Quantcast
Channel: Amanda LePore – The WOW Report
Viewing all 11455 articles
Browse latest View live

PAPER Has Nyle DiMarco Bouncing on a Trampoline in His Underwear to Show His Pride

0
0

Makes perfect sense to me.

PAPER magazine interviewed LGBTQ icon Nyle DiMarco about being a role model, his Pride plans, and his idea of a perfect date. Then, for purely journalistic reasons, they had him bounce on a trampoline in his underwear.

I like the way they think.

PAPER: Do you feel like you are also a role model for the sexually fluid, on top of the Deaf community?
NYLE: I do feel like I am a role model regarding my sexuality, as well. I have been getting messages from friends and fans that they feel they are finally able to relate to and accept themselves as fluid—or whatever sexuality they want to identify.

I feel that I identify myself more as a Deaf person, though. I have been Deaf ever since I was born. I am the fourth generation being Deaf; My two brothers, parents, grandparents and great grandparents are all Deaf. I have over 25 Deaf members in my family. The culture and identity are deep within me. I also do a lot more activism for the 70 million Deaf people worldwide because I feel there are not enough Deaf spokespeople.

How do you feel about the future of the LGBT community in America? Are you hopeful?
I am confident; however, there are still thousands of hearts and minds that need to change and open up. I’m more worried about the children struggling to find their identity during the new administration and especially after attacks on LGBTQ communities—Pulse nightclub, for one. I feel that the current administration is banding us, tighter and stronger—silver lining. That is what makes me hopeful.

What will you be doing on Pride Day in New York City?
I will be working a lot, but I will definitely celebrate with my friends! Perhaps at the parade, when I can!

How do you navigate the dating world in 2017?
I used to have Tinder. I got booted several times because they thought I was an imposter! In all seriousness, it is often through friends, work, parties—and maybe Instagram!

What would your perfect dream date be?
“Forget the fancy dinners, let’s play one-one-one basketball game. Dip into the beach. End the day with a simple dinner.”

Judging by your shoot for this story, you’re very comfortable baring all in front of the camera.
I am comfortable in my own skin; everybody should be in their own. Growing up my mother had nude statues, nude portraits, and nude educational books all over the house. Every time we were curious and/or asked why, our mother would always say, ‘Body is art,’ and then engage into discussion that beauty comes in many forms.

Watch the fun below.

The post PAPER Has Nyle DiMarco Bouncing on a Trampoline in His Underwear to Show His Pride appeared first on The WOW Report.


Get Ready To Be Facebook Famous, No…Really!

0
0

Ever since Facebook destroyed Myspace in the social media game, it’s become a part of our everyday lives since 2005. For real, I check Facebook every hour like it’s my newborn baby.

However, Facebook has failed to gain one of the social media notorieties: celebrities.

Until now.

Falling in vein with Myspace Celebrities, Instagram Models, YouTube Vloggers, and Twitter Influencers…Facebook is about to have stars…Reality Stars.

According to Variety:

“Facebook’s push into original television-style programming is continuing. The social-media company has given a greenlight to “Last State Standing,” a reality competition series from “American Ninja Warrior” producer A. Smith and Co.

The show will feature one contestant from each of the 50 states. Those contestants will compete in a series of games for a $500,000 grand prize. A. Smith and Co.’s Arthur Smith will produce.”

Potentially, I could be sold on this. I spend more time on Facebook than I do watching most television. But, what type of show will it be? Clearly competitive; will we get something similar to Big Brother and Survivor or something completely original?

Either way, it looks like Facebook is putting a lot a lot of faith and money into their production.

“Facebook is prepared to pay as much as $250,000 per episode for its planned original video initiative, Reuters reported in May. The company also plans to license shorter-form content for $10,000 to $35,000 an episode, and has signed on Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, and Group Nine Media to produce videos.”

I’m conflicted. It sounds exhausting and silly, but at the same time could be a lot of fun. I’m not committed to an opinion yet, but definitely hope to see a killer cast. Perhaps a Drag Queen on the series or one of The Ballsmashers will definitely have me tuning in on my mobile device.

Would you audition for Facebook’s first reality show?

Check out the full article here.

The post Get Ready To Be Facebook Famous, No…Really! appeared first on The WOW Report.

Creepy-But-Fabulous Selena Gomez Plays ALL the Characters in Her New Video “Bad Liar”

0
0

It’s a twisty, turny tale of lust in the ’70s, as Selena Gomez plays a put-upon high schooler who watches as two teachers (played by Selena Gomez in male drag and Selena Gomez in Farrah Fawcett drag) flirt with each other. Later, after male Selena goes home to dinner with his wife (played by, you guessed it, Selena Gomez), we learn that the male teacher is actually high school Selena’s FATHER – are you following all this? – and that it’s the Farrah Fawcett Selena that high school Selena has been lusting after all along.

I don’t think I just did a very good job of enticing you to watch. Trust me, though, it’s worth it. The song is my new summer jam, I just love it. The ’70s outfits and decor are spot on. And Selena actually kills it playing all four characters in this creepy love rectangle.

