Random Friday Thoughts — June 10, 2022

Hope your June is off to a great start as we’re already one-third of the way through it.

Have a fantastic weekend and thank you for checking out my random thoughts.

BREAKING NEWS….

CNN reports that President Biden is expected to announce Friday (June 10) the CDC “will end COVID-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the country”.

This will go into effect midnight Sunday for U.S. bound flights.

Interestingly, I blogged about wanting this policy dropped just four weeks ago! And, it was just earlier this week that I tweeted the President, the White House, and the CDC! 🙂

I know this has nothing to do with the change, but it feels nice to think you might be heard!

GUNS! GUNS! GUNS!

It’s now been just over two weeks since an 18-year-old with no criminal record and no documented mental illness killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

His shooting spree also injured 18 others (fifteen students, two police officers, and his grandmother at home).

Since then, there have been more than three dozen mass shootings in the U.S.!!!

Democrats are screaming tougher gun control and Republicans want more done about mental illness. Well, both are right. But, nothing gets done from either side of the aisle with just talk, talk, talk and soundbites!

About gun control, I don’t want your damn guns. But, I don’t think civilians should have access to Glocks or AR-15-style rifles, which the National Rifle Association calls, “America’s rifle”! How sweet!

Just think of how many more mass shootings have been added to that list!

LET’S TALK MENTAL ILLNESS…

Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter worked hard to bring mental health issues to the forefront.

President Jimmy Carter signed the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 into law in October, a month before the 1980 presidential election.

Ronald Reagan, seven months after taking office, signed The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 into law.

This repealed most of the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980!

ENTERTAINMENT & MASS SHOOTINGS

In the wake of the Texas school shooting, CBS pulled the season four finale of “FBI” because the storyline involved a suspected student’s participation in a deadly robbery.

This has happened many times in the past.

I was a huge fan of NBC’s “Hannibal”. In the spring of 2013, show producer Bryan Fuller decided to pull the original “fourth” episode of the first season, “Oeuf”, most likely because of the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting in December 2012. 

In this episode that aired in international markets and on streaming services, Molly Shannon plays the “criminal of the week”, a teacher who brainwashes foster kids into killing other kids and their old families.

At the time, my problem with this was that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings took place almost five months earlier. If the producers were that uneasy about the theme of this episode, they knew that back then and could have done some editing or re-shoots to maintain continuity in the show! 

I guess it worked out for them. I ended up buying the season one DVD just to see that missing episode!

“QUEER AS FOLK”

The eight-episode reboot of “Queer As Folk” debuted on Peacock Thursday.

I watched the first episode and it’s incredible. I loved the LGBTQ+ and racial representation that the two original versions lacked! I’ll be watching the rest of it this weekend.

Did you watch the 10-episode U.K. original in 1999-2000 with a very young Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy)?

Or, the five-season, 83 episode, U.S. version on Showtime from 2000-2005. (I watched the first few seasons of the U.S. version and finally caught the U.K. version.)

Okay, I digress.

I’m mentioning the new reboot for three reasons — it’s Pride month, it’s new programming, and because the storyline revolves around a Pulse nightclub-like shooting and rebuilding a community after a tragedy.

What are your thoughts on when entertainment is a little too close to reality?

DOING A DOUBLE TAKE!

Okay, let’s lighten the mood!

I posted my senior picture from high school last week on Facebook and I had someone say I looked like a young Keanu (Reeves). When I was younger, I heard that a few times — and thank you! 🙂

A few weeks back, my friend, Steve, sent me a photo and at first glance, I thought, when was that taken and who are those men?

Well, I clicked on it and realized it wasn’t me. Well, unless I’m a really young and muscular, sexy, porn star! (Or, so I’m told that he’s in the adult film industry!)

We sure like that high hair! 🙂 This was on my first trip to Vegas in the early-1990s!

THE PICK TO PLAY MADONNA

It looks like Ozark’s Julia Garner will be playing Madonna in the new movie following the early years of the icon’s life!

“What are you looking at? / Strike a pose / Strike a pose / Vogue (vogue, vogue)”

WHY THE RAINBOW FLAG?

When the LGBTQ movement took off in the 1970s, there was no widely accepted symbol.

Some used the Greek symbol for lambda, but not many knew what it meant. Others want to use the pink triangle, which is how gays during the Holocaust were branded. Yet, people that was too bleak.

Gilbert Baker decided to make a new symbol for the movement and debuted the rainbow flag at San Francisco Pride on June 25, 1978.

While there have been variations of the flag since then, six colors are readily acceptable today on most rainbow flags.

Baker’s original flag had eight colors.

“FIRE ISLAND”

I’ve never been to Fire Island and I’ll probably never go. If I could travel back in time and know then what I know now, I’d love to be there back in the late-1970s and early-1980s during my teenage years.

This Pride month, Hulu is offering a new LGBTQ movie following a group of friends heading to the gay mecca for what could be their last time together there.

The biggest names in the movie are comedian Margaret Cho, “Saturday Night Live” breakout star Bowen Yang, and Conrad Ricamora from “How To Get Away With Murder”.

