Christmastime Is Here

By Frank Anthony Polito

Though I can't say I'm feeling it -- at least not just yet. Sure, there's an abundance of sweets all around, and I think I've gained back the 5 pounds I lost last month when Craig was away for work, and I was too busy writing to take time to stop and eat. To help get myself more into the Holiday Spirit, I've taken to listening to my favorite tunes via Spotify.

This morning I came across the original Merry Christmas from Sesame Street, circa 1976, maybe? Growing up, I was a big SS fan -- long before Elmo came along and took over the block. I actually had this album on vinyl and would listen over and over this time of year on my Fisher-Price portable suitcase-style record player.

A few years back my brother surprised me with a CD version, but sadly I discovered it's been updated to include Elmo on almost every song. And I don't believe the "Gift of the Magi" track starring Bert and Ernie, narrated by Mr. Hooper (God rest his sweet soul), is included on the update. But now you can listen to the real-deal right HERE.

Another one of my favorite holiday "specials" had to be Christmas Eve on Sesame Street which you can watch below... Happy Holidays!

G's Anatomy

By Frank Anthony Polito

Wanted to give a shout out to my fellow Carnegie Mellon alum, and pal, Gaius Charles, who recently joined the cast of one of my favorite TV Shows, Grey's Anatomy.  Because I'm not a regular reader of HuffPost and all the other major TV-related blogs, I guess I missed out on the announcement back in mid-July. But I was super-excited to see Gaius' smiling face at Seattle Grace this season.

Some of you might recognize Gaius from his stint as "Smash" on Friday Night Lights. I had the pleasure of befriending Gaius during my first year at CMU when I stage-managed my buddy Collin's terrific play Judas Jones, which starred Gaius as a Jesus-like high school basketball player.

Gaius later originated the role of Ian Brown in my one-act play Blue Tuesday, the precursor to my full-length, award-winning Another Day on Willow St. Sadly, this was back before everyone turned camera crazy with their smartphones, and I don't have any pictures from either of these productions :-(

So happy for all of Gaius' success... No one deserves it more.

Gaius sits down w/ fellow CMU alum Ashley Nicole

  

Weekend Update

By Frank Anthony Polito

Once again, I've fallen behind in blogging. Had a busy weekend, with two different pals in town, my best friend since 7th grade, Grat -- whom many of you will know as "Brad Dayton" from Band Fags! and Drama Queers! (note: Grat has requested that I go on the record and state that he has NEVER performed in drag at Gigi's or any other Detroit bar), and my friend Devon, a fellow playwright whom (yes, I said whom!) I met in 2005 at Voice and Vision, who lives in Richmond, VA.

I enjoyed two lovely dinners with Grat, his partner Michael, and their friends, who were in town to celebrate Michael's birthday. Devon and I kept it pretty low-key. Grabbed burgers and beer at my neighborhood Irish Pub, Molly Bloom's (dang it, I should have taken pics!) and then sat around my place listening to some tunes by our mutual favorite band, Carbon Leaf.

CL, as we like to call the boys, are a local Richmond act who Devon has the actual pleasure of knowing, and we both have crushes on the lead singer, Barry Privett. I came to know CL back in 2002 while I was down in Washington, DC working at the Shakespeare Theatre, and when I met Devon and learned she was from Richmond, one of the first things I asked her was: "Do you know Carbon Leaf?"

Barry, Carter, Terry, Jordan, Scott

Admittedly, I've been a bad fan and haven't picked up any of new CL music since round about 2010. So Devon played me some of the newer stuff, reminding me why I first got into them. At first listen, they reminded me of an old favorite band from Canada, Spirit of the West, as both bands have roots in the "Celtic Rock" genre. Check out Carbon Leaf online HERE. And Spirit of the West HERE.

Everything Old is New Again

By Frank Anthony Polito

Today’s post is two-fold… I’ve been meaning to write about my “new” favorite TV show – which I’ve made mention of on Facebook, but not yet here in the Blogosphere… It’s called thirtysomething. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? As per Wikipedia: “Thirtysomething (usually styled thirtysomething) is an American television drama about a group of baby boomers in their late thirties.”

The show, from the creators of another fave, My So-Called Life, ran from 1987-1991. Back then, I was far too young to have any interest in a show about a bunch of “old” folks. These people were in their 30s – my parents’ age at the time, which looking back seems totally impossible because Michael and Hope Steadman (Ken Olin and Mel Harris – two actors I’ve not ever seen in anything else) were just having their first baby, and I was already almost an adult.

Since joining Netflix, I kept saying, “I have to watch thirtysomething.” So about a month or so ago, when Craig started up with his annual Auto Show-ing, I added season 1 to my queue, and just finished the finale the other night.

