The Not So Private (But Still Personal) Diary of Jason Sechrest Host/Publicist/Manager/Journalist/Actor/Singer/Director/Web Entrepreneur/Liza Minnelli.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Ones Who Sing At Night
"Sometimes the real color of my skin. My eyes without any shadow. ... It's the ones who sing at night." - Nightbird, Stevie Nicks I hadn't found any time to get a spray tan for the past few weeks and it seems my real skin color appeared around last Wednesday. See, I told you I was Irish and not Asian! (Everyone thinks I'm part Asian for some reason. Not that I have a problem with that. I'm just not. ...But then everyone thinks I'm a bottom too. So the joke is on all of them I suppose.
I thought you might like to see it since I haven't been this pale in nearly 10 years. My hair was also desperately in need of a haircut and my hairdresser was out sick with pulled wisdom teeth. So I decided the only way to make the whole disaster work was to punk out my hair and wear some serious eyeliner. I have since tanned and my hair is now cut, but I'm considering keeping the dark eyes all summer long. I fucking love eye makeup.
You may wonder why I'm penning this doo dad at 3:47 am, Constant Reader. Well, I've finally admitted defeat is what's happened. I came to the conclusion that for nearly over a year now I've been trying to get on a sleep schedule similar to the one I had in 2006. You remember? Waking up at 5:00 am to do yoga and going to bed reading my Zohar at midnight like I'm Madonna? An entire year I've tried getting back into that pattern and I finally realized every morning I oversleep or every night I stay up too late and I beat myself up about it the next day.
...Why?! What the hell do I have to be up at 5:00 am for, right? I work for myself, I make my own schedule and I'm at a point in my career where I host shows or sing in bars until the wee hours of morning several nights a week. And then come home and work on my site usually! And I expect myself to be up at 5:00 am?! Fuck that, I've always preferred to live by the light of the moon anyway. I'll see yall at noon.
I'm sure this sleep pattern too shall change when jobs shift, but as of right now, my schedule demands for me to be pretty awake at late hours so... I don't know why the hell I've been fighting it and beating myself up about it for so damned long. I am so lucky to be able to have the freedom to make my own schedule right now, I may as well take advantage of it and find a little bit of happiness there, eh?
Speaking of which, I sang at The Other Side tonight and it was the first time I've sung with another pianist. A little nerve wrecking at first, but it was hot! I liked it. Definitely going to start branching out with James Lent going to work on a cruise for a month. I probably won't be in there every Friday night from mid-May to late June. Schedule changes. Different nights. Different pianists. Will let you know.
I also got a gift tonight from a dear friend of mine. I had been wanting sing the song "Silver Springs" for so long and the sheet music is nearly impossible to find. He found it. Bought me the out of print book it's from off eBay. He rocks my world. Kind. Selfless. Truest of friends. Always inspires me to be a better person everytime I see him.
It's going on 4:00 am now. I'm off to bed. See you around Noon!
1. Have you ever been attacked by an animal? Yes, when I was a kid, a German shepperd that belonged to my grandfather's mistress at the time (now my step-grandmother) took a bite out of my chin. The scar is still there, but you can barely see it. In fact, the only person who has ever noticed it was Christian Owen. He used to poke it and tell me it was ugly.
2. How many people have you kissed in the past 12 months? Twelve months?!! Jesus! ... Kissed?! ... A lot. More than 12. Less than 30?
3. What kind of music is your favorite? I like everything from Eminem to Liza Minnelli but the one thing they all have in common is that they're complicated. They don't fit into a box. I like songs that could change your life if you open up to them. I don't ever zone out to music. I think a lot.
4. What kind of music do you hate? Anything too manufactured. Music without a soul.
5. If you could hear one song for the rest of your life, what would it be? I don't think I would ever get tired of Madonna's "Vogue" and it would keep me inspired.
6. What bands do you want to tour with each other? Tori Amos and David Bowie would really be something.
7. How many concerts have you been to? Tons! But I haven't seen a lot of artists. I tend to see a few artists over and over again because not everyone is as great at live performing as they are in a studio. I've seen Liza alone nearly 20 times because even when it's the same set list, she sings it differently every time. You have to if you're in the moment. You can't try to recreate a moment or it's manufactured.
8. What was your favorite concert? Tori in Clearwater, the week of my birthday 2007. Her song choices that night told the story of my life up until that point and it was a really emotional experience for me that I've never really been able to put into words.
