The Not So Private (But Still Personal) Diary of Jason Sechrest Host/Publicist/Manager/Journalist/Actor/Singer/Director/Web Entrepreneur/Liza Minnelli.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Infatuation vs. Love
I stole this from someone else. Love it though! And appropriate.
Infatuation is instant desire. It is one set of glands calling to another.
Love is a friendship that has caught fire. It takes root and grows, one day at a time.
Infatuation is marked by a feeling of insecurity. You are excited and eager, but not genuinely happy. There are nagging doubts, unanswered questions, little bits and pieces about your beloved that you would just as soon not examine too closely. It might spoil the dream.
Love is quiet understanding and the mature acceptance of imperfection. It is real. It gives you strength and grows beyond you to bolster your beloved. You are warmed by his/her presence.
Infatuation says, "We must get married right away! I can't risk losing you!"
Love says, "Be patient. Do not panic. Plan your future with confidence."
Infatuation has an element of sexual excitement. If you are honest, you can admit it is difficult to be in one another's company unless you are sure it will end in intimacy.
Love is the maturation of friendship. You must be friends before you can be lovers.
Infatuation lacks confidence. When he/she is away you wonder if he/she is cheating. Sometimes you check.
Love means trust. You are calm, secure and unthreatened. Your beloved feels that also and that makes them even more trustworthy.
Infatuation might lead you to do things you will regret later, but love never will.
Love is an upper. It makes you look up. It makes you think up. It makes you a better person.
Literally less than a mile away from where I live, Tori Amos performed live today for a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that will air on May 17th. Thanks to my friend Brian and his fabulous connections, I was able to get onto the Audience VIP Guest List. This story, by the way, is super detailed for the Tori fans of my blog because I know it's gonna be linked to on a lot of different forums, so if you're not a TA fan, check back tomorrow.
I have little to no local friends who actually like Tori Amos (and for someone who has over 3,000 friends on MySpace, I think that's just a little sad, don't you?) so I was disappointed to go alone, but excited about what I thought would be an opportunity to meet a bunch of local Tori fans. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be the case. I fear most of the people in the audience didn't even know who the host was, much less T. They were mostly tourists who were just looking to see a show at CBS Studios.
So I felt like I bit of a geek because I decided to bring flowers for Alisa, the girl who put me on the list (who I never saw, unfortunately) and I figured if I was bringing Alisa a gift, I might as well conjure up one for Tori too. So I gave her this kick ass Goddess Tarot Card set that I had. It's heavy on Greek mythology and she has used those goddesses as the five archetypes behind her new album, American Doll Posse. I attached a short note thanking her for the music and suggesting that she enjoy the cards on the road or even incorporate them into how she already determines her nightly set list (news/location of the day) since the "goddesses" will be taking to the stage each night.
I literally gasped when I walked into the studio because the first thing I saw there on stage was her piano, The Bose. It's just so famous now, it is kind of a staple. It's like seeing Tori's best friend standing there on stage getting ready for the show!
The studio was so incredibly small I think the living/dining area of my apartment is actually bigger, so the good news about this is, being in the front row, I was closer to Tori than anyone could be even at a concert. Within minutes, Matt and John (Tori's band members) took to the stage which meant, YAY! I was actually going to be there for the first ever live band performance in -- what has it been? Four years or something? Everything she's performed live in the past few years has been just her and a piano.
The comedian who hypes up the audience announced that Tori's song would be shot before the show itself. Since the guy I had asked to give the flowers to Alisa and the cards to Tori had bailed on me, I seized the moment and asked the comedian to get the tarot deck to her. He did, kindly. And proceeded to joke, "You're not some crazy whack job, are you?" for the rest of the show, which was, of course, totally fine to an attention whore like myself. ;-)
Tori took to the stage in a maroon colored sequins dress (akin to the promo photo where she's standing outside the suburban home with blood running down her leg -- if not the same one), black hosiery that was kind of patterned Halloween-ish and awesome black slick stilettos with the new red "doll" wig. Her makeup was flawless -- they did something to her eyes that made her look more like a doll than usual. Or it may have been that she so rarely blinked. I'm not sure.
