Living in Turnaround

2011 in the Arts: My Favorites

2011-12-31T12:41:00.001-08:00

I tend to prefer "favorites" lists over "best of" lists. In fact, both are subjective, but the latter poses as something authoritive. My favorites are the things that resonate with me emotionally, things that touch the heart as well as the mind and the spirit.

So, in keeping with the theme of this blog, here are some of my favorite things from the world of the arts in 2011.

Adele, "21" - CD. The young Brit soul songstress, who made a memorable debut a couple of years ago with her album "19", conquered the world with her electrifying sophomore CD. If CDs had grooves, I would have worn them off this bold, brave, heartbreaking work of art. With her unique sound and powerful vocals, Adele has risen to the top of my favorite female vocalists list.

Clay Aiken, "Bring Back My Love" - single. And here's Adele's male counterpart, the most distinctive and versatile voice among the men in pop music. Clay Aiken continues to defy all attempts to categorize him. He just doesn't fit into any box - or into any era, for that matter. "Bring Back My Love" is both retro and timeless, and Clay can find the heart of a lyric with the best of the song stylists. Released at year's end, look for this one to peak in 2012.

"The Descendants" - motion picture. Another strong, layered, interesting performance by George Clooney, the Cary Grant of the new millenium. As the head of a family dealing with personal tragedy while deciding on the sale of a land trust in Hawaii, he's strong, handsome, goofy, broken and always more than he seems. Director Alexander Payne leds a fine cast through this comic tragedy of family, love, loss, tradition and starting over.

"Drop Dead Diva" - television series, Lifetime. Charming, funny and wearing its heart on its sleeve, "Diva" ended its strong third season with its core characters more interesting than ever, and with a great list of guest actors adding to the fun. Catch up online before season four!

"Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson - biography. I was saddened by the loss of the visionary co-founder of Apple Computer, but after his death I realized I knew next to nothing about him. I'm grateful for this detailed biography which reveals the man in all of his complexities and shortcomings. Jobs was brilliant, and the products he invented and inspired are thoroughly integrated into my life, making it better. Thanks, Steve.

"The Mountaintop" - theatrical drama written by Katori Hall (pictured above). A riveting imagining of the last night in the life of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King (Samuel L. Jackson) and a stranger who brings him some surprising news (Angela Bassett). Ms. Hall's play, which premiered in London, won the 2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play. This one has been lighting up Broadway, selling out night after night and receiving rave reviews. Don't miss it. Note: "The Mountaintop" will play the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in NYC through January 22, 2012.

And a special valentine for "The Artist", which proves that a brand new silent, black-and-white film, made in the classic style, can be as
entertaining and engaging as any Imax 3D extravaganza - or more so. See this film!

Thanks to all of the artists who brought joy to my life in 2011, and for them and my readers, a Happy New Year in the arts - and all aspects of your life - in 2012!

Technorati tags: Adele, "21", Clay Aiken, "Bring Back My Love", "The Descendants", George Clooney, Cary Grant, Hawaii, "Drop Dead Diva", Lifetime, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson, Apple, "The Mountaintop", Broadway, Martin Luther King, Katori Hall, Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, "The Artist"

“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” - Thoughts on National Coming Out Day

2011-10-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Three years ago, at about the same time, I found out that three people I enjoyed, appreciated and admired were gay.

They were author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, comedienne Wanda Sykes, and singer Clay Aiken.

That they are gay and lesbian made not a scintilla of difference to me.

I am a woman. I am an African American. I am a lifelong human rights advocate. There is little that is more important to me than for each and every person to be afforded the opportunity to make the most of his or her own life, while being their own authentic selves.

And yet I know that, for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT), the simple fact of who they are can cost them their friends, their families, their places of worship, their jobs, their housing, (until recently) their right to serve the country – and even their lives.

That, to me, is why National Coming Out Day is so very important.

While I don’t tend to think that a person is straight by default, I also don’t tend to give a lot of thought to the sexuality of people with whom I’m not personally involved, especially not that of people in the public eye who I know only from the talents they share with the world.

And so I thought a little about three very different human beings, at different stages of their lives, from different backgrounds, upbringings, religions, philosophies, and personality types, who came to the decision that “the power of truth and living honestly is very liberating.”

I thought about a life in hiding: hiding an essential aspect of self, hiding who you love, hiding who you are. I thought about an old favorite song in a new way:

How can I even try?
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state I'm in
How could she say to me
"Love will find a way?"
Gather round all you clowns
Let me hear you say

Hey you've got to hide your love away

Maurice Sendak (author and illustrator of Where The Wild Things Are, In The Night Kitchen, Outside, Over There and many works for television and stage) was 80 years old when he came out, a year and a half after the death of psychoanalyst Eugene Glynn, Sendak’s partner of fifty years. In a New York Times interview, asked if there was anything he had never been asked in his long career, Sendak responded, “Well, that I’m gay,” adding, “I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business.”

Sendak, the son of Polish Jews, lives in New York City. He says (and I have no doubt that he is right) says that the idea of a gay man writing children’s books would have not been well-received when he was starting his career. The artist, though, is so intensely private that he not only did not tell his parents he was gay, he never told his elderly mother that he had had a heart attack when he was 39.

Though there might have been some noise out on the fringe, I do not recall any negative reaction to Sendak’s coming out. For as much as Sendak claims to hate people, he has earned a spot as a beloved literary icon. As far as being gay, the world might not have known, but he was out and in the open within his circle of artists and friends.

Wanda Sykes (actress, comedienne and Emmy Award winning writer) was 44 when she came out. In the aftermath of the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which stripped lesbians and gays of their existing right to get married in the state, Wanda found herself so enraged that, without planning to, she revealed that she was a lesbian and had just married her partner Alex the month before under the previous California law.

She told the crowd at the Las Vegas GLBT Center, "I don't really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life."

"Everybody that knows me personally, they know I'm gay. But that's the way people should be able to live their lives."

But because of the passage of Proposition 8, she said “I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked."

"Now, I gotta get in their face. I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay."

Wanda, whom was born, raised and educated in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., is the dauighter of an Army colonel and a banker. With a degree in marketing, she spent ten years working for the National Security Agency before moving to New York, later opening for Chris Rock and then becoming a writer for his show. Wanda has written a book and has starred in several comedy specials, as well as having many roles in television and film.

Sykes and her wife Alex are now the mothers of twins.

The reaction to Wanda coming out was overwhelmingly favorable. Though some people claimed that they knew all along, despite the fact that Wanda had been married to a man for seven years, she received a lot of support from the LGBT community as she raised the profile of her activism, doing PSA’s for GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and receiving a GLAAD Award for promoting a positive image of an LGBT person in media.

Clay Aiken was 29 when he came out, a month after the birth of his son Parker Foster Aiken, whose mother is record executive Jaymes Foster. Appearing with his infant son on the cover of PEOPLE Magazine, Clay said that “(Coming out) was the first decision I made as a father. I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

Photo by A. Cotton

Clay was raised a Southern Baptist in a conservative family in Raleigh, North Carolina. (In his 2004 inspirational memoir, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, Clay self-identified as a Democrat and as a progressive.) In later interviews, he said that he thought he was a late bloomer, then later thought he might be bisexual, before accepting that he was gay in 2003. (Clay said that growing up. he only knew of a few very flamboyant gays in Raleigh and since he was not like that, did not believe he could be gay.)

When interviewed for a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine in the summer after he completed American Idol, Clay had said that people did not know what to make of him because he was “not gay or a womanizer.” That throwaway line (he had not yet told any of his family or friends in Raleigh that he was gay) became a point that some in the press continued to harp on. Clay did not repeat it: in fact, he later told Larry King and others that he was not going to talk about his sexuality anymore because “people will believe what they want to believe.”

The birth of Clay’s son was the tipping point for the singer, who by 2008 was also out to those in his personal and professional life. Fan reaction was mixed, from those who shrugged and went on with their plans to see Clay on Broadway, to those who were surprised but quickly adjusted, to those who reacted as though personally betrayed.

For some reason, media reaction was less welcome than it had been for Sendak, Sykes or the others who came out in that year. There was a degree of sneering “Of course” (as if Aiken’s sometimes over-the-top comic style was any more or less flamboyant than of say, Robin Williams or Jim Carrey, both straight at last notice.) There was even someone* who foolishly said it was too little, too late, as if Aiken had somehow missed the memo that he was overdue for his debut at the coming out cotillion. (*This man later wrote that gay actors can’t play straight roles, so consider the source.)

Before coming out, Clay never denigrated members of the LGBT community, he never worked to block their rights or make their lives a single degree more difficult. I will never understand how negatively some reacted to his coming out. Perhaps, even though some stood in his shoes, they did not believe he could be both gay and Christian. Perhaps their erroneous assumption (made despite ample evidence to the contrary) that Clay was some arch-conservative reactionary colored their thoughts.

Clay has gone on to be an advocate for LGBT issues, particularly as it applies to young people. He has testified before Congress for GLSEN on the importance of building a safe school environment for students of all orientations and backgrounds. In addition to his continued support of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Clay has received an award from the Family Equality Council for presenting a positive face for gay parenting, spoken at the HRC’s gala and been a presenter at GLAAD’s Media Awards. None of this surprises me. One of the things I admired most about Clay from when I first “met” him nearly nine years ago was how fearlessly he uses his voice for those who have been marginalized by society.

In concluding his speech before the Human Rights Campaign's Carolinas Gala last year, Clay said:

The LGBT community has seen and attained unprecedented visibility and legitimacy in mainstream America. We have a great deal more work to do to ensure that LGBT individuals and families have the same rights, benefits, same freedoms that all straight Americans have. And I know that my son's world will be a better one, because no one, no matter how hard they try, can stop our progress.

And like those civil rights movements that came before, our message is the message of fairness, of righteousness, of decency. Our message is the message of the future.

Our time is now, and it is about damn time.

Tony Award-nominated actor Chris Sieber (“Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “Shrek The Musical,” “The Kid” and much more) was a cast-mate of Clay’s when Aiken made his Broadway debut in “Spamalot.” In an interview with The Advocate, when asked his reaction to Clay’s coming out, Sieber replies “Clay's a dear friend of mine, and of course I knew. He was quite open with me, but he has a lot to protect. (When Clay came out) I texted him and said, ‘Good for you. Welcome home.’"

Welcome home. That phrase, for me, is the heart of it.

No one should be told that it is too late for them to come out.

No one should be mocked, ridiculed or put down for their timing of this intimate and life-changing decision.

No one should have to fear that they will lose their job, be thrown out of their homes, be harassed at school, be condemned by their famnilies and friends.

No one ever should have to fear for their safety or for their very lives.

No laws should inhibit any person’s ability to pursue our founding principles of life, liberty and happiness.

No one, no adult and certainly no teen, should feel that it will get worse, not better, that there will be no one to welcome them and no place to call home.

I am not a member of the LGBT community, so I can’t join Chris Sieber in saying “Welcome home” to those who come out today, or in the days to come.

But I can say –

You are, as always, welcome in my life and welcome in this world we share. I will be there to lend whatever support I can, to embrace you instead of condemn you, to show that I appreciate your value as a fellow or sister human being.

And I am so very glad that never again will you have to hide your love away.

Clay Aiken’s keynote speech to the 2010 Human Rights Campaign Carolinas Dinner, Raleigh, North Carolina, February 27, 2010

http://youtu.be/yUi8QjyieP8

Wanda Sykes addresses a rally supporting same sex marriage, LGBT Center of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas on November 15, 2008

http://youtu.be/RRyVH-1zadg

Technorati tags: National Coming Out Day, LGBT, Maurice Sendak, Wanda Sykes, Clay Aiken, GLBT, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, GLSEN

83rd Oscars: Franco, Hathaway, Youth and Legends

2011-02-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

Time for the little gold man!

The 83rd Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, will be televised live nationwide on ABC at 8 Eastern / 5 Pacific tonight, Sunday, February 27. I make films for a living, but the Oscars are always a kick - a chance to root for favorites, discuss the fashions and check one's predictive powers.

I'm not an Academy member though, as a member of the Directors Guild, I had a chance to cast my vote for our directing winner, Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"). My votes for the Oscars are strictly for fun and, since I'm still working my way through last year's films, here I'll just share a few impressions of what caught my eye in several categories.

It's cool that Franco and Hathaway, gifted and likable actors both, have been chosen to host this year. They've made interesting choices in their careers and have demonstrated considerable acting chops, elevating them far above the just-another-pretty-face crowd. Choosing a male and female duo to host for the first time in Oscar history brings other layers of possibility to tonight's telecast, so get your popcorn ready.

For so many years when I was a movie-addicted kid, hosts like the wisecracking Bob Hope were older than this year's hosts ages combined. But part of the age difference being touted this year is an illusion: across film history, many of the stars we "remember" in black-and-white or as their older iterations were 20- and 30-somethings (the impossibly sexy Lauren Bacall was just 19 when she asked Bogie if he knew how to whistle, and 1963s Best Actor, Sidney Poitier, had just turned 36.) Still, I look forward to Young Hollywood shaking things up a bit, celebrating and tweaking Hollywood traditions.

The envelope, please:

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
James Franco in “127 Hours”

My impressions:

I've loved Jeff Bridges since I was a kid, and he remains one of my favorite actors. Consider the perfect actor/director/writer choice of introducing Rooster Cogburn with only his voice through the outhouse door and his decidedly unglamourous reveal, gut peeking through dingy longjohns - no Hollywood glitz there. More than anything, I love the authenticity and integrity he brings to this unsentimental but touching portrayal. Bravo, Jeff.

I wasn't familiar with Jesse Eisenberg before "The Social Network" and I came away from the film absolutely riveted by what he had done in a quiet and unassuming performance. Jesse creates the undercurrents of his character so convincingly in a role where he barely raises his voice, laughs or cries. It's a conplex and layered depiction that has stayed with me.

Colin Firth can do no wrong. Okay, I'm kidding, but I've liked this guy for a long time and I'm always impressed by what he has to offer to each role. He's not as strikingly handsome as some of his Brit contemporaries, nor as flashy, but there is something very deep and solid in all that he does, as well as a hint of the unexpected. As Bertie, there is heartbreak and fear and hope and strength, all in a role where he rarely speaks clearly - but is entirely understood. It's a brilliant job, and my choice for Best Actor.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech

At his Golden Globes acceptance speech, Christian Bale said something that applies to his role in "The Fighter" and Geoffrey Rush's in "The King's Speech." Flashy, over-the-top characters only work when grounded by quiet, realistic ones, so much is owed to the actors Bale and Rush are playing against (Wahlberg and Firth). Both bring the yin to their opposite number's yang, both remain in the shadows of the men they know, and both bring knowledge and power that help the hero achieve his glory. Wonderful actors in memorable roles, but I'm giving this one to Bale.

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

I'm a complete slacker in this category this year, so I'll go with Natalie Portman's passionate, fragile portrayal of Nina. The already slim Portman's choice to lose weight, coupled with a year's intense training, makes her convincing physically as a prima ballerina, but all of those emotional layers are what make the role. Talk about disturbing! About a millenium ago, I used to act and dance a bit, and I got used to going all out for a role. Nina takes that about half a million steps too far. It's a fascinating, dark look at art turning to obsession.

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

My favorite thing about Amy Adams is her versatility. She's made me laugh, made me think and made me cheer for her in various portrayals. In "The Fighter" her love and support for "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) helps ground his character and gives added dimension to the entire movie. More fine work from a future Hollywood legend.

Helena Bonham Carter as the loving wife of the future king is not just a support for her man. Bonham Carter is too interesting for that. There's always something sly and strong in whatever she does, and I like that I can feel her determination and her spirit. Nicely done.

I've been a fan of Melissa Leo since her days on "Homicide: Life on the Street" and I'm delighted to see her making a mark on motion pictures. As Alice Ward, she's raw and honest and not at all prettied up. It's a fierce and fearless portrayal, with no interest in being likable. I'd call her the frontrunner for to Oscar.

The Coen brothers have a gift for introducing a character. From the first words she spoke, I knew Hailee Steinfeld was much, much more than a precocious child actor. She inhabited Mattie Ross with the strength, conviction and authenticity (that word again) that are essential components of making this film work. In the scene where she bargains to be paid for her father's horses, she reveals an intelligence and maturity that makes it believable that this young girl would risk all to avenge the death of her father. Here's a 14 year old with a bright future - and it might start tonight, if she takes home the Oscar in an upset.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
“True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

I've been an absolute fool for Aaron Sorkin's writing since "Sports Night". I love intelligent writing, and Sorkin's elevated reality makes me interested in everything he does (including this film, which didn't impress me in trailer form but knocked me down when I saw it.) I think he writes conversations better than any other contemporary writer. I'm handing the Oscar to Aaron.

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
“The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
“Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

Much has been made of how time is telescoped and events are tweaked in "The King's Speech," but that's a really fine script. I enjoyed the no-nonsense integrity of "The Fighter" as well, but I think "Inception" is brilliant. Bucking the trends and going with Nolan.

Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“The Fighter” David O. Russell
“The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
“The Social Network” David Fincher
“True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

I'm glad to have seen all five films in this category. I'm torn on this one. Aronofsky created a disturbing masterwork, Russell told the truth and avoided the bathos, and the Coens reigned in their brilliant fantasias to create a great Western for modern audiences. I cast my vote for DGA's best director this year for Tom Hooper ("The King's Speeech"), but there is something about David Fincher's work in "The Social Network" that is sticking with me and becoming more and more impressive in my eyes. I have a feeling that film and director honors might split this year. We'll see!

Best Picture

(Editorial note: Ten Best Picture nominees and five Directing nominees? Which of these pictures directed themselves? There's always been something kind of goofy about Director and Best Picture nominations not being tied together, and it seems even stranger to return to ten pictures nods and have half as many for directors. Oh, well, the best part of this is that smaller films without money machines behind them will now get some recognition - and there's twice the chance for an upset.)

“Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
“The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
“Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
“The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
“The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
“127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
“The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
“True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

"The King's Speech" is a great traditional movie; "The Social Network" is a great modern one. Either would be well-deserved, but as time goes by, what I like best about "King's Speech" is the acting and the story. What I like best about "Social Network" is, like the subject in the title, the innovation.

I choose "The Social Network."

(I've not written about the technical awards, but my hope is that Roger Deakins will finally win for his breathtaking and brilliant cinematography for "True Grit." It would be about damned time.)

Find everything you need to know about the history of the Academy Awards here at the official Oscars website.

For breaking news on this year's Oscars, and to follow along during the broadcast, go to Oscar.com

Technorati tags: Academy Awards, ABC, James Franco, Anne Hathaway, Oscars

George Harrison and UNICEF: "Help us save some lives"

2011-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

George Harrison was more than a singer and songwriter, more than a guitarist, more than a part of The Beatles, arguably the most influential band in rock history.

George was a passionate humanitarian and advocate for children. In fact, according to UNICEF, the Concert for Bangladesh (organized by George and inspired by sitar legend Ravi Shankar) "marked the first time rock musicians collaborated for a common humanitarian cause," raising both awareness and money to assist the ten million people of Bangladesh who were victims of flood, famine and civil war.

I loved that man.

Today would have been George's 68th birthday.

2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh. On August 1, 1971, George, Ravi, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell and Billy Preston came together, using their musical talents to help raise funds for people in dire need. Imagine what it would have been like to be there!

George used his fame for a cause higher than himself. He wanted his music to inspire people to do more than tap their feet.

He succeeded on both counts.

Six years ago, a permanent fund was set up in his name, with a goal of continuing assistance to the people of Bangladesh, as well as other places where a child's survival is threatened.

The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF is a joint venture between the Harrison family and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF that aims to support UNICEF programs providing lifesaving assistance to children caught in humanitarian emergencies. --- UNICEF

As someone who admired George, it means alot to me to see that his twin legacies, music and activism, live on, so many years later.

The need still exists.

My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes
He told me that he wanted help before his country dies
Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try
Now I'm asking all of you to help us save some lives

--- from "Bangladesh" by George Harrison

Were you inspired by George Harrison? Do you want to help save some lives?

Click the highlighted link to Support the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF
.

Visit the United States Fund for UNICEF for further information.

Technorati tags: George Harrison, UNICEF, Bangladesh, US Fund for UNICEF, floods, children, civil war, music, humanitarians, Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, The Beatles, famine, Concert for Bangladesh, emergency relief

Movie Awards Season: In and Out of Hollywood

2011-01-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

The 83th Academy Awards will be broadcast on ABC on Sunday, February 27th, live coast to coast: 8 PM Eastern, 7 PM Central, 5 PM Pacific. The show's hosts are actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Watch the nominees being announced and try your hand at selecting the winners at the official website for The Oscars.

It's always interesting to compare and contrast the movies selected to be honored for Film Independent's Spirit Awards. Hosted by Joel McHale, the Spirit Awards will be shown on IFC on Saturday, February 26, at 10 ET/PT.

There was a time when films like "The Kids Are All Right" and "Winter's Bone" would have been much more likely to receive critical acclaim and indie recognition than Oscar nominations, so there's been some merging of the two aesthetics over the years.

I'll be writing more about the nominated movies before the award ceremonies.

Check out both groups of nominees, and add a comment here.

Technorati tags: Academy Awards, ABC, James Franco, Anne Hathaway, Oscars, Film Independent, Spirit Awards, Joel McHale, IFC

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Dangerous Unselfishness: On Martin Luther King and Service

2011-01-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., lives in my childhood recollections. He looms larger than presidents and potentates, his voice ringing through the corridors of my memory.

Dr. King made me believe in possibilities, not just for what a little black girl in Pasadena could become, but for what I could do for others.

Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. --- The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was a shy kid, but Dr. King's call to action urged me to make the most of my life. I reached out beyond myself, sought out a diverse group of friends and associates. My friend Sara taught me about Jewish traditions, my best friend Lee and I both reached beyond our cultures and attended the Japanese Obon Festival, and my friend Richard, the dancer, showed me there was no reason to fear or dislike a person for being gay.

Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life. Every man is somebody because he is a child of God.

If the cause was just, it did not matter to me if the cause was "my own," because I was learning that all just causes were mine. Still years shy of being able to vote, I joined the protests against the recall of our school board members who had voted for integration, I worked with other students helping to rebuild our school's theatre building that had been destroyed by arson, I raised my voice against the war, and I stood with those fighting for human rights: women's rights, civil rights and gay rights.

Little gestures. It was a start.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

In the twenty years following Dr. King's death, I graduated from UCLA, became a member of the Directors Guild of America, travelled to explore other peoples and other cultures.

And I remembered The Dream that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave voice to.

But MLK was never just a dreamer. He was a man of action: mobilizing, inspiring, marching, striking, accomplishing. And he was my reminder to ask myself, "What can I do?"

Either we go up together or we go down together. Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.

What is this "dangerous unselfishness" King spoke of?

It is dangerous to challenge the status quo, dangerous to shatter the limits of tradition, dangerous to "be the change you want to see in the world."

Sometimes the danger is to self, to be sure, but I believe that a commitment to unselfishness is dangerous to selfishness, dangerous to greed, dangerous to hatred and exclusion.

It is far more dangerous not to change and grow, because nothing stays the same. It either thrives or shrivels.

I've done well in the world of work, but the money I've made has not enriched my life anywhere near as much as the service I've given. I wish I'd done more. I'm still in the act of rising above my confines.

A day of service is a wonderful start and a potent symbol, but it is not enough. We need to make this holiday honoring Dr. King's dreams and actions Day One of years of service, a philosophy of unselfishness.

Disturb the complacent. Look beyond limits. Serve.

To build a better city, a better country, a better world, embrace the transformative act of a life of service.

Dare to be great.

Serve.

A few resources:
Volunteer Match

A Better Community

United Negro College Fund

Habitat for Humanity Intl.

