BY AARON STELLA Amidst the revelry of the Mr. Gay Philadelphia pageant, I was able to finagle a future interview out of Michael Musto, famed gay-celeb columnist for the Village Voice in NYC. So a couple of weeks later, I hopped on the Chinatown bus headed for Village Voice’s headquarters in NYC. Musto, dressed in a crisp black and white vertical-striped shirt and baggy black slacks, (and of course, wearing his trademark Sally Jesse Raphaels) explained to me that the Voice was moving. Most everything was packed in boxes and hardly anyone was in the newsroom. We found a quiet […]
FRINGE INSTA-REVIEW: Stuporwoman
BY AARON STELLA FRINGE CORRESPONDENT In Stuporwoman, the audience is equipped with a hypersensitive stethoscope, and is asked to press it against the bosom of a mother and to listen closely. Together with an interdisciplinary troupe of performers, director and choreographer Tania Isaac renders the over-scheduled soul of a mother beleaguered by relentless cooking, cleaning, baby raising, and the unsatisfied want of a full night’s rest. The choreography riffs on the household duties of motherhood (one particularly memorable gesture was an exaggerated scrubbing motion; another was this slow-motion gait that was seductive, but pinched ). An eclectic score evokes a […]
FRINGE REVIEW: Sweet By-And-By
BY AARON STELLA Unlikely rebel rabble-rouser Joe Hill, a Swedish immigrant and union songwriter of the early 20th century union strikes, takes center stage in the sepia spotlight of Dan Rothenberg’s Sweet By-and-By. False promises pervade Hill’s life: in his dealings with God, that he will always provide for and reward the righteous; the American dream, that the sweat of man’s brow is solely his, and cannot be cheated; and that all the working class needs do, according to land and factory owners, is to work harder and hustle longer (even if wages are cut) to alleviate their economic misery. […]
FRINGE REVIEWS: Store; Waiting For the Show
BY AARON STELLA FRINGE CORRESPONDENT Two men gussied up in tweed suits and hard-soled shoes manage the day long showcasing of The Store. As you enter The Store, you are handed a menu — much like what you would be given at a restaurant — complete with specials and other various delicacies. But instead of food, art is today’s special. Michikuza Matsune and David Subal, creators of The Store, will be your “servers”, and they are capable of accommodating a diversity of artistic tastes. When you want to “order” something, you settle up the bill first (ranging between $0.75-5.00) and […]
INSTA-REVIEW: Disco Descending
BY AARON STELLA FRINGE CORRESPONDENT Who’d a thunk that Orpheus and Eurydice’s ancient tale of woe could be catapulted out of its musty tomes and into silk shirts, bell-bottoms, and sleek-white platform shoes. But it can, apparently. Under the artful direction of Karen Getz, director, choreographer and veteran thespian, comic-dance troupe 1812 narrates the tale through an actor-y ballet of boogie and hustle. Despite, however, Disco Descending’s fantastic soundtrack and a Saturday Night Fever vibe, the 1812 troupe are not professional dancers in any respects. They can move pretty much as well as you or I can, and in some […]
THEATER REVIEW: Romeo Void
BY AARON STELLA As enjoyable as modern reproductions of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” can be — especially those flush with glamorous nuances, such as Leonardo DiCaprio dueling in the streets of Verona with pistols instead of rapiers— these reproductions often evoke but a fleeting fondness. By comparison, Shakespeare’s R&J — which closed out an auspicious four-week run at the Adrienne Theater last night — is the stuff of true love, a remake unlike all the rest. Shakespeare’s R&J, prepared under the thespian expertise of Peter Reynolds, Director of the Mauckingbird Theater Company and of Temple University’s new musical theater program, […]
GAYDAR: Dear Dad, I’m Gay, Love, Your Son
