You can’t hide from your social media past and I’m glad.
American tennis player Tennys Sandgren somehow came out of nowhere to make it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Usually it’s cause for celebration when an American makes it that far in a slam.
But Sandgen is not someone I can root for and I’m happy to see him lose to Hyeon Chung who will play Roger Federer in the semis.
My pal Kenneth Walsh writes about the controversial Sandgren in his Kenneth in the 212 blog and highlights some of his anti-LGBT tweets from the past.
Elton John just announced his final road gig, the “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which will span three years.
THREE YEARS!
I’m not sure but think that is longer than Cher’s first final tour more than a decade ago.
But great to know so we can see him live one more time. I’ve never been disappointed with an Elton John concert – spot many hits and the voice still sounds so good.
Elton will play 300 shows across five continents. The tour will start in the U.S. on September 8, 2018 and reach Europe in April 2019. He then heads to Asia in November 2019, Australia in December 2019, and South America in March 2020. “Yellow Brick Road” will then return to Europe and the U.K. in late 2020, and finish up in North America in 2021.
“Performing live fuels me and I’m ecstatic and humbled to continue to play to audiences across the globe,” said Elton. “I plan to bring the passion and creativity that has entertained my fans for decades to my final tour. After the tour finishes, I’m very much looking forward to closing off that chapter of my life by saying farewell to life on the road. I need to dedicate more time to raising my children.”
Tickets for the tour will go on sale to the general public on Friday, February 2. American Express card members can purchase via a special presale starting tomorrow.
“Farewell Yellow Brick Road” kicks off in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Find all available tour dates at eltonjohn.com.
I got about halfway through this last night before falling asleep but wanted to post it now so you could enjoy it. I love what I’ve seen so far. Both RuPaul and Oprah Winfrey ate so inspiring. Enjoy!
Roger Federer, my tennis hero, is now two matches away from winning a record 20th grand slam title and a record-tying sixth Australian Open crown.
This is happening at the age of 36.
Fed beat Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals earlier today by a score of 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4 victory. This sets up a semifinal Friday against unseeded Hyeon Chung of South Korea.
A victory in Melbourne would put Fed very close to reclaiming the number one ranking for the first time since 2012. He could overtake current number one Rafael Nadal in March.
The pioneering openly gay comic and author died this week at 59 after a years-long battle with ALS.
Here is the heartbreaking posting in its entirely:
Thanks for all of the kind and comforting messages Court and I’ve received since our dear friend Bob Smith passed away on Saturday morning. We’re extremely fortunate to have so many caring and supportive people in our lives, and we’re grateful to know how deeply Bob was loved and to be reminded of how his work and his example helped so many.
Bob was a wonderful person in my life and I’ll miss him terribly – I’m sure In ways I’m not expecting — but right now, I feel okay. Honestly, I was prepared for — maybe even looking forward to — the opening of the floodgates and a deluge of crushing sadness that would initially immobilize me but would ultimately make me feel better. But no, nothing like that. Court’s been worried I might be suppressing my feelings and asked me yesterday if I’d cried yet. Without thinking I said, “I’ve been crying for ten years.”
And there it is.
I realized that I’ve been crying regularly since that horrible day when I sat next to Bob in a tiny exam room at Columbia Presbyterian and heard him respond to the doctor’s devastating words by quipping “Lou Gehrigs Disease??? I don’t even like baseball!”
I’ve had a fucking decade of crying; on the A-train after Bob received what he’d later refer to as his “Your-Gonna-Die-Ignosis; in my cabin on our Baltic cruise when Bob told me he’d been researching assisted suicide programs in Europe; in too many cabs after too many parties where I watched Bob’s disappointment as his wickedly funny comments fell flat, deprived of spontaneity by his slurred speech; in countless stores, train stations, and museums, watching people respond with awkward smiles and pitying nods as he struggled to make himself understood; in restaurant upon restaurant, catching the disgusted looks of diners as Bob dribbled, drooled and spit up his food; and in the back of the house at Gotham as the audience grew impatient — and somewhat unkind — as he struggled to get out jokes that he’d killed with a thousand times.
I cried on a porch in Key West reading Bob’s Facebook post saying “I’ve just performed stand-up for the last time,” and in a hospital in White Plains watching him try out eye-operated computers — a process he compared to “picking out my own coffin.”
I cried in the emergency room waiting for Michael and Judy where we prepared ourselves that it might be “the end”; after visits to the nursing home, watching Bob shuffle around the depressing hallways for the better part of a year; on an exhausting flight back from Israel after Bob was turned down for a promising experimental treatment there; and on every bus ride home from Massachusetts General after Bob was rejected from their latest clinical trial because he “wasn’t sick enough yet” or “could still walk,” or “had been diagnosed too long ago.”
I teared up after every appointment where his asshole ALS doctor at Columbia shot down Bob’s hopes, and at yet another hospital when they confirmed he’d never be able to eat again. I escaped to the bathroom in his apartment and cried the first time I couldn’t understand a joke he was trying to tell me. At the show of an artist with ALS who Bob met online, I had to walk into the next gallery to keep it together after watching the two of them holding hands because that’s all they could do for each other. I wept thinking of every encounter where someone spoke to him like a child and each time a friend reached their limit and disappeared from his life. I couldn’t refrain from crying after phone calls with his mom, remembering that she’d already buried one child. I probably cried the hardest when I felt like shit for losing patience with Bob, for bullying him, and for resenting him.
