Yes, Cher is a woman who has it all and this year she has just one holiday wish:

“Someone step on his fucking phone.”

Guess who she’s talking about? If you follow her on Twitter, you know. Cher tweets a LOT about Trump’s tweets,

“You have no idea the amount of tweets I do that I don’t send. It just makes me feel better to say every single thing I want, but I don’t send them —I keep them on file. Maybe at some point I will. I have a really bad temper when it comes to injustice and things that I think are just crazy.”

So, what’s the connection to POTUS and her new holiday merch? Twitter was the catalyst for her new line. A couple of years ago, one member of the massive “chick crew,” as Cher’s fans refer to themselves replied and said she should do a line of ugly Christmas sweaters, tees, and beanies. Now that idea has actually become real and that merch has gone live on her site.

Despite her fury at the president, Cher told Vogue she is excited for the holidays and her merch drop.

“I really have fun with it and it’s, of course, all very positive. We put swag stuff all around. It just goes into that kind of insane Christmas mode that you don’t ever want to do again, but you do every year anyway.

My favorite tradition is hanging these stockings I made for Chaz [Bono] and Elijah [Blue Allman]. I needlepointed them one year when I was completely out of my mind. We were filming Silkwood and Meryl [Streep] was knitting a sweater for Don [her husband], which was, like, the most insane sweater because she never made one before and it looked like an octopus or something. Then I thought I should try knitting because we were so bored sitting around on set. I got a needlepointing thing and made a stocking for Chaz with this beautiful Santa Claus on it.”

Problem was once Elijah got a look…

“He said, ‘Where’s mine, Mom?’ and I thought, Oh Jesus, I have to knit another, so I did. I was knitting in every photo shoot, interview, anything, just to get it done in time for Christmas. I put those two stockings up every single year.”

And she even has her version of the ugly Christmas sweaters

“We really went out of our way to find the ugliest motifs and fonts for those sweatshirts. We went through three designs or something. It’s hard because you want to make them as ugly as possible.”

See below, in purple it’s UGLY. Slightly less so in black. Cher also has a lovely New Year’s wish for everyone…

“I’m so positive about him not being here next year, because he will be in jail.”

Ho, ho, ho, bitch!

(T/Y Susan; via Vogue)

The post #HoHoHoBitches!: Cher Has Some New Holiday Merch (But Only One Xmas Wish) “Someone Step On His F*cking Phone!” appeared first on The WOW Report.

Photograph from James Baldwin Archive, NYC Public Library

Although he spent a great deal of his life abroad, James Baldwin always remained a quintessentially American writer. He published 26 books, including the novels, Giovanni’s Room (1956) and Another Country (1962). He never ceased to reflect on his experience as a black man in white America. In numerous essays, novels, plays and public speeches, the eloquent voice of Baldwin spoke of the pain and struggle of African-Americans and the saving power of brotherhood.

In the early 1960s, overwhelmed by a sense of responsibility to the times, Baldwin returned to the USA take part in the Civil Rights Movement. Traveling throughout the South, he began work on an explosive work about black identity and racial struggle, The Fire Next Time (1963). It became a bestseller, and Baldwin ended up on the cover of Time Magazine.

The American Civil Rights Movement was not really open to LGBTQ people. The only known gay men in the movement were Baldwin and Bayard Rustin. Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr. were very close, and Rustin was the architect of success of the March On Washington in August 1963. Many were bothered by Rustin’s gayness. King considered homosexuality to be a mental illness that could be overcome. King later distanced himself from Rustin and Baldwin. Baldwin was conspicuously uninvited to speak at the March On Washington.

Baldwin was harassed by the FBI, with an 1885-page file on his activities. Baldwin had a contentious relationship with the FBI, blaming violence in Birmingham during the spring of 1963 on J. Edgar Hoover. Baldwin even taunted the FBI by saying in interviews he was writing a book about their operation. The work never materialized, but the idea sent the FBI into a frenzy as it tried to get its hands on a manuscript.