While the movie is a romantic-comedy, it’s more of a buddy movie. It’s about friends looking out for each other and fighting for each other when the going gets tough.

And, it’s about flaunting what you’ve got.

After a sluggish start, the movie found its footing and ended up being enjoyable, even if the ending wasn’t all that believable!

It was great seeing very sexy Ricamora again (I’d so date him and his character) and the very adorable Charles Scully (“You”). And, “Fire Island”, thank you for introducing me to Zane Phillips and Miss Peppermint!

GRADE: B

MISS PEPPERMINT, “IF” YOU’RE NASTY

Okay, I had heard of Miss Peppermint before “Fire Island”.

Earlier this spring to celebrate Janet’s birthday (Miss Jackson if you’re nasty”), Peppermint released an incredible remake of “If”.

“If” reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1993. It’s still one of my all-time favorite Janet songs!

Here’s the original video.

And, I saw Janet on her “Unbreakable World Tour” in October 2015 in Omaha. Here’s some of “If” live!

SAL MINEO

Most people, if they remember Sal Mineo, know him from “Rebel Without A Cause” from 1955.

After just turning 17-years-old, in 1956, Mineo became the second youngest to get an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for “Rebel”.

Sal was nominated again in 1961 in the Best Supporting Actor category for “Exodus” — becoming the youngest actor, at that time, to have two nominations.

And, some might remember him as the actor stabbed to death outside his apartment in early 1976 after returning home from theatre practice with less than $22 in his pocket and a cupcake he’d bought for his dinner!

I recently read two books about the actor. He was much more successful than he’s remembered for!

Michael Gregg Michaud’s “Sal Mineo: A Biography” (2010) was a great book.

One of my favorite tidbits was a conversation between two of Sal’s girlfriends.

Susan Ladin told Jill Haworth: “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be the first Mrs. Mineo”. And Jill replied, “If it wasn’t for Bobby Sherman, you’d be the second Mrs. Mineo”. (Jill told the author that she walked in on Mineo and Sherman having sex ending her sexual relationship with Sal.)

The other book was by a writer that claims to have had ongoing sexual encounters with Mineo.

Here are some revelations from H. Paul Jeffers’ 2000 book, “Sal Mineo: His Life, Murder, and Mystery”.

While many thought that James Dean was having an affair with both of his co-stars from “Rebel Without A Cause” Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood, Mineo denies they had sex.

In 1973, Jeffers claims Sal told him, “If I’d understood back then that a guy could be in love with another one, it would have happened. But I didn’t come to that realization for a few more years, and then it was too late for Jimmy and me.”

DON JOHNSON & SAL MINEO

Also, from Jeffers book….

Future “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson acted in a 1969 Los Angeles theatrical production directed by Mineo. It was a gay-themed prison drama with nudity and Mineo’s character raping Johnson’s much younger character.

A few years later, in 1973, Johnson said, “Basically, I guess I’m an exhibitionist. I’m very proud of my body. I’m pleased with the way I look and the way I carry myself. I feel that it’s all there to be used — the looks and everything else. Some people have great minds, and they were given them for a reason. I have never been accused of having a great mind, but I do have my looks.”

Johnson lived with Mineo at the time and there were rumors that they were lovers.

Johnson says, “Of course there were some wild stories that went down because of us, which was fine, because they helped sell a lot of tickets. And there have been some outrageous stories about us! God, God, God!”

SUMMER BREAK

Like those that have the summer off, I’m taking a late spring break.

I hope it’s a nice one for you and I’ll be back soon with more random thoughts.

Bon Appetit this Pride Month!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony

Random Friday Thoughts — June 3, 2022

June is here! While the calendar says it’s still spring, “meteorological summer” started June 1st, and Memorial Day weekend is the “unofficial” start to summer.

Thank you for taking the time to check out my random thoughts. Have a great month ahead and be proud. I am 365 days a year!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

Cheers queers and cheers to all of my “straight, but not narrow” friends.

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Pride every June (some hotter places celebrate it in the cooler months of fall)? It all goes back to the “Summer of ’69”! Now, that should be a song!

Well, we owe a big thanks to the queens that stood up for what would be the forebearer of LGBTQ+ rights and gay pride!

Back in the day, gay bars weren’t popular like they were pre-pandemic. Those “safe havens” catering to the gay community were often targeted and harassed by police. 

“The Stonewall Inn”, a bar on Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, was owned by the Mafia.  Its clientele were the poor and those that faced rejection by a majority of society.

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, plainclothes policemen, uniformed police officers, and detectives arrived at the bar and yelled, “Police!  We’re taking the place!”

Well, one thing led to another. When an officer shoved a drag queen and she hit him on the head with her purse, the mood changed and people started throwing beer bottles. Word spread that people inside the bar were being beaten by police.

Within six months of that police raid on the bar, which became known as “The Stonewall Riots”, two gay activist groups were formed, and one year later, gay pride festivals were held for the first time in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

If you want more than just that little soundbite version of “Stonewall”, here’s the original blog I posted almost ten years ago. Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 53 years now!