National Inclusion Project

U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Give A Damn Campaign

Technorati tags: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., service, I have a dream speech, equality, civil rights, human rights, Day of Service, Volunteer Match, A Better Community, Habitat for Humanity, UNCF, United Negro College Fund, National Inclusion Project, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Give A Damn Campaign, women's rights, gay rights

-30- (The End)

2010-12-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

There are lots of ways to mark "the end" (such as the journalistic device I am using as the title of this blog), but one of the most frequently occurring is the year-end list of "bests."

December 31 is considered the end of the year, but it is really just an arbitrary marker on a calendar created by human beings. Best-of lists are entirely subjective, based on individual tastes. So I'd rather close 2010 with a few of my favorites, things that I appreciated more than ever during this hectic and volatile year.

The King's Speech - There's a good chance I'd fall in love with Colin Firth starring in a dog food commercial. He's just that good. In this film, his fully realized, understated performance as George VI, the man who wasn't supposed to be king, is totally mesmerizing. Firth stars opposite the marvelous Geoffrey Rush as the man who helped the king find his voice, and Helena Bonham Carter as the radiant, loving, fiesty Queen Elizabeth (before the world knew her as the Queen Mum.) No car crashes or punch-outs needed for this film to be fully engaging. An absolute must-see.

"Tried & True," Clay Aiken - Despite the recent cash grabs by a couple of singers past their prime, singing the standards isn't played out. You just need someone with the voice and the artistry to do great songs justice. That someone would be Clay Aiken, who knows his way around smart pop, with traces of rock, soul, jazz and country, and the best of Broadway, as well. From the perfectly retro-styled album cover to every tune on the playlist, Clay brings his warm, clear tenor to some of the most popular songs of the mid-century, with the authority needed to demonstrate why another take on them is worth your time. His versions of "Misty" and "Mack the Knife" are especially strong, "Unchained Melody" features an eye-popping "what the hell was that?" vocal climax, and "Suspicious Minds" rocks, struts and snarls in a commanding nod to Elvis. Clay also duets with Broadway star Linda Eder for a stirring version of "Crying", and is supported by Vince Gill's brilliant guitar work on "Moon River" and David Sanborn's muscular saxophone on "What Kind of Fool Am I?" Gorgeous, top-flight orchestrations, arrangements, and musicianship highlight this first-class production that should have been rewarded with multiple Grammy nominations for traditional pop.

Also available is the DVD of "Clay Aiken: Tried & True - Live!", the recent PBS special featuring Clay's concert versions of these songs. It includes several can't-miss bonuses, especially a wonderful rendition of "What Kind of Fool Am I?" (Catch the PBS special for the touching "In My Life," which is not included in the DVD, perhaps due to licensing issues.)

Habitat for Humanity - There when storms strike, there when a family needs a new start, always there to serve humanity and help people help themselves. From Los Angeles to New Orleans to Haiti, Habitat responds during natural disasters and during the everyday economic emergencies that hold families in poor housing. By helping Habitat, you help families earn their way into a better life, through sweat equity and giving back. I've been a supporter for a long time, and Habitat has helped a lot of people find their way home, transforming every dollar given into a bright future for families, here and abroad.

"Genuine Negro Jig," Carolina Chocolate Drops - I was blown away when I saw this band on Tavis Smiley's PBS show earlier this year. The Drops, a trio of African American musicians whose training ranges from classical to rock, have produced a CD of infectiously engaging roots music. (Check out this article from Paste Magazine for more information.) The music isn't mainstream, it's just damned good. Fortunately, the Grammys noticed this one and gave it a nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album. Try a little something different and check out the sweet sounds of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) - Supporting safe school environments for all, GLSEN has worked to educate the public about the value of all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, created programs to ensure that school is a safe space for all, and worked to enact anti-bullying and other legislation to support safe learning environments. In a time of tragic headlines about harassment of LGBT youth, sometimes leading to suicide. GLSEN is here to make sure that no young lives go to waste.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Simply put, Jon Stewart provides the best political and social analysis available on any network, in the guise of a comedy show that started out as funny "fake news." Jon and the "news team" make me laugh, of course, but this show has grown into a real source of information, of strong, well-thought-out opinion, and as an occasional call to action, such as with Jon's coverage of the recent Republican stonewalling of a bill to support health funding for 9/11 first responders. I wouldn't miss an episode.

Just a few highlights from my arts and activist life.

And now: what are you doing New Year's Eve? Something better than writing a blog, I hope. Here's Clay Aiken at several stops on tour, performing the Frank Loesser classic.

Happy 2011, everybody.

Technorati tags: "The King's Speech", Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Clay Aiken, "Tried & True", Linda Eder, Vince Gill, David Sanborn, Habitat for Humanity, Carolina Chocolate Drops, "Genuine Negro Jig", GLSEN, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, The Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Frank Loesser, New Year's Eve, 2011

Who the Hell Do You Think I Am?

2010-08-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

I should have known it would bite me in the ass eventually.

Again, for the too-many-eth time in my life, I have been typed.

You see, while I was making movies, traveling the world, rocking out at concerts or trying to find a still center, learning new skills, hanging with friends, being the change and enjoying my life, I slipped past forty --- and kept on going.

And while I barely noticed, apparently, as a woman in mid-life, I don't matter anymore.

TV execs believe I'm either wrapped up in children and spouse (great pursuits, but I have neither) or concerned with little beyond the latest fashions, cellulite cures and celebrity gossip.

That's interesting? Give me a freaking break.

Radio programmers, obsessed with their second childhoods, elevate tween idols and one-trick ponies to a status far beyond their talents. (Yes, I know that it's really all about the greenback dollar.) Those who realize I'm still breathing are quick to offer me nothing but soft and easy, thinking I'm content to stroll down memory lane while I crank up my victrola.

Guess again.

I am entirely uninterested in the shades of Stewart and Manilow grinding out yet another anemic, label-mandated take on the American songbook. (I bet Rod's rumored blues album might have been worth a spin, though, and twenty-five years ago Barry did have the voice to do justice to some classic tunes.) But if I listen to standards now? I prefer Diana Krall and Peter Cincotti and Clay Aiken ("Tried & True"): singers who can sing, artists who can interpret, musicians who put something fresh into those oft-repeated songs.

If I want a smoother, modern groove, I've got the vibrant John Legend, the quirky Jason Mraz and the passionate Alicia Keys. When I want to listen to some of my favorite musicians from the Stone Age, I'll pass on the automatons stuck on nothing but greatest hits and take The Eagles or Neil Young, still writing and performing new music with the energy and invention they had when they were half their current ages.

I still look for what's new, and I appreciate the back catalog, which contains the roots of "now." My playlist has some Arcade Fire, a little Plain White Ts, a bit of Lady Gaga and much more, while reaching back to Bob Marley, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra and Nat "King" Cole by way of Chris Isaak, U2, Tracy Chapman and The Clash. Absent are Welk and Liberace and Lombardo, all names I have seen music critics use to dismiss the taste of adult women. (That was my grandmother's era, but not her taste: she was all about gospel, where my parents listened to Brook Benton, Billy Eckstine, Cole, Sinatra, classical and the occasional Broadway cast album.)

Some in the media have pushed me into a premature walker, if not an early grave. I'm supposed to be toothless, addled and frail, I guess, and so terminally out of touch that I can't even notice the contempt they heap on my old grey head.

The truth is this: every one of us who doesn't die prematurely will age, will likely be diminished in one or more capacities and will eventually pass on. God help the ones who think this doesn't apply to their lives.

Though time passes inexorably, it isn't a requirement that anyone give up an inquiring mind as the hands of the clock turn. It's always possible to learn something new and to try something different. And innovation isn't the sole province of the young.

I have noticed that some people who are called old are among the brightest minds, the most liberal thinkers, the most adventurous spirits --- and I have seen people who haven't reached thirty be rigid, timid and embrace the most life-limiting tenets I've seen in decades, adhering to some truly fossilized notions.

I don't yearn for Eisenhower or the faux innocence of the Happy Days era of the 1950.

I am too young to have been a hippie or to have gone to Woodstock, but I grew up in the echo of those times.

I didn't burn my training bra, but I learned a lot from my older sisters-of-the-spirit about demanding our place at the table.

I heard the voices of Stonewall, and knew that equality must be extended to all.

And I said it loud: I'm black and I'm proud.

So I wonder what kind of fool would think I am interested in a homogenized life now? If anything, I search the edge, I scan the distant vistas, even more than I did in the days of my youth.

I think about the stereotype of the complacent, docile, middle-aged woman, and then I look at my friends. An award-winning general education teacher who advocates for inclusive classrooms. A noted television director, with "Lost" and much more on her resume. A geologist for the National Park Service. An opera singer and teacher at a major Los Angeles university. An event coordinator who plays all over the tri-state area and beyond in an all-woman rock group. A newspaper columnist, a real estate agent, a builder of schools in Africa, an assistant director of film and television. Yoga instructor. College professor. Activists. Travelers. Sky divers. Rock climbers. River rafters. Lovers of life.

None are tucked in a corner, rocking away and knitting shawls. None have blue hair, baggy dresses and sensible shoes. But what if they did? What if they'd chosen to be traditional homemakers, grandmothers doting on their children's children, baking cookies, wearing lavender and lace, listening to soothing music? Their lives, their choices, right?

What's it to you, to dismiss or criticize them?

Where does this mockery and loathing of women over 40 come from?

Too often, it's from men over 40, describing not what it real but some distorted imagining of fifty years ago. They forget that the grandmother of their youth might have been Rosie the Riveter, playing a vital role in the defense of freedom, or active in the movement that sacrificed health, freedom and reputation to bring voting rights to both genders. Or perhaps this earlier generation of women "simply" worked to feed, clothe, house, educate and comfort the long-ago young incarnations of these men who speak ill of women today. I doubt that most of these men would talk about their own mothers and grandmothers with such contempt, but it is apparently alright to do so when it comes to other women.

Don't be so tiresome. Grow up. Stop it.

Some people will age well, I know, while others will not. Some will stay engaged in life, while others drift and dodder. Some are strong and healthy, while others spend years or even decades in declining health.

I'll pass no moral judgment on any of them. I know that Life can be one hard-hearted s.o.b. but I am not the type to give up and give in.

Here in the middle of life, I continue looking toward the far horizons. I love my life, and I stay engaged in it.

But when I am old, I will not be silent. I will not sit quietly just because someone somewhere expects me to.

I plan on having a loud, clear voice and a crazy mane of white hair, worn as a banner of achievement. And, by a life lived fully, I will be well prepared to kick some ass.

Technorati tags: women, midlife, middle aged, active, aging, womens rights, civil rights, gay rights, equality, media, stereotypes, music, television, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Diana Krall, Peter Cincotti, Clay Aiken, "Tried & True", John Legend, Jason Mraz, Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire, Plain White Ts, Lady Gaga, The Eagles, Neil Young, Brook Benton, Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Lady Gaga, equal rights, Universal Music Group, Decca Records, adventure travel

U.S. Fund for UNICEF's Clay Aiken on Pakistan Floods

2010-08-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

From UNICEF USA on YouTube:

"Singer-songwriter & UNICEF Ambassador, Clay Aiken, calls for more help for children affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan."

With more than 20% of Pakistan flooded, millions of women and children have been displaced and are at extreme risk due to lack of food, clean water, shelter and medical aid. Please help the children and families of Pakistan by making a secure donation on the UNICEF USA YouTube page. (Link to donate follows the video.)

Or donate by texting "floods" to 864233. $10 will be charged to your phone bill.

For more information, read UNICEF USA's Fieldnotes blog, Alyssa Milano and Clay Aiken speak for UNICEF and Pakistan.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, UNICEF, Pakistan, US Fund for UNICEF, floods, children, education, health, clean water, American Idol, monsoons, Alyssa Milano, emergency relief

More Than Words

2010-08-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog, I thought I'd use it predominantly to share my interest in all things art-related. Instead, this year I've written mostly about some of the causes I find important, a better use of my limited time.

I have also blogged less than I thought I would. I love writing, love the act of putting words together in just the right way, love sharing my thoughts and ideas with the wide world (or a few of its denizens who happen across these pages.)

But as John Lennon wrote, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Family concerns have dominated my life, so my reactions to an early spring PBS concert television taping, the new music I've been listening to, the films and television shows I've watched and the books I've read haven't been featured much on these pages. Neither have my travels with my sister, always a highlight of my year.

Life is more than words, and certainly more than the social media that dominates some people's time.

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter have their place. They can be fun and, every once in a while, they can be important.

But I'd rather talk to a person than text them. I can't imagine a few abbreviated words on a tiny screen being more important to me than the sound of a voice or, better yet, the company of those I enjoy, admire and love.

And as much as I take pride in what I write here, this blog is a pale substitute for the life I actually live.

Summer is almost over. I have a bit of time at last, so Living in Turnaround is back. Glad to see you here when you have time...

But it's a lovely day. There's a breeze blowing in the window, and I hear some birds flitting through the trees that line the hill.

Enough words.

I'm signing off and going outside, where life is.

Grooving with Roy Hargrove at Yoshi's

2010-04-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

My musician brother James visited from Italy a while ago. I took him to hear some music.

I write for fun as well as for a living; James' "busman's holiday" is going to hear other musicians work it out. In this case, it was trumpeter Roy Hargrove at Yoshi's San Francisco, with special guest Pharoah Sanders.

I knew Roy's work from playing around on the Decca Records website and was happy to have a chance to see him live, and James was particularly happy also to see Pharoah Sanders again. My brother is the kind of guy who always knew what he wanted to do when he grew up, and started making a living as a working musician in his teens. During those years, he also saw every cutting edge band of the day live in concert. So while I was at home watching cartoons, he'd seen Jimi and Zappa and The Who and Miles and The Doors and Pharoah, that madman of the tenor sax.

Yoshi's San Francisco (the newer of the two clubs in the Bay Area; the older original is in Oakland) was packed. It was sold out on a Thursday night, though Roy was in residence and would play eight shows over two weekends. I've always loved the crowds at these shows. The audience is full of people who know and love music but who are not too cool to show their appreciation --- and damn, everyone, old and young and in-between, "presents" so well.

There was casual conversation around our table: some chatting about previous Hargrove concerts, a table debating the relative merits of the new breed trumpet players, an older couple who had heard Pharoah play with his mentor, John Coltrane.

Roy was playing with his quintet that night, and as he entered, I thought, "That is one dapper cat." His attire was retro-modern, and for a moment it was like I was flung back to a club somewhere in the early '60s, watching this artist grooving to the sounds of the other musicians before he lifted his horn to his lips.

Then...

It was off to another world.

Hargrove lives in the grooves. His style is smoky and fluid and cool at one moment, then bursts into staccato energy, then turns bold and bright. Versatility is a hallmark of the Grammy-winning artist, and I considered myself privileged to hear not only his talented quintet, but also his brief collaboration with Pharoah Sanders, of another generation and school of jazz. I was engaged in every tune in the 90 minute set.

I don't know the title of everything that Hargrove played, but the set list included:

Speak Low

After the Morning (by his mentor, John Hicks)

(Pharoah Sanders then joined the group)

John Coltrane's Transition

[A new song, as yet untitled, that Hargrove said he composed on the plane coming west]

Serenity of Solitude

Camaraderie

Writing about music is like dancing about color: I can't summon the words to describe how great the evening was and, since I am not a musician, I don't have the technical vocabulary. (For what it's worth, James came away impressed and entertained.) Fortunately, from what I have heard to date, Hargrove's recordings capture much of the intensity of his live performances.

So check out these sites, and see the man for yourself when he comes to your town. I'm sure glad I did.

The Roy Hargrove Quintet's recent CD is called "EarFood." It's aptly titled: an evening with Roy is indeed an aural feast.

Indulge yourself.

Roy Hargrove Decca Artists Page

Roy Hargrove Store at Amazon.com

Yoshi's Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant (Oakland and San Francisco)

Smokers and Republicans

2010-03-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

Last week I wrote a blog about equality for people who are gay. It’s an important idea, founded upon basic American principles.

I gave my impressions of the speeches made by Clay Aiken and Meredith Baxter at the Human Rights Campaign’s “We Are All Made of Stars” gala dinner in Raleigh, North Carolina.

I joined in endorsing marriage equality for LGBT citizens, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the enactment and enforcement of hate crimes laws, and the promotion of programs that would foster understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, protecting them from harassment by other students (and sometimes by faculty as well), and allowing them to learn along with their straight peers in a safe school environment.

These are not conservative positions, but I believe they are the right ones, the ones in accord with the constitutional protections that should be afforded all Americans.

Reaction came from an unexpected source. No, not religious conservatives: there was just one comment invoking the wrath of God.

There were eight comments, out of approximately fifty, that concerned fourteen words in a two thousand word blog...

A joke about smokers and Republicans.

Here’s an excerpt, for context:

You see, I don't care that Clay or Meredith or TR or Neil or Wanda or Ellen or fill-in-the-blank is gay.

I don't care who is Native American or Jewish or who has a disability...

Hell, I'd say I care more if you are a smoker or a Republican!

A lot of things will inform my opinion of a person, but sexuality isn't one of them.

I was writing about irrational prejudices, as crazy in my mind as hating someone simply because they smoke or vote for the GOP.

I went back and read my blog, trying to see how it was possible for anyone to seriously believe that a person in favor of equal rights for everyone, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender or disability, could possibly be in favor of discriminating against smokers and Republicans.

For those who might be wondering, of course I am not. The “lot of things that will inform my opinion of a person” include every form of exploitation: violence, sexual abuse, drug dealing and other predatory crimes, especially against children.

No, I am not a smoker. It is knowledge, information, and life experience, not bias, that led me to choose to avoid a product that has no safe use.

Besides, I live in Los Angeles. With the air quality here, smoking would be redundant.

Smokers in my life? Almost no one in my extended family, and just a few of my friends, smoke. Some have quit. Some have died.

Some smokers are people I admire, like John Lennon… and Barack Obama.

Adults get to make their own decisions, but I am glad that most of the people I care about most don’t embrace a habit as potentially deadly as this extra weight I’m dragging around.

Yes, I am a Democrat. There’s no prejudice or bias there, either: that was a careful and considered choice, based on what I believe will help create and support the best lives for both majority and minority populations.

I loved my father, even though he was a Republican, as most African-Americans once were.

I have voted for Democrats, Republicans, Independents and a variety of third party candidates, based on my opinion of who would do the best job for the people they represent. I take voting seriously, because women fought far too hard for me to be cavalier about elections, and people who look like me died for the right of franchise.

I am all-too aware that the leaders of my party sometimes resemble the Keystone Kops --- that is, when they are not channeling Beavis and Butt-Head, sitting across the aisle from the loyal opposition, lead by Snidely Whiplash.

There is far too much heat in politics today, to the point where there is little room for light.

Polarization has gradually eroded the ability to hold intelligent discourse on the most pressing needs of America and the world --- but that’s a whole ‘nother blog.

I have friends across all of life’s spectrums, and the same is true of the people with whom I work. For all the people I don’t know who fall under whatever label, I am not inclined to judge them unless they give me reason to do so. I’m funny that way: my default setting for people is “decent and deserving.”

Imagine the fun when I wrote and co-produced a military documentary. It was 1992, and I divided my time between supporting the Clinton/Gore campaign and working on the documentary with Chris, a 20-something Reform party activist for Perot, and Wes, a 50-ish retired Navy man who smoked like a chimney, voted Republican and listened to Limbaugh.

We had some lively conversations, to say the least.

I love them both dearly.

I’m laughing about this a bit, but no serious comparisons can be made about discrimination against smokers and Republicans, in context of the issues raised in a blog about extending equal rights to all.

What a shame if a sense of humor also falls victim to these polarized times.

Let's not work so hard to find offense.

Laughter is not the same as trivializing important issues.

It might hurt a smoker’s feelings, or tick them off, if someone complains about tobacco's odor or if laws limit where a person can light up because of evidence of the dangers of second-hand smoke, but no smokers are being tortured and left to die, strapped to a fence in a field in Wyoming.

Republicans pass in and out of power, and in my life there has been a Republican president nearly twice as many years as there has been a Democrat in office. People who are Republicans have representation in every branch of government. Even when not in power, neither party rises to the status of oppressed minority.

Republicans, Democrats and independents alike can marry, buy property, decide medical and legal issues together, adopt children, work at a job without fear of being terminated solely because of their political affiliation and express their love of country by serving in the military. Perhaps an exception can be found somewhere, but in 21st century America, political party is not cited as the reason for tying a person to the back of a truck and dragging him three miles down the road until he is dead.

There’s a reason the Hate Crimes Prevention Act is named after Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., not after Joe Camel.

My blog had a serious intent, but like many before me (including Aiken and Baxter in their remarks to HRC, and writers far better than I am, from Jonathan Swift to Jon Stewart), I occasionally leaven seriousness with humor. I wonder: in the interest of clarity, next time I write about a serious issue, should I consider avoiding all jokes?

Nah.

Perhaps in my next blog, I’ll write about the thoroughly inexplicable things people believe in, and I want everyone to feel welcome…

Even if you’re a vegan or a Democrat.

Clay Aiken and Meredith Baxter: At HRC Gala, The Boy and Girl Next Door Are Gay

2010-03-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

Singer Clay Aiken, Actor Meredith Baxter Promote Equality at the Human Rights Campaign's Carolinas Gala in Raleigh, NC

- Clay Aiken addresses HRC Gala. Photo courtesy A. Cotton

Seven years ago, a lamppost thin young man with hair looking like it had been styled by an eggbeater stepped into the public eye. He was Clay Aiken of Raleigh NC, a student teacher working on a degree in special education.

He was a singer with a powerful and pure voice.

Clay was the good man in a world of bay boys: honest, humble, sincere, intelligent, devoted to family and to God. Some might have thought he resembled the guy from your church or school choir who you just knew would make it big some day.

From the start, he was an advocate for inclusion, a champion of children with disabilities who had been shut out of activities enjoyed by their typically developing peers.

There was just a hint of humor in his early comments, but it would become obvious a while later that he was wickedly funny. He was also thoughtful, engaging and more complex than he seemed.

Above all else, though, it was clear that Clay was a profoundly talented vocalist with enviable stage presence.

Yes, Clay Aiken was the boy next door, and more.

-Meredith Baxter speaks at HRC Gala. Screencap from Pam Spaulding's video

I remember Meredith Baxter being on television for as long as I can remember. She was the epitome of the girl next door: when I was a girl, she was the young wife on "Bridget Loves Bernie" (starring with David Birney, who would later become her real-life husband), then the flaxen haired beauty of "Family", and later the liberal and loving mom on "Family Ties". Never relying simply on her beauty in an industry that can be looks-obsesssed, her performances were often thoughtful and complex and compelling.

Both Clay and Meredith, as entertainers, were accepted and embraced into the lives of many in the United States and beyond. Now both have another role: to educate, enlighten and advocate for change.

Neither Clay nor Meredith has a reputation for being edgy or avant garde; in fact, I'd hazard a guess that both are considered by many to be well within the mainstream. Familiar. Relatable.

The boy and girl next door.

But in the case of Aiken and Baxter, the boy and girl next door are gay.

Aiken's disclosure of his sexuality a year and a half ago, at the age of 29 (he'd begun coming out to family and friends about four years earlier) and Baxter's, three months ago at age 62, elicited a range of reactions, from acceptance to scorn.

Growing up in a progressive environment and growing into a liberal social activist, my personal reaction to Clay coming out essentially boiled down to "Oh, really, didn't know that" before wondering if I could make it to New York to see him during his second run in "Monty Python's Spamalot."

You see, I don't care that Clay or Meredith or TR or Neil or Wanda or Ellen or fill-in-the-blank is gay.

I don't care who is Native American or Jewish or who has a disability...

Hell, I'd say I care more if you are a smoker or a Republican!

A lot of things will inform my opinion of a person, but sexuality isn't one of them.

