A Child Comes Out of It

I have been so crazy since I last posted here. I haven't had any time to write a thing. It seemed like the world has gone out of it's damn mind since I last wrote. Believe me I will have something to say, just not yet. I have been busy though, and if you google Buddha Gaydah, you will find that I have been spreading my 2 cents around. Anyway, I saw this and I had to bring it here and post it, because it resuced me, or better, it allowed me to rescue myself. So I brought here and put it here for your sakes. SAVE yourself. Come on out of it!

Where The Diva Waters Flow - Part I

Where the Diva Waters Flow: Part 1

It’s amazing how quickly the present can turn into the past. You seem to be just going along doin’ what’cha do and you just turn around. Next thing you know a whole decade has gone by and the children you’re seeing running about the place don’t know nothin’ bout no Chaka Khan.

Once upon a time, there was this singer named Stephanie Mills, who was having a great career. She started on Broadway, starring as Dorothy in the Wiz. This forerunner of American Idol Fantasia had a voice, a body and a career. Later on she was able to purchase a face. Here she teams with Ron (currently a jailbird) Isley, Angela (nobody remembers her anymore) Winbush, another singing chile, and the incomparable Chaka Khan, to belt out a tribute to Gladys Knight. It don’t get better than this!

As a bonus, here's Gladys singing with Chaka and Etta James. You must excuse their outfits.

Smokey Robinson is Pissed!

Smokey Robinson has been seen recently fussing about the movie Dreamgirls. Personally, I wondered what took him so long. I expected that somebody in the Motown camp would get irked at some point. Frankly, I expected it to be one of Berry Gordy’s daughters, or perhaps one of his grandchildren. After all, the character most like Gordy in the movie is the villain of the piece. Vicious and cruel, he shows little concern for the well being of his artists. When I saw the play I didn’t associate the character of Curtis Taylor with Berry Gordy. Something different happened when I saw the movie.

I saw the original play on Broadway 3 times and I enjoyed it very much. I saw the movie and I enjoyed that experience as well. The play told a far more generic story about a girl group in the 60’s. It could have been any group really, these kinds of things happen all the time in show business. The director of the movie made the story far more Motown-like stealing bits and pieces of Motown trivia to move the story far closer to the Supremes than the original. There were many things, I will name 4. During the talent contests when the Dreamettes are announced, the announcer makes a mistake and calls them the Primettes, the original name of the group that became the Supremes. Martha Reeves of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas worked at Motown as a secretary until the opportunity to record came up, the same as the Dream who replaces Effie. The pictures of the Dreams album covers that hung in the offices of the record company are all rip offs of famous Supreme album covers. The converted record company in the movie is designed to mimic Motown’s famous Hitsville studios in Detroit, where the majority of the company’s 60’s hit records were recorded. Although Eddie Murphy’s character is James Brown-like in performance, it was Marvin Gaye who used to drop his trousers in performance and who struggle to make relevant music when Gordy wanted him to make pop ballads. Gaye won this battle and eventually made the landmark album “What’s Going On.”

The movie mirrors certain events in the Supremes history but gets all the facts wrong. Then it converts one of the most visionary men in black music and business history, since Motown was the largest black-owned business in the country for at least 10 years, into a cruel manipulator and a criminal. The man is still alive, and he has children and grandchildren as well. This not exactly respectful. Since people don’t know, or remember much about the original, the lie replaces the truth as many newspapers across the country misreported the story as being about the Supremes, calling Beyonce’s character Diana Ross-like (not), and Hudson’s character the Florence Ballard character. Again, wrong. Even Jennifer Hudson compares Effie’s story to Florence as if they are the same. Except Ballad was with the Supreme through the years when they were the most successful on the charts. Effie is kick-assed out before the Dreams have any success.

The events in the movie rip off the lives of living legends and weave a fantasy that’s a lot of fun, but disparages the characters of some of the people they are based on. How would you feel if someone stole your life, re-arranged the facts to fit their own goals, mimiced your style and hood and sold it to a national audience. I wouldn’t like it, so I get why Smokey is annoyed. He and Berry are great friends. I am surprised it took him so long. The movie is great fun. Hudson is a joy. We’ve never seen Murphy like this. STILL, I hope it inspires black folk to check out their history and go learn more about Motown. We are far too ready to toss the best of our past out with the trash. We can do better than that. AND we can get off on Jamie, Eddie, Jennifer, Beyonce, and Anika Noni Rose in a fun little film. Walk and chew gum children, walk and chew gum.

