Hail Caesar ..... and more !

Here is a link to my latest video review filmed for Provincetown TV with the help of my Editor Rik Ahlberg.  

All our other videoed movie reviews can be viewed by subscribing to https://www.youtube.com/c/RogerWalkerDackReportsPtown

Well Strung Wins Again

queerguru's good friends (and P. Town neighbors) the Singing String Quartet Well Strung were recently named winners at the 9th Annual OUTmusic Awards for Best Classical Recording/Performance with "Since U Been Gone" (Mozart meets Kelly Clarkson).  Take a look and listen and you will see why.

In addition to the group’s current 3-week engagement at The Palm in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, the group returns home to the U.S. with West Coast dates in Palm Springs (March 12), Los Angeles (March 13), Portland (March 15) , Seattle (March 16) and then New York at Joes Pub (April 4th). 

For tour dates and tickets : http://www.well-strung.com/shows 

Meanwhile here are the Boys hanging out with queerguru for PTV by the pool last summer .

Joseph Wilson : Why Drag Is My Ecstasy

27 year old Joseph Wilson is a rising star Brit queer filmmaker and he is also a central figure in East London's burgeoning Alternative Drag Scene which has set the city's cultural scene alight just as the likes of Boy George and Leigh Bowery did in the 1980's. queerguru tracked down Joseph to a cafe in Hackney's Amherst Road and talked to him about his work and his life and tried to find out exactly why drag was his ecstasy.

Townie Drag Brunch

Every year, the week following P Town's spectacular annual Carnival in August sees one of the best events of the whole season takes place.  What is even more special about it is that fact there is no organizer or planning, people juts know to show up at Bubula's Restaurant on that Thursday at 2 pm.  Wearing drag of course.   

The occasion is Townie Drag Brunch an annual event started originally about 15 years ago ostensibly for all the town residents to who had been working during the actual Carnival Parade itself the previous week.  Over the years the qualification for attendance has relaxed slightly, but the essence of the event is still very much in tact.  Everyone looks to create, make and improvise their own very unique outfits, but even with all that glam piled on, there is never any attempt to even start to disguise the fact that they may all be in DR(essed) A(s) G (irls), they are all (every inch) men.

This year as we filmed the afternoon for PTV we were also invited into the pre-party to witness make-up being applied and shoes being squeezed into whilst bubbly was being consumed.  (No-one ever seems to eat much, even though it is technically a Brunch). The whole spontaneous gathering is a sheer joy to be part of, and also enormous fun to witness when the streets of the Town are full of this outrageously dressed bunch of drag queens-for-a-day as they totter to T Dance in their very high heels to finish the afternoon.

P.S. The (real) lady at the end of movie who is taking in the sights is Marilyn Maye the legendary jazz singer who had been performing in Town.  Click here to see the interview we did with her driving around town in the back of her Rolls Royce.

Video & Editing : Rik Ahlberg

Special Thanks : Patrick Lammerson

http://www.provincetowntv.org/

Subscribe to  http://www.youtube.com/c/RogerWalkerDackReportsPtown

"Aids Is Still Being Ignored" says Larry Kramer

To mark Worlds Aid Day we wanted to re-release this interview that queerguru hosted for Provincetown TV earlier this summer with the leading gay activist and author Larry Kramer.  We met to celebrate the launch of Jean Carlomusto's new documentary "Larry Kramer In Love and Anger" that was about to aired on HBO as part of the celebrations for the great man's 80th Birthday.

In a wide ranging interview Kramer was feisty as ever, although he still refused to acknowledge the success of his crucial role in the long fight against AIDS, and still claiming that he and the other activists could/should have done more.  We asked him what we should all do as individuals to help combat the spread of the disease now and he replied "We should all consider responsibility to our own bodies and the bodies of the people we interact with more than we have.  We need to be united more as a population and seek more representation in Washington  .....more rich people must get involved too"

When we asked him if as a married man and also a distinguished man of letters, was he now in Love or Anger?  He laughed before replying "I haven't ceased my anger as we are still being treated badly.  AIDS is still being ignored : certain research is not been down towards a cure : it is appalling what they are not doing ti solve the AIDS problem."