It's been a long time since I was idealistic, but I still embrace the idea that diversity is good and that minorities have as much to offer society as members of majority populations do.

So I don't care. In fact, I embrace you. Sit down here with me and tell me about your life.

It shouldn't matter who is gay and who is straight, other than being a point of information in the picture of the whole person.

And yet I know that almost all of us who are members of a minority far too often have to fight for respect and equal opportunity, and sometimes have to fight for our livelihood and our very lives.

That's tragic, and that's wrong.

I think it's wrong that Clay Aiken or Meredith Baxter or anyone who is LGBT has anything to fear by coming out, but far too often I've seen people who are sexual minorities face mockery, discrimination, hatred and violence.

And though I deeply believe that the timeline for a person to come out belongs solely to them, I am always pleased when a person in the public eye does so.

To come out in the media is to give notice that this familiar face, this person you liked, this voice you admired, this actor you enjoyed, this regular Joe or Jane, this boy next door may differ from who he was thought to be in one aspect, but what was likable, admirable, enjoyable about him remains.

I have seen that one act of coming out change hearts and minds, and sometimes even open a person to the "radical idea" that a LGBT person who is not as mainstream as Aiken and Baxter might be deserving of equal rights as well: even if you don't like them, even if you don't "approve," because in a country founded on the idea of certain "unalienable rights," equal rights for all should not be subject to a vote.

When I say I couldn't care less about a person's sexuality, it is not to imply that I don't appreciate the courage it takes to come out.

It is merely to say that I find it almost incomprehensible that there could be even the smallest degree of negative impact on one's opinion of a person one admires simply because that person is gay.

I know that some people completely reversed their positive impressions of Aiken and Baxter and others when they came out. I think that is ludicrous.

As an African-American girl growing up, the concept of racism was so monumentally preposterous to me that I could barely believe a person uttering a racist statement wasn't kidding.

I know, all too well, that racism, sexism, homophobia and religious intolerance are real.

Last Saturday night, the Human Rights Campaign held its "We Are All Made of Stars" fundraising gala in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was not the first time I was reminded that the boy and girl next door were now an exemplary man and woman.

Meredith Baxter is known and respected for her insights into living a sober life and her advocacy for curing breast cancer. In her first speech about LGBT issues, she began her address by joking "My big public moment was a big news item for about five minutes... I owe a major debt of gratitude to Tiger Woods."

Talking about coming out, she continued "It's a very strange thing to do this official coming out to the world. To tell you the truth, I've never heard of a straight person do that. They just make you guess. They drop hints, some innuendo, the way they walk."

Baxter turned serious when talking about the harassment of a New York boy: "Students said that he ought to die, and one of his teachers told him that he ought to be ashamed. You have to ask, 'What kind of society creates these harassing students and these unsympathetic teachers?' Our society. And when you look at some of the laws of our society, it's not hard to see why."

One of those is laws Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Baxter said, "When our government discriminates against gay soldiers, then our citizens, our everyday folks, are given a federal validation to harass their gay neighbors."

Clay Aiken delivered a message that began with humor, but he delivered it with passion and purpose. Referencing his personal journey, he told the audience at the HRC Gala that "the decision to talk openly about your sexuality is a really difficult and confusing one. And I know that, sometimes I think more than anybody. But I also know that the power of truth and living honestly is very liberating. So what the hell took me so long?"

He then launched into a ringing refrain, that "It's about damn time" that every American be afforded the same rights, in fact as well as in law.

As happens so often with Aiken, hundreds of media outlets picked up the story of his HRC speech in his home town. Oddly, some members of the mainstream media as well as a number of bloggers seem to think that this is the first time Clay Aiken has raised his voice in support of gay issues since coming out in September 2008. Aiken's speech at the HRC Dinner was at least his third appearance promoting equal rights for the LGBT community over the past year.

In February of 2009, he was the presenter for Tyra Banks' Excellence in Media Award at the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. Writing and delivering the speech to introduce his good friend, Clay mentioned that Tyra was being honored for "(giving) air time to some of the issues that our community cares about most, like marriage equality, gay and lesbian people of faith, and transgender people. She includes, embraces and celebrates... because she knows it's right."

In April 2009, the Family Equality Council, honoring Clay as a positive public face for gay parenthood, presented him with the Equality Circle Award at their dinner at Tavern on the Green in New York City. Clay deflected recognition of himself, concentrating on the trailblazers who had come before him and the work that still needs to be done.

"I've only been doing this for eight and a half months, and so the hard work, and the most important work, has been done by many of the people in this room... I'm just humbled to be a part of this group and to be a gay dad," Aiken said.

Then, addressing the importance of allies, he continued, "I think it's just as important nowadays when we have individuals who are straight and are being activists for gays and lesbians and transgender and bisexual people... It really is going to take a lot of effort on your part as well."

(Parenthetically, Clay has also been an active fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS going back to his appearance in Heather Headley's "Home" in May 2004, continuing through his performance of "The Prayer" with "Spamalot" co-star Hannah Waddingham at the 2008 Easter Bonnet Competition, and with two years as the top fundraising entry for Broadway Bears.)

He's still at the beginning of his LGBT advocacy, but he's off to a good start.

Some are also expressing surprise that Clay wrote his own speech, which includes the powerful catchphrase "It's about damn time." I am not surprised at all.

I had the honor of writing the master and mistress of ceremonies' scripts for four galas for the National Inclusion Project (formerly Bubel/Aiken Foundation) and I can testify to the fact that Clay wrote all of his own speeches for those occasions. I only wish I could have written for him but, as HRC's speechwriters found out when Aiken declined their assistance, you can't put words in the mouth of the kind of person Clay Aiken is. He is an eloquent and gifted writer, a thoughtful, inspirational and funny speaker and I think it is obvious that, for the things to which he is deeply committed (inclusion for children with disabilities through the Project, support for children in crisis through UNICEF and now support of equal rights for the LGBT community), Clay speaks perfectly well for himself.

Clay Aiken is finally being recognized for his thoughtfulness, his intelligence, his humor and his dedicated activism for the causes he believes in.

It's about damn time. ;)

I applaud Clay Aiken and Meredith Baxter for their powerful advocacy of equal rights for all. I am humbled and honored to count myself as a straight ally of the LGBT community. Your message resonated with me, and I hope with many more who aren't LGBT.

As an African American and as a woman, I am still in the struggle for equal rights. I recognize myself in you.

Your cause is just and your lives are of value.

You are not alone.

Your struggle is mine.

If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?

--- Rabbi Hillel

The time for equal rights for all is now, and it's about damn time.

Transcript of Clay Aiken's Speech

Some of you were thinking when you saw my name on the billing tonight…It’s about damn time.

Whether you make the decision to… whether you come out to your family or to your friends, or make the decision to come out in a supportive group like we heard about in Providence Day School in Charlotte, or to do so on the cover of a magazine --- the decision to talk openly about your sexuality is a really difficult and confusing one. And I know that, sometimes I think more than anybody. But I also know that the power of truth and living honestly is very liberating. So what the hell took me so long?

I was waiting, like so many folks are waiting, for change --- for attitudes to change, for laws to change --- and I realized that the time for waiting has passed. We've seen throughout our nation's history that all the major civil rights movements, and major milestones in civil rights movements in our country, have come after a lot of waiting and a lot of hard, long-fought battles. Thankfully, while many of us have been waiting, the Human Rights Campaign has been fighting to ensure that LGBT Americans have the same rights that straight Americans take for granted.

As HRC's name implies, our battle is about something much larger than the LGBT community. It's about that most American of notions: that all men and women are created equal. That is, that's with the exception of my son, who is brilliant... but for tonight we will assume that all men and women are created equal.

The belief which this nation was founded on is the cornerstone of our movement and, as I said, it's been the cornerstone of every major civil rights movement in our nation's history.

In 1920, when the 19th amendment was passed, ensuring every American woman the right to vote, it was about damn time.

In 1954 --- even though some idiots on the Wake County School Board would disagree --- when Brown vs. Board of Education desegregated our schools, it was about damn time.

In 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed, banning discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, it was about damn time.

And last year, when the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed, it was most certainly about damn time.

Now, thanks in no small part to supportive individuals like you, LGBT Americans can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Slowly but surely --- and forgive me for using a sports metaphor at a gay event --- we're moving the ball down the field. We're seeing an overwhelming shift in the attitudes of younger generations. LGBT youth are feeling empowered to come out in higher numbers than ever before and they’re finding acceptance with their friends and their families like never before.

The LGBT community has seen and attained unprecedented visibility and legitimacy in mainstream America. We have a great deal more work to do to ensure that LGBT individuals and families have the same rights, benefits, same freedoms that all straight Americans have. And I know that my son's world will be a better one, because no one, no matter how hard they try, can stop our progress.

And like those civil rights movements that came before, our message is the message of fairness, of righteousness, of decency. Our message is the message of the future.

Our time is now, and it is about damn time.

Meredith Baxter's Speech:

For more information on the HRC Carolinas gala, equal rights for LGBT citizens and other issues, visit the Human Rights Campaign website.

GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)

Family Equality Council

PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)

My sincere thanks to Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend for her first-rate coverage of the HRC Dinner, which includes video of Clay Aiken and Meredith Baxter's speeches. I am adding Pam's House Blend to my list of Hot Box Office: Essential Sites linked on the right side of this blog: anyone interested in human rights issues, written with humor, grace and intelligence, should bookmark Pam's site and visit it regularly.

Mother and Child Reunion: Help UNICEF Win Kiwanis Support to Save Lives

2010-01-29T18:08:00.001-08:00

Support UNICEF in eliminating Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus!

Posted using ShareThis

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A personal appeal from Living in Turnaround:

No, I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
But the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away...

I have seen it in Haiti.

I have been a witness, in Indonesia, in Mexico, in Congo.

I have seen a mother cradling a gravely ill child, babies being born amid chaos and destruction, and children all alone, wandering desolate streets in search of anything resembling the familiar.

I have seen tears and sorrow, pain and anguish.

Oh, little darling of mine,
I can't for the life of me
Remember a sadder day
I know they say let it be
But it just don't work out that way
And the course of a lifetime runs
Over and over again...

And through it all, I have seen hope.

Hope arrives wearing a powder blue t-shirt, armband or beret.

--- UNICEF Child Protection Specialist Cecilie Modvar speaks with children who are living in a makeshift camp in Canapé Vert Plaza in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. © UNICEF, Photo by Roger LeMoyne

For over sixty years, hope has been spelled "UNICEF."

I have seen the human toll of natural catastrophes and scenes of conflict through the eyes of UNICEF staff, field workers, volunteers and Goodwill Ambassadors like Clay Aiken, Lucy Liu and Danny Glover.

I have seen something more, something better. I have seen UNICEF save lives.

Every four minutes, a baby dies from tetanus, a disease that is highly preventable. With your vote, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF could receive a $110 million investment by partnering with Kiwanis International to eliminate Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus.

Working in over 150 countries across the world, UNICEF has proven results in bringing "effective, low cost solutions" to crises that have an impact on children's health and survival. UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization, delivering essentially needed supplies, clean water, food, medicine and medical care, shelter and more despite "war or conflict, disaster or disease, geography or logistical complexity."

Source: U.S. Fund for UNICEF

UNICEF is ready to go to work to end deaths from tetanus. Here's how:

The investment of $110 million from Kiwanis International will support the elimination of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus over the next 5 years, protecting 129 million women and their future babies from the deadly disease. Together, we will achieve zero.

--- from UNICEF Fieldnotes.

So don't sit there idle: get into motion and vote for UNICEF's Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus program at Kiwanis International. With your help, there is real hope to end this deadly disease.

Vote HERE now!

But I would not give you false hope
On this strange and mournful day
When the mother and child reunion
Is only a motion away...

--- "Mother and Child Reunion" by Paul Simon

UNICEF: Haiti Earthquake Emergency Alert

2010-01-13T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm reposting this information from UNICEF on the Haiti eartquake and UNICEF's mission to provide immediate relief to the victims. Please follow the link to read the full story, then act immediately to help save lives.

Donations are urgently needed for earthquake victims following a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and many more injured, homeless and still trapped in the rubble. UNICEF has more than sixty years of proven results in acting quickly and effectively to help victims of natural disasters, without regard to race, religion or country of origin, and completely free of political interests.

Please go here to make a secure donation at the UNICEF site: Earthquake in Haiti: Donate Now

From UNICEF:

UNICEF gears up relief efforts for earthquake-stricken Haiti

PANAMA CITY, Panama, 13 January 2010 – Despite heavy damages to its own offices in Port-au-Prince, UNICEF is ready to provide immediate support to the victims of the unfolding humanitarian crisis following the earthquake that hit Haiti yesterday.

"While relief efforts have begun, communications are extremely difficult and accurate information is still scarce," UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said in a statement this morning. "It is clear that the consequences are severe and many children are among the victims," she added. "Our hearts go out to the families whose lives have been so terribly impacted by this tragedy."

Veneman noted that UNICEF will deploy essential aid – including safe water, sanitation supplies, therapeutic foods, medical supplies and temporary shelter materials – as quickly as possible to assist with recovery efforts. "We will also be focusing on children who have become separated from their families to protect them from harm or exploitation," she said.

While confirming that all UNICEF staff in Port-au-Prince have been accounted for, despite severe damage to their premises and communication facilities, Veneman indicated that others in Haiti have been less fortunate. She said UNICEF was "greatly concerned for our colleagues from the United Nations mission, MINUSTAH, many of whom are still missing."

Constant struggle

The situation of children and women in Haiti was already marked by great vulnerability before the earthquake hit the island. Haiti is one of the poorest countries on earth. It ranks 148th out of 179 countries on the UNDP’s Human Development Index; is struggling to recover from years of violence, insecurity and instability; and has a long history of being struck by one natural disaster after another.

Read more at UNICEF, then make a secure donation at the UNICEF site: Earthquake in Haiti: Donate Now

Revival House: "The Great Debaters"

2010-01-09T21:44:00.001-08:00

Imagine this: a movie as exciting as any action picture, as harrowing as a top-notch thriller and sometimes as amusing as a classic comedy --- and it is about the power of the mind and the spoken word. "The Great Debaters" (2007), directed by Academy Award winning actor Denzel Washington, is the overlooked gem featured in this edition of "Revival House."

Words can be thrilling and a mind, fully engaged, is one of the most riveting things of all.

Denzel Washington stars as Professor Melvin B. Tolson, a brilliant and charismatic debate teacher at Wiley College, a small college for black students in Marshall, Texas. In a time of crushing racial discrimination, lack of opportunity, and violent racial attacks, a group of young African American students prove themselves equal to --- and even better than --- the most honored debaters in the country.

Nate Parker portrays Henry Lowe, Jurnee Smollett is Samantha Booke, and Denzel Whitaker appears as James Farmer Jr. The film also stars Forest Whitaker as Dr. James Farmer Sr. Every performance is nuanced and authentic, and the film as a whole was nominated for and won a number of awards, including the Golden Globes, the Image Awards, the Christopher Awards and others.

Anyone who appreciates listening to Barack Obama's eloquent thoughts (or the speeches of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., a contemporary of James Farmer Jr.) will appreciate the film's word portraits and the supple intellect of these young people. I think I appreciate the film even more, in a current era where some people, even in the highest positions, prefer to play dumb, and even some of my fellow and sister African Americans think that to speak well is to imitate being white. Oh, hell, no --- the English language belongs to all, and only a person who strives to master his or her mind can make the most of life.

I love a brilliant mind.

This movie is not a dry recitation of events from the distant past. There are scenes in this movie where I as a viewer felt tension and fear, was moved to anger or celebrated vicarious victories, and times where I cheered or laughed out loud. Not to be overlooked: the insightful humor; the many moments where a character struggles to move forward and, after stumbling and crashing, learns to soar; the successes achieved despite appalling racism.

The film is "inspired by a true story." (Tolson and the Farmers were real, the other debaters composites.) The location of the climactic debate was also changed, but the accomplishments portrayed were no less real because of these few dramatic liberties.

"The Great Debaters" is a thoroughly entertaining film. Don't miss it.

For photos and film clips, visit the official site at thegreatdebatersmovie.com

"The Great Debaters" is available at Amazon.com.

"Revival House" is a recurring feature, spotlighting some of the first-rate, innovative and other noteworthy projects that were overlooked upon initial release.

New Year's Day 2010: (Just Like) Starting Over

2010-01-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

Here we are, on the first day of a new year and a new decade.

It's completely arbitrary, of course, that we mark this day with resolutions, promises for the future and plans to start anew. Yesterday or tomorrow, last month or five months from now --- what difference, really, would it make if we made our pledges now or then?

I guess it's good to have a goal, a time set aside, a catalyst for change.

So Happy New Year. I'm going to spend a little time creating a better me, being the change I want to see in this world and working to extend some of life's blessings to those who see too little joy, love and acceptance.

Hey, it's better than another useless pledge to lose weight.

Here's a song about renewing love, from one of my favorite musicians. John Lennon was one of my favorite people, too. Snarky bastard, rebel genius.

Let's make the most of our time.

I'm starting over.

Maybe I'll get it right this time.

John Lennon - (Just Like) Starting Over

Our life together is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love is still special
Let's take a chance and fly away somewhere alone

It's been too long since we took the time
No one's to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you, darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over, starting over

Everyday we used to make it, love
Why can't we be making love nice and easy?
It's time to spread our wings and fly
Don't let another day go by, my love
It'll be just like starting over, starting over

Why don't we take off alone?
Take a trip somewhere far, far away
We'll be together all alone again
Like we used to in the early days
Well, well, well, darling

It's been too long since we took the time
No one's to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you, darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over, starting over

Our life together is so precious together
We have grown, we have grown
Although our love is still special
Let's take a chance and fly away somewhere

Starting over.

UNICEF's Clay Aiken on Somalia: Huff Post

2009-12-29T14:11:00.000-08:00

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Clay Aiken visits with Somali women and children during his field mission to Somalia, July 2008

- UNICEF photos by Nick Ysenburg

Interesting and timely article by Clay Aiken this morning on The Huffington Post. Clay's been a UNICEF ambassador for five years and has visited Indonesia, Uganda, Afghanistan, Mexico and Somalia, reporting back on the critical situations facing children due to warfare and natural disaster.

(More information, including previous Field Notes, can be found at UNICEF USA.org)

The former teacher, who has a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, is a tireless advocate for children.

Here is his essay:

Clay Aiken, UNICEF Ambassador
Posted: December 29, 2009 06:23 AM

Progress in Somalia Despite Difficult Circumstances

This past November, while we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a grim milestone was reached in the east African nation of Somalia. The conflict and instability which has characterized that nation for the past 20 years has produced a generation in its central southern province that has never known peace.

In this season of peace and goodwill, this jarring reality should spur us to action so that future generations are not lost.

The mere mention of Somalia conjures in the mind of everyday Americans a place where lawlessness reigns. Indeed, the perception is that no other country has done more to place the issue of maritime piracy at the forefront of our minds and within our headlines.

While this may be true...it's certainly not the whole story.

Last year, in my role as UNICEF Ambassador, I spent five days in northwest Somalia. There's no question that years of civil war and a defunct central government has left much of this nation dangerously unstable. In fact, half the population of Somalia remains internally displaced and in a state of humanitarian emergency.

This tragic reality affects an estimated 3.6 million people, half of whom are children. Over 1.5 million are displaced as a result of conflict, largely between Islamic extremists and government forces. Not only is this population burdened by violence and instability, but also extreme poverty and recurrent food shortages.

There are, however, glimmers of hope. For one, the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has made overtures to place the well-being of children on its emerging social service agenda.

One significant achievement the country boasts is that it has remained polio free since 2007. Also, despite a prolonged drought affecting over 1.4 million, including 700,000 children, there is visible evidence of declining malnutrition rates. This year, in fact, UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) have reported that they're on track to reach up to 50,000 severely malnourished children -- more than double those reached in 2008.

In addition, through the Child Health Days initiative, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) were able to deliver low-cost, high-impact health packages this year to over one million children under the age of five. These interventions included immunization, vitamin A supplementation, de-worming tablets and oral rehydration salts to combat diarrhea caused by contaminated water.

As a former teacher, the issue of education remains close to my heart. Education provides the confidence needed to make the most of a child's abilities. A protective learning environment can help change attitudes about violence while also promoting equality. Keeping schools operational in communities affected by conflict and in camps for the internally displaced is an essential priority for UNICEF in Somalia, as is providing incentives and training for teachers. This year, in the central southern zone, 89,000 out-of-school or emergency affected children gained access to primary education.

Last month, after being one of only two countries to not ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Somali Transitional Government signaled their intention to join the community of nations who have already adopted this groundbreaking human rights treaty. This is a tremendous step in the right direction. But more still needs to be done. A minimum of $12 million is needed to respond to the emergency needs of the Somali population in the first quarter of 2010.

Let's pledge to make a difference this holiday season for the children of Somalia so that the next milestone the current generation marks will be one of dreams realized for their children.

Learn more about the situation in Somalia and help UNICEF bring hope to children in this area through Unicef USA.

Bio: Clay Aiken was appointed a UNICEF ambassador in 2004.

In March 2005 Aiken toured the tsunami-ravaged Indonesia and heightened awareness about the need to restore schooling to displaced children. In May 2005 Aiken traveled to Uganda, where he saw children on the run from kidnapping and involuntary enlistment in the local guerrilla army. He has also traveled to Mexico to aid children affected by recent floods.

In April 2007 Aiken traveled to Afghanistan where he toured schools and marveled at the resilience of the children he met there. His experience prompted him to launch the "$100,000 in 10 Days" campaign to continue offering lifesaving support for kids in that country. The campaign ended up netting $250,000 in fewer than five days.

In June 2008, Aiken traveled to Somalia, a country where conflict and hunger have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Aiken continues to be an avid champion for the often forgotten children of the world.

To find out more about UNICEF's essential work on behalf of children in Somalia and throughout the developing world, visit UNICEF USA.org

Act Now to Help Clay Aiken's National Inclusion Project Win Christie Cookie Charity Giveaway!

2009-10-14T14:46:00.000-07:00

Edit from October 17: This evening, at the National Inclusion Project's Champions Gala in Raleigh, North Carolina, Christie Cookies representative Sue O'Donnell presented Project co-founders Diane Bubel and Clay Aiken with a check for $10,000 for winning first place in the Christie Cookies $25,000 Charity Giveaway.

Thank you for supporting the Project in its work to make sure that children of all abilities have access to their rightful opportunity to participate in all that life has to offer.

Click the name to find out more about the work of the National Inclusion Project.

Original Post:

Want to make a difference for children of all abilities? Can you spare just two minutes in the next thirty hours?

Then join me, Clay Aiken and the National Inclusion Project and do something great for kids. Here's how you can help, without spending a dime of your own money.

Christie Cookies, the gourmet cookie company featured at the Doubletree Hotels, is celebrating its 25th anniversary by giving away $25,000 to charities. The top prize is $10,000, enough to fully fund a National Inclusion Project inclusive day camp.

Click to vote for the National Inclusion Project in The Christie Cookie $25,000 Charity Giveaway.

Here's what to do:

1. Go to the scroll-down menu under the "Check to see if your charity is already listed"

2. Select "National Inclusion Project, Raleigh, NC"

3. Fill in your first and last name.

4. Fill in a valid e-mail address.

5. Type in the two verification words.

6. Click to submit!

The rules say that you are allowed to vote from all valid e-mail accounts, so feel free to use more than one of your e-mail accounts --- then ask your friends and family to vote, too!

A few words from Clay Aiken's Facebook:

The National Inclusion Project needs your help! With just 2 minutes, you can make a huge difference in the lives of many children. All you have to do is click on the link below and vote for the National Inclusion Project as your favorite charity. The winning charity gets $10,000 – that money would fund an ENTIRE Let's ALL Play camp for the summer. We are currently several votes behind first place and would love to come back and put the National Inclusion Project on top! With your help, I think we can be back at #1 in no time.