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/push-comes-to-shove-43-years-ago-the-stonewall-riots/

“COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RIOTS”

And, let’s not forget about the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district three years before Stonewall.

This restaurant was a popular hangout for transgender women and drag queens. Sadly, even gay bars weren’t very welcoming to trans women and Compton’s was a place where they could meet publicly.

In August 1966, police were called because the women and the drag queens were becoming unruly. After roughhousing from police, a trans woman threw a cup of coffee in an officer’s face.

At that point, the place “erupted”. Sugar shakers, tables, and chairs were thrown, the front glass window was shattered, and the violence moved into the streets on the first night.

Even some San Francisco police said “unnecessary violence” was used by the department.

“LOGICAL FAMILY”

Armistead Maupin is one of my favorite authors and one of the leading advocates in the LGBTQ community. Yes, there were trailblazers before him and many came after him.

However, by bringing his “Tales of the City” adventures to readers of the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970s, he showed them that we’re just like everyone else. Take that Anita Bryant! (Yes, she’s still alive!)

Since Pride month is here, I want to talk about his beautiful 2017 memoir, “Logical Family”.

You probably figured out what he means by “logical family”, but Maupin says, “Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us. We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives.”

The book covers his conservative upbringing in North Carolina, his “discovery” that he was different, his military service in Vietnam, and his adventures once he moved to San Francisco.

I really loved the story of his history with the virulent homophobe that hired him for his first television job in North Carolina and how one day Armistead would publicly attack this man’s hateful antigay and anti-HIV politics in his home state at Pride.

Yes, that hateful man was none other than five-term U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, who served from 1973-2003.

I also loved his stories about Bryant, his FW (occasional) B relationship with Rock Hudson, and why he “outed” Hudson as gay when it was revealed he had AIDS.

And, there’s there’s the funny story about finding chewing gum on his pants during a meeting! That’s not the kicker. The kicker is what he did on his lunch break and how the gum got there! 😉

“TALES OF THE CITY”

Maupin’s “Tales of the City”, which aired on PBS in the U.S., is still one of my favorite miniseries and my favorite book series of all time.

I watched it for the first time, in early 1994, as I was getting ready to make my big move to Chicago from small town Kentucky — just like Mary Ann Singleton did in the series, moving from Cleveland to San Francisco! 

And, I was just as naïve as Mary Ann, too, also thirty years ago!

Yes, that’s a very youthful Laura Linney in the early-1990s!

If you’ve never read the nine-book series or watched the first three series, “Tales of the Cities”, “More Tales of the City”, and “Further Tales of the City”, and 2019’s Netflix “Tales of the City”, please do so.

So enjoyable! I’m going to read the books and watch it again!

“THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN”

And, there’s a documentary on the incredible man, too!

THANK YOU ARMISTEAD!

In a 2014 blog, I praised the author and activist for inspiring me to try one more time to kick off my television weather and news career in 1996.

At the time, I wrote, “Armistead, thank you for giving this small-town Kentucky boy the motivation and the courage to move to Chicago just four months shy of my 30th birthday, just as you allowed Mary Ann Singleton to leave Cleveland, Ohio, for San Francisco.“

Here’s Laura Linney as Mary Ann Singleton in the 1994 “Tales of the City” miniseries, almost 25 years before Ozark’s incredible Wendy Byrde!

Click here if you want to read that blog about my inspiration (it should open in a new window):

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/armistead-maupin-thank-you-for-motivating-me/

Here’s Armistead and his husband, Christopher Turner. They still live in San Francisco.

Oh, by the way, Happy Belated Birthday Armistead!

“SUMMER OF ’69”

Since I mentioned the Stonewall Riot and the “Summer of ’69”, why not share the incredible hit song from one of our LGBTQ allies.

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams cancelled a concert in Mississippi in 2016 over an anti-gay discrimination bill.

“Summer of ’69” was Adams’ seventh hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #5 in 1985.

Now, in full disclosure, Adams isn’t perfect.

As the COVID-19 pandemic was sweeping the world in the spring of 2020, he made a very racist social media post about having to cancel his shows.

He blamed it on “some fucking bat eating, wet market animal selling, virus making greedy bastards”!

He apologized for his insensitive comment and the post was deleted.

“THE REACH OF A CHEF”

Last week, I posted a few interesting things from Michael Ruhlman 2006 “The Reach of a Chef”. Here are a few more just about my favorite city, Las Vegas.

When Vegas became a hot spot for famous chefs to open restaurants in casinos and hotels, the money started rolling in.

Rob Valentino, then president of the Venetian, which features many famous chef-fronted eating establishments, told Ruhlman that in 2005, they did $175 million in restaurant sales and another $100 million in banquet and bar sales.

Valentino says, “I don’t know another hotel in the world that does $300 million dollars in food and beverage.” On top of that, the casino and hotel brought in another $1.2 billion (that’s billions with a “B”), for a total of $1.5 billion!

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!

Here’s my favorite picture from the last Chicago Pride I attended. I can’t believe it’s been ten years!

THAT’S IT

With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!

Anthony