Wednesday MidDay Medley
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning

Wednesday, June 18, 2013

That’s Soooo Gay! (Our Annual Gay Pride Show)
+ Kyle Piccola & Jamie Rich & Avery Ford
& Out Here Now: KC LGBT Film Festival

1. Judy Garland – “Intro / Keep Your Sunny Side Up”(outtake)
from: The Judy Garland Show – the show that got away /Hip-O /2002
[orig. taped June 24, 1963]

2. RuPaul – “The Beginning”
from: Glamazon / RuCo / April 25, 2011
[RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960), best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and recording artist, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta and New York City club scenes during the 1980s and early 90s. RuPaul has on occasion performed as a man in a number of roles, usually billed as RuPaul Charles. RuPaul is noted among famous drag queens for his indifference towards the gender-specific pronouns used to address him—both “he” and “she” have been deemed acceptable. “You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don’t care! Just as long as you call me.” He hosted a short-running talk show on VH1, and currently hosts reality television shows RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag U.]

3. Bronski Beat – “Small Town Boy”
from: Age of Consent / London / 1984
[Debut single of English synthpop group. The song is a popular gay anthem and reached number 3 in the UK, number one in Holland, Italy, top 10 in Australia, Canada, France, Switzerland, and number 48 in the U.S.]

4. Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch) – “Definition: Lesbian”
from: My Breasts Are Out Of Control / Tongueincheek Records / 1994

5. Company – “Opening: I Hope I Get It”
from: A Chorus Line – Original Cast Recording / Columbia / 1975

6. Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch) – “Definition: Equal Rights”
from: My Breasts Are Out Of Control / Tongueincheek Records / 1994

7. Divine – “You Think You’re A Man (7″ Mix)”
from: Essential Divine / RTR / 2006

8. Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch) – “Definition: Pro Choice”
from: My Breasts Are Out Of Control / Tongueincheek Records / 1994

9. Al Franken and Phil Hartman – “Daily Affirmation Theme”
from: Original Soundtrack to: Stuart Saves His Family / Milan / 1995

10. Hedwig & The Angry Inch – “Tear Me Down”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hedwig & The Angry Inch / Hybrid / 2001

10:13 – That’s Sooo Gay

11. The BTC Orchestra – “The Liberace Fanfare”
from: Behind The Candelabra (Music from the HBO Original Film) / Elektra / May 20, 2013
[2013 American drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh about the life of pianist Liberace and the secret affair he had with young Scott Thorson, based on Thorson’s memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace (1988). It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2013. It aired on HBO on May 26, 2013. It will not be released theatrically in the United States. It was released theatrically June 7, 2013 in the United Kingdom. The film features Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorsen.]

12. Liberace – “The Impossible Dream” [Vinyl]
from: Liberace Sends You Love [3 record set] / Brookville Records – ABC Records / 1974
[Born in West Allis, Wisconsin, his career spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television, and endorsements, Liberace became world-famous. During the 1950s–1970s he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world and embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage. He publicly denied being gay during his lifetime, and sued those who said he was. Towards the end of his life his chauffeur, Scott Thorson, sued him for palimony. He died of an AIDS-related illness in 1987.]

13. Jim Nabors – “It Takes All Kinds To Make The World Go Round”
from: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. / Sony / 1965
[Jan. 29, 2013, Hawaii News Now reported that Jim Nabors married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, at Seattle, Washington’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Jan. 15, a month after same-sex marriage became legal in Washington. An urban legend maintains that Nabors married Rock Hudson in the early ’70s, shortly before Nabors began his relationship with Cadwallader. At least publicly, the two were never more than friends. According to Hudson, the legend originated with a group of “middle-aged homosexuals who live in Huntington Beach” who sent out joke invitations for their annual get-together. One year, the group invited its members to witness “the marriage of Rock Hudson & Jim Nabors,” at which Hudson would take the surname of Nabors’ most famous character, Gomer Pyle, becoming “Rock Pyle.” Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor. Hudson was also gay but closeted, and because of the fear that one or both of them might be outed, Nabors & Hudson never spoke to each other again.]

