You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2007.
this weekend is glbt pride in the twin cities and for the first time since i came out all those years ago, i won’t be here to celebrate. i will be directing a show in victoria, british columbia.
as much as i’m extradinarily humbled to be gay in 2007 and able to be out and live a comforatable life, as some of you know - i struggle with where i fit in the gay world. that said, it still bum’s me out that i won’t be here to be “out and proud”.
i don’t have a clue where the next year is going to take me (the journey is the fun), but as i look back on the last year i have some thoughts:
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to james; thank you for opening me up to the possibility again…
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to chris; thank you for making me see the humor in being gay and to take things light…
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to ray and jeremy; for always being there and showing me it can work…
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to jen; for showing me the beauty in life and the passion in all…
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to amy; for the music and your smile…
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to scott; for always being there. always…
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to ax and jerry; agian, it can work. you guys are proof…
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to jason; my new gay brother - thanks for the beer and being there to listen…
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to alexander; for always showing the “goods” - woof…
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to brian; for whimsy. life is better with whimsy…
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to all the gay bloggers out there (with a hat tip to tacnik and tugboat); you impress and challenge me to do better. thank you…
an important thank you to stacey, hammer, wendy, greg & bill - you may be straight but your certainly not narrow. you’ve been with me for years - always supporting, always challenging and always there. i wouldn’t be half the man i am without you in my life. thank you for helping me on my journey.
happy pride everyone!
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqlrHgrSgc]
watch.
act.
it’s that simple and easy.
(if the above does not work; please cut and paste this address into your browser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqlrHgrSgc)
it was bound to happen, this weekend i got a speeding ticket. it was justified. couldn’t argue it a bit. still sucks tho’. i’ll be the first to say that i’m a bit of a speeder (tho’ i’ll argue anyone’s point that i’m a bad driver - i’m actually quite good…defensive driver too), but it still sucks to get caught don’it?
on the whole it was a good experience tho’ - the cop was respectful and even nice (tho’ not to cute, damn) - he even bumbed me down to the lower fine category. nice.
other than that, work is ramping up huge, on top of that i started planning for the red ribbon ride in ernest this week + i’m leaving for a show in victoria british columbia on friday. not much kyle time for sure.
on monday night i joined james and his friend bridget for the bravery show at the varsity theater in minneapolis. i didn’t know much about the bravery, but it was a great show - and it was nice to see james for a bit.
as a tribute to stageright…stageleft (former blog for new readers), here are a couple of my world famous cell phone concert pics from the show (course, they’re more stage center but just deal). i just loves me some highly saturated over-exposed photography:
it’s as if i died and went to heaven…
i tend to like lazy weekends. they are my preference. and more often than not, my reality.
however, some cosmic aligning of the stars is happening even as you read and i’m busy as fuck.
friday night i had the most amazing dinner with my good friend stacey at the posh cafe lurcat. the company that owns lurcat is one of the premier caterer’s in the twin cities and as such, i use them a lot. very nicely, they gave me a gift card for a nice amount to thank me for our business. can i just say that it’s a lovely experience to be able to go out for a great dinner (including tasty kobe beef, which ain’t cheap) and not even consider money even a little bit? now, i’m not rich, but i’m certainly not poor and i do try to live within some sort of a budget - but damn, you gotta love not sweating the almighty $ to enjoy some drinks and a great meal.
yesterday i had more work done on the neverending tattoo (i can see the light at the end of the tunnell tho’ thank god)… this time we were working on the inner arm near the elbow. the area, well let’s just say, feels a bit like raw meat today. to the eight auspicious symbols, the blowing lotus and cherry blossom flowers and the tibetan prayer flags already etched in my arm, we added a vajra (a tool that symbolically destroys all kinds of ignorance, and itself is indestructible). check it out:
then last night, i had dinner with scott and saw the fantastic 4; rise of the silver surfer. according to the movie’s own press, they realized they fucked up the first one and wanted to fix this one and make a movie the fan’s would like. well, in my opinion, they failed again. it was just poorly made, thudding dialogue, bad acting. the special effects were great of course, and chris evan’s, well he’s just hot and so much fun to watch - but the movie on a whole sucked. don’t waste your time or money.
the best part of the movie? the brand-spankin’ new harry potter and the order of the pheonix trailer. i love the books so much and phoenix is definatly one of my favorites. july is going to be a great month; first the movie and then the final book. i’m so excited to see how they translate that book to screen - if the trailer is any hint, they did a great job…
today, i’m off to the stone arch festival of the art’s where smartcar is showing (and more importantly allowing test drives) - i’m anxious to finally try one of these cars. i love going to europe and seeing all the smartcar’s. they’re stylish and most importantly, super eco-friendly.
then off to mom’s to help her for a bit.
then i have a meeting regarding ceremonies for the red ribbon ride.
then tonight, cb arrives for his job interview - dinner & drinks with him.
whew, i’m tired just typing it all out. 