She sang "Big Wheel" and changed the "M-I-L-F" to what sounded like "M-I-L-X" probably for television. (She's been getting hell from radio stations for that I heard.) She got a little smile on her face looking at me mouthing the words towards the end of the song. I think she was just glad there was someone in the audience who was actually there specifically to see her. And she ended the song lifting the microphone to her lips with her middle finger facing the camera.
She retreated backstage and then much to my delight came out again to perform "Bouncing Off Clouds" also with the band. She couldn't hear herself in her earpiece and they had to start over again after the first few notes. I am so used to hearing thunderous applause when something goes wrong like at her concerts, I started clapping and soon found I was the only one. Lovely. Crazy fan. Party of one. That would be me. Anyway, I hope this is the song they choose to play on the show because it was incredible. You know that part in the song where it goes quiet and gets really beautiful? ("Make it easy, easy, easy...") Even more beautiful live and she was straddling the bench playing both the keyboard and the Bose at the same time, looking at neither of them of course, eyes to the skies. So talented. She also did some scary Tim Curry scary-clown like thing with her mouth, baring her "wild" teeth for the last note of the song, which was put on major echo. Hard to describe so I hope they show it.
Then they shot everything else and ended it with Tori's interview segment. They talked about the characters on the album and Ferguson said he thought Pip was hot. She gave her standard, "She likes rubber." They talked about the difference between the Cornish and the English and how she feels she is an honorary Cornish girl, not really British. I think Ferguson surprised her with some talk about how he believes inspired music comes from Jung archetypes and she explained how she writes music every day of her life but "most of it is crap." She says it's the music that come from something outside of her that usually makes it to the album. But in general, she said she's always making up songs whether she is "in the shower or getting a sausage."
On the way out, one of the coordinators of the show approached me and asked the crazy whack job fan if I enjoyed her performance. He said to me, "You know, we have a lot of musical guests on this show, bands every day. And this might sound weird, but you know how some artists just have this powerful aura around them? She's one of those few and it's something that you know you're not supposed to disturb."
I know what he means. I have to say, seeing her so close live today, Tori does not have a "larger than life presence" like, say, Madonna or Liza Minnelli. Instead, she holds this quietness that is just insanely powerful.
Her performance of "Stand Back" on the show was hands down the best solo Stevie we've seen live in over a decade. I've seen her in concert and on TV shows many times since falling in love with her in '97, but never since then have I seen her perform live with this much energy. Keep drinking that coffee, girl! (Or uh, whatever it is you're doing.)
She also performed "Landslide." Both of them are below for your viewing pleasure.
The other day, a friend of mine told me a great Stevie story from her Enchanted Tour in 1998. It was at a concert in Denver and it was pouring. She said between songs, "You know, there's a lot of talk about me being a witch. If I was a witch, don't you think I would stop this rain?" And literally, all at once, the rain came to an utter hault.
She was very freaked by it and just sort of cautiously said, "Ooookay, we're going to um, continue now."
No, it is not just the Dems, but many Republicans too who are continuing to push the bill approved by Congress for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and have set a date proposed date of October 1st.
Still, President Bush insists that should this end up on his desk, he will veto it, despite the fact that it has been approved by a majority. Approval by majority is the definition of democracy. Democracy is part of the definition of America and he is all but insistent upon destroying that definition.
"I'm disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course," Bush said this morning. "They chose to make a political statement. That's their right but it is wrong for our troops and it's wrong for our country."
Mr. Supposed Voice of the People, you are allowed that opinion, but it is not to be the only one that counts.
Just a reminder, I'll be performing stand-up at M Bar in Hollywood tonight at 10:00 pm.
I'm meeting friends there at around 9:45 and getting a table together, so please email me at jason@jasonsechrest.com if you're planning on joining us. Would love to see you there! ;-)
If you can't make tonight, no worries! May bookings to be announced later this week. Keep checking the MySpace calendar or the Current Projects page at JasonSechrest.com.
Swordsman, hey you better bar the door. You better throw away the key. You better hide it from yourself, you see If you want to rid that new house from those dreams of me.