See the whole interview with this remarkable man who, along with all the other pioneering activists in Act-UP, made such a difference and saved so many lives.

Read Larry Kramer 'The American People Vol 1"

Mark Christopher : from Farm Boy to New Queer Cinema Filmmaker

This summer queerguru got to sit down to talk with Mark Christopher the writer and director of one of the most successful LGBT movies of the year  54 The Directors Cut.   Mark talked to us about how he went from being a farmboy in Ohio driving a tractor singing showtunes (!) to become what critic B.Ruby Rich described as one of the most important voices of new queer cinema, and then getting the unprecedented opportunity of making this Directors Cut.

The interview was filmed for P.T.V.  in P.Town's very own Studio 54 ...The Velvet Lounge and was videographed and edited by Rik Ahlberg.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE

P.S.  Mark also sat down with us last year for another interview, and if you really cannot get enough of him (!) check out http://www.queerguru.com/2015/08/interview-with-mark-christopher.html

Kate Clinton Talks

Columbus Day Weekend sees the start of the annual Womens Week in Provincetown, now in its 31st week, it is the largest non-commercial women's event in the US.   Over the years it has grown way past anyone's expectations with events that include workshops, meet-and-greets, lesbian literary festival, walking tours and of course the very best entertainers to perform all week. One iconic star who is an undoubted highlight of the week and will be performing most nights is Kate Clinton who calls herself  'a faith-based, tax-paying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer.' We think she is one of the funniest women we have ever met with her quick wit and sharp humor that is totally unafraid to give her take on all the hot-button topics of the day ..... and so much more.

She sat down with me for Provincetown Community Television early this summer and talked about what Women's Week means to her ...... and so much more.   Take a peek at our conversation, and then go get a ticket to her Show before they all sell out.

http://kateclinton.com/

http://womensweekprovincetown.com/

P.S. Don't forget to check out Kate and all the other performers play football (!) on Thursday October 15th at the Bas -Relief Green for some relief yourself.

Gay Cult Classic BIG EDEN is re-released

When the movie Big Eden was released 15 years it instantly became a gay cult classic.  Thomas Bezucha's debut feature film is an decidedly heart-warming old fashioned romance and real feel-good crowd pleaser which picked up nine awards from leading Film Festivals around the country.   The San Francisco Chronicle explained its appeal so succinctly 'Seeing middle-aged, regular fellas get so worked up over each other is a treat'.

Bezuka's story is about Henry a highly successful artist in New York who suddenly has to up and return to his small hometown nestled in the mountains of Montana to look after his sick grandfather who had brought him up.  Back in his roots he starts to re-evaluate his life and although he still has issues with his sexuality (he has still yet to tell his Grandfather) the whole neighborhood have no hesitation in not only accepting him for who he is, but they go out of their way to encourage Henry's potential romance with the hunk native Indian who is silently wooing him.

With such a delightful script in his hand Bezucha managed to cast a bevy of really talented actors starting with Oscar Winner Louise Fletcher, Arye Gross (Adam Green in 'Ellen'), Eric Schweig ('The Last Of The Mohican'), Tim DeKay ('Party of Five'), George Coe ('Kramer vs Kramer') and Nan Martin (Mrs Louder in The Drew Carey Show) which was no mean achievement for a newbie director.  It paid off dividends and made it one of the most successful LGBT movies released that year.

It certainly is one that sits in everyone's memories so the people at Wolfe Video had this bright of bringing out a special 15th Anniversary Edition, complete with a lot of DVD extras.  It will be available October 15th, but meanwhile take a sneak preview of what got us all hot under the collar all those years ago.

