Maybe I just wasn't paying attention, but it seemed to me that the media coverage of last weekend's Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras was more restrained than usual.
Everyone seems to have decided to just go with a default figure of 300,000 spectators, regardless of what the true numbers may be. Well, actually the SMH still quotes an organiser as saying it attracts "anything up to 400,000", but even that's an improvement over previous year's heights of figure plucking (try 500,000 in 2006.)
I see that there continue to be some in the gay community who express doubts about its relevance now. But it seems it won't be going for some time yet.
It also seemed odd timing that this morning the media was full of reports about a new Australian study predicting a big increase in HIV infection coming to some States where condom use is decreasing. Why not report this before the Mardi Gras party, instead of the day after?
In fact, the sexual health news has been relentlessly bleak over the last few weeks. Nature.com had the headline "HIV can never be cured", based on a new study about how the virus manages to hide out in the gut.
And then what about the finding that oral sex is leading to an increase in oral cancer in men? Certainly, this was not reported as a gay problem; the main suggestion seemed to be that men can catch it readily from women. But, there's no doubt that gay men can spread HPV virus between each other, and (how to put this delicately), as the issue is the virus getting into the back of the throat, one would imagine that gay men have that area at greater risk than your average heterosexual.
Finally, while Googling for links for this post, I found this recent article on MSNBC by a woman who married a gay man. (Well, maybe bisexual is more appropriate, but this is how the guy defines himself now, so whatever.) It strikes me as inadvertently funny. It opens with her shock at being diagnosed with chlamydia while pregnant with her 4th (!) child. Yet,as the story unfolds, we learn the following: on her first date with her husband-to-be, he warned her to not believe any rumours that he was he gay; he also told her he had teenage homosexual experiments; he refused her offers to sleep with him when they were engaged and she was on the pill; he never seemed especially enthusiastic about sex with her after marriage (yet he still had it with her "3 or 4 times a week"); her husband's work friends warned her he was gay; and before she got the STD he confessed he was visiting gay bars.
One suspects that the only thing she hasn't mentioned is his collection of Judy Garland records and enthusiasm for dancing around the house to "Its Raining Men".
She just seemed to me to be a very silly woman.
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Speaking of Judy Garland, this week over at the Yahoo version of The Judy Garland Experience beloved entertainer from the 20th century, Sammy Davis Jr, takes a crack at the Judy Garland songbook. Sammy sings 'em all, including The Man That Got Away, Over The Rainbow, But Not For Me, and many other Garland classics. He even sings two duets with the great lady herself, as well as one with her daughter Liza.
This kind of show biz, and this kind of entertainment doesn't exist anymore!
Another great file posted over at the Yahoo Judy Garland Experience is a radio program that features an interview with a talkative flight attendant who recounts an adventurous red eye flight she took with Judy and her hairdresser, Orville, back in 1963.
This one is a real hoot!
Other new files over at the Yahoo version of The Judy Garland Experience include two episodes of the Charlie MCCarthy radio show. One is from June 7, 1942, and the other is from December 7, 1941, better known as Pearl Harbor Day.
This nerve wracking broadcast which featured Judy, along with Abbott And Costello ,was constantly interrupted with news of various countries making declarations of war!
Nevermind that Judy rises to the occasion and offers up some great entertainment, this was history in the making!
Even if you are not a Judy fan you might want to check out this broadcast for it's historical significance alone!
And if that isn't enough several parodies of the song The Lady Is A Tramp, as sung by Frank Sinatra have been posted over at the Yahoo experience. Frank salutes his friends Orson Welles, Maureen Starkey, and Spiro Agnew, as well as remarkable duets of the song with the great Ella Fitzgerald which were recorded over the span of 33 years. There is even an ultra rare rendition performed by Frank with Buddy Greco!
And if that isn't enough there are also tons of other rare audio files by Judy and others.
For those of you who aren't familiar with The Judy Garland Experience it is an exciting group on yahoo that features lively informative instructions, and the rarest audio, video, and photo files of Judy anywhere! The membership includes Garland family members, people who knew and worked with Judy, other celebrities, authors, film makers, and fans of all levels and persuasions. The only one missing is you.
Please stop by The Judy Garland Experience and check it out. I promis you won't be disappointed.
http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/thejudygarlandexperience/
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