Read more of Smokey’s words here:

Listen to the NPR story here:

An Invitation - Clean Your Own Damn House

An Invitation. Clean Your Own Damn House.

I just came back from my best friend’s house where I enjoyed another episode of Greys Anatomy. That show, with that cast of beautiful people just tickles my fancy. I like them all and I definitely want the cast to remain the way it is, including Isaiah Washington, the newly crowned Scion of Satan.

Surely he must be source of all evil because anywhere you go on the net you see the gays branding him a violent, bigoted, hateful, and wicked, idiot, asshole. This shit is totally out of control. Am I losing my mind, or did this start as a loud and contentious disagreement between co-workers? Because, in the real world where I live, people say very mean hateful things to each other in the heat of an argument, only to have to recant them, after it’s over. Even the valiantly put-upon gay community can turn their tongues into switchblades in the heat of battle. But instead of being a little story about an on the set rigmarole, it’s been turned into this myth-sized tale where Peter Cottontail was wounded by the snarling vicious, wicked, bigot-dragon (Washington) for no reason at all. That’s just what bigot-dragons do. Patrick Dempsey, the other actor in the fight has been rendered impotent and invisible. It seems he said nothing, did nothing, except offer up his throat for a now legendary choking, and then walked away mute and testicle-free. How kind we’ve been to dear Patrick.

How did we get to this place where the black bigot-dragon savaged the white knight and the “lamb of Grey’s”, prompting the villagers to come forth with the torches and pitchforks to save kith and kin? And how did the white queen in the pretty form of Katherine Heigl come to be elevated to the status of heroine du jour? One need only pull back the wizard’s curtain to see the agitation of a scandal hungry media, and well, the racially distorted nature of America herself. After all, is it so unusual to see actions taken by black men demonized or actions taken by whites lionized?

As a black gay man I used to shun having white friends. This is because it takes many hours of painful conversation to genuinely excavate and build an even ground on which friendship can actually happen. Difficult frank conversation is need to pierce layer after layer of denial and guilt, only then to have to struggle to root out the racist indoctrination that we all have to undo. I’ve spent years rooting out my own internalized versions. Then, as things go, I’ve been sent a large group of white friends who have several sexual orientations. So I have been a veil remover for the past 8 years. I have found that no group is more hardheaded and recalcitrant than white gay males when it comes to dealing with race. In the rush to be down with the oppressed status, I have frequently found that they utterly refuse to examine their own racist assumptions, and are quite annoyed when I point them out. This is often difficult for me because it is hard to deal with neighbors who try and clean your house but won’t move their own mess.

All over the gay blogosphere, there has been this very angry response to a really minor incident, as if Washington proposed a constitutional amendment against gay marriage or something. In the comments on gay blogs, you see gay men playing the role of the villagers in a Frankenstein movie, viciously attacking Washington, and extending their wrath to Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey’s Anatomy for not acting in what’s been deemed a timely fashion to condemn the utterance of the word. Give me a break. Predictably, these same gay men cannot see the racist undertones in their behavior, getting quite offended if it’s brought up. BUT, if one asks where they’ve been, oh say on protests against ultra-offensive drag performer Shirley Q Liquor (who performs in demeaning stereotypes in black face to mostly white gay audiences across the country, see JasmyneCannick.com if you care to know more) or what they know about an episode of the Real World Denver that aired December 6, 2006, where a white gay man, referred to one of his cast mates as a nigger, during a drunken call to his lover after a difficult argument. While I know the Real World doesn’t have the same real world, earth-shattering importance of sudsy entertainment like Greys Anatomy, it still fascinates me that the angry villagers never even stop to question why they don’t know that it happened. What’s that about? If part of the gay blogosphere’s function is to police relationships between blacks and gays, how could a story about the white gay man calling the black man a nigger escape the notice of so many prying eyes? Could the fact that the participants in the ugly incident sat down and talked the next day and realized it was a mistake fueled by anger and alcohol and decided to forgive and forget? C’mon now, it made such a good story because 2 episodes later, the same nigga put himself in harms way to defend his gay housemate from 2 white homophobes looking to beat him up. What a great story, that went unnoticed and mostly unreported, on blogs like Defamer, Perez Hilton and Towleroad.