today marks the 20th anniversary of my all time favorite pet shop boys song; ‘it’s a sin’.
from allmusic:
Starting with a bombastic series of orchestral stabs fading into a dramatic yet soothing combination of organ, wordless choirs, and random samples, “It’s a Sin” is the Pet Shop Boys at their most self-consciously theatrical and huge… …. ”It’s a Sin” is strident and cutting through and through….There’s no questioning the cool outrage Tennant felt over his strict Catholic upbringing, though, which underpins the song. Samples from church services and Latin masses crop up throughout, even as Tennant sums up the hard balance of desire and guilt tormenting his character: “Father forgive me/I tried not to do it/Turned over a new leaf/Then tore right through it.”
and how over the top is this? brilliant i say!
my god i feel old.
if
a) you enjoy seeing the odd public display of male nudity
b) you enjoy seeing vaugly homoerotic displays by british rugby players
c) you enjoy the cutting-edge expose work of british tv reporters
i urge you to visit this blog: pragmatist.
warning - if you answered no to the above questions, you certainly should not click on the above link. and for god’s sake; this is so nsfw!
with that said - all i gotta add is damn! woof!
ummm… for the record, i’m a pretty kick-ass guy. even if life/the universe doesn’t always agree with that (fuckin’ life).
as such, if anyone is willing, there is a lovely website that specializes in selling direct-from-soundboard recordings of peter gabriel concerts. these are non-edited, source master recordings of every peter gabriel concert for the past few years (including his current european tour). in case you didn’t notice the link above, here it is again, and again. oh, it’s important to note, each of these concert cd’s are only $30. 30 smackers. 30 washington’s. cheap.
too make up for life/universe blunder’s of not always being good to me - it would be super-duper if you good folks would go out and purchase said peter gabriel recordings as a lovely little prezzie for me. maybe all my readers could pool their moolah and buy the box set (the basic set would be fine, no need for the extravagent set). receiving a cd or two would point out how wrong life/the universe is and restore the kick-assness of yours truly.
again, to recap; i’m a kick-ass guy - life/universe doesn’t always agree (fuckin’ life/universe can get bent) - peter gabriel soundboard recordings - cheap!
go forth and purchase (if ya need my address, i can certainly help you with that! :))…
cheers!
well it’s back and another hour of my life will be sucked away weekly by watching the tasty top chef.
the first episode is over and it looks like it’s gonna be a fun season of cooking (tho’ not much drama… yet). without a doubt, this show makes me wanna be a chef. there’s such an art to great cooking - tho’ i certainly don’t have the palette for it, afterall i’m happy with pizza rolls most days.
couple of the chef’s are awful cute too - but non can hold a candle to head judge tom colicchio’s - he’s just about the sexiest thing on tv… sure he’s not chris evan’s hot, but he makes up for it with intellect, wit and that fuckin’ smart-ass grin.
unrelated, i’m super excited - friday night i’m having dinner with my good friend stacey at lurcat - a pretty great joint here in minneapolis. i’m psyched for the good food + stacey and i haven’t hung out in like forever. should be a great night.
these are things bouncing around in my consciousness today:
less than excited: the new version of the classic transformer’s theme song (updated by mute math) is up on the band’s myspacepage. it’s interesting. not quite as exciting as i’d have hoped (kinda generally how i feel about the trailers for the film i’ve seen thus far - nothing to get to excited about).
super excited:today mark’s the 25th anniversary of the cult-classic film grease 2 starring the amazing michelle pfeiffer, the hunky maxwell caulfield and the atrocious adrian zmed. there are two categories of people; those that love this movie (such as yours truly) and those that don’t. those that don’t are just plain wrong.
yes, the movie is flawed (like citizan kane is perfect - bah!), but it’s so bloody campy it’s near perfect in my view.
in the word’s of the stunning stephanie zinone (pfeiffer) who hasn’t wanted to break into song and sing “i want a whole lot more than the boy next door. i want hell on wheels” at the top of their lungs? i know i have!
super duper excited: this photo:
is still fucking amazing.
marginally excited: knocked up, the new film from the makers of the 40 year old virgin is a good flick, but could have certainly waited for the dvd… just sayin’.
that’s all folks
hi all. long time no talk (well, in any substative way)…
been a little nuts at work as of late, but luckily the event i was planning for this coming wednesday was just pushed out until the fall so a bit of relief.