Vote for National Inclusion Project in the Christie Cookie Charity Giveaway.

The National Inclusion Project (founded by Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel in 2003 as the Bubel/Aiken Foundation) has been rated Four Star (Highest Rating) by Charity Navigator for fiscal responsibility, so you can be sure that the Project makes the most of all donations, supporting programs that help include children with disabilities into life experiences with their typically developing peers.

Don't delay: the contest ends Thursday, October 15, at 11:59 PM Central time (that's 9:59 PM Pacific, 10:59 PM Mountain and 12:59 AM Eastern). Avoid the rush and vote now!

Vote for National Inclusion Project at the Christie Cookies Charity Giveaway HERE.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, Diane Bubel, National Inclusion Project, summer camp, Let's ALL Play, Christie Cookies, Doubletree Hotel, teaching, inclusion, special needs, children, disabilities, Charity Navigator

"Get Together" - U.N. World Humanitarian Day

2009-08-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the first United Nations World Humanitarian Day, honoring international aid workers. The event is meant to highlight the critical role played by those who bring humanitarian relief to those in need, often due to conflict or natural disaster. This aid is provided impartially and without cost, regardless of the race, creed, color or religion of the aid recipients.

Aid staff have increasingly been the target of kidnapping and physical violence: in fact, last year there were more deaths of aid workers --- "armed" only with food, medical supplies and emergency shelters --- than of UN peacekeeping troops. This date (August 19) was chosen to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, an attack that killed twenty-two workers.

It may be hard for some to understand that the aid workers only agenda is to help ensure the survival of people whose lives have been disrupted. It is especially important to lend aid when the victims of circumstances not of their own making are children.

I have been a supporter of the U.S Fund for UNICEF since I was a grade school girl carrying my bright orange Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF donation box each Halloween. Through college and into my early professional life, I supported the UNICEF gift shops in Westwood Village and in Beverly Hills. I've sent UNICEF holiday cards for over twenty years.

But in recent years, it took the campaigns of UNICEF's celebrity ambassadors to bring the organization back into sharp focus for me. I don't have children, so my social activism was not specifically directed at them. Now it is. The celebrity ambassadors were not the reason for my involvement, but they were the catalyst. As UNICEF knows, fame has its uses, and one of its best uses is to raise awareness of critical concerns.

UNICEF works through their thousands of unsung staff and field workers, as well as through their Celebrity Ambassadors, Corporate Partners, NGO Partners, Sports Partners and their indispensible volunteers.

For more information of UNICEF's essential work and to see what you can do to help, download the 2009 UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report.

Follow U.S. Fund for UNICEF on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

In honor of all international aid workers, it is time to stop making excuses. Act now to do your part to help UNICEF do "whatever it takes to save a child."

Love is but a song we sing
And fear's the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why

C'mon, people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Some will come and some will go
And we shall surely pass
When the one that left us here
Returns for us at last
We are but a moment's sunlight
Fading in the grass

C'mon, people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now

If you hear the song we sing
You will understand
You hold the key to love and fear
In your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It's there at your command

C'mon, people now
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try to love one another right now

Technorati tags: U.N., United Nations, World Humanitarian Day, aid workers, UNICEF, volunteers, children, education, clean water, sanitation, nutrition, health, immunization, advocacy

Clay Aiken Upgrades Record Label, Inclusion Project Foundation

2009-08-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

Six and a half years after hitting the public spotlight, Clay Aiken is moving to a higher level, both in his professional career and in his work as an advocate for children.

From the Clay Aiken Official Fan Club:

08/10/09
We Are Excited To Announce...
Clay Aiken signs record deal with Universal Music’s Decca Records. Expect new music in the first half of 2010! Keep checking back here for more details to come.

With this signing, Clay has moved on from the second largest music group, Sony Music Entertainment, to the world's leader, Universal Music Group, clearly a sign of UMG's faith in Clay's talent and potential to create premiere music. Clay's new label, Decca Records, was the original label of some of the greatest vocalists in the world (including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby), and has evolved into the home of some of the most eclectic, singularly gifted and respected singers and musicians in the contemporary music scene.

From James to Sting.

From Marianne Faithfull to Alison Moyet.

From Rufus Wainwright to Boz Scaggs.

From Andrea Bocelli to Boyz II Men.

And with hot breaking acts like Gary Go, the Love Willows and Brendan James, Decca continues to innovate, to experiment and to provide the best in music, from the classic to the avant garde.

Clay has shown himself to be a phenomenal interpretive singer and consummate entertainer, who can go from pop-inflected rave-ups, to tender ballads, to social anthems, to inventive reinterpretations, to heartbreaking revelations, all with absolute authority and conviction. He's going to fit in just fine.

[One last look in the rearview mirror: Clay was signed to (then) SonyBMG's RCA Records in 2003 after finishing the second season of American Idol in a statistical dead heat, just one half of one percent behind winner Ruben Studdard. He then went on to record four studio albums: the number one hit Measure of a Man, which sold nearly three million copies and made Clay the top selling artist on the RCA label in 2003; the record-breaking holiday album Merry Christmas With Love; A Thousand Different Ways, and; last year's On My Way Here, which became his fourth album in four releases to debut in the Billboard Top Five. He also released a holiday EP, All Is Well, for the label. (A compliation disc, Playlist: The Very Best of Clay Aiken,was also released by Sony Legacy after Aiken left RCA.) Total sales of CDs, EPs and singles, approximately six and a half million.]

August is shaping up to be a time of lots of good news from Clay.

Five days previously, on August 5, Clay's Official Fan Club and his foundation simultaneously announced the decision to change the name of his inclusion advocacy charity from the Bubel/Aiken Foundation to the National Inclusion Project.

Explaining the change in An open letter from co-founders Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel, Clay and Diane write:

In the six years since, the Foundation has established itself as a leading voice for inclusion working with a “Who’s Who” list of youth organizations – YMCAs, Best Buddies International, Boys & Girls Clubs, CampFire USA, 4H, the ARC – as well as many other local parks and recreation departments, community centers, and privately-run programs. The Foundation has formed partnerships with Johns Hopkins University’s National Center for Summer Learning, the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Center for Social Development and Education, the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability, the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s FPG Child Development Center.

As we realized the impact the Foundation has already made, it became apparent that even bigger accomplishments could be on the horizon. To that end, we along with the rest of the Board decided that a new name for the Foundation would establish long-term credibility and stability. We sought a name that would signify the Foundation’s position as a national leader on inclusion as well as recognize the Foundation’s start and the efforts of its faithful supporters. After much thought and deliberation, we are proud to introduce the organization we co-founded as the National Inclusion Project.

Be sure to check in with the National Inclusion Project's website often to learn what's new in their work "to make full inclusion for children with disabilities an everyday reality."

This year's Champions Gala, honoring those whose "substantive efforts have helped to give children with disabilities the opportunity to experience life alongside their peers," will be held in Raleigh, NC on October 17. Individual tickets for the event are sold out.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, music, musicians, Universal Music Group, Decca Records, Bubel Aiken Foundation, National Inclusion Project, inclusion, singer, songwriter, American Idol, RCA Records, Rufus Wainwright, Sting, Boz Scaggs, Gary Go

James Thompson's "Different Faces" --- an 'Opening Night' Feature Story

2009-08-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I went to hear some music at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The headliner was Zucchero, a funky Italian superstar musician whose style is part rock, part blues, part soul and all energy. It was a terrific show.

There was this tall thin dude in an apple cap playing in the band that night, and he was all kinds of incredible. His name is James Thompson. He moved effortlessly from funky saxophone to cool flute to soulful harmonica, then used his honeyed baritone-tenor in both feature solos and impeccable backing vocals.

Damn, but that James Thompson stole the show.

I could be a bit prejudiced. I've known James all of my life.

He's my brother.

James is one of those people who could not possibly have grown up to be anything else than what he became --- one of the most gifted and versatile sidemen in the world, true, but a brilliant musician in his own right. Accomplished at bass, guitar, piano, keyboards, saxophone and flute, James, except for a single year in his life, has always made his living as a working musician.

It shows.

As I wrote in the blog "For Free", James, who is based in Italy, has played everywhere from the Vatican to Red Square, from Montreux Jazz Festival to the Royal Albert Hall. He's jammed with legendary musicians, shared a bottle of wine (or two) with some of the most important artists of the last thirty years, and continued to hone his craft before millions of music lovers worldwide.

James has also fronted his own band in various combinations for some time now, but he's finally released his own CD, entitled "Different Faces." It is as diverse, as unexpected and as entertaining as he is (James is also one of the funniest people I know), with music ranging from pop, rock, soul, and acoustic to tropical and smooth jazz. That's just for a start.

James’ first solo CD “Different Faces”, his debut CD as leader, is a project one year in the making.

Take a short trip into his multi-faceted world, where he negotiates some often peculiar musical twists and turns. You’ll hear irony, humor and sometimes abrupt mood swings in action on this pleasantly unpredictable CD.

There’s a common thread running through “Different Faces” that holds it all together nicely.

--- from the "Different Faces" album notes

Check out James Thompson's "Different Faces" --- as singer and songwriter, and playing sax and flute, he reveals his own unique appeal.

Available now at CDBaby, and coming soon to iTunes!

Listen to samples at James Thompson's MySpace.

Also visit James Thompson's website.

-- photo from musicclub

"Opening Night" is a recurring feature, spotlighting newly announced projects, new releases and new artists --- often at the same time.

Technorati tags: James Thompson, "Different Faces", music, musicians, Zucchero, House of Blues, saxophone, Montreux Jazz Festival, Royal Albert Hall, singer, songwriter, CDBaby, iTunes, Italy, rock, blues, jazz

Unwell

2009-07-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

President Barack Obama visited the renowned Cleveland Clinic today, getting a hands-on demonstration of their exemplary medical services. After the visit, the president continued his efforts to gain support for health care reform by speaking at a town hall meeting.

The president has vowed to make health insurance reform his number one priority and, with delays in getting consensus before the August congressional recess, is now urging Congress to have new legislation on his desk before the end of the year. That's practically lightning speed in Washington where, as Obama said in his nationally televised press conference last night, "inertia is the default."

Some have asked why Obama wants to move so quickly on this issue. Here's what he said today:

Whenever I hear people say that it's happening too soon, I think that's a little odd. We've been talking about health care reform since the days of Harry Truman. How could it be too soon?

I don't think it's too soon for the families who've seen their premiums rise faster than wages year after year. It's not too soon for the businesses forced to drop coverage or shed workers because of mounting health care expenses. It's not too soon for taxpayers asked to close widening deficits that stem from rising health care costs -- costs that threaten to leave our children with a mountain of debt.

Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington, but it's not soon enough for the American people. We can get this done. We don't shirk from a challenge.

Some consider health insurance reform an intractable issue, but under the Obama Administration, I believe that progress is finally being made. I don't know if the legislation that will emerge from the House and Senate will be the best possible plan (in fact, I doubt it, since they are loath to embrace a single payer system), but I do know that action is urgent. Finally, perhaps the broadest coalition of doctors, patient advocates, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and government agencies in history is working to make it happen.

It isn't accomplished by a long shot, but it is a good beginning. In fact, I'm beginning to believe that health insurance reform is actually going to happen --- and I'm not crazy... I'm just a little unwell. ;)

Now let's see if we can all avoid slipping too far downhill before this thing gets put in place.

Obama concludes:

...we've forged a consensus that has never before been reached in the history of this country. Senators and representatives in five committees are working on legislation; three have already produced a bill. Health care providers have agreed to do their part to reduce the rate of growth in health care spending. Hospitals have agreed to bring down costs. The drug companies have agreed to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors. The American Nurses Association, the American Medical Association, representing millions of nurses and doctors who know our health care system best, they've announced their support for reform. (Applause.)

Read more about health insurance reform, along with action on other issues on Obama's agenda, at Whitehouse.gov.

Opening Night: Homemade Jamz Blues Band

2009-07-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

So I was watching Tavis Smiley on PBS last night, and at the bottom of the show he had on an unexpectedly rocking set of musicians: two teenage guys and their ten year old sister who call themselves the Homemade Jamz Blues Band. They are Ryan Perry (age 17), guitar and vocals; Kyle Perry (age 14), bass and back up vocals, and; Taya Perry (age 10), drums. I was sure it was going to be some kind of gimmick, but these young musicians just blew me away.

See for yourself:

Proof positive that you don't have to have a lot of years under your feet to sing and play some downhome, authentic blues.

Must be something about the air in Tupelo, MS.

Learn more about them in this NPR "All Things Considered" feature story.

Their new CD is I Got Blues for You, available at Amazon and everywhere.

"Opening Night" is a recurring feature, spotlighting newly announced projects, new releases and new artists --- often at the same time.

Man in the Mirror

2009-06-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett,
Performed by Michael Jackson

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I’m gonna make a change,
For once in my life
It’s gonna feel real good,
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right . . .

As I turn up the collar on
My favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin’ my mind
I see the kids in the street,
With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind
Pretending not to see
Their needs?

A summer’s disregard,
A broken bottle top
And a one man’s soul
They follow each other on
The wind ya’ know
’cause they got nowhere to go
That’s why I want you to know

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
Take a look at yourself, and
Then make a change

I’ve been a victim of
A selfish kind of love
It’s time that I realize
That there are some with no home,
Not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me,
Pretending that they’re not alone?

A willow deeply scarred,
Somebody’s broken heart
And a washed-out dream
They follow the pattern of
The wind, ya’ see
Cause they got no place to be
That’s why I’m starting with me

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
Take a look at yourself
Then make that change.

An immense talent, a troubled life, an activist spirit.

The unforgettable music lives on.

Horray for Hollywood: Memories of the Directors Guild Awards

2009-06-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, after fifteen years as a member, I attended the Directors Guild of America Awards Dinner for the first time. My mentor, Jerry, who retired a few years ago, was to receive the Frank Capra Award for Lifetime Achievement. (His work ranges from "Apocalypse Now" to "Jerry Maguire". He's the man who gives Martin Sheen his orders to "Terminate with extreme prejudice" and the coach who hovers over the unconcious Cuba Gooding Jr., so he's done work onscreen as well as behind the camera.)

The event took place at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, and I knew the room --- it was the same one where, two years before, I had co-chaired a gala for a charity that promotes inclusion for children with disabilities. All of the AD's who worked with Jerry were his guests.

It was a tremendous amount of fun: Carl Reiner was the host, and he was hilarious. It's traditional that people don't take too serious a tone and, though not a roast, nominees and winners alike took a bit of ribbing.

All of the honorees from film and television were present, with actors from their projects presenting them. Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain") was introduced by the quiet, softspoken Heath Ledger and the charming and gregarious Jake Gyllenhaal. They talked about what an honor and a privilege working on the film had been and how Ang's direction helped them grow as actors. When Heath and Jake introduced him, they both started to tear up and gave the director hugs when he reached the stage. The soft-spoken director took a moment, looked back at them with a smile, turned to the audience and said, "I don't know, guys. That felt kind of gay to me."

Talk about exploding a stereotype! We must have laughed for five solid minutes!

There was joke after joke about "Brokeback" all evening, and not a single one was derogatory or mean-spirited. That's entertainment.

Since it's the Directors Guild, all of the feature nominees are given a plaque before the winner is announced. The presenters talk about the experience of working on the film, then introduce the director.

George Clooney ("Good Night and Good Luck") was introduced by David Straitharn (love his work) and the elegant Patricia Clarkson. (I worked with her on "Alex Haley's Queen")

Steven Spielberg ("Munich") was introduced by Geoffrey Rush.

Paul Haggis ("Crash") was introduced by Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton. (I worked with Matt on "Singles")

Bennett Miller ("Capote") was introduced by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener. Phillip and Catherine said they didn't have any remarks prepared, then called on some people in the audience to ask questions.

Ang Lee stood up and asked, "I come from China and I made a film about the struggles of being gay. Which oppressed minority do you represent?"

Clooney stands up and asks Bennett, "I wrote, directed and starred in my movie. Didn't you have any work for me?"

Spielberg says, "I've been in the business since you were five. Do you have any advice on how I can improve as a director?"

Clint Eastwood stands and says to hurry up: he's getting old and he needs to get his Lifetime Achievement Award while he's still awake.

Paul Haggis says, "Both of us are first time nominees. How come you're getting this great tribute?"

It was funny and sweet and touching --- and one of the best times I've had in years.

Damn, I love making movies.

Tony Awards in the Cyber Age

2009-06-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm an acting awards show junkie. Corny, crazy or classy, at their best they remind me of just how entertaining, inspirational and uplifting art can be.

This Sunday, June 7, the 2009 Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall at 8/7c, broadcast live on CBS, simulcast in Times Square (with full video and audio) in an open-to-the-public live party for 2000. They will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, live Tweeted by Mark Indelicato, and available to follow on mobile alert, MySpace, Facebook, Tweeter and Broadwayspace.com. Join the cyber-audience at TonyAwards.com

I worked with two of this year's nomineees, Angela Lansbury and John Glover, on one of my first show's, "Murder, She Wrote," so I'll be cheering a little louder for them. Angela, a true lady, is nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Blithe Sprit. John, one of the coolest guys I've ever met, is up for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his work in Waiting for Godot.

See you Sunday!

Here are the nominations for the 2009 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards®
Presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing:

Best Play

Dividing the Estate
Author: Horton FooteProducers: Lincoln Center Theater, Bernard Gersten, André Bishop, Primary Stages
God of Carnage
Author: Yasmina RezaProducers: Robert Fox, David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers, Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Jon B. Platt, The Weinstein Company, The Shubert Organization
Reasons to Be Pretty
Author: Neil LaButeProducers: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, MCC Theater, Gary Goddard Entertainment, Ted Snowdon, Doug Nevin/Erica Lynn Schwartz, Ronald Frankel/Bat-Barry Productions, Kathleen Seidel, Kelpie Arts, LLC, Jam Theatricals, Rachel Helson/Heather Provost
33 Variations
Author: Moisés KaufmanProducers: David Binder, Ruth Hendel, Barbara Whitman, Goldberg/Mills, Latitude Link, Arielle Tepper Madover, Bill Resnick, Eric Schnall, Jayne Baron Sherman, Wills/True Love Productions, Tectonic Theater Project, Greg Reiner, Dominick Balletta, Jeffrey LaHoste

Best Musical

Billy Elliot, The Musical
Producers: Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films, Old Vic Productions, Weinstein Live Entertainment
Next to Normal
Producers: David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo, Second Stage Theatre, Carole Rothman, Ellen Richard
Rock of Ages
Producers: Matthew Weaver, Carl Levin, Jeff Davis, Barry Habib, Scott Prisand, Relativity Media, Corner Store Fund, Janet Billig Rich, Hillary Weaver, Toni Habib, Paula Davis, Simon and Stefany Bergson/Jennifer Maloney, Charles Rolecek, Susanne Brook, Israel Wolfson, Sara Katz/Jayson Raitt, Max Gottlieb/John Butler, David Kaufman/Jay Franks, Mike Wittlin, Prospect Pictures, Laura Smith/Bill Bodnar, Happy Walters, Michele Caro, The Araca Group
Shrek The Musical
Producers: Dreamworks Theatricals, Neal Street Productions

Best Book of a Musical

Billy Elliot, The Musical Lee Hall
Next to Normal Brian Yorkey
Shrek The Musical David Lindsay-Abaire
[Title of Show] Hunter Bell

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Billy Elliot, The Musical
Music: Elton John
Lyrics: Lee Hall
Next to Normal
Music: Tom KittLyrics: Brian Yorkey
9 to 5: The Musical
Music & Lyrics: Dolly Parton
Shrek The Musical
Music: Jeanine Tesori
Lyrics: David Lindsay-Abaire

Best Revival of a Play

Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten
Mary Stuart
New Version: Peter Oswald
Producers: Arielle Tepper Madover, Debra Black, Neal Street Productions/Matthew Byam Shaw, Scott Delman, Barbara Whitman, Jean Doumanian/Ruth Hendel, David Binder/CarlWend Productions/Spring Sirkin, Daryl Roth/James L. Nederlander/Chase Mishkin, The Donmar Warehouse
The Norman Conquests
Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Dede Harris, Tulchin/Bartner/Lauren Doll, Jamie deRoy, Eric Falkenstein, Harriet Newman Leve, Probo Productions, Douglas G. Smith, Michael Filerman/Jennifer Manocherian, Richard Winkler, Dan Frishwasser, Pam Laudenslager/Remmel T. Dickinson, Jane Dubin/True Love Productions, Barbara Manocherian/Jennifer Isaacson, The Old Vic Theatre Company
Waiting for Godot
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Elizabeth Ireland McCann

Best Revival of a Musical

Guys and Dolls
Producers: Howard Panter and Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulchin/Bartner, Bill Kenwright, Northwater Entertainment, Darren Bagert, Tom Gregory, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., David Mirvish, Michael Jenkins/Dallas Summer Musicals, Independent Presenters Network, Olympus Theatricals, Sonia Friedman Productions
Hair
Producers: The Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, Andrew D. Hamingson, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Gary Goddard Entertainment, Kathleen K. Johnson, Nederlander Productions, Inc., Fran Kirmser Productions/Jed Bernstein, Marc Frankel, Broadway Across America, Barbara Manocherian/Wencarlar Productions, JK Productions/Terry Schnuck, Andy Sandberg, Jam Theatricals, The Weinstein Company/Norton Herrick, Jujamcyn Theaters, Joey Parnes, Elizabeth Ireland McCannPal Joey
Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy, Marc Platt
West Side Story
Producers: Kevin McCollum, James L. Nederlander, Jeffrey Seller, Terry Allen Kramer, Sander Jacobs, Roy Furman/Jill Furman Willis, Freddy DeMann, Robyn Goodman/Walt Grossman, Hal Luftig, Roy Miller, The Weinstein Company, Broadway Across America

Best Special Theatrical Event

Liza’s at The Palace
Producers: John Scher and Metropolitan Talent Presents, LLC; Jubilee Time Productions, LLCSlava’s Snowshow
Producers: David J. Foster, Jared Geller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Marinoff Cohn, John Pinckard
Soul of Shaolin
Producers: Nederlander Worldwide Productions, LLC; Eastern Shanghai International Culture Film & Television Group; China on Broadway
You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush
Producer: Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Steve Traxler, Home Box Office Inc., Gary Sanchez Productions, Bat-Barry Productions, Ken Davenport, Ergo Entertainment, Ronald Frankel, Jon B. Platt, James D. Stern, The Weinstein Company, Tara Smith/b. Swibel, Dede Harris/Sharon Karmazin, Arny Granat

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Jeff Daniels, God of Carnage
Raúl Esparza, Speed-the-Plow
James Gandolfini, God of Carnage
Geoffrey Rush, Exit the King
Thomas Sadoski, Reasons to Be Pretty

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play

Hope Davis, God of Carnage
Jane Fonda, 33 Variations
Marcia Gay Harden, God of Carnage
Janet McTeer, Mary Stuart
Harriet Walter, Mary Stuart

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish – Billy Elliot, The Musical
Gavin Creel, Hair
Brian d’Arcy James, Shrek The Musical
Constantine Maroulis, Rock of Ages
J. Robert Spencer, Next to Normal

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical

Stockard Channing, Pal Joey
Sutton Foster, Shrek The Musical
Allison Janney, 9 to 5: The Musical
Alice Ripley, Next to Normal
Josefina Scaglione, West Side Story

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

John Glover, Waiting for Godot
Zach Grenier, 33 Variations
Stephen Mangan, The Norman Conquests
Paul Ritter, The Norman Conquests
Roger Robinson, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Hallie Foote, Dividing the Estate
Jessica Hynes, The Norman Conquests
Marin Ireland, Reasons to Be Pretty
Angela Lansbury, Blithe Spirit
Amanda Root, The Norman Conquests

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical

David Bologna, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Gregory Jbara, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Marc Kudisch, 9 to 5: The Musical
Christopher Sieber, Shrek The Musical
Will Swenson, Hair

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Jennifer Damiano, Next to Normal
Haydn Gwynne, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Karen Olivo, West Side Story
Martha Plimpton, Pal Joey
Carole Shelley, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Dale Ferguson, Exit the King
Rob Howell, The Norman Conquests
Derek McLane, 33 Variations
Michael Yeargan, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Robert Brill, Guys and Dolls
Ian MacNeil, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Scott Pask, Pal Joey
Mark Wendland, Next to Normal

Best Costume Design of a Play

Dale Ferguson, Exit the King
Jane Greenwood, Waiting for Godot
Martin Pakledinaz, Blithe Spirit
Anthony Ward, Mary Stuart

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Gregory Gale, Rock of Ages
Nicky Gillibrand, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Tim Hatley, Shrek The Musical
Michael McDonald, Hair

Best Lighting Design of a Play

David Hersey, Equus
David Lander, 33 Variations
Brian MacDevitt, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Hugh Vanstone, Mary Stuart

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Kevin Adams, Hair
Kevin Adams, Next to Normal
Howell Binkley, West Side Story
Rick Fisher, Billy Elliot, The Musical

Best Sound Design of a Play

Paul Arditti, Mary Stuart
Gregory Clarke, Equus
Russell Goldsmith, Exit the King
Scott Lehrer and Leon Rothenberg, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Acme Sound Partners, Hair
Paul Arditti, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rock of Ages
Brian Ronan, Next to Normal

Best Direction of a Play

Phyllida Lloyd, Mary Stuart
Bartlett Sher, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Matthew Warchus, God of Carnage
Matthew Warchus, The Norman Conquests

Best Direction of a Musical

Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Michael Greif, Next to Normal
Kristin Hanggi, Rock of Ages
Diane Paulus, Hair

Best Choreography

Karole Armitage, Hair
Andy Blankenbuehler, 9 to 5: The Musical
Peter Darling, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Randy Skinner, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas

Best Orchestrations

Larry Blank, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas
Martin Koch, Billy Elliot, The Musical
Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt, Next to Normal
Danny Troob and John Clancy, Shrek The Musical

* * *

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Jerry Herman

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Signature Theatre, Arlington, Va.