There’s no denying it’s a good show. The writing and acting are both stellar. Though truthfully, I feel sorry for these characters. Most of them, I get the impression, are around age 34. Babies, I say… All of them! And here they are worrying about all sorts of things that most of my friends, a good decade older, are only starting to worry about now. Perhaps an updated version called fortysomething is called for?

But what really excites me about this show is… The Steadman’s house!

Since MSCL, I have been obsessed with the Arts & Crafts/Craftsman style home. Near where I grew up, back in Detroit, there are a few different neighborhoods that feature this 1920s type of house – with the large, covered front porch, interior woodwork, window seats, French doors, and “built-ins” galore… Come the day I should ever be fortunate to own my own home, this is the kind of property I will be desperately searching for.

Which brings to me point number two of this post… Sorry so long!

I recently befriended one of my book readers via  Facebook. His name is Ed, and he and his partner, Roger, live in the most gorgeous Craftsman home, located in the Detroit neighborhood of Islandview – which I’d never heard of until now. And… Ed and Roger’s place is currently featured in American Bungalow Magazine. See below for some awesome photos! I am sooo jealous ;-)

Vacation Detroit?

By Frank Anthony Polito

NOT IF YOU'RE LGBT!

Just came across this "news item" via Twitter, via HuffPost Detroit: 

Gay Travel 2013: 8 Destinations For LGBT Travelers To Visit Or Avoid

The article, an endorsement for a new LGBT travel agency, says that LGBT peeps should avoid Detroit as their holiday travel destination as it's the "most dangerous U.S. city to visit for gay travelers." But then it does NOT tell us why!

The D at twilight

As an (out and) proud ex-Detroiter, I had to chime-in in the comments section, agreeing with another poster who pointed out: "The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of the best art museums in the country. Festivals along the riverfront, excellent breweries downtown, the symphony, the opera, Fox Theatre, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, the auto show, Museum of Contemporary Art, the African-American History Museum, nearby Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Motown Museum, Children's Museum, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit Science Center, the best coney dogs on the planet, Wayne State University to name a few. Unfortunately the gay bars are scattered all over. Gigi's is a great drag bar but in a bad part of town."

I then went on to explain how when we Detroiters say "Detroit" we are usually referring to the entire Metro Detroit area, where there are some of the nicest and wealthiest neighborhoods in the country. Truth be told, Detroit wouldn't be my first choice for a vacation "hot spot" -- though most of those places on the above list I have NEVER even been, and I look forward to seeing when/if I ever get to spend more than a week in the Motor City visiting family.

But I have been to many a gay bar in many a "bad" neighborhood (Gold Coast, anyone?), and the worst thing that's ever happened -- back in the '90s when I was still in college -- was someone drove by and yelled "faggots!" at me and my friends as we were crossing the street from the security-guarded parking lot.

Read the full "article" HERE.

Get LOST IN THE '90s... If you haven't already :-)

By Frank Anthony Polito



Got a FIVE STAR review for my latest novel Lost in the '90s over on IndieReader, the awesome site that covers the world of independent authors and their books. If you're looking for some great -- and perhaps undiscovered -- new authors, check out the site HERE. Thanks to Amy Edelman, Founder and President!

I actually, this morning, posted a blurb about why I wrote/how I came to publish my first Young Adult (YA in publishing-speak) novel which will soon be added the book's Amazon page, where you can BUY the book for just $11.21 -- Christmas is coming! But I thought I'd share now as part of this post -- "after the jump" as we Bloggers say... (which means: click the "Read More" link below)

“Misery Acquaints a Man with Strange Bed-fellows...”

By Frank Anthony Polito

One of the things I’ve always envied celebrities for (other than their fame and, more importantly, fortune) is their ability to influence other, less-famous folks like the rest of us. My blogger friend, Kenneth, may not be a household name, but I know that a lot of his “Kenneth in the 212” readers take his recommendations to heart—and I’ve sold quite a few copies of my books because of him. (Thanks, K!)

I’ve always prided myself in not being an “average” person. It took me years before I broke down and read Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Yes, I enjoyed both, but I’ve always been a fan of more “indie” artists, if you will. And now I’d like to tell you about one of my favorite bands, whom you probably have never heard of…

MISSY GIBSON & BREECH — I had the pleasure of knowing Missy when we were at Wayne State together “back in the day.” She directed me in my first Hilberry Studio show, The Madness of Lady Bright, a one-act by the late, great Lanford Wilson. 

At the time, Missy was in a band called Strange Bedfellows. They were the first real-live band that I knew (not just some cover band), and I considered myself a groupie. I still have their debut album, A Ride on the Swinging Gate, on cassette somewhere, and I hope to have it transferred to MP3 format somehow. I’ve been thinking about Missy a lot lately as I’ve based one of the characters in my new novel The Spirit of Detroit, in part, on her.

