Monday, April 30, 2012

Men, Music and Record Players on Repeat

Future blogger, Ed, the host of GuyDads making a mix tape.
This is Part 2 of a blog entry I did just over a year ago. The original entry was in response to Record Store Day and to share images of famous men and their record players.

Here is a another selection of photographs gathered from the Internet of turntables, record players and jukeboxes posed with well-known, celebrated men that listen to music on them.

Pervious music links:
Part 1 of Men, Music and Record Players: http://guydads.blogspot.com/2011/04/famous-record-players.html
The Prequel, Naked Men and Raw Music Appreciation: http://guydads.blogspot.com/2011/02/naked-and-raw-music-appreciation.html

There are a surprising number of photo blogs that are dedicated to records and people. My favorite is Blue Guitar, http://blueguitar.tumblr.com/
Sexy French actors Alain Delon and Maurice Ronet

French character actor Bernard Blier

Jamaican musician Bob Marley

Lovable Charlie Brown from Peanuts

Composer and big-band leader Duke Ellington

Sir Elton John

Movie star Gregory Peck

Gregory Peck likes records

The grandfather of punk music, Iggy Pop

Actor Jack Nicholson

Stage actor Jefferson May in I Am My Own Wife

Electric guitar god, Jimi Hendrix

Actor Malcolm McDowell

Glam rock musician Marc Bolan 

Cool actor Marlon Brando

French singer Michel Polnareff

Actor/director Orson Wells

PelĂ©, soccer/football star 
Pete Townshend from The Who
Reggae musician Peter Tosh of the Wailers
Silent film star Richard Barthelmess
Pop musician/composer Richard Carpenter
American football running back Ricky Williams
Movie star Rock Hudson in a casual moment
TV actor Scott Baio
French musician Serge Gainsbourg spinning a 45
Movie star Spencer Tracy
British Invasion band, The Kinks, Dave Davies middle
Alan Lomax, folk music collector
Fred Spinnelly, 1927 bandleader
Huey Newton, leader of the Black Panthers
Actor Jon Hamm as Don Draper from TV show "Mad Men".
Movie actor Elijah Wood
Serbian tennis star Janko Tipsarevic

Friday, April 27, 2012

Why you should see the documentary film "Bully"

We recently saw the documentary "Bully" with our 13- and 15-year-old kids. We urge everyone to try and see this film in the next couple of weeks while it is showing in theaters. Take your middle & high school kids, or your nephews and nieces or grandkids. The message of 'it only takes one to make a difference' is so powerful. Stopping bullying starts with each of us and how we respond when we see it occurring. It is a Great film. And it should be an Oscar contender!!
Why you should see the documentary "Bully".
  • The problems of today's youth are different then the parents. It will give you insight of this different envorinment.
  • The movie goes beyond homophobic, antigay bulling. The most compelling story is of a straight kid named Alex.
  • The stories are more than just the abuse heaped on the tormented kids. It is also about the adults that can help but ignore or dismiss them.
  • Despite the depressing sounding premies of the movie "Bully," it is also a movie of abiding hope.  It shows that adults and students can do something about bullying. 
  • The documentary is not out to trash public education and public school employees. Instead it shares the good and the bad of trying to eliminate bullying from our schools. 
  • The impact of unchecked bullying carries over beyond the school years and affects the behavior of adults and society as a whole. The lesson is that it will take the whole community to end it.
  • The film also highlights the role of bystanders. These are students (and sometimes adults) who probably would not engage in bullying themselves, but who either do not have the courage to stand up to the bullies or may even feel protected by the fact that they are not the targets of the bullying.
  • "Bully" will make average kids want to be "upstanders" or someone who takes action on behalf of others. 
  • Despite 48 states having passed bullying prevention laws, despite a mountain of research documenting the negative impact of bullying on students' health and education, and despite intensive media coverage of bullied students' suicides, the myth that bullying is a harmless rite of passage still persists. 
  • Human connection is the key to bullying prevention. 
Check out the Facing History and Ourselves' "A Guide to the Film Bully."

 

Sunday, April 15, 2012

My First Gay Crush

Actor Michael York, then and now.
My first gay crush was movie actor Michael York.

I experienced his sexy smile and blond-haired, youthful and heroic body in the local cineplex during junior high and high school years back in the early seventies. My appreciation of Michael York began with his performance as D'Artagnan in the "Three Musketeers" and the sequel "The Four Musketeers". I followed him in Agatha Christie's mystery "Murder on the Orient Express", the sci-fi movies of "Logan's Run" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and the comic spoof "The Last Remake of Beau Geste". It would be a few years before I saw him in "Cabaret." 

York as D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers
I loved the variety of fantasy characters he played whether they were dashing heroes or upper-crust socialites. In the "Musketeers" films, he was the young, sexy apprentice-Musteteer to a trio of swashbuckling older bearish men. In the two sci-fi movies (Logan's RunThe Island of Dr. Moreau) he was the handsome hero that uncovers a dark, sinister secret and must make the hero's journey to save the day. In the mystery thriller (Murder on the Orient Express) and comic spoof (The Last Remake of Beau Geste), he played one of the leading ensemble players in an all star cast.

The blond hair, blue-eyed British actor with the strong but boyish looks began his acting career in the 1960's. His acting career spanned five decades and has included award-winning turns in theatre, movies and TV. He is fondly remembered for a string of films in the late 1960s and 70s and his TV appearances in the mid-1970s. York's long-lasting Hollywood marriage has endured 45+ years.

Throughout his long career he has played a number of iconic gay roles. He played an amoral bisexual drifter in Harold Prince's film "Something for Everyone" (1970) opposite Angela Lansbury as the countess who hires York as her footman. He then went on to portray the bisexual Brian Roberts in Bob Fosse's film version of "Cabaret" (1972), opposite Liza Minnelli. His character in "Cabaret" was a fictionalised version of writer Christopher Isherwood. On stage, he succeeded Richard Gere in the Broadway production of "Bent" (1979) where he had the lead role of Max, a homosexual concentration camp inmate who pretends to be Jewish. York's highly distinctive voice made him perfect for recording audio books, in which he was credited with over 70 productions, including Anne Rice's homoerotic thriller "The Vampire Lestat". He is more recently known among mainstream audiences for his role as Basil Exposition in the "Austin Powers" series of comedy films.

Extra: Michael York just turned 70. His birthday was a couple of weeks ago. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the film version of "Cabaret". Co-star Joel Grey also just turned 80 in April. Grey still performs on Broadway. We've seen him in the musicals "Wicked" and "Anything Goes".

Racquel Welch and Michael York in The Three Musketeers
Entertainment magazine, After Dark, cover.

York as Basil Exposition in Austin Powers

Michael York and Burt Lancaster in Island of Dr. Moreau

Michael York in Island of Dr. Moreau

Michael York and Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run

Michael York and Liza Minnelli in Cabaret

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