Author: Jeff Tabaco

It’s funny how my parents are often more in tune with certain aspects of pop culture than I am. The latest example came when I talked to them on the phone last night. They’re on vacation in the Philippines, and after my dad asked me if there was any interesting stateside news to report, he added, “Oh, who’s left on American Idol?” I humored him by going to the website and telling him that apparently it’s down to two people named Bo and Carrie. He knew exactly who they are. “Vonzell is gone?!”

“Dad, who are you?”

It’s things like that. It’s hilarious. And the way my mom brings up celebrity news now and then, I swear she must watch Extra or Access Hollywood on a regular basis. I’m now waiting for her to ask me if I think this Tom-Katie thing is going to last.

These past two weekends we saw a couple of musicals, Ragtime and Big River. I bought the cast recording of Ragtime years ago, and fell in love with the music (Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald didn’t hurt, of course), so it was great to finally see a production of the show, in this case a local community-theater group, The Arlington Players (which I had auditioned for). Though I’m familiar with the music, I wasn’t as familiar with the book (of the musical, not the original novel per se; I hadn’t read the liner notes in a long while), so for certain plot points, it was very new to me. Some of the casting was uneven, but overall it was a good production.

Yesterday we saw Big River, a musical based on Huckleberry Finn. Wow, you have to see it, and specifically this production by Deaf West Theatre, which adapted the musical to integrate sign language into the acting. It’s so moving and powerful, and the coordination between the signing and singing, and the deaf and hearing actors, is amazing. One of the most effective moments of staging is during one of the company numbers, a reprise of “Waitin’ for the Light To Shine”; near the end of the song, the orchestra and voices cut out and for a few moments all the actors sign the refrain in silence. Another great touch is how in some songs, like those between Huck and Jim, the two actors use their hands together to form certain signs as one. (Aside: this cast includes Michael McElroy as Jim, who earned a Tony nomination for that role on Broadway. Also in the cast is Linda Bove, yes, Linda from Sesame Street! She is a founding member of Deaf West.)

The D.C. production of Big River is at Ford’s Theatre–is there a more perfect historical venue for this show?–and closes June 4; the national tour is running concurrently, with performances in Portland through May 29 and then Seattle through June 5.

Thom is describing a guy he once dated, whose name is Linden.

It’s an unusual name, to me at least. The only other Lyndon I know of is, you know, that president. “Baines Johnson,” I say.

“No, this guy was L-I-N-D-E-N.”

“Oh.”

A pause.

“Like the tree,” we say simultaneously. We smile, and laugh a bit. This happens a lot, saying the same thing or finishing each other’s sentences. I always get a kick out of it.

“I love you!”

“I love you, too.”

That subgroup of Express letter-writers, the perpetually offended, is at it again. Caught in the crossfire this time: The L Word. From today’s edition:

Kissing Photo ‘Disgusting’
I would like to express my disappointment towards your judgment towards what you print. Tuesday’s Express shows a picture of two women being intimate [accompanying a story on the Showtime program “The L Word”]. This is not only offensive, it is disgusting to me and, I dare say, to many other readers like me. This is not the first such picture you have printed; I remember seeing another similar one printed this year. I challenge you to revisit and increase your standard so you can cater to this respectable nation’s capital with respectability, decency, appropriateness and conventionality.

–LILY WONDIMU
Silver Spring, Md.

Here is the photo. Since most of you reading this are indeed the choir, I won’t take the time to preach to you, but seriously, Ms. Wondimu needs to get out into the real world, which is the world I assume any “respectable” newspaper aims to reflect. Thanks to a member of the gaydc LiveJournal community for posting about this.

» Previously (Dec. 16, 2004): “Gay Canadians get married (and kiss!).”

[Update (May 19): There are two follow-ups in today’s Express, one commenting on the predictability of the letters (a meta-letter if you will), and another tackling Ms. Wondimu’s letter directly.]

