EXTRA CRITICUM

Seduce. Destroy. Heal. The Magic of Carol Lipnik

The other night, my pal Ro treated me and two of our friends to see the wonderfully talented Carol Lipnik at Joe's Pub. I'm not saying anything out of turn when I say that Ro is one of the most adventurous people I've ever met when it comes to seeing performers and shows that he knows little to nothing about except that someone he likes recommended them.

I've been fortunate to be on many of those expeditions over the years and, as you might expect, there have been uhmmm mixed results. Sometimes the show is great, sometimes not -- and we do this to each other... usually about five to ten minutes in, depending on who has invited whom, will turn to the other if it's bad and say "I'm sorry" to which the other shrugs and grits their teeth and orders another drink (Heaven help us if we're at a show without a bar; I generally try to focus on my 'to do' list) LOL . If you live in New York City, you owe it to yourself to get out and at least sample as much of what is out there as possible because you never know when you're going to find a gem.

The Challenge of Being Cable - Free

You might remember that back at the end of May I gave up my commercial TV business with Time Warner. I had had it with poor customer service coupled with jacked up prices - my last bill was $180.00. Seriously, even if I won the lottery, I would not feel that commercial TV is worth $180 a month. I should mention that internet service did come with this, but, as I would find out, that's only a $60 value.

Even though I'd given up commercial TV, I still needed internet both to send emails, update Facebook, post blogs, etc but also to catch various shows. AT&T, my cell phone provider at the time, promised a pretty sweet deal - my cell phone and internet service for about $100. That was one of those "can't believe that" and without going into all the details, it wasn't true. This is why AT&T was my cell phone provider at the time, but not after this problem.

So, I was back to square one and so I sucked down my pride and went back to Time Warner for my internet. That would cost me $60/month which is also a little pricey but I was willing to go with it until I could find a comparable service.

LIfe Lesson from the Oompa Loompas

Good afternoon, peeps- happy Saturday to you all. Hope that whereever you are, you're doing something more interesting than waiting for PC Richards and Son to deliver your new flat screen TV. Yes, as a worker bee in corporate America, I'm participating in the recovery of the economy.

It's even a "smart TV", whatever the fuck that is. I made sure with the sales person that there was some sort of paper manual that comes with it, because as you know, you can't get that with phones any more, it's all supposed to be downloaded (and who has time for that, plus who can read that on your phone??).

The sales person shook my hand and said "welcome to the 21st century" which I was mildly offended by - I did buy my 'soon to be-out-the-door" tube TV in 2003 which is squarely in the 21st Century. OK so I was probably the last person in America to actually buy a tube TV but at the time, it was very affordable (and there was a reason for that).

Anyway, this past week was my last watching "commercial" television because I'm also giving up my cable service which jacked up its rate a few weeks ago to a point where I decided it felt like extortion. Maybe I'm cutting off my hand and falling into the abyss of Cloud City, but Darth Warner will not get any more of my money until they adjust their attitude - or I become desperate for sports, live news, repeats of the same episode of The Big Bang Theory, whichever comes first (I'm betting on "desperation" kicking in around mid July, but then I could surprise myself). And yup, I held off on making the switch until after the Revenge/MadMen/Letterman finales because that's how I roll. I figure if I'm living in the post Letterman era, I might as well jump into the Millennial era with both feet.

Performer Profile: Dandy Darkly

What to say about my new friend, Dandy Darkly?  It might be easier to let others... for example, Woman About Town Magazine called him "A Gothic, gay monologist" while the Triskelion Arts Center called him  "The Dr. Seuss of Perversion!"

The Villager Newspaper said that he's "An utterly unique and potentially fatal cocktail of mince and menace that's not to be believed... even once he's been seen!" and recently, Time Out picked his last show as "One of Five Things To Do". He's

Dandy Darkly is a master storyteller who mixes the erotic .. and the macabre.. and this Saturday night March 30th at Dixon Place, he'll present a Dandy Darkly’s Easter Blister Variety Event with an all star lineup of storytelling and burlesque style acts!

Performer Profile: Kylie Edmond

Producing events in New York City is always a challenge especially when I need to book performing talent of one kind or another week in and week out, 52 weeks a year.

But, I love it. 

Performer Profile: Dwight Thomas Vaughn

A few months ago I posted my first "performer profile" (of Roger Anthony "Yolanda" Mapes). The idea is to ask several performers a stock set of questions and get to know them a little bit better.

Today I'm profiling singer Dwight Thomas Vaughn. I met him as Tom, a singer from a social group made up of many performing artists looking to get more out of their creative lives.

Tom made a clear intention of what he wanted to achieve and, a year and many gigs later, he's booked a show at Iridium. And, as you can see in the video below, he's singing his lungs out and having a lot of fun line dancing around New York City. You can't ask for more than that.

Performer Profile: Rev. Roger Anthony "Yolanda" Mapes

Living in the big city, one happens across a wide variety of performers and for the past 9 years or so, I've had the pleasure to get to know a lot of them. One of my favorites is the Rev. Roger Anthony "Yolanda" Mapes. He was a drag queen, then started singing country music as a 'boy' and in his current incarnation, he's been singing gospel/country music in drag at shows across the city - but in particular at the Duplex where he'll be this Sunday December 16th for another edition of his "Rev. Yolanda's Old Time Gospel Hour".

