All the News That’s Fit to Print (Online)

The Holy Grail

My day started off badly. I had a 9am appointment to speak to a health insurance advisor and they stood me up.

So I decided to head to where I work in midtown Manhattan. Bryant Park, to be precise, 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. (You can’t get any more midtown Manhattan than that!)

Now, normally, I buy The New York Times in the morning so I can read it before I go to work at 11am. There are two newsstands within one block of my apartment. (They’re both owned by Iconic Magazines.)

I see now that that’s an anomaly.

I spent about 45 minutes frantically searching midtown Manhattan for a copy of The New York Times. (Did I mention that I was in midtown Manhattan in New York City, the largest city in the United States? Indeed, where The New York Times is printed?)

I could not find a copy.

I did see several newsstands. They were either completely shut or they didn’t have any newspapers. (Yes, we now have newsstands that don’t actually sell any newspapers!)

Now I know I’m going to get a lot of flack for this (in fact, I already have), but I like to read the print edition of The New York Times. I like to look through the entire physical paper and decide what I want to read.

Some of you will say, “But everyone reads it online!”

Yes, but who decides what to put on the front page of their website? Not me!

I know some editor will decide what they think are the most important stories, but some stories are sure to fall through the cracks, especially if I’m not looking for them.

Like on Friday, for example, there was a review of a new movie called Late Fame, which I would not have known existed if I had not seen the review in the print edition.

Would the online editor of The New York Times have deemed that important enough to put on the front page of their website? Surely, there was some major studio release that would have warranted more attention.

I know I’m a dinosaur—and proud of it!

In a similar fashion, I know that there’s a whole universe of TV shows out there for me to watch, but I like to channel surf until I find something I like. That’s just how I operate.

I did finally find a copy of The New York Times at a deli in Chelsea. But now the news would be one and a half days old, as a friend of mine helpfully pointed out.

But the important thing is that I get to decide what I read—even if it’s a day and a half old.

Late Fame/Shoot the Moon

Late Fame is the story of a poet, Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe), who published a book of poetry in 1979, but since then has led a quiet, uneventful life as a postal worker.

He’s discovered by a group of young artist-wannabes who have dubbed themselves The Enthusiasm Society and is invited by them to take part in a reading they are planning.

One of the group’s members is an older, mysterious Asian actress named Gloria (a fabulous Greta Lee) who develops a crush on Saxberger.

Maybe I’m flattering myself by saying this, but I so identified with the character played by Willem Dafoe that I practically burst into tears.

Like his character, my “career” peaked in 1979 (the year I graduated high school) and I moved to New York City in 1981, four years after his character does.

There are many nice touches in this movie that rang true to me.

The self-described groups of artists turns out to be a bunch of trust fund babies, most of whom haven’t actually read Saxberger’s work. The most pretentious of the bunch, Meyers (Edmund Donovan), points out that his sleek Soho apartment was purchased for him by his father as an investment. “It was cheaper than the dorms at NYU,” he says.

Saxberger’s friends are a group of working-class men whom Saxberger refuses to invite to his poetry reading because he doesn’t think they’d appreciate it, and who mock him when they discover his creative past.

There’s a moment in the movie when Saxberger and Gloria are walking through Soho and Saxberger describes living in Soho in the ’70s like “living on the Moon.”

At the end of the movie, Saxberger reconciles with his working-class buddies, perhaps as a result of discovering the phoniness of his new group of admirers.

This weekend, I also caught Shoot the Moon on TCM (which I hadn’t seen before), one of the most explosive depictions of a marriage falling apart I’ve ever seen, with amazing performances from Diane Keaton and Albert Finney as the divorcing couple. The ending of this movie is particularly shocking, but there are shocking moments throughout, as well as a surprisingly touching performance by Peter Weller (the future star of Robocop).

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

I now understand why there was such an outcry online over Cats: The Jellicle Ball posting a closing notice of August 8 after opening in April. The amount of talent on display in this show—the singing, dancing, choreography and costumes (Cats won Tonys for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design of a Musical, and deservedly so)—is incredible.