Watch below.

“Bad Liar” samples Tina Weymouth‘s throbbing bassline from Talking Heads’ 1977 classic “Psycho Killer.” Heads frontman David Byrne offered his seal of approval on Twitter, writing, “I really like the song … and her performance too. #selenagomez #BadLiar #psychokiller.”

The video ends by teasing a project called “Fetish,” which is “coming soon.” (via Rolling Stone)

 

The post Creepy-But-Fabulous Selena Gomez Plays ALL the Characters in Her New Video “Bad Liar” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Red, White, and RU! RuPaul’s Drag Race Queens Break The Internet With Mama Ru’s Entertainment Weekly Cover!

0
0

If you haven’t checked out RuPaul‘s cover of Entertainment Weekly yet, then you honestly must be having a bad day.

I’m certain all of the support from Ru’s Drag Race family will help get you straightened out and brighten up your day pretty darn quickly.

Everyone from Adore Delano to Trixie Mattel to Lagangja Estranga are showing Mama Ru the love. Seriously. Check out what your favorite squirrel friends had to say about the iconic American singer.

Check out all the love these Queens have showered on the ultimate drag mother below!

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

Instagram Photo

 

@rupaulofficial COVERGIRL! Yes mama! Check out entertainment weekly now!

A post shared by Miss Peppermint (@peppermint247) on

 

Red white and Ru @rupaulofficial @entertainmentweekly 🎈🎈🎈

A post shared by Katya Zamolodchikova (@katya_zamo) on

@rupaulofficial did THAT! Looking gorgeous on the cover of @entertainmentweekly Get it Mama!!! 📸: @tonykellyworld

A post shared by Ivy Winters (@ivy_winters) on

Covergirl, put the bass in your walk. @rupaulofficial is on @entertainmentweekly!

A post shared by Darienne Lake (@dariennelake) on

 

Yass! @rupauloffical is on the cover of @entertainmentweekly!! 📸: @tonykellyworld

A post shared by Manila Luzon (@manilaluzon) on

Dad’s on the cover of Entertainment weekly.

A post shared by Bob/ Caldwell Tidicue (@bobthedragqueen) on

Mother @rupaulofficial leaving us gagging on the cover of @entertainmentweekly!! “First Lady of Drag” come through!

A post shared by Chi Chi DeVayne (@chichidevayneofficial) on

LIVING for mama @rupaulofficial cover of @entertainmentweekly !! Photo by @tonykellyworld !

A post shared by Farrah Moan 🍸 (@farrahrized) on

P.S. Make sure you head over to Entertainment Weekly to check out their exclusive, politically charged interview with Rupaul! You don’t want to miss it!

The post Red, White, and RU! RuPaul’s Drag Race Queens Break The Internet With Mama Ru’s Entertainment Weekly Cover! appeared first on The WOW Report.

An Old Man Headbanging in His Car to Metallica Is What you Need to Get Through the Week

0
0

Sure there’s Trump and Pence and Sessions and Tillerson and DeVos and terrible news everywhere you turn – life seems pretty damn unbearable lately. But as long as there are videos like this on the internet, we can pull though. Here we have a delightful old man just rocking the fuck out to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” And you don’t even have to be a fan of Metallica to enjoy this. His love for them is contagious enough. Carry on, old codger. You  make life worth living! (via Dangerous Minds via Geekology)

(It’s only 11 seconds long, go ahead and press play)

The post An Old Man Headbanging in His Car to Metallica Is What you Need to Get Through the Week appeared first on The WOW Report.

Do You Have Daddy Issues? Hot UK Party Comes To Los Angeles

0
0

London’s hottest party Daddy Issues is making it’s way to the States! Everyone is invited to come to Daddy…

The Daddy Issues party is for all ages, races, and body types. Tops, bottoms, furry, smooth, gay, lesbian transgender, cisgender, gender fluid, cross dressers, freaks, nerds, shamans, hippies, aliens and proud to be hetero friendly!

Check out the Facebook event for the party in Los Angeles: Daddy Issues LA

One of the founders Oly Innes aka OLLYWOOD (pictured above) answered our burning questions about the event:

Why is Daddy Issues so popular in London?

Daddy Issues is a special party in that we really celebrate all types of guys. Usually clubs will push the idea of getting wasted or coming to get laid. Borja Pena and I wanted to create a party which was all about fun, good vibes and great music.

What is the idea behind Daddy Issues?

Daddy Issues has been happening monthly in London and now the party launches in Los Angeles monthly at The Lash downtown on 06/22/17. We also are an apparel line. In September we are doing a very special Daddy Issues in New York which will also be the launch of the Daddy Issues zine.

What came first the T-shirts or the event?

The party came first and we worked with the very talented @heyrooney on our artwork. People were responding so well to the artwork that it was very natural for them to become t-shirts. Soon we are launching our swim suits and caps and right now we are developing sweatshirts and beach towels. Order your Daddy Issues tee at: www.daddyissueslondon.com

What can attendees expect from the event?

