Via Sequencia

Via Sequencia celebrates four years

Just after George W. Bush was re-elected president in 2004, I launched this blog as a place to spew my vitriol. I was so unbelievably angry that the people of this great country of ours could make the same mistake twice. Of course, now we can rejoice in knowing that circumstances leading up this year's general election proved to the electorate that we needed some major change. The fact that 64,417,303 of us (as the count stands so far) voted for Barack Obama to be president, gives me great hope in us. 

I am very disappointed that a majority of the voters in California felt it necessary to take away from our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters their newly given marriage rights, but I'll save that for another day's post. The fact that Barack—I feel like I can call him that since that's how he's been signing his many emails to me—mentioned the gays in his victory speech gives me some hope, as well. 

After my man Bill left office, I wondered if I'd be inspired by a presidential candidate again. I'm happy to say that I am. 

Ode to Il Supremo

Some years ago—not quite sure how many exactly—a young singer who was desperately trying to find his voice ("Am I a tenor? Am I a countertenor?") breezed into the lives of Incontesta and me. This wonderfully effervescent and flamboyant young man instantly intrigued me and very soon after won my heart. He is known by many names—Il Supremo, Prophet Gregorius, Sr. Mary Magnifique, Manprano, et cetera, but his mama gave him the name Gregory. This is my humble attempt to honor one of my favorite collaborative musicians, one of the most fabulous gayboys walking the earth, and one of my very best friends.

This very obviously brilliant—just ask him—musician started studying with Incontesta, and within a few months became quite aware that he was indeed a countertenor; as a matter of fact, he was a soprano countertenor. It was one of the most beautiful voices I'd heard, and I couldn't wait for him to finally "get it" and really come into himself vocally.

Over the next couple of years, I had the privilege of playing for him in lessons and enjoying his progress. It's such a gift to have the opportunity to witness an intuitive musician with more ambition than anyone I know work so well with such a great teacher as is my dearly beloved husband. When they worked together, sparks flew. I was witnessing history.

In 2004, when Incontesta took over as choir director and I as organist at our suburban parish, we brought Gregory on as a section leader. The choir didn't know what had hit 'em, but Incontesta and I sure did. Not only did we have our section leader, but also a resident composer, a substitute director for when we were both away, and an ambassador—or was it a mascot—of bitchiness and hilarity. (I endlessly tease him as I am doing here, but I assure you it is only out of great respect and love for the dear boy.)

It has been my great delight to watch him work toward his newly earned Master of Music degree. And in these past few years, I have had the great happiness to collaborate with Gregory on three recital projects. We had the greatest fun making wonderful music together. Next to my husband, I've enjoyed collaborating with Gregory the most.

Why am I going on like this? Because our dear boy is about to leave us for his next life-adventure as the newest soprano with Chanticleer. I couldn't be happier for him than I am. But I couldn't be sadder for myself. Our boy is moving on toward greater things. I know he isn't really leaving us; he's simply expanding his world.

Glegoly, my dear, Mommy is so proud! I am going to miss having you in my life on a near daily basis. I am going to miss hearing you sing to my right as I play the organ. I am going to miss your infectious laugh. I am going to miss trying to read my music through tears as you and I perform things like Duruflé's "Pie Jesu." I am going to miss sitting with you and bitching about the mundane. I am going to miss kissing and hugging you at least twice a week. Thank you for your compositions that I've had the great honor to premiere. Thank you for all the many things you've done for me. Thank you for being my sister, my BPI therapist, my wedding attendant, my collaborator, and my friend. I wish you the greatest success as you embark on this exciting journey. I love you with all my heart.

Open Letter to the Sewing Circle (aka Stitch 'n Bitch)

Circle of Sewers Bitches
444 N. You Know Where
Chicago USA

My dearest Fellow Stitchers Assholes,

What the hell was that? What did I ever do to you? Did it make you all feel better to each pick up your respective piles of shit and all at once hurl them at me? I certainly hope it did something for you, because I'm going to be cleaning it out of my hair, ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and clothes for the entire three-week hiatus before seeing you all again.