Letters Too Predictable
Wednesday’s letter described the photo printed Tuesday of an intimate same-sex couple as “disgusting.” Predictably, Thursday’s letter will be a comeback directly contrasting that letter and supporting Express. It’s a complaint I have about the letters in this otherwise trendy paper; they’re too predictable.

–STEVE SAUER
Washington, D.C.

No Offense — Guaranteed
With respect to Wednesday’s letter regarding the writer’s disgust at seeing the photo accompanying the story about “The L Word,” please contact me so that I may offer my requirements for what you’re allowed to print to keep from offending me. Definitely no politicians I don’t agree with, protests I don’t support or comic strips I don’t find funny.

–ELLEN BURNS
Arlington, Va.

I’m working at home today. I’ve worked from home a few times in the past, but now that I have the technology to remotely access my office computer–which is much easier, for one thing eliminating the step of saving my work onto floppy disk (remember those?) and then uploading back at the office–this is going to be a regular thing, once a week for now. And Thom’s office is so close to the condo (just a few minutes’ drive) that he and I could have lunch together on my home-work days, which would be nice.

So I guess I better get to work. Maybe I’ll put some clothes on first.

Unto you is born yet another LiveJournal. Sort of. I started one yesterday basically to make commenting on other people’s LJs easier for me, but then rather than leaving my LJ as just a placeholder (as my Xanga blog has ended up), I somehow decided to get a little more ambitious (dangerous, that), and thanks to a neat plugin called MTLJPost which Thom suggested, I created a mirror of my Movable Type site. It seems to be working okay so far (knock on wood), all subject to further revisions, whims, changes of heart, acts of god, etc. Voilà: Rebel Prince, LJ style.

I’d like to keep comments consolidated on MT, so each of the LJ entries ends with a link to its counterpart on my primary site, rebelprince.com, which is where you should go anyway for extra links, photos, etc. Aside: while we’re talking admin here, to those of you using news readers, I do want to remind you of my FeedBurner feed, all fortified with Flickr and del.icio.us goodness.

Thom and I were in Seattle last weekend and had a wonderful time. I’ve uploaded a few of my photos so far, but there are plenty more to come. The one here is of downtown Seattle and Elliott Bay, as seen from our plane on the approach to the airport. You know how tardy I can be with trip reports, so here’s a condensed rundown of the sights and eats, all with copious linkage.

Friday: Independence Air flight from Dulles to Seattle. Lodging on the ground floor of the carriage house at the Bacon Mansion in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Saturday: Volunteer Park, just a few blocks from the B&B: Water Tower, Seattle Asian Art Museum, and Volunteer Park Conservatory. Lunch at Pagliacci Pizza on Broadway; and dinner on Lake Union at I Love Sushi with Thom’s friends Dara and Anna, then back to Broadway for dessert at Dilettante. (By the way, before turning in for the night, we watched Wet Hot American Summer, which I had Netflixed on Jeff’s recommendation, mostly for a certain scene between Bradley Cooper and Michael Ian Black. Totally hot. Random: heh, if they got married, their last name could be Cooper–Black. Typographical humor, sorry.)

Sunday (my birthday!): Library Bistro in the Alexis Hotel for brunch; Pioneer Square, including Waterfall Garden, Glass House Studio, and Laguna Pottery; the new Rem Koolhaas-designed Seattle Public Library; and Pike Place Market. Dinner at The Broadway Grill, and dessert at Dilettante (again, mmm).

Monday: Seattle Center, including the Space Needle and Pacific Science Center. Lunch in the Center House food court. (Afterwards we stopped to watch a senior citizens’ dance that was going on. A tour group of kids that happened to be there for some other activity also joined in on the dance floor, and Thom and I waltzed a bit on the sidelines.) Before our redeye return flight, dinner at Ivar’s in the newly expanded concessions area at the airport.

Whew. Love ya, Seattle. We’ll definitely be back.

In a few minutes I’m heading out of the office to go meet Thom, and then we’re off to Dulles for our direct flight to Seattle. Yay!

Have a great weekend, kids.

[Update (22:09 PT): Here we are in Seattle, in our room at a lovely B&B… with WiFi. Gotta love that.]