'Cause no, I will not be the bullet that 'lies' inside your gun. Boy, what's wrong with you? So confused to think that you're the only one With a hard on his sleeve Is ripped and worn From days of silver crimes But pup's eyes so golden Your days old trash Will never stop it's shine.
Daddy's boy through and please drive through. Chip off his wood with a lust for those lights Of one such domestic-city With no such responsibility. It's so fucking hillbilly To run round willy nilly --
Till you bring blood on the sword or worse yet you bring none Cause there's none left to loan Not even a bone For your bitch in the ride Who sat right by your side.
To killers of puppy dogs once bit by the rabid No, I will not be your bullet. I'm coming after your asses.
It never ceases to amaze me how someone can turn so far from treating other people the way they want to be treated.
Forget the Golden Rule. Forget religion. Forget spirituality. Forget karma.
This has nothing to do with any of those things.
This is about having some sense of dignity. This is about having the smallest ounce of compassion. This is about not being a hypocrite.
That's not to say it's always easy to do. It's doesn't take a lot of effort to be a pig and there are many ways to justify yourself right out of the truth.
"Well, he didn't treat me the way he would want to be treated." ...So you stooped to his level? Two wrongs don't make a right.
"Well, we have to protect ourselves. We're in the middle of a war." ...We can protect ourselves without fighting fire with fire. Shields and swords are two very different things. Find better armor.
"Well, he'll never know if I do this behind his back." ...Him finding out is not the issue. The fact remains, you've performed an act of hate on that person that you wouldn't want them doing to you.
"I care about my lover and don't want to hurt him, so I can't tell him about the affair I'm having." ...As opposed to not having the affair in the first place.
There are so many ways to validate acts of hatred to ourselves.
Am I still amazed by this? Yes, and thank God I am and have been able to maintain some semblance of innocence. I hope I'm always amazed by it.
Am I depressed by it? Absolutely not. Because I know that for as many people out there who operate on this level, there's just as many people out there who don't. There's a lot of good, honest people out there if you're willing to look for them and I am so thankful to have so many of them in my life.
It's not my place to judge or change people who operate on that level because maybe that's the road they have to travel in order to get to another one. I had to be on that road for a while myself. But it sure as hell is not my highway to heaven these days.
What I've been faced with lately is the question of can someone on those two very different paths actually meet at a crossroads for a friendship? Well, no unfortunately, not if your definition of friendship includes treating someone the way you would want to be treated! This doesn't mean you have to wish that person any ill will. You'd just better be on the "Look Out" when you meet them at a four-way stop.
It's like Elton says in our song of the week, "Honky Cat": "It's like trying to find gold in a silver mine. It's like trying to brew whiskey from a bottle of wine."
There are some days where I get a chance to look at my life, almost as an outsider, and exhale, "I am so incredibly blessed." Monday was one of those days.
I have to preface this though by saying that this will probably come off as bragging to most people. While some may think of my life as being pretty rosey with the kind of job I have, me not so much! It's not what I set out to do or be. This whole "Oprah of Porn" thing kind of landed in my lap. So it's been a very long time since I have been this happy about both my career and my personal life. And since I don't talk about the specifics of my personal life anymore in the blog, here's why I have suddenly felt so fortunate about where I am in terms of my work.
I am so immune to domestic pornography because I have met all of these porn stars and they, more often than not, ruin the fantasy. There are, however, a few select amateur web sites that, because I never meet the performers, continue to excite me. Dean from StraightCollegeMen.com has been one of those performers. (I am a butt man, as we all know.) And today, I actually spoke to him on the phone regarding his leaving the site and wanting to branch out, do his own thing.
For the first time in I don't know how long, I actually got a little rush and thought, "This is pretty cool that I'm actually talking to this guy on the phone." And even more than that, it's pretty cool that I am in such a position of power where I can help him by meeting him, interviewing him, etc. Most of you might be surprised that this is not something that goes through my head on a daily basis, but honestly, it's not. It's usually just work. Another day at the office. I'm really so uninterested in the people I'm writing about, it's painful. That's why I don't comment much on the "News Desk." (Though I'm trying to do that more.)