In all our weeks/months/years together, I have never felt so unwelcome, unwanted, unloved, and unsafe. Talk about having your parade rained on. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I arrived tonight giddy and all upbeat. Is this your way of assisting the universe in keeping itself in balance? To shoot me down hard to a low that is equal and opposite to my high? Or was it simply a way for you each to feel better about your own current state of unhappiness?

Well, whatever it was, it was successful. I thank you all for a very enlightening unpleasant evening. Oh, and before I forget, a very merry fucking Chrismahanukwanzaakkuh to you, too.

Very sincerely yours,
La Sequencia

01.20.09

Everyone knows what that is, right? 01.20.09? You're right! It's Bush's last day in office as this country's worst president.

Via Sequencia has been avoiding the topic of politics for a while. It had just become too depressing and annoying. But as the primary season is soon to begin in Iowa, it seems apropos to be a little political. After all, this blogger's entrance to the blogosphere was precipitated by the unfortunate outcome of the last presidential election.

So, we know Bush will be out. But who to nominate as our democratic candidate? I swear I just don't know what to do. Never before have I been so undecided at this point.

I like both Hillary and Barack. If you know me personally, you probably know that I'm a real friend of Bill (Clinton, that is). Forget his indiscretion with "that woman." It just doesn't matter. He was a great president with Hillary by his side. He wasn't perfect; no one will ever be a perfect president. But he was, in my humble opinion, a great man for the job. I can only believe that Hillary, with Bill by her side, would make a good president, as well. And I'd love to see the US finally elect a woman to the job.

Barack I also like. Not only is he the senator from my current state of residence, but he is a fresh, young, enthusiastic, progressive voice, and he's becoming a political rock star. I'm just a little concerned about some of his answers relating to issues that directly affect me as one of the gays. While Clinton didn't exactly do everything the way we (the gays) would have wanted him to during his presidency, he did always seem to be on our side. Will Barack be on our side? Will Hillary?

And which one can beat Giuliani? See why I hate this time in the four-year presidential political cycle? It really wears me out. And it's just gettin' goin'.

Foul! Foul!

[Our contractor] of suburban Chicago is unprofessional, unreliable, and uninterested in keeping up his end of a deal.

We also have it under good authority--a very reliable source--that Mr. [Contractor] is a homophobe. We believe that this is the primary motivating factor (or is that un-motivating factor?) for his lack of completion of our contracted work with him. I will not give up my source, but reports are that when Mr. [Contractor] was talking to someone close to me and close to our construction project, he referred to Incontesta and me as those "queens." It seems that Mr. [Contractor] thinks it's okay to call his customers names and then to refuse to do the work he's promised to do.

In my ranting previous post about this job, I was fairly explicit about how unhappy I was with his work, but he made me believe that he was a conscientious person by coming by the house and doing some finishing work to appease my ire. Most of what he did was purely cosmetic, as there wasn't much he could do about the incorrect dimensions of the patio short of tearing it out and having it repoured. I was not interested in that, to be sure! But there remained one last major bit to do: remove what was left in our driveway of the dirt he dug out of our yard and under the old patio, which included a significant amount of smaller pieces of broken concrete that was the old patio. In addition, he was to spread out the remainder of the gravel--the gravel that made up the base for the patio--on our and our neighbors' driveways. That was all that was left to do. So, I, like a big schmuck, paid the guy the balance of what I owed him. And proving even more the level of my schmuckdom, I didn't even ask him to take a hit on my cost of having the air conditioner moved (again, refer to my previous post), which he originally offered to do should he not be able to complete the job otherwise.

He agreed to come over again yesterday at noon to finish up what was left undone after I called him and gave him (again) a piece of my mind. When I returned home after church on Sunday, he had been there and left, according to my neighbor, and my driveway was not done! I called him to see what was happening, and he told me he was done, thanked me, and said, "Have a nice day." When my voice began to rise in pitch and volume as I inquired about his professional integrity, he just repeated his thanks and wishes for me to have a nice day.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

After this, there was steam shooting from my ears! I couldn't believe that I was being dismissed this way...totally and unequivocally disregarded. I said, "Thanks for nothing, [Contractor]." And he said, "Bye." Then he hung up.