I’ve always tried to support gay artists (and I suppose every Broadway show has some gay artists within their ranks), but it must be said that trans people—and particularly trans people of color—are the most marginalized segment of the LGBT community. So to see this display of sheer pride and joy coming from this community is particularly moving.

There’s a larger issue here, too.

Broadway musicals are struggling right now because of the huge costs involved in mounting (and attending) them. On the flip side, straight (i.e., nonmusical) plays with celebrity casts are doing better and star-studded plays are now moving to off-Broadway. The economics of Broadway are such that, like movies, it’s become the realm of revivals and adaptations. Very little original work is being done on Broadway.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball, while ostensibly a revival, is a complete reimagining that makes it an original Broadway show in its own right.

And that brings up another issue, which is the Tony Awards.

There was a big controversy this year over which musical should win the award for Best Revival of a Musical. It was seen primarily as a competition between Ragtime (which I didn't see and did win the Tony) and Cats.

I think a lot of times the Tony Award is given to the show which is considered to have the best chance of touring and Cats may just have been seen as “too gay” and/or “too Black” for middle America.

That should not be seen as a criticism of Cats, but a criticism of middle America. Cats: The Jellicle Ball may not have a big audience, but they have a devoted audience. I’ve never seen an audience reaction to a show like I’ve seen for Cats.

Everyone associated with this show should be proud of their work. The reason this show is closing is not their fault.

It’s ours.

Jill Clayburgh/Starting Over/An Unmarried Woman

Last night, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) featured a Jill Clayburgh lineup, including Starting Over (1979) and An Unmarried Woman (1978). Clayburgh was one of the most important film actresses of the 1970s (along with women like Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep), but I feel like younger audiences (i.e., those under 50) might not be familiar with her work. (Marsha Mason is another great ’70s actress who I feel has been forgotten. Perhaps TCM will devote a night to her as well—but I digress.)

And while I saw both Starting Over and An Unmarried Woman when they were originally released, it was so long ago that I had forgotten them and they now function as time capsules of that period. And since the ’70s is my favorite period of film, they unleashed a whole bunch of emotions and memories.

This was the era of women’s liberation, Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” and Ms. magazine, and these two films are emblematic of that. An Unmarried Woman, in particular, seems to focus on women’s emerging sexual liberation, as it discusses such things as female orgasm and dating younger men.

Starting Over seems a little bit corny by today’s standards. (I missed the beginning, so I might have to—wait for it—start that one over!) But it was notable for a few reasons.

It was Candice Bergen’s first comedic role after being cast (miscast?) in a series of dramatic roles (most famously, Carnal Knowledge). It also marked a transition for Burt Reynolds from sex symbol/action hero to a more sophisticated comedic role, playing a college professor (complete with tweed jacket with elbow patches).

Some interesting tidbits about both films which tie them to the ’70s: Both films make references to Valium and therapy, and feature scenes at Bloomingdale’s. (An Unmarried Woman also features a pre-gentrification Soho in which artists still lived!)

Some interesting biographical notes (which TCM host Ben David Mankiewiz helpfully supplied): Starting Over was written by James L. Brooks, the co-creator of such TV shows as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, who, a few years later, would win several Oscars for Terms of Endearment.

An Unmarried Woman was written by Paul Mazursky, who I feel is an auteur on the same level as Woody Allen. (I attended both Paul Mazursky and Woody Allen film festivals in the pre-VHS/DVD/streaming era, when revival houses like the Bleecker Street Cinema and Cinema Village were important parts of New York City’s cultural landscape.)

Missing from the line-up (not surprisingly) was Bernardo Bertolucci’s Luna, in which Clayburgh plays a woman who has sex with her son!

Next up: Marsha Mason, who was married to Neil Simon (who wrote her Oscar-winning role in The Goodbye Girl) and starred in such edgy fare as Cinderella Liberty.

Human League/Soft Cell/Alison Moyet Generations Tour at Radio City Music Hall

Since there was no Cruel World festival this year, I did what I thought what was the next best thing: I bought a ticket to see Human League, Soft Cell and Alison Moyet’s Generations Tour at Radio City Music Hall.

Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” and Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” are probably two of the most popular songs of the ’80s and, even though I’d recently seen Soft Cell and Moyet at Cruel World, I hadn’t seen Human League since the early ’80s at New York City’s Palladium. (Human League’s set at Cruel World was cut short by “severe weather,” but I was watching Iggy Pop at one of Cruel World’s other stages. His set was also cut short.)

First of all, it must be said that Radio City Music Hall is a breathtaking venue. Not only is it the largest indoor theater in the world, it’s also one of the most beautiful. I was trying to think of some of the other shows I’d seen there: Talking Heads’ Remain in Light tour (where I sat in the last row), Pet Shop Boys, B52s, Sade. (Yes, it’s been a while.)

Alison Moyet opened the show. Moyet owes a lot of her early success to Vince Clarke, the songwriter for their duo, Yazoo (Yaz in the US) as well as early Depeche Mode and Erasure, and she performed several Yazoo songs: “Don’t Go,” “Situation,” “Only You,” “Nobody’s Diary.” I wasn’t as familiar with some of her solo work (except for “Love Resurrection”) and I thought the bass player in her band was a little loud, overpowering her vocals and the other instruments, but she received rapturous applause, nonetheless.

Next up was Soft Cell, which now consists solely of founding vocalist Marc Almond, since multi-instrumentalist and producer David Ball passed away last year. (Almond paid tribute to Ball at the end of his set.)

Soft Cell’s breakthrough album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret captured a certain era of New York and London nightlife. Videos during their set featured ’80s New York celebrities like Klaus Nomi and John Sex and clubs like the Pyramid and Danceteria. Almond performed a new song called “Danceteria” (from Soft Cell’s new album, also named Danceteria) and mentioned that he was wearing a Danceteria T-shirt. (There’s also a song called “Danceteria” on Madonna’s new album, Confessions II. I wonder if Jim Fouratt and Rudolf are getting royalties?)

I thought Almond’s vocals sounded a little thin at first, but he recovered nicely on “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” and, of course, “Tainted Love.” (Is it the difficulty of reproducing recorded vocals live or just my memory? I’ll have to go back and listen to my 12-inch single of “Memorabilia.”)

I also liked “Nostalgia Machine,” a 2022 song I wasn’t familiar with, and, interestingly, he performed a cover of Was (Not Was)’s “Out Come the Freaks” (also from Danceteria).

Finally, Human League. Their 1981 album, Dare, was a watershed album, scoring several hits in the UK, and its songs featured heavily in their set: “The Sound of the Crowd,” “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of,” “Seconds” “Love Action” and, of course, “Don’t You Want Me.” They also performed “Mirror Man,” “Louise,” “The Lebanon,” “Human,” “Tell Me When,” “(Keep Feeling) Fascination” and “Together in Electric Dreams,” lead singer Philip Oakey’s collaboration with Giorgio Moroder.

Oakey sounded even better than I expected and so did backup singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, who sang lead vocal on (previously unfamiliar to me) “One Man in My Heart.”

All of which is to say that I was magically transported to early ’80s New York after-hours club, Berlin, where I first heard most of these songs. (The pre-show ’80s soundtrack also helped.)

And who could blame me for wanting to, as Cher might say, “turn back time.”

After all, I’m only human.

Love Story: Bait and Switch

I had no intention of watching Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. I thought it was going to be just another example of Ryan Murphy trash TV. It lured me in with its promise of ’90s nostalgia and the usual Murphy mixture of beautiful people in glamorous locations, but then turned the tables on me and became something that I was still thinking about hours after it ended. It became a deeply affecting drama that turned two people who had been mere tabloid fixtures into three-dimensional human beings I actually cared about. It became more than just a love story, but a meditation on the destructive nature of fame itself.

The series starts with the courtship of JFK Jr. and Bessette, a publicist at Calvin Klein, with Bessette playing hard to get, while JFK Jr. is still nominally dating actress Daryl Hannah.

This is the fun part of the series. This is the part that gave me something I never knew I wanted: ’90s nostalgia. A pre-cell phone era filled with glamorous restaurants (Odeon, Indochine, Bubby’s), great music (Madonna, Sade), and celebrities (Calvin Klein, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss).

