GAYDAR: Local Man Gaybashed In Rittenhouse Square, Responds With ‘It Gets Better’ Testimonial

BY ALEXANDER KACALA As an out and proud gay man at 24, I want to speak to all the bullied teenagers from Cypress, Texas to Tehachapi, California, from Annoka, Minnesota to here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I want to join in this nation wide, public dialogue that it gets better. That it’s OK to be yourself, it doesn’t matter who you love, and that the best is yet to come. While I do believe this, I don’t want to sugarcoat the realities of life, for outside of high school walls and college campuses, homophobia exists. That even when it gets better, […]

GAYDAR: Deconstructing Gwyneth On Glee

VANITY FAIR: When I heard that Gwynny was going to be appearing on the show—along with myriad commercials for her upcoming strong-willed-lady-in-country-music film creatively entitled Country Strong—I cringed and died inside. Not because I think, like most people, that Gwyneth is a talentless, affectless hack, who happened to luck into a few decent roles that called for skinny blond desperation. And not because I believe that celebrity cameos are the crystal meth of network television, fostering a euphoric bump in ratings followed by an increasing need for similar (and enhanced) euphoric bumps in ratings, followed by losing all your dignity […]

GAYDAR: Dumpstas Vs. Octomom

BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR The Dumpsta Players, that raucous band of merry drags, pulled out all the stops last Wednesday night at Bob and Barbara’s with they’re Christmas tabloid scalping of Jon and Kate + Hate in Outerspace! B&B’s tight quarters were especially packed that night; those present, making as much of a scene as would be expected from a crowd jiving with the DP’s prescription of dissolute theater. Kicking off the show was the bellicose but buoyant Mr. and Mrs. Ponzio (Mr. Ponzio played by the Jackal Jester himself, Ricky Paul), belting out a reel of “Jingle Bells” […]

GAYDAR: My So-Called Life

BY AARON STELLA Welcome back, folks. This chapter of my life story marks the eleventh of its kind. Upon each recounting, I am required to dredge up buried memories that I rarely visit. Recently, however, the impact of my past has become gruesomely clear. There is much left to be done, from what I can see—but I shall be better for it in the end. For those of you who haven’t been following along, you can read the whole story beginning to end after the jump. But for now, onward and upward. So, picking up where I left off last, […]

GAYDAR: Octoberfist VI Reviewed

BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR The Dumpster players are, in short, a mad mob togged in trash-picked threads bent on inciting worldwide pandemonium. Nobody is safe; everybody is ripe for parody. I have attended almost every DP performance in the past year, but it wasn’t until last night’s “Octoberfist VI” celebration, the sixth of the DPs biannual fist-fest of Pan-European song and dance, that I witnessed their awesome power. Hail Satan! And despite the supervening night-o-da-Phillies, once the game ended and crowds flooded the streets, the majority of B&B’s patrons remained. Incredible. Again, another testament to theDP’s patent reputation. Contained […]

GAYDAR: Dumpster Diving

“What are doing tonight?” “We’ll, I’m going to see “Octoberfist” down at Bob and Barbara’s. Wanna Come?” “Whoa! What? Bob and Barbara’s does porno viewings now? When did this start?” “No silly Billy: It’s the Dumpster Players—you know, that wacky trash-glitz drag troupe that shoves their prickly stick of parody up society’s bunghole every month?” “Oh yeah! Those dudes!” “Yeah, well, it’s their sixth “Octoberfist” celebration, complete with vivacious drag queens, heinous costumery and flamboyantly flaming back-up dancers flailing in lip-sync to Pan-European techno-balladry, from countries like Norway, Moldovia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, Germany and Greece. Also, The Little Italian immigrant girl […]