I stood there...on the patio...mobile phone in hand...and melted down.

After the mushroom cloud dissipated, my source found me and told me the story revealing Mr. [Contractor]'s bigotry and homophobia. And while this post was intended to help me feel vented, I still feel like there are toxins flowing through my veins.

"Lady...L-Laaaadyyyyy!"

One of my all-time favorite personalities went a long way to destroying the respect I once held for him. Yes, ladies and gentlemen,  Jerry Lewis dropped the F bomb. And right on live television—as big as life. Shame on him!

Rufus at Ravinia

Finally, after waiting all summer for the day to arrive (and then again waiting for the warm-up acts to finish and get the hell off the stage), I got to see my new favorite performer—Rufus Wainwright—in concert. Once we got to the main event, it was fantastic, but the 90 minutes leading up to it were excruciating.

His opening acts are A Fine Frenzy and Magic Numbers. I was okay with A Fine Frenzy for the most part. The singing was decent and the songs were nothing to be offended by. Her five-note range was a little tedious after four songs, but thankfully she sang only five. End of part one.

Then came on Magic Numbers, a four member British band that had a sort of Seals and Crofts whine to their sound, but totally uninteresting music to go with it. I can't imagine a more annoying combination than that. They received a standing ovation from a very small percentage of the audience who apparently were related somehow to the band members (at least that's the only way I can figure it). They were too loud, every song was too driven and sounded the same (except one, which I actually enjoyed listening to...kind of), and were on stage way too long. End of part two.

Then Rufus! He was promoting his new CD, Release the Stars, so most of the songs he sang were from that album. It was a great show. He sang well, and his band was great. I think this album is way over-the-top produced compared to his more introspective stuff, but I like it anyway. I think that if I were to have repeated the experience of going to see The Police or Crosby, Stills and Nash last night like I did twenty years ago in a sports arena, I wouldn't have enjoyed it much. But sitting in our box seats in Ravinia's Pavilion was a great way to see this show. The weather was great and the audience at Ravinia is very well behaved. I was amused by the fact that so much of last night's crowd was 40-something or older. I gotta go to shows up there more often!

4.5 Sequencia Stars

Boing!

(The story you are about to read is true. Really!)

You know the cartoon gag where the eyes bug out of the character's head? Like they just can't believe what they're seeing right in front of them?

Well, that was me (just like with dear old Yasser here) a while ago this afternoon as I walked through Macy's on State Street. I was on my way to the lower level for some sushi to go, when my eyes caught a glimpse of something...umm... well...unbelievable.

I was quickly making my way through the lightly populated establishment when my eyes were drawn like a magnet to a swinging monster of a hoo-ha inside a middle-aged man's beige gauze pants. I must have been affected by the gravitational pull being created by this King Kong ding-a-ling. Some force of nature called to me to notice this thing. It was simply ginormous.

When I was being pulled in its direction (visually), it was swinging freely within those ridiculously light-weight trousers this fellow was wearing. And just as soon as my brain processed what it was that I was seeing, he reached down, grabbed the whopper, and adjusted it, just as though he were standing in the bathroom in front of a mirror. Talk about drawing attention to it (not that it needed any help)! When he reached for it, he actually had bent forward a little, giving his arms more reach...and still he was only able to grab it half-way down.

The next thing I did was to glance over at the woman walking hand in hand with him. I watched her walk a few steps, just to make sure she walked normally. She did. Although, I can't imagine how.

And he dresses left.

Random hotness in honor of QueerFilter.com

In honor of updating the new Via Sequencia with QueerFilter.com, I post this picture for all to enjoy. Cheers!

Come on in and sit a spell!

Welcome to the new digs. Things were just getting a little stale over in the old place, so here we are. Let's have some fun. Cheers!

N.B. For a while, you can check out old posts here.