Our parties are SUPER CUTE! For our LA launch we have awesome music from our fantastic DJ line up. At every party we give away our very popular tees and pin badges. We are giving the venue a very millennial pink makeover. Of course there will be mega hot go-go dancers who will be wearing pretty much nothing.

Do you have daddy issues?

TOTALLY! My top daddy’s right now are…

ANDY COHEN, RICARDO TISCI, TOM FORD, COLIN FARRELL and TYSON BECKFORD

And because we’re all visual learners, here’s some cute from @DADDYISSUESLONDON on Instagram

 

Party pix courtesy of Daddy Issues London (click to enlarge):

Check out this sexy promo video to get you titillated:

The post Do You Have Daddy Issues? Hot UK Party Comes To Los Angeles appeared first on The WOW Report.

June 16th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Actor, Laurie Metcalf

0
0

Photograph from Broadway World

June 16, 1955Laurie Metcalf

It must be an exciting time to be Laurie Metcalf. In 2012, she starred as Mary Tyrone in a London production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night for which she was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award. In spring 2013, she starred in the Broadway premiere of The Other Place, a Manhattan Theatre Club production directed by talented two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello and starring Daniel Stern, bringing her a second Tony Award nomination (the first was for November in 2008, opposite her friend Nathan Lane), after winning the Obie Award for the Off-Broadway version. In fall 2013, Metcalf performed Off-Broadway with Jeff Goldblum in Domesticated by Bruce Norris, bringing her the Lucille Lortel Award, Drama League Award, and the 2014 Drama Desk Award. She then played Annie Wilkes in the Broadway production of Stephen King’s Misery, opposite Bruce Willis. The play opened in November 2015 to mixed reviews, but Metcalf’s performance was widely praised She was nominated for another Tony Award, her third Tony nomination.

All that world-class stage work and she still had time for television projects: a recurring role on the number one series The Big Bang Theory (2007-Current), as Sheldon Cooper’s pragmatic, Texan mother; as a high-strung, demented doctor on the truly great HBO show Getting On (2013-15), at the same time that she was doing The McCarthys (2014-15).

A Doll’s House: Part 2, Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe

 

Then, the icing on the awards cake, last Sunday, after four Tony Award nominations, Metcalf won for her role as Nora Helmer in A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath. Quite something, the other nominees in the category were Cate Blanchett in The Present, Jennifer Ehle in Oslo, Sally Field in The Glass Menagerie and Laura Linney in The Little Foxes. In the play, Metcalf’s Nora storms back through the door she famously shut behind her in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House 15 years earlier, by the play’s chronology, selfishly demanding that the people she abandoned do exactly what she requests.

Original cast of Roseanne, Photograph from ABC/Rex

 

Think she enjoys working? Last month it was announced that she was joining the reboot of ABC’s Roseanne along with the original cast Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Michael Fishman, Sara Gilbert, Sarah Chalke and Johnny Galecki. She has been nominated for an astounding 14 Emmy Awards for her television work, winning three for Roseanne as Jackie, Roseanne’s caustic sister. She appeared in all 230 episodes of the original, I counted them. Metcalf:

“That’s going to be a rush, to jump back into that world. Back on the same lot, I think maybe in the same studio that we were in more than 20 years ago.  I guess it was just meant to be. Maybe the timing of it is really good. I’d like to see this blue-collar family today, in 2017.”

Later this year, she stars in the film Lady Bird opposite her friend Tracy Letts, written and directed by indie darling Greta Gerwig.  It is not, as I had hoped, about LBJ’s First Lady. It is a comedy though.

Metcalf grew-up in the small Illinois town of Edwardsville where she took ballet class, played baseball, and was an honor student. Metcalf attended Illinois State University where she received a B.A, in Theatre in 1976. Her fellow students in the Theatre department included John Malkovich, the late Glenne Headly, Joan Allen, Terry Kinney, Gary Sinese and Scandal’s Jeff Perry. They all went on to form Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Metcalf went with the company to appear in an Off-Broadway production of gay playwright Lanford Wilson’s Balm In Gilead at Circle Repertory in 1984, for which she received the 1984 Obie Award and Theatre World Award. People still talk about Metcalf’s tour de force 20-minute Act Two monologue. I guess that long speeches are a thing for Metcalf; in last season’s Horace And Pete, with Louis C.K. as her ex-husband, she had an almost non-stop 40 minute monolog where neither the camera nor the viewer can turn away. Another Emmy nomination!

She had been cast on Saturday Night Live in 1981, but appeared in only one episode before the season was abruptly ended by the writer’s strike. She never returned.

She was married to her classmate ,Steppenwolf Theatre co-founder, Jeff Perry. Their daughter Zoe Perry is an actor who worked with her mother on Broadway in The Other Place. In a queer twist of fate, Zoe Perry plays Sheldon Cooper’s mother in CBS’s Big Bang Theory prequel, Young Sheldon this fall.

