!!Fire!!

Monday, April 30, 2007

SpotLight: I'm a Gay Man

This is the first episode of a web series titles NYC Life. The program takes an "takes an intimate look into the lives of everyday New Yorkers, whose stories otherwise would remain unknown." Part one opens with an African descent male, Dominican by birth, who is gay.

Without self-pity and pathos, this man tells history. And, in many ways, his story is every African descent gay man's story. Hence, it was chosen as spotlight to introduce visitors to this site that serves to define the compassion, courage, integrity and strength of all gay men of African descent.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Offered here are a variety of works by gay men of African descent. This literary and arts blog does not represent any personal tastes and preferences on my part. Rather, it is an acknowledgement to the diversity of gay writers of African descent, visual artists, theater and film.

The blog is far from being complete. Needed are more names from writers, visual artists, those in theater and film who are of African descent and gay.

Thank you.

Saturday, April 28, 2007

I

J

Trent Jackson
At This Moment
Full Circle

Brian Keith Jackson
Walking Through Mirrors
The View From Here
The Queen of Harlem
Vu d'ici

Isaac Jackson
Freedom in this Village

Ken Jackson
Reconcilable Sacrifices
As If We Never Met
Colorful Matters

Jonathan W. Jones
Get By: A Survival Guide for Black Gay Youth

G. Winston James
Damaged Good

Nathan James
In His Court
The Devil's Details

E. Patrick Johnson
Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South

Black Queer Studies: A Critical Anthology

K

Randall Kenan
A Visitation of Spirits
Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
The Fire This Time
Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

Will Kane
Forbidden Fruit: Psalms of a Black Master

John Keene
Annotations
Seismosis (co-authored with Christopher Stackhouse)

L

Glenn Ligon (artist)
Glenn Ligon: Unbecoming
Glenn Ligon: Some Changes

Alain Locke
The New Negro : Voices of the Harlem Renaissance

Whitfield Lovell (artist)
The Art of Whitfield Lovell: Whispers from the Walls
Whitfield Lovell (Note Cards)

Rodney Lofton
The Day I Stopped Being Pretty

M

Alphonso Morgan
Sons

W.M. Moore
What I Hate I Do
Internal Chaos

Antonio Le Mons
How to Ruin a Perfect Child

Damon Murphy
Sons Like Me

Claude McKay
Banjo
Home to Harlem
Selected Poems

Jaime Manrique
Latin Moon Over Manhattan
Our Lives Are the Rivers: A Novel

Dwight McBride
Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch: Essays On Race and Sexuality

Adarro Minton
Gay, Black, Crippled, Fat: A Collection of Short Stories

Bryan Mell (photographer)
Black (Provocateur calendar)

Terry Angel Mason
Love Won't Let Me Be Silent

N

Clarence Nero
Three Sides to Every Story: A Novel
Too Much of a Good Thing Ain't Bad

Richard Bruce Nugent
Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance
Gentleman Jigger: A Novel of the Harlem Renaissance

O

Durrell Owens
Song of a Manchild

Olu Oguibe
The Culture Game

Robert O'Hara
Insurrection: Holding History

P

Blair R. Poole
Breathe

Canaan Parker
Sky Daddy
Color of Trees

Joe Phillips
The Adventures of a Joe Boy! Vol. 1
Boys Will Be Boys - extended edition

Arthur Prodigy
A Place Where I Lost My Jesus

Robert Reid-Pharr
Once You Go Black

Carl Phillips
Quiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986-2006
Cortege: Poems
The Rest of Love: Poems
Riding Westward
Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Art and Life of Poetry

Jonathan Plummer
Balancing Act (with Karen Hunter)

David E. Patton**
Milk Bowl Moon Over St. Louis
Trinity

Q

R

J.E. Robinson
Skip Macalester

L.M. Ross
Manhood
The Long Blue Moan: A Novel
The Moanin' After

Cal Robertson
Lullabies of Mercy

Chuma Whahid Rasal (aka Christopher Hicks)
The Affectation - Overcoming Shame and Removing The Mask
The Third Eye of a Butterfly

Alden Reimonenq
Hoodoo Headrag

Gregory A. McVey-Russell
An Angel in the Shower Stall (short story) in Harrington Gay Men's Quarterly (Vol. 7, No. 3, 2005),
Swing Shift (short story)