14. Paul Lynde, Maureen Stapleton, Dick Van Dyke, Bryan Russell -“Kids”
from: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Bye Bye Birdy / RCA-BMG / 1960 [Paul Lynde’s sexual orientation was an open secret in Hollywood, although, in keeping with the prejudices of the time, it was not acknowledged or discussed in public. In a 2013 radio interview, Dick Van Dyke recalled the wrap party for Bye Bye Birdie. A series of men gave short speeches, each one praising Ann-Margret and predicting success and stardom for the young actress. When it was Paul Lynde’s turn to speak, he began, “Well, I guess I’m the only one here who doesn’t want to fuck Ann-Margret.” In 1965, Lynde was involved in an accident in which a young actor, reputed to be his lover, fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The two had been drinking for hours before 24-year-old James “Bing” Davidson slipped and fell eight stories, an event witnessed by two policemen, yet the event was largely kept out of the press, thus saving Lynde’s career. Despite his campy television persona, Lynde never publicly came out as gay and the press generally refrained from commenting about it. In 1976, a People magazine article on Lynde featured him and Stan Finesmith; the latter was dubbed Lynde’s “suite mate” and “chauffeur-bodyguard.” In the 1970s, this was as close as the press would come to hinting at his sexuality.]

15. Noel Coward – “What’s Going To Happen To the Tots”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]
[Born Dec. 16, 1899 / died Mar. 26, 1973. English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called “a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise”. Coward did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward’s diaries & letters, published posthumously.]

16. Charles Nelson Reilly, Claudette Sutherland, Company -“Coffee Break”
from: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying / Victor / 1961

10:30 – Underwriting

10:32

For many Queer Kids growing up in small towns, in rural areas, during the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s, The CBS broadcast of the annual Tony Awards was the biggest night of LGBT programming. Here is this year’s winner of Best Actor in a Musical and in the Best Musical Revival, followed by last year’s winner of Best Actor in a Musical and Best Musical. Openly Gay and proud… Neil Patrick Harris and Billy Porter

17. Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Original Brdwy Cast – “Exquisite Corpse”
from: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Orig. Brdwy Cast Rec) / Hedwig Brdwy Co. / June 11, 2014

18. Billy Porter & Stark Sands – “Everybody Say Yeah!”
from: Kinky Boots (Soundtrack) / Sony – Kinky Boots LLC / May 28, 2013

19. Sharon Needles – “Call Me On The Ouija Board”
from: PG-13 / Sharon Needles / January 29, 2013
[Sharon Needles was born Aaron Coady on November 28, 1981 in Newton, Iowa. He has been candid in discussing his childhood years growing up in Iowa as a difficult time when he faced anti-gay and anti-“outsider” harassment, which prompted him to drop out of school before he could complete his high school education. In 2004, Needles moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began working as a professional drag performer in nightclubs and various other venues. Needles rose to prominence on the 4th season of the Logo TV reality competition series, RuPaul’s Drag Race where he was crowned “America’s Next Drag Superstar” in April 2012.]

20. The Kinsey Sicks – “Toucha Touch Me – Tsa Security”
from: Electile Dysfunction / The Kinsey Sicks / May 8, 2012
[Based on their hit musical, “ELECTILE DYSFUNCTION: THE KINSEY SICKS FOR PRESIDENT,” The Kinsey Sicks were formed in 1993, by original members: Ben Schatz (“Rachel”) is a Harvard-trained civil rights lawyer, former Director of the national Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, and one-time presidential advisor on HIV issues, who created the first national AIDS legal project and authored Clinton’s HIV policy during the 1992 presidential campaign, and Irwin Keller (“Winnie”) is a University of Chicago-trained lawyer and linguist and former director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the San Francisco Bay Area, who authored Chicago’s gay rights ordinance, passed into law in 1989. In 2004, the Kinsey Sicks were joined by actor/singer/designer Jeff Manabat, who is responsible for Trixie’s inordinate glamour and soaring counter-tenor, as well as the entire group’s hot couture. Beginning in October of 2008, the Kinsey Sicks are joined by the hilarious and talented Spencer Brown (“Trampolina”), a Kansas City-based actor and singer, already known for his drag character Daisy Buckët (pronounced, of course, “bouquet”).]

21. The Sleazebeats – “Goosesteppin’ Nazis”
from: The Sleazebeats / Independent / Jan. 1, 2012
[Charlie Colborne – keyboards, guitar, vocals; Bill Belzer – drums; Jeff Harshbarger – bass; Recorded at More Famouser Studios w/ Mike Nolte engineer, mixing, mastering the recordings. The Sleazebeats have played Live on the show on several occasions.]