We thought this re-release would be the perfect time to catch up and talk to Thomas Bezucha for Provincetown TV to ask him how he came to dream up this fairy tale, or see if in fact he had been Henry himself in real life.

http://www.provincetowntv.org/

https://www.wolfevideo.com/

Miss Marilyn Maye takes me for a ride

One of the joys of my other day job working with Provincetown Community Television is that I get to talk to some amazing people who have chosen to spend part of their summer on this very perfect wee Town right on the tip of Cape Cod.   Many of them claim to be 'stars' (it is a gay resort after all) but very few are real ones like the wonderful Jazz legend Marilyn Maye, who is every inch one of the brightest stars in the firmament.  One should normally never ever discuss a lady's age, but Marilyn is proud of the fact that she is now 87 years old and is performing nightly at the Provincetown Art House for a good 90 minutes without a break and with the stamina of a singer half her age.  Or maybe even younger.

She not only still sings like an angel, but she really is one too as I very quickly discovered sitting in the back of 'Miss Maye' a convertible Rolls Royce driving around town. She has an infectious energy for enjoying life to the very fullest and revels in the fact that she is back in P Town for her 5th year running where she seems to love everybody and everything.  

Miss Maye is very old-school in the respect that she is not only glamorous as hell (with help from her friend Bob Mackie) but she is so disarmingly charming that she has all eating out of her hands. Take a look as we chat about how she started singing on her own Radio Show in the midwest when she was just 9 years old and went on to enjoy a career that includes being a guest on Johnny Carson's TV Show for a record 76 times.

http://www.marilynmaye.com/

Sebastian Silva and his Nasty Baby

When we caught up with Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Silva earlier this summer to talk about his latest movie .... and the first one to be shot entirely in the US .....he gave us a whole new perspective on 'Nasty Baby'.  Filmed in his own apartment in Brooklyn with both he and his cat taking a starring role in front of the camera, he assures us that the story itself is fiction. Well most of it .   When we chatted, the very voluble director had us in stitches of laughter with his very rapid and somewhat dirty wit.  

Here then is the first trailer the film that won the prestigious Teddy Award at the Berlin Film Festival right after some of the more sensitive audience members at Sundance Festival ducked out before the end.  It's a queerguru pick for 'one not to miss' this Fall.

Here too is the full interview we had with Silva at Provincetown Film Festival in June.

Touring P Town with Miss Varla Jean Merman

One of the last interviews we did this summer for Provincetown Community Television was also one of our best.  We knew that it was destined to be so the moment we received an invitation from Miss Varla Jean Merman to tour the town one evening in her glamourus vintage red convertible.  Miss Merman is the nearest thing we have to royalty in P Town, but that didn't stop her dishing the dirt as we motored down Commercial Street.

Hear her take on what life is really like being a star performer : what she really thinks of Elaine Paige and Ryan Landry : about flying to London with exploding cheese canisters: getting a Restraining Order from her famous mother Ethel Merman: paying her dues to her mentor Miss Coco Peru:  plus having a  hot new young boyfriend ....... and why she never ever goes to the Beach ..... where she is off to next, and why she will be back next summer at The Art House for her 18th year in P.Town.

Special thanks to Director/Editor Rik Ahlberg and our driver Andy Wentz.

www.varlaonline.com

Emanuel Levy talks about 'Gay Directors Gay Films?'

The film critic, writer and professor Emanuel Levy talks to Roger Walker-Dack @ Provincetown Community Television about his ninth book Gay Directors, Gay Films? that has just been published. Levy, a part-time resident of Provincetown and the former Chief Critic of Variety and Screen International, said that this latest book is his most personal to date and is dedicated to the memory of his late companion Rob Remley. It's a totally fascinating read that deals with one central issue: the effects of sexual orientation on the career, film output, and sensibility of five homosexual directors viz Pedro Almodovar, Terence Davies, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant and John Waters.

emanuellevy.com

What I Did This Summer ..........

WHAT have all these people got in common?

