15 seconds of TV fame

Earlier this year when I was working on Plays from the Provincetown Players at the newly renovated Provincetown Playhouse, I was contacted by the NYU Steinhardt press rep to do a live interview on television about the re-opening of the theatre.  The interview was scheduled for early March during the run of the show, but then got bumped because of budget issues in Albany.  The producer still wanted to do the interview, and she said she would be in touch around March 29.  I thought it was dead in the water, but then she contacted me on Monday and said there was a slot for Tuesday.   I went in for an interview during the 7:00-8:00pm news broadcast with Chuck Scarborough on NBC4.  The show appears nightly on the NBC’s NY Nonstop cable channel, as well as several other cable providers.

Everyone at NBC was very nice, and the atmosphere was super calm, much to my pleasure and surprise.  I expected lots of frantic running around, but when I entered the studio for the segment, there were three guys running the show and Chuck Scarborough reading the news.  Very very quiet.  On a commercial break they sat me down, clipped on a microphone, gave me a couple of instructions, and we were off.  Chuck was great throughout the interview and made me feel really comfortable.  I was worried about having a Cindy Brady-staring-at-the-red-light-on-the-quiz-show moment, but I managed to get through it.  Then the technician unplugged me from the microphone, and I was off.

Thanks to all for the support and a very positive first live TV experience!

History all around: A fire’s centenary and a birthday

Every year on March 25, New York City firefighters and labor organizers come together at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street to commemorate the deaths of 146 garment workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire that occurred in 1911.  The fire killed many young immigrant workers, mostly women, who were trapped on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the building.  Many of these young workers jumped to their deaths, because their escape was hampered by locked doors, not enough stairwells for egress, and only one elevator.  On my morning run today, my friend Anna talked about how this was an early 20th century version of the 9/11 stories that have become so familiar to us in the almost ten years since that massive tragedy.  At the time of the fire, the Triangle Factory at ten stories would have been considered a high rise building.  In fact, the first fire engine to respond had a ladder to fight high rise fires, but it only extended six floors.  Gives a sense of the scope of the tragedy, while also illustrating just how much architectural innovation has occurred in the last 100 years.  To read more about the fire, visit http://bit.ly/fnQvfa

I walk past the former Triangle Factory almost every day.  It’s now an NYU building full of classroom and office space, and it’s one block east from my office building, Pless Hall.  I see the commemoration each year.  Of course, the centenary has brought out a much larger crowd and many more dignitaries.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg was across the hall from my office in a conference room waiting to deliver his remarks on the stage just outside my office building.  I had to show my NYU ID to be allowed down the street to get into my office.  Any footage you see of the events today will feature “the street where I work.”

It’s one of the bizarre things about living in New York.  The city is a collision of so many different kinds of people and events, and its history is rich and expansive.  I find that I sometimes take for granted what’s right in front of me.  On a day like today, which also happens to be my dad’s 65th birthday, I find myself wanting to pay more attention to what’s around me.  For awhile now I’ve been thinking about having the words “Pay Attention” tattooed on my right forearm as a reminder.  I have “Show Your Love” on my left arm, to help me to remember to be nice.  The other arm should remind me to be vigilante. History has happened around us; we walk on it and through it all the time, no matter where we live.  The only way we don’t repeat it is if we actually take the time to pay attention.

In memory of the lost workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of March 25, 1911 and in honor of my dad, Joe Salvatore, Sr., on the occasion of celebrating 65 years of personal history.

Girl Power. Literally.

Once again the ladies of the Obama administration flex their power and help influence foreign policy and a changing global landscape.

The New York Times reports today that President Obama changed his position on intervention in Libya as a result of three powerful women in top positions in his administration.  From the article:

“The change became possible, though, only after Mrs. Clinton joined Samantha Power, a senior aide at the National Security Council, and Susan Rice, Mr. Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, who had been pressing the case for military action, according to senior administration officials speaking only on condition of anonymity. Ms. Power is a former journalist and human rights advocate; Ms. Rice was an Africa adviser to President Clinton when the United States failed to intervene to stop the Rwanda genocide, which Mr. Clinton has called his biggest regret.

Now, the three women were pushing for American intervention to stop a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Libya.” [my emphasis here]

You can view the full article here: http://nyti.ms/hxXs85

I don’t claim to understand all of the dynamics of the crisis in Libya, although I do know that I’ve been hearing Muammar el-Qaddafi’s name as a potential and/or real hazard in the Middle East since I was a child watching World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.  I tend to want the US take more of an isolationist position on foreign policy, but it seems that we’re not the only country entering the fray on this one.  And Qaddafi needs to be controlled.

However, what I appreciate about this article is that we finally have a chance to see the powerful impact that women have in a presidential administration.  Yes, Madeline Albright.  Yes, Condolezza Rice.  I know that others have blazed a trail. But read that italicized sentence again above.  Not men.  No Biden.  No Cheney.  No Rove.  No Gates.  The three women. And good for President Obama for listening.  Amen.