“Freedom is not something that anybody can be given. Freedom is something people take, and people are as free as they want to be.”

The post #QueerQuote: “The Place In Which I’ll Fit Will Not Exist Until I Make It.” – James Baldwin appeared first on The WOW Report.

Ari Behn

Frank Underwood is finished

Spacey was hosting the event with Uma Thurman in Oslo when the incident allegedly occurred. Behn told a Norwegian radio station,

“We had a nice conversation, he was sat next to me. After five minutes, he says ‘Hey, let’s go out and have a cigarette’, and then he touched me right on the balls under the table.”

Behn was taken aback and all he could say was

“eh, maybe later. I was black in my hair at that time, ten years younger and right up his alley.”

As reported you know, eight former and current crew members on House of Cards and The Old Vic said last month, released the conclusions of an investigation into allegations concerning Spacey’s conduct at the theatre where he was director for over a decade. The results weren’t good.

The investigation carried out by an external law firm on behalf of The Old Vic had 20 allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” carried out by Spacey between 1995 and 2013. they said.

“Despite having the appropriate escalation processes in place, it was claimed that those affected felt unable to raise concerns and that Kevin Spacey operated without sufficient accountability.

This is clearly unacceptable and the Old Vic truly apologises for not creating an environment or culture where people felt able to speak freely.”

Spacey has been fired from his role as Frank Underwood in hit Netflix series House of Cards, with Robin Wright to become the main focus of the show. He was also totally cut out of Ridley Scott’s upcoming film All The Money In The World just six weeks before its release date which is December 22. Christopher Plummer replaced him and is already appearing in TV commercials in the role.

Christopher Plummer (left) replace Kevin Spacey (right) in “All the Money in the World” playing J. Paul Getty

(Photos, YouTube; via Gay Times)

The post Kevin Spacey Accused of Sexually Assaulting a Member of Norway’s Royal Family –”He Touched Me Right on the Balls” appeared first on The WOW Report.

When out singer Sam Smith and legend Patti LaBelle were on Andy Cohen‘s Watch What Happens Live!, a viewer called in and asked Smith what his tagline would be? His answer took everyone by surprise. Smith told the Clubhouse,

“I think it would just be: ’I’m a dick monster.”

Andy then asked,

“What would the definition of a ’dick monster’ be?”

Smith explained,

“It’s when you hunt for the dick.”

A wide-eyed Patti answers with her signature.

“Whoooo!”

Exactly.

Watch.

(Photo, Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBC; via NewNowNext)

The post #WWHL: Patti LaBelle’s Reaction To Sam Smith Saying, “I’m a Dick Monster” Is Priceless. Watch. appeared first on The WOW Report.

Lillestrøm SK was celebrating their 3-2 win against Sarpsborg 08, which saw the team claim the Norwegian FA Cup for the sixth time.

During the team’s trophy parade, defender Aleksander Melgalvis Andreassen stripped live on stage and put his penis inside the trophy. Yes, this actually happened.

In a statement released following the controversial celebration, Aleksander admitted that he may have got a little carried away during the ceremony, but the 28-year-old footballer doesn’t regret it. He told the Dagbladet newspaper.

“I’ve come a long way to play in a cup final. Of course I can understand that [people thought] it was a bit over the top. I’ll admit that and apologise, but it is not something I regret.”

I’m sorry, if I had a body like that, I’d go naked to the grocery store…

Watch.

(Photo, YouTube; via Gay Times)

The post (Hot) Norwegian Football Player Celebrates Win by Stripping & Sticking His Dick in the Trophy! Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.

RKO Publicity Shot, via Wikimedia Commons

December 10, 1909– Hermes Pan:

”Dancers are like children. It’s the only way they can do what they do.”

In Memphis (the one in the USA, not Egypt), 108 years ago, he was born with the terrific name, Hermes Panagiotopoulas, but he would become Hollywood’s Hermes Pan, the man who danced with and for Fred Astaire.

