Alan Cumming is promoting his new album (yes, album!) called I Bought a Blue Car Today (Yellowsound Label) with a long and chatty interview in Attitude (September 2009). Among other things, he discusses President Obama in a way that had me saying "exactly!" He truly sums up my feeling and my intensity of feeling on Obama just right:
"I really do not believe he was only kidding about his message of equality for all human beings, not just the gays. I really do believe he is a good person and that if he thought he could get it through tomorrow, he would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' in the military. And I think he would allow gay marriage not just civil unions. I understand that he is a President of a Senate that, even on his own side, is pretty conservative. But I think where he fucked up is on the PR. If he was just to say to the gay community, 'You know what darlings, we're not going to get to you for a couple of years. I'm going to try getting these things through first, would you mind? Believe me I'm still behind you, blah, blah, blah.' We would have been like 'Suuuure.' But that hasn't happened. His administration has put out statements that have been quite offensive. And he's then tried to counter it with some quite empty gestures. Throw us a bone, not a dog treat. But I think I'm still feeling it...It is slightly sad that we haven't got more of a warm fuzzy from him, but I'm going to give him a bit more slack."
Continue reading "Foreign Objections" »
On July 5, 1998, José, my visiting mom and I went to see Cabaret on Broadway with Natasha Richardson and Alan Cumming. It's still probably the second best thing I've ever seen (after Chicago, ahead of Equus). After, my mom posed with Cumming:
...and
Richardson walked past, graciously stopping for a moment for a photo:While she was not an actress I spent a lot of time thinking about, her tragic outcome is one of those saddening pieces of news that make you think twice about what you're doing with your life and if you're cherishing it.
It made me think how poignant it is that her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, recently performed on Broadway in The Year Of Magical Thinking, based on the novel about writer Joan Didion's reactions to her husband's death and daughter's grave condition. The play had been updated to include the daughter's death.
I also thought, "I know we'll have a tacky Lindsay Lohan blog post about this soon"—they starred in The Parent Trap together).
Also,
the reporting of her accident has opened a can of worms. Everyone I know is outraged that Time Out New York announced she was dead: "RIP Natasha Richardson 1963-2009. Actor Natasha Richardson dies in a skiing accident." They later
clarified this post by noting,
"Richardson is brain dead but has not passed away. Sources close to the family indicate that they regard this as death. We will update you on this sad story as circumstances warrant. We apologize to the family and to our readers."
This, to me, is an excusable lapse. Brain death is death—it's more accurate to specify brain death, but she was already dead, for all intents and purposes.
It's not like prematurely reporting the death of someone who is terminally ill. It was hilarious to have Perez Hilton (who once reported the death of Fidel Castro and never admitted he was wrong) chastising TONY for this error based on "irresponsible journalism." !!!
Continue reading "Dead To Rights" »