The debate about a woman leading the free world as President of the United States used to revolve around a woman’s supposed inability to remain rational and not get emotional in moments of crisis.  We’ve come a long way in that debate, largely because women like Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power illustrate that they have intelligence and the guts to go along with it that allows them to contribute to the tough decision making.

If I could turn back time...

CNN released a poll today indicating that two thirds of those polled have a positive opinion of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. You can read about it here: http://bit.ly/fNy4Ds

While I have come to appreciate President Obama, I can’t help but feel a sense of loss when I read this. I was a Hillary Clinton supporter through the 2008 Democratic primary, and I was sad when she withdrew. I supported Barack Obama because she supported his run for president, and I think she’s working hard as Secretary of State.

CNN also reports that Clinton will not serve a second term as Secretary of State, nor does she want to run for President. I look forward to following Secretary of State Clinton’s work over the next 20 months and wherever her career takes her after that.

I do think that the citizens of the United States missed an opportunity in 2008. I know that many disagree, but that’s politics.

Six Flags Times Square = Cultural dilution

In his March 10 article entitled “A Broadway Makeover for ‘Priscilla’ Queens,” New York Times writer Patrick Healy reports on the new musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and its journey to the Broadway stage.  You can read his article here: http://nyti.ms/fOqwOP.  And if you didn’t know, this musical is based on the 1994 movie, featuring two drag queens and a transsexual.

As you might imagine from the title, Mr. Healy spends a significant amount of space in the article highlighting the many changes made by Broadway producers (including Bette Midler) “for the highly competitive market of commercial Broadway.”  Throughout the article, Healy uses words and phrases that repeatedly illustrate the underlying intention of the producers: to sell more tickets by making the play more palatable for middle American audience members who travel great distances to “Six Flags Times Square” to “ride” the newest thrill musical.

Here are some examples of his language and the language of his interviewees, named as such when necessary, along with my response in italics:

“…a musical about two drag queens and a transsexual on a road trip didn’t need extra raciness or profanity” – a paraphrase of Bette Midler (JS: I wonder what Bette’s friend Barry Manilow thinks about this.)

“…it’s not quite as down and dirty, not as in your face so much that you might pull back.” – Bette Midler (JS: Since when did Bette Midler care about something being too down and dirty?)

“But this is also an era when Broadway productions with gay themes are packaged as family shows, so much so that the casual observer might not have realized that the main characters…were gay lovers.”  (JS: I don’t even know how to respond to this statement.)

“At the same time much of the main advertising has been as comely as possible, featuring the beautiful women—actual women—who play the divas, supporting characters who deliver some of the songs.  Mr. Phillips [the show’s director] said he opted against extensive marketing with images of the three male leads in drag because ‘drag is incredibly difficult to photograph.’”  (JS: Since when is drag difficult to photograph?  The marketing for Hairspray featured images of Edna Turnblad. Such a copout here.)

“’The most ridiculous [safe change] was the insistence that Tick look like an American-style leading man, a romantic lead, masculine, less gay, in order to get more bums in the seats.’” – Tim Chappel, costume designer for the show(JS: Amen.  Well…)

“…accommodations did not stem from prudishness.” – paraphrase of Garry McQuinn, a lead producer(JS: The lady doth protest too much, methinks.)

“We’re responding to a certain sensibility in New York that if you do X, you’ll sell more tickets.” – Garry McQuinn(JS: a very heteronormative sensibility that perpetuates the idea that a group of people should be “tolerated.”)

“…a major payoff of the current version is its impact on heterosexual men in the audience, who have been known to shed some tears as Tick and Benji sing ‘You Were Always on My Mind’ to each other in the finale.”  –paraphrase of Allan Scott, co-writer of the script(JS: Is this meant to make me feel better?  How is making straight men cry a “major payoff”?)

“All along we’ve wanted the audience to go away with a greater appreciation for tolerance and a greater appreciation for family.” – Allan Scott

As I read this article, these were the statements that got me a little worked up.  I particularly have trouble being “tolerated” as a gay man.  I appreciate not getting the crap kicked out of me, but being “tolerated” automatically implies a “less than” status that I refuse to be assigned.

I have not seen this new show yet, but Mr. Healy’s article makes me less inclined to rush out and buy a ticket.  It’s fantastic that a show is about to open on Broadway with all of these sexual identities and gender expressions represented, and I appreciate that the producers and creators want audiences to see a family at the heart of the show’s plot.  However, it sounds like they’ve messed with the very DNA of the story in order to sell seats.  It’s the age-old struggle to make back the investment and subsequently turn a profit.  I just wish that people would stop diluting culture to make a buck.  Or if they do dilute it, don’t proclaim that nothing’s lost and that the Kool Aide’s at full strength.  I’m tired of being watered down.

Do you think they cut the ping pong ball moment?