Mikko Makela Directs a Binational Love Story
A MOMENT in the Reeds is a beautifully romantic film by the young Finnish director Mikko Makela. The story centers on two young men: Leevi (played by Janne Puustinen),…More
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Juan Bastos, Portrait Painter, on Exhibit in LA
JUAN BASTOS is a portrait painter whose work was on exhibit at a major retrospective at the Denenberg Fine Arts Gallery in West Hollywood, CA, in November. Included in the exhibition were the covers of several issues of The Gay & Lesbian Review that featured Juan’s art.
I had a lively conversation with Juan about his career as an artist and about the exhibition, which was part of the massive Getty Museum project, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a celebration of Latin American art in Southern California, with dozens of galleries participating. Juan’s covers for The G&LR, of which there were a dozen in the early 2000s, included portraits of Tennessee Williams, Susan Sontag, Rudolf Nureyev, Ian McKellen, and Gore Vidal, with whom he developed a friendship late in the great writer’s life.
I interviewed Juan in October at the lovely L.A. home that he shares with his partner Tom Parry. — Chris Freeman
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Alex Lahey, a Balladeer from Down Under
Here is a musician who writes pop ballads as catchy as they are forceful. Her music turns on the tension between being young, and thus feeling trapped in unfulfilling romantic relationships (par for the course), and hoping for a better world out there, waiting to be found.
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Augusten Burroughs on and off the wagon
Augusten Burroughs has been officially knighted as the literary scene’s “New Mad Hatter,” according to Book magazine’s second annual “Newcomers Issue”—a title Augusten Burroughs readily accepts with a wink-and-a-nudge and a fresh piece of Nicorette gum.
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David Daniels, Singing in a New Key
DAVID DANIELS occupies a rarefied category of classical singer: the countertenor, a male range above tenor that corresponds to a mezzo-soprano range. Widely regarded as the leading countertenor of our time, Daniels sings a repertoire that includes both classical opera and an extensive recital repertoire.
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John Rechy at Home
Rechy’s autobiographical novel, City of Night, about a lonely hustler drifting across the country, first appeared in 1963, shocking the literary world and becoming a controversial bestseller. It…More
Harold Norse’s Poetic Imagination
Harold Norse is one of those writers whose life is itself a work of art. While a student in New York in the late 1930’s, Norse was an intimate of Chester Kallman and W. H. Auden. He also befriended the yet-undiscovered James Baldwin and Tennessee Williams.
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Joy Ladin Is Not a Nature Poet
JOY LADIN is the author of eight books of poetry, including her latest collection, Fireworks in the Graveyard (Headmistress Press, 2017). She is a chaired professor of English at Yeshiva University. …
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Steve Grand Is Not a Country Singer
I caught Grand’s act in Provincetown, a one-hour singing tour de force in which he alternates between piano and guitar. I interviewed him in person the next day. Find out more about Steve Grand on his website at www.SteveGrand.com.
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Meredith Monk’s Moving Installations
Monk’s polyphonic music has been recorded by her own ensemble in eighteen recordings. Jean-Luc Goddard, the Coen brothers, Terrence Malick, and David Byrne have featured her music in films. The Kronos Quartet, St. Louis Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony have commissioned new scores.
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