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Phyllis Newman

Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre
Shirley Herz

* * *

Tony Nominations by Production

Billy Elliot, The Musical - 15
Next to Normal - 11
Hair - 8
Shrek The Musical - 8
Mary Stuart - 7
The Norman Conquests - 7
God of Carnage - 6
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone - 6
Rock of Ages - 5
33 Variations - 5
Exit the King - 4
9 to 5: The Musical - 4
Pal Joey - 4
West Side Story - 4
Reasons to Be Pretty - 3
Waiting for Godot - 3
Blithe Spirit - 2
Dividing the Estate - 2
Equus - 2
Guys and Dolls - 2
Irving Berlin’s White Christmas - 2
Liza’s at The Palace - 1
Slava’s Snowshow - 1
Soul of Shaolin - 1
Speed-the-Plow - 1
[Title of Show] - 1
You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush - 1

TonyAwards.com

For Free

2009-05-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

It is a scene so common that it usually escapes notice. I had decided to spend another sun-kissed California spring day throwing away some money shopping and, as I pulled the car into a parking spot, a sound caught my ear. It was the ring of guitar strings and the percussive slap of palm of wood.

There on the sidewalk down the block, standing near Starbucks, Noah's Bagels and the market, a street musician was playing and singing to the oblivious shoppers passing by. I couldn't quite pick put his words, but there was something sweet about the sounds that were reaching me.

My brother James is a professional musician, one of the fortunate ones who makes a living with his gifts, so perhaps my gratitude for his good fortune explains why I sometimes give a listen and drop some change for the musicians who play under the street lights instead of the spotlights. I had a stop or two to make first, but I promised myself to head on down and listen for a while when I was through.

James is not a star, but he has been a working musician for more than three decades, starting when he was a teenager. Making music is the only job he has ever had. That’s him, playing behind the superstar Italian rocker. There he is, playing with the quirky jazz rock orchestra. There he is at the all-star jam closing out Montreux Jazz Festival, with Sting or Miles or Bocelli. He took part in a Pavarotti & Friends for War Child concert. He has played for the Pope in Rome --- and for the comrades in Red Square. He's been on the stage at the Royal Albert Hall in London and at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, and he's toured in Paris, Tokyo, Rio and Sydney. He lives comfortably, if not lavishly, but he lives his dream of making music his life, not just his livelihood.

This morning I read an article in Forbes about the 2008 top 10 wage earners from American Idol. I probably haven’t watched the show more than a dozen times since the end of the second season, having grown weary of the formula and the "man behind the curtain" manipulations of public opinion. In the shows I have sampled in its eight seasons, I have seen a rare few bright lights, several decent talents and too many mediocrities, but only one singer has caught my attention, my time and my money.

He has long since stood on his own: a truly rare vocal talent, a gifted and subtle interpreter of lyrics, an activist for children's causes, an idiosyncratic and interesting man who is a collection of dichotomies. That is why Clay Aiken joins india.arie and Green Day on my list of the most compelling new artists of this decade.

Clay was #6 on the Forbes list, having earned $2.2 million dollars in a year when he did not even tour. Clay has made a Pollstar-estimated $30 million touring since 2003, not including merchandising, his earnings from 5 million CDs and over 1 million CD singles sold, and his New York Times Best Selling memoir Learning to Sing.

Beyond his superb voice, Clay has become an appealing comic actor, as those who have seen him on "Scrubs" or last week's "30 Rock" season finale, or on Broadway in "Monty Python's Spamalot" can attest. That makes sense: his concerts are part glorious vocals and part standup comedy, and he has been an absolute riot during his many visits to his buddy Jimmy Kimmel's late night show.

Clay never, to my knowledge, sang on the street. As a child, he stood on the carpet samples as his mother worked at Sears, and he would sing for a dollar. He was, for a time, part of the Raleigh Boys Choir, he sang in church and he was later the only boy in his school choir. He did a few musicals, he sang in his uncle's band and he went from singing in the North Carolina Connection variety shows to hosting them before he was twenty. He has said that he became well enough known in his community as the boy with the big voice that he grew weary of being called The Singer.

In a turn of fate, he started working as a camp counselor at the Y, grew frustrated withn seeing children with disabilities excluded from many of the camp's activities, and decided to go to college and pursue a degree in special education.

He admits that music became his Plan B.

Clay had fallen in love with the puzzle that is autism and decided to become a teacher for children with developmental disabilities.

Life threw a curve at his Plan A.

I've seen a photo of the marquee at a Raleigh-area theatre: in the months before his life changed, "Clayton" Aiken starred in another local music show.

Music called him back when he decided to audition for American Idol at the behest of a friend. Now Clay Aiken is a singer and an entertainer, but he still works with children through his UNICEF Ambassadorship and his own Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which seeks to incorporate kids with disabilities into the full range of activities and opprotunities available to their typically developing peers.

Two men, two ways of making a life in music.

Here is the third.

I finished in the card shop and, as I got closer, I could hear the words this Guitar Man was singing: a familiar song, but his own arrangement and tempo. His voice was sweet, his guitar work was strong and he looked almost impossibly happy, standing there by his open guitar case.

I touched the dollar out of my pocket as I heard him sing:

“Don’t stop believing, hold on to that feeling...”

I listened for a while, then dropped the dollar. As I walked away, I said, “You sound great, man.”

And he smiled, sang “Bless you” and he kept on singing and playing.

I know nothing about the Guitar Man on the street, nothing of his life or his back story. I do not know if he was well-known, and part of a local version of the Joshua Bell subway experiment, if he's an eccentric who loaded his guitar into the back of his BMW and headed back to his law office, or if he was in line that night for a spot at the shelter.

I do know that the look on his face as he sang and played was one of absolute bliss.

And I know that I have seen that same look on James's face, and on Clay's.

Perhaps, if the twists of life had been different, Guitar Man would be playing at the Fillmore, or preparing for his next world tour backing up Steely Dan.

Maybe James would have ended up with a desk job, and found himself jamming whenever he could at the local open mic night.

And maybe Clay would have become North Carolina Teacher of the Year --- and kept on hosting those local talent shows on the weekends.

But when music is in your blood, it finds a way to express itself. There are, of course, musicians who have become jaded. For them, it has become more about the reqward than the process, more about the fame than about creativity.

But on the street, in that passing monment, and on stages across the country and the world, I have seen the love and joy that making and sharing music brought to three very different men. In the turning of fate, I believe all would still be driven to express it, that all would retain their passion for their art, and, even if financial rewards eluded them, that all would gladly make music...

For free.

For James, for Clay, for the Guitar Man:

“Don’t stop believing...”

I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free

Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I’ve got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And I play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good, for free

Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their t.v.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony...
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good, for free

--- Joni Mitchell, “For Free”

GLAAD All Over

2009-04-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

Aint no doubt about it, it must be love
One little kiss from you and I feel
Glad all over, oh mercy,
I think that it’s silly but I’m glad all over

- - - “Glad All Over’ by Jeff Beck

The 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, the first of three national awards ceremonies for the organization, took place in New York City on Saturday, March 28. Comedian Kate Clinton was the host.

Members of the GLBT community and their straight allies supporting equal rights for all, many sporting the white knot symbolizing marriage equality, turned out for the festivities, which took place at the Marriott Marquis.

If you missed this evening, you have not missed the celebration. Keep reading and find out how you have two more chances to show your support while you show off your latest designer wear.

- Tyra Banks, GLAAD President Neil Giuliano and Clay Aiken (all photos and videos (c) GLAAD)

Honorees in New York included Tyra Banks, who was presented with the Excellence in Media Award by singer and actor Clay Aiken. This was the first GLBT event for Aiken, who came out following the birth of his son last year.

Watch video of the presentation:

-T.R. Knight and Suze Orman

Actor T.R. Knight of “Grey’s Anatomy” presented the Vito Russo Award to financial expert Suze Orman.

Here is video of the presentation:

Phil Donahue was also on hand, honored for his continuing commitment to supporting equal rights for the GLBT community as a straight ally and friend. (NEW: read more about the Ally and Friend PSA campaign HERE.)

- Phil Donahue

Other honorees included Keith Olbermann, who received the Outstanding TV Journalism Segment Award for his commentary on Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

A full list of honorees can be found at the GLAAD Blog.

If you missed the New York event, here’s your chance to get GLAAD all over. GLAAD Media Awards celebrations will take place on Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, April 18th, with the final event taking place in San Francisco on May 9th.

20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards - Los Angeles
Saturday, April 18, 2009.
5:00 PM tp 11:59 PM
Nokia Theatre L.A. Live

Honorees will include the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who will be presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. Bishop Robinson,invested as the Ninth Bishop of New Hampshire in 2004, has dedicated his ministry to advancing the Church’s curriculum and clergy wellness programs. He is also the co-author of three AIDS education curricula for youth and adults and has done HIV/AIDS work in the United States and in Africa. He is the first openly gay bishop of the Church and is a vocal advocate for full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

The L Word, which has aired for six seasons on Showtime, will receive an award of Special Recognition for breaking new ground for LGBT visibility on television. For six seasons, the show has entertained audiences and pushed boundaries, all the while taking on serious issues facing the LGBT community, including marriage, adoption, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," employment non-discrimination, and transgender issues.

20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards - San Francisco
Saturaday, May 9, 2009.
From 5:00 PM to 11:59 PM
Hilton San Francisco

Chad Allen, actor, producer and activist, will receive the Davidson/Valentini Award. Chad Allen began his professional acting career at the age of five-years-old starring as Tommy Westfall, a child with autism, in the television series, St. Elsewhere and went on to play Mathew Cooper on the long time hit CBS series, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. Allen has earned critical acclaim through his work on television and in the theatre.

Through his acclaimed independent film company Mythgarden, he has brought gay and lesbian storytelling to the forefront. Additionally, he has produced and starred in the film Save Me which offered audiences a look into the world of so-called "ex gay" ministries. Save Me is nominated for Outstanding Film – Limited Release at the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards and was selected for the Sundance Film Festival and as the opening night feature for Outfest 2007. Allen raising more than eleven million dollars to end AIDS through his participation in the annual AIDS/LIFECYCLE, works with Soulforce to fight religious intolerance, and ia an Honorary Board of the Matthew Shepard foundation.

Read more about honorees and participants at all three events HERE.

A personal note:

The vast majority of the time, I have tremendous respect and admiration for the individuals and organizations GLAAD chooses to honor or invite to participate in its events, including all of the people I've included in this blog. I encourage everyone to find out more about the organization and to support its programs.

There are a rare few times, however, when I believe a participant, through their work or public expressions, treats members of the GLBT community with all the respect accorded the depiction of an African American in a minstrel show. It may matter to no one but me, but their names won’t show up in my blog.

I'll still send my donations to GLAAD, for the vitally important work they do in helping extend respect, dignity and equal treatment to all.

Defying Inequality: The Dream - Fierstein Challenges Obama

2009-02-25T11:23:00.000-08:00

I am a woman, and an African American. I've often joked with friends that, had I also been Jewish or a lesbian, I would have hit the trifecta of discrimination.

Growing up with the echoes of King and Kennedy and Chavez ringing in my ears, with Gloria Steinem giving the lie to the stereotype of feminist and with a man named Harvey Milk still deeply loved and missed among friends in the San Francisco Bay Area, there simply was no way I was going to look down on another human being.

Not even Republicans. ;)

When Proposition 8 passed in my home state of California, I was doing one of my typical soapbox numbers when someone I (thought I) knew cut me off with "You're straight. What's it to you?"

What's it to ME?

Here come those words again:

"If I am not for myself, who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?"
- Rabbi Hillel

Monday night in New York City, the Defying Inequality benefit concert raised $400,000 for a consortium of equal rights organizations. Though I could only be there in spirit and witness the evening in my mind's eye, there are two things I'd like to share from the event.

The first is "The Dream," a performance created by Steven Skeels and choreographed by Brian Thomas. Elegant and touching, it communicates the dream through a group of dancers, singers, words and images ("The Dream" features lead dancer Reed Kelly, a member of the cast of "Wicked," and singer Marty Thomas --- I'll edit to add additional credits.)

If you'd like to comment, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnhH05ILF9Y

For more on the event, go to http://www.defyinginequality.com

Reading the benefit coverage at broadwayworld.com (and checking for photos of actor Christopher Sieber ["Shrek," "Monty Python's Spamalot"], who I freaking love), I was dumbstruck by the poetry and passion of Harvey Fierstein's open letter to President Barack Obama, a man I voted for and very much admire. If I could write my heart like this, well... I suppose I'd be a Tony-winner.

Please pass this on to everyone you know who cares about equal rights for all.

Dear President Obama.

While fighting for the abolition of slavery, one politician qualified his stance, "I have never been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people."

That politician was Abraham Lincoln. Obviously time and experience brought Mr Lincoln to what would have been called the extremist view; that freedom cannot be compromised just to appease the majority.

And so he made a grander gesture reminding us of "...a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Passing a law would change the course of slavery, but those words changed the course of the history.

Mr Obama, I have heard you speak eloquently in favor of inclusion for gays and lesbians. But then you sternly state your opposition to marriage rights. It leaves me wondering if you are straining to be politic or, if like Lincoln, your views still need maturing.

Days after your historic election an aide of yours told me that you plan to do away with the military's DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL. I applaud the gesture. But don't kid yourself. Redefining that policy will do little to end discrimination against us.

With or without the Pentagon's permission gays and lesbians have been serving in the military since the birth of this nation.

We may have served in silence.

We may have fought in secret.

But a complete ban of gays did not stop us from fighting and dying for our country.

Abolishing DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL won't bring us into the military or end discrimination against us.

Legalizing gay adoption won't end discrimination against our children in the playground.

Even legalizing gay marriage won't bring about the whole cloth change our nation needs.

When you, leader of the free world, accept, tolerate and even invite bigots into your fold changing a policy is not enough.

In any case, we don't need you to fight our small battles for us.

We will eventually win these on our own. Property matters, adoption rights, and even gay marriage will be won in courts of law as they are now being won in courts of public opinion.

Given time, our constitution, and the American values of fair play and justice, will prevail. We will win equal rights.

But what only you can give us is the grand gesture.

Mr President, we need you to be more than another reasonable voice.

We need you to raise yourself up out of the mire of majority opinion.

We need you to rise above the daily politics of compromise.

We need you to mount that bully pulpit our blood, sweat and tears have erected, and speak to the greater ideal.

America needs to hear you say, "We will no longer tolerate the oppression of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. They are our family. They are we and we are they."

The nation needs to hear you say, "We must prove ourselves worthy of the title Americans; protectors of the weak, standard bearers of freedom, and guarantors of equal rights for all."

Mr President, history will record the day you say, "From this day forward no amendment, statute or law that seeks to deny full rights of citizenship on the basis of sexual preference will be tolerated. Hatred and bigotry are here forth banished to the dark recesses of small minds.

Let the Pledge of Allegiance light our way to tomorrow as "...one nation, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.'"

That, dear son of Lincoln, is the grand gesture we need from you.

We need a hero, and you have been elected.

Sincerely,

Harvey Fierstein

If not now, when?

Defying Gravity... and Inequality

2009-02-23T16:49:00.001-08:00

"Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down..."

"DEFYING INEQUALITY: The Broadway Concert -- A Celebrity Benefit for Equal Rights" tonight at the Gershwin Theatre, hosted by the cast of "Wicked," stars some of the brightest lights on Broadway. This show benefits marriage equality, because every loving couple should have the right to marry.

No more second class citizenship.

No more legislated fear and hatred.

No more limits on any American's equal rights.

Come celebrate love.

"I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But 'till I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love - I guess I have lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner be
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down..."

- Lyrics from "Defying Gravity" by Stephen Schwartz, from the acclaimed musical "Wicked"

For more information, go to http://www.defyinginequality.com

Jai Ho --- The 2008 Oscar and Spirit Award Victors

2009-02-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

"Jai Ho," the exuberant song performed over the closing credits of this year's Academy Award-winning Best Picture, "Slumdog Millionaire." The song's Oscar-winning composer and performer, A.R. Rahman, told Oprah Winfrey that "Jai Ho" means "May victory be yours."

For "Slumdog Millionaire," victory was theirs --- eight times. Go see this film!

Here is a complete list of the 2008 Oscar winners from oscar.com (primarily mainstream films, through some indies are included in the winners), followed by the winners from the Spirit Awards, give to independent films:

Best Picture - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Actor in a Leading Role - Sean Penn, MILK

Actress in a Leading Role - Kate Winslet, THE READER

Directing - Danny Boyle, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Foreign Language Fim - Departures (Japan)

Music (Song) - Jai Ho, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Music (Score) - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Film Editing - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Sound Mixing - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Sound Editing - THE DARK KNIGHT

Visual Effects - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Documentary Short - SMILE PINKI

Documentary Feature - MAN ON WIRE

Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger, THE DARK KNIGHT

Short Film (Live Action) - SPIELZEUGLAND (TOYLAND)

Cinematography - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Makeup - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Costume Design - THE DUCHESS

Art Direction - THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Short Film (Animated)- La Maison en Petits Cubes

Animated Feature - WALL-E

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) -SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Writing (Original Screenplay) - Dustin Lance Black, MILK

Actress in a Supporting Role - Penelope Cruz, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Now go see these films the way they are meant to be viewed --- in a movie theater!

And check out full credits, acceptances speeches, photos and video from this year's winners and nominees at oscar.com

2008 Spirit Award Winnrs:

For movies that are outside of the mainstream, be sure to see some of the independent films featured at http://spiritawards.com/

Best Feature
The Wrestler
Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin

Best Director
Thomas McCarthy, The Visitor

Best First Feature
Synecdoche, New York
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Sidney Kimmel

John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge
Producers: Seth Caplan and Scoot McNairy

Best First Screenplay
Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Best Screenplay
Woody Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Female Lead
Melissa Leo, Frozen River

Best Male Lead
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Supporting Female
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Supporting Male
James Franco, Milk

Best Cinematography
Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler

Best Documentary
Man on Wire
Director: James Marsh

Best Foreign Film
The Class (France)
Director: Laurent Cantet

Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director and ensemble cast)
Synecdoche, New York
Director: Charlie Kaufman
Casting Director: Jeanne McCarthy
Ensemble Cast: Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams

Someone to Watch Award
Lynn Shelton, My Effortless Brilliance

Truer Than Fiction Award
Margaret Brown, The Order of Myths

Producers Award
Heather Rae, Frozen River and Ibid

Fragile

2009-01-31T20:51:00.000-08:00

"If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay

Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are."

--- Sting

For all of the fragile children of the world, please support unicefusa.org

Always and Forever

2009-01-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

Always and forever
Each moment with you
Is just like a dream to me
That somehow came true

And I know tomorrow
Will still be the same
'Cause we got a life of love
That won't ever change and

Everyday love me your own special way
Melt all my heart away with a smile
Take time to tell me you really care
And we'll share tomorrow together
Baby, I'll always love you forever

There'll always be sunshine
When I look at you
It's something I can't explain
Just the things that you do
If you get lonely
Call me and take
A second to give to me
That magic you make and

Everyday love me your own special way
Melt all my heart away with a smile

"Take time to tell me you really care
And we'll share tomorrow together
Baby, I'll always love you forever..."

It was just three lines.

It took twenty seconds.

Today, it has been six years.

Five albums.

Six million sales.

Eight tours.

One foundation to include kids with disabilities into the life experiences of their typical peers.

One UNICEF ambassadorship, with five trips to Indonesia, Uganda, Afghanistan, Mexico and Somalia.

One book on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

One atypical Broadway musical.

One extraordinary song, Lover All Alone, with lyrics written by you.

One son.

One coming out.

One singular voice.

Congratulations, Clay. Thanks for the fun, the love and the laughter.

Baby, I'll always love you, forever...

A Change is Gonna Come

2009-01-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

There's been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come, oh, yes it will

---Sam Cooke

Martin Luther King Day is not a recognized paid holiday in the film industry, and on several occasions I’ve had to work. I like to think Dr. King would be pleased to see an African-American woman working in a position of responsibility on multimillion dollar films.

Access to all opportunity for qualified people was part of the dream, after all. During his lifetime, the number of African-American members of the Directors Guild of America --- or members of Hispanic, Asian or First Nations descent, for that matter --- could be counted on two hands. Though women and minority numbers are still low, we are there, working major projects of all kinds. That's progress.

A change is gonna come.

I think he'd also be pleased that this year, the day after the holiday honoring his life, his work and his ideals, this country's first African-American president will be sworn in.

On Tuesday, January 20, Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the United States. I needn't go into the remarkable life history, and the even more remarkable set of circumstances, that led to his election. That information is now well known, and can be read in detail at the official site of the Obama - Biden transition team, Change.gov .

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

--- The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Obama campaign showed much about how this man will handle challenge and controversy, but the months and years after his inauguration will show far more. How will we take his measure, as time goes by?

Despite the obstacles that still remain in extending equality to women and to racial, religious and sexual minorities, there has undoubtedly been progress towards that goal in the forty-five years since Dr. King delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Something amazing happened on November 4, 2008. America voted across lines of age, class, color, and gender and elected Barack Obama on his own merits --- the content of his character.

And now the real work begins, for a nation and a world that cannot afford to be mired in past animosities, tied to policies built on lazy thinking or weighed down by the foolish habit of excluding alternative American voices.

A change is gonna come.