By the end of the series, JFK Jr. and Bessette are struggling to keep their marriage together as Bessette, who has quit her publicist job due to all the media attention focused on her, feels trapped inside their apartment.

I don’t know what went on in the personal lives of JFK Jr. and Bessette, so I have to look at this as a work of fiction. (There’s a disclaimer at the beginning of each episode that says some people and events were fictionalized for dramatic purposes.) But as a work of fiction, it’s extremely well done.

The great writing (Connor Hines is the primary screenwriter) is helped by strong performances by Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Jessica Harper as Ethel Kennedy, Constance Zimmer as Carolyn Bessette’s mother (Ann Messina Freeman), Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein. Even Paul Anthony Kelly (JFK Jr.) and Sarah Pigeon (Carolyn Bessette), who, like the people they portray, are two of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen, turn in affecting performances.

There’s been some controversy about the portrayal of Daryl Hannah (played by Dree Hemingway). She comes off as a bit of an airhead. (If you read Hannah’s well-written essay in The New York Times, you know that she’s much more than a ditzy movie star.) But even the fictionalized Hannah comes across as someone who tried to save JFK Jr. from the trap of his own fame.

Murphy is primarily known for guilty pleasures like The Beauty, Feud and American Horror Story. But this, along with The Boys in the Band and The Normal Heart, may be one of the best series he’s done.

I just hope it doesn’t spawn a JFK Jr. bus tour.

"All the Bands in the ’80s" FULL MOVIE

The End of a Revelatory Job

The view from my host stand

The most challenging (or, at least, different) job I’ve ever had just ended. I was a host at an outdoor restaurant in Bryant Park Winter Village. I worked in freezing temperatures, rain and snow, and now that it’s over, I’m sad. Not just for the loss of income and routine (although both those things are true), but something more ineffable. In many ways, it was a revelation. When you observe and deal with people for six to seven hours a day, you learn a few things.

Here’s what I’ve learned.

I dealt with people from all over the country and all over the world. Most of them were polite and grateful for the smallest act of kindness. (Fortunately, politics never came up. I did have one customer with a Trump hat, but I didn’t say anything.)

Here’s another thing I learned: I love kids. (And, it should go without saying, dogs.)

Whenever I saw a family with a baby, toddler or small child, my heart just exploded with paternal love. I thought, Is there any love greater than that of a parent for a child?

There’s a scene at the end of Marty Supreme when Timothée Chalemet’s character bursts into tears when he’s shown his newborn baby and I thought, Of course! The enormity of that moment must be overwhelming!

I’m not saying I’d actually want to raise a child to the age of 18. That must be the most difficult job in the world. But it must also be the most gratifying.

I also want to give a shout out to the deli owner who brightened my day every morning I ordered my coffee and bagel with a schmear. These are the kinds of people who make New York City great!

My original intention in writing this was to write a positive, uplifting piece after what I think we can all agree was one of the most horrendous years any of us have experienced, and I hope I’ve accomplished that. (I could write a whole other piece on the first year of Trump 2.0, but that would take an entire book!)

People have been railing against the commercialism of Christmas at least since Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol and I have a bit about Christmas that I do in my stand-up act.

Yet this was the first year I actually experienced the Christmas spirit!

But don’t think I’ve gone soft. After all, they start advertising for Valentine’s Day on December 26.

"All the Bands in the ’80s" Screening

I’m going to be having a screening of my screenplay, “All the Bands in the ’80s” (the full movie) on Saturday, January 24, 2026 at 9pm at Pangea, 178 Second Avenue, New York City.

There’s no cover, but Pangea has a $20 minimum. Advance tickets are available here: https://cur8.com/23871/project/135388. (You can also use the QR code on the flyer.)

If you can’t attend the screening, I’ll be posting the full movie on my YouTube page (YouTube.com/paulhallasy1) the next day. (You can watch the scenes I’ve already filmed there now, but I’m not posting the last scene until after the screening.)

CBGB Festival

I’m more of a new waver than a punk rocker, even though I played at CBGB in 1983. So I debated whether or not it was worth paying $179 to go to the CBGB Festival at Under the K Bridge Park in Brooklyn (especially considering I once paid $3 to go to the actual CBGB on New Year’s Eve). I waited until the last minute and finally relented because I thought it might be my last chance to see Iggy Pop live.

