SATURDAY SPECIAL: Tom Goss's Sexy New Music Video

Tom Goss is an DC-based out artist and performer with a new video that is both sexy and incredibly beautiful too. It reminded me of Peter Gabriel's SLEDGEHAMMER, though on a much smaller more intimate (literally!) scale. In the video, Tom lies nearly naked as artists and animators paint a fairy tale landscape and story around him over the course of an hour and a half. You can read the details about the shoot here and learn more about this talented young guy at his website, http://tomgossmusic.net/wordpress/.

Rethinking The Grounds Of The Washington Monument

When I was in Washington for the holiday weekend, I checked out a fascinating exhibit at the National Building Museum called "Unbuilt Washington".  It is a 200 year plus retrospective of plans for the nation's captial that never reached fruition, like a Versailles-esque White House on Meridian Hill, a Smithsonian Gallery of Art with a shockingly modern design that would have replaced the Castle, a 200 foot tall water fountain for a Teddy Roosevelt Memorial (where the Jefferson now stands), and, the strangest by far, an elevated freeway around the perimeter of the national Mall.  It's an amazing and often shocking look at what could have been and, for the most part, fortunately never was.

Part of the exhibit was dedicated to the tortured history of one memorial that has become so iconic, it's hard to imagine it never having been built.  The Washington Monument was problematic from the start because President Washington had explicitly asked that no memorials be built in his name, wishing to avoid the godly hero-worship which had caused Europe so much trouble. But his wish was ignored and and, after many grand designs came and went, eventually a simple obelisk was built...over the course of 50 years, with the project stalling a third-built for 30 of those.

Now there is a plan afoot to rethink the design of the Washington Monument's plain, open field grounds.  There is a public competition entering the final phase where you can vote on your favorite design.  Some imagine a national amphitheater in marble that would hold 3,000 people, others a landscaped and wooded forest.  You can see the entires here and vote on the site as well.  Winners will be featured in the exhibit and their ideas presented to the National Park Service as they consider what to do with the grounds...after they fix the actual monument, still closed due to earthquake damage.

Remembering John Lennon & The Beatle's First US Concert

For years, the Kennedy family has been fighting the continuing commemorations of JFK & RFK on the respective days of their assassinations.  They'd prefer that people recall the Kennedy's for their lives rather than their tragic deaths and have tried to turn the focus towards celebrating their birthday's instead of their death-days.  Afterall, this is how it works with President Lincoln and Dr. King, whose birthday's are holidays not the date of their untimely deaths.

Anyway, today is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death and the news is filled today with remembrances of the horror of his shooting outside the Dakota.  Well, I'm going to try and buck the trend and focus on John Lennon's life a bit here.  To that end, I read a really wonderful piece of oral history in the Washington POST last weekend about the Beatles first concert in the US. It all happened the day after their legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan show as they took the train to the Nation's Capital during a blizzard for a gig at the old Washington Coliseum.

The POST story was presented in conjunction with Paul McCartney's being one of the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. But it's a wonderful remembrance of the whole band on their first strange and lovely trip to America.  There are some great details, like the band being pegged with jelly beans (their favorite candy) and the fact that a teenage Al Gore was in attendance with some St. Alban's classmates.  There are some interesting descriptions of all the girls' screaming too.  The whole thing sounds surprisingly innocent for a concert; no sex or drugs...just some good old rock'n'roll.  Then again, 1964 seems like a century ago.

So here's a clip of their DC concert from YouTube. If you want, you can watch the whole thing (shot by documentarian Albert Maysles) streaming/screaming on the iTunes website.

The Air Force Memorial

I was down in Washington last weekend and made a trip to the Air Force Memorial, which opened back in 2006. From driving around the DC area, I had seen the three stainless steel spirals arcing up over the Crystal City skyline and, initially, was not so impressed.  In fact, it seemed a little odd and random the way it's spires stuck in the air without any context or real meaning.  The first time I saw it, I thought it was a series of large construction cranes or a radio tower that had never been completed.

An actual visit to the memorial is fortunately a very different experience. Sited on a promontory that provides an expansive view of the entire city of Washington, the memorial's three 200 foot-plus spires seen up close are more impressive and quite dramatic when viewed from the ground looking up.  Each one is a different height and they are arrayed in a triangle on a large granite plaza with the Air Force star embedded in glass and marble at the center.  I took a number of pictures while there which give a sense of the drama of those structures which resemble the contrails of three F-14's in a cloud burst formation.

The only unfortunate thing about the memorial is also it's position: it overlooks the site where American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.  Though the Air Force has a long and impressive history going back to World War II, there is no arguing 9/11 was a day of unique failure for the service branch entrusted with defending America's airspace.  The planning of the memorial began long before 9/11, back in 1994, so it's more of an unfortunate coincidence than an embarrassing planning blunder.  

But still, standing at the edge of the memorial and looking down at the reflective benches of the Pentagon memorial, it's sobering to realize you're standing in the flight path of American 77. In a way, it gives the grandiose and somewhat flashy memorial a totally unintended solemnity. And, in a way, maybe that's for the best....it tempers the glory of the wild blue yonder with the harsh realities of the human costs of war.

Marriage Equality Comes To Washington DC

Some big news out of DC this morning....gay couples are lined up at the District's courthouse on the first day of legal same-sex marriage in the nation's capital. The Washington Post has the full story (where this lovely picture came from, shot by Bill O'Leary) and there's also full background of the long road to marriage equality in DC over at  Towleroad.  


Of course, the haters tried to block it with a last ditch appeal to the US Supreme Court, but they had no luck there.  In a rare Justice Roberts ruling I agree with, he said the court had no business in local affairs. I love the irony of the haters having to beg for Supreme intervention when they are always screaming about activist judges destroying the nation. Sometimes they almost make me laugh....almost.


As locals know, Washington is a very conservative town regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge.  So I find it remarkable that today the District stands at the forefront of the marriage equality movement.  It is now the sixth place in the United States where gays can get married.  And, as Andy Towle pointed out, it's also a symbolic landmark in this struggle in that Washington is the now the first locality south of the Mason-Dixon line to endorse marriage equality.  

Free Buses To The March For Equality 10/11

Broadway Impact is providing free bus rides from NYC to the March For Equality in Washington DC next month. The March For Equality is the largest gathering of Gays, Lesbians and everyone else who believes that every American should have equal protection under all areas of federal law....just like the Constitution promises. I've posted this video below which gives the basic rundown. So get on the bus, Gus, and head to DC on October 11th. Let's make that Million Moron March look super small, okay? :)

DC Recognizes Same Sex Marriage

Today the DC City Council voted 12-1 to recognize gay unions performed in other states.  Go Washington!  

So you may be wondering who was the one holdout in the 90%-plus Democratic District.  It was none other that self-described "moral leader" and infamous ex-Mayor Marion Barry.  OK--I thought this guy was dead.  Or at least not an elected official anymore.  But the formerly crack-addicted mayor who has been married four times(!) has a big problem with the morality of marriage equality.  Really?  Seriously?!  I'll let him explain himself....