And, just perhaps, one of those changes will be to restore the constitutional freedoms that have been eroded during the past eight years. American freedoms that were hard won -- but far too easily set aside --- are the essence of "We the People of the United States."

The more perfect union is at hand, but it will not come easily. Perhaps Obama will begin by reminding us that we are one nation, one people, and we cannot prosper as us vs. them.

A change is gonna come.

That’s a wonderful thought to end this with, as we approach these days of dreams turned into action.

Happy Martin Luther King Day, everyone.

Congratulations, President Obama.

Read King’s Nobel lecture and hear an excerpt HERE at the Nobel Prize site.

Read King’s Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance speech HERE.

Find writings by and about Barack Obama at Amazon.com's Obama page.

New Year's Day

2009-01-01T20:18:00.001-08:00

It's true, it's true
We can break through
Though torn in two
We can be one
I will begin again...

From 'New Years Day' by U2

Since I don't care to frontload my failures, I don't make resolutions.

I am a contemplative sort, though, so I took a bit of time to consider the year gone by.

Hmm. I'd better keep looking forward.

There are good things ahead. The Obama inaugural is just 19 days away, and though he has so much he needs to accomplish (and even more he needs to undo) on this quest for the more perfect union, I'm just thrilled by the thought of soon having a man with an excellent command of language and a detail-oriented, complex and inquiring mind.

I look forward to seeing what he has to say when I come across him on television, rather than changing the channel as quickly as my fingers are able.

After eight years, I think my remote control could use the rest.

Have something to say to the President-Elect and his team? Check out Change.gov, the official site of the Obama-Biden Transition Team.

Though torn in two, we can be one.

Looks like a good day to begin again.

My Back Pages

2008-12-31T20:58:00.000-08:00

Busman's holiday:

NOUN: Informal A vacation during which one engages in activity that is similar to one's usual work.

I write.

I always have, for as long as anyone who knows me can remember.

At so many points in my early life, I was told, "You should be a writer." Sometimes I took encouragement even from criticism: a professor once told me that my writing for a term paper was lyrical, and I was thrilled. I've been down a number of roads. I've been a dedicated but probably middling actor, I minored in theatre and art history, I hold a degree in English literature and I've worked in various fields of entertainment. And though I have sometimes made my living without my words, often working in film production, I am a writer at heart.

Expect me to break all the rules.

Over the last half a dozen years, my busman's holiday has been writing about a singer who intrigued me, some causes where our lives intersect and the vagaries of a career in entertainment. I've tried to move conversation in the direction of a better future, "using ideas as my maps." Sometimes I've seen impossible victories, most recently on November 4 with the election of Barack Obama.

The hundreds of thousands of words I've written to earn my living aren't included, but a few of the words I've played with are here on my back pages. I have a lot more to say beyond my favorite pasttime, though he'll show up from time to time.

This blog is about the rest of my life --- sometimes getting it right, and often having a hell of a good time while getting it all wrong.

2008: Singer. Actor. Activist. Dad. Oh, and Gay.

2008-12-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

...

12 Days of UNICEF: Give Gifts that Give Back This Holiday Season

2008-12-31T20:28:00.000-08:00

December 25, 2008.

BREAKING NEWS:

December 25: UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken blogged today at UNICEF FieldNotes as part of UNICEF's "12 Days of UNICEF" awareness campaign. The blog, entitled Clay Aiken: Help kids in emergencies stay in school, supports UNICEF's School in a Box education kits, available through UNICEF's Inspired Gifts. Aiken, who was appointed a UNICEF Ambassador in 2004, holds a degree in special education and is a former teacher.

In the spirit of this season of giving, please read the blog, then visit the Inspired Gifts: Education & Play section. Find out how, for just a few dollars, you can make a difference in the lives of the world's children by bringing them the stabilizing force of education, during emergencies and throughout the year.

Links to other "12 Days of UNICEF" blogs follow the original article below:

Breaking News:

December 19:
This morning the U.S. Fund for UNICEF announced the "12 Days of UNICEF" blogging campaign, featuring daily blogs from UNICEF Celebrity Ambassadors and Supporters discussing life-saving gift options for children around the world.

25,000 young children die every day from preventable causes—things like malnutrition, poor sanitation and lack of safe, drinkable water.

25,000 children die every day.

UNICEF believes that number should be zero.

Here's your chance to make a real difference. In the spirit of this season of giving, what better gift than to save a child's life for just a few dollars?

U.S. Fund for UNICEF "12 Days of UNICEF" Press Release:

New York, NY (PRWEB) December 19, 2008 -- The U.S. Fund for UNICEF announced today "12 Days of UNICEF," a blogging campaign to encourage Americans to give back this holiday season with Inspired Gifts. Beginning December 19 and running through December 31, UNICEF celebrity Ambassadors and Supporters, including Lucy Liu and Clay Aiken, will post daily blogs on the UNICEF website at FieldNotes about Inspired Gifts and their impact on children around the world.

From nutrient enriched food, medicines and immunizations, to wool blankets, tents and school supplies, UNICEF's Inspired Gifts can mean a world of difference to children living in harsh circumstances due to poverty, exploitation, armed conflicts and natural disasters. Participants in the program choose an item from the collection of life-saving gifts to be shipped to children in need in one of over 150 countries and territories where UNICEF works. Recipients receive a UNICEF Acknowledgment Card identifying the item that was sent and how it will be used to save children's lives.

Celebrities lending their support to the program include Clay Aiken, Lucy Liu, Joel Madden, Nicole Richie, Alyssa Milano, Marcus Samuelsson, Al Roker, Jon McLaughlin, Mia Farrow and Sarah Jessica Parker. Some of the items they will blog about include HIV test kits, bicycles, water well hand pumps, insecticide-treated mosquito nets, measles vaccines and more.

For more information, visit Inspired Gifts or call 1-866-237-2224.

About UNICEF:
For more than 60 years, UNICEF has been the world's leading international children's organization, working in over 150 countries to address the ongoing issues that affect why kids are dying. UNICEF provides lifesaving nutrition, clean water, education, protection and emergency response saving more young lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. While millions of children die every year of preventable causes like dehydration, upper respiratory infections and measles, UNICEF, with the support of partnering organizations and donors alike, has the global experience, resources and reach to give children the best hope of survival. For more information about UNICEF, please visit U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Links to "12 Days of UNICEF" Blogs:

Day 1, December 19:

Marcus Samuelsson: Give the gift of nutrition

Day 2, December 20:

Alyssa Milano: Help us fight cholera and dehydration

Day 3, December 21:

Jon McLaughlin: A little can go a long way

Day 4, December 22:

Mia Farrow: We can end the nightmare of malaria

Day 5, December 23:

Téa Leoni: The best gift any mother can give

Day 6, December 24:

Lucy Liu: Give nutritious "milk and cookies" this holiday

Day 7, December 25:

Clay Aiken: Help kids in emergencies stay in school

Day 8, December 26:

Joel Madden: All children need safe, clean water

Day 9, December 27:

Nicole Richie: Give the gift of warmth and security

Day 10, December 28:

Al Roker: Help put a stop to deaths by measles

Day 11, December 29:

Benji Madden: Families need water to survive

Day 12, December 30:

Ne-Yo: The difference between life and death

On "Knowing" Clay

2008-12-31T20:26:00.000-08:00

Friday, Decemeber 05, 2008

Why do [u]some[/u] people feel a personal connection to Clay Aiken?

Blame "Wide World of Sports."

It was ABC’s Roone Arledge, I believe, who invented the “Up Close and Personal” feature, the idea of doing personal intro packages for athletes that let the viewers in on something beyond the record, the speed, the distance, the time.

When considering people in the public eye, I admire talent and respect decency, and I think it is natural to care about people I come to “know” in a more personal way. With a little more knowledge, many will feel more than the general empathy one might have for a fellow --- though faceless --- human being.

Here’s an example: I’ve loved ice skating since I was a kid, and over time I came to know my favorite skaters beyond the national, world and Olympic medalists many of them became.

It's why it was so disappointing to me that Randy Gardner's injury took him and Tai Babilonia out of contention for an Olympic medal.

It's why I cared when Scott Hamilton had cancer.

It's why I cried when young and handsome Sergei Grinkov dropped dead on the ice after practice, leaving his partner and wife Katya Gordeeva with their infant child.

It's why I was happy when Kurt Browning married a principal ballerina of Canada's National Ballet, and why I smile when I think that they have two little boys now.

These feelings are directed at strangers, but they are real.

I have never been to an ice skating board in my life, and I have seen fewer than half a dozen skating shows in person, but skaters and skating mean something special to me.

I started with love for the sport. I love it more because I care about some of those skaters.

Music has always been an invaluable part of how I express myself, of how I connect to fellow human beings, of how I explore the world through sound and word and feeling.

I have a collection of hundreds of CDs, cassettes and records, across many different genres. There are quite a few musicians I’ve seen lots of times in concert, including two, three or four times during a single tour. Of these, I own most or all of their CDs, have a book or two about some of them and have saved a few significant articles or cover stories.

Some I enjoy for their talent alone. I don't know a thing about John Legend, for instance, except that I like his music. I have a couple of his albums, and I'd like to see him in concert some time. I don't know if he is married or single, gay or straight, self-taught or formally trained, the product of a happy home or a dysfunctional one. I don’t know if knowing more about him personally would make me like him more or less.

Though every year I discover someone new to add to my playlist, I have some favorites, old and new. I feel like I grew up with Bono and Sting, who are my contemporaries. I know a little about their families and their backgrounds, quite a bit about their causes and concerns, and a lot about their music, their inspirations, their collaborations. No doubt, I support their music and, sometimes, their causes more because I like what I know about them. I feel affection for them, and for some of my other musical heroes I’ve had a chance to work with, like Neil Young.

I idolize none.

Over nearly six years, I learned many bits and pieces about Clay Aiken, some trivial, some profound, much that he has provided himself: information from those AI packages, print and radio and television interviews, [i]Learning to Sing[/i], and M&Gs, all the way up to what was recalled in the recaps from Chat with Clay last weekend.

In a thousand different ways, I've come to “know” Clay, and I think he has the rare kind of charisma that can gather people in, that makes him a captivating performer and a riveting personality.

First and utmost was The Voice. I am not one to care much about the age or appearance of the musicians I appreciate, so if Clay, armed with that voice, still looked and dressed exactly like the guy who walked into that audition, he’d still be my favorite singer. It’s a nice little perk that he improved his look, but some of my favorite musicians ain’t gonna win no beauty contests. There are also better looking men without a fraction of his talent, and I don’t have time to waste on them.

Then there was The Man. I liked Clay for so many little things: his humor, his open affection, his devotion to children, his advocacy for inclusion and the way he truly seemed to see people from the inside out. He’s a genuine good guy. He made me think sometimes, and I loved how he made my laugh.

I loved how he defied stereotypes, how he kept proving to be more than he seemed and how, when I learned something new about him, I liked him more instead of less.

I've noticed that he changes his mind on occasion, that he can be more forthcoming over time, that after a while he drops promo spin and says how he really felt, that sometimes he likes to tease, and that he sometimes contradicts himself, just as I do. No, he doesn’t always tell the unvarnished truth, but I have never found a reason to doubt his basic honesty.

I still haven't.

When I read the [i]Rolling Stone[/i] article in the summer of 2003, I noted a number of things: Clay was polite if a little bit critical, rather old-fashioned, a Southern Baptist, not a womanizer, not gay, didn’t smoke, wasn’t racist, and he had a great (and pointed!) sense of humor.

I didn’t question “not gay” any more than I questioned “Southern Baptist” or “doesn’t smoke.” I had no reason to doubt anything he chose to reveal. Sometimes he seemed more honest than I would have considered wise, especially when his honesty was used as a weapon against him by some bloggers and comedians and deejays.

In the early days, especially, Clay was far more forthcoming than he had to be about aspects of his personal life, and though he grew more reserved, that continued well into 2006 and, in some instances, to this day. There have been a number of times he chose to be forthcoming about his personal life. He did so, yet I always considered him to be, at heart, a very private person.

It was Clay who revealed the nature of his relationship with his birth father, discussing alcoholism, family violence, racism, the mistreatment of women, and most of all, his father’s staggering [b]indifference[/b].

I didn’t spend my time grieving about it, but I cared about the man who showed so much hurt when he discussed these things with Diane Sawyer. I hoped Clay would one day hear “I love you” from a father who meant it. And I yelled “Oh, no!” when I came to the boards and learned Grissom had died ---- no reconciliation, no chance for closure.

Life stinks sometimes.

I cared that Clay had been bullied by kids like it was their job. I cared that he was dodge ball bait. I cared that he’d been taunted and called a fag, perhaps because I’d been called a nigger, and I did not understand why such virulent hatred and baseless animosity exists in this world.

Clay wrote that he’d been asked to leave his grandmother’s funeral, and described the feelings of rejection and sorrow that accompanied that.

Clay told the world, in his book and on TV, that his sister had committed suicide, and described his pain and loss, not only in that moment but in wondering, years later, if he was to blame. (“[i]This is what shock feels like.[/i] Time stood still. A horrible, frozen moment. Then I began to wail… ‘My sister is dead,’ I cried. Then in my head, [i]It’s my fault.[/i]")

Damn, that’s an intimate and painful account.

Clay, in time, told the brutal truth behind what he recounted to Leno as a hilarious story about “stealing” his car to go for pizza. (Describing his stepfather: “He reached for my belt loop, snatched at my waist and started spanking me. He spanked me with such ferocity that an old man who had also been waiting for his pizza came out and told him to stop. ‘Interfere again and I’ll hit you, too’ my dad shot back.")

It made me feel sick to read that.

Clay announced the birth of Andy’s daughter and Quiana’s son, though he doesn’t discuss either of those children. He let us know when Brett had returned safely from Iraq, though his brother has rarely interacted with fans. He shut down his fan club board for several days upon the death of his aunt, though few fans had ever met her and I don’t think she had anything to do with the running of the OFC.

Clay has, in recordings and in some of his most moving performances, shared his faith and devotion in songs that seemed addressed to his lord and savior more than they were meant for the audience, sometimes so intimately that it almost felt intrusive to watch.

Though no one might have ever found out, Clay told the world that he had anxiety attacks and difficulties coping with crowds to the extent that he started taking Paxil. (That certainly explained the times he’d suddenly become remote in dealing with the public.)

All of these things were deeply personal, honest reflections of the man behind the entertainer. I don’t know why he chose to share them, but I appreciate that he did. Perhaps Clay did not know that, in sharing some of his life, there would be people who would come to care about him on a personal basis, people who had cared initially about the phenomenal talent they had heard on television, people who loved what they saw of the man [u]and[/u] of the singer. I think it is entirely understandable why this would happen.

(It is unfortunate that, as a side effect of openness, some people wanted to know things that Clay had no intention of sharing, and attempted to dig up more personal information. How much he chooses to share has been, and should always be, his call.)

Clay Aiken is a private man, but he has sometimes revealed very personal things with stunning honesty. I’ve appreciated the insights, but I don’t push for more.

I don’t idealize Clay and I’ve never felt entitled to a thing. I’ve called him “a miracle and a mess.” I think he is a good man. I know he’s flawed --- of course he is, since he’s human. I like him. It doesn’t matter to me that he sometimes says or does things that make me roll my eyes or shake my head, because I think he does far more, as an artist and an activist, that I find interesting, intriguing, inspiring, thrilling and admirable.

I hate to put a caveat on it at all but, as much as I can love someone I don’t personally know, I love Clay Aiken.

To me, he’s not a book, he’s a whole freaking library of fascination.

I don’t remember what triggered it, but I had a conversation several years ago with one of the very few people in the fandom who became my RL friend. Among a dozen other topics, we wondered about the obsession with Clay’s sexuality in the media and talked a bit about fan reaction. Neither of us could give a sh-t if Clay was straight or gay, though we’d taken him at his word as stated early on. He had sometimes been so painfully honest: we both believed that if he was gay, with all of the other personal revelations he had shared, he would just say so. (In fact, he [u]did[/u], didn’t he, when he was ready.) In essence, his sexuality was a whole big “whatever” --- or, more accurately, a small one. Since we didn’t care, we weren’t keeping track as some did, but over the years Clay did make comments on women, marriage, family, children, etc., mixed in with thousands of bits of information that he had shared about various aspects of his life. It was simply background information to me, but I believed he was straight.

I honored what I believed was his self-identification. I think there is as much bigotry in assuming a straight person must adhere to certain stereotypical characteristics as there is in saying that a person who identifies as gay is wrong, and that he can overcome it or come out of being gay if he tries.

I simply cannot understand why some in the media and the general public think that they deserve any information on a famous person’s sexuality in the first place, unless that person volunteers to discuss it.

It wasn’t important to me why Clay said he was going to stop discussing his personal life in 2006. He said that he’d answered before, so I figured he was tired of discussing it, since I agreed that people were going to believe what they wanted to believe anyway.

On September 23, five and a half years after I first heard his voice, I found out that Clay Aiken was gay. For a little while it was a paradigm shift, and so many little things would rise to mind from time to time, but there was never a point when I felt any less for him.

I thank God, and the life I have led, for that.

I am a member of [url=http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=-2][b]PFLAG[/b][/url], a donor for [url=http://www.angelfood.org/site/pp.aspx?c=etIQK6OYG&b=34728][b]Project Angel Food[/b][/url] and, long before I ever heard of Clay Aiken, a supporter of [url=http://bcefa.org/][b]Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS[/b][/url]. Many people I call my friends are gay, including some who never had to come out because they were never in, but when I was barely in my twenties, I lost a friend who committed suicide because he couldn’t face being gay. I witnessed the weight of the world fall off the shoulders of a close friend of more than a decade because he was afraid that I, a left-leaning human rights activist, might reject him when he came out to me. I have worked with gay people throughout my professional life --- loved some, liked some and couldn’t stand others, just like the hets I’ve worked with.

If I’d given it any thought, though, I might have realized that coming out is different than the other things Clay shared.

It’s different because of the way gay people are judged and sometimes condemned in this society, and how their sexuality is often reduced to a sex act or a stereotype.

Clay didn’t know if the people who loved him would walk away --- and I’m talking about his family and friends, not his fans. He didn’t know if he would have a career left. He certainly couldn’t have relied on going back to a career outside of the public eye, when everyone who pays even the slightest attention to popular culture would know his story. He didn’t know if he’d be able to make a difference by continuing to be an advocate for the causes that mean the most to him.

In this long process of coming out, every step must have been full of uncertainty. Perhaps, like others I have known, Clay is still coming out, learning to love, accept and forgive himself, finding his footing about when and how to incorporate this truth into his conversation and even how to joke about it.

I am disinclined to add to his concerns.

Just think: Clay was [b]terrified[/b] that he would be booed off the stage at his curtain call.

He was terrified that this would happen on Broadway, one of the most gay-friendly work environments in the world, terrified even though he was in a play where there’s an entire coming out scene that lovingly tweaks gay stereotypes and ends with simple acceptance, terrified when one of the audience’s favorite “Spamalot” actors is out and proud Chris Sieber?

Honestly, I might laugh at that situation if not for my personal experiences. I have seen that terror before, in seeing what friends have gone through. But I have also read the reactions of some of Clay’s fans, to this “transgression” and other things that offended them, from the “I’ll be damned” lyric to the erotic dancing used to underscore the message in "When Doves Cry" to the Mezghan photo, all the way to having a child out of wedlock and coming out as a gay father on the cover of PEOPLE Magazine. To some extent, though I don’t agree, I can understand not approving, I can understand being disappointed, I can understand those who see his actions and identity in conflict with their own deeply-held morals, values and religious beliefs. I have great sympathy for those who don’t know what to tell their young children about this man who is a role model. (I’m not going to talk about “teaching moments” when I have no children of my own.) I feel sorry for those who are having trouble seeing their way forward. I hope you find your way to a happier place. What I don’t understand, anymore than when I was a child, is the virulent hatred and the baseless animosity that a few are now expressing.

Clay has changed. Of course he has: I’ve changed dramatically over the last five years, and I started at a point of more years of life experience than he had, after all. He says he’s more jaded and guarded and, lord knows, he has reason to be. He doubtless has more experience in so many areas of his life, from the places he has visited, to the causes he espouses, to the music he makes, to the relationships he cultivates. He is undoubtedly more worldly-wise and perhaps a bit world weary.

I still believe he is a good man, an excellent role model for activism, volunteerism, inclusion and acceptance, and an extraordinary talent.

He was gay at “Take.”

He can say so now, and he seems freer and happier than at any point since he first entered the public eye.

For me, all that has changed is that I know he is gay now. Finding out, at first I had a hundred little [i]“But what about”[/i]’s and [i]“But didn’t he”[/i]’s running through my brain. I know now that some were camouflage, some were redirection and some were truth. With all that a person who is gay has to deal with in coming out, I would never call any of them lies, not even when it came directly to me from my [b]close friends[/b]. I think about the illusion of "knowing" someone in the public eye, and I realize that if a person in the closet makes one --- or a hundred --- misleading statements or actions before a faceless public, not to mention their own family and friends, it was in the interest of self-preservation.

I will blame no one for doing what they feel they must, in the face of terror, in order to [u]survive[/u], because I had a friend who did not.

Clay [u]does[/u] love women, and he showed how much in LTS Chapter Nine, “Consider Singing A Duet”. (“[i]These girls --- women now --- [/i] showed me how life should be lived. Take risks. Stand up for what you believe in. Imagine what can be… Women make good company.”)

It’s no surprise that, a dozen years later, he adores Kristy and Quiana and Angela and Jill and Tyra and Hannah.

And every aspect that Clay described of what kind of woman he wanted in his life, from OARS to The Standard, I would say that he considers he’s found in Jaymes.

There are three things I’d react to if I found out anyone I cared about was gay, after I found out that they felt happy, free and natural at last.

The first would be the very real concern about discrimination, the impact on career and daily life.

For Clay, this remains a question mark. In a way, he is in undiscovered country: he’s not a Rufus Wainwright, who has always been out as a musician and who has family bloodlines and artistic cred to support his immense talent, and he’s not an Elton John, an international superstar who had a decade of huge sales and critical acclaim before he came out. Clay is still building a career and finding a voice and, though he was the first to break free from a 19 contract, he is perhaps the only person who ever appeared on that show who is rarely mentioned without an AI reference, often negative. Though Clay has some very high profile supporters, there’s often been media disdain that doesn’t mesh at all with his accomplishments or his abilities.

I think Clay has an excellent shot at doing more theatre, and his sexual orientation won’t matter a whit there, but Broadway is struggling badly now and opportunities might be more limited for new productions. He’s proven himself as an actor, so he might finally get some more television roles as a character actor (more likely than as a leading man). I believe he has a shot at a film role, too, especially in a project helmed by Mike Nichols. One good role could lead to others.

The music industry is a large question mark for everyone right now. Touring is getting much more difficult, and Clay’s attendance numbers have been falling off for a while. He needs a larger, revitalized fan base.

I don’t know what happened between MOAM and what should have been his mainstream Album 2 that Davis / RCA decided to completely reverse course with Clay’s career. He went from being given all originals on his multi-platinum debut album (when riding the AI crest and including a few covers might have made sense) to having this label toss out the forty or fifty songs generated by the Nashville songwriters hoedown in favor of what ended up mandated for ATDW. Of the music on that gold album, the covers included some songs that are broadly considered hackneyed, though many of Clay’s interpretations are truly masterful. The originals, including the brilliant "Lover All Alone", were largely ignored.