You see, I was supposed to see Iggy Pop (and Siouxsie Sioux) two years ago at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, but his set was cut short because of so-called “dangerous weather” (i.e., a thunderstorm that never actually materialized) and Siouxsie didn’t get to perform at all. (Yes, I’m still pissed off.) To their credit, they came back the next day to do a makeup show, but I couldn’t afford a $90 Uber round-trip to go back and, besides, I had plans to have lunch a friend of mine.

Another reason I decided to go is because Iggy Pop is a major inspiration for my screenplay, All the Bands in the ’80s.

So I entered the CGBG Festival at about the halfway point. The first act I saw was Johnny Marr, formerly of the Smiths. Much to my surprise (and delight) he tore through a number of Smiths songs: “Panic,” “This Charming Man,” “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” “How Soon Is Now?” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” as well as “Getting Away With It” by Electronic (the group formed by Marr and Bernard Sumner of New Order).

I was in ’80s heaven!

Next up was the Damned. I’m not as familiar with their music, except for the vaguely new wave-ish “Eloise.” I like Damned guitarist Captain Sensible’s song, “Wot,” but they didn’t play it. Oh, well…

Then came guitar virtuoso Jack White, another performer I’m not that familiar with apart from the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” which he closed with and whose riff the audience sang. White’s like a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. He doesn’t sing as much as yelp, but boy can he play guitar!

Finally, it was time for the man, the myth, the legend: Iggy Pop!

After two years of waiting, I was a little bit taken aback. How can I put this delicately? Let’s just say, he’s a 78-year-old man performing shirtless. (I guess I wasn’t that close to the stage two years ago.) Nevertheless, his hair is fabulous and his voice is intact. And the songs! “Lust for Life,” “The Passenger,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Even if you haven’t followed his career closely, you know those songs!

But for me, the importance of Iggy Pop is more symbolic. The fact that he’s still rocking out is an inspiration.

As his character says in my screenplay, “Sometimes you just have to grab life by the balls.”

Now I just need Siouxsie to do a show in New York City.

Johnny Marr

Captain Sensible from The Damned

Jack White

Iggy Pop

Gay Republicans in D.C.

Oasis at MetLife Stadium

I went to see Oasis’s long-anticipated show at MetLife Stadium tonight. It was a sea of bucket hats and Adidas track jackets! I didn’t think they were that popular in America and yet they sold out two nights!

For the uninitiated, Oasis is a British band that was popular in the ’90s, consisting mainly of two brothers, Liam and Noel Gallagher, who, apart from their music, are most famous for fighting with each other. The band broke up in 2009, so it was major news when they announced they’d be touring this year.

To be honest, I’m not a big Oasis fan. But somehow, songs like “Champagne Supernova” and “Wonderwall” were ubiquitous in the ’90s. I heard them on DARE.fm (formerly WLIR/WDRE), but where did everyone else hear them? (I vaguely recall seeing their videos on MTV.)

It was instructive seeing them live, though, to see how Liam and Noel traded vocals and how Noel backed Liam up on vocals and guitar. (Liam doesn’t play any instruments, unless you count maracas and tambourine.)

I kind of preferred Noel’s vocals. Liam seems to perform all his vocals in the key of sneer. He’s also not the most exciting performer. He usually plants himself behind his mic stand with his hands behind his back and just stands there. It’s not exactly a Madonna concert, where every move is choreographed. (The video projections helped immensely.)

It was basically a greatest hits show that came in at about two hours. Other highlights included “Don’t Look Back in Anger” and “Live Forever” (although they didn’t play my favorite song of theirs, “I’m Outta Time”).

But here’s the thing about stadium concerts: the audience has become the star. It’s bad enough they now watch entire concerts through their cell phones. They now sing louder than the band onstage (and often out of tune).

The most charitable thing I can say about such concerts is that they show how music can bring us together.

In these troubled times, you have to take your pleasure where you can.