Metcalf married Matt Roth, the Roseanne co-star who played her abusive boyfriend, Fisher. They also appeared together on the 2006 season of Desperate Housewives. They have three children together, but divorced in 2014.

Her friend, gay producer Scott Rudin, who brought Metcalf to Broadway in Misery and A Doll’s House: Part 2, has announced that two-time Academy Award winner Glenda Jackson and Metcalf will star in the first Broadway production of the late, great, gay Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece Three Tall Women in spring 2018, in a production directed by Joe Mantello. This will mark Jackson’s long-awaited return to Broadway after a 30-year absence, coming out of her historic, sold-out run in King Lear this year in London, after serving as a Member of Parliament from 1992 to 2015.

Metcalf admits she loves to work, but she mostly… she loves to work on stage.

The post #BornThisDay: Actor, Laurie Metcalf appeared first on The WOW Report.


Patti LuPone on Why She Won’t Perform for Trump, “Because I Hate the Motherf*cker. How’s That?”

0
0

Patti LuPone was was making her way down the Tonys red carpet when a reporter asked her why Trump should see her Broadway show, War Paint?

Patti said,

“Well, I hope he doesn’t. “Because I won’t perform if he does.”

He was surprised,

“Really?”

She responded,

“Really!”

But he would not let it go…

“Tell me why…?”

“Because I hate the motherfucker. How’s that?”

How MUCH do we love Patti Lupone? Let me count the ways…

Watch.

LEGEND #PATTILUPONE 👑 has no chill when it come to #Trump and I love it!!! 👏🏼🙌🏼🅴

A post shared by Naomi (@notadaygoesby_) on

(Photo, PCN; via Elle)

The post Patti LuPone on Why She Won’t Perform for Trump, “Because I Hate the Motherf*cker. How’s That?” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Amazon Buying Whole Foods For $13.7 BILLION! (That’s a Lotta Kale, Honey!)

0
0

Amazon announced today it plans to acquire Whole Foods Market for $42 a share. A deal valued at $13.7 billion!

Whole Foods’ John Mackey will remain CEO of the grocery store chain after the deal closes, and the store will continue to operate under the Whole Foods brand. Amazon’s offer represents a 27% increase to Whole Foods’ closing price yesterday. Mackey said,

This partnership presents an opportunity to maximize value for Whole Foods Market’s shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers.

Online has been the next frontier for the grocery business but very few people buy their groceries online. Shares of Amazon were up about 3% following the news and news sent other grocery stocks reeling.

Online groceries, kids. It’s happening, but I’d rather order Trader Joe’s, myself. (via CNBC)

The post Amazon Buying Whole Foods For $13.7 BILLION! (That’s a Lotta Kale, Honey!) appeared first on The WOW Report.

Guess What Trump’s Hollywood Star Looked Like After the Pride March? (It Wasn’t Like This)

0
0


I might have mentioned before that World of Wonder‘s offices are on Hollywood Blvd and right up the street you’ll find Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During the Los Angeles Pride march last weekend (it was actually called the ResistMarch to protest the current administration), Trump’s star got covered pro-LGBTQ stickers.

“Dissent. Don’t Relent. Resist Homphobia/Transphobia/Misogyny/Racism/Ableism”.

This is just latest incident where his star was fucked with. It’s been smashed with a sledge-hammer, spray-painted with a don’t speak icon (and a swastika) and even walled in. And at night, it seems to get peed on a fair amount too.

Protestors at the march held up signs with messages like,

“If Hillary was President we’d all be at brunch right now.”

Trump’s White House has stayed entirely silent about Pride, making no official statement to acknowledge the monthlong celebrations.

Currently, the official White House website hails June as,

National Homeownership Month

• African-American Music Appreciation Month

• National Caribbean-Ameriacn Heritage Month

• National Ocean Month

• Great Outdoors Month

Nothing wrong with those at all, but there seems to be SOMETHING missing? How about…

National Hating Trump’s Guts & Counting the Days Until He’s Gone Month?

Well, I guess these days, that’s every month.

(Photos, Reddit, Twitter; via Queerty)

The post Guess What Trump’s Hollywood Star Looked Like After the Pride March? (It Wasn’t Like This) appeared first on The WOW Report.

Boomer Banks Has No Time For Queens Who Post “No Blacks, No Asians, No Fats or Fems”

0
0

Gay porn mega-legend/budding fashion designer/all around good guy Boomer Banks spoke to HuffPost’s Kevin James Thornton about the hullaballoo he caused by posting a sign that called out the LGBTQ community’s tendency to segregate and discriminate amongst ourselves.