There are some select exceptions to the rule! And I can count them. Brad Rock. I had been watching his solo work since I was a teenager. Julian. Same thing. He's a straight male pornster I continue to swoon over. Roman Heart and Aria Giovanni are some of the few where meeting them only enhanced their attractiveness. Oh and Ginger Lynn is just such a star, I always feel honored to even be in her presence. But truth be told, that's pretty much the full list.
So to be talking to someone like that again was a great way of reminding myself how much I love my job and that some people would perform acts of sacrifice for it!
Later that day, I also managed to finagle my way into seeing one of my favorite artists, Tori Amos, perform live on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson next week. A fellow publicist and friend of mine, Brian Gross, knows the girl who booked Tori on the show and was able to get me in despite the fact that the audience tickets were sold out! This will be the first time Tori has performed a song off of her forthcoming album, American Doll Posse, live in America.
Yet again, another reason to be thankful for who I am, where I am, the position I'm in... without which, I wouldn't have access to people who have access to such people.
I also performed stand-up for the first time that evening at Howl at the Moon on Universal Citywalk and I think I found the thing that is going to get me more mainstream exposure than anything I've done yet. I had cased the joint with Brandon Baker, Cool Tom, Rusty and Houseboy the night before, just to get a feel for the venue -- and to be honest, I was really scared. It was a tourist attraction made to make those from Kansas feel "at home" in their "straight" environment. Know what I mean? Nothing gay about the place. It wasn't even like a lounge. This was like... a bar person's bar! Guys who looked like they belonged in ZZ Top were there, I'm totally serious.
So I immediately realized I needed to scratch all my Liza jokes and come up with something a little more in their neighborhood. I ended up going with what I do for KSEX because their audience is predominantly straight too -- I just play up the gay thing to the max! Put it out there on full blast and be even more flamboyant than I am in real life (I am way, way more gay on camera and stage than I am anywhere else, which is really weird I think -- I've created this character that I love and slip into really easily, but I have also come to accept over the past year that it is not who I am) and make fun of myself before they make fun of me.
It went over perfectly. So much better than I expected! They really loved it. And if they loved it there, I can only imagine what it would be like elsewhere. I didn't feel like I was doing anything all that much different from what I do when I host gigs and my web show, The Young & the Curious. I just wasn't interviewing anyone.
I would do Howl at the Moon again in a heartbeat and am looking forward to my booking at M Bar in Hollywood on Tuesday, April 24th at 10:00 pm. I hope some of you can come out to that. I'm going to do some different material for that show and will also be singing since it's not just a stand-up night, but more of a burlesque variety show.
Angel Benton, Andy Kirra and I ended up staying past midnight and watching all of the other performers. They were so cool to be there the whole night with me and they both agreed that by the audience's reaction I was in the top five of the many performers there that night. Which I actually agree with and I'm my worst critic. And here, my goal was just to make one person laugh! Then I felt like I would have given back in some way and it would all be worth it, but it was so petrifying to do it for the first time, much less in that atmosphere, so for once I am really, really proud of myself.
On the drive home, I thought about how my life has been taking this other direction these days, as has been made obvious here in the blog I think. I've got an eye and ear on things that are bigger than me and affect the world as a whole, outside of this bubble I've created for myself in the past few years. My priorities and interests have just taken a drastic change.
And that bubble is being popped when it comes to my career too! With the exception of the blog postings, I have started doing all work on my web site all day and night Sunday so that I get it all out of the way for the week and focus mostly on my mainstream career Monday through Friday. It's made a huge difference too. I feel like I'm doing those things for a living now and the site is a side gig because of that.
For instance, Sunday I moderated a panel, Monday I performed stand-up, Tuesday I had acting class all night, Thursday I perform in a showcase and Friday I have my web show. That's pretty kick ass! It's like I'm finally able to look at my life and go, "You're on the path you wanted to be on. You're doing what you came here to do and you're entertaining people with your gifts and you have many miles to go but you are definitely on your way there."
It's a sad day when a mass killing like the one at Virginia Tech is simply no longer shocking.
We've had war, hatred, death and killings on mass since 9/11.
