The Day I Got Schooled by a Tony-Winning Diva Backstage at the Tonys

In 2004, I was fortunate enough to be on the Tonys with the cast of Fiddler on the Roof. It was a moment in my life I’ll never forget, for many reasons. One of those reasons is because I got a smackdown by a Broadway diva and Tony winner.

Randy Graff was playing Golde to Alfred Molina’s Tevye in that production and it just so happened that I was standing next to her backstage at Radio City during a Tony rehearsal. It was the same year that Wicked opened and while we were waiting in the wings, Idina was singing Defying Gravity. I thought she sounded a little rough around the edges and for some reason I felt compelled to share that opinion with Randy. She was having none of me. She turned to me, annoyed, and [continue reading...]

June 6, 2015
Arts & Entertainment, Inside Voice
No comment

Episode III: What Did…I Do?

Zap!

Ow!

Oh, come on! Stop it, pixie Valerie Perrine! I’m getting married. Can’t we do this later?!?!?

She smacked me hard across the face.

Whap!!!

Get it together, she scolded.

I was suddenly über-conscious of the fact that I was standing before friends and family, witnesses. I wondered, are they witnessing this?

Frantically searching the room I found only gentle smiles, soft tears, long-time couples holding hands, welcoming us into the fold. But not a concerned face to be found. Nothing.

I checked back in with my very-soon-to-be husband. Using his eyes again as anchor, safe, and compass, I regained my balance, placed myself in context, took a deep breath. A wedding. My wedding. Guests. Nausea. Breath. He, too, registered nothing of my experience. Shaking my head vigorously, I Etch-a-Sketched away the bad dream and questioned the intelligence of getting stoned and falling into a Village People [continue reading...]

January 26, 2015
Arts & Entertainment, Current Events/Pop Culture/Politics, Featured Posts, Uncategorized
No comment

Episode II: Do You, Magnus…

I have found asylum in your eyes. They swirl like warm cigar smoke and when the world is too much I curl up in their curls. I wonder if you see me differently through each pattern. If I change as you change. I wonder. I know you have unanswered questions about me too, for it’s our mysteries as much if not more than our compatibilities that accounts for our electricity.  And it is our electricity that has led us here, to trade I for we. Officially. Legally. Eternally.

I love you. That’s all I know. I love you. I want you by my side as my unknowns become known. And I want to stand by you as you experience the same thing. That’s it. It’s so simple. That is the entire scope of my dream: that we should discover this life together.

I found this recently, crumpled in the back [continue reading...]

January 19, 2015
All, Arts & Entertainment, Featured Posts, Uncategorized
No comment

Episode I: Another Coming Out

I don’t remember it all that well.
It’s hazy.
Comes in waves, like heat off a desert highway.
It doesn’t feel real. Or like it happened to me.
These are the lies I tell. The lies that have assumed the shape of truth. I’ve tried telling the truth, but have been greeted with skepticism. A furrowed brow. A tilted head. A voice that pitches up or eyes that narrow slightly. All tells of doubt. Doubt of the veracity of my story. A refusal to take my word for it and a need to dig further. For years I feared the digging. Feared what it would mean for me ~ for those implicated ~ for my LGBT brothers and sisters. So I lied. 
What are you talking about??? Such conspiracy theories. About me?!?? Please!
But I don’t want to lie anymore. Can’t hide. I came out of one closet only to find myself in another. But a [continue reading...]

January 10, 2015
All, Arts & Entertainment, Featured Posts, Uncategorized
No comment

The War Against (Jewish) Christmas

There’s a war going on alright. And it is, in fact, a war against tradition ~ a Christmas tradition. But it’s not a war that Fox News is going to cover.  I’m speaking, of course, of the war on Jewish Christmas.

Everyone knows that Christmas is the day Jews make a pilgrimage to the best Chinese food restaurants. (Yes, the best. Greasy Kung Pao? We’re never coming back. My people don’t play when it comes to Chinese food.) Once we’ve consumed 14,000 calories (most of that in the Shrimp Fried Rice ~ don’t judge ~ keeping kosher “in the house” is another fine tradition), we make our way to the movies. It’s a day Jews spend together that dates back thousands of years. Or maybe just 20 or 30. And maybe it’s really just an American Jewish [continue reading...]

December 24, 2014
All, Arts & Entertainment, Current Events/Pop Culture/Politics, Inside Voice, Uncategorized
No comment

Middle-Aged Gay Lip Syncs Taylor Swift

You know what you should be doing right now?

Right now you should be getting down to this. sick. beat.

Enjoy.

 

 

 

Middle-Aged Gay Lip Syncs Taylor Swift from Roger Ian Rosen on Vimeo.

November 3, 2014
All, Arts & Entertainment
No comment

Jack McFarland Is a Faggot and So Am I

Several times a week people tell me I look like Sean Hayes. The conversation usually goes something like this:

Random person: You remind me of that guy from Will & Grace.

Me: Sean Hayes? (Blank stare.) Jack? Just Jack! (I make Just Jack hands.)

Random person: Yeah. No offense.

No offense.

It’s always there.

Why?

Let’s break it down into two parts, shall we?…(click to read the full post of VillageQ.)

August 30, 2014
Arts & Entertainment, Current Events/Pop Culture/Politics, Featured Posts, Inside Voice
No comment

Laurie Beechman ~ The Music That Makes Me Dance

A little Sunday morning star making song performed by a star gone too soon brought to you by Laurie Beechman.

 

 

 

 

June 23, 2013
All, Arts & Entertainment
No comment

Side Show ~ Alice Ripley & Emily Skinner

A little Sunday morning incredible brought to you by Alice Ripley & Emily Skinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 23, 2013
All, Arts & Entertainment
No comment

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic

A little Saturday morning mad funk brought to you by George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic.

 

 

 

 

June 22, 2013
All, Arts & Entertainment
No comment