You recently posted a photo from the DC equality march that said “if your profile says no latino, no black, no asian, no fat or fem then you don’t belong here.” It got a lot of attention. Do you think you could sum up what that sign is saying?
Boomer: First of all, it wasn’t my sign. It was a sign I saw that moved me more than the other signs there because lately I’ve noticed that within the LGBTQ community there seems to be this underlying fight between each other. More than anything right now I feel like this shouldn’t be a thing because we have other people trying to fight us. We’re under fire from outside forces and fighting each other right now isn’t productive. It caught my attention, I took a picture and posted it. I think it got a lot of good and bad responses because some people get it and some people don’t. To me that sign means it’s ok to have preferences ― that’s not something I’m discouraging ― but feeling the need to post those statements on social media? That’s going a little bit further and delving into a racial bias, in my opinion.

What you just said there is the thing I think some people don’t get. When someone says “that’s just my sexual preference. I’m just being honest…”
Boomer: Right. Someone said to me that it was just a preference and to “get over it.” This is someone who lives in white privilege. I understand these are things we grow up being taught. This is what we are subjected to. If all you’ve ever dated are white boys, I get it. But it’s still not ok to make these statements out loud on social media…

Right there’s a difference between saying I prefer these sorts of physical traits versus “No Black People.”
Boomer: I think the difference is being vocal. We all have things we like and don’t like. But if you are going to be vocal on social media… That I think is the point. At that point you become responsible for that comment. And that comment becomes a political statement of something you do or don’t allow. If that is race, then that becomes a racial issue.

If someone says boldly on their profile “no Latinos” or “no Asians” do you think that is inherently racist?
Boomer: I think if they feel the need to say that… at this point in the progression of this topic that has been talked about over and over? Yes, I think at this point if you put that in your profile you are racist. This isn’t a new issue. We are fighting for equality. If you are defending your “preference” so strongly that you feel the need to say these things? It’s not ok.

Agreed.

Read the whole interview here.

(All photos via Instagram, top photo Aaron Jay Young for OUT)

 

Sporting my #projectclaude 💙🍌💙🍌💙#nyc #boomerme #gymbrat #shutterslut #cockyboys

A post shared by Boomer Banks (@baconlvr) on

The post Boomer Banks Has No Time For Queens Who Post “No Blacks, No Asians, No Fats or Fems” appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Breaking: Overnight Blaze Destroys Beach Houses on Fire Island

0
0


A wild inferno completely destroyed at least four homes on Fire Island in a blaze that broke out just before 1 AM. Eight fire departments on and near Fire Island battled the fires throughout the night and eight more fire departments from various towns joined in. Video from the scene shows houses being completely swallowed by the flames. Crews got the fire under control just after 4:30 AM.

Four houses were completely destroyed and two others were severely damaged, according to Fire Chief Joseph Geiman. All of the six homes are single-family, wood frame; only one was vacant. The people who live in the Ocean Walk home where the blaze started were out for the night.

Up to 20 homes could have been lost, but firefighters managed to keep the flames from spreading further. Six propane containers caused an explosion, which made the containment much harder.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Photos, NBC; via NBC News)

The post #Breaking: Overnight Blaze Destroys Beach Houses on Fire Island appeared first on The WOW Report.

Poop Culture: Extremely Constipated Man Has 28 lbs of Waste Surgically Removed

0
0

I’m sorry for posting this. I’m sorry you’re about to read it. But, really, who am I to resist a story like this? It’s too insane. Too disturbing. I had no choice. You have to believe me.

Via VICE: Doctors in China recently removed nearly 30 inches of a swollen large intestine from a severely constipated gentleman. It apparently weighed 28.6 pounds, and was filled with feces which had been collecting there since birth. SINCE BIRTH. He was 22 years old.

Inverse reports that the anonymous man was diagnosed with Hirschsprung’s disease, a congenital condition caused by missing nerve cells in the bowel, which results in, ahem, movement issues. In a healthy digestive tract, food and waste move through the intestines by peristalsis, or involuntary muscle contractions. But in someone with Hirschsprung’s disease, peristalsis stops in affected parts of the large intestine, aka the colon. The waste ends up just sitting there, causing the organ to swell and, if left long enough, it can turn into an aptly named “megacolon.” If the colon were to perforate, or tear, the release of bacteria could lead to life-threatening shock or sepsis. So this surgery may have saved the man’s life.

When the poor guy arrived at the hospital, he was weak, he could barely talk, he was moaning in pain and had trouble breathing. According to doctors, his abdomen was so distended that he looked nine months pregnant.

The man told doctors he had suffered from constipation his whole life, finding only minor relief from laxatives. (Any type of laxative—bulk-forming, saline, hyperosmotic—won’t work properly if your intestines don’t). Still, his parents never deemed his issues serious enough to warrant medical attention.

“It looked like it could explode at any time,” said Yin Lu of Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, where the surgery was performed. The surgery took three hours; at the end, doctors had successfully removed the affected part of his colon—along with the fecal buildup. He’s expected to fully recover.

 

The post Poop Culture: Extremely Constipated Man Has 28 lbs of Waste Surgically Removed appeared first on The WOW Report.