S

Frederick Smith
Down For Whatever
Right Side of the Wrong Bed

Doug Cooper-Spencer
This Place of Men

Assotto Saint
Here to Dare: 10 Gay Black Poets : Arthur T. Wilson, John D. Williams, Robert Westley, Harold McNeil Robinson, Craig A. Reynolds, Steve Langley, Car
Stations
Milking Black Bulls: 11 Black Gay Poets (Conceived by Assoto Saints)

Reginald Shepherd
Wrong
Angel Interrupted
Fata Morgana: Poems
Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry
Lyric Postmodernisms: An Anthology of Contemporary Innovative Poetries
Some Are Drowning
The Iowa Anthology of New American Poetries
Otherhood: Poems
Lyric Postmodernisms: An Anthology of Contemporary Innovative Poetries

Benn Setfrey
DON'T SHOOT! I'm Coming Out ~ How to "Man-Up" and Set Heterosexuals "Straight"

Darieck Scott
Hex
Traitor to the Race
Best Black Gay Erotica

Roy Simmons
Out of Bounds: Coming Out of Sexual Abuse, Addiction, and My Life of Lies in the NFL Closet

Leo Shelton
Rhythms

Taylor Siluwé
Dancing With The Devil

T

Kevin E. Taylor
Jaded

Elliot Torres
Five Years of Solitary
Undaunted: A Poetic Journey

Wallace Thurman
Infants of the Spring
Blacker the Berry
The Collected Writings of Wallace Thurman: A Harlem Renaissance Reader

Phil Michael Thomas *
Panels

* denote ? to writer's sexual orientation

Dominic Antoine Thomas
Letters from the Editor: Revelations of Soul

U

V

Dwayne Vernon
My Man My Boyz

Vega
Into the Light: Out of the Darkness : The Art of the Black Male (Paperback)
Phoenix Rising
A Warm December
Men of Color
Into the Light...
The Tranquil Lake of Love
Postscripts
VisionQuest
The Art of Seduction

W

Bill Wright
Sunday You Learn How to Box

Marvin K. White
Last Rights
Nothing Ugly Fly

Tim'm West
Red Dirt Revival: A Poetic Memoir in 6 Breaths
Flirting
BARE: notes from a porchdweller

George C. Wolfe
The Colored Museum
Jelly's Last Jam
Spunk

Michael Whitley
Who is Sean?: a collection

Kai Wright
Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streetsof New York

Fred Wilson (artist)
Fred Wilson: Speak of Me as I Am: 50th Venice Biennale
Fred Wilson: Black Like Me

Kehinde Wiley (artist)
Black Light (with Brian Keith Jackson)
Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage Brazil (with Brian Keith Jackson)

X

Y

Z

Academia & Other

Black Like Us

Voices Rising

Black Gay Man: Essays

Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent

Just Between Us

Besame Mucho

The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities

The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face, Private Thoughts

Carry the Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Books

Friday, April 27, 2007

Publications & Net Magazines

Publications & Net Magazines
Chuma Spirit Magazine

Clik Magazine

Bleu Magazine

Pulse Magazine

FIRE!! A QUARTERLY DEVOTED TO THE YOUNGER NEGRO ARTISTS

Uneq Magazine On-Line

Tempo

Together In Love

Triumph Magazine

Swerv

Mary: A Literary Quarterly

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Black Gay Cinema

*Blueprint
*LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (Region 2-the SUPERIOR DVD)
*Looking for Langston (Region 1 distributed by Strand Releasing is not recommended)
*Brother to Brother
*B Boy Blues
*DL Chronicles
*Rag Tag (British)
*Dakan (or Destiny) [Guinean (African)/French]
Note: Dakan is available here through California Newsreel but restrictions apply. Also, check region 2 dvd here from Amazon.fr.
*Finding Me

*Keith & Greg

*Dirty Laundry
*Punks & Tall Skinny Black Boy Productions)
*Noah's Arc Seasons 1 and 2 (television)

*Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
*Young Soul Rebels (British)
*Christopher Street: The Series
*The Closet
*Ski Trip
*That's My Face
*Tongues Untied
*Kevin's Room 1 & 2
*After Nine (South African)
*Black Beulahs (South African)
*Just Between Us

*Blind Faith (Showtime Cable Television)
*Finding Me
*Finding Me: Truth
*Finding Me the Series: Minisodes on YouTube

*Finding Me: The Series (DVD coming 9/24/13)

*Loa
*Men In Love (African/Ghanaian)
*Partly Cloudy
*Rebound
*Punch Me
*Nairobi Half Life (African/Kenyan>
*Leave It On The Floor

*THE SKINNY by Patrik-Ian Polk (due out Labor Day 2011; dvd release date ??)

