I've been busy II

5/19: New York City Ballet. This was actually a fundraiser/development program, "An Evening With Friends at the Ballet," put on by their Business and Professional Committee--though I don't think it raised very much money: Admission was just $19 per person over the cost of the ticket (I did buy a raffle ticket for $5 more). It consisted of a backstage tour, a talk by a couple of the dancers, and a buffet dinner, before the performance. We went to one of these last winter (though I don't think I got around to blogging about it). The tour was better this time--the tour leader was more knowledgable, and the group was smaller, so we could go the costuming area, instead of just the wings. The dancers' talk was OK--things like how the dancers (both male this time) got into ballet (they tagged along with their sisters to dance class). The real reason I wanted to go to this again was to see Christopher Wheeldon's American in Paris, set to Gershwin's music. I really liked it, with its colorful portrayal of Paris in the 50's. The first two ballets, by Balanchine, I slept through. I'm just not terribly fond of ballets where there is no story, just people dancing to the music. This was similar to my experience at the one last winter, where the attraction was composer Igor Stravinsky's Firebird, with costumes and sets by artist Marc Chagall.

5/20: Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris: We went to this off-Broadway production with three French couples--though only two of the songs are sung in French. I liked it immensely. Brel's bitter songs of love gone wrong and the waste of war are still relevent. I never saw the legendary cabaret production back in the late 60's (it was before I moved to New York), but I have seen a filmed performance, and one they did in Town Hall nearly 20 years ago, featuring Karen Akers. The current production is actually staged, and this works better than just having the performers standing and singing. Curiously, one of the performers, Gay Marshall, is someone I saw back in high school 40 years ago (gulp)--she is the younger sister of one of my classmates, whom I knew only slightly. Afterwards all four couples went next door for a very nice dinner at Caminosur.

5/22: After a conference call of the steering committee of the NYS GENDA Coalition, where we mapped out our strategy for the final month of the state legislature's session, I went down to Arlene's Grocery for a performance by Lisa Jackson + Girl Friday. They've been doing a series of free shows there every Monday this month (you can still catch her tonight). They were great, and the packed house loved it. Lisa has toned down her performance just a touch from February--it still shows her personality, without falling into rock performer clichés. The band is soooo together. The only thing I would have liked was a bit more solo work by the band--those guys are good! Afterwards I hung around to say hello to Lisa (and I did talk with drummer Freddie "Boom Boom" Sanchez briefly), and had another drink which I shouldn't have had. Then I went up to the O.W. Bar to catch drag queen Kenny Dash's Bingorama. Actually, what I went for was a supposedly surprise birthday party for her. I did manage to stay for that (instead of a cake they passed out tiny White Castle hamburgers!) and one game of bingo, but I knew I had drunk too much so I called it a night.

5/23: First I attended a Continuing Legal Education class at the City Bar Assn on Employment Discrimination Law: Workplace Rights & Protections Relating to Sexual Orientation & Gender. Then I cabbed it downtown to catch the end of an event of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club honoring Queer Eye's Kyan Douglas and Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough President. Clover Honey was there shooting a segment for Under the Pink Carpet--she even interviewed me, briefly. Mostly I stood talking to Eliyanna Kaiser, just off the plane from Paris--and sporting a new engagement ring. She is an aide to Assembly Member Dick Gottfried, the prime sponsor of the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). Sherry Vine, Trai LaTrash and Mimi Imfirst each sang a number--though hardly anyone listened. Afterwards Clover and I went to Foodbar for a late dinner.

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