Yearly Archives: 2011

Gay New York

The Pop-Up Museum of Queer History by

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Most of us are familiar with philosopher George Santayana’s famous quote that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfill it.” But what do we do as gay people when so much of our history is written out of the record books, whether by others or in the case of many of our greatest artists and public figures, by themselves? This Saturday night, at the Leslie/Lohman Gay Art Foundation in New York, the Pop-Up Museum of Queer History will attempt to remedy the situation. More than forty artists are contributing to over twenty different exhibits, focused on subjects like the same-sex marriage debate in Argentina, the “Lady King” Christina of Sweden (who inspired the Greta Garbo classic Queen Christina), lesbian lives from the 1950′s, and late 1800′s responses to trans identity. Participating artists include Rodney Evans, Vaginal Davis, Kate Huh, Jonathan Ned Katz, Sasha Wortzel, Al Belkin, Boris Torres (who’s work is featured in Keep The Lights On), and many more. The opening begins at 6:30PM, and there’ll be a very special “Judy” after party at The Hose immediately afterwards. Don’t miss it – after all, don’t you want to be able to tell people “I was there,” in ten years when a permanent Queer History Museum is finally built? The show runs through August 25th.

Art & Autobiography

The Diaries of Kevin Bentley by

Kevin Bentley circa 1978

In mid-July, 1977, after a violent confrontation with his father, young Kevin Bentley lit out for San Francisco, that famous territory that beckoned thousands of gay men seeking a place where they could be accepted and meet each other. Unlike many of his fellow travelers, he kept a detailed diary of his day-to-day experiences, which usually consisted of plenty of good, hot, dirty sex. In 2002, Green Candy Press released Wild Animals I Have Known, which contains Bentley’s journals from 1977 to 1996. The book is a sharp, incisive, fascinating, and very sexy chronicle of real life in San Francisco. Though his sexual experiences are at the forefront of the narrative, the book takes a dramatic turn in the early 1980′s when Bentley contracts HIV, along with many of his friends. Since he was an asymptomatic case, Bentley survived the decade, but eventually witnessed the deaths of many friends and two of his longtime partners. Today, Bentley lives in San Francisco with Paul, his partner of 15 years. He still enjoys his sex life, and is still writing about it. I called Bentley at home to talk about the construction of his diaries, his influences, and the unique pleasure of reading real stories of our gay lives.

Adam Baran: You started writing the diaries that became Wild Animals I Have Known in 1977, right?
Kevin Bentley: The book starts in ’77. I was keeping diaries full-time beginning in college. They’re good for going back and reminding myself of what I’d forgotten. There was a lot of sex in those. But I wasn’t a good enough writer then. More…

Tell Your Story

The Force is Still With Me by

Kevin with his Light Sabre

I love Star Wars. There’s no ifs, ands, or buts. It is a simple fact. Over the years I have collected a small parcel of Star Wars merchandise that is prominently displayed in my apartment. I never thought I’d look like such a nerd, but in fact, I do. This results in a fair amount of teasing and ribbing from friends and acquaintances. When these jibes occur, I think about my love of George Lucas’ fantasy epic and I wonder exactly why it has affected me so much.

When I was in fifth grade, I entered my first day of classes ready to make new friends and reconnect with old ones. During the first week I kept hearing rumblings about a movie everyone loved called Star Wars. Being a movie junkie today, I find it almost alarming that I had no idea what they were all talking about. But the more they told me, the more I was intrigued.  More…

Production Diary

Day 74: One More Time by

Actor Miguel Del Toro on set at the Blue Store

It’s the first morning I wish I had more time to write, because a lot of days have passed, and a lot of moments that I’d like to get down to remember. But I have to be at set in 25 minutes—El Faro, the old Spanish place in the West Village—to review the “crack” scenes, which were from our second day and, thus, have scratches. Did I mention that the first four days of the shoot we had a faulty camera and there are intermittent scratches on all the footage? Intermittent being the operative word. Lucas and I are trying to figure out whether to do a re-shoot or not on Friday, our day off. A hard rock to push up the hill because, at least for me, my own tiredness craves that day to myself. This is always an issue in directing: when to push, when to lay back. You have to constantly assess. One of the hardest moments on set is “one more time.” More…

Gay New York

The Stonewall Evolution by

In the first of a series of films documenting moments from LGBT New Yorker’s lives, director Onur Karoaglu chronicles the evening of Friday, June 24th, 2011, the night that the landmark marriage equality bill passed the state senate. A crowd of revelers had gathered in front of the legendary Stonewall bar after the annual Drag March through the streets of the village. When the news about the bill’s came across, there was much reason to celebrate. We’re eager to hear from you about how your life has changed since that night, a little over a month ago. Have you gotten married? Bought your friends wedding gifts? Or remain steadfastly single and ready to mingle? Leave a comment below!

News & Updates

Welcome by

irapic

I want to welcome you to keepthelightsonfilm.com and invite you to look around, relax and see what this site has to offer. Keep The Lights On is the name of a new film which I begin shooting this month. It’s the story of two men—a filmmaker, like myself, and his boyfriend—who embark upon a loving, messed-up, passionate and ultimately very human relationship in New York City from 1997 to 2007. It is a very personal film that tells a story I believe many others will find familiar.

