Cocodorm goes after black gay and lesbian bloggers

It's been a year almost to the day that I posted some comments regarding black and Latino gay porn in the wake of a scandal in Chicago involving porn producer Phillip Bleicher and his well-known (in certain circles) Cocodorm a/k/a FlavaWorks a/k/a Thugboy a/k/a PapiCock a/k/a Cocoboyz productions.

At issue: Did Cocodorm instruct performers not to wear condoms during live sex sessions broadcast online to paying subscribers? Did performers sign a contract that was reported to the Chicago Health Department as being akin to "illegal servitude?" And did Bleicher and some partners also bilk public funding through a purported nonprofit youth service agency he set up for expenditures including liposuction surgery and trips to Brazil?

Bernard Tarver over at Bejata has the published findings of the Chicago Health Department investigation and - no surprise - it's a damning report.

Thing is that since the scandal broke Bleicher left Chicago and settled in Florida. But - what do you know? - the past can sometimes catch up to you.

Now, a few bloggers have kept up with the story, including Bernard, Jasmyne Cannick, Darian Aaron and C. Baptiste-Williams. Incredibly, Cocodorm is now targeting them with cease and desist threats as Bernard chronicles over on his blog.

Not the right move at all. Let's hope that Bleicher gets what is coming to him. Support bloggers that are reporting on the issue and stop supporting sites that exploit young gay men.

Other responses:

• Flava Works has gone too far (Keith Boykin)
  
• Cocodorm gets caught in the porn act (Greasyguide)

Papito

Miguel Bosé says that his closest friends call him papito ['little daddy'], an explanation for the title of his ambitious new release which came out on Tuesday here in the United States. He has also said that the word is intrinsically Latin American and that it is a way for him to show gratitude to the continent for all that it has given him (born in Panama, Bosé has made a living in Spain for decades).

In "Papito" the legendary Bosé invites some of today's best known Spanish language pop singers to reinterpret 14 singles from his prolific 30 year old career through duets.

I have never necessarily been a big fan of his music but for anyone who has lived at least part of their life in Latin America or Spain, some of these songs have ingrained themselves so deeply in popular culture that they've become a soundtrack to specific moments of anyone's life.

It's his larger than life personality, his magnetism, his knowing and playful way of dismissing questions about his sexuality (while at the same time playing into the ambiguity by producing videos that sometimes incorporate gay and bisexual content) that has made me a fan.

Some of his biggest hits are synth heavy tracks from the 1980's and early 90's - which means that their sound hasn't aged particularly well. So I decided to give "Papito" a try and see if some of these songs could actually improve on their originals.

My take? For she most part, it works!

Some songs still don't make it for me ("Bambu" with Ricky Martin and "Nada Particular" with Juanes) and some barely do (the single "Nena" with Paulina Rubio). But there are great songs here (among them the reggae-tinged "Morena Mia" with a great vocal by Julieta Vanegas, the amazing "Si Tu No Vuelves" with Shakira and "Este Mundo Va" with Leonor Vatling). There is also a great brand new song - "Hay Dias" with Alejandro Sanz - and a nice duet with Michael Stipe of R.E.M. in which Stipe sings (gulp!) in Spanish!

Ah! And I almost forgot! There's the kitch brilliance of "Amante Bandido" - perhaps his signature song - featuring a duet with the quintesential queer idol Alaska (from Alaska y Dinarama)!

And that cover illustration that plays on Southern Cal street tattoo culture? Just love it. Shows his sense of humor is still intact after all these years.

More "Papito" at the following links:

• Buy "Papito" at Amazon.com
• Miguel Bosé's official website (which says that there is a 2-CD version in Spain with an additional 15 duets, some previously released).

Queer Kid of Color

Are you a Queer Kid of Color? Well, lucky you! A brand new website has just popped up for you guys and gals! And you'll find interesting essays on everything from "The Anatomy of a Homo-Thug" to "The Down Low, Expired." If you click on the link above, you will find thoughtful commentary that doesn't speak down to you and is not built around the victimization frameline that so many HIV prevention websites that target queer youth of color employ (as a matter of fact it seems to be independent of any of the HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention organizations in the city which, in some ways, can be a good thing). Updated every Sunday, check it out sometime!