I miss the feeling of unity and the outreach of Columbine. There are no vigils out in my neighborhood for the lives lost at VT like there were then.
We've been wading in the stench for so long we can no longer smell it.
I wish I could say there is something being done, but then The New York Times published an article today on how our so-called leader has re-negged on promises of helping the victims in New Orleans -- helping those still alive as opposed to merely honoring those dead and sending more to be killed in a foreign land.
The ball's been dropped so many times it's hard to do much anymore but just watch it roll away.
I know that from the darkness can come great light. But that is a choice, isn't it? A perspective chosen.
So what about you guys? Are you getting used to it all?
I think a lot of times we can forget how important perspective is in nearly every situation of our every day life. We all hear the phrase, "It's all in your perspective," but how often do actually sit down to choose what glasses we're going to put on before taking action?
And again, as in all things, there is a gray area here. Deluding one's self into thinking all is well as the world crumbles around them is no answer, but nor is the feeling of utter helplessness that one can feel from that tower shaking.
The best example I can give comes from my song of the week.
When someone -- let's say a bank teller, for example -- says something as simple as, "Have a nice day!" we can take this one of two ways. Some would think, "Well that was nice. So many people forget to say things like that anymore or don't bother to take the time." But on the other hand, another person might think, ""Why would they say that? You don't even know me and couldn't care less if I even died."
Both perspectives? Absolutely true.
So now it comes down to personal choice. Which are you going to choose?
I will be visiting family in Indiana and out of town without access to my computer from Thursday through Sunday. But I leave you with a really special treat for my fellow Tori Amos fans!
This afternoon, T performed a live mini-concert broadcast on a radio station in Berlin, performing four not-yet-heard songs off of the forthcoming LP, American Doll Posse, as well as two classics.
Not only do I have ripped versions of the songs, but I have them in clearer quality than the actual broadcast!
I still have tons of free passes to giveaway to my Q-Me Con seminar here in Los Angeles this Sunday, April 15th from 2:15 - 3:15 pm. The panel will consist of myself, Brent Corrigan, Eddie Stone, David Forest, Chad Donovan and Brandon Baker and will be the only porn-related event at this otherwise mainstream gay convention.
I also have some more VIP all-access passes to the parties and the convention itself -- good for the entire weekend!
The catch: You have to be an active member of my site, JasonCurious.com. to get the passes.
But really, if you were planning on buying tickets to Q-Me Con L.A. anyway, either to network your business or to see the gay celebs on hand... they're like 250 bucks or something, right? Why not just join my site for less than 20 bucks and get your ass a free pass?
Email jason@jasoncurious.com with your membership info and I'll hook you up with whatever I've got left. ;-)
I recently found a tape of a psychic reading someone did for me back in 1999.
I remember thinking at the time, "This really has absolutely nothing do to with what I'm going through. This woman is a quack."
And that may have been true, but as we know there are no coincidences, and for whatever reason I kept that tape, only to find it as of last week to be appropriate to absolutely every facet of my life. The things that came out of her mouth were things I had written in my "Diary" and on KabbalahCurious.com just days before!
It's ironic that I would be going through this during the holiday of Easter, but what it has come down to for me lately is how to make my faith greater than my fear. My confidence has always been based in anything other than my true self. When I was a teenager, I created this fantasy world and pretended to be someone else, someone who had that confidence. As I got older, I found ways of at least putting it somewhere in my own skin, even if only in the physical form. I have put my sense of value, worth and self-esteem in everything from money to power to my hair to my dick size -- all of which are things that come and go, wither or fade away. I have unconsciously sought out relationships that I thought would be "sure bets" because I am petrified of rejection. I didn't believe anyone would really want to be with me unless they... were diseased, were high maintenance, were my best friend, etc. I found situations where I felt certain the other person would never leave me and only then could I truly open myself up to them and allow myself to fall. This might shed some light on that line in my poetry I posted last week that says, "All his eggs in his inches. Needs a map to get him there, sniffing out that one sure thing." This has been my M.O. I am even a big fish in a small pond when it comes to my career, knowing that staying here is another "sure bet" despite the fact that it is not my ultimate dream and what I feel I was put on this Earth to do -- or at the very least what I came to Los Angeles to do.
