and turn of JESSICA SIMPSON'S fascinating life. none of this is new or unexpected. in fact, it all makes me even more proud of the achievements i've made thus far. don't get it twisted... i will press on. . | Permalink Sunday, October 03, 2004 Dear RuPaul,I purchased "RuPaul Red Hot" at Best Buy, Comstock Park (Grand Rapids area, Michigan). I searched TicketMasters website for performance listings for you, unfortunately i could not find any. Any plans to come to Detroit this fall for performance? Im glad you liked Boston area. I was just there myself last weekend for the first time. Ive started dating a really cool guy who lives about 1/2 hr west of there. Have any singles been released from the new cd yet, if so, where online can i buy them? Thanks. =-) David kiddo, thank you for buying my new CD. i really appreciate your support. there is a list of tour dates on the MUSIC NEWS page of my website. as of this writing, there is nothing booked for DETROIT, but keep checking my website because i will fall through the MOTOR CITY sooner or later. i am booked in CHICAGO on OCT. 31st and maybe a CD signing there on the 30th. the current single from the album is "looking good, feeling gorgeous". the album version and the remixes are available on iTUNES and NAPSTER. in fact, you can download the whole album on iTUNES for $9.99, which is great for people outside the U.S.A. (where i don't have distribution yet). david, thanks again and enjoy, rupaul. here are some of the stores you can pick up "RuPaul Red-Hot!": TOWER, BEST BUYS, FYE, WALMART, K-MART, VIRGIN, BORDERS, SAM GOODY, COCONUTS. and you can order it from my website or AMAZON.COM. . | Permalink 2009 RuCo, Inc.—All Rights Reserved |
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