Billy Bean, Billy Beane and Brad Pitt
Everyone now knows that "Moneyball" is one of the nine nominated films for Best Picture In this year's Academy Awards. Brad Pitt played Billy Beane who was General Manager of the Oakland A's baseball team. He took them to the World Series. Seems pretty straight forward doesn't it? Nope, here is the hitch. There is another Billy Bean (without the 'e') who was a professional baseball player who later came out of the closet. Needless to say, there is a lot of confusion not only in the locker rooms but also in the LGBT community.
Outsports.com has run a humorous column by the gay Billy Bean about the confusion with the straight Billy Bean (with the 'e'). You will enjoy the entire column but here is are two excerpts:
I’ll never forget “that” Billy Beane. We both played in the outfield. I played center, he played left, and believe it or not, we had a right fielder named Pete Rice. Our outfield was coined “Rice and Bean’s.
Beane struggled terribly through that season in our dismal ballpark on a last place team. On the field he seemed miserable, but in our clubhouse he was The Mayor. He would imitate Axl Rose to perfection when the hit song “Sweet Child of Mine” would play on MTV. He was “the ring leader of anarchy” among the players, and everybody loved him.
He was a smart minor league veteran who could rag players with the best of them. His crowning moment was an epic “soft shoe” performance one night while Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York” blared over the sound system during a rain delay in Buffalo. Our manager, Pat Corrales, seething with anger, seemed ready to release him right then and there (we were losing by at least 10 runs, and in last place), but the entire team was dying with laughter. It was Billy’s way of dealing with the disappointment of another bad season and a career that never happened the way it was supposed to happen for a “can’t miss” prospect drafted in the first round. It was his ninth year in professional baseball and my third. I was still on the rise to the big leagues, full of hope. I hadn’t been damaged (yet) by disappointment, failed expectations and years of leaving my heart and soul on fields where few people were watching, and worse yet, a parent big league club that stopped looking.
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After the book “Moneyball” came and went, the questions went away, and the only times I thought about Billy Beane was when I would receive baseball cards in the mail to be signed for card-collecting fans. Inevitably, there would be four or five of my cards, and always one or two of his, even though our names were spelled differently. I was lefty, he was righty, he’s at least 6’3″ and I’m barely 6 feet tall. I would never sign his cards, but I would always send them back with a short note that said, “I’m sorry … this isn’t me, he’s the other one.”
At the time, as I was becoming more and more recognized as a member of the LGBT community, I was sure that Billy was getting the short end of the stick. It was OK for me to be confused with a general manager of a Major League Baseball team, but I wasn’t so sure how he felt about people thinking that he was “the gay baseball player.” He’s a straight Republican, who’s married with kids, and I’m a gay Democrat with two Jack Russell Terriers. To make matters worse for him, my book, “Going the Other Way: Lesson’s From a Life in and out of Major League Baseball” came out in the summer of 2003. It spread through the sports world pretty quickly. It’s the one topic that catches every athlete’s attention, and not always in a good way. However, I have to say that the reaction to my book by players was mostly supportive. I was told that Billy was constantly receiving my cards for him to sign. The LGBT community in San Francisco and Oakland area was hopeful, but ultimately disappointed that I was not him
Increasingly the arts community is becoming the voice of the history of the darkest years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The newest project to be unveiled at Sundance Film Festival was Director David France's "How To Survive A Plague" which tells the story of ACT UP in the 1980's and early 1990's. At its first screening, the documentary received two standing ovations. In addition, the film was immediately brought for distribution by Sundance Selects. Jonathan Sehring of Sundance Selects said of the Joy Tomchin/David France entry
This is a towering film in the history of cinema about social activism. Its astonishing use of archival material to reconstruct an era of political indifference in the face of an unimaginable health crisis helps to create a new blueprint for modern activists."
The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a rave review and here are a few excerpts:
Words like “important” and “inspiring” tend too often to be meaninglessly attached to non-fiction filmmaking, but in the case of David France's compelling snapshot of a revolutionary period in AIDS treatment, they are amply justified........
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of David France’s emotionally charged documentary, How to Survive a Plague, is that despite the wealth of books, films and plays dealing with AIDS, this feels like a part of the story that hasn't yet been told – certainly not with such probing insight. Packed with fascinating interviews and stirring footage from the trenches, the film deftly shapes its information stream into a powerful drama recounting the highs and lows, setbacks and victories in the fight for an effective HIV treatment.........
The battle of a small New York-based group of gay activists against the FDA, the NIH and major drug companies might sound more earnest than engaging. It’s not. The film is actually an epic celebration of heroism and tenacity, and less directly, a useful template for any fledgling activist movement, demonstrating the effectiveness of inside/outside strategy. It also shows the enduring government apathy toward gay-rights issues that slowed research funding and cost so many lives.