On the tape, I kept talking about wanting to be "evolved." Not enlightened, but evolved -- which is interesting because I don't think I even realized there was a difference at the time. The psychic asked me what I felt evolved was. I gave her my answer and she said to me, "You know what evolved is to me? Self-love. When you love yourself and put your confidence in who you are instead of what you do or what you look like, that is a state of evolved being because it is so difficult for so many to do. What traits and characteristics do you have that you will take with you to your death bed? What do you love about you that will never change? These are the things to love in yourself because they are also the reasons you would want someone to fall in love with you. You can do all the yoga and all the Kabbalah classes all the good deeds in the world, but it doesn't mean you'll love yourself. You'd just be putting your confidence in the fact that you do those things and then what happens when you stop?"
She makes a good point. There is no one 'thing' any of us can do to reach this state of "evolved" being because it is a process. We can only ask that we love ourselves (our true selves, what is inside) and treat ourselves better than we did the day before.
So I am suggesting this Easter Sunday, for those of us who so often put our sense of worth into their physicality, to make a list of 10 things you love about yourself that will never fade away. Put it somewhere you can look at it every morning for the next few weeks and see if the way you feel about yourself and carry yourself changes.
These are the things that make up who you are as a person and will never be taken away from you. They are the reasons we should be confident in ourselves as opposed to having a good hair day.
Some examples would be: Honest, Loyal, Spiritual, Ambitious, Creative, Sharing, Funny, Perseverent, Devoted and Talented. Oh and Sexy can be one too. That's something that comes from within that you'll never lose, even with age. ;-)
If you can find more than ten, go for it. But ten is a good start. Feel free to comment here and leave your personal top ten. Love it enough to put it out there for all the world to see!
I would... throw a party/bike run and swim/go traveling/be filthy rich/seduce them/drink vodka/have an orgasm/go shopping/leave the country/scream and rebel/stuff my face/be productive/be celebrated/be the hero/renunciate ...and still it would not come.
A lot of times, readers assume that because I question the Christian faith that I am anti-Christian. Let me take this holiday weekend to I clarify that I am certainly not. In fact, I am a firm believer and follower in many of the teachings of Jesus Christ. What I am against is hypocrisy and the hijacking of Christ's walk. I believe Jesus came to illuminate for everyone, not a selected few.
Ronald Martin's special, What Would Jesus Really Do?, is being rebroadcast several times throughout the weekend on CNN. It is a brilliant and much needed example in these times of the extreme conservative and right winged, of the good that can come from the Christian faith -- something easy to forget when so much blood has been shed and hatred spewed in his name. While I didn't agree with everything that was said from the panel of pastors and reverends, I was so impressed with certain standpoints, I had to jot them down.
I never thought I would be quoting Jerry Fallwell, but when asked if he believes a Christian is the only right person to elect as our President, he says, "I think that the ideal is that we would have a man or a woman of [Christian] faith who also is right on the issues. But I've known men and women of faith who didn't have a clue regarding national security, didn't have a clue about how to deal with terrorism, had no idea about how to change the federal courts and to defend the unborn. So it's like this, I would rather have an atheist who is a neuro-surgeon of excellent talents operating on me if I ever need a brain surgery than have the best Sunday school teacher in the world who doesn't know a thing about it. We've got to elect a President who, whether he or she goes to church or which church or whatever, understands the issues and the top issue today in our culture is survival. It's the most dangerous time I've known in my 73 years and I've lived through Hitler, nazzi-ism, communism... This is the most dangerous time America has ever faced and the next President has got to have a grip on the gravity of this and the survival of the people."