Alan Chebot : Filmmaker
Alex Holdridge & Linnea Saasen : Filmmakers
Andrea Meyerson : Filmmaker
Andrew Dresher, Chip Hourihan, & Jon Furay : Filmmakers
B Proud : Photographer *
B Ruby Rich : Critic
Bao Nguyen : Filmmaker
Bob Mackie : Designer
Bobcatt Goldthwaite : Filmmaker
Brendan Toller : Filmmaker
Connie Wise : Program Director *
David Thorpe : Filmmaker *
David Webster : Architect
Edie Windsor : Activist *
Elizabeth Streb : Choreographer
Hernando Bansuelo : Filmmaker
Jay Critchley : Artist
Jean Carlomusto : Filmmaker
Jeff Kaufman & Marcia Ross : Filmmakers
Jeffery Schwarz : Filmmaker *
Jennifer Coolidge : Actress
Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales : Performers
Joe Spada : Gardener *
Joey Kuhn : Filmmaker
John Waters : Filmmaker
Kate Clinton : Comedian *
Kalin  Milov : Dancer
Kim Yaged : Filmmaker
Larry Kramer : Author/Activist
Laura Heberton : Filmmaker
Laurie Kahn : Filmmaker
Margaret Cho : Comedian
Marilyn Maye : Singer *
Mark Christopher : Filmmaker *
Patrick Lammerson et al : Drag Affeciandos
Sebastian Silva : Filmmaker
The Calamari Sisters : Performers
Tim Leahy & everyone at Swim For Life *
Varla Jean Merman : Performer *
Well Strung : Musicians

+The People of P Town : Carnival Participants *

They were all interviewed by me this summer for PTV : the vast majority of which were videographed, directed and edited by Rik Ahlberg, and sometimes by Amy Davies, and produced by Heather Reed.

All the videos can be viewed at   http://www.youtube.com/c/RogerWalkerDackReportsPtown EXCEPT those marked * which are still being edited BUT will be released real soon.  (P.S. if you subscribe to the channel I may be able to do even more interviews next year.)

Further information http://www.provincetowntv.org/

Kalin Mitov is Hot To Trot

We talk to Kalin Mitov the Director of Boston Open Dance Sport about the 2015 U.S. Ballroom Same Sex Dance Championship that he is organising this Fall to be held for the very first time in Provincetown Town Hall. Mitov was the  North American Same-Sex Ballroom Nine-Dance Champion for two consecutive years and is featured in a new dance documentary 'Hot To Trot' that is about to be released soon.  This clip is part of a longer interview for Provincetown Community Television about the new Championships and his forthcoming appearance on the silver screen too,  filmed and edited by Rik Ahlberg.

https://www.facebook.com/2015USChampionshipandProvincetowndancetrophy

Catching Some Of The Magic

Joe Spada caught some of the magic that goes into the making of our interviews for Provincetown Community Television.  Here facing Rik Ahlberg and his camera is none other than the fabulous Miss Varla Jean Merman driving down P Town's Commercial Street in a vintage Mustang convertible.

The third member of our team on this occasion was the driver (and owner of the car) Andy Wentz.

https://www.youtube.com/c/RogerWalkerDackReportsPtown

Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales Dish The Dirt

Here's a rather wonderfully funny and incisive interview with the delightful Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales conducted for Provincetown Community Television when they spent the summer in P Town performing in two hit shows at The Art House. Jinkx, winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 5 and voted 'America's Next Drag Superstar' and her musical partner Major Scales talk about life, love , Seattle and 'Ross CrossDress for Less'., performing and so much more.

Life long friends since meeting at College, Jinkx and The Major have been thrilling packed houses for years with their hysterically funny shows which mix glamorous drag with more than a touch of their quirky freaky humor. Asides from 'The Inevitable Show' which they both wrote together, they are alternating that nightly in P.Town with 'Return to Grey Gardens' written by Peaches Christ who also co-stars with them too. 

www.jinkxmonsoon.com