GAYDAR: We Could Be Heroes

BY AARON STELLA The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund will be holding their Third-Annual “Heroes” party, a fundraiser to honor leaders and allies to the LGBTI community and its causes, this Friday, September 25th at the F.U.E.L House. The DVLF is an organization that seeks to encourage philanthropy and grant making to support the needs of the LGBTI and straight-allied community. Since their inception in 1993, DVLF has appropriated their assets garnered from donations, endowments and fundraisings to further the cause of civil rights, improve health services, support arts and culture and provide scholarships for the LGBTI and straight-allied community. This […]

GAYDAR: My Life In The Ghost Of Bush 3

BY AARON STELLA Whew! We’ve had some hot and heavy posts lately, haven’t we? For the benefit of those who haven’t been following along, here’s a little recap: I’ve been wrongfully committed to a psych-ward by my parents. Not to mention, this particular ward was meant more to be a lockup for homicidal and suicidal teenagers, neither of which I was at the time. I have just watched the ward bouncers haul off my roommate to solitary confinement for harming himself, which involved him ripping out his pubic hair and rubbing it in his face to near asphyxiation. And for […]

GAYDAR: My Life In The Ghost Of Bush 2

BY AARON STELLA This time around in GAYDAR we’re revealing the climactic conclusion of our last life story post, which told of my plans to emancipate myself from my Christian-crazed parents and begin life anew. Here’s a brief recap: My family and I moved to Alabama in 1999  to escape the impending apocalypse of Y2K, which, as apocalypses go, turned out to be a big disappointment. Later I was kicked out of high school for a clandestine dalliance I had with a schoolmate, then out of my house six months later. Now, living with my friend’s family, the magnitude of […]

GAYDAR: The Trouble With QFest

BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR With a snappy new name that aspires to put the the non-gay among us at ease, a fattened marketing budget, and walk-ons by gay cinema stars (Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless, Chad Allen) and straight power brokers (hello Mayor Nutter!), QFest seems destined to please everyone — everyone, that is, except for the rank and file of Philly’s gay community. Consider these man-in-a-gay-bar responses when the topic of QFest was raised by yours truly: “I don’t bother any more. None of the shows have any substance.” “I went this year, and was more disappointed than usual.” […]

GAYDAR EXTRA: It’s Dumpsta Diving Time Again

Well, it’s that time of the month again. Oh boy, that didn’t come out right. What I meant to say is that Philadephia’s favorite trash-glitz drag troupe, the Dumpsta Players are putting on their monthly showcase of dirty, nasty, salacious satire. This month, it’s “Dial C for Chardonna!” Philly-gone-bad relationships with a Hitchcock lemony-twist of menace and horror. Chardonna Jenkins has been a little careless with her extra-erotic dalliances, as her bellicose beau, Rocco Rigatoni, caught her making whoopee one night with another guy. On a wave of rage, Rocco strikes a deal with Psycho’s Norman Bates to kill each […]

GAYDAR: Dumpsta Players’ Under The Sea

BY AARON STELLA It was bizarro prom night last night at Bob and Barbara’s, when the Dumpsta Players, those madcap mavericks of bar-based drag theater, put on Prom-Trash: Under the Sea. Instead of their unusual brand of kitschy melodrama, which traditionally consists of skits and lip-syncing that parody the current zeitgeist, contestants battled for the title of trashiest prom-queen of 2009—with a little song and dance, courtesy of the DPs, on the side. This year, prospective contestants were encouraged to fashion their starlet alter ego with the sea in mind. Hence, the lineup of decadent divas included such personae like […]

GAYDAR EXTRA: Chickenhawk Of The Sea

Mischief, mayhem, madness, oh my! But it all happens underwater this time. Tonight the Dumpsta Players, those rancorous ruffians of all things retro, are showcasing Prom-Trash: Under the Sea at Bob and Barbara’s tonight. Both ladies and gents are invited to participate. Trashing Disney is encouraged. You’ll be in good company (Ho White, Sleepy Booty, and even an imminently outed Sponge-Bob). And as the name implies, whoever’s the trashiest takes home the crown. Best of all kiddies, entrance to the Prom-Trash: Under the Sea is granted but for a shrimpy $1.99. So why not bask in the glory of the […]