Pastor Frederick Douglas Heinz III had so much passion in his delivery that when he spoke of the oppression of homosexuals, I was moved to tears and screaming "Hallelujah!" at my television set. He says, "I think it's quite ironic that on this weekend as we celebrate the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ that a fresh Jesus has been crucified on the cross of identity theft. Jesus is now associated with those who are against same sex marriage. Jesus is pro-life, yet his pro-life stance stops when we exit the womb? I'm bothered by the fact that we have not really taken Jesus, we've divorced him as it were from the reality of his teachings from the days in which he lived. Jesus basically has been de-radicalized and sanitized to the point where he is totally divorced from the social, political and economical realities of his day. How can we do this when Jesus spent his time as a part of an oppressed people under Roman occupation and oppression? You can not divorce Jesus from that context. What would Jesus do? He'd give the most to those who have the least. He'd be concerned about the fact that we are in a misbegotten war. One that we have no exit strategy for! Jesus says the truth shall set you free. I believe that we can come together as Christians if we put Jesus back in context. Put him back in context and I promise you we'll follow him and we'll be following him together."
Even Pastor Rick Warren, who I disagreed with the most in fact, reminded me by his interview's end, "I don't have to agree with every belief in a person to find common ground. I don't agree with everything that some of my gay friends do and they don't agree with everything I do, but we also have our similarities like working together to fight AIDS. And that's not saying it is a gay disease, but gays agree with me that if Jesus were here today, he'd be hanging out with people who have HIV and AIDS. They are the lepers of the 21st Century. People are scared to death of it. And he hung out with people who had leperacy in those days."
But the most important contention of the evening, to me, of course, being a practicing Kabbalist, came from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach who felt that the stories of Jesus's death were not nearly as important as the stories of how he lived his life. He says, "We hear almost nothing about the humanity of Jesus. We hear Christians speak about how inspired they are by the life he led, but if you go to their church, or a Catholic church in particular, you will only see the death that he died. You see him hanging there on the cross. I think this has direct repercussions on how religion is practiced and how religion is preached. It focuses so much on death and what happens after death as opposed to taking responsibility for how we should be living in the here and now, taking a page from Jesus's book, so to speak.He struggled with issues like you and I. His humanity is what truly makes him so inspiring."
The point Ronald Martin was trying to make in his special, he says, is this: "Faith should be used to break down barriers, not solidify them," he says. "How can people who say they love Jesus be afraid to speak to their neighbor because of their differences or eat with a co-worker or have their children play with their peers across town?"
I wanted to shed some light on one question that Martin posed to almost everyone on the panel that went unanswered. He wanted to know, "How did the Easter bunny and Jesus get hooked up?"
Great question. And the answer is yet another reason to open our hearts and become tolerant of individuals with ways and belief systems separate from our own. Holiday comes from the term "holy day" and though all holy days become secularized, many began as Pagan. The Pagan holiday of Ostara actually means "eastern star." This Easter-n star's movement towards the "rising sun" is where we derived the term "Easter." In ancient times, the Goddess Ostara, sometimes even translated as Eostre, was the Goddess of Spring and Morning Redness. She would often be depicted as standing in a grassy field with chicks and bunnies around her, a red egg (hence the Pagan "ritual" of dying eggs) in her hand. Sometimes she would even be depicted as having the head of a hare itself! The "bunny" and the Goddess Osara were closely related, both being creatures that thrive at night, under the ruling energy of the moon. So this is where we get our symbols of the holiday, Easter, way before the time of Christ. Is it a coincidence that it went from a holiday of the "rising sun" to becoming a holiday of the rising Son? Hmm... doubtful.
Also to check out this weekend, CNN is doing a two-part special called After Jesus on what happened during the years between his death and when Christianity was formed, and for an alternative view om the early days of Christianity, The History Channel brings us Banned From The Bible, a look at all of the gospels that were stricken from the record and why.
I prayed to Ostara on the Spring Equinox to bring us her sense of balance, to wash away the past and to start us anew like the season before us.
This weekend, I pray to Jesus Christ, for all of the things he symbolizes. I pray for my faith to be greater than my fear, for the strength to overcome obstacles in times of oppression, for a tolerant and unjudging nature and to remind me in times of crisis that we are all, in our own ways, the sons and daughters of God who created us in his image and have access to the divine within but never without.
So glad to see Kristin Chenowith (most famed for her portrayal of Glinda in Wicked) return to form with her latest album.
Recording artists are created every day, but for a live performance to be this perfect is so rare these days! This is just utter perfection to me and put a ridiculously huge smile on my face.