BY AARON STELLA We’re back, folks, with another fabulous edition of GAYDAR! OK, I realized last week that we need to have a little “come to Jesus meeting” about my father, as so much of what happened with my family stemmed directly from the decisions he made. But keep something in mind as you read: I know little about my father’s interior life. I could never trust the man, both in what he told me of himself and about the world, so my assertions about him here are, by definition, pure speculation. But at the same time, I have learned […]
GAYDAR: Me And Mr. Gay
The author with John Caputo, winner of this year’s Mr. Gay Philadelphia contest. BY AARON STELLA The Mr. Gay Philadelphia festivities were fabulous, pumped with enough glitz, glamor and celeb star power to draw gay Philadelphians of every echelon to the Gershman Y last Friday night. Supporters on the scene included, but were not limited to, Stacy Vey, owner of Stir, Jason Crook, owner of PHAG, Thom Cardwell, executive director of the Philadelphia Film Society, Wayne A. Hamilton, Esq., president of the Sapphire Fund, and many others. But without a doubt, the real stars of the evening were the gorgeous […]
TRUCKSTOP: The Best Meals On Four Wheels
BY AARON STELLA My fellow hungry Americans, welcome to another edition of Truck Stop, where each week we’ll visit street vendors in different parts of Philadelphia to assist the common wayfarer in their travels and grub scavenging. Hey, don’t give me that look — if you ain’t too proud to get your news off the Internet, then you probably ain’t too proud to eat sushi off a truck. This week, we’ll be traversing the feeding grounds of the Community College of Philadelphia. From Jamaican to Chinese to sushi to the bacon-egg-n’-cheeses, an international smorgasbord layeth before you, and is cooked […]
GAYDAR EXTRA: How Gay Is Mr. Gay Philadelphia?
Well, I for one plan to find out at the second annual Mr. Gay Philadelphia contest tomorrow night! Guest celebrities Michael Musto, Frank DeCaro, Jack Mackenroth, and Bruce Hayes will be judging the man candy at Gershman Hall’s Levit Auditorium in Center City (401 S. Broad Street). Mr. Gay was a big hit last year, and its sponsor (nightlifegay.com, if you must know) expect Mr. Gay 2008 to be bigger and better and GAYER than ever. A portion of the proceeds from the contest and silent auction will be given to one of the city’s most outstanding charitable organizations, Action […]
MAILBAG: Mother Still Knows Best
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter is in response to this week’s episode of GAYDAR. DEAR AARON Very well-written! As all the great writers suggest, “Write what you know.” Well, you did! Let me tell you a little story my mother used to tell me… There was a young man who went off to work in the Peace Corps in the African jungle. He was there 2 years and finally would get to come home to his family on their farm in the mid-West. In anticipation of this, he wrote his parents telling them that he was bringing home with him […]
GAYDAR: My Life After Christ
BY AARON STELLA Ladies and gentlemen and fellow gay Americans: welcome to an all-new Gaydar! This week, we chronicle the slings and arrows of my family’s post-cult life and my first bold steps in discovering my sexual niche (all the juicy details included, not for the faint of heart gay). OK, here goes: In the December of my 12th year on this earth, my family and I left The Community, aka The Cult. It had become undeniable to us that we were being exploited, and despite my parents’ desperate desire for a wholesome Christian life, they couldn’t ignore the rampant […]
GAYDAR: There’s A Sex Dwarf Party In My Pants
BY AARON STELLA Sex Dwarf, DJ Robert Drake’s monthly gay bash, just turned five, and to honor such a joyous occasion, the Dumpsta Players — Phawker’s favorite wild wig-headed trash-glitz drag troup — put on a lip-sync dance tribute to New Wave Saturday night at Fluid. In the words of Miss Lisa Lisa, host of the longest-running drag show in the city at Bob and Barbara’s, “they bring the glamour with the clamor.” Drake channels his passion of New Wave 80’s dance music through the festivities of Sex Dwarf, as fans of New Wave — and of Drake — flocked […]