When the president of Sony Music called George Michael a faggot. read below George came back with thie video George Michael - Outside

When the president of Sony Music called George Michael a faggot.  

No one seems to remember the incident between George Michael and the president of Sony Music America.

I do.

George Michael set up a meeting with Tommy Mottola, then the Sony U.S. president. Michael by then had sold over 80 million records worldwide, reaping huge profits for the company.

Michael was not happy with how his new album was being marketed. Suddenly, from behind closed doors, the Sony staff could hear Mottola shouting: "Get this FAGGOT out of my office!" 

George left.  Mattola's homophobia shocked him.

Homophobia is at the root of this story -- internalized by George and practiced by Mottola. I was shocked when a Sony employee told me about this incident

He went back to England.  Sued Columbia and spent six years without a release in the US

Finally David Geffen signed him to his new label DREAMWORKS after settling the lawsuit which give Dreamworks all rights in the US  for a new George Michael album. A hit. George Michael was back on thr charts in the US ,

Than the arrest in a public bathroom on Sunset Bloavard in Beverly Hills. happened. A public bathroom that had been the frequent target of police entrapment of gay men.  The arrest made headlines across the world.

Michael (finally) came out.

He made this video celebrating human sexuality and vamping on cops who criminalize adult consensual acts.

Not much has changed when it comes to the corporate music industry.  They're happy to see their artists remain closeted and make them money.  (Look at hip-hop; kudos to Frank Ocean.) America is the worst, with its dishonest Puritan policing of adult sexuality.

Very sad to learn of George's passing.  But he stood up for himself after he was very publicly outed. Yes, he could have come out earlier -- but Mottola's action gives one insight into why he did not. I wish Elton talked about this part of Michaels's life. He knew about it, but has not...so far.

WOW ! Joey Arias and his jazz quartet at Rubin Atrium at Lincoln Center 12:22:16

A very good taste of what wowed me and Carol Lipnik and everyone else at Lincoln Center's Rubin Atrium at the free Holiday gift LC  and Joey gave to us ... Joey is everything a Jazz Diva should be .. oh my THANK YOU JOEY and the band Ben put together ,, keep them ...

I HATE THIS SEASON but LOVE The Dandy Warhols - Every Day Should Be A Holiday

I hate this time of year where love and respect is supposed to be expressed in the BUYING of gift .. So I welcome this song by the Dandy Warhols .. this is how I feel about resisting the assimilation of my culture and every day we find a way to resist the normalization of this nightmare I call the DT's is a HOLIDAY to me .. and to all the people I love and respect .. you make me feel alive when the zombies are stalking .. kisskiss ... so somebody tell where Courtney is today please? I bet Berlin!

WHY POP CULTURE MATTERS IN THE RESISTANCE TO THE TRUMP AGENDA

Recently there has been a lot of chatter on the Internet about how can we be thinking of awards when the "world is falling apart?"

And almost hysterical blindness to the role that popular culture plays in shaping the public's consciousness.

We now know the the dark side of "reality" television and the dumbing down of public discourse by reducing any real depth and/or nuance to a 140 character tweet.

Most of my political work has been in the area of popular culture .. the movies. books, musicin , theater we consume. I write about film in Jim Fouratt's Reel Deal : Movies that Matter and in music Listen Up or Radiosexbeat, not to alert you to the latest larger than life action film or fantasy animation film that has little to do with actual life itself, but to expose you to the creative work of artists looking at life and and trying to reflect back in narrative and documentary film and in popular music who we are today and how to regenerate hope in this moment of the depersonalization and at the same same time the heightening of a false sense of individualism. To eremind myself and you that the goal is the creation of market in this moment of the triumph of Capital.

I dto ry to get you to discover and support artist in your own community. Mine is New York City. Artists who are not afraid to speak their own inner truth. Here are some NYC people who I find doing the work an engaged artist should do: Penny Arcade, Justin Elizabeth Sayre, Pamela Sneed , Joseph Keckler, Jack Waters and Peter Cramer , Chavisa Woods, Steven Winter, Sarah Schulman, Toshi Reagon, Bonnie Feinberg, Karen Finley, Dane Terry, Tom Leger, Carol Lipnik , Margo Channing, Taylor Mac, Reno, Machine Dazzle, Amber Martin,Sam Green, Bizzy Berkley, Erin Markey, Shane O'Neill to name a few that don't get the just attention paid to Patti Smith or Bruce Springsteen, Common or Lady Gaga for example.

I asked you to support and attend the work being developed at places like La MaMa, Dixon Place, The Owl, Pangea, The Stone, Bowery Underground, Issues to name a few and the seemingly endless pop up venues all over Brooklyn and now Queens.

That I think is my job as a cultural critic: to make sure you know about events at Revolution Books or the Bureau of General Services, Queer Division, the Film Society of Lincoln Center etc etc etc ... I go and I hope to see each one of you there. When I had my own venues it was how I programed. With a conscious choice of relevance not to fame but to the intersection of art, creativity, survival and yes I will say it: JOY, erotic, spiritual and intellectual .

Now that I got that off my chest, let's look at why I think a discussion of awards and recognition for creative work is essential to keeping hope alive.


Movies : It really depends on what films are being given attention Has anyone besides me Did anyone besides me see Alex Gibney's ZERO DAYS?. About CYBER-WARFARE and the US role as the country leading the attack?

Or the British film "I, Daniel Blake" about what happens to an older worker who loses his job and can not find another one and faces the insensitivity of the "welfare " system to see him and help him?