A Chat with BYellowtail Ahead of TONIGHT’S Evening of Indigenous Art + Fashion + Resilience at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery/Pop-Up Shop

0
0

Tonight at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, we present the indigenous art! fashion! and resilience of Bethany Yellowtail, who hails from the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations in southeastern Montana, and creates clothing that combines traditional Native American representation with contemporary silhouette. Below, I talk to her about what can expect from tonight’s fashion show/art installation, and check out some of the pieces from the pop-up shop that will be in the gallery space all weekend.

Selections from Bethany Yellowtail’s summer 2017 women’s collection will be available at a three-day celebration and pop-up shop during her Art, Fashion & Resilience event taking place here at The World of Wonder Storefront Gallery, 6650 Hollywood Blvd., starting Friday, June 16. Hours and additional event information can be found at byellowtail.com.

RSVP at yellowtail.com/events

The post A Chat with BYellowtail Ahead of TONIGHT’S Evening of Indigenous Art + Fashion + Resilience at the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery/Pop-Up Shop appeared first on The WOW Report.


June 17th: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch!

#BornThisDay: Barry Manilow

0
0

barry

June 17, 1943– Barry Manilow

He Made It Through The Rain To Sing The Songs The Whole World Sings On June 17th.

Today marks the birthday of Barry Alan Pincus of Brooklyn. He wrote a whole bunch of songs and along the way sold over 100 million records, working as writer, producer, arranger or conductor. He is up there with StreisandSinatraSpringsteen, and Michael Jackson.

In 1978, he had five albums on the best-seller charts simultaneously. He has a Tony AwardGrammy Award, and Emmy Award on his trophy shelf. He has been voted into The Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

Maybe Manilow will never be ready to take a chance again. But, during a 2004 concert in NYC, just as he started to sing a duet with fabulous Broadway star, Brian d’Arcy James, Manilow joked to the audience: “Of course, we’re not going to sing it to each other… that would be creepy.”

1980s era Manilow, Photograph from Arista Records

 

His own website conveniently omits the fact that he began his career in a gay bathhouse, even though he has admitted ripping off his tuxedo and jumping into the pool at the Continental Baths with a bevy of nude gay men. He blames losing his inhibitions on the drinks and joints that had been passed to him. Manilow:

“That’s such a bit of misinformation. There was just the single bathhouse called the Continental Bathhouse and I worked there for just two weekends with Bette Midler… and that was it. I accompanied her for those two weekends there and then we went on to a lot of nightclubs around NYC, Chicago and LA and she exploded like a year later. So it really wasn’t ‘gay bathhouses.’ I don’t know where that came from.”

On the plus side, Manilow did cancel an appearance on The View because of pretty, charming Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s ultra-conservative stances. Manilow:

“I strongly disagree with her views, I think she’s dangerous & offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.” When Manilow was being honored in Palm Springs for his AIDS awareness efforts, he stated: “I’ve had four personal assistants in my career since the 1970s, and three out of the four have died of AIDS. My personal assistants have always become my best friends. They are my brothers.”

I also like that Manilow once complained that when Ronnie and Nancy Reagan became his neighbors in Bel-Air:

“I thought it was pretty hot, but the secret service was all over the place. I always know when they are coming home because of all the helicopters. If I am out there sunbathing in the nude, I go, shit, the Reagans are coming home.”

When Elizabeth Taylor asked him the early 1980s for help raising money to fight the disease he was there. Manilow:

“Her friend Rock Hudson had died. She was the first one to try to make the public aware of this disease that was infecting everybody, and she was throwing a big dinner party. She called her entertainer friends, and they all turned her down. I don’t know why. But I got the call and said, ‘Of course.’ But my band wasn’t around. I just went there and played piano and sang for a good hour. It was the first one she had, and it was the first time I had ever done anything like that.”

Not denying his considerable musical gifts and power as a popular entertainer, I have never been, nor do I suspect that I will ever be a Fanalow. Even with my egalitarian and all-encompassing musical tastes, I never did find myself on the Manilow journey.

The closest to an exception was when I was working for ASCAP (American Society Of Composers, Authors And Publishers) in NYC, circa mid-1970s. I was engaged in listening to six hours of commercial radio play and entrusted to identify all the music recorded: commercials, bridges, lead-ins, cues and songs. I would not listen to songs all the way through. I was paid a bonus for finishing more than the six hour tape. Yet, I was very taken with a certain radio hit. I knew the song in the first three notes, but I would listen all the way through. I began to think it would be an effective ballad in my own act. The song was Weekend In New England sung by Barry Manilow.

I think it is unfortunate that Manilow suffered from the same fear of fan rejection as Liberace. It was just so nutty to read the accounts in the press of Manilow’s coming out of the closet last April, when I figured he had been out long ago. But, there he was at 73-years-old, flinging wide that closet door, finally talking about his marriage to his manager Garry Kief to the press. It would have been fun to have always had him be an out and proud gay man. Manilow:

 “I’m so private. I always have been.”