Liam

Liam

Liam

Noel

Noel

Lost 80s Live

I celebrated my birthday last night by attending the Lost 80s Live concert at Pier 17 in New York City. I’m at the point now where I think I have seen almost every band that came out in the ‘80s, so now I’m getting down to the one-hit wonders.

I think last year’s Totally Tubular concert had a better lineup (and any year’s Cruel World festival had a much better lineup). Each act performed three to four songs. Some acts only had three to four songs worth hearing and others had to leave some favorites out. (China Crisis left out “Black Man Ray,” my favorite song of theirs, albeit a ballad) and A Flock of Seagulls left out “Telecommunication,” which they should have performed instead of their new song.

I think the highlight of the show was General Public, which displayed real musical chops, stopping each song on a dime and performing with a full lineup. Other acts were overwhelmed by their backing tracks (Peter Godwin) and/or had vocal issues (Belouis Some’s voice was shredded and even A Flock of Seagulls’ Mike Score sounded a little off.)

On the other hand, there were also some pleasant surprises. China Crisis’ Gary Daly had a great sense of humor (much like OMD’s Andy McCluskey did at this year’s Cruel World festival) and Simon Hough did a good job singing lead for Big Country (original lead vocalist Stuart Adamson passed away in 2001), unlike Steve Diggle, who subbed for the late Pete Shelley in the Buzzcocks at this year’s Cruel World festival.

The evening was helped immensely by Los Angeles DJ/emcee Richard Blade, who kept the show moving by playing ’80s music videos in between acts, which had the audience singing along.

It also helped that the concert was held at Pier 17, a great venue with a view of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Pier 17

It's an '80s reunion!

Polecats

Icycle Works

Josie Cotton

The Vapors

Belouis Some

Peter Godwin

China Crisis

General Public and Richard Blade

Big Country

A Flock of Seagulls

Fuck Trump/Fuck ICE

It’s Pride Day, but not I’m not feeling very proud as an American. Quite the opposite. I’m absolutely furious about what’s going on in this country. People are being kidnapped off the street and disappeared to foreign countries or sent to concentration camps in this country. Meanwhile, in the dead of night, Senate Republicans passed Trump’s "Big Beautiful Bill," which would cut Medicaid and give Trump unchecked power.

As Aaron Hicklin pointed out in his New York Times essay last week, our fair-weather corporate allies have abandoned us due to Trump’s policy of intimidation and censorship. So the Pride March, which I’ve attended and/or marched in for over 40 years, may have to, of necessity, become more political, as it was originally.

Which is why, when I attend today’s march, I’ll be carrying these two homemade signs. It’s not much, but it’s all I could fit.

Cruel World Festival 2025

It seemed like the universe was conspiring against me when I attended the Cruel World festival for the third time this year. Everything from the weather (unseasonably cool and rainy) to my plane (late) to my bus (also late) to my Airbnb (disgustingly dirty) went wrong. I even showed up late to see the first act I was interested in, Midge Ure, because I read the schedule wrong. (Fortunately, I’d already seen him in New York). Festival security even confiscated my umbrella at the entrance! 

And I’ll explain why that was a problem.

You see, I’d been planning this trip for several months! The one day I needed the weather to be good, it sucked! Several British performers even apologized for “bringing the British weather.” 

And I have a history of bad weather with Cruel World.

The first time I attended the festival, two years ago, Iggy Pop’s set was cut short and Siouxsie didn’t perform at all because of “dangerous” weather (i.e., lightning). 

 And I’m still pissed off about it!

After I was at the concert for about three hours, the rain stopped. Still, three hours of steady drizzle can be pretty fucking annoying!

In spite of the rain, I was happy to be among my people: fans of ’80s music. I even shed a tear, ironically, during Midge Ure’s “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes.”

