Manhattan Offender

R.I.P. Auntie Vida and Jim Cunningham, and Patrick Swayze, too.

Whether you know him as Johnny Castle or Sam Wheat or Darry or Jed or, my favorites Vida Boheme and Jim Cunningham, there is likely a niche in your heart for Patrick Swayze.  Here are two of my favorite Swayze moments:

Local gay bar (with low ceilings) creates shrine for deceased gay icon (Bea Arthur) that did not die of bird flu, despite what you've heard.

Location:  Nowhere Bar, East Village
Photo via:  Dan

Bea Arthur (1922 - 2009) kept young by keeping in touch with the world around her as this (perhaps best ever) clip shows. (And it's not from Maude or The Golden Girls.)

Via Celene in Atlanta.

Two months later, the news of his death finds its way to me and my grieving feels hollowed by not having known.

In Memoriam - Stefan Lutak, 1920-2009

All my childhood heroes are dying - Lux Interior

My freshman year at Indiana University was the first time I ever had a "roommate".  A sort of nerdy opera major, from first encounter the decision to hate him was an easy one, mainly because, as an only child, my sharing skills were low.  A fan of my own solitude and a fan of garage punk, I had a weapon that always would chase him out of the room and over to the music library or wherever the hell it was he would go:  my Cramps "Psychedelic Jungle" cassette.

The Cramps reminded me of home and midnight concerts and jumping on cars and good clean fun, everything that roommate wasn't.  Below is a perfect example with the band playing in a mental hospital.  The song is a perfect blend of psychedelia, punk, and rockabilly.

Front-man Lux Interior died today.  The news brought out a guilt in me for never replacing that beloved, well-worn cassette.  And a strange guilt for never realizing that he was older than my mom.

A collection of clips of Charlton Heston, unwilling gay icon

What was it about Charlton Heston?  There was the pumped up hyper-masculine appeal.  The likelihood that he would be shirtless, and sometimes pantsless, on film.  The gruff voice rang that 1970s masculinity.  All things that would be typical components of a gay icon in the manner of Steve McQueen.

Then there were the mitigating factors.  The religious film roles.  The gun fanaticism.  The conversion from someone that would campaign for Adlai Stevenson, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy to one that would campaign for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

Even with the above in balance the potential for position as gay icon existed, but it was plainly rejected by the actor.  Despite Ben Hur co-writer Gore Vidal's statements that there was a gay subtext to the film, Heston denied that it existed.  (The clip below might say otherwise.)

Heston died yesterday at home with his wife of 64 years at his side.  Following are a few clips of the actor in action in Ben Hur, The Omega Man, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and, um, The Colbys.  (Full size after the jump.)

Anna Nicole Smith, 1967 - 2007

Goodbye Vickie Lynn
Though I never knew you at all
You had the grace to hold yourself
While those around you crawled.

They crawled out of the woodwork
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on the treadmill
And then you changed your name.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in.

And I would have liked to have known you
Such a very fun kid
Your candle burned out long before
Your legend ever did.

Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Tabloids created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid.

Even when you died
Oh the press still hounded you
All the papers had to say
Were things about you that were rude.

Goodbye Vickie Lynn
From the young man from white trash too
Who sees you as something as more than sexual
More than just our Anna Nicole.