The marriage to Kief, wasn’t his first, Manilow had first wed his high school sweetheart, Susan Deixler. Manilow:

“I was in love with Susan, I just was not ready for marriage. I was out making music every night, sowing my wild oats… I was too young. I wasn’t ready to settle down.”

He met Kief in 1978:

 “I knew that this was it. I was one of the lucky ones. I was pretty lonely before that.”

Besides being Manilow’s manager, Kief is also the head of Barry Manilow Productions.

Manilow has lived with his manager Kief in homes they share in NYC, Bel Air and Palm Springs.

I was mixed-up about the public coming out because in April 2015,  it was revealed that the longtime couple had married in a small private ceremony at their Palm Springs digs. Already a juicy story, the cherry on that gossip of a sundae: 1970s television star Suzanne Somers broke the story to our yummy Andy Cohen on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live!. Somers said that Manilow’s marriage to Kief was “freeing” for him. The story gets even better. It seems that Somers was Best Man at the wedding attended by about 50 close friends. Somers:

“Barry’s extremely, extremely private, and I think it was very difficult, and it’s very difficult for me to talk about because I want to do it with complete respect & love. He’s an awesome person. They’re both awesome people, and they’re my dearest friends. There’s Barry Manilow the performer, and then there’s the Barry ‘machine.’ It takes enormous savvy and know-how to book and market complicated arena tours, choreograph promotion, direct the entire team and make it look effortless, and that part is Garry’s domain. A major career takes two. Between them, there is enormous comfort and trust.”

As if getting married was not exciting enough for the always busy musical superstar, in 2014 he released Barry Manilow: My Dream Duets where Manilow sings along with 11 dead people including Whitney Huston and Judy Garland. That is just so wonderfully demented!

I am somewhat relived that he didn’t do that that long planned remake of Funny Lady.

Manilow gets relaxed at a concert in 2008, Photograph by Matt Becker

 

Manilow says he’s not kidding about his current One Last Time! Tour. It will be his final concert tour, but, outside of Cher’s farewell tour. it may be the longest. He has booked dates through the end of 2018. By that time, we could have a new POTUS! Manilow:

“I’m trying to do as many of the well-known songs as I can, hardly any album cuts this time. I’m doing the longest show that I’ve done for a while. The last tour rehearsal we did was over two hours. I’m trying to get in as many of the big hits as I can. Hopefully people will remember them, but I’m going to do them anyway.”

Could It Be Magic?

 

The post #BornThisDay: Barry Manilow appeared first on The WOW Report.

#Flashback77: Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” Turns 40! (+ Somethin’ New)

0
0

June 1979- Rumours is the Number One album.

There are so many amazing stories about Fleetwood Mac’s bandmembers since the band formed 50 years ago. The band has sold more than 100 million records, making them one of the pretty planet’s best-selling bands in history.

From 1975 to 1987, leaving behind their Blues influence for a more Pop sound, Fleetwood Mac featured original member Mick Fleetwood along with Christine McVie, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Gay Icon Stevie Nicks. Rumours (1977), Fleetwood Mac’s second album after adding Buckingham and Nicks, produced four Top 10 singles in the USA and remained the Number One album for an astonishing 31 weeks, plus it reached the top spot in many other countries around the world. It was a true international hit, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide, making Rumours the eighth-highest-selling album of all time.

The making of Rumours was one of the great soap operas of Pop Music. Let me see if I can get it straight: Nicks had just split with her longtime lover and musical partner, Buckingham, when they began to record the album. Christine McVie was in the middle of a divorce from her husband, the band’s bassist John, and having an affair with the group’s lighting designer. The McVies only spoke to each other when discussing music. Fleetwood’s marriage was also ending, and he had just started an affair with Nicks.

Plus, there were piles of white powder available in the different rooms at the studio and plenty of booze. They even included a special thank-you to their drug dealer in the album’s liner notes.

Rumours took a year to record, and cost more than $1 million. Most of the songs were about the band members’ break-ups. Fleetwood Mac created their best music when the members were suffering the worst personal crises and were the most fucked-up.

Fleetwood:

“Making Rumours almost killed us.”

Cocaine was bought in bulk and the band and crew would stand in line for their ration. The handing out of the drugs was listed on the band’s daily schedule. The drugs and booze were claimed as corporate expenses on their taxes.

Yet, all this drama brought brutally honest lyrics and beautiful music, transforming the album into a scintillating romantic confessional. The musicians’ personal lives found their way on to the album and fans were left with a peek at their painful, glamorous mess. It is a masterpiece.

During the 1990s, Nicks and Buckingham left the group and then returned, together and separately. During the aughts, Christine McVie took time off.

So, here we are 40 years after Rumours and Buckingham and Christine McVie have just released an album together and it is filled with plenty of the drama that Fleetwood Mac has been cooking up since 1977. Buckingham, the McVies, Nicks, and Fleetwoood were all set to record their first album since Tango In The Night 30 years ago. Suddenly, Nicks wanted to work on her solo career instead. That left a bunch of new songs written by Buckingham and Christine McVie, some together, some separately, but no album. They decided to make a duet record, and they asked Fleetwood and John McVie to play on it.