For OMWH, Clay made an album I believe truly reflects what he wants to do with his music. (Interestingly, at least one song had been intended for Clay’s version of Album Two.) By that time, though, indifferent promotion in a far-too short window, the shift of album narrative from the personal to the generic, a lead single that is arguably the least interesting track on the CD, the chronic lack of serious promotion for radio play and a public with a short attention span had taken its toll. I don’t know what Clay will do next. It has been almost three years since I wrote several posts about what kind of covers would make up an interesting album for me, but a proposed next CD of more covers, including a hypothetical one that would perhaps be his AI songs? That would be like looking at a high school yearbook: a trip through memories, an appreciation of the past, a specimen in amber. It seems forever ago, and though I liked-to-loved his interpretations, I thought that fully a third of the numbers he performed just weren’t very good songs.

There are no “covers” in jazz or classical or folk: those genres thrive on reinterpreting the past and expanding on an iconic work. There is no shame in pop, rock, country or soul artists like James Taylor, Seal or kd lang doing covers albums: there’s no doubt that they have built their own musical legacies, so there is interest in what they do with works that inspire them. If I “fell in love” with Clay singing covers, it was for that remarkable voice, not for the snippets of songs that ranged from music I loved to that I loathed. (I did not see the JBT, but my appreciation of it comes from seeing Clay’s versatility, the amount of time he spent on stage, the introduction of new Clay Aiken songs and my enjoyment of some of the originals, probably in that order.) For Clay, uniquely among successful former contestants, the “AI karaoke” albatross continues to hang around his neck.

From a position of strength, ten years on, it might be of interest to me to see Clay revisit past hits and classic songs, because there would be a body of work that belonged to Clay Aiken, Singer. Now, though it might be a strategic move or a way to fulfill a contract, it would seem more like nostalgia than artistry to me.

Bet he’d sing them pretty, though.

I know now that Clay is capable of writing his own lyrics brilliantly, and he might greatly reduce his problems with finding material if he could work with a composer as a regular writing partner. I just don’t see in him the desire to do so and, though I’d consider it a great pity and a tremendous loss, I have to respect that that might well be his choice.

I just hope that his voice will be heard. I want to hear Clay’s voice, free of distractions, free of labels, free of encumbrances and limitations. His true, strong, remarkable and utterly inimitable voice, sometimes ringing out, sometimes caressing, sometimes snarling, sometimes thrilling, sometimes breaking a heart or healing a soul.

I am in love with Clay Aiken’s voice.

My second concern upon a person's coming out is, thank the lord, a moot point for Clay. For many of my friends who are gay men, having children was not often an option --- in fact, I can’t think of a single one who has children. Clay has Parker, his own blessing and miracle, and we have seen a few small glimpses of how much he delights in being a father. It makes me so glad for him, to know he realized his frequently articulated dream.

The third is the same as it has always been. Everyone deserves to find his heart’s home. I am very glad that he has a number of loving friends but, [u]if[/u] he desires it, I hope Clay will find a soul mate who is his romantic partner in life. Now, as before, I will ship him with no one and I have no desire to know any details. As much as possible, I hope that he can keep whoever is closest to his heart to himself.

I know enough about Clay’s personal life. It was not my fate to be his friend, so I am not meant to know more. I have always wished I knew more about his music, what inspires him, what he wants to do with this extraordinary talent of his --- specific to that gift of music, not as a means to his philanthropic ends. I have loved every rare time when he talks about music.

Even though I work in entertainment and am familiar with its dream-making machinery, I have to remind myself that I don't know Clay Aiken, and that he is not "[b]our[/b] Clay," in the affectionate and familiar parlance of my old screen name.

No, Clay is not my family, not my friend, but he is one of my loved ones. He is a gorgeously complicated whole, not just one of his attributes. I hope that is recognized one day.

And if the great wide world must hang a tag on him, I hope it will be “one hell of a singer.”

I hope people will be blown away by his talent.

Full circle, at last.

Barack Obama and the American Dream

2008-12-31T20:23:00.000-08:00

11/3/08

Around the time that Barack Obama was growing up in Hawaii, I was growing up in Pasadena, California. We lived in a craftsman house surrounded by trees and, entering the etched glass front door, there was an old Persian rug in the foyer. At the bottom of the stairs, between the pocket doors leading into the living room on one side and the library on the other, I would lay face down on that rug, pretending I could fly.

I’d surround myself with comic books, an adventure story or a mystery, and a large drawing pad, and I'd spend time reading and sketching out my dreams. I’d imagine that I was on the stage, famous and beloved. I’d listen to the sound of music drifting out of the living room. Sometimes I’d pray for super powers, so I could spend my life helping people.

The world was before me, laid out across the fields of my imagination.

In truth, my life was not idyllic, though I was more fortunate than many. I didn’t grow up thinking much about race, probably because my parents had taught me to be the best person I could be, not the best person I as an African American girl could be. I had always lived in integrated neighborhoods and attended integrated schools. My family was middle class, my grandparents had been business owners, my parents were college educated. I was a dreamy, shy kid, and an excellent student.

Sometimes when walking home from school, debating whether I’d rather be a pilot or an actress, somebody would drive by and yell the n-word out of their car window.

Out there in the wider world, Martin Luther King, a man of peace, had walked from Selma to Montgomery. I had been taught to trust the police, but these police were really angry about something, holding rifles and yelling at Dr. King and the people walking with him --- students, religious leaders of many faiths, parents, working people, famous people and people who were unknown. He was walking with other black people, but also with white people, with brown people, people with roots in Asia and with the first Americans. All were peaceful.

They simply wanted everyone to be able to vote.

"Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us. We are moving to the land of freedom. Let us march to the realization of the American dream.”

--- The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights marchers on the road from Selma to Montgomery, wearing leis symbolizing peace. The leis are said to have been the idea of Hawaiian minister Reverend Abraham Akaka.

I put aside my comic books, and started to realize that I did not need any super powers to be of service to others. I started to dream in real life, and my heroes were named Martin Luther King, Cesar Chavez and Bobby Kennedy.

By the summer of 1968, two of the three had been killed, shattering my youthful illusions.

There’s just something wrong with becoming cynical when you’re barely old enough for middle school. Somehow, I didn't give up.

Through my youth, my teen years and now into my adult years, it has become obvious that Martin Luther King was right. The time for the idea had come. Slowly, at times imperceptibly, we marched on to a time when the realization of the American dream became at least a possibility for all.

For eight years now, though, that dream has been on the endangered list. Now is the time to nurture that dream before it becomes lost.

Photo (c) AP/Elaine Thompson --- Obama at Democratic event in Washington state, 2006.

This election is our chance - our moment - to restore the simple dream of those who came before us for another generation of Americans. But only if we can come together like previous generations did and close that divide between a people and its leaders in Washington.

Because in the end, the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white.

It's about the past versus the future.”

What became of that dreamy little girl of days passed? I graduated from a fine university in Los Angeles, with a major in English and minors in art and theatre arts. I became an assistant director, specializing in motion pictures, and I was invited to join the Directors Guild of America. I do a little writing from time to time. I still dream while I listen to music, enjoying a range of great music from Clay Aiken to Yo-Yo Ma. The joy of my life is service, so I do a bit from time to time for organizations ranging from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS to UNICEF.

I learned an early lesson about looking not at the color of skin but at the content of character. I look at people instead of labels, so I still tend not to think much about race, or religion, or gender or sexual orientation, except for when I consider what a gift to my life diversity brings.

I never learned to fly, but every once in a while, I soared.

I guess I found my American dream. In these difficult economic times, it’s not always certain that I will be able to hang onto it.

And what about that kid from Hawaii, whose mother was from a small Kansas town and whose father was from Kenya? Barack served the people by becoming a community organizer. He earned a law degree from Harvard, was president of the Harvard Review, practiced as a civil rights lawyer and taught constitutional law. He served in the Illinois State Senate for eight years and is currently a member of the U.S. Senate.

I understand that he has a decent chance of becoming president of the United States.

And though he is quintessentially American, and focused on the needs and concerns of those living in this country, he is, truly, African/American, as well, with an eye on our place in the world.

He is the face of America’s future --- if we are bold enough to choose it.

The time has come.

There is no reason for me to list the facts and figures of Barack Obama’s background, education, endeavors and political career --- the information is now obvious and everywhere. I don’t need to cite his policies and positions on the issues: on the day before this historic presidential election, I can’t impart any knowledge with this blog that hasn’t been widely available before.

I simply want this to serve as a reminder that your vote can build a strong new foundation for a dream.

VOTE.

Forty years. I think about those marchers from Selma to Montgomery, who were turned back, attacked, and even though some were killed, they as a group persevered.

Forty years --- and I can simply stroll into my precinct and vote for the most capable and the most inspiring candidate in my lifetime.

Barack means blessed. On Tuesday, November 4, I hope we all will be blessed with the courage to seize our dreams and turn them into a bright new reality.

The time has come. Now is the time for Barack Obama. For America. For the dream.

"The true test of the American ideal is whether we're able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life's big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams."

Gift of Life: Join UNICEF to Stop Child Deaths

2008-12-31T20:14:00.000-08:00

10/7/08

--UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken with Somali infant, June 2008

(© US Fund for UNICEF/Nick Ysenburg)

BREAKING NEWS:

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken today launched a campaign aimed at making sure no child dies of preventable illnesses.

Here's how you can help!

Blogging at UNICEF Field Notes, Aiken writes:

Did you know that approximately 25,000 children die each day before their fifth birthday, largely due to preventable causes? Thanks to organizations like UNICEF this number is getting smaller every day. Last year, the number of child deaths worldwide declined to about 9.2 million. In 1990, that number was 12.7 million. That's definite progress, but that number should be zero.

As truly remarkable as it is that UNICEF and other organizations have been able to reduce the number of children who die from preventable illnesses by three and a half million a year in a little less than two decades, it is completely unacceptable that tens of thousands of children continue to die needlessly each and every day, children who could be saved for pennies.

During this worldwide economic crisis, many are looking for ways to save money, not to spend more. I'd like to propose that by pledging as little as a few dollars a month to UNICEF's life-saving programs, millions of dollars can be saved: dollars that would go to military intervention when struggling nations erupt into violence over meager supplies, dollars that would be spent to feed and house millions of refugees forced to flee the desperation of their homelands, dollars that would go to feeble attempts to prevent the spread of what could become a worldwide pandemic rather than taking preventative steps such as eradicating malaria.

The headlines can be bleak, and it is easy to think that it is hopeless. But thanks to UNICEF's child survival strategy, preventable child deaths have declined 27 percent since 1990 and more than 60 percent since 1960 --- proof positive that every penny donated can saves lives.

Don't let another day go by without making an effort to save a child. Whether you have five dollars a month to pledge, $50, $500 or $5,000, every dollar makes a difference.

Even a small amount makes a huge difference. For instance, $5 a month (about 15¢ per day) can ensure five children are protected from measles.

If we could all make this small commitment we may be able to see the day when no child dies of a preventable cause.

--- Clay Aiken

You can save a child's life for the price of a cup of coffee. Join Clay and UNICEF and pledge today.

WHATEVER IT TAKES TO SAVE A CHILD.

--- New dad Clay Aiken with his son Parker, September 2008

(Good Morning America/abc News)

Nothing But Net

2008-12-31T20:12:00.001-08:00

9/10/08

Pop singer and UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken appears in a new video featured on the UNICEF FieldNotes blog, Clay Aiken: Give the gift of growing up . In footage shot during his recent field visit to Somalia, Aiken demonstrates how insecticide treated bed nets provided by UNICEF are being used to protect children from malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that causes one million deaths a year among children under five in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

Malaria kills one child every thirty seconds, but the disease is both preventable and treatable.

Watch the video, then learn how easy it is for you to help give a child the gift of growing up.

The bed net needed to save a child's life costs just $10, including transportation, distribution and education on its use.

Just $10 --- the price of a couple of gourmet coffee drinks.

By acting now, your gift of $10 or more can help UNICEF save twice as many children. $50 will now save ten children instead of five; $500 will save one hundred.

Act now. Here's more:

Malaria No More's mission is simple: to end deaths due to malaria. This fall, Malaria No More has presented the U.S. Fund for UNICEF with a Challenge Match Grant of $1 million dollars to support the purchase of bed nets, their delivery,and education on their proper use in malaria-endemic countries in Africa. The grant will match each donation made to battle this childhood killer, dollar for dollar, thus working twice as hard to support UNICEF's malaria prevention and treatment programs.

Okay, then --- game on.

Donate now and join Clay Aiken, UNICEF and Malaria No More in defeating this killer of children. The task might be insurmountable for you or for me alone, but by joining together, it's a simple thing to save the life of a child.

Ten dollars.

Easy layup.

Nothing but net.

UNICEF: Whatever it takes to save a child.

Somalia: Turning Outrage into Action

2008-12-31T20:01:00.000-08:00

6/25/08

BREAKING NEWS:

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken has asked the world to remember Somalia, where war and famine have combined to cause one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

In a story reported by Reuters, Aiken says there has been scant U.S. and international attention to Somalia since a failed military intervention a decade and a half ago.

Aiken, an American pop singer and UN Goodwill Ambassador currently visiting the Somaliland region of the country, says:

There hasn't been much discussion of Somalia since the early 1990s in the U.S. The American population kind of got a bad taste of Somalia in the early 90's and hasn't really had much interest in the country since.

Somalia has been torn by civil war for nearly twenty years, with problems exacerbated by continued insurgency against an unstable central government.

Aiken has been on previous UNICEF field missions to observe rebuilding following the tsunami in Indonesia, to talk with children in IDP camps and UNICEF centers who had been forced to flee from rebel forces in Northern Uganda, to Afghanistan to witness education programs for girls and women in the post-Taliban era, and to Chiapas, Mexico, to visit survivors of devastating floods late last year.

He continues:

It's the most dangerous place for a child to be. In the lower part of the country, southern part, I feel it's a more desperate situation than any place we've ever been."

More information as it becomes available, along with links to a UNICEF in Somalia fundraising campaign currently being developed.

US Fund for UNICEF

From UNICEF Somalia:

Somalia remains volatile, beset by internal political crisis and conflict, a country severely affected by the repercussions of more than ten years of war, economic decline and destruction. Already one of the poorest countries in the world at the onset of the nineties, conditions of extreme poverty now largely prevail, with very few services and grave health risks experienced by the most vulnerable groups, children and women.

7/2/08

Breaking News:

UNICEF USA Ambassador Clay Aiken talks to Rahma, 9, during a visit to the Somaliland Cultural and Sports Association in Hargeisa, North West Somalia. - UNICEF photo

"NAIROBI, Kenya, 2 July 2008 – During a five-day visit to the self-declared republic of Somaliland in north-west Somalia, UNICEF USA Ambassador Clay Aiken was moved by the work that UNICEF is doing under challenging circumstances." - Source, UNICEF.org

Aiken visited Hargeisa, Gabiley and Boroma in the northwest to witness UNICEF-supported projects in action, including programs to improve children's health, provide safe water, sanitation and hygiene, make primary education available to all, protect children and empower girls.

The American entertainer and UNICEF Ambassador, who is completing his fifth field mission, says,

In a country that’s better known for conflict, insecurity, drought and floods,it’s truly remarkable that UNICEF is still able to make a difference to the health, education and well-being of Somali children.

In Somalia, less than twenty-five percent of the population has access to basic health services and under thirty percent of children receive a primary education --- a particular concern for Aiken, a former teacher.

The country has been torn by war for nearly two decades. Due to this civil unrest, there is little effective infrastructure, and children face malnutrition, threats to health including polio and cholera, a lack of education, and random violence, among other catastrophic circumstances. Despite threats of violence to humanitarian workers, UNICEF remains in the country, responding to these acute needs.

This is Aiken's second trip to the African continent for UNICEF. In 2005, he visited Uganda to observe programs for children who have been forced to flee their homes to avoid abduction by rebel forces, and spoke with former child soldiers who are being reintegrated into Ugandan society. He has also visited Indonesia following the tsumani, observed education programs in post-Taliban Afghanistan and spent Christmas with flood victims following last winter's storms in Mexico.

Aiken continues,

Somali families want the best for their children and people really want to help bring about change. Fortunately, UNICEF has always been there and continues to provide the support needed to make a difference.

This blog will carry further information on Aiken's trip, along with information on fundraisers to assist the children of Somalia, as details develop.

To find out more about helping the world's children, visit US Fund for UNICEF.

Turning Outrage into Action: Clay Aiken, UNICEF and the Children of Somalia

7/9/08

Clay Aiken laughs with children he met on a UNICEF field visit to northwest Somalia.

Photo by Nick Ysenburg, US Fund for UNICEF

BREAKING NEWS:

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken has blogged about his recent visit to Somalia in a UNICEF FieldNote entitled "Where is the outrage?"

Somalia, a country of ten million located in the Horn of Africa, has been torn asunder by civil war for seventeen years. With no central government and few safe havens for those caught up in the conflict, it has been completely destabilized. Children, the most vulnerable, are among those most affected by these conditions.

Is that reason enough to be outraged?

Aiken says, in part:

...the lack of a permanent central government has contributed to Somalia's status as one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. Decades of civil conflict have shattered social structures and exacerbated poverty.

In such conditions—combined with an extremely arid environment and difficult terrain with settlements scattered over vast distances—a Somali child's chances of surviving to adulthood are among the lowest of children anywhere in the world.

One in every eight children do not survive to their fifth birthday, one of the highest rates of death among children in the world.

One in eight.

Is that reason enough to be outraged?

Major infectious diseases are rampant, contributing to a life expectancy of less than fifty years. There is a "very high" risk of food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever, and "high risks" of malaria and dengue fever. (Source: CBS News)

Nearly all of these conditions are preventable with sources of safe water, proper hygiene and improved nutrition, as well as medicines and vaccines that are readily available in the western world. Yet people, especially children, continue to die.

Is that reason enough to be outraged?

To make matters worse, aid workers and activists who are on the ground in Somalia working to improve people's lives are being targeted by insurgents, kidnapped and murdered. Many humanitarian aid organizations have been forced to withdraw from the country, but UNICEF is still there, serving the people of Somalia since 1972, at great risk to their own lives and safety. In the last few days alone, the chief of the Somalia office for the United Nations Development Program was shot dead, a fourth driver for the World Food Program was killed and a prominent Somali peace activist as murdered as he left morning prayer. (Source: AllAfrica.com)

Is that reason enough to be outraged?

Somaliland, the region of the country Aiken visited, is relatively safe when compared to the utter chaos that reigns throughout most of the country, and it is there where the success of UNICEF programs is most apparent. Aiken describes his visit to UNICEF-supported schools and hospitals, centers where girls learn leadership, life-skills and play sports, and UNICEF-supported maternal and child health clinics that offer nutritional feeding and immunization. These programs save lives.

Is that reason enough to turn outrage into action?

Go to the US Fund for UNICEF and read Clay Aiken's Somalia blog, "Where is the outrage?"

Then DONATE to support UNICEF's child survival programs in Somalia.

These UNICEF programs have been proven to be effective. They need to be supported and children need to survive while the monumental task of bringing peace to Somalia continues. If the children don't survive, what future does Somalia have?

Take action.

UNICEF, Clay Aiken and Somalia's Children: How One Simple Act Can Save the World Entire

7/15/08

Clay Aiken, on his fifth field visit for UNICEF, laughs while surrounded by a group of Somali girls and women

- UNICEF photos by Nick Ysenburg

Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.

--- The Talmud

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken is continuing his work to promote support for the children of Somalia, following his recent trip to the northwestern region of Somaliland.

In a blog entitled Somalia: Keep spreading the word, Aiken thanks donors for raising $50,000 for Somalia's children in the last six days, and challenges UNICEF supporters to take action in advocating for children.

UNICEF is one of the few humanitarian organizations with an active presence in the war-torn country, acting as a vital lifeline for the innocent victims of war. In a previous blog, Aiken described his visit to UNICEF-supported schools and hospitals, centers where girls learn leadership, life-skills and play sports, and UNICEF-supported maternal and child health clinics that offer nutritional feeding and immunization, programs that save lives and improve the quality of living.

UNICEF has been helping children for over 60 years and has saved more children’s lives than any other organization in the world. We have the history and the experience to overcome obstacles like politics and poverty—even war—which can stand in the way of helping a child survive. While we could never do it alone, we are often the ones who reach children in need after everyone else has given up.

--- From United States Fund for UNICEF

By supporting UNICEF's programs, you can do something to make a difference.

What does it take to save a child?

Give a little, or give a lot. Here are just a few examples of what a few dollars can do:

$1.20, a little more than the price of downloading another song to your iPod, can immunize a woman and her newborn against tetanus.

$17, less than the price of a takeout pizza, can immunize a child against the six major childhood diseases.

$60, the price of the Grand Theft Auto video game, can provide enough vaccine to immunize 60 children against polio.

$200, the price for a mediocre ticket to a playoff game, can buy a large cold box for the transportation of vaccines to remote locations.

What will you do to save a child?

There are three simple things anyone can do to be a part of the solution: ask your family and friends to become involved; encourage them to become informed about UNICEF's work in Somalia, and; ask them to donate to support child survival programs in Somalia.

And remember: education is the key to ending the cycle.

$3 can provide a child with a pencil, paper pad and a pen to use in the classroom.

$16 can buy a double-sided chalkboard for classroom or outdoor use.

$176 can buy one school-in-a-box kit—a ready-made educational solution packed in a lockable metal box, containing equipment for 80 students such as pencils, erasers, exercise books, writing slates, scissors and carrier bags.

--- US Fund for UNICEF

Act now to save a life and together, one by one, we can save the world entire.

For more information on UNICEF's lifesaving work in Somalia, go to:

US Fund for UNICEF - links to articles by search

UNICEF.org - Somalia country page at international site

UNICEF Somalia - dedicated website

A selection of featured articles from UNICEF:

Protection of Children Is Critical Amid Escalating Conflict in Somalia

Volunteer-Staffed Health Center Helps Save Lives in Baidoa, Somalia

UNICEF Seeks Emergency Support for Somalia’s Undernourished Children

Temporary schools bring a sense of normalcy to young Somalis displaced by conflict

"On My Way Here" - Measuring The Gap Between the Critics and The Truth

2008-12-31T19:57:00.000-08:00

5/23/08

Singer Clay Aiken talks with Kipper, Grammy-winning producer, while recording "On My Way Here"

I’ve been meaning to take a look at the histories of the musicians and technicians who contributed to Clay Aiken's wonderful new CD, "On My Way Here" since the credits were first available --- hey, I read movie credits, too, since I’ve been in them and I see the names of friends all of the time.

It took me two weeks, but as I Googled their names last night, I laughed --- and then I laughed harder.

The men performing with Clay in the "On My Way Here" video bear no resemblance to the Central Casting pop band in the “Invisible” video, as supplied by the director of that piece. These men have the look of people who have been around a while, and everything I could hear as I listened to the album revealed remarkable levels of musicianship. One of them, the guitarist, even looked a bit familiar to me, and I thought it was interesting that the pianist asked --- and was allowed --- to sing on the CD. I figured there was a story behind the names in the credits.

The CD reviews were so at odds with the evidence of my own ears. On song after song, supporting Clay’s extraordinary voice, interpretive skills and growing artistry, I could hear some especially fine musicianship and the same kind of top-flight production that earned Kipper and Sting a Grammy for "Brand New Day" as Best Pop Album. (The single named --- and singularly talented --- Kipper, Aiken's producer, has also worked with renowned jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, among other leading musicians.)

Kipper's interesting and innovative work is known within music circles, if not in the general public, but I was curious to learn about the artists playing in support of "On My Way Here." My tastes are eclectic, my collection is rather large and I've seen hundreds of live concerts, from pop to jazz to rock to blues to funk to soul to world beat... you get the idea. Listening to the CD, I heard inspired artistry and great professionalism, from the musicians to the engineering to the mix. But some of the reviews were odd, not criticizing Clay's peerless voice but everything that surrounded him, implying the CD wasn't worthwhile despite the evident vocal talent. That simply wasn't what I was hearing.

These are the men behind the “uninspired, stock music” --- as some of the critics would have it.