Here’s something I know. Like the men in the bar who wanted to beat up Davis, in that Real World episode, a true homophobe is usually unrepentant. They think they have the right to feel the way they feel, and do what they do. Washington isn’t one. I know this because I met the man, when he starred in a play written by a black gay man. He may be a hothead with anger issues, but I am not taking your word for it; that he’s a homophobe. Thanks to your overreaction, I am not sure that “the community” knows what one looks like. I think he lied about what he said, because he never intended to hurt Knight during that argument, and he regretted it then. I also know I shudder whenever I see a picture of a black person on a gay blog, before I read the headline. I know the economic gap between white gays and black gays is enormous and we live, work and play in separate, segregated communities, and I don’t see very much outrage coming from my white gay brethren. Seems they are too busy trying to burn the black dragon.

If you are interested in reading a story about the Real World Denver incident, read that last few paragraphs of the article here: or here:

If you are interested in reading a story about what how the Real World incident reflects some white gay bias, you can go here:

If you want to listen to an interesting discussion about slurs on NPR, go here: Are all slurs created equal?

If you want to learn about an ongoing protest against Shirley Q. Liquor and why she is so offensive, go here:

Dragon Image copyright of artist, Bob Eggleton

Serena Williams Guts it Out - We Love Her

Last Saturday Glamazon Deluxe, Serena Williams came roaring back into the top ranks of the tennis world by winning her 3^rd Australian Open. There were naysayers a-plenty, and we heard them talking loudly and freely about her size, her injuries, her being out of shape, her commitment and so on. Serena just kept on plugging away until she put a spanking on the number 1 player in the world, Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2.

Serena and her sister Venus seem to have always had a strange relationship with the press, especially here in their native country. In last Sunday’s New York Times, sports columnist Christopher Clarey described it this way:

“Serena Williams is a fascinating athlete, and a fascinating tennis player. She doesn’t fit the mold. She has never fit the mold, in her ethnicity, her build, her athleticism, and her style. She has power, skill, determination and a body many in her sport would die for.”

Even the green of her outfit was criticized as a distraction. Maybe because her opponents couldn’t even see her blinding serve, it made more sense to focus on her fashion choices. More could be said, but I am going to leave that alone other than to quip; can you say “haters.”

Now everyone is talking about Ms. Williams’ determination and steely will. This seems to come as a shock to many since they seem to have always felt her past domination was about being bigger and stronger. The fire in her eyes might have escaped their notice when they were gripping about her cat suit. In true Glamazon fashion, Serena rose up, smote her enemies, and raised the trophy. I’m ending with a quote, so congrats Ms. Serena Williams. Some of us have always loved you and will never stop.

Serena said: “I think I get the greatest satisfaction just of holding up the Grand Slam trophy and proving everyone wrong; I just love that.”

We love it too. For an interesting piece on Serena and Self-Confidence go here.

Bitches on HIgh Horses

I really wanted to get to this sooner, but a spiritualized socialite like me has a busy schedule. I can't get to all the stuff I want too.

Thursday night is Grey’s Anatomy night, and I am off to my best friend’s house to enjoy a show that’s one of my guilty pleasures. The doctors in Grey’s live in a total fantasy world where love and friendship trump everything. A happy pappy place where a group of mostly white interns love each other deeply and work under not 1, not 2, but 3,3,3 levels of African American supervision with all their pearly whites on display at all times. This is usually because they are too focused trying to get their groove on with the gorgeous senior staff to think much about the kinds of things that would come up in real world where people would get in trouble for using the genitals this openly, this regularly.