A word of note: Breech’s song “Thistle” appeared on an episode of Dawson’s Creek. Listen HERE.

Check out Missy’s website HERE and listen to other clips from Breech HERE.    

Leavin' for Las Vegas

By Frank Anthony Polito

Since I’ve yet to cover the teenage girl/young gay boy aspect of this blog, I thought I’d plug the upcoming Degrassi: Las Vegas movie, coming to TeenNick on Friday December 14, 2012 @ 9PM ET.

I’ve been watching this teen-centric show for the past few seasons, after deciding that I wanted to try my hand at writing for TV. After writing 3 novels featuring teen characters I’ve come to realize that I have no desire to progress beyond high school – though my latest book takes place during “the college years,” I still consider the characters as being kids. 

I was fortunate enough to befriend a former Degrassi writer who read a spec script I wrote about Riley’s first trip to a gay bar, and told me I’d be great for the show. But apparently in Canada, they only hire Canadian writers – unlike here in the US where all the Canadian actors/writers are freely allowed to work. Ah, well!

The thing I like about Degrassi is once a character graduates, they don’t get to stick around and hang out, slumming. For a brief moment they tried following one class as they went off to college, but it didn’t work, and they quickly gave up on the idea – unlike Ryan Murphy who insisted on keeping Rachel, Finn, and Kurt around on Glee, which I’ve since stopped watching.  

With each new freshman class that arrives I worry that I won’t be able to keep watching. But this season, I’m loving the addition of Maya, Cam, Tori, Zig, and Tristan. Although someone needs to tell Joey Jeremiah’s daughter, Angela, that she’s got a look-alike running around the halls of Degrassi Community School.

Maya & Cam

Zig, Tristan, Tori

Check out the trailer for the new Dregrassi: Las Vegas below…

And feel free to chime in with your favorite moments from this past season in the comments section :-)

And The Winner is...

By Frank Anthony Polito

So I spent the rest of my holiday weekend “finishing” up the first draft of my new novel, THE SPIRIT OF DETROIT, as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I put the word “finish” in quotes because the goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words of a new novel between 11/1-30, which I’ve done – but the book is only about halfway finished.

I actually went back last night and revised my outline, cutting out a huge chunk of events that would have put the book at 500 pages, I’m sure, had I continued writing the entire outline. For some reason this new one is running long. I usually average chapters around 10-12 pages. In SOD, they come in between 15-17.

It’s been a great experience just “cranking out” a story. Usually I will write a chapter, print it out, edit on paper, then type up the revisions. I usually average about a chapter/week. This time around I was writing an entire chapter in a day or two. There’s something to be said for self-censoring.

You can read more about the new novel HERE.

 And congrats to my NaNoWriBMo writing “buddies” Ryan in San Jose and Peter in Seattle for “winning” as well!

Weekend Update

By Frank Anthony Polito

As expected when I officially started blogging, I didn't get much blogging done this week... Caught a bit of a cold last Saturday (felt it coming on right before seeing The Performers), and despite popping Zycam drops every 3 hours for 2 days straight I'm still not feeling 100%. But I thought I'd give a quick update today as to what's been going on...

I spent Thanksgiving alone. Not a big deal. And since I was sick, I didn't go out in search of any invitations to dinner. If you're reading this you probably know that I've been doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) since 11/1, the goal being to write 50,000 of a new novel during the month of November. I've had an idea for a new book kicking around in my head since round about 2009, so I decided to take this opportunity to hunker down and start writing it.

It's called The Spirit of Detroit and is inspired by my all-time favorite novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. With one week to go I've got over 45,000 words written -- and I'm not even halfway through my outline. I've been burning the midnight oil, as they say, and last night I was up until 4am typing away.

I expect the final story to come in around 100,000 words. Once NaNoWriMo ends, I'll probably keep on writing to the end, then go back and edit the entire thing. Hopefully it will be ready for self-publication by June or July 2013. Unless of course I can find a real publisher who takes an interest...

UPDATE: I spent the last couple hours (why does it always take sooo long?) tinkering around with the cover. Wasn't digging the boldness of the font compared to the Chabon -- or the way the words were separated between letters. I also made the word "spirit" a little larger and tweaked the color to give it a more peachy hue. Here's a look at the new and improved:

"I Double Dog Dare You!"