When we first talked about creating a website for Keep the Lights On, I knew I wanted something that was more than just a vehicle for the film’s promotion. Keepthelightsonfilm.com draws upon the themes of the film as well as the community of artists I’ve come to know over the past 20 years who continue to inspire me to create new work. Here you’ll find interviews with artists from across the creative spectrum who make autobiographical art, as well as stories of gay New York, past and present. A special section on the site is devoted to the virtually unknown photographer and filmmaker Avery Willard whose homemade queer films have gone unseen since the 1970s. We also have a section for you to tell your stories, secrets, and celebrate your own lives. Finally, we’ll have regular updates on the making of Keep the Lights On, including interviews with the cast and crew and a production diary by yours truly.

When I was young, I was an open book. Then came sex and gay sex, particularly, and things got a lot more quiet. I “came out” at 16 (Memphis, TN, 1981), but that didn’t change things as much as I might have hoped. The secrets piled up. New closets were created. Life went on. Keep the Lights On is an attempt to swing open the door, to recognize that shame lingers and creates darkness. It also creates distance: between lovers, between families, inside ourselves.

When I was in my 20s, I bought a painting from my friend Max Schumann. On a rectangular piece of cardboard, he had painted the words “TELL YOUR STORY” in white on a black background. I placed the painting on my wall above my desk. When, 20 years later, I ended a long relationship that had more secrets than one could count, I found Max’s painting in the back of a closet under stacks of old magazines. I don’t even know when I took it down. It’s back up now, welcoming people at the front door. This site is a call to arms. Tell your story. Keep the lights on.

Welcome,

Ira Sachs

Gay New York

Leaving Our Keys at the Pink Teacup by

in a photo booth

We used to leave our keys with the Pink Teacup, just under the Coconut Cream Pie, in case friends needed to get in. You could also call from a payphone and we would lower the keys down on a string. This was 42 Grove Street and we had all moved there in 1992—fags and dykes and in-betweeners—and there were four of us in a two-level apartment with a spiral staircase and mice. We came with our ACT-UP t-shirts and Doc Martens and we sneered at Gay Pride, though we marched in it. We wanted to be part of gay history. More…

Avery Willard

In Search of a Backstory by

Charles Wassum, Jr.

One of the things non-narrative films often do that traditional narrative films don’t is pose questions without simple answers. Things get a little tougher in our case since Avery Willard, the filmmaker we are researching, is one who received precious little attention during his lifetime and is virtually unknown today. Charles Wassum Jr. (excerpted above), one of the earliest films by Willard still in existence, offers a first-hand illustration of the challenges posed by this project.

A nine-minute experimental portrait of a young man from Willard’s hometown of Marion, Virginia, the film demonstrates Willard’s keen eye at a young age and brings to mind elements of the later structural film movement of the 1970s, especially the repetition of shot composition and motion. There is a hypnotic and compelling rhythm to the cuts and mirrored frames. With little visual context, Willard is able to create a sense of intrigue around his subject, which makes for a deceptively simple and elegantly textured work. More…

Tell Your Story

Rats ‘n Crackheads by

I’ll never forget the time I was walking home on Suffolk Street in the Lower East Side with my roommate and two men we had just met at a church-turned-bar. It was 4 a.m., prime rat-roaming time, and in true form the little critters could be heard and seen playing connect the dots from trash bag to trashcan all along the block. Roommate and her photographer walked paces ahead, while I meandered behind with my guy who was packing his one-hitter and respectfully attempting to persuade me to toke with him. I wasn’t aware at this point that omens and signs should be taken seriously when you’re a single-ready-to-mingle girl in Manhattan (although I had cautiously begun to wonder if my mother was right in saying nothing good happens after ten o’clock). I also hadn’t concretely formed the opinion yet that a strange man who tries to get you to smoke with him almost immediately upon meeting, while perhaps very attractive, may not be the kind of person you would actually want to see again. More…

Art & Autobiography

Chinese Take Out by

Dominique and her brother

In the Art and Autobiography section, we’ll be regularly featuring interviews with artists from across the creative spectrum who create, or are attempting to create personal or autobiographical work. We’ll also be featuring examples of personal storytelling from many of these artists. For our first post, Obie award-winning playwright and one of the legendary Five Lesbian Brothers Dominique Dibbell has graciously agreed to share an excerpt from “Adam and Jane”, a memoir she is currently writing about her parents.  

After an hour or so, maybe more, my father stopped into one of those Chinese food shops in New York that are very bare bones. Thick, scratched, and dirty plate glass front, approach the counter, order from the menu on the wall above, order taker scurries back through a door to the kitchen and delivers order. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, order taker retrieves your meal from the back and gives it to you. It is in plastic containers, in a plastic bag, and included is a plastic fork, maybe a napkin, and soy sauce and hot mustard packets. If you’re lucky, it comes with a free egg roll.

So we go into this little Chinese food place with my father, and it smells bad. It smells more sad than bad. Like death, sickness, and loneliness are their fare more than lo mein and spare ribs. I am having a moment of disgust for this food and the people who eat it. On the other hand, it is around lunchtime on a cold winter day and I have probably eaten a bagel about four hours ago so I am hungry. I would like to eat some of this Chinese food. Because sometimes, of course, very good food can come out of very sad looking places. Not usually, but sometimes. Also, I am new to New York, so I don’t know that most likely the food from here will be terrible. Also, it might not taste terrible to me because my tastes are not fully matured. More…