Pan and Astaire met in an RKO rehearsal studio in 1933. Hermes was 24-years-old, poor, and moving in the middle of the night from house to house with his mother and his sister, anyplace that would take them in.

Pan had been hired by RKO’s Dance Director Dave Gould to work with Astaire, because ironically, Gould didn’t know how to dance. There were no choreographers for films in those days.

In Memphis, as a little boy, Pan’s ”mammy”, as black housekeepers were called in that era, would sometimes take him home at night to the part of city known as Black Bottom, a common name for a ghetto in Southern American cities. The influence of the life in Black Bottom is still a part of our own culture. Great music and dancing emerged from those communities. Pan recalled, late in his life, how those trips to Black Bottom were always exciting because there was nightlife in the streets, musicians with tubs, broomsticks and strings that played what was then called ”Gut Bucket Jazz”. Hanging out in that neighborhood with his mammy was how Pan learned to dance, not at a ballet studio.

Pan was working as a dancer on Broadway where he met Virginia McMath. She was headed to Hollywood where word was out that film studios were looking for musical comedy performers. McMath convinced Pan to try his luck with her. He had a rough start. Pan was broke when he was hired at $75 a week to work with Astaire in Flying Down To Rio (1933), only Astaire’s second film and the first teamed with Virginia McMath, now named Ginger Rogers.

Photograph from PBS “Masters Of Dance” via YouTube

Pan and Astaire had very different personalities, but compatible sensibilities in dance, music and humor. Pan was a decade younger than Astaire and more hip to the latest dance steps, and Astaire, smart about showbiz, recognized Pan’s youthful vim and vigor.

Pan and Astaire’s collaboration lasted for the rest of the men’s lives, all the way to Astaire’s last film musical, Finian’s Rainbow (1968), an experience that was not good for either of them. The young director Francis Ford Coppola knew little about how to shoot a musical, and thwarted Astaire and Pan’s plans for the film’s dances, reintroducing the style of camera work from the early 1930s which Astaire and Pan had worked so hard to end. Eventually, Coppola fired Pan, who also had a small role in the film.

Pan acknowledged that the dancing that the world knew as ”Fred Astaire Style” had African roots. Astaire was very drawn to the percussive sounds and rhythms. During this time, Astaire studied with John Bubbles, a vaudevillian, entertainer, and a truly great dancer. He played Sportin’ Life in the original production of George Gershwin’s Porgy And Bess (1935), plus he was a genius. Astaire was a sharp student.

Pan worked with Astaire on 17 pictures, including all ten of the films Astaire made with Ginger Rogers. In those years that he worked as a choreographer for Astaire at RKO, Pan always taught Rogers the steps way before she worked with her onscreen perfectionist partner. The two men would refine the dances together, and Pan would then introduce them to Rogers. Pan would first dance the Astaire part while Rogers slowly learned hers. Pan resembled Astaire physically and as a dancer. Pan:

”With Fred I was Ginger, and with Ginger I was Fred.”

He sometimes dubbed Rogers taps for her films with Astaire, in high heels for authenticity.

Pan enjoyed a lengthy career as a choreographer and he hired a number of major American dancers for their first Hollywood jobs including Bob Fosse and Jack Cole. He won an Academy Award for Damsel In Distress (1936), back when they gave Oscars for Best Dance.

After Astaire and Rogers were no longer a team, Pan went over to Fox Studios where he worked with Betty Grable, at the time, the number one box-office star in the USA. In the 1950s, he went to work for MGM. In the 1960s, Joe Mankiewicz hired him to stage Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra entrance in to Rome.

Pan’s special skill lay in his transformations of mundane life situations to a dance idiom. His vitality, work ethic, and ability to please both the chorus dancers and studio bosses made him much loved in Hollywood. Handsome and lithe, a bizarre doppelganger for Astaire, Pan was an A-list party-goer, usually with Rita Hayworth as his beard.