By Frank Anthony Polito

... to go and see A Christmas Story: The Musical. (Why does every new musical have to be called [blank] The Musical?) I know I won’t be – not with tickets listed at something like $162.50. Even the “discount” price is a whopping $49. To quote one of my favorite quotes that I’ve been quoting for so long I can’t remember what it’s from: “Too rich for my blood.” [throws poker cards down on table] (Anyone?)  More and more each day, Broadway -- much like New York City itself -- becomes a “playground for the rich.” :-(

See below for some nice reviews from the new-to-Broadway production, produced by the original Ralphie himself, Peter Billingsley. Hopefully he’ll make up for some of the royalties he doesn’t receive from the annual marathon showings on TBS – so I’ve heard. I could have sworn that a stage version already existed, and was produced at my local community theatre back in Detroit, The Stagecrafters of Royal Oak – though maybe that was a “straight” play, sans music, as opposed to a “gay” play like my very own Band Fags! -- now on sale from Amazon.com, by the way – makes a great Christmas gift for the Band Fag in your life :-)

A Christmas Story: The Musical Reviews

New York Times

Entertainment Weekly

Theatre Mania

So long, Sonny

By Frank Anthony Polito

Got word this morning that legendary Detroit weather man, Sonny Eliot, has passed away at age 91. Growing up I remember laughing my head off to Sonny's reports of "SNOG" (snow + fog) and the like. He was a real Detroit classic, along with Sir Graves Ghastly and Oopsy the Clown.

If memory serves, back in high school our Choir teacher, Mr. Al Fisk, took us to see a touring production of Little Shop of Horrors at the now-defunct Birmingham Theatre, and good old Sonny was there also seeing the show. Al rushed right over to say hello and introduce himself. At the time, us kids were totally embarrassed. Looking back I wish I wouldn't have been so shy.

Read (and watch) more about the life and times of Sonny Eliot HERE.

Easy Come, Easy Go

By Frank Anthony Polito

I've been feeling a little under the weather, so please forgive my delay in posting my review of The Performers, which I had the pleasure of seeing on Saturday night with my friend Jason. Yes, I said "pleasure." I truly enjoyed the show, particularly the performers in The Performers, despite whatever Ben Brantley had to say about it in his New York Times review.

Unfortunately, the play has since CLOSED after I don't how many performances -- a week's worth, maybe plus previews. I won't blame Mr. Brantley entirely for the show's demise. I was told by a friend in "the biz" that advance ticket sales were lacking. And I've since gone back and re-read Mr. Brantley's review, and I agree with practically everything he said. But...

I, personally, had a good time during the 90 minutes I'd spent at the theatre. I got to see Cheyenne Jackson in different states of undress, along with "Cher Horowitz" from Clueless -- who, on stage, reminded me of the "evil" Sadie Saxton from MTV's Awkward (the show you should be watching if you're not already) -- and an F bomb-dropping Arthur Fonzarelli.

I also laughed out loud, particularly during a moment when Cheyenne’s onstage wife – the brilliant Ari Graynor – got such a huge reaction from the crowd that she and Cheyenne broke down laughing themselves, had to hold for several moments, then “rewind” the scene and start all over.

I'd actually never heard of Ms. Graynor before, though she's actually been in a few films I've seen (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Youth in Revolt). Here she is below in a trailer from a (relatively) new movie she's starring in, For a Good Time, Call... 

Based on her performance in The Performers I'd like to see Ari Graynor tackle the role of "Olive" aka Jennifer Tilley, if the rumored musical version of Bullet's Over Broadway ever makes it to the Great White Way... Hopefully Ben Brantley will approve of that one!

Willkommen, Bienvenue...

By Frank Anthony Polito

So I was reading the other day how, that as an author, I must have a website. For years I've owned my own domain (www.frankanthonypolito.com), but the "site" was always linked to either a page about one of my books, or my Facebook page, or my Amazon.com author page.

According to the blog entry I was reading, written by a New York literary agent, the website can not be a Facebook page or Twitter account, but a blog is perfectly acceptable -- the point being that with Facebook and Twitter, a person/potential reader isn't granted automatic access to you, the writer, unless they already have an account.

Who in this day and age isn't at least on Facebook, if not also tweeting on Twitter? And who am I to question the opinion of this NY lit agent, who could potentially be representing me one day as a writer?

I've been an official contributor to my good friend Kenneth's popular NYC lifestyle blog, "Kenneth in the (212)" for a few years now, serving as a weekly Project Runway recapper, fill-in for Kenneth when he's been away on vacation. But my personal opinion on having my own blog has always been A) who's going to want to read it?, and B) when will I have time to write it?

Since I started writing my first novel, Band Fags!, in 2006, I've spent all of my so-called "free" time working on my novel writing (or play/screenplay writing). How am I supposed to write a book (or play/screenplay) if I'm spending my time blogging? As it is I haven't written a single word on the novel I'm currently writing for NaNoWriMo because I've been too busy designing the lay out for this blog.

But... As per my daily horoscope by Sally Brompton, as read in the New York Post I've decided to not get annoyed if something unexpected stops me from doing what I want to be doing this weekend. "In the long-term it may actually work in your favor. As one door closes several more will open."

So... Welcome to Confessions of a Former Band Fag. Or... I was a Teenage Drama Queer.

The question now is: what am I going to confess -- every single day?