Quinceañera opens tomorrow in NYC and Los Angeles

The reviews are in for Quinceañera and they are overwhelmingly positive:

Stephen Holden at The New York Times: "As smart and warmhearted an exploration of an upwardly mobile immigrant culture as American independent cinema has produced"

John Anderson's 3 1/2 starred review at Newsday: "An ostensibly innocent act, with vibrations that travel around forever" (the lead actors are also interviewed here)

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times: "Endearing and perceptive"

Ella Taylor of the LA Weekly: A "saucy, rowdy, heartfelt and terribly sweet movie" and ads "Quinceañera neither skirts nor condescends to the difficulties faced by poor urban communities assailed by rapid change. Like Mi Vida Loca, Allison Anders’ 1993 Echo Park girl-gangbanger melodrama, it’s an act of solidarity with a threatened minority, but one that never falls into Anders’ exuberant embrace of ethnic stereotype"

Gary M. Kramer in Gay City News: "Profoundly moving"

Dissenting voices come from indieWIRE and the conservative-leaning New York Sun (who pass similar judgements as I perhaps did in my previous post, though I am willing to reconsider in light of some of the reviews and this interview from Jennifer Merin in the New York Press).

(Above photo of Quinceañera directors, writers and lovers Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival taken by Brian Brooks for indiWIRE)

My Super Sweet Fifteen

Ok, so I'll confess that the only reason I wanna see Quinceañera (which opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles after getting some good and some not so good reviews in the festival circuit) is Jesse Garcia (pictured) playing what he calls a "gay cholo" (though we much prefer the term vato).

Call me a softie (or superficial), but I always fall for those cholo thug to vato thug love stories, as stereotypical as they may be (considering that the gringo producers wanted to make a movie of what they saw outside their comfy apartment windows near Echo Park in Los Angeles).

Now Michael Musto of the Village Voice reveals in tomorrow's issue that the movie was actually made with gay bareback porn money (the scandal!) and captures the film stars' horrified reaction.

Sure enough, you Google the facts and get the porn to Oscar-glory-bound story (pending Oscar glory). Any thoughts?

Qinceañera queerness at Sundance Film Fest

Qinceañera has claimed both the jury and audience prizes at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film, a coming of age story that takes place in the heavily Latino neighborhood of Echo Park, features a cast of newcomers getting some great attention for their acting. Among them is Jesse Garcia who plays Carlos (pictured), the lead character's gay cousin, whose father has kicked him out for being gay but leads a rough life which includes flirtations with local gangs (aparently it was a very gay year at Sundance).

Though some are comparing the film to "made-for-cable forgiveness melodramas of the Lifetime Channel and Oxygen Network variety," we hope that it reaches New York movie screens so we can judge by ourselves.

It is not the first time that an independent flick explores issues related to Latino thugness and gay identity. In 2003, Tadeo Garcia explored these themes more directly in "On the Down-Low" which was based in the Southside of Chicago instead of Los Angeles. My organization co-sponsored a presentation of that particular film at the 16th New York City LGBT Film Festival, NewFest, where it won Best US Feature honors.

What the Village Voice says about the film:

Wan and cutesy, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's QUINCEAÑERA is most notable for making explicit the slumming subtext of many an earnest Sundance crowd-pleaser. Shot near the directors' own Echo Park residence and focused largely on the neighborhood's Latino community (in particular a newly out, tough gay boy and his possibly immaculately pregnant cousin), it's less about culture-clash affirmation than gentrifiers' guilt.

"Details" magazine: Here we go again?

So it has hardly been a year since Details magazine got into trouble over their "Asian or gay?" photo feature, protests and all. Now word comes that they seem to be over the hump and willing to give it another try in their September 2005 issue (damn! I bought the magazine for it's homophobia cover story but still didn't crack it open in time to break the news!).

Then again, maybe not? If the magazine was wishing for additional sales due to controversy and perhaps one or two additional protests outside their office, early word seems to indicate that the parody actually works and that it might be embraced by the people they might sought to offend. Time will tell.

All I wanna know: Why did they get the J-Lo line so wrong? ANYONE knows that the song says "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I got..."

[Feature text: Gay or rapper? One comes straight outta Compton, the other just came out last year. Whether you're living the thug life or just rolling with the gang-bangers, busting a cap in somebody's ass doesn't need to be a bad thing. Mount up, regulators - we're about to give the term sucka MC new meaning.

DOG TAGS: "What's your name, sailor?"

WASHBOARD ABS: "Just think of them as speed bumps on your way to my dirty south."

FUR COAT: "Works as bedding on those cold nights with Fat Joe."

DARK DENIM JEANS: "Slung low to make access easier for the Lil' Jons."

SHOWPIECE TATTO: "When you're this hard, you don't mind a little prick."

DIAMOND CROSS: "When fans get down on their knees, they will see the light."

CONSPICUOUS BOXERS: "Only Calvin Klein knows where I pack my nine."

BLING: "Don't be fooled by the rocks I got, deep down I'm still Jenny from the block."

LOOSELY TIED WORK BOOTS: "For those long days working in timber land."