Wagner for Dummies (Me!)

Although I've now seen many of the most important operas in history -- "Carmen," "The Barber of Seville," "The Marriage of Figaro," "La boheme," "Aida" -- I still wouldn't say I know much about it. But I do know enough to say "Tristan und Isolde," Yuval Sharon’s debut production for the Metropolitan Opera and my first by Wagner, was a dazzling production that certainly didn't feel like five-plus hours. Read an expert gush about the astonishing performance by soprano Lise Davidsen and why it's the event of the season HERE.

Next up: "La traviata."

Remains of the Day (03/20)

Dallas Voice: Duo behind “a Twink and a Redhead” hits the road to tell their story, dance, sing and be fab

Greg in Hollywood: Season 2 of "The Disappointments" is finally arriving on Sunday

Passport: Filmmaker Ira Sachs’s "Peter Hujar’s Day" has been nominated for numerous Independent Spirit Awards

Queerty: The "Fellow Travelers" opera is just as hot as the TV show

GCN: New exhibit showcases the posters and flyers that defined NYC's response to the AIDS epidemic

People: Body of missing University of Alabama student James Gracey, 20, found in Barcelona waters; authorities say death appears accidental

Music Matters: You're not going to hear "Roadrunner" when you go see a Jonathan Richman show, but that's OK because everything he does is so much fun

NCR: New survey reveals most Americans back LGBTQ rights, amid divides within religions

Washington Blade: "It’s Dorothy" traces lasting influence of a cultural icon -- Judy Garland's, not Bea Arthur's!

Gayety: Pulse Nightclub demolished nearly 10 years after tragedy as memorial plans move forward

Variety: "Off Campus" -- aka "Heated Rivalry" for painfully straight people -- sets Amazon release date, drops first teaser

Attitude: Rufus Wainwright: from Judy Garland tribute to new pop album, why 2026 is his comeback year

Out: Chris Colfer has a "smutty" new gay novel

PinkNews: Kevin Spacey settles with sexual assault accusers ahead of London trial

Variety: "Big Little Lies" author Liane Moriarty teases Season 3 storyline 

Hot Cat of the Day: Construction time again?

RIP: Chuck Norris, the "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Delta Force" action star, has died at 86 after reportedly suffering a medical emergency in Hawaii

Judy Pace, a woman of many firsts, has died at 83 after becoming TV’s first Black female antagonist on "Peyton Place" in the 1960s

Listen: Dennis Hensley talks "Hologram Boyfriends" and more with Mike Albo, as they slowly realize they're kind of the East and West Coast versions of each other

Saturday 'Stache: I'd certainly like to peel his orange

Speedo Sunday: Senor Garcia to the Max-imo!

On the Rag, Vol. 899

 

This week's rag 'n' mag roundup features Fiachra Ó Corragáin. Adam DiMarco, Clark Gallagher, Robbie G.K., François Arnaud, Lisa Kudrow, Robbert Rodenburg and more BELOW.

Remains of the Day (03/18)

Playbill: A “Heated Rivalry" musical is heading Off-Broadway, proving no one works faster than a parody writer with a dream

ABC News: Kouri Richins, Utah mom who wrote grief book for children, found guilty of causing her children's grief by murdering their father

Cornell Chronicle: Self-esteem, openness to LGBTQ peers help all high schoolers

Boystack: MGM stars in 1949 -- a look back

Local11: Grandson of tennis legend Bobby Riggs gets 20 years for sex crimes involving teens

Out: Colton Haynes is ready to strip down in a sexy campaign for charity

TTW: Why Malta is courting LGBTQ Americans and Chinese travelers right now

The Colu: Ballet “Nureyev,” banned in Russia under LGBTQ “propaganda” laws, is now coming to Berlin

The Caftan Chronicles: Confessions of an early '90s gay phone-sex worker (who became a Princeton professor)

Advocate: At Creating Change, LGBTQ activists gathered to confront turbulent times

NYT: U.S. considers withholding HIV aid unless Zambia expands minerals access

Attitude: "Another Man" is a thorny, cerebral psychodrama about a gay couple in Barcelona (review)

Advocate: Revisiting "Ode to Billy Joe" -- and the boy who jumped -- 50 years later, as Michael Ferguson explores the 1976 film’s origins and its complicated legacy in gay cinema

Pride: Adult star Smith Sterling reveals his steamy career plans

The Randy Report: Intelligence suggests that Iran's new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. may be gay

Out: Where you’ve seen the "Heated Rivalry" stars before -- and what they’re doing next

Hot Cat of the Day: Who says shoulder day is no fun? 

Photo exhibit: "A View From the Throne: Gina Schock -- Inside the Go-Go’s" could pass for my friend Mark's childhood bedroom!

Wrestle Wednesday: Dave Rich is feeling "cute"

Lights Out at Elmo

I wasn't able to make it to the closing night sendoff for Elmo, my favorite restaurant in Chelsea for the past two decades and just around the corner from my apartment of 23 years. But many of my friends, including Sebastian and Chris (below), were there and said it was a joyous yet bittersweet occasion, marking the end of an era. While I'm obviously saddened, I do find some solace in the fact that it's ending because the building was sold -- not because the business was failing -- which was made abundantly clear by the outpouring of emotion when the news first broke. Now where will I go to get tasty burgers served by boys in Daisy Dukes?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 

Feeling lucky in my late namesake uncle's windbreaker, size XS, a decade ago! #throwbacktuesday