10:50

22. Lou Reed and John Cale – “Small Town”
from: Songs For Drella / Sire – Warner Bros. / 1990
[Dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol, their mentor, who had died unexpectedly in 1987. Drella was a nickname for Warhol coined by Warhol Superstar Ondine, a contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, used by Warhol’s crowd. The song cycle focuses on Warhol’s interpersonal relations and experiences, with songs falling roughly into three categories: Warhol’s first-person perspective (which makes up the vast majority of the album), third-person narratives chronicling events and affairs, and first-person commentaries on Warhol by Reed and Cale themselves. The songs on the album are, to some extent, in chronological order.]

23. David Bowie – “Kooks”
from: Hunky Dory / RCA – (Rycodisk – Virgin – Sony) / 1971
[David Bowie wrote this song to his newborn son Duncan Jones. The song was a pastiche of early 1970s Neil Young. Bowie was listening to a Neil Young record at home as he got the news of the arrival of his son. British indie band The Kooks named themselves after the song. Duncan Jones was born May 30, 1971. Tomorrow is his birthday! Duncan Jones has become a successful film director best known for directing the award-winning science fiction films Moon (2009) and Source Code (2011).]

24. Klaus Nomi – “Ding Dong”
from: Simple Man / RCA – BMG / November 1982
[Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, Germany on Jan 24, 1944. In the 1960s, he worked as an usher at the Deutsche Oper in West Berlin where he sang for the other ushers and maintenance crew on stage in front of the fire curtain after performances. Nomi moved to NYC in 1972. In the late 1970s while performing at Club 57, The Mudd Club, The Pyramid Club, and other venues, Nomi assembled a group of up-and-coming models, singers, artists, and musicians to perform live with him, which at times included Joey Arias, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, John Sex and Kenny Scharf. He also appeared on Manhattan Cable’s TV Party. David Bowie heard about Nomi’s performances in New York and soon met him and Joey Arias at the Mudd Club. Bowie hired them as performers and backup singers for his appearance on Saturday Night Live which aired on December 15, 1979. The band performed “TVC 15”, “The Man Who Sold the World”, and “Boys Keep Swinging”. During the performance of “TVC 15”, Nomi and Arias dragged around a large prop pink poodle with a television screen in its mouth. Nomi was so impressed with the plastic quasi-tuxedo suit that Bowie wore during “The Man Who Sold the World” that he commissioned one to be made for himself. Nomi can be seen wearing the suit on the cover of his self-titled album, as well as during a number of his music videos. Nomi wore his variant of the outfit, in monochromatic black-and-white with spandex and makeup to match, until the last few months of his life. Klaus Nomi released his second album, Simple Man, in November 1982.]

25. Judy Garland – “Half – Time Tags”(sponsor announcement)
from: The Judy Garland Show – the show that got away /Hip-O /2002 [orig. taped June 24, 1963]

11:00 – Station ID

25. Judy Garland – “Half – Time Tags”(sponsor announcement)
from: The Judy Garland Show – the show that got away /Hip-O /2002 [orig. taped June 24, 1963]

26. Mountain Sprout – “Christian Girlfriend”
from: Into the Sun / Independent / December 23, 2008
[Melissa Carper was in Mountain Sprout before The Carper Family. The Carper Family ended their set at the Folk Alliance International Conference with this very special and funny song.]

27. Kristie Stremel – “It’s Enough”
from: Songwriter / Stremeltone / April 1, 2014
[Kristie Stremel, with partner Lori Isabell, adopted baby son, Charlie. Kristie told Tim Finn in the KC Star, “The weight of bringing a new, little creature home was a little overwhelming at first,” she said. “But it has been everything I wanted it to be. I’ve always wanted to have a child. Sometimes, desire is all it takes. If you desire it, it will come to you.” “I have a different perspective now that I have a kid, and maybe it will change. But I can’t see giving up music for anything.” Stremeltone Records, was created in her home in Lawrence. The last track, “It’s Enough” was released early, as a video, featuring photos of couples in partenerships, relationships, marriages, unions, families. The video was your own response the the Kansas House of Representatives passing HD 2453 allowing business the right to refuse service to LGBT customers. The bill eventually died in the Kansas Senate.]

11:06 – Interview with Kyle Piccola, Jamie Rich, & Avery Ford

Kyle Piccola is the Senior Field Organizer for the KC Office of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender equality through legislative action, electoral politics, grassroots organizing, community education.

Jamie Rich, is Director, of the 2014 Out Here Now: Kansas City LGBT Film Festival, June 26 – July 3, at Tivoli Cinemas, in Westport. Tomorrow night the festival continues with a special showing of: THE CASE AGAINST 8, Thursday, June 19, at 7:00pm, Co-sponsored by the Kansas City Human Rights Commission and PROMO. More info at: http://www.outherenow.com

Also joining us in the conversation is one of the newest members of the Out Here Now Film Fest creative team, Avery Ford.