‘course, that doesn’t negate all the other stuff i’m working on/producing:
- sales meeting for our global sales force in early july
- ceremonies producer for the red ribbon ride
- hair show in san francisco at the end of july
- 5 regional sales meetings for our retail store division beginning in mid august and running through the end of september
- our annual flagship hair show in minneapolis at the end of august
- 5 more hair shows between september and october
i’m a busy little beaver arn’t i!? i’m tired just looking at my to-do list.
other than that, things have been pretty good - james and i had a great weekend of hanging out, renting movies as well as seeing ‘knocked up‘ (good flick, more of a rental) and generally bumming around.
more later…
just a lil’ pop! diversion for your saturday afternoon…. if ever there was a doubt kelly was the best angel alone (the hair alone!) this proves it!
for james:
so last night - as i’m sure your sick of hearing me talk about - james and i saw the amazing johnette napolitano show at the varsity theater in dinkytown, minneapolis. all i can say is abso-fucking-lutely a brilliant show. it was johnette and her guitar, no f/x, no pomp, no circumstance - just a great singer in a intimate venue. fuckin’ excellent. she played the hits (joey, an acapella tomorrow wendy) as well as a few suprises (including one of my all time favorite tunes (and exceedingly hard to find) ”souvenier” by her other band, pretty & twisted). i snapped the below pics during the show (as well as the you tube video at the bottom of the page):
i’m not 100% behind barack obama for president (truth be told i’m still sorting out the dem’s field of candidates), but that said this is a pretty strong check mark in the yes category for me:
Obama Statement on Pride Month
| June 01, 2007
CHICAGO , IL– U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement to commemorate Pride Month.
“Pride Month is a reminder that while we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do.”
“Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
“It’s time to turn the page on the bitterness and bigotry that fill so much of today’s LGBT rights debate. The rights of all Americans should be protected — whether it’s at work or anyplace else. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” needs to be repealed because patriotism and a sense of duty should be the key tests for military service, not sexual orientation. Civil unions should give gay couples full rights. And those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”
“This Pride Month, let’s make our founding promise of equality a reality for every American.”
the above, taken directly from his website.
dear j.,
as near as i can tell, it’s been about 5 years since we went our separate ways. yet, here we are all these years later and rare is the day that you don’t cross my mind at least once.
in fact you’ve been in my mind much more as of late; of course, some of that can be attributed to my recent trip to phoenix - i don’t know, do you even live there any longer? i don’t mind telling you i was a bit trepidatious heading to your city - what would we say to each other if we ran into each other? of course the chances of running into you are a hundred to one, but really, the net of it is i miss you.
i just woke up from a dream that featured you. it was very nice and comforting. it makes me miss you even more.
so i’m not even sure what ever happened between us. of course, your relationship with b took some of the energy, and i expected that. and then you and b moved to phoenix, of course more of the energy went there. and that last visit of mine to phoenix to surprise you for your 30th birthday, well let’s be honest - that was just strained. and then you just stopped responding to my calls and emails. to this day, i don’t really know what happened.
we had begun to stray from each other even on that trip. i mean, i was always less into the wild party scene’s than you (that never seemed to be a problem before), but even on that trip it seemed that the chasm was deepening and by the end of that weekend, i think we could barely stand each other.
that trip, when i look back on it, makes me very sad. you were the grace to my will (or in truth, much more the karen to my jack) - we were so tight for so long…life without you in it is just a little less interesting.
certainly it wouldn’t be too far from the truth if b was the cause of some of the challenges; i mean, i never particularly cared for how he treated you (you deservesomeone so much better - but hey, it’s not my relationship so i tried to stay out of it, i really did), and it was always pretty clear that he at best, tolerated me. run-on sentences aside, if that really was the reason our friendship ended, it makes me even sadder. i mean, to let a guy come between us? that’s just so hollywood, so cliche.
i don’t even know, are you still with him? i know you loved him, and i loved seeing you in love - that part always made me happy, i just wish i could have liked him as much as some of your other boyfriends.
someone very close to me just told me the other night that with me, it’s all or nothing - there’s no grey area and i guess that’s true. at least with you it was. i know the minute i started feeling like i wasn’t valued in your life, my ego got bruised and i said a big fat fuck offto the whole thing (i can be so god-damned stubborn). of course that was the wrong response. maybe i should have called you and said ‘hey, where are we at’. at the end of the day of course, i can’t change the past - i can only learn from the lessons, right? for me, it was like, ‘fine, if she doesn’t want me in her life, i don’t need her in mine’. but at the end of the day, my life was always more interesting with you in it.
so i guess what i’m saying is i’m sorry. i’m sorry for the part of all this that i could have, natch, should have handled differently.
this is my way of letting go of all the energy / sadness / anger / disappointment.
maybe one day our roads will cross again, who knows right? as cheesy as it is, i still think about you and wonder about you and where your life has taken you.
at the end of the day, i do hope your happy. that’s all i ever wanted for you.
love always (no matter how big the distance is),
kyle.
p.s., johnette is playing minnapolis on monday. i’m going of course. but i’m sure to be thinking of that one night where you and i were crushed up against the stage at first ave. watching cb, what a night that was.
-”thinking of you underneath the mexican moon” ~ concrete blonde “mexican moon”
- “she was asking about you again, your llorona / so what should I tell her, so
what should I say? she thinks you are coming back, your llorona
she swears you are coming back to her one day.” - concrete blonde ”your llorona”
