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Notes from a Composer
“Speakeasy” Selections
Category Archives: LGBTQ Alphabet Soup
BROOKLYN PRIDE 2022
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged Attorney General, Batala, Berkeley Carroll, Bill de Blasio, brooklyn, Cheer, City Council, drumline, Eric Adams, friends, Gay, GMHC, Gotham, Herstory, lesbian, Letitia James, LGBTQ, Mayor, New York, NYC, Officers Action League, Parade, Park Slope, Pride, school, Trans Rights
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Impressions from ASSEMBLY
Fierce and Fabulous If I was allowed just two words to describe the fantastic performance of Rashaad Newsome’s “Assembly” I enjoyed last night at the Park Avenue Armory, those would be the two. Given more words to describe the experience, … Continue reading
2021 YEAR END POP CULTURE QUIZ
One point for each correct answer. No googling! – since I didn’t use google to come up with these questions (only to spell check afterwards) – which is a bit of a brag, yes, yet maybe also revealing something questionable … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Melodies Linger On, Notes in the News
Tagged 2021, Andrew Cuomo, Annette, Aretha Franklin, Brian Kilmeade, Chris cuomo, Commander, Cyrano, Dear Evan Hansen, Don McLean, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, In the Heights, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Stewart, Laura Ingraham, Lil Nas X, Lucille Ball, Mariah Carey, movies, music, musicals, Nicole Kidman, Pete Buttigieg, politics, pop culture, President Biden, Princess Diana, quiz, Sean Hannity, Tammy Faye Bakker, Taylor Swift, Tick Tick Boom, trivia, West Side Story
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Mainstreet Musicals touts FEEDSTORE QUARTET
“Feedstore Quartet”, a musical created by Jack Hilton Cunningham and myself, has been selected by Mainstreet Musicals, a non-profit that “promotes development opportunities for new musicals throughout regional America”, as a Director’s Choice Award Winner. Jack and I met at … Continue reading
LOVING – Photographic Treasures from the Nini-Treadwell Collection
Glimpses at a Photographic History of Men in Love 1850 – 1950 Twenty years ago Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell were browsing through stacks of vintage photographs in a Dallas antique store when they came upon a 1920s photograph of … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged collection, couples, history, homosexuality, Kitbühel, Love, Nini, photography, soldiers, Treadwell, vintage
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The Awards Speech That Would Have Been
And the PIIF Best Actor winner is … not me. But hey, my acceptance video is cute, so let’s play it anyway! As you might remember… who am I kidding, why would you remember, but I won a Best Actor … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Musicabilia, Notes in the News
Tagged 2020, annual gala, Awards, Edward Elder, Elmaz Ikovic, Film Festival, indie, International, PIIF, Prague, speech, Tatin Sin, Thank You, video clip
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So last night I received the JUDY GARLAND AWARD
I could say I’m over the moon… … actually, I’m over the rainbow Last night the Art is Alive Film Festival held its awards ceremony. Just like the festival, it was a virtual affair. Cindy Mich, festival founder, convened a … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Musicabilia, Notes in the News
Tagged Another Day in Manhattan, Art is Alive, Award, Brandon C. Lay, ceremony, Cindy Mich, Edgar Allan Poe, horror, Judy Garland, Michael Pharis, musicabre, musical, Musical Soundtrack, Oshkosh B'gosh, over the moon, over the rainbow, Sandeep Kumar, short film, Simple as That, Special Interest, Stonewall, That Old Black Magic, The Rock of Gibraltar, The Tell-Tale Heart, Wizard of OZ, Zoom
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ED
My husband turns 61 today. Happy birthday, Ed! And just like every year for the past 27, I composed a viola piano duet for us to play. Each one is called an Evocation. This year’s birthday duet, Evocation XXVII, takes … Continue reading
Posted in Chamber Works, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged 27, bandit, birthday, coronavirus, duet, Ed Elder, Edward Elder, Evocation, louboutins, manola, music, piano, Rainbow, score, Viola, XXVII
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An HIV Positive Gay Man’s Advice on Living in the Age of Covid
My friend Tim Cusack posted this on Facebook: “For all the straight white people whining about how wearing masks is inconvenient and uncomfortable, how you miss human contact and all the things you used to be able to do, bemoaning … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged Aids, community, condom, Covid 19, Facebook, Gay, gratitude, HIV Positive, Hope, masks, mourning, pandemic, plague, Reagan, Republican, Tim Cusack
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Trans Women are Women. Trans Men are Men. Non-binary People are Non-binary
I remember defending my identity as a bisexual man against gay men and women who passionately felt adding the B to what is now LGBTQ somehow attacked their identity. I remember defending same sex marriage against those who passionately believed … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged bisexual, Intersex, j k rowling, LGBTQ, same sex marriage, Trans Men, Trans Women, transgender
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4/25/20
Today is Ed and my anniversary. 27 years together. 22 years married. And it’s a Saturday. Last time our anniversary fell on a Saturday was five years ago. It won’t happen again for another six years. So of course … Continue reading
Posted in Beginnings, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Notes in the News
Tagged anniversary, Broadway, chocolates, Covid 19, gay marriage, pandemic, quarantine, shelter in place, wedding
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CORONAVIRUS DANCERCISING
Boogieing Away the COVID 19 Blues New York City’s gyms were shut down four days after Broadway and one day after the schools. Six days later the whole state would be ordered to shelter at home. There was to … Continue reading
Posted in LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Melodies Linger On, Notes in the News
Tagged 4 Minutes, Adam Lambert, Can't Keep My Hands to Myself, Chains of Love, coronavirus, Covid 19, dancercise, Dancing By Myself, Dancing Queen, Ed Elder, Energizer Bunny, I Will Survive, I Would Die 4 U, I'm So Excited, k d lang, Kate Bush, Lakme, Martha Graham, Nasty, Playlist, Shake it Off, Shake It Up, Shake Your Bon-Bon, Shake Your Booty, shelter at home, Stranger You Are, superpower, Tai Chi, The Safety Dance, Velvet, Vogueing, Walk Like An Egyptian, You Put a Chill in My heart
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COLUMBUS CIRCLE HOLIDAY MARKET & Yuletide Music Quiz
A Photo Stroll around New York City’s biggest Holiday Market, plus a little Yuletide Music Quiz*. *answers tucked in the tags at the bottom of this post Yuletide Song Quiz 1: What is the name of the … Continue reading
Posted in Arts-a-Poppin', LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Melodies Linger On, Two-fisted Touristing
Tagged Christmas Tree, Christmastime in the Trailerpark, Columbus Circle, Holiday, Holiday Market, I'll be Homo for Christmas, lesbian, Linus and Lucy, Madonna, Market, Montgomery Ward, ornaments, photography, Queer, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Solstice tree, Venus Envy, Vince Guaraldi Trio, vocal group, Y'All
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The Sound of Recovery Music
Not your childhood van Trapps… The same friend who treated us to the SCA benefit performance “Snow White and the Seven Hos” invited us to see that show’s impresario Michael Roth’s latest romp “The Sound of Recovery Music”. Once … Continue reading
Posted in Cinema Scope, LGBTQ Alphabet Soup, Live! On Stage
Tagged 12 steps, AA, addition, drag, Gay, LGBTQ, Maria, Michael Roth, parody, promises, Recovery, SCA, Seven Hos, Snow White, sobriety, The Sound of Music, triggering
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Notes from a Composer 