Check out this hilarious clip of Kristin serenading, "Taylor, The Latte Boy."
He and his band aid. Looking swell. Always needing a crutch. Always needed that crush.
All his eggs in his inches. Needs a map to get him there. Sniffing out that one sure thing. Smiling in security of warm blank-ettes familiar.
Tablecloths and rugs he fears. Fakes solid ground in his cover art Where who's story he tells is never his own And the soul that he sells has yet to be born.
And he screams, "I believe in destiny." And he screams, "I believe in this fate." But he still won't let go of his hand And that blue ball outside him won't wait.
Thank God for YouTube! I didn't even know this existed!
Here's Liza Minnelli performing three full songs on an episode of The Muppet Show.
Though she's been doing the reprise, "Rose's Turn," for years, this is the first time I've heard her sing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from the show, Gypsy.
And her totally over-the-top performance of "Copacabana" here is rivaled only by my dear friend, Bobby Bennett, of American Idol fame.
But it's her duet with Kermit of "A Quiet Thing" that takes the fucking cake!
I've lost track of how many people I've heard tell me the only reason they won't vote for Hillary Clinton in the primaries is because they feel their votes will be a "lost cause."
Those people might be interested to know that in a field pole conducted March 20th - 31st, Hillary Clinton topped Barack Obama, 41% to 28%. John Edwards came in at 13% and all other candidates came in below 5%.
Obama leads the pack when it comes to young voters, but Mrs. Clinton is taking the majority of Latinos, senior citizens, those with less education and those living in California.
Obviously, your voice will not go unheard here.
Vote for who you'd choose to live with on a daily basis, because essentially that's what you're doing. Vote for who you would want running your business or running your household. Vote for someone who will rule with the balance of both intellect and compassion.
But most of all, don't be afraid to vote for who you think would be best for the job of running the United States of America.
It's been said that there is a thin line between love and hate.
I have found myself hating people who at one point in time, I said "I love you" to on a daily basis.
I have also found myself falling in love with people when only minutes before I was quite certain I hated everything about them.
This is no reason to interrupt our favorite soaps! We've all put up temporary residency there.
So why is it then that when we are merely in argument, we build walls, draw lines in the dirt and thumb our nose to those we think, while drowning in the emotion du jour, we so despise?
Someone said to me recently, "With all due respect, you have to realize that stopping a war between countries is far more difficult than stopping a verbal war with someone in your everyday life."
Exactly. So if it is so much easier, why aren't we doing it?
Why not accept this so called thin, if not sometimes blurred, line between love and hate? Severing ties, breaking up, moving on... all of those things don't have to equate being filled with hatred for the individual to whom you're waving goodbye. In fact, such anger will be the tie that continues to bind you that person. Why not recognize that there must have been something at some point that drew you to that indivudal, even though it didn't work out? Why deny there was once solidarity? If one person puts down their weapons, the other will probably follow suit, seeing as they felt this love once too.
I'm not saying that we have to remain friends with everyone. Some personalities clash to the point that it becomes destructive to have them in your life. (Which doesn't mean, mind you, that it is destructive for everyone else to have them in their lives! Just you.) What I'm suggesting is that we not be so quick to set fire to the bridge just because it is one we no longer want to step foot on.
Would you like to smile and hug when you happen to run into them at the grocery store? Or would you prefer to become a bundle of nerves, feel the unresolved anger boiling within you and avoid saying hello at all costs?
Look, harsh words are often thrown. Sometimes punches fly. Hell, I've seen plates broken and furniture destroyed and trails of blood left in the wake. Talk about war in our own homes.
But when all of that is over and it is truly time to say goodbye...
We could make it easy. Make this easy. It's not as heavy as it seems, wrapped in metal, wrapped in ivy, painted in mint ice cream. We could be bouncing off the top of this cloud. I've put on my silver.
Every cloud has its silver lining. Even when you can't find it in the other person, you can always put on your own silver.
All fruit goes bad, but the seeds are still good. They're there to plant what we've learned from the situation and to remind us of the great taste that was once held in that space.
Song of the Week: "Bouncing Off Clouds" - Tori Amos, American Doll Posse (In Stores May 1st)