It's less Jerry Falwell and more like a big up with people party that you (yes you!) are invited to (and without the sneering contempt that you see out there and are as tired of as I am).

There is a pianist (Kenneth!) and backup singers and lots of great music. Crowds are enthusiastic and Yolanda attracts an eclectic crowd from people that simpy love his music to people like Lucie Arnaz who are devoted friends who have become, like me, a friend.

You can check out the video below of my favorite Yolanda song, "We Are Angels" (yes Yolanda writes his songs too!) and you can check out his latest CD "Country Gospel Kirtan" available Monday December 17th online at Yolanda.net! And you can still reserve tickets to his Sunday December 16th Duplex show by clicking here.

(I apologize for the formatting above, been trying to get spaces in between paragraphs but everytime I hit 'save' it reverts.. aacckk technology!)

Artists: Above all else, be grateful for your courage.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, I wanted to share this wonderful piece by Kerry O'Quinn, Publisher of Starlog Magazine. This piece first appeared in 1983 when Andrew Altenburg was a young tike. Thanks to Andrew for saving it and bringing it back from the files. (just click on the image to enlarge and read)

Breath Mint

For those of you who have given up any hope for civility when choosing to see a movie in a public space, there’s good news – the Chelsea Clearview seems to be making a stab at bringing it back. Ro and I went the other night and I was reminded of the cool new service that the theatre is providing at the start of each show.

ONE LIFE TO LIVE Dead At Last #oltl #abc

April 14th, 2011 will always be Black Thursday for soap fans who turned on their computers to discover that ABC had canceled their favorite shows, ALL MY CHILDREN and ONE LIFE TO LIVE. Despite organized protests and letter-writing campaigns, the network, unfazed, announced their replacement shows and went merrily on about their business.

It seemed as though no one associated with running the entertainment industry was remotely interested in providing this kind of entertainment anymore - even if they had to shoot the genre dead in order for it to die. Despite what felt like network dictated edicts to kill off characters and fill the shows up with actors that couldn't act and guns and violence (whatever happened to "Love in the Afternoon"?), the fans stayed. Mostly. But the numbers did tumble. When you decide to tell the exact opposite story that the fans want, why would you expect them to stay? But then, when you want to kill a show, why would you do what the fans want?

Sitting In Purgatory With Marilyn

Back about 25 years ago when I was just in the throes of coming out, I worked for a few months doing coatcheck at a Minneapolis club called Norma Jean's. It was the kind of bar where straight college kids danced and partied all night and jumped up and down to "Mony Mony" and chanted "get fucked, get laid" in between chorus's. It was good money although the coat check system sucked. We'd take coats in through a half door in the kitchen, tie them to a rope and the person on the other end on the second level would have to haul the rope up and hang the coats up there. Given that people had to go to the bathroom once in awhile, there would be times when one would be getting the coat ticket and then climbing up on a chair through the cut out in the floor, getting the coat and then climbing back down. When you have a coked up patron demanding their coat back, they don't care that the other coatcheck person is taking a whiz.

As Cancellation Nears, ABC Soaps Get Good Again

I am a soap opera fan. Possibly more of an addict if you’d ask others. I can probably tell characters' names and the actors who portrayed 
them from oh, most of the past 40 years on both ALL MY CHILDREN, ONE LIFE TO LIVE and GENERAL HOSPITAL. I can definitely talk rabidly about what the soaps were like in the 70s, how they were great in the early 80s, how I missed a couple years in the late 80s because I was studying abroad (for AMC fans, these are the Nico and Cecily years – have no knowledge of this entire storyline), how I loved loved them in the 90s (will anything ever equal ONE LIFE TO LIVE under writer Michael Malone and his groundbreaking AIDS Quilt storyline?) and how ABC was clearly trying to kill them starting in about 2003/2004. Oh yes, it’s taken this long to kill them but ABC did it.

Their First Posts

It's interesting to recall where we began, when we first arrived at this site. What obsession started us off as a contributing voice in this online community?

Here, in chronological order, are the first posts of the first eight Extra Criticum authors to join the site. What were they pondering when they first came on board? Enjoy!

 

Whatcha thinkin', Linkin'? v.3

Every once in a blue moon, Andrew and Roland will post a 3 min. informal podcast consisting of random thoughts, questions and debates on issues of both great and not-so-great significance. We hope you enjoy listening from time to time and welcome your comments, suggestions or requests. Here's installment 3:
[TOPICS COVERED: Why is it so hard to find a place to sit, eat, and listen to good live music in NYC?]

Whatcha thinkin', Linkin'? v.2

Every once in a blue moon, Andrew and Roland will post a 3 min. informal podcast consisting of random thoughts, questions and debates on issues of both great and not-so-great significance. We hope you enjoy listening from time to time and welcome your comments, suggestions or requests. Here's installment 2:
[TOPICS COVERED: Do you prefer to eat before, during or after a performance?]