With Hayworth, via Wikimedia Commons

Pan was also a deeply closeted gay man who had trouble living with his gayness, his Roman Catholic faith, and his disapproving mother. Invited to an all-male party by NYC Cardinal Francis Spellman, Hermes was shocked by the gay shenanigans and he dove even deep in the closet.

He did have a long affair with dancer Gino Malerba, but like so many gay men of the era, he seldom appeared in public with male partners, and he never lived together with Malerba.

Among the more than 50 films he choreographed are Top Hat (1935), The Blue Angel (1959), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Pal Joey (1957), Porgy And Bess (1959), The Pink Panther (1963), and My Fair Lady (1964). His first was Flying Down To Rio in 1933, and his last was Aiutami A Sognare in 1981. He played small roles in some of the films that he choreographed and danced on screen with Hayworth and Grable. He did the dances for all four of Astaire’s popular television specials and won an Emmy Award in 1961 for Astaire Time: An Evening With Fred Astaire.

Pan died at his home in Beverly Hills in 1991, a few months short his 81st birthday. He got up that day, fed his cat and made bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. After he finished his breakfast he sat down in his favorite chair in his living room overlooking his patio and swimming pool. Later that afternoon, a family member who hadn’t been able to reach him, found him still sitting there, already having departed for the big dance floor in the sky.

If you are interested in Hermes Pan, and you really should be, try Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced With Fred Astaire (2013) by John Franceschina.

Acid Betty
Trinity Taylor
Bobby Flay
Emmanuelle Chriqui
Fionnula Flanagan
Gloria Loring
Meg White
Nia Peeples
Raven-Symoné
Rod Blagojevich
Sir Kenneth Branagh
Summer Phoenix
Susan Dey
Xavier Samuel

Let them eat donuts!! nails : unicornspoopglitter.com @vie.lette outfit, hair, nightmares : me DONUT FIRST by @b.ames available at Acidbetty.com

A post shared by Acid Betty (@acidbetty) on Jun 24, 2017 at 1:50pm PDT

A post shared by Trinity “The Tuck” Taylor (@trinitythetuck) on Oct 28, 2017 at 2:21pm PDT

Photograph via NYC Public Library Archives

Believe it or not, the founder of the profession of the modern Interior Designer was not a gay man. That credit goes instead to Elsie de Wolfe (1859-1950), a lesbian who bounced back from a mid-life career crisis and found a way to make a considerably good living and bring design influence out of her incredible good taste and personal smart style.

De Wolfe’s taste influenced the very rich and the fabulously famous of London, NYC and Palm Beach, but she also inspired the more common people. Newspapers and magazines dispensed her advice, which was collected into the bestselling, influential book, The House In Good Taste (1913). She advised Americans to throw out their ostentation in favor of simplicity. She recommended that they do away with draperies in order to let in the light, and to replace the deep browns and burgundies with beige and ivory. De Wolfe:

“I believe in plenty of optimism and white paint, comfortable chairs with lights beside them, open fires on the hearth, flowers wherever they belong, mirrors, and sunshine in all rooms.”

Somewhat surprisingly, she played a heroic role as a volunteer nurse in France during WW I and, even more surprisingly, married British diplomat Sir Charles Mendl in 1926, when she was 61-years-old. As the most famous decorator in the world, she counted among her private and most celebrated clients Condé Nast, Cole Porter, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Her influence, however, extended to the public as well.

The Ali Forney Center opened its new LGBTQ youth homeless residence – the Bea Arthur Residence.

In attendance for he opening of the 18-room facility in the Lower East Side of New York City, was the late actress’s son, Matthew Saks, and her grandson, Brody Saks.

The Golden Girls‘ actress was a big supporter of the LGBTQ community during her life, with a benefit performance of her one-woman show, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, bringing in $40,000 for the center in ’05.