So, the album, titled Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie is really a new Fleetwood Mac record minus Nicks. That’s is the way they work: Behind The Mask (1990) was made without Buckingham; Time (1995) was made without Buckingham and Nicks; and Say You Will ( 2003)  without Christine McVie.

I streamed Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie yesterday and it is very good, but I miss Nicks. There is just something magic about the mix of their three vocals. Fleetwood Mac ans are going to love it.

Buckingham and Nicks start a tour this week with a concert at Chastain Park in Atlanta. Nicks is about to start a solo tour along some dates with Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers this summer. She is practicing her twirling. Fleetwood Mac will tour around the globe with their The One Show in summer 2018 with all the members on board.

 

The post #Flashback77: Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” Turns 40! (+ Somethin’ New) appeared first on The WOW Report.

Mama Ru Recalls When Her Drag Went Mainstream, “I Took the Sexualized Raunchiness Out”

0
0


RuPaul tells her story in the new Entertainment Weekly cover story. It was 1993 and RuPaul was booked to make an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. She already had a big following in gay clubs. Ru’s drag personae had evolved a glamazon supermodel and she was ready for the masses to gag. Ru says the key was

I took the sexualized raunchiness out. The glamazon suoermodel was a caricature that you could bring home to meet mom and dad. I was well-spoken. I was Miss Black America.

I knew, based on the questions I was asked, that my days of having fun in drag were over. It was clear I had to represent a faction of society that didn’t have a voice.“

RuPaul’s Drag Race has won its namesake an Emmy for Outstanding Reality Show Host and as you (and Eureka) know, World of Wonder has signed up for a tenth season on VH1.

Wow’s Fenton Bailey says,

When we met him in the ‘80s, he was wheat-pasting posters of himself that said, ‘RuPaul is Everything.’ I often think of that moment because it was so symbolic in so many ways because it was Ru, putting up a poster of himself that contained the fundamental message of Ru from the beginning: You have to hustle. You have to find and connect with your audience. When we met Ru, he wasn’t sitting around waiting to be discovered.

Wow co-founder, Randy Barbato added,

He was fully realized. He was working a total gender-f–k punk rock look, this incredible creature that you could not ignore. It was undeniable that we were in the presence of this huge star.

Lady Bunny chimed in,

Ru’s contribution to drag is unique in that Ru presented himself as pretty, and the only way that the mainstream had embraced drag was to have [men] in ‘Some Like It Hot’ doing drag because they were hiding. ‘Tootsie’, where Dustin Hoffman does drag because he’s unable to find work. ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. There was always a reason a man had to do drag. Ru didn’t need a reason. The reason was,

‘I’m gorgeous. I’m a supermodel.’

That was a huge benchmark for him to say,

‘I want to do drag because I look great—don’t you agree?’ And for the world to say, ‘Yes.’

Ru sums up with,

Our show exemplifies the movement of a bigger consciousness arising. Drag is part of that. It’s having fun and understanding who you really are. I think the audience relates to that without even knowing specifically that that’s the thing.

Watching a drag queen who has been bullied as a kid becoming a star on her own terms is a rush for a lot of people, because they too longed for something but didn’t know what.“

Check out the rest of the issue here and get your collectible LGBTQ special issue with Ru on the cover on newsstands now.

(Photo, EW; via Gay Star News & EW)

The post Mama Ru Recalls When Her Drag Went Mainstream, “I Took the Sexualized Raunchiness Out” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Coroner Says Carrie Fisher Had Sleep Apnea & Died of “Undetermined Factors”

0
0

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical-Examiner Coroner said in a statement that actress and author Carrie Fisher died of other “undetermined factors.”

The coroner did not conclusively determine a single cause of death for Fisher. The report notes that she had sleep apnea, as well as hardening of her arteries but also that she had taken multiple drugs. Investigators couldn’t determine if they ultimately contributed to her death. The full autopsy report and toxicology screening are not yet released. The coroner’s statement said,

The manner of death has been ruled undetermined.

Fisher was on prescription medication for bipolar disorder. She became an advocate for mental health and told USA Today in 2002,

There is treatment and a variety of medications that can alleviate your symptoms if you are manic depressive or depressive. You can lead a normal life, whatever that is.

Fisher died on December 27 after going into cardiac arrest on a flight to from London to L.A.. Her distraught mother, actor Debbie Reynolds, died the next day.

Carrie’s beloved dog Gary now lives with Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd

🎉🐶🎉 Happy 5th / 35th birthday to my #brotherfromanothermother #sunsouttonguesout

A post shared by Billie Lourd (@praisethelourd) on

🍀💚🍀 Happy 85th to my constantly classily clad Abadaba 💚

A post shared by Billie Lourd (@praisethelourd) on

(Photos, PCN; via Buzzfeed)

The post Coroner Says Carrie Fisher Had Sleep Apnea & Died of “Undetermined Factors” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Viewing all 11455 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images