Variety also joined in the raving about the documentary:
This saga is told primarily through archival videotape (Act-Up was nothing if not media-savvy) often narrated by participants. These include a number of important researchers, but the character emphasis is on the activists, a vivid assortment whose survival the pic cannily holds in suspense.
A veteran journalist who's been reporting on AIDS since the epidemic's earliest days, debuting helmer France and his first-rate collaborators have assembled a package as engrossing in human terms as it is historically informative. Artful editing, original scoring and music supervision make especially valuable contributions.
Yep, that's right! Six years have passed since Brokeback Mountain was released and robbed of its Academy Award for 'Best Picture.' Where is the next great movie where the stars of the film are openly LGBT characters presented in a positive and heroic light? Been listening carefully but haven't heard of one in the pipeline with the caliber of stars and excitement that was generated by this magnificent film from director Ang Lee.
Maybe it's economics. Perhaps creating such pieces of art surrounding the LGBT community doesn't make money. Nope, that is wrong. Brokeback Mountain was made and released for just about $20 million. International and domestic gross came to a grand total of nearly $178 million and that doesn't count other sources of income generated by the movie. So it can't be that you lose money on the deal, can it?
Hollywood, you are overdue for another milestone picture featuring LGBT characters played by major Hollywood actors helmed by a powerful director. The options are endless ranging from a love story in either the Civil War or World War II to a true, handsome, suave LGBT action hero. Hell, maybe the next James Bond should be a gay man or a lesbian. The time has come to up the ante. Our characters this time don't have to be tragic and never know fulfilled love. They don't have to make love in dark shadows or isolated places. All they have to be is real.
The LGBT community has come a long way, Hollywood, and it is time for you to catch
Actor Alan Cumming has been everywhere, played everyone and leaves his peers and the public in total awe of his talent. The actor has won a Tony Award (Cabaret), been nominated for two Emmy's (The Good Wife), won the prestigious British Oliver Award (Accidental Death of an Anarchist) , as producer won an Independent Spirit Award (Ali Slim's Sweet Land) and the list could go on and on.
One of the most profound acknowledgements of his talent was when Queen Elizabeth II anointed him with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2009 for his acting and activism within the LGBT community.
The actor can be found in mainstream movies (X-Men, The Spy Kids, Circle of Friends, Golden Eye, etc), starring in a hit television series (The Good Wife, Masterpiece Theater), performing to packed houses in a cabaret act (Feinstein's Regency, Joe's Pub), releasing a solo record (I Brought A Blue Car Today) and working with some of the amazing talent in the entertainment industry (Stanley Kubrick in Eyes Wide Shut).
He is simply an original. There is no one like him in the entire entertainment industry.
As an actor who is in love with his craft, he is often found supporting with hard work other actor's projects. One night people were startled to see him playing a role in New York's hit "Sleep No More." He thrives on edgy projects and challenging new roles that others with his success would pull back for fear of hurting their career. Cumming's joy of being an actor drives him to embrace his profession in every conceivable way.
Proving the point, he has just agreed to be the only actor in a production of Shakespeare's "MacBeth." He literally will play every single role in the play. People are already astonished by the daring and courage he is showing taking on such a challenging project.
Alan Cumming, more importantly than any of his credits, awards or hits, is a man of great principles and values. He passionately and intensely cares for the planet and the people on it. At every opportunity he will appear at events to raise money and awareness for many different causes but especially the battle for full equality for the LGBT community and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Artist Illustrator Grant Shaffer and he have been married five years this month. As a native of Scotland he is a citizen of both Britain and the United States.
Here are "Five Questions For....."
1. You did the English version of the television show "Who Do You Think You Are?" and it resulted in an incredibly dramatic ending. What did you find out about your past and did you wish you hadn't agreed to do the show?
The thing about doing a show like that is that you have no idea what is going to happen and you really do find out the information they have unearthed for the first time on camera. Before it started I thought that it was the best thing ever about being famous - these amazing resources made available to me because of my celebrity. Then I ended up in a tiny village in southern Malaysia being told my grandad died playing russian roulette there, and I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to me because of being famous - the fact that I had to go and tell my Mum this information. But after the initial shock we were able to see how good it was to finally find out the truth about him, and no, I don't regret doing it. It was a catalyst for huge things to happen in my life and even though some of them were really upsetting I am a big believer that everything that happens brings you to the person you are and the place you are in, so if you are happy how could you wish anything to have been different?
2. You are going to play every role in the play "Macbeth." There are well over a dozen characters in that production. How in the hell did this idea surface and are you overwhelmed with the idea of playing each and every character solo?