9. Have you ever been in a mosh pit? No.
10. What is your favorite instrument? Piano, of course.
11. Are you in a band? No I'm not and I would absolutely love to be.
12. Are you in love or have you ever been in love? No, I am not. And yes, I have been.
13. Do you think open relationships are good? It depends on the couple. I don't think it's good for me personally but I can't deem what's right for other people. I'm not a jealous person at all, I just really appreciate the symbolism of monogamy. That sense of selflessness and giving up your own selfish desires for another person, I think sex is a great place to start. If you can do that, you might be able to handle the rest.
14. Have you ever been cheated on? Sure.
15. Have you ever had a wet dream? Not really. No nocturnal emission sort of thing. Probably because I was constantly jacking off so early.
16. Where will you be 12 hours from now? Acting class.
17. Can you make yourself cry? Yes.
18. Do you like to masturbate? More than I like sex usually, yes.
19. Have you ever barebacked? I think I've been pretty honest about this before. Yes, of course I have, lots of times, and I have been fortunate enough to remain negative. I don't like the idea of living my life in fear or making decisions based on fear. I think fear is Satan. I think a lot of people are scared of HIV because they don't understand it and we're always scared of what we don't understand. I've spent months of my life researching it so that I could make what I feel are truly educated choices and I would suggest that to everyone.
I think it's sad that the world has been plagued by the HIV virus, but not any more sad than I am that it's been plagued by lung cancer. People take risks, it's a part of truly living life, and sometimes they suffer consequences. The risks we take depends on our personal preferences and our priorities in life and those are personal freedoms and choices that no one can take away from us unless we let them. I think we should be spending more money on finding a cure. But I'm not so happy we're spending more money on that already than we are on finding a cure or even treatments for breast cancer, which two to three times as many people die from every year. This is a topic I could go on and on about for pages, really. It's not as cut and dry as people make it out to be.
I will say I don't bareback nearly as much as I used to because my priorities have changed. Time has become more important to me than it was when I was younger. We only have so much of it per lifetime and I have a lot I want to accomplish so I need all the days I can get -- and I don't want them complicated with more aches and pains than necessary. I would hate to have my time cut short because of something like sex. At the same time though, I try to live my life to the fullest and really be in the moment so it's a balancing act really. I trust my instincts and the universe itself, and combined they have taken good care of me.
20. What drugs have you done and how often? I have never smoked pot -- or even a cigarette for that matter. I think the only thing I've ever smoked is a cigar once or twice with a guy named Jeff Clark in high school. I've done coke. How many times? Over 10, less than 20. I tried ecstasy once but they were duds and didn't do a thing to me -- unfortunately. I have taken vicodin when there is some left over from a perscription or something. No GHB or crystal or LSD or anything like that. I would really like to try shrooms once or something that would get me to see like little men dancing up and down my arms or something. I think that would be a blast to experience once. I am an experimental drug user. Not frequent or recreational. I have very high seratonin levels naturally and am an incredibly hyper person. Someone who does ecstasy a lot told me once, "What I experience on ecstasy, I see you experience nearly every day of your life. Some people just have those seratonin levels naturally."
After a couple of weeks that were abysmally slow at The Other Side, things really picked up this week. Both Tuesday and Friday night were surprisingly packed and we even had a few celebrities in our midst!
Rose McGowen was there on Tuesday night and sang "Fever" which she actually sang on an episode of her TV show, Charmed. And on Friday night, former presidential candidate John Kerry stumbled upon us and decided to stay all night. He made a point to stop me on my way to the bar after "Come In From the Rain" and told me how much he enjoyed my performances and I thought coming from someone who has no doubt seen so many talented people perform live that is quite a compliment!
After The Other Side on Friday night, I went out with a couple of friends who are singers there too, Joe and Peter and Peter's friend Lauren. We went to Akbar for last call and then to Astro to eat. I'd never been to Akbar. Much different than a West Hollywood spot. Much more "east side" Joe kept saying. Joe's life is so opposite from mine that he always introduces me to new things and I need friends like that.
Hung out with Crystal, another friend from The Other Side, at The Grove all day on Saturday. Shopping, eating at The Cheesecake Factory and seeing Prom Night in a theater filled with a bunch of teenagers that were screaming at the screen. Such a bad movie, but so funny to watch the audience! So glad I saw it in the theater.
Tonight I'm catching up on work for the web site. Just wanted to check in. I don't ususally write entries like this anymore because I fear you'll find them boring. I remember back in 2001 and 2002 when the site and this "Diary" launched, it was interesting for you because all my friends were porn stars! I had nothing else going on in my life and you got to hear about them here in the "Diary" ad nauseum. I still have lots of porn star friends and write about them frequently -- on every page of JasonCurious.com! My life is just a little more well-rounded these days and I'm happier than I've ever been in my entire life because of it. If my life didn't have such variety, I've gotta tell you, the site wouldn't even still exist. I'd have chucked it last year. I can't be drowning in that scene or I don't appreciate it or enjoy it. So I hope you all who have been with me on this journey from the beginning can understand. I always want to make coming here an enjoyable experience for you.