Back in October of last year, 2 cast members got into a disagreement, over the lateness of a 3^rd member of the cast for work on a scene. Supposedly words were exchanged, voices were raised, some reports included a choking incident (still unconfirmed), and the word faggot got tossed into the mix by an angry Washington, making for a good scandal. He seemed to be referring to the 3^rd castmate TR Knight, who has since come out of the closet. Apparently there was an Indian summer closet cleaning, releasing Neil Patrick Harris, the former Doogie Houser, as well. Initial reports were all about McDreamy getting choked. Little mention was made about the word part of the incident. BUT . . . The story refused to die. Fast forward to this year, and Grey’s wins a Golden Globe. Backstage during a press feeding frenzy, a clever chap asks about tensions on the set after the October incident. The inebriated Washington pops out, grabs the mike, apparently telling a big ole lie says he “never called TR a faggot” and all hell breaks loose in the gay community. Isaiah is a evil, venal homophobe as must be fired from the hit show immediately, the protectors of gay virtue cry. Some say that IW won’t be fired because he is black. Some go so far as to attack the shows’ creator because she protected him because she is black. Some insist that using the word faggot is as the same as using the word nigger. This all fascinates Ms. Gaydah since earlier this month watching an episode of Real World Denver on MTV, the Gaydah espied a white gay man referring to one of his black cast mates as a nigger on-screen. I wonder where is the outrage, about that? Of course, when these things come up, the info you get coming back is I didn’t know about that. How neat and pat. I wonder do the politically correct crew ever wonder why? Now Ms. Gaydah realizes the difference between a MTV show and a network show. Where Gaydah gets confused is how the high and mighty bitch brigade chooses its targets.

Just to come correct I have to say, that I want to smack the hell out of Isaiah for a cornucopia of reasons. For being so stupid as to be caught saying something like that. I try to lie about it. Then his clumsy attempts to express his lack of gay bias. That I wish I were gay crap. I’m sure he thought it was cute, but it just came across as silly, and maybe even patronizing. Although I think he was sincere. AND if he were to become gay, his dick would get sucked a lot. I know this. I’ve seen him up close. He’d have to invest in a stun gun to run the children off his stuff. You know, ever since he has been on this show, he has been in this weird trying to play race down thing like, you know, where all equal and it’s all love bullshit. I’m guessing there’ll be some revisions to that tune. He keeps telling this story about some Korean people coming up to him in a restaurant or something. Maybe he thinks he really cured something here, and the bitch in the store up the block from me just has a permanent case of indigestion. That’s why she keeps scrunching up her face when I give her pennies on purpose, or make her put the change in my hand instead of on the table.

On the other hand I am not mad him about homophobia. You see back in 1990 or so, IW was the lead in a play written by my boyfriends’ best friend. A crazy bitch if I’ve ever met one. N-T-way, my boyfriend and several other gay men were in the play. We met Isaiah, hung out with him, several times. There was no trace of the dreaded hatred of gays, that everyone is sure is the case now. He had the weird, intense, creative-type thing going on, but then so did my boyfriend’s best friend. They became pretty close. So nobody is going to convince me that he is a homophobe because the Gaydah shook his hand and looked him in the eye myself.

On the other hand, I have been dancing at the gay club since the end of disco, and I KNOW that high priestesses of gay culture don’t always wash their hands when they use the bathroom. Gaydah never shakes unless I know for sure. The gay glitterati are just as capable of using slurs and epithets as anybody else and have very little hesitancy about doing so. The children call me bitch so much I began to think it was a part of my name. Buddha bitch. They don’t mean anything by it. C-mon bitch, let’s go to brunch. That sort of thing. They use the word faggot just as interchangeably. I know have seen the word faggot on many of the big gay blogs online, used by the authors. Them hands ain’t so clean. We all know that it really comes down to when you use a word like that, what context you are using it in. Is it being used among friends, or community members or somebody who’s in on the joke, if it is a joke? Is it in an argument to hurt somebody’s feelings? Or is it being used to genuinely identify some characteristic of a person in a negative way?

I think ole IW has taken quite enough heat for this already. He’s apologized profusely. Decided to publicly address his anger issues. Met with the appropriate poobahs of public protection and received the important lectures equivalent to washing his mouth out with soap. Let the girls with the golden spun mouths go back to berating Brittany for her undergear choices.

Interesting what stories the media picks up on and which ones just go by the wayside. In that episode of Real World Denver, after being separated by the producers, the white gay man who called the back man a nigger, come back to his housemates and apologized for his behavior. After explaining to them that he had a drinking problem and should not have had so much the drink the night before, the 2 black men in the house decided to forgive him and squash the beef. Then they went beyond that in subsequent episodes where both sides made an effort to reach and get close to one another. What a novel idea. Where firing someone gives them an opportunity to stay angry and become bitter, befriending someone makes opportunities for understanding and growth. Hmmm, so which one do we really want? I wonder.

BGA