Elliot Loves (Afro Latino)

The DL Chronicles (The Chadwick Journals)
http://www.theofficialdlchronicles.com
https://www.facebook.com/dl.chronicles

Short Films on the Net:

**Blood (British) by Kolton Lee
**On the Low by Luther Mace
**Testify by Darius Clark Monroe

**Float (Bahamian; NOT BROTHERS LOVING BROTHERS) by Kareem Mortimar
**Souljah by Afro-Brit Rikki Beadle-Blair
**The Young & Evil by Julian Breece

The Young & Evil from Game Theory on Vimeo.

**Short Films by Kirk-Shannon Butts
**My Brother's Keeper (web series) by Lamont Pierre'
   This webseries may be viewed on YouTube
**Drama Queenz: The Series (web series;)
   web series may also be viewed on YouTube

**Billy & Aaron by Rodney Evans
**Animal Drill by Patrick Murphy
**Slow by Darius Clark Monroe

SLOW from Darius Clark Monroe on Vimeo.

Say My Name, a Muka Flicks U.K. Production
directed by Adaora Nwandu, written by KOFIKOFIKOFI.COM

Jr, has a passion for basketball, he even goes to sleep with his basketball. When faced with not being accepted for who is Dad is, he struggles to understand WHY?

InsideOUT is the story of a homeless and homophobic teen thug who finds refuge in the home of a same-gendered couple.

Freefall.
For these guys, their lives are enhanced, not defined, by their sexuality. Follow them as they share a living situation that becomes complicated both in and outside of their beds. Go to YouTube to view episodes 2 and 3.

TheRainbowConnection

The urban gay and lesbian drama is back with more twists, turns, secrets, scandals, lies, and betrayals.

Steel River Web Episode 1
Steel River Web Episode 2 (below)

Ken, The Web Series by Eddie Griffith

KEN IS A WITTY SEXY DRAMEDY ABOUT LOSING LOVE, FINDING SELF AND FIGHTING WITH FAITH.

Billy Turner's Secret

Billy and Rufus live together and share everything, except Billy's secret - he's gay. Rufus just isn't ready to deal with it: the only thing he hates more than a "faggot" is a "pushy woman." But when the cousin of Rufus' girlfriend drops by unexpectedly, it looks like Billy's secret might be out of the bag. Billy Turner's Secret is a hip, urban comedy, an inadvertent look at the connection between misogyny and homophobia, and among the first African-American films to deal with these subjects.

Documentary Film

:
***Woubi Cheri (Ivory Coast/French)
Produced by persons of non-African descent. First film to document same sex/gender attraction among Africans over continual protest that such desire is a foreign import.
***Hughes' Dream Harlem
***James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
***Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
***Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story (not produced by gay Afro American)
***Black Is...Black Ain't
***The Color of Courage
***Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman
***Shades of Love: Black Homosexuality
***Starlight: first black-owned gay bar

STARLITE trailer from sasha wortzel on Vimeo.

***You Are Not Alone

You Are Not Alone - Official Film Trailer from Dbgm Yana on Vimeo.
*******From Robert Philipson, director of Ma Raineys’ Lesbian Licks, is a future documentary about gays (mainly about black gays?) in the Harlem Renaissance. Ma Raineys' Lesbian Licks is to be part of the documentary.

***FADE IN

FADE IN is a new documentary web series featuring the stories of homeless LGBTQ youth in New York City:

The series is designed not only to bring awareness to the fact that 35-40% of runaway or homeless youth in New York identify as being LGBTQ, but also to provide & promote a positive light forward for teens struggling with their identities due to personal, social, and familial factors.

Each episode of FADE IN is based around a particular virtue (e.g. beauty, acceptance, compassion, faith), with several youth discussing an uplifting story that relates to said virtue Through smiles and laughter, tears and heartbreak, these touching tales shine a light on the truths of those forced to live in darkness.

For more information on FADE IN, visit www.novonovus.com or subscribe to the Novo Novus Productions channel on YouTube. For more information on MCCNY/Sylvia's Place or to donate to aid homeless LGBTQ youth, visit www.homelessyouthservices.org.

***Call Me Kuchu

In Uganda, a new bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato, Uganda’s first openly gay man, and retired Anglican Bishop Christopher Senyonjo work against the clock to defeat state-sanctioned homophobia while combatting vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes their movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world.