Kyle Piccola, talked about the rapidly changing times when it comes to courts overturning marriage equality bans in various states across the country.

In addition to the court case challenging the marriage equality ban, PROMO is also involved with educating people about MONA, the Missouri Non-Discrimination Act.

PROMO now has a field office in Springfield.

Out Here Now: KC LGBT Film Festival, June 26 – July 3 at Tivoli Cinemas, in Westport.

Tomorrow night the festival continues with a special showing of: THE CASE AGAINST 8, Thursday, June 19, at 7:00pm, Co-sponsored by the Kansas City Human Rights Commission and PROMO.

THE CASE AGAINST 8 – Directed by Ben Cotner & Ryan White. USA. 2014. 112 min

This award-winning, high-profile documentary takes a riveting, inside look at the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that overturned Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Plantiffs: Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo / Sandy Stier and Kris Perry

Five years in the making, with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the powerhouse legal team of Ted Olson and David Boies, who previously faced off as opposing counsel in Bush v. Gore, along with the four plaintiffs in the suit, the film provides a definitive account of the battle that effectively ended marriage discrimination in California.

After the film, PROMO will host an update and discussion on the pending court case challenging Missouri’s same-sex marriage ban.

During the post film discussion audiences will hear from community leaders and two of the local plaintiffs in that case, Jim MacDonald and Andy Schuerman.

THE CASE AGAINST 8, Thursday, June 19, at 7:00pm, Co-sponsored by the Kansas City Human Rights Commission and PROMO. The 2014 Out Here Now: Kansas City LGBT Film Festival, is June 26 – July 3, at Tivoli Cinemas, in Westport. For more info: http://www.outherenow.com For more info about PROMO: http://www.PROMOonline.org

11:25

28. Summer Osborne – “Stand”
from: As I Am / Summer Osborne / June 30, 2013
[St. Louis based singer songwriter has been performing on stage since the age of four. She has been performing her original music since 2005, releasing 8 full-length albums and an EP. Since 2009, Summer has been constantly on tour playing Pridefests in St. Louis, Vancouver, Columbia, Memphis, Springfield, Lexington, Belleville. Summer is a champion of the KC HRC Battle of The Babes – Acoustic Stage. Summer has shared the stage with The Indigo Girls, God-Des and She, Tiffany, Jen Foster, Sugarbeach, The Cliks, Crystal Waters, Betty, Martha Wash, RJ Helton, Jennifer Holliday, Kimberley Locke, Tret Fure, and Shannon Curtis.]

[Summer Osborne plays Metro East Pride Fest, Belleville, IL, Sat, June 21]
[Summer Osborne plays Liberation Christian Church, St. Louis, MO, Sun, June 22.]
[Summer Osborne plays National Women’s Music Festival, Middleton, WI, Fri, Jun 27.]
[Summer Osborne plays St. Louis Pride Fest, Sun, Jun 29, St. Louis, MO]

11:29 – Underwriting

11:30 – Tribute to Larry Kramer.

If you believe theatre can change the world, it may be because you know of Larry Kramer.

American playwright, author, public health advocate, and LGBT rights activist, Larry Kramer was born June 25, 1935. He began his career rewriting scripts for Columbia Pictures, which led him to London where he worked with United Artists and earned an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay of “Women in Love” in 1969.

In 1980 and 1981 Larry Kramer began to witness many his friends becoming sick and dying from the spread of an unknown disease, that became known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). He co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, which has become the largest private organization to assist people living with AIDS in the world.

Larry Kramer co-founded the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in 1987, a direct action, multi-faceted, protest organization credited with changing public health policy and perception of people living with AIDS, HIV and AIDS-related diseases.

Based on his own struggles, in the early years of the AIDS crisis, Larry Kramer wrote about his frustrations with our government’s lethargic response, to do anything to help. Larry Kramer was also frustrated by the gay community itself, criticizing gay men who he felt were in denial of what was killing them. From all of this came Larry Kramer’s nearly auto-biographical play, “The Normal Heart” that focused on the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, a gay Jewish-American founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. Ned was known and disliked for his loud, angry, public confrontations, in contrast to the calmer, more private strategies favored by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner.