Keith Carlock – Drums

Keith has played and/or toured with Steely Dan, Sting, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Diana Ross, Faith Hill, The Blues Brothers Band, Leni Stern, David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Wayne Krantz, Harry Belafonte, Oz Noy, Paula Abdul and Grover Washington, Jr, to name a few.
Keith was recently voted number 1 Pop drummer and number 3 Best All-Around in Modern Drummer's 2008 Readers Poll.

There's some interesting stuff at Keith's website and in this article from Drummer World Magazine.

Keith at the drums.

Freddie Washington – Bass:

Freddie joined Herbie Hancock’s band at age 19, and has played in sessions or on tour with Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau, Aaron Neville, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, B.B. King, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, Donald Fagen, The Crusaders, George Benson, Denise Williams, Johnny Mathis, Burt Bacharach, and Kenny Loggins.

He has a platinum record as the songwriter of Patrice Rushen’s smash hit, “Forget Me Nots.”

Here is Freddie's Bio and a great article on his work with Donald Fagen from Bass Player.

Freddie and his bass.

Jon Herington – Guitar:

Jon has played with Steely Dan for both recording and touring. Jon has also toured with Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Phoebe Snow, Madeleine Peyroux, saxophonist Bill Evans, the contemporary jazz superband Chroma, and jazz/blues organ great Jack McDuff.

Read Jon's Profile and his reviews at his website, and watch him featured on "My Old School" in this AOL video of Steely Dan.

Jon plays his guitar.

Jeff Young – Piano, Organ, Vocals:

Jeff has played with Steely Dan, Sting, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald, Curtis Stigers and many more. He appeared in the acclaimed Broadway musical “Gospel at Colonus.” Vonda Shepard once sang in his band, leading to Jeff being hired to play for several episodes of “Ally McBeal.”

Jeff on keyboards.

There's a connection between these four musicians.

The men on this CD are the longtime Steely Dan band, backing Donald Fagen and Walter Becker --- and not a single one of these “music critics” recognized them or their musicianship.

Fusing jazz, pop and blues, multiple Grammy-winners Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) are one of the most acclaimed bands in music history. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This is the caliber of musician that Clay Aiken chose as his session men for "On My Way Here."

But assumptions are an interesting thing. Critic after critic, determined to dismiss any effort Clay put forward, wrote reviews with little or no bearing on the reality of the music on "On My Way Here" --- right down to trashing musicians they had praised in other reviews. According to multiple sources, Keith, Freddie, Jon and Jeff are considered among the best session men in the world --- unless they are playing with Clay Aiken, apparently.

And as for the “sound” of the album:

It was recorded and mixed by Nathaniel Kunkel.

Nathaniel’s work with Sheila Nicholls, The Crystal Method, Lyle Lovett, Graham Nash, James Taylor, and Sting, among others, “has earned him the reputation of being one of the foremost authorities on engineering in surround sound.

“Nathaniel’s mix work has garnered him industry acclaim and awards, including Grammy awards for his work with Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, The Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton), and comedian Robin Williams; Surround Music Awards for his work with Graham Nash, James Taylor and Insane Clown Posse; and an Emmy for his recent work with Sting.”

Nathaniel is the son of drummer Russell Kunkel, a longtime James Taylor sideman.

Here's a great article on his work with David Crosby and Graham Nash from Mix Online, "the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry."

Read about his Studio Without Walls, and check out the artists Nathaniel has worked with.

Finally, Cameron Craig engineered the strings.

Cameron is a Grammy-winner who has worked with Duffy, The Hours, Suzanne Vega, Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, Joe Strummer, Garbage and Blur, among many others.

Unfortunately, musician's websites are often out of date, so there's just one mention of their work with Clay. (I suppose RCA didn't think it was worthy of note in the press release for this CD.)

So it doesn’t matter what some critics say, because they clearly don’t have a clue. I know that Clay got the best in the business to work on this album, people with experience, artistry, awards and respect within the music industry, where it really counts.

Working with Kipper as producer and Jaymes Foster as executive producer, Clay Aiken got to work with the best --- and the results are evident on "On My Way Here." It’s only fitting, because Clay is one of the best, as well.

So don't believe the critics' dismissals --- hell, don't even believe my praise.

Listen for yourself.

Listen for yourself.

Day One, Year Six: The Singer, Diane and Mike

2008-12-31T19:54:00.000-08:00

1/28/08

Clay's Hollywood Round AI audition, Late 2002

Clay in New York, January 2008 (Photo by Richard Drew)

“Take time to tell me you really care

And we’ll share tomorrow together

Baby, I’ll always love you forever...”

Lyrics from "Always and Forever", Clay Aiken's audition for "American Idol"

On January 28, 2003, millions of people heard you sing for the first time. I was one of the people who met you at “Take.”

Five years later, you are still here and showing a more wide-ranging talent than ever before, performing before enthusiastic and appreciative audiences while appearing in your debut on Broadway. (I’ll be in that audience later on in your run.)

Before “Spamalot”, there was Diane --- and then Mike, but before “Take,” another Diane and Mike were pivotal to your life.

Part of the reason you are where you are today is because of people named Diane and Mike.

I wonder what it was like in that house in Charlotte when Diane Bubel first heard you sing. There you were, a 23 year old special education major working as a mentor to her son Mike, a job, she has said, at which you excelled. As a CAP (Community Alternatives Program) worker, a YMCA counselor and a substitute teacher for a class of students with autism, you had already devoted yourself to delving into autism’s mysteries. You have said that singing, which had always been a part of you, had been put on the back burner.

One day, working with Mike in the Bubel household, you started to sing.

Diane heard something in that glorious voice, saw something in you that should not be denied. There was a new television talent show called “American Idol,” and Diane thought that you should be part of it. You were reluctant, not because you didn’t have the talent, but because you thought you didn’t have the image.

Diane persisted. Knowing that you would have to leave the work you had been doing with her son if you succeeded in getting a spot on the show, she insisted again and again that you should audition.

You auditioned in Charlotte, but failed to make the cut. You went to Atlanta, and got a ticket to Hollywood. You were cut in your Group Two auditions, but came back as America’s Choice in the Wild Card round. You made the Top Twelve, and three months later you finished second.

Then you started to win: sales records, magazine covers, every poll your name appeared on, industry awards.

Less than a year after your first audition, you set records with your first single --- and you founded The Bubel/Aiken Foundation to continue to spread the message of how inclusion benefits all children, regardless of ability.

Five years later, you have sold more than 6 million CDs, EPs and CD singles and earned more than $28 million in box office through your seven tours. BAF has been awarded millions of dollars to develop curriculum, programs and services, and has supported the inclusion of children with disabilities into the same life experiences as their typical peers through Let’s All Play summer camps, Champions of Change honors, ABLE to Serve grants, and numerous other grants and awards.

It started with your talents and passions, but twice, your success received a major assist from Diane and Mike.

One Diane leads to another --- and to another Mike, as well. The opportunities you earned through your finalist run on AI and your record-setting recording debut led to your first major prime time interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News. I look back at that interview and I remember how remarkably open and candid you were, how frankly you talked about the struggles and challenges and losses of your life. (From then on, I knew I could trust you to be honest.) I also remember how Diane looked at you when you sang “Measure of A Man” and a bit of “Moon River” --- she heard it, too, that remarkable something of you.

Somewhere along the line, during your audience interaction on your seven tours, your talk show appearances (particularly the hilarious rapport you have shown with Jimmy Kimmel), your skits on “Saturday Night Live,” your “As Clay Aiken” moment on “Ed” and an even better one on “Days of Our Lives,” or your first real shot at building a character on “Scrubs,” you made it abundantly clear that you are a very funny man with a gift for taking on various characters. I had my moments as an actor before I became an assistant director of feature films and started watching other people act, and I thought it was possible that you had the makings of a good actor in you.

How did “Spamalot” happen? Did Diane Sawyer bring her husband (some guy named Mike Nichols) to one of your concerts, or did they watch you on TV? Did you met him one night at dinner at the Sawyer-Nichols household? Or was one of Mike’s professional colleagues the one who led to your second pivotal audition, the one that impressed a director with eight Tony Awards, as well as Eric Idle, who wrote the book, lyrics and music for “Spamalot” and who, with Monty Python, created the role of Sir Robin that you play now?

Once you were cut from your high school musical, and now Mike Freaking Nichols says

Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character. People will be surprised by his wide ranging talent, since the first impression is of great country charm and a singer to remember. This guy is not only a star, he is a lot more. We are lucky to get him for Spamalot.

Surreal, isn’t it?

Clay as Sir Robin in "Spamalot" (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Today is quiet for you, your second Dark Monday following another week of cheers and laughter and the affectionate support of your talented cast mates. There have been sold out, standing room only crowds, crushes of well-wishers at the stage door, photographers shouting your name amid a blitzkrieg of flashes.

Fifteen years ago you saw an actor named Martin Moran play Huck Finn in “Big River” and now you take over the role of Sir Robin from him on Broadway. Coincidence or providence?

You have said that this is a full circle moment for you. I agree --- it’s breathtaking, really. I can’t wait to see “Spamalot” and everything that follows it.

This is a full circle moment for me, too. Five years later, you are still here and your career is growing in ways I had not imagined. You’ll have “Spamalot” at the Shubert in New York through May 4, and you are also busy working on your next album, one you have said will be a true reflection of you. Beyond that, there will be tours, television shows, and more of your service to UNICEF and The Bubel/Aiken Foundation. So this is the last time I will formally commemorate that moment, five years ago. It is dear to me, but your future is bright with promise. I prefer to bask in the warmth of your limitless potential.

And I will still laugh at the quirks and the foibles that make you deliciously human.

For all that has been, and for all that will be...

Thank you, Diane and Mike Bubel.

Thank you, Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols.

And thank you, Clay Aiken, for a wonderful five years that is only the beginning.

Bravo.

Godspeed.

Bring on the music!

And may you be blessed with love, happiness and success, from this first day of Year Six on through tens of thousand of bright tomorrows.

"Spamalot" --- and a Guy Named Monty Python

2008-12-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

1/17/08

Ten Fun Things to Check Out This Weekend!

Brave, brave, brave Sir Robin (okay, maybe not) Photos by Joan Marcus

1. Clay Aiken debuts on Broadway as Sir Robin in “Monty Python’s Spamalot”.

Mike Nichols, (Spamalot’s Tony winning director) says

Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character. People will be surprised by his wide ranging talent, since the first impression is of great country charm and a singer to remember. This guy is not only a star, he is a lot more. We are lucky to get him for Spamalot.

Eric Idle, the original Sir Robin and creator of the book, lyrics and music for Spamalot, on Clay being cast in this Tony-winning musical:

This is great news. I have been a Clay Aiken fan ever since I took my daughter to see him live on the second season of American Idol and she held up a big sign of his name. Maybe now it should read 'American Idle.'

Of the people he is working with for his Broadway debut, Clay said

I really couldn't have asked for a more wonderful group of people to work with. Let's not lie, the chance to work with legendary creative minds like Mike Nichols and Eric Idle is, on its own, a reason to jump at this opportunity. But that's not all. The producers and creative folks I have had the chance to meet and work with so far have been unbelievably welcoming and wonderful. They've really made me feel at home already, and I haven't even started yet!

See Clay and the rest of the thoroughly ridiculous, brilliant cast starting Friday, January 18, 8:00 PM, Shubert Theater, New York.

"Spamalot" also stars Jonathan Hadary, Hannah Waddingham, Christopher Seiber, Rick Holmes, David Hibbard, Tom Deckman and Brad Oscar.

Hey! You’re going to need some tickets!

Sir Robin finds his grail

2. Monty Python and The Holy Grail. The funniest movie ever made, from which “Spamalot” was “lovingly ripped off.” See for yourself.

3. Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam in the stupidest show ever on television. It was rather brilliant, too, with the silly walks, “dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam.”

4. PythOnline. Absurd, ludicrous and essential website for all things Python.

5. Eric Idle, from Python to The Rutles to “Spamalot” to "Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)," based on the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian" Be prepared to go to hell if you laugh.

6. Michael Palin, Python's world traveler. “New Europe,” “Around the World in Eighty Days,” “Pole to Pole” or anywhere else he chooses to travel, go with him. Great stuff, this.

7. John Cleese. Check out this lovely collection of Cleese’s anarchic comedy: How To Irritate People, Romance With A Double Bass, and Strange Case Of The End Of Civilization.

8. Terry Gilliam. I just have to recommend Time Bandits for fun, or his masterpiece, Brazil. Visual artistry and a unique perspective, even when he’s not fighting with Terry Jones.

9. Terry Jones. Seen Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life? There you have it, no questions left. This explains everything.

10 Graham Chapman, appearing nightly in Heaven --- and at a video rental shop near you. Fiendishly funny bloke.

PS: Go see "Spamalot" --- a lot!

Noel in Mexico: UNICEF and the Spirit of the Season

2008-12-31T19:34:00.000-08:00

12/19/07

Escaping the flooding in Tabasco. (Photos from the BBC)

Noel: the Christmas season, literal meaning "the birth of Christ."

At the end of October 2007, Hurricane Noel began to batter the state of Tabasco in southeastern Mexico. After more than a week of steady, torrential rain, eighty percent of Tabasco was flooded, and more than a million people were forced from their homes.

In the days following the flooding, UNICEF immediately mobilized to provide emergency supplies of food, baby formula, clean water and safe shelter for the children and families displaced by the flood. The organization is also proving thousands of recreational and school kits for children who have been displaced or whose schools have been destroyed.

Two months later, in this season of noel, many remain displaced. Much more remains to be done.

Now you have a chance to help those affected by the flooding in Mexico.

This Christmas season, UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken will not be on a skiing holiday in the French alps. He won't be relaxing around the fire at his North Carolina estate. Realizing that UNICEF never takes a vacation, he has decided to spend his Christmas with the children and families displaced by the floods. He will be traveling to Mexico this weekend, at the conclusion of his fourth Christmas concert tour.

In support of Clay Aiken's work on behalf of the children affected by the flooding, UNICEF has established a special donation link to challenge UNICEF supporters to raise $100,000 by the end of the year to support relief efforts in Mexico.

Clay Aiken being greeted by Indonesian children, following the tsunami. (Photo courtesy UNICEF)

Clay is just part of a UNICEF team giving of themselves in the spirit of the season. Richard Alleyne, a member of UNICEF's Tabasco delegation, was among the first to respond.

UNICEF's Richard Alleyne with mother and child at UNICEF shelter. (Photo courtesy UNICEF)

Read Richard's Field Blog, "[In the Field] On the ground in Villahermosa, Tabasco."

When I look at the first picture in this blog, I wonder who those people are and what happened to them. It could be a father and mother making way through the flood waters holding their child, as so many thousand were forced to do.

This Christmas, I recognize that for some, not only is there is no room at the inn, there is no inn and no manger at all. The time is now. Before year's end, do your part to help people survive this crisis and rebuild their lives.

In the spirit of this season of giving, please act now to help Clay Aiken and UNICEF raise $100,000 before the end of the year for those affected by the flooding in Mexico.

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken & Family Celebrate Christmas With Survivors of Mexico's Floods

12/25/07

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken celebrates Christmas at a flood shelter with the children of Ostuacan, Chiapas.

Photo courtesy US Fund for UNICEF

Last month, in the wake of Hurricane Noel, the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, Mexico suffered extensive flooding, forcing one million people from their homes. Many remain homeless and are living in UNICEF supplied shelters.

Here's your chance to share the holiday spirit with children and families waiting to return to their homes and schools.

Help Clay Aiken and UNICEF raise $100,000 by December 31 to help the children of Mexico!

In just four days, UNICEF supporters and fans of Clay Aiken have raised $44,000 toward this goal. In the spirit of the season, please do your part to help raise $100,000 to support recovery for the children and families of Chiapas and Tabasco.

In his Fieldnotes blog at the US Fund of UNICEF, Clay wrote:

Merry Christmas to all from Mexico!

I couldn’t be happier than to be with my family and UNICEF in Mexico sharing the Christmas holiday with the people of Chiapas and Tabasco who have suffered such tragedy.

They have lost so much... but they have an unbelievable spirit and contagious joy. This is the holiday season and the spirit of family and giving is alive and well here.

As upbeat and positive as the people are they still need our help. There is much to do to reconstruct their village and get their lives back to normal. Thank you on behalf of myself, UNICEF and the people of Chiapas for your generous donations… and if you haven’t already, please consider opening your heart to these wonderful people who have opened their hearts and homes to me.

Read the full blog HERE.

Here is an excerpt from this morning's news article on PR Newswire:

CHIAPAS, Mexico, Dec. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- UNICEF Ambassador and critically acclaimed recording artist Clay Aiken today wrapped up the first leg of his trip to the flood affected areas of southeast Mexico by participating in a gift exchange and "sing along" with over 300 children and their families at a camp erected for flood victims.

Aiken, who is traveling in the region with his mother and younger brother, a Marine on leave from Iraq, will also be part of a UNICEF delegation scheduled to visit the state of Tabasco over the next two days.

"The situation in Chiapas and Tabasco has really become a forgotten emergency," said the U.S. pop star who became an ambassador for the children's agency in 2004. "Telling the story of these brave people, especially the children, to a U.S. audience is the reason that I am here. Sharing this experience with my family during this time of year makes it even more special."

In one weekend last month torrential rains in Tabasco and Chiapas produced the worst flooding the region has seen in more than 50 years. More than one million residents of the two states have been affected, one third of which are children.

While an integrated humanitarian response lead by government and U.N. agencies has stabilized the emergency in Mexico, thousands remain homeless and displaced. According to UNICEF officials in the region, children are the most vulnerable in these situations. Hundreds of them are at risk of psychological trauma and many more are out of school due to extensive structural damage to school buildings.

Today's event, also attended by Hon. Isabel Aguilera de Sabines, First Lady of the state of Chiapas, was held in the city of Ostuacan where 19 deaths were recently reported after a series of mudslides engulfed the small mountain community of Juan de Grijalva and the search for six missing residents is ongoing.

Clay Aiken's $100,000 UNICEF challenge. Raise $100,000 by December 31 to help the children of Mexico!

Funds Pour in for Clay Aiken's $100,000 UNICEF Mexico Campaign, Deadline December 31

12/28/07

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken with boy at a flood shelter, Ostuacan, Chiapas, Mexico.

Footage from "Entertainment Tonight," screencaps by Invisible926 and CAP121

Monday, December 31:

FUNDRAISING UPDATE: As of 2 PM PST today, more than $101,000 has been raised as a result of UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken's $100,000 in 10 Days for Mexican Flood Relief Campaign, exceeding the original goal!

Though the goal has been reached, there is much more that can be done. remains. The deadline for the fundraiser is the end of the day today, Monday, December 31. Please act now to support recovery for children and families in Chiapas and Tabasco!

Clay has spent Christmas week traveling on behalf of UNICEF in the flood-stricken regions of Chiapas and Tabasco, Mexico. Also participating in this humanitarian field visit are Clay's mother Faye and his brother Brett, a Marine on leave from Iraq.

In Ostuacan, Chiapas, Clay and the Honorable Isabel Aguilera de Sabines, First Lady of the state of Chiapas, participated in games with the three hundred children in the flood shelters.

Clay has spent the last two days in Tabasco's capital city of Villahermosa, visiting the largest flood shelter and meeting with the children and families residing there.

Please go HERE to make a donation to help the children and families recovering from the floods.

It has been nearly two months since massive flooding in the wake of Hurricane Noel displaced one million people, one third of them children. Additionally, seventy percent of the schools have been damaged and 100% of the state's crops were destroyed.

In the spirit of this season of giving, please do all you can to help the children return to school and help families in Chiapas and Tabasco return to their normal lives.

Please go HERE to make a secure, tax-deductible donation to UNICEF.

I'll Be Home for a Clay Aiken Christmas --- if Only on My iPod

2008-12-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

11/27/07

Courtesy SmartyPantsSuz

I've survived --- and even thrived during --- another Thanksgiving, avoided the brick-and-mortars on Black Friday and even postponed my Cyber Monday online shopping spree, but the start of the Christmas and winter holiday season is pretty much unavoidable.

Frankly, I don't even want to avoid it, because my favorite part of Christmas is the music.

(Yes, that was me driving up Pacific Coast Highway in July, listening to Clay Aiken singing "Mary, Did You Know?" Hey, he sings it too well to limit listening to the song to one month a year.)

I'm lining up my favorites, old and new, as the soundtrack of my season. There's Clay, of course, with his record-breaking 2004 smash, "Merry Christmas With Love" and the legendary Luther Vandross, singing "This Is Christmas". There's the instrumental brilliance of "God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen" and my childhood favorite, Vince Guaraldi's classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

There's my priceless EP from 2006, Clay Aiken's "All Is Well". Available only as a limited edition last year, be sure to check it out when it is available on iTunes on Tuesday, December 4.

I love live music, so I usually take in a concert or two --- a popular music artist and perhaps a Messiah sing-a-long. Clay is touring again, for the eighth time in four years. He'll be spending his Christmas in The Heartland. Apparently, the "heartland" is far away from California, so I won't be seeing Clay this year. (I won't complain: I'll be home with friends and family during the holiday season, while, when the tour ends, Clay will be far from home at Christmas, living the tenets of his faith and his commitment to children on his fourth field visit as a UNICEF Ambassador.)

Be sure to check him out if the tour stops near you. The schedule is at the end of this blog.

Last night was Clay's first tour stop in Wichita, Kansas. For a man who has done everything in the last four years to make each of his Christmas tours different from the last, I had no idea what to expect. One year, it was Clay and his three backup singers, with little children reading passages from the Nativity story. The next, Clay decided to write a play, using actors, dancers and local choirs and, instead of using any of the witty banter for which he has become known, Clay "spoke" his part entirely in song. Last year, he was a solo act with orchestra, and drew reviews that praised his comic skills just as much as his singing.

This year, his long time backup singers, Quiana Parler and Angela Fisher, have joined him again, along with Jesse Vargas, his masterful music director, on piano, and a new addition from the summer tour, Sean McDaniel, on drums.

I'm a couple of thousand miles from Wichita, so my experience of the concert was audio only at first, then through video this morning. How I love the Internet...

My reaction to Clay, singing Michael W. Smith's "Welcome to Our World":

First, I laughed out loud.

Then, the smile spread slowly across my face.

Finally, the tears started in the corners of my eyes.

What an utterly rewarding experience. I just delight in how much Clay has grown as an artist. Personally, I love that he delivers something different every year: whether or not I think his choices are wholly successful, his creativity is so very satisfying to me.

Here's a video from last night's concert, courtesy GibbGal:

It's not an original thought, but Clay has delivered something entirely different every time he has gone on tour. I can see the artistry, the work, the thoughtfulness, the inspiration and the professionalism that go into putting his shows together.

He even took time to blog to members of his official fan club after the concert, talking a bit about the change of pace he was looking for in this show, which falls between his 2007 summer tour, full of "lighthearted and silliness", and his starring role as Sir Robin in the Tony-winning musical, "Monty Python's Spamalot", starting on January 18, 2008, which he describes as "goofiness and stupidity." I guess he doesn't think that his mastery of slapstick, his quicksilver wit and his occasional, subtle (or not) use of innuendo always have to be front and center when he appears on stage.

Last year saw Snarky!Christmas!Clay! (complete with body function jokes of your own making, Blogger Man *g*) and, with a couple of brief exceptions, he delighted me with what he did on that far-away-from-me tour.

This year, instead of continuing to escalate the mood until it turned into a burlesque, Clay went with tradition, formality and simplicity.

He's relying on the music, on his voice, on Quiana and Angela's talents and on Jesse's skillful arrangements, supported by the symphonies with which he appears.

I find these choices to be quietly bold.

He has my attention --- and my appreciation --- completely.

Bravo, Clay.

Courtesy dc4clay