Arthur willed $300,000 to the shelter and it received an additional $3.3 million from the city to renovate the property. Arthur said before she died,

“These kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay or transgender. This organization really is saving lives.”

Carl Siciliano, Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center said,

“We are proud to dedicate this residence in her honor, and humbled to celebrate this momentous occasion alongside Bea Arthur’s son and grandson.

The Bea Arthur Residence marks an important shift in the way that we are able to house and care for young people who have been discarded by their families simply because of who they are. Pending city approvals, we hope to begin housing young people here within the next few weeks.”

Plus November 30 was officially declared Bea Arthur Day in New York City by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“My administration is committed to supporting New York’s thriving and diverse LGBTQ community. Critical to this mission are community organizations like the Ali Forney Center that are working to uplift and empower homeless LGBTQ youth across our city.”

She WAS and IS our Golden Girl. Thank you for being a true friend to the LGBT community.

(via LGBTQ Nation)

Jack Early

My pal, renowned artist (and sometimes songwriter) Jack Early is opening an exhibit at Mulier-Mulier gallery in Belgium on Christmas Eve and I REALLY wish it was closer so I could see –AND HEAR– it.

Visually, Jack’s work touches on so much of the same things I identify with and appreciate as a former young, gay southern boy. We were both in NYC in the 80s, when he and his partner Rob Pruitt made work together as Pruitt & Early. Jack stopped making art for a while, but now he’s back. I interviewed him about his last show for The Wow Report.

This new exhibit, Rainbow, layouts out the colors of the spectrum in drops and spheres and there are some beautiful and mimimalist paintings and collages that are a bit of a departure from Jack’s imagery of late, but they manage to stay within his wheelhouse and stake out some new territory at the same time.

Then, there’s this white room in the installation with two big blue paint blobs, and the one on the floor is embedded with a speaker (below) where you can hear Jack’s new musical while you imagine your own visuals. I’ll let him tell you how that came to be…

“I watched Cinderella with Leslie Ann Warren, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and The Wizard of Oz enough times on television as a kid to realize one day I would write my own fairytale musical. And in my mid 30’s (in the late 90s) I had already written a few songs for my band Happy Jack.

I say write but I don’t play anything, I was a front guy who threw out ideas, lyrics, and melodies. It suited me but Happy Jack broke up. I had this musical in my head and Lee Vincent from the band and I had remained friends so I called Lee. I guess it sounds like a fairytale the way we originally recorded Rainbow. I hummed it out to him in bits and Lee and his magic guitar would spin it into gold. I asked my friends to sing for the characters and mixed it on an old six track Lou Reed had thrown out. I thought it was pretty great but the goal was just to put it on a CD and pass it out to friends.”

So, how did it end up in a gallery in Belgium?

“Last year Mulier-Mulier gallery asked me to have a show with them. I had been thinking about the fairytale just sitting in a draw and so I decided to pull it out and build a whole show around it with paintings and sculpture. I wanted to polish up the music too. Alec Spiegelman had beautifully produced and engineered my last recording Jack Early’s Life Story In Just Under 20 Minutes and we spent the year re-recording Rainbow. Some friends reprised their original roles.

I feel like I put a cherry on top when Lady Bunny agreed to perform for the role of the witch. Belgium just seemed like the place for a fairytale show.”

Yes, Lady Bunny is the witch! (Type-casting?) Well, I can claim a teeny tiny bit of credit for that. I introduced them, but the idea to use her was Jack’s, of course, and the performance is pure Bunion. And the rest is HERstory.

Here, for the first time ever is the World Premiere of Lady Bunny as the witch singing Hey, Ho in Jack Early’s Rainbow: A Fairytale Musical.

Listen.

Jack Early, Rainbow runs December 24, 2017 – March 6, 2018 at MULIER MULIER GALLERY, Belgium. More info here.

Credits:
Jasmin Sian, Geoff Bentz, Trenton McBeth, Brian Sidney Bembridge,
Yoko Miyazaki, and Alec Spiegelman for sharing their support and their moonshine.

