Studio of Rick Chris, Positive Gay Images

During these rough times…
I know things are kind of rough out there for a lot of folks and the only magic I have to share with you is through my art and my little web site. If you are having bumpy day, I'd like to share my Affirmations page with you. It's one of the oldest pages on rickchris.com. Maybe you can use that page to build a little magic, gather a little grace and get the strength to help you through your trials. "Where is the night luster? Past my trials…" Click here.

Spare Change For The Rick Chris Cookie Jar:
During these tough economic times, your donation would certainly help keep my little web site going. If you enjoy the various features on rickchris.com, please help support this web site through a donation. Any amount is helpful. Many thanks! - Rick Chris

A New Feature: Rick's Disco Devasting Ditty!
A somewhat regular posting of a classic dance track.

The not yet ready for prime time blog. The blog is something new - see how long it lasts. Doing a blog also violates one of my primary principles which is "Keep your mouth shut, Rick!"

March 3 , 2010

To contact Rick Chris, send your email to: "rickchris 'at' (use the at symbol above the 2 on your keyboard) rickchris.com"

posted 3/3/10
The Sanctity Of Marriage
Ron Romanovsky's first official music video! Ron raises the issue of preserving the "sanctity" of marriage by outlawing divorce, so that marriage is no longer merely a heterosexual hobby. Fun video and the nude nuptials towards the end are certainly…well, revealing about the attitudes some folks have about marriage. This song, or the album it is from, "Turn Up The Fun", can be purchased at Romanovskyandphillips.com, iTunes or CDBaby.

posted 2/28/10
Tommy Byrd Is Fabulous (Fabulis)
I usually don't post material that is part of a marketing campaign, but I couldn't pass this one up. The video is cute and so is this Georgia boy, Tommy. A quote from Tommy: "I have the most random set of skills." You go, Mr. Byrd!

posted 1/29/10
Rick Takes You To The Movies
I recently rediscovered this movie, having seen it years ago. It's the British Godzilla, Gorgo. The movie has excellent production values, a great score as well as great special effects for it's time. The monsters are obviously the "guy in rubber suit" but the glowing red eyes and wiggling ears are still a bit creepy. Unlike some action movies of today, Gorgo does actually have a plot and is presented in grand old movie tradition. IMHO, some of the movies today with continuous explosions and mayhem eventually come across like boring noise.

The story is about two handsome deep sea salvagers, Joe Ryan (Bill Travers) and Sam Slade (William Sylvester) who come across a fearsome sea monster terrorizing an Irish village after an undersea volcanic explosion.

Little do Joe and Sam (and everyone else) realize is that the large creature that they eventually capture and take to London for exhibition has a mother who is many times larger and that Mama will come looking for her offspring when it goes missing. This was one of the few movies of the time which was sympathetic towards the monsters, which do not get killed off in the end.

What struck me about this movie upon viewing it again after so many years, is that now from an adult standpoint I could see things in the movie that I didn't see when I saw the movie as a kid. Primarily what I began to notice was the relationship between Joe and Sam. Sam worries a lot about Joe, like when Joe takes too long on a dive, on one occasion, Sam decides to join Joe on a dive to make sure he comes back up. If you watch carefully, you see a number of subtle displays of affection throughout the movie between Joe and Sam. In my own mind, I decided that Joe and Sam are more than just business partners, at least the movie works very well on that premise. On top of that, Joe and Sam make an excellent looking couple.

Joe and Sam also "adopt" an orphan named Sean who stows away on their ship. During the rest of the movie, when Joe and Sam are not looking out for each other, they spend a good part of the movie keeping little Sean from harm - like two gay daddies. Watch the movie and you be the judge. In another scene, Sam gets drunk resulting in an argument between the two while Sean watches. Finally Joes belts Sam, picks him up and throws him over his shoulder and carries him back to their trailer.

Another interesting bit from the movie is that when Mama Gorgo is wading up the Thames on her way to reclaim her offsprng and stomp on London, a group of people are watching fearfully from a nearby bridge. You'll notice on a young male couple off to one side on the bridge (right side of the screen), and the dark haired man puts his arm around his blond companion to comfort him.

