Summer is in the air. The city is filled with shows, parades, meal deals and other outdoor activities. There are free concerts and shows at the Central Park, and I'm sweating like a horse. The last month was quite a cultural month. I went to see a ballet. Got to eat at a very expensive restaurant and much more. But I think I'll have to delay these stories for now. I've decided to dedicate this issue to The Pride Parade or as some call it - The Gay Parade. The flag you see above is the Pride Flag, and on June 27th I had the opportunity to see a lot of those. But before that -
It all started here in the Village. A group of people decided to behave like Israelis and shout while the movie was playing. The rest is History. Unlike Gili, who went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in French. I had the opportunity to see it in it's full glory at the Angelica theater on the East Village.
Here, audience participation means that you shout things, but more than that, there are amateur actors (Seen on the right) that play along with the movie, doing whatever the characters on the screen are doing.
As a warm up, they did two songs - their version of the clip of YMCA (with the construction worker, Indian, and so forth), and the song "I'm an Asshole" by Denis Leary. It's an excellent song, I'll try to find the MP3 for you.
Then they called up all the virgins (people who didn't see the movie yet) and toyed with them. Since they were virgins, they play a game called "Let's fake an Orgasm". Then the movie started.
I liked the "Paris Theater" shows in Tel-Aviv better. I could shout things. I'm very rusty now and afraid to make mistakes. In addition, in Tel-Aviv no one cares if your English sounds terrible, as long as they understand what you say, but trying to shout jokes with my poor accent in THE place for Rocky - I don't think so.
After the first weekend in which Star Wars was shown: "[The Phantom Menace] made $102 million last week. Actually, they said it could have made $204 million if the guys in the line had had dates." Jay Leno on The Tonight Show
In June 28th 1968, a small gay demonstration in downtown Manhattan was forcibly dispersed by the police. I don't know the exact details, but there were many casualties. Since then they mark this event every year with a Pride Parade that runs through Fifth avenue down to where the original demonstration was.
So this year (as probably in earlier years), there were a lot of clapping as NYPD Policemen, in uniform, with flags marched in the parade (See picture on the left). After them was the NYPD band and after them, gay policemen and policewomen marching, and as a bodybuilding policeman marched by, I heard someone from the audience shouting: "Yooo hooo, Policeman, arrest me, pleeeese".
The Pride Parade is considered the most colorful parade in New York. I don't know, it's the first one I've seen, but I can say it is indeed very colorful. There are two types of people who march in this parade. Gay people and people who want to show their support to the gay community. I live in an area of Manhattan called Chelsea. To put it mildly, it's a gay friendly place. In fact, I haven't seen so many gay people since I went to the supermarket the day before.
A lot of people were walking half naked in the parade. What can I tell you? I always thought that the rules against public exposure were stupid, and that conservative people wanted them to protect their children's innocence.
Now I know the truth. It's to protect us from seeing ugly naked people. It's really scary. The pictures can't start to express the horrors I've seen. I've been trying to develop my naive Hollywood fantasy of the naked body. Now it's gone forever. Please, no more naked bodies. By the way, see the building number in the left picture? How symbolic.
The costumes were wonderful. I sometimes wonder what people do for a living here in New York. What kind of job gives them enough time and money to prepare for such a parade. If you know, please tell me. I always thought I managed with a pretty good deal. But I guess it's not enough.
I don't have something specific to say about each and every picture, so I'll just put them to decorate what I'm saying. Enjoy the pictures and endure the text...
Besides gay people, the parade lured out of their holes all the real freaks that live in New York. And believe me, there are many. Well, maybe the real freaks look like normal people, but I mean the people that look like freaks. For example, I saw a man (one man!) that had more piercing going through him than all the people of Sheinkin street put together. I especially liked the guy who walked half naked. He had this ring pierced into his nipple, where he hung his sunglasses. I would have had to carry my sunglasses in my hand if I was half naked, but then again, see the comment about the naked people above...
From the Movie Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me (very recommended): Austin Powers: [About her skintight clothes.] How do you get into those pants?
Felicity Shagwell: Well you can start by buying me a drink.
There were a lot of religious people (Including our own favorite cult - Jews) that paraded. There were some people that were demonstrating for or against something. There were cars with huge speakers that played loud music while the people on the car danced. It was fun.
I also learned a new song:
God is one,
God is great,
She's not white
And she's not straight.I also saw an old lady riding a 3 wheeled bicycle (A tricycle). She had a sign that she must have made by herself: "A Dyke on a Trike". Hey, I didn't say that. She did.
Yes, we were represented in the parade also. They say that the Mayor of New York, Juliany was also there, but I guess I missed him.
And what do you think about the gay phenomenon? As Eddie Murphy said: "You can hang out with gay people. Yes, you can even play tennis with them. Only at the end of the game you tell them:
- You wanna grab a couple of beers?
- No I think I'm gonna suck somebody's dick.
- Okay, so I'll see you later.No, really. There are (by a large factor) more gay men than women. Combine that with the known fact that women are smarter, and you must conclude that it's probably wrong to be gay. But everyone can do whatever they want. For me, since it seems that 90% of the men in Manhattan are gay, it simply betters my odds, not that I've been playing lately.
Three weeks after the premier of Star Wars: "Star Wars is the No. 1 movie in America for the third weekend in a row. Call me crazy, but I smell a sequel." Jay Leno on The Tonight Show
I went to see a movie called An Ideal Husband (Subjects in picture are not related to this topic). It's a girly movie. I went to see it because it's the first and only movie that was shown in New York in fully digital format. Instead of a film there was a $80K Panasonic D5 high definition VCR, and instead of a standard film projector there was a Hughes-JVC Digital high definition video projector.
What can I say. It looked different. The image was more solid than that of a regular projector, and there were no scratches or dirt, but the image was also a bit soft and it was obvious that a standard film has better resolution.
It was good, but not as good as film. The newspapers here say it's better than film and that everyone is amazed. It's good, it's different, but it's just the beginning. Film is still better. By the way, the resolution of the projector is 1920x1080, and as the guy from JVC told me, if I'd take 10 pieces they'll sell me each for around $100K.
If you still want to see it with your own eyes, and don't get me wrong, it IS the future. You can come to Chelsea Clearview Cinemas. The digital testing projections will continue until July 15th. The sleeping arrangements are on me.
On the other hand, you can always go to Rosh-Pinna and see a film there at "Beit Ha'am". They're now in the process of thinking of maybe, someday, to add rear speakers to the theater. I'm not kidding. I heard it with my own ear.
Notes:
The flag you saw on the title picture is the Pride Flag. It has the six colors of the rainbow (So there are six now?), which you can also see on the cover of your own copy of The Dark Side of the Moon. If you don't have one, buy it.
All pictures in this issue are on loan from a private collection of the famous photographer Golan Zohar. They were all taken at the Pride Parade. Including the one with the characters from Rocky.
Star Wars is also shown digitally in 4 theaters around the US, but not in New York. For more information visit Hughes-JVC's site.
Get your copy of I'm an Asshole by Denis Leary here.
And finally - no NY related publication from June 1999 could be complete without a few words of thanks to Spreewell, Houston, Camby, LJ and sitting Ewing. Even someone like me, who always cheered the team that played against Macabbi, and tried to avoid watching sport games altogether, fell for the charm of the millionaire underdog Robin Hoodish players in their impossible quest for the NBA title. They lost, you know.
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