***Dear Dad

Dear Dad is a film that peeks into the lives of your friends, brothers, cousins, co-workers, sons, and uncles. You'll meet 8 diverse same gender loving men living in "Black Gay Mecca"; Atlanta, GA. The project aims to give same gender loving men a platform to tell their varying yet universal stories about their relationship with their father and how it has shaped them as men.

***Pier Kids

Pier Kids: The Life is a documentary by Elegance Bratton. It is about the homeless gay and transgender youth who call the Christopher Street Pier home.

Television

Television history was made weeks ago when the first Afro American gay couple was featured during primetime viewing on a major network. During its two season air date, the program titled The L.A. Complex incorporated a storyline involving an in-the-closet hip-hop artist named Kaldrick and his evolving relationships with two different black men, the first named Tariq during season 1 and the second named Chris during season 2. The storyline became a favorite among viewers who in turn rewarded The L.A. Complex with devoted viewership. Viewers embraced the unabashed portrayals of physical intimacy between the characters in this storyline.

Clips from Season 2 of The L.A. Complex

Taking Note

Honorary Mention: Spike Lee is mentioned here due to his inclusion of two characters in his mainstream film Get On The Bus that were Afro American gay lovers. Lee is perhaps the first black heterosexual director/writer to portray black gay men without parody. These two characters were written as multi-dimensional and self-confident men who just happened to be gay.

Special Mention: The Boys In The Band is the first gay mainstream film for a general audience to include a black gay character. The Band is based on the play by Mart Crowley, a white gay playwright.

The film's lone black character set the framework for how gay men of African descent continue to be portrayed in mainstream gay film largely today. That is, continue to desire, prefer, and love white gay men almost exclusively.

Outside the sexual and romantic interest, the most often lone black character occupies the role of comdian. He is typically a comic stereotype who is loudmouth and sassy.

With some irony because of artistic and perhaps sexual temperament, a number of gay screenwriters and directors of African descent continue to solidify stereotypical portrayals of African Diaspora men as incapable of finding one another sexually, intellectually, and spiritually viable as a partners.

Special Mention #2: Strange Fruit by Kyle Schickner is a half black cast film by a white director. The reason the film is being mentioned here is because Schickner had difficulty with the distributors who took issue with the black on black story not involving a white romantic co-lead. Though commendable, Schickner does not entirely avoid white gay gaze.
Special Mention#3: The Wire. HBO (Home Box Office) made television (or cable television) history by presenting the first openly gay black male character who actually loved and desired other black men, the last season or two being a disappointing exception. The character Omar Little also challenged the stereotype over who is and isn't gay at various social-economic levels of black general culture. As written, Omar was drug dealing Robin Hood with a conscious.
Special Mention#4: Together Brothers (1974). Together Brothers came into being and was part of genre commonly referred to as "blaxploitation cinema." Stereotyped as "bad guys," the film features two offbeat, eccentric gay characters who are "married." One of the two men is a murderer of a good Afro American cop. His partner adorns the wardrobe of a woman and pushes a stroller with dolls supposedly representing and indicating their wish for children--a family. The home life of the gay couple attempts to imitate traditional heterosexual life. Though offbeat and offensive by today's political correct standards, Together Brothers is the first film of an era to show brothers loving brothers!

Note: Except for Rag Tag, Woubi Cheri and Dakan, all films listed here are by gay men of African descent. The Bayard Rustin documentary was executive produced by Afro American Sam Pollard. Some of these films have yet to be released on DVD. Others may never be released because of their black male on black male gay storyline. In the case of Looking for Langston distributed by Strand Releasing, DVD casing and the inclusion of a short film playing to prurient fetishistic interest marred the overall integrity of the film on the region 1 DVD.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Theater

Scott O'Hara
Insurrection: Holding History

Donald Jolly
bonded

David Rousseve
dancer and choreographer

Alan Sharpe
Family Business & Auld Lang Syne
Clips of these works and others at YouTube

Dyron Holmes
A Communion with Kings

Compilations & Short Story Writers

Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute To E. Lynn Harris

Terrence Dean, James Earl Hardy & Stanley Bennett Clay

Gregory A. McVey-Russell

An Angel in the Shower Stall (short story) in Harrington Gay Men's Quarterly (Vol. 7, No. 3, 2005),

Monday, April 23, 2007

In Music

Frank Ocean

Marsha Ambrosius (Friend to gay men of African descent) performing Far Away

Nhojj

Jann Halexander (Afro French)

Rahsaan Patterson

Deadlee (Afro Latino American)

Kele Okereke (Afro English)