Rainbow – A Folk Rock Musical.
Story and Concept by Jack Early.
Lyrics by Jack Early with music by Jack Early and Lee Vincent.

Produced & arranged by Alec Spiegelman engineered by
Robin Macmillan & Alec Spiegelman mixed & edited by Alec Spiegelman

Featuring the vocal talents of:
Aki Berman & Lady Bunny – “The Witch”
Alec Spiegelman – pump organ, flutes, clarinets, saxophones,
guitar, electric bass, synthesizer, harmonica, melodica, piano
Ian McLellan Davis – guitars, electric bass
Akie Bermiss – piano, organ
Dave Cole – drum set
Jefferson Hamer – guitars
Renata Zeiguer – violin, guitar
Wes Corbett – banjo
Eliot Krimsky – piano
Robin MacMillan – percussion

I myself can’t stand one more Trump story this week… I need a break.

So, here’s Azuki, a tiny Japanese hedgehog who apparently goes on big adventures. He recently traded a cozy house in for some miniature Coleman camping gear. Equipped with his own tent, kayak, and barbecue, he was all set.

Have you ever been as happy as this little guy? You can check out more of squeal-inducing pics on Azuki’s Instagram.

Photos, Instagram; via Bored Panda)

University of California, Berkeley Archives

Frank Macoy “Mac” Harshberger (1900 – 1975) was born in Tacoma. He studied in Paris in the early 1920s, before moving to NYC in 1925 where he taught for many years at the Pratt Institute.

He worked in many styles and media in his career, but his more striking images are his stylish black and white illustrations, sort of an American equivalent to Aubrey Beardsley.

Harshberger is best known for his elegant, simplified shapes and economy of line. He was one of the first graphic artists to write about the need to respect the flatness of the picture plane in developing design. His success helped popularize the sophisticated Art Deco style in the USA.

He was a prodigious designer and artist. His drawings and designs are including in the collections at National Gallery of Art, The San Francisco Legion of Honor, and the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami.  A book was published about his art: An Elegance of Line- the Graphic Work of Mac Harshberger by William Whitney.

“Portrait of Holland” circa 1926

You know Bridget Everett by now, yes? She has a new show on Amazon, Love You More which is my new favorite show. (Just watch Episode 1. It’s NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT.) But Bridget is not what you’d ever-ETT expect either. Fearless isn’t a strong enough adjective. I’ve seen her live and she can win over ANY audience in one song.

Jimmy Fallon knew what he was doing when he asked her to sing last week. So prompted, she launched into a karoke-fied version of Miley Cyrus‘s The Climb that required shoe removal (by her and Jimmy) and got her a standing O from The Tonight Show studio audience.

Watch.

It’s a Coreypalooza over at Lifetime with Corey Feldman, Corey Haim… and music by Corey Hart!… in the original film A Tale of Two Coreys that follows the lives of the young ’80s superstars as they spiral out of control.

Based in part on Feldman’s 2013 memoir, Coreyography, the film deals with his claim that he and Haim had been sexually abused by people in the industry.

“There are people that did this to me and Corey that are still working, they’re still out there, and they’re some of the most rich and powerful people in this business. And they do not want what I’m saying right now. They want me dead,” he told The View while promoting the book.

Haim died in 2010 after decades of struggling with drug addiction. Feldman has continued to talk about his experiences of abuse but has never named the men that reportedly assault him and Haim.

The Lifetime film stars Elijah Marcano and Scott Bosely as Feldman and Justin Ellings and Casey Leach as Haim.

A Tale of Two Coreys premieres on Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

Watch the trailer below.

Such grace! Such muscly magnificence! Such holiday spirit! Yummy Italian pole dancer Domenico Vaccaro, the 2015 winner of Belgium’s Got Talent, released this festive new Instagram doing a holiday-themed routine to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” I highly recommend you give it a quick look-see.