Some other things I made note of:

• Alison Moyet lost weight!
• The Buzzcocks performed without their original lead singer Pete Shelley, who died in 2018. (Original member Steve Diggle handled lead vocals.) They tore through their set so fast, it was if they were hoping that people wouldn’t notice that the guy singing wasn’t Pete Shelley.
• Madness sounded great and their saxophonist, Lee Thompson, took off his clothes.
• Devo has great visuals.
• The Go-Gos have great harmonies, but they played a different arrangement of “Our Lips Are Sealed,” one of the greatest pop songs ever written. (I suppose bands get tired of playing even great songs.)
• Bernard Sumner of New Order may have a limited vocal range, but the band makes up for it with innovative synthesizer and drum machine programming and by using the bass as a lead instrument.
• I was pleasantly surprised by some bands I haven’t seen before (Blancmange, OMD).

On a more positive note, I finally figured out where the Rose Bowl's free shuttle buses are, so I didn’t have to walk a mile (to avoid congestion pricing) and then wait a half hour for a Lyft. 

If I come back next year, I’ll stay at the Airbnb I stayed at last year (which was immaculate). 

And maybe, if I’m really lucky, it won’t rain.

Midge Ure

Blancmange

Alison Moyet

OMD's Andy McCluskey

OMD's Paul Humphreys

Madness

Devo

The Go-Go's

New Order

Synergy

Today’s word is “synergy.”

You see, in an ideal world, one thing is supposed to promote another thing and so on and so on and so on. Just like that that old shampoo commercial.

For example, if you like my blog, on Saturday, May 10 at 9pm, I’m kicking off the fourth year of my monthly stand-up comedy show, Eat Drink Laugh, at Pangea.

Advance tickets available here:

https://cur8.com/23871/project/131620

If you like that, you can watch some of my old stand-up comedy sets, song parodies, short films and my one-man show, "Take My Job, Please, Confessions of a Stand-up Doorman" (a.k.a. "Doorman Confidential") on my YouTube page, here:

https://www.youtube.com/paulhallasy1

And did I mention that I wrote a screenplay called All the Bands in the '80s, which I’m trying to get produced?

It’s coming soon to an Indiegogo site near you, but in the meantime, here’s a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFwwiOl5WAU

But if you really want to know my back story, I suggest you read my book, New York Trilogy,

which you can buy here:

https://www.iuniverse.com/BookStore/BookDetails/112312-New-York-Trilogy

And if you liked my book, you might want to take the audio walking tour of the East Village I created, New York Trilogy: A Walking Tour, which you can buy here: https://voicemap.me/tour/new-york-city/new-york-trilogy-a-walking-tour

And there you have it! The complete Paul Hallasy/Gay Curmudgeon experience!

Now go wash your hair!

The New Hunks

There’s been a recent spate of movies that put women and female sexuality front and center: Babygirl, The Substance and Anora.

At the same time (and what’s equally noteworthy), is that there’s been a new crop of young male actors who are often the objects of female (or gay male) attention and who defy the muscular stereotype of yore.

In Babygirl, Nicole Kidman plays a powerful executive who falls under the spell of a kinky young intern, played by Harris Dickinson. While it’s somewhat shocking to see an A-list actress like Kidman completely naked (see also Demi Moore in The Substance), what may be equally noteworthy is the attention paid to Dicksinon, particularly in an extended slow dance scene to the tune of George Michael’s “Father Figure.”

Harris Dickinson in Babygirl

In Queer, Drew Starkey is the object gay writer Daniel Craig's attention. I’ve already written about how the camera lingers over Starkey’s naked body, illustrating Craig’s desire.

Drew Starkey in Queer

The New Hunk is tall and lean (and occasionally tattooed), unlike the steroid-enhanced gym bunnies of just a few years ago. (Hi, John Cena!)

Of course, the prototype of the New Hunk may be Jacob Elordi, who burst onto the scene in Euphoria and subsequently was the obsession of the nerdy character played by Barry Keoghan in Saltburn. (To be fair, Keoghan’s character in the movie is actually bisexual.)

Jacob Elordi in Saltburn

What’s also notable about this new crop of sexually frank films is that many of them were directed by women (Babygirl’s Halina Reijn, The Substance's Coralie Fargeat, Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell) or gay men (Queer’s Luca Guadagnino*). They also tend to be produced by upstart, independent companies like A24 and Neon.

All of these films represent a welcome departure from the typical heterosexual male point of view.

*While Luca Guadagnino has been in a long-term relationship with Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, he has not publicly identified his sexuality.