Or "Moonlight" about the intersection between identity , family values and drug culture in a minority neighborhood? MOONLIGHT trailer

Or the Jessica Chastain political thriller "Miss Sloan" (about lobbyists in Dc and the revenge of corporate interest like the NRA when they don't get what they want?) Miss Sloan trailer

Or "Little Men" Little men trailer Ira Sachs' exposure of how gentrification and economic disparity affects not only neighborhoods but also families, friendship and neighborhoods. Or the documentary "13" 13 trailer Ava DuVernay’s documentary ab the US constitution and the reality of systemic racism in the US and the dignity of the oppressed ? Or "Trapped" Trapped trailer about the the fight of two separate older Southern women to keep open their abortion clinics open to give women the right to control their own bodies?

Or "I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO"

about James Baldwin

For example: Pop Culture can actually help us see the machinations of the Trump agenda. I believe it is in pop culture that the battle for the minds of the public is going on . Without the incisive humor of Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, the public's did not have their laser insights and acute ability to cut through fake news and political machinations to focus on the real issues. with an outrageous heightened sense of humor and satire during the last months of the presidential campaign.

I believe It is critical that we each educate ourselves in order to be able to sort through political spin, fake news etc and engage our friends in this conversation in the street, the lounge or over a good brew,


Who here has actually read the Wiki-Leak DNC or Podesta emails? I read as many as I could . And was shocked at the dirty playing at the highest level of the DNC to destroy Bernie Sanders , Yes, Sanders was the candidate I supported. When he was out of the running I endorse Clinton for one reason only : the Supreme Court . I suggest the contents of those emails are as important or maybe even more to understand how the DNC under Schultz with full complicity of the Clinton campaign undermined the Sanders campaign despite the fact that he actually won in those swing states like Wisconsin who would later vote Trump over Clinton.

But let me not point fingers now . We are here together I hope in resistance,

Much of the fog of hacking is a cover up for the actual content revealed to the American public , Why , when Trump called for hacking by Russia of Clinton's emails or called for someone to take Clinton out or chanted lock her up, did not the FBI arrested him for threatening a candidate or calling on foreign government to intervene in a democratic process? Where was the FBI? Or Obama's Attorney General? ..Why has not Giuliani's role in getting the FBI head to suggest in the last week of the campaign that Clinton had violated national security? No public official , certainly none of my State's (NY) elected officials called for the FBI or the Attorney General to intervene.

Please, don't get caught in the quicksand of who hacked as the most important and only question. ..Educate yourself on how the DNC undermined the political process and opened the door for Bannon types on hate radio and online posts to rally people to express legitimate anger and channeled that anger into a fear vote. Understand how the US, not Russians,has been the biggest user of CYBER-WARFARE . When all the cards are on the table .... than WE THE PEOPLE can begin to figure out how TOGETHER we can resist the Trump/Bannon agenda..

Remember : WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT .. and we need to learn how to row together, Remember: THE RIGHT TO BE DIFFERENT is a core American value .regardless of color, gender expression, sexual orientation, sex, ... etc.

Your turn

Do the Media Glamorize Drugs? Panelists discussed whether and how various media forms glamorize drug use and whether this affects personal behavior. There was also heated discussion over whether government policies can impact drug usage. They also took questions from the audience.

WOW .. look what I just found .. a discussion on Does the Media Glamorize Drugs. It took place,  not yesterday .. but it could have,  but 20 years ago in Washington DC and was broadcast on C-Span .. Beside me,  the panel included  the ever handsome and smart John Leland, John was the former Editor of Details and is now a New York Times reporter.. I was at the tiime  a Senior VP of A&R at Mercury Records..  It is really a smart discussion .. it took place in a Presidential campaign year and as I said, it could have been the same conversation in 2016

please give a listen .. and it gets better as it goes on .. do let me know what you think

https://www.c-span.org/video/?76281-1/media-glamorize-drugs

CRITICAL RESOURCES re hacking and Russians .. who did what and why

CRITICAL ALERT" Edward Snowden first interview in America after he fled took place at SXSW to an audience there for the tech part of SXSW .. GEEKS ..He choose to speak to people in the silicon valley community . I was privileged to be present. Why I post it now is because what he wanted to talk about was the responsibility of the Tech world to pay more attention to  protecting the privacy of the citizens of the United States .. I consider him an American Hero. Few in Washington DC felt the same way . Hillary Clinton called him a criminal. I suggest strongly you watch this talk and think about what he had to say  two and half years ago.

And the documentary Zero Hour (Short -list for this year's Academy Award  for documentary)  that puts into context how the US has led in the cyber warfare that the US public is just now becoming aware of .... it is on HBO . Watch it

and the Press Conference in Berlin that had the festival in an uproar... 

Final Gathering of 60's Anti-War tribe: Vietnam Power of Protest Tom Hay...

It was Tom Hayden's birthday last week. I wanted to share my last time I saw him in public.. his thoughts are relevant I think today: In a Gathering of this Anti-War tribe: Vietnam Power of Protest and what we learned, Tom Hayden gives the closing speech after a two day gathering of veterans of the Anti-war movement of the 60's Yes we and the Vietnamese people won. The war was finally stopped. The US was defeated, Here in his speech and in the many workshops of the conference much attention was placed on what this generation had learned from our activism them,to pass on to the younger movement emerging today like BLM On a personal note, Tom Hayden from the Point Huron statement which spark plugged Students for Democratic Society along with Carl Whitman' s GAY MANIFESTO written in the same period moved me into more conscious political understanding and cultural and political work. This was the last time I was with Tom in public , I am at an age when people die not of AIDS or OD's but of age related issues . A death like Tom's affects me differently A comrade falls and we are left to honor and continue the struggle not with the arrogance of age but with a continued compassion and desire for change.Tom opened his remarks saying "This may be the last time we gather as this group ,,,,,,, thank you Tom for living a very human life of positive revolution , I am committed to carrying it on .. give a listen ..,it's a good way to climb into that boat  there is space for all of us in all our differences as we stay visible opposing the DT takeover.