To watch the You Tube version in segments, click here. Or, to purchase the DVD for high quality viewing, look on Amazon.

posted 1/29/10
Soccer Made Interesting
Rick Chris has never been a sports minded kind of guy, but this video clip might get me interested in soccer. When the opposing team begins to show their stuff at the end of the game, well, that was a "burn my clothes, I'm going to heaven" moment for me. Click here.

posted 1/29/10
Some New Catch A Falling Star illustrations
Finally got around to scanning some illustrations I've done for yet to be published sections of CATCH A FALLING STAR, the Beef Matson mystery/adventure.

Secret agent Gary gets pissed at Bentley.

Matson suddenly finds himself in a mysterious neighborhood.

Snizter and Zhourg

The train.

posted 1/16/10
Queer As Folk Music Video "Some Lovin'" From Season Three
I just came across this fun video featuring the actors from QAF. Some may not agree with me, but I think "Mikey" is so damned cute.

posted 1/15/10
Brokeback Mountain Toon by CManart
Check out this artwork by CManart called "Brokeback Mounting". Click here.

posted 1/15/10
Jackie Beat - "Don't Tell Me You're Gay!"
A funny parody of the disco anthem "Don't Leave Me This Way". (Adult lyrics.)

posted 9/24/09
Larry Kramer's Speech At Dallas Gay Pride, September 20, 2009
Rick Chris considers Larry Kramer to be one of the few worthwhile and profound gay voices.
"We must never forget that everything we have won can very quickly be taken away from us. We have seen this time and again. Presidents come and go ignoring us. This president is no different. Once again he is not doing it for us and once again we are letting him get away with it. This President is another loser for us and I predict he will remain this way.

We must remember that we do not have the freedom to marry, to inherit, to adopt, to share our health insurance, to learn about our history in our schools. To learn that our two greatest presidents, Washington and Lincoln were gay. We do not have the freedom to live as straight people have the freedom to live. We do not have the freedom to have our bars not raided by police and officers beating us up with such fury that we land in hospitals.

We have not learned to fight back with the same fury with which they fight us. You do not get more with honey than with vinegar. There are over one thousand benefits from our government that straight couples get that we are denied. This is not freedom. This is not equality. America's Bill of Rights says we are meant to be equal.

You must know, we must never forget, that every single treatment for hiv/aids is out there because of gay aids activists, led by ACT UP chapters across the country and Project Inform in San Francisco. They did not come from the government. They came because gay people fought like tigers and screaming banshees to get the system that hates us deliver them to us. If you want to read how we did it get my book The Tragedy of Today's Gays. This achievement, the obtaining of these drugs, I believe to be the single greatest achievement gay people have accomplished in all of history and we must be remembered for it.

The lesson should be clear. The lesson should be obvious. It should show us what we are capable of achieving when we put our minds and hearts and brains and bodies together and work together all together as brothers and sisters and one big family. There is not one person here today who is not capable of being such an activist.

We get what we fight for. And we are not fighting. Every single one of us is not fighting. They fight better than we do. There is a concerted and never ending vein of hate in this country and in this world dedicated to keeping us in our place. It is evil to force people to be what we are not - free. We are not free.

I love being gay.
I love gay people.
How can I say this without offending everyone else, I think we're better than other people.
I think we are smarter.
I think we are more talented.
I think we are more aware.
I think we make better friends.
I think we make better lovers.
I think we're more tuned in to what's happening, tuned into the moment, tuned into our emotions, and other people's emotions.
Yes, I think that gay people are better than other people.
I think the only thing we are not so good at is fighting back.

I hear talk of the new generation of gays and the old generation of gays, and how different we are. That is not true. We are all one generation. We are all related. We are all each other's brothers and sisters. We are all one family, the gay family.

And I passionately and desperately want all my brothers and sisters to stay alive and well and on this earth, with total equality with every straight person.

Being gay is the most important thing in my life.

I love being gay. I hope you do, too."