But today, Bob’s gone and I’m feeling lighter. It feels appropriate to be done crying, like, maybe, there’s no more need for it. Though this evil disease beat Bob, it hardly got the best of him. Bob’s attitude, patience and humor gave ALS a brutal ass kicking, which despite his suffering, was wondrous to watch. That Bob’s nightmare’s over is something to be grateful for and be happy about.
And, while I’m sure I’ve had enough crying to last me forever – who knows? Maybe I’ll break down as we box up his apartment, or when I cancel his cable, or write “deceased” on his mail. Perhaps I’ll lose it at his memorial, or when we spread his ashes. Will I be able to keep it together when I see his kids, or when I hug his mom? I can’t say. Maybe I’ll be totally fine until all the paperwork is done and the loose ends are tied up, and then, I’ll curl up on my bed and sob once there’s nothing else left to do. Whatever.
Right now, I’m feeling elated and lottery-win lucky to have had such a sweet, smart, gentle and inspiring friend. And I’m certain that we’re all blessed, because no matter how many tears are shed for Bob Smith, they’ll come nowhere close to the number of laughs he’s left reverberating around the world.
Chita Rivera, the forever young Broadway legend, turns 85 today.
The original star of such Broadway shows as West Side Story, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman is an inspiration to everyone to keep doing what you love.
Ellen DeGeneres is turning 60 in just a few days, and even though she passed her annual physical with flying colors, she’s following in President Donald Trump’s footsteps and making her exam results public.
On Sunday, Victor Garber returned to Broadway alongside Bernadette Peters in the Tony-winning revival of Hello, Dolly! “I am finding a great joy in singing again and I’ve missed it,” the 68-year-old Canadian actor tells Entertainment Tonight. “The problem is I haven’t kept it up, but I am getting back in shape and I’m feeling really good at it.” Peters has taken over for Bette Midler and Garber for David Hyde Pierce. “Once I knew Bernadette was involved, I jumped at it and said, ‘Of course I want to do it.’ Then I went to see the show after I said yes. It’s what you call a no-brainer.” “It’s so well-written this musical — it’s all there,” Garber says of composer Jerry Herman’s music and the lyrics and book by Michael Stewart. “All you have to do is surrender to what it is and it just takes over.”
That’s what the Los Angeles Women’s March was yesterday and I am so damned proud to have been one of the more than 700,000 who participated in this amazing event. Fueled by the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, the second massive march in Los Angeles was focused on turning out the vote and bringing attention to the urgency of preparing for the November midterm elections.
I had lowered expectations thinking there was no way this year’s event could be as big and as powerful as last years. I was wrong. This was just as amazing and beautiful and enriching.
To see the way people conducted themselves, once again, it made me so damned proud to be an Angeleno and to be an American. Because while so many of us have felt frustrated with the leadership of our country, we haven’t gone away.
One of the most powerful voices belongs to Lorri L. Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center where I now work. I happened to bump into Lorri and her longtime assistant Adriana Rosales after parking my car and we walked together over to Pershing Square. We made our way to the intersection of Fifth and Hill to watch the kickoff speeches and were joined by some other Center folks who managed to find us in the ever-growing crowd.
Then, time to march to City Hall. I took in the many faces and signs and the energy and loved every minute of it. Chants included: “Love, not hate! That’s what makes America great! and “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Donald Trump has got to go!”
We had to get Lorri through the crowd to make it to City Hall because she was due to speak on stage. It’s not easy because I witnessed that at an event like this, Lorri is a celebrity herself and people want to take selfies with her and to say hello. I loved seeing this. When we finally got backstage, the first person to greet Lorri was Melissa Etheridge!
I had a badge that said: “Guest of Speaker” so was able to squeeze my way into a place in front of the stage where I found myself sitting next to Joely Fisher. Sat with her as we watched Eva Longoria, Natalie Portman and Constance Wu speak followed by Scarlet Johansson and Alfre Woodard.
Lorri was to speak next to be followed by Viola Davis then Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“Until we see the change we need in Washington, it is our duty, it is our obligation, to do much more than simply hunker down and weather the storm,” Lorri said during her rousing speech. “We must be the storm!”
She had a powerful message about why so many had gathered together a year after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We are marching for our country and our world,” Lorri said. “We are marching for truth, for integrity, for treating our fellow human beings with dignity and respect. We have spent the last year in fury and resisting the leadership of those who do not believe in truth. Who do not believe in compassion, who do not understand that a strong nation requires liberty and justice for all.”
She reminded the massive crowd jammed into the streets of downtown Los Angeles of how the LGBT community and others have suffered “grave injustices” but have persevered over formidable odds.
“Perhaps the most important lesson of all is that change does not happen on its own,” she said. “It happens because we make it happen. And if there was ever a time for us to come together and make the change our country needs, it’s now. We must act with strength and purpose and determination between now and November and continuing on through 2020, We must do whatever we can to take this power to the polls.”