One hot summer night in 1945, three young American writers, each an enfant terrible, came together in a stuffy Manhattan apartment for the first time. Each member of this pink triangle was on the dawn of world fame—Tennessee Williams for A Streetcar Named Desire; Gore Vidal for his notorious homosexual novel, The City and the Pillar; and Truman Capote for Other Voices, Other Rooms, a book that had been marketed with a photograph depicting Capote as a underaged sex object that caused as much controversy as the prose inside. Each of the three remained competitively and defiantly provocative throughout the course of his writing career. Initially hailed by critics as “the darlings of the gods,” each of them would, in time, be attacked for his contributions to film, the theater, and publishing. Some of their works would be widely reviewed as “obscene rantings from perverted sociopaths.” From that summer night emerged betrayals that eventually evolved into lawsuits, stolen lovers, public insults, and the most famous and flamboyant rivalries in America’s literary history. The private opinions of these authors about their celebrity acquaintances usually left scar tissue. Vidal became the most iconoclastic writer since Voltaire, needling and satirizing the sacred cows of his era and explosively describing subjects which included America’s gay founding fathers, the lesbian affairs of Eleanor Roosevelt, his own seduction of the Beat Generation’s spiritual leader and guru, Jack Kerouac. The book contains an overview of Vidal’s hot, then glacial, relationship with the fabled diarist Anaïs Nin, and the drawn-out slugfests which followed. Capote became the mascot of the ultra-fashionable jet set, surrounded and showcased by his glamorous “swans.” Eventually, Capote feuded not only with Vidal, but with “The Queen of the Best-Sellers,” Jacqueline Susann, publicly referring to her as “a truck driver in drag.” Capote’s own struggles for bestsellerdom are depicted during the research of his all-time hit, In Cold Blood, wherein he falls hopelessly in love with one of its killers. The book contains details about his hosting of “The Party of the Century,” and his self-destructive descent into isolation, alcohol, and drugs. Tennessee Williams, attacked for his “incurable sense of decadence,” became as notorious as his plays. His tumultuous private life is explored as never before in a portrait that’s as poignant and flamboyant as any character he created, including that of Blanche DuBois. Did Tennessee really perform fellatio on JFK at his Palm Beach compound? Did Warren Beatty really have sex with him as a means of procuring his role as the gigolo in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone? What really happened when a then-unknown actor, Marlon Brando, arrived on Tennessee’s doorstep in Provincetown during World War II?
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Publisher: Blood Moon Productions Released: 2014
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PRIVATE EARTH An Eclectic, Worldly, And Ethereal New Age Album From Carlos Dengler Out Now
by A.A. Cristi
- June 02, 2023
Carlos Dengler has a strong sense of arrangement and cinematic accomplishment, the spectrum of sounds is balanced and well constructed. The melodies originate in the bass, while the spectrum of instrumental and other sounds gives a rich and peaceful feeling, a lot of natural instrumentation, a lot of acoustic instrumentation. If you like Patrick O'Hearn, Erik Scott, Brian Eno, or Yes, you might enjoy Private Earth.
New Book GAYS ON BROADWAY By Ethan Mordden Out Now
by A.A. Cristi
- June 01, 2023
From early 20th-century legislation that criminalized depictions of homosexuality on stage, to today's leading shows featuring openly gay characters, Gays on Broadway combines preeminent author Ethan Mordden's expertise in both queer studies and musical theatre to create a sweeping history of gay representation on the American stage.
Photos: Broadway Toasts Release of 'I'll Drink to That!' Cocktail Book
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TALKING IT OUT Virtual Poetry Open-Mic to Be Held Tonight
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Into The Quiet is the second collaboration between electronic ambient visionary Deborah Martin and renowned English Horn player and Oboist Jill Haley. Their previous album was 2021's The Silence Of Grace, a pastoral collection that received numerous accolades including Zone Music Reporter's list of Top 20 albums of the year.
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by Blair Ingenthron
- May 20, 2023
With The Rite of Spring – Spectre d’un songe, two of contemporary music’s most vital and innovative pianists – Sylvie Courvoisier and Cory Smythe – interpret and converse with one of the 20th century’s landmark compositions. On this breathtaking new recording, released May 19, 2023 from Pyroclastic Records, Courvoisier and Smythe perform Igor Stravinsky’s striking two-piano rendition of his iconic Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), followed by a bold new Courvoisier composition that draws inspiration from Stravinsky as a launchpad for investigatory improvisation.
THE GUAVA TREE, A New Bilingual Musical For Young Audiences, Releases Cast Album
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Listen: Matthew Scott's THE JESUS YEAR: A LETTER FROM MY DAD Out Now
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PS CLASSICS, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has announced the release of the debut album from actor-singer Matthew Scott, who has been lighting up the Broadway stage since making his debut in Jersey Boys.
Author Mike McHale Launches Monthly #DinoDogzDonates Program
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Mystery Mike McHale and DinoDogz have announced the launch of their new fundraising program, DinoDogz has previously raised funds for various charities including WORTHY OF LOVE, TUESDAY'S CHILDREN and BELLA AND BUDDIES ANIMAL RESCUE through the sales of their first book DinoDogz: Eggzellent Adventure which is the first in a series.
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