Questo è lo show che si è svolto domenica 03/12/2017 a Roma presso officine farneto. Sarò ancora li venerdì sabato è domenica vi aspetto un saluto a tutti. #poledance #poledancer #acrobatics #acropole #humanflag #flagman #poleflag #elfontheshelf2017 #natale #show #circus #happy #poleart #artist #artistic #fisiculturismoefitness #crossfitter #ginnastics #theflagman #happychristmas #christmas2017 #pole2017 #officinefarneto

A post shared by Domenico Vaccaro (@domenico.va) on Dec 6, 2017 at 4:44am PST

Below, his winning tighty-whitey-clad Belgium’s Got Talent performance.

Rachel Mason aka FutureClown remixes Trump’s words into a timely new dance hit with “Time to Resign.” She writes:

“Time to Resign” is an anti-Trump anthem meant to keep up the spirits of all those who are hurt (which is everyone except his own inner circle who are getting richer) by the totally destructive ridiculousness in our government. Its easy to get depressed with all that’s gone on, so Time To Resign is meant to motivated as we fight. Joyful Resistance!

“I was inspired after a trip to Australia- by this amazing drag performer, Pauline Pantsdown– who, back in the 90’s made a song as a way of protesting this horrible conservative politician Pauline Hanson. Simon Hunt (the mastermind behind Pauline Pantsdown) first created the song which became a hit, and then released a video.” – Rachel Mason (FutureClown)

Watch below

“Time to Resign!” by Rachel Mason ft. Donald Trump
Video- Created by Rachel Mason aka FutureClown
Edited by James Hecht
Music by Rachel Mason aka FutureClown
Audio production and mastering: Alex Anikin
Video: Alex Anikin
Dancers: Michael A. Parker, Johny D

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have been forced to flee their beachfront $45 Million mansion in Monticeto, California as immense wildfires roar through the state.

The Thomas Fire, now expanded to almost 231,000 acres, has raged through southern California over the past week. The disaster has left a scorch mark larger than New York City and strong winds keep spreading the flames. The fire is only 15% contained.

In two tweets, DeGeneres said that the couple were evacuating and taking their pets with them. She also reported that neighbors in her community were helping each other evacuate – with their pets. DeGeneres and de Rossi’s incredible property has been up for sale for months.

No word yet on whether or not the couple’s home survived.

(Photo, Wikimedia Commons; via LGBTQ Nation)

On Wednesday, December 13, over a dozen Poz artists, performers, and DJs will gather for the 18+ event Viral Illumiation, hosted by beloved RDR fan fave Ongina with shows from Saturn Rising, Juice Boxx, and Daphne Von Rey; art installations by Ben Cuevas, John Moletress, Other Half LA, Leo Hererra, Danimal and Xena Ellison; music by DJ’s Mike Etc. and Victor Rodriguez, with a percentage of proceeds benefitting the Sero Project. The event also features a group healing and general wellness talk by the fabulous Domonique Echeverria of Universal Mother.  The party celebrates poz artists and allies working at the intersection of art, culture, and activism to build a world that works towards abolishing HIV stigma and builds opportunities for people to learn, empower one another and cultivate joy.

From the press release:

Los Angeles (November 27, 2017) – Over a dozen LA-based, HIV-positive artists and allies working at the intersection of art, culture and activism are coming together on December 13 at Navel LA from 8pm-12am to build a world that transforms HIV stigma through VIRAL ILLUMINATION, a new event concept that aims to amplify the voices of those living with and impacted by HIV/AIDS. Created by serodiscordant couple, Vasilios Papapitsios, an HIV-positive artist and advocate (HIV/IRL) and Elijah McKinnon, a cultural producer and LGBTQ advodate (PeopleWho.Care), VIRAL ILLUMINATION is an event they’ve co-curated to celebrate HIV-positive artists, performers, community members, and allies that that are changing the way we think about HIV/AIDS, sex, intimacy and pleasure.