I have wanted to do Macbeth for a long time. My professional debut was actually playing Malcolm in a production of it in Glasgow in 1985! But over the years I had developed this idea that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth should flip roles each night, much in the way the actors playing Romeo and Mercutio do sometimes. First of all Lady Macbeth is such a great part and I wanted a go at her! But mostly there are so many references in the play about masculinity and gender and I thought it would be a really interesting way to portray those themes by flipping the genders each night. Also I thought Macduff and Lady Macduff could do the same thing too, and in turn that would open up the other roles to not being so gender-specific in terms of the casting. But then I did a reading of the play with me playing Lady M for the first half and Macbeth in the second. Just as I was processing how it had gone, and thinking about maybe asking if we could do another reading to make sure that it worked, Andy Goldberg, who is the co-director with John Tiffany, just said why didn't I do all the parts. And instead of it seeming an insane idea, well, in addition to it seeming like an insane idea (!) I just thought it was a brilliant, super-challenging idea, and if I had enough balls to play both the Macbeths then why not do the rest?! Also John and Andy came up with a brilliant narrative about why I would be one person playing all the roles and so the whole thing came together. I am completely overwhelmed but I know that every couple of years I have a need to do something that so terrifies me and is such a risk and so I just go with it and fling myself at it with all my heart and all my body. I imagine I will be a husk by mid July!
3. You became a US Citizen in order to vote in the 2008 election. Did you feel backlash from that action from your Scottish friends and fans?
I am actually a joint citizen because I did not have to give up my British citizenship, but in terms of Scotland I actually feel more connected to my country. I campaigned for the incumbent First Minister Alec Salmond at the last election, and he is the head of the Scottish National Party which ultimately aims for Scottish independence, so I still feel very Scottish and am very vocal within Scotland, despite my nascent Yankee-ness.
4. What is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen to you on stage?
I think maybe the time during the run of '"The Threepenny Opera" on Broadway when the actor playing Lucy fell asleep in his dressing room and just didn't come onstage at the end of my song. I had to busk it for many minutes, quite difficult when you are in a prison cell. I ended up just talking to the audience and saying how lucky they were to be there on the performance when Lucy went AWOL. It was utterly mortifying as I didn't know if he would ever appear at all, but of course the audience loved it. He finally did appear, really flustered and without his wig.
5. Who are your heroes and mentors?
I am a big fan of men and women who do it their own way. That can mean in terms of their performances or their politics or both. I have an abject fear of uniformity - socially, artistically or politically and so I am drawn towards people who teach us by confounding our expectations like Nelson Mandela in the way he preached forgiveness and compassion for the perpetrators of apartheid after his liberation from them. I am so moved by people who speak from their hearts. I remember being at drama school and hearing a speech by Neil Kinnock, the Labour Party leader, just days before the the 1983 general election. It is known as the 'I warn you' speech and it ends...'If Margaret Thatcher wins on Thursday I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, I warn you not to get old'. It completely moved me and spurred me to everything I believe in now. I got to meet Neil a couple of times when he came to performances at the RSC when I was there. He is the best Prime Minister Britain never had. I also got to know Susan Sontag a wee bit at the end of her life and she left the most amazing impression on me. And there are many heroes in my life now, like you David, and Ian McKellen and Dr Mathilde Krim.
-Favorite Fun YouTube Video of the Year: The talking German Shepard who could not believe the cat got the sandwich!
Most Powerful YouTube of the Year: Zach Wahl's speech on behalf of his two mothers for marriage equality in Iowa. A must watch by everyone.
-Favorite Broadway Play: "Other Desert Cities" not only was the best of the year but goes on the list among of really great plays.
-Favorite Broadway Actress: Following on the heels of her nomination for a Tony for "Lombardi", Judith Light once again dazzles in "Other Desert Cities"
-Favorite Broadway Actor: Rory O'Malley (above) not only got a Tony nomination for "Book of Mormon" but his passion for equality off the stage only adds to this nod.
-My Favorite Books: My five favorite books that I have read this year are:
1. War by Sebastian Junger
2. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
3. 1861: The Civil War Awakening by Adam Goodheart
4. Double Life: A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood by Alan Shayne and Norman Sunshine
5. Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
-Broadway Event of the Year: The one night star-studded reading of "8" about the Proposition 8 court case.
-Amazing Film Performance: In his eighth decade Christopher Plummer delivers a stunning performance in "The Beginner." Polish up the Oscar for this talented legend.
-Film Actor Having A Really Good Year: Brad Pitt for both "MoneyBall" and "Tree of Life". Actually any actor having the opportunity to work with director Terrence Malick is having a really good year.
-Welcome To Being A Star: Between "Bridesmaids" and her Emmy Award for "Mike and Molly" actress Melissa McCarthy has risen to the top.
-Museum Event of the Year: The late Alexander McQueen's showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
-Continuing to Make Waves in the Museum World: The first of its kind "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture." Arriving in Brooklyn it reinstated David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly" which was forced to be removed at the National Portrait Gallery.