Alright, I think I have managed to somehow let a mosquito in the apartment and it keeps flying in front of my face, so I am off to catch it.
Also, I wrote this over the weekend and I have found if I don't publish it here I end up losing it on my hard drive or on scrap pieces of paper lying around so here it is.
Hope you had a great weekend!
Had a dream about the most unlikely to succeed with me. Didn't know what I was looking for until it came. Had a dream about the boy I never thought I'd dream to be. Showed me beauty in a breaking heart's sweet serenade.
Genuine and gentleman. Thoughtful and true. Selfless and talented. Somehow still human too.
But I sometimes in secret remain selfish still. Wishing that I could perhaps have you more. Where the thoughts of a promise of a window steamed Couldn't even make it to Fairfax door. Sometimes I get selfish and still want you more.
It's not that I'm certain you're the one for me. It's just you're the closest I've found, you see.
Someday I'll find true love, but know when I do I'd never have recognized it if it were not for you.
So I have been utterly obsessed lately with this 70's screen stud, Joe Dallesandro.
Now I've known about "Little Joe" as they call him for quite some time. Someone sent me some photos of him a while back and I was totally swooning. But it wasn't until I actually saw him on camera last weekend that I decided he is literally the hottest man who has ever lived. (He's still alive too! I hear he manages a hotel in Hollywood, but I don't know if that's true.)
The Movie Channel's on-demand network (if you have Time-Warner Cable) has this weekly gore fest feature called "Splatterdays" for free. Last weekend, they were featuring two of Andy Warhol's movies, Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula. I had never seen either but had always wanted to. These movies were so controversial that they were given an X rating when they first came out. A lot of blood, a lot of internal organs, a lot of nudity and people having sex with corpses -- but all so totally unrealistic (like someone's intestines being a sort of hot pink hue or someone's head in a decapitation being so obviously a prop) that it's not scary at all and totally hilarious. I love movies like that.
Anyway, Joe Dallesandro is featured as a co-star of both movies, which is another reason I jumped at the opportunity to punch them up. I'd never seen any of his work.
Literally the second he is on screen, before he even opened his mouth, I stopped breathing entirely.
It has been since I was in high school I think that someone's looks completely took my breath away.
I am still drooling almost a week later.
Who can blame Andy Warhol for picking him up on the streets when the boy was a hustler and putting him in everything he ever did?
Also, if anyone who knows his work could recommend another movie for me to see, or if anyone out there has those clips of Joe nude in the early Andy Warhol screen tests... woof, let me know!
And oh yeah... did I mention he has a ridonkulously big dick?!
My mom was in town for over a week and stayed with me here at my apartment in West Hollywood. I dragged her all over town with me so if you're local and attend any of my events, you probably got the chance to meet her and now realize that I am merely a chip off the old block. She is the genuine article. The original print. Like mother, like gay son.
For her birthday, I took her to see Joan Rivers at The Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. I bumped into Kathy Griffin there and it was a thrill for my mom to get to see her too. Susan Sarandon was in the audience as well. I was impressed by the show itself and felt it was inspirational. I had no idea the hell that she'd been through with being the first real female stand-up comic to make it, being blacklisted from late night after starting her own talk show and having a comeback in her 50's inventing the phrase "Who are you wearing?" as the first celebrity interviewer on the red carpet. And that's just her career. In her private life, her husband comitted suicide, which the press widely reported she "drove" him to, and left his entire fortune to her 16 year old daughter Melissa (obviously a basket case from losing her father) whom she had to get permission from when it came to any financial decisions.
"I broke down a lot of doors," she said in the show. "And where there weren't doors, I built them and broke them down. That's the real secret to surviving this long. You just keep moving, one foot in front of the other, even in the face of upset or tragedy. You go through one door and another and then another. And you keep your fork because the best is yet to come."
The woman is 74 years old and is at her peak when it comes to her looks, her health and her comedy. What the fuck is she taking and where do I get it?
I really just thought she was a red carpet chick until now. This her last week at the Geffen following an extended run of the show, A Work in Progress By A Life in Progress. Snatch up some tickets if you have some time this week.
Here's some more recent clips of her comedy act. So impressive.
"Sometimes the real color of my skin. My eyes without any shadow. ... It's the ones who sing at night." - Nightbird, Stevie Nicks