The Normal Heart was produced by Joesph Papp at The Public Theater in NYC in 1985, in a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run that starred Brad Davis in the role of Ned Weeks.

In Kansas City, no professional theatre would do this show. The Normal Heart was produced independently in the Summer of 1991, as the very first production of Actors & Artists Against AIDS, Directed by John McCrite, staged with a cast of professional actors, in the basement of Unity Temple on The Plaza, the production earned critical acclaim and $10,000.00 in ticket sales from 8 performances, all to benefit The Good Samaritan Project.

Later, the play was revived in Los Angeles and London and again Off-Broadway in 2004. The Normal Heart made it’s Broadway debut, in April 2011, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. This year The Normal Heart premiered as a feature film on HBO with Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo as Ned Weeks. The film of THE NORMAL HEART was directed and produced by Ryan Murphy, best known for creating the TV shows GLEE, The New Normal, and American Horror Story. Larry Kramer wrote the screenplay.

11:34

29. The Cast – “Scene 16: Felix’s Hospital Room”
from: The Normal Heart a play by Larry Kramer – The Broadway Benefit Reading / Broadway Cares – Equity Fights AIDS / 1994 [The Cast is: Jonathan Hadary reading stage directions, Eric Bogosian as Ned Weeks, D.W. Moffett as Felix Turner, Stockard Channing as Dr. Emma Brookner, and Tony Roberts as Ben Weeks. The Broadway Benefit Reading was directed by Jerry Zaks with an inroduction by Barbara Striesand. Performed live, as a staged reading on April 18, 1993.]

30. Michael Callen – “Love Don’t Need a Reason”
from: Purple Heart / Significant Other / 1988
[In partnership with Oscar winner Peter Allen and Marsha Melamet, Michael Callen wrote his most famous song, “Love Don’t Need a Reason”, which he sang frequently at gay pride and AIDS-related events around the country. Michael Callen (b. April 11, 1955) was a singer, songwriter, composer, author, and AIDS activist. He was a significant architect of the response to the AIDS crisis in the United States. First diagnosed with “Gay related immune deficiency” (GRID) in 1982, Callen quickly became a leader in the response to the epidemic. He was a founding member of the People With AIDS Self-Empowerment Movement among other organizations, and he testified before the President’s Commission on AIDS and both houses of the United States Congress. He was a founding member of the gay male a cappella singing group The Flirtations, with whom he recorded two albums. He also had a solo album, Purple Heart, which a review in The Advocate called “the most remarkable gay independent release of the past decade.” During the last year of his life, Callen recorded over 40 songs. On December 27, 1993, Michael Callen died of AIDS-related complications in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 38.]

31. The Magnetic Fields – “I Think I Need A New Heart”
from: 69 Love Songs / Merge Records / June 8, 1999

30. Harvey Fierstein – “I Am What I Am”
from: Being Out Rocks /Centaur Entertainment/Oct. 9, 2007 [La Cage Aux Folles Jerry Herman]

31. Patti LaBelle – “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”
from: Live: One Night Only / Columbia / 1996

32. Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Original Broadway Cast – “Brightest Star”
from: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Orig. Brdwy Cast Rec) / Hedwig Brdwy Co. / June 11, 2014

11:56

Our friends in the bands The Clementines, and Big Bad Gina play KC Gay Pride Saturday and Sunday. In what looks to be a very scaled down event, with almost entirely word of mouth promotion, KC Pride is presented by the Missouri not-for-profit organization KC Diversity Coalition. Kansas City’s 2014 Pride Festival is, Friday, June 20, 6:00 pm to 12:00 am / Saturday, June 21, 12:00 pm – 10:00 pm / Sunday, June 22, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm in the West Bottoms. Near Kemper Arena. Approximate address is 2200-2500 State Line.

Their website promotion reads: 3 DAYS. 2 STATES. 1 FESTIVAL. Kansas City Pride Fest 2014 will take place in both Kansas and Missouri on State Line Road in the historic West Bottoms, next to Kemper Arena. This historical area, with its deep roots to the early years of the City, offer a stunning view of the Downtown Kansas Skyline. http://www.GayPrideKC.org for more details.

11:59:30

33. Noel Coward – “The Party’s Over Now”
from: Noel Coward in New York / drg / 2003 [orig. 1957]

Sources for notes on tracks: artist’s websites and wikipedia.org

Wednesday MidDay Medley in on the web:
http://www.WednesdayMidDayMedley.org
http://www.facebook.com/WednesdayMidDayMedleyon90.1FM
http://www.kkfi.org

Show #530