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Putting the spotlight on those who add value to the gay community through their creativity, talent and achievement. The Shout Out column is open to any gay creative type, performer, writer, artist, etc. I know how challenging it can be for gay creative types, so this is my small way of trying to lend a helping hand by offering a little publicity. Just send an email (rickchris@rickchris.com) about yourself or someone you would like to be spotlighted. The cost? You only have to promise that you're going to try to be rich, famous and successful. I also accept news releases for shows, benefits and events.

Note: if you send in information about an event or individual I will be glad to list it for you free of charge - however, in your email, please state that you are requesting a listing under the Shout Out banner and I would also like to know who is making the request (the name of a contact person) so I know the information about the person or event is "authorized".

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Danny Boy Studio
If you enjoy artistic images of men who could be classified as bears, daddies or maybe full-figured, you may enjoy a visit to dannyboystudio. If you feel the genre of bearish art is overlooked, you'll find it's very well represented by Miami artist Danny. Click on the image below to be directed to his studio site.

Out Radio

Out Radio is a production of JD Doyle. You can find links on the Out Radio site to his other radio shows as well as an email link to JD.
www.outradio.com

JD Doyle writes:

"I'm very pleased to announce that I've started a new radio show, called OutRadio. This is a companion show to Queer Music Heritage, and like QMH it will be a monthly multi-part show, but it will focus on new and recent music by GLBT artists. There is just so much new music I want to share and this will be my way to do that. It starts at www.OutRadio.com."

Queer Music Heritage and Out Radio host, JD Doyle

JD Doyle's March Out Radio show is a salute to Canadian GLBT Artists. It's an over five-hour program covering many, many genres and a whopping 76 different artists and 85 songs spanning the last 48 years!

OutRadio for March: Canadian GLBT Artists http://www.queermusicheritage.com/outmar10.html

Out Radio is a new show produced by JD Doyle in addition to his Queer Music Heritage shows.

QUEER MUSIC HERITAGE

JD Doyle writes: "This month's show is called "Queer Nation: The Music & The Politics - Then & Now," and Part 1 includes interviews with members of the band Queer Conscience, which was very much inspired by the politics of Queer Nation; Ray Hill, Houston's pioneering gay activist; and the very political and talented artist, Scott Free. Part 2 brings things up to date with transwoman musician Michelle Garcia; and lesbian singer/songwriter Melissa Li and transman slam poet Kit Yan of the band Good Asian Drivers. I think it's the most "political" music show I've ever done, honoring an important area of our history."

You can stream or download the show anytime at http://www.queermusicheritage.com/mar2010.html

http://www.queermusicheritage.com
Outradio site: http://www.outradio.com

Co-producer of Audiofile, the monthly radio review of CDs of interest to the GLBT communities, airing on over 175 stations around the world on This Way Out.
The Audiofile site is at www.Audiofile.org and all past Audiofile segments are archived at http://www.queermusicheritage.com/af.html
Also co-host of Queer Voices on KPFT, Monday nights from 9-11 pm, www.kpft.org and at MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jddoyle

Rick Chris very much recommends the Queer Music Heritage web site. If you are at all into music and would like to see how much gay performers have contributed to the music scene over the years, this site is a MUST SEE. For those of us who love music, JD Doyle has catalogued an incredible amount of information on gay artists and albums including some incredible rare stuff. A fun site to visit and JD has done a great service for the gay community by preserving the history and memory of these artists and recordings. QMH is also a radio show on KPFT radio in Houston, Texas and is also netcast. JD writes:

"Queer Music Heritage" is both a radio show and a website, and the goal of both is to preserve and share the music of our culture, because I just don't think gay & lesbian music of the past should be forgotten. I also believe our music culture is a visual as well as an audial experience, so I try to share the images of this music…photos of the artists and recordings, and to pack in as much information as possible, while still trying to entertain.

There are also many extra sections, such as a page of Gay Marriage Songs (with free downloads), a page of songs about Matthew Shepard, a section on Gay Musicals, lots of info about drag artists, a page listing songs about AIDS, etc, etc."

Rainbow Depot
Last minute gifts? Try Rainbow Depot, the Internet's LARGEST SELECTION for your gay pride shopping and gay shopping and lesbian shopping! We are gay owned and operated. Rainbow Depot, provides superior service, competitive pricing, and quality merchandise for all your gay and lesbian shopping needs.

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