For one night only, the duo is bringing together an eclectic cast for an evening hosted by Ongina from Rupual’s Drag Race and host of HIV+ME on Logo TV; performances by Saturn Rising, Juiceboxx and Daphne Von Rey; art installations by Ben Cuevas, John Moletress, Other Half LA, Leo Hererra, Danimal and Xena Ellison; music by DJ’s Mike Etc., Victor Rodriguez, Bae Bae and more from artists, advocates and disrupters working to destigmatize HIV, uplift pleasure and champion underrepresented narratives.

With a core team of cultural luminaries and creative laborers coming together to challenge, confront and provoke what it means to “go viral’, VIRAL ILLUMINATION proposes the following food for thought: EVERYONE WANTS TO GO VIRAL BUT NO ONE WANTS TO BE VIRAL. Both Pap and Mckinnon hope to continue to find new ways to support HIV-positive and HIV-allied perspectives through community building opportunities that provide space for people to heal, cultivate joy and learn. VIRAL ILLUMINATION is presented in partnership with INTO, Navel LA, Crystal Head Vodka and Visual AIDS. A percentage of proceeds raised will benefit the Sero Project, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting inappropriate criminal prosecutions of people living with HIV and fights for freedom from stigma and injustice.

Event Details:
Viral Illumination 001
Date/Time: Wed, December 13 | 8pm-12a
Location: Navel LA | 1611 S Hope St, Los Angeles
Tickets: FREE with RSVP here
Facebook Event Page + Updates: https://www.facebook.com/events/1979970865610321/
18+

WHAT IS VIRAL ILLUMINATION?
VIRAL ILLUMINATION is a new event concept created to celebrate poz artists and allies working at the intersection of art, culture and activism to build a world that works towards abolishing HIV stigma and builds opportunities for people to learn, empower one another and cultivate joy.

Now more than ever it’s important that we come together to create a future that allows us to build and learn from one another’s journey. For one night only, join us for an evening of performances, installations, music and more from artists, advocates and disrupters working to destigmatize HIV, uplift pleasure and champion underrepresented narratives. VIRAL ILLUMINATION also functions as a fundraiser for the Sero Project, which fights inappropriate criminal prosecutions of people living with HIV and fights for freedom from stigma and injustice.

It’s the Hamilton porn parody you don’t know you needed to see by Los Angeles-based porn company WoodRocket.com, which tells the story of Alexander Hamiltoe, the man who invented the threesome with the help of the two Fister Sisters.

Other “pounding fathers” like Cumas Jefferson and James Madickson make cameo appearances, as well as Aaron Boner who has a “penis duel” with Hamiltoe.

The complete parody is available at WoodRocket.com and Pornhub, but you can watch a bleeped-out version of the trailer appears below.

Fabulous? (via HuffPo)

NYC-based DJ/producer Honey Dijon has garnered a HUGE, international following…from giggin’ at Panorama Bar in Berlin, Sub Club in Glasgow, The Block in Tel Aviv, Space in Ibiza, and back to Output in NYC. Her latest big move is a re-working of Disco classic Stars by Sylvester, a track she produced for Smirnoff’s We Are Open campaign, featuring singer Sam Sparro. Check out the advert below with Dijon, Paris Ballroom icon Kiddy Smile, and model Lucy Fizz…and download Honey Dijon Stars feat. Sam Sparro (Cosmic Energy Dub) on SoundCloud, with all proceeds benefitting LGBTQ+ charities, including LGBT Foundation. (via Earmilk, pic via Honey Dijon’s IG)

Anita Robinson (European Category Director at Diageo):

“Nightlife is a place where everyone should feel welcomed for who they are – no matter what their gender identity is. Smirnoff brand’s purpose is to move the world to be more inclusive. With this new film, we aim to support and give voice to the non-binary community, push the cultural conversation around gender equality and representation forward, and use our influence in nightlife culture to drive positive change in the communities it represents.”