-Ballet Dancer To Steal Your Heart: The Bolshoi Ballet gives us the holiday gift of the amazing Ivan Vasiliev (photograph)!
-Is There Anyone She Can't Play?: The brilliant Meryl Streep playing the tough British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
-Standing Ovation One More Time: As architect Frank Gehry won our hearts one more time with his New World Center in Miami and the stunning edifice gracing the New York City Skyline.
-Most Fun Music Battle of the Year: Lady Gaga fans vs. Madonna Fans.
-He's Back!: Tony Bennett is suddenly very hot again for both his lovely new album to his sketching Lady Gaga in the nude.
-No Contest In 2011: Adele is the most amazing new artist to hit the scene in years.
-So Sexy But No Cigar: Poor Steve Jones is one of the sexiest men on television but he just couldn't get a grip on his hosting job on the X-Factor.
-Best Television Show: You just can't beat the fun, sexiness and story telling every week you can find on "Castle".
-Best Television Performance: How can you not love the astounding performance given by Alan Cumming on "The Good Wife"?
-Best Talk Show: Hands down "The View." Must have looked at a dozen clips of interesting exchanges from the show over the year. Of course the "Whoopi Farts" episode makes me giggle endlessly.
The 2012 Sundance Film Festival announced their nominees for their prestigious film festival to take place January 19th through January 29th in Park City, Utah. The festival has launched many successful independent films and documentaries over the years. Filmmakers love this event since it features more serious work by new filmmakers than most other similar efforts.
Among the 16 documentaries nominated for "Best U.S. Documentary" was the story of the battle against AIDS in the 1980's in New York City. "How To Survive A Plague" directed by David France is an exciting effort to ensure that the history of the early days of the epidemic would not be lost with time. A powerful film detailing the struggles of people with HIV/AIDS fighting for their lives. Here is how Sundance described the film:
How to Survive a Plague / U.S.A. (Director: David France) — The untold story of the intensive efforts that turned AIDS into a manageable condition – and the improbable group of (mostly HIV-positive) young men and women whose amazing resilience broke through a time of rampant death and political indifference.
The selection of the film guarantees a broad audience and the best possible chance of acquiring a distribution deal for the film.
Ever since Woodstock and their release of their hit single "Evil Ways" , Santana has been a favorite. Imagine the surprise when someone had the creativity to hook a Santana song up to one of my childhood comedy heroes - Laurel and Hardy! Believe it or not it works. Enjoy this short but very fun bizarre bridge between generations.
Richard Rodgers
How often when discussing deceased artists does the expression come up, "Hell, they are worth more in death than alive..." Poor Vincent Van Gogh, who never sold a painting during his lifetime, died a broken man in so many ways as his art today sells for over $40 million dollars. There is always that hidden gem that surfaces after someone in the arts dies and huge money is made from it.
Forbes Magazine has issued their annual list of the 'top earning dead celebrities.' Also find it interesting that they release this list near Halloween. Elizabeth Taylor joins the list for the first time. So in the best spirit of the holiday, here are the top ten dead celebrities and what they earned in the last year! (Actually there are twelve because of 'tied's' in the list).
1. Michael Jackson ($170 million)
2. Elvis Presley ($55 million)
3. Marilyn Monroe ($27 million)
4. Charles Schulz ($25 million)
5. John Lennon ($12 million)
5. Elizabeth Taylor ($12 million)
7. Albert Einstein ($10 million)
8. Theodor Geisel ($9 million)
9. Jimi Hendrix ($7 million)
9. Stieg Larsson ($7 million)
9. Steve McQueen ($7 million)
9. Richard Rogers ($7 million)
Not sure when it is permissible to nominate someone for next year's Nobel Peace Prize. High on the list of possible nominees should be entertainer, activist, writer and civil rights crusader Harry Belafonte. By the time you are finished viewing HBO's "Sing Your Song," the documentary on the life of the amazing Belafonte, you will be in awe of what this man has accomplished in one lifetime.
This documentary should be shown in every classroom in America to illustrate how a person can live a principled and successful life and change the world. Even if you are of the age where you grew up with the singer, you will find yourself stunned at all his work when it is placed back to back in this film. The man lived, shaped and loved this planet for his entire time on earth and stunningly he is not yet done.
"Sing Your Song" is so right on so many levels. Educationally it teaches the history of the civil rights and peace movements. You get to hear the horrific stories of the red-baiting era. The massive censorship of the networks of his television shows. His refusal to bend or blink in the face of injustice. The story of Sidney Poitier and him traveling to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 has you on the edge of your seat and wondering how in the hell they ever survived that trip.
The film shows his friendships with Bobby Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela. He is a walking history book and thank God they made this splendid film brilliantly directed by Susanne Rostock. For the next weeks, I am sure HBO will be rerunning this documentary and you should find it, watch it and sit back in awe of this astounding individual.
Can't wait to see what he does next!
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