"Stick a fork in it ... it's done." That was one of the many disparaging comments Bernard Bradshaw, host of the steamy blog and podcast ... Sex & the Second City ... had to say about Noah's Arc. I first heard the grumbling in the fan club earlier in the week, but I never had time to actually hear the podcast for myself. Until today. I listened twice. The friends of SGL café know how much I love this show, and its creator Patrik-Ian Polk. So naturally, I got a little pissed when, on this podcast with Pink Mafia Radio where they discussed the much debated season finale, Bernard Bradshaw chose to show his support for black gay programming by maliciously sledgehammering the originator of this desperately needed genre to pieces. "It was more like a series finale to me, than a season finale." He goes on to speak of Patrik-Ian, "He's not a great writer, not even a mediocre one." Now I had to sit back and ponder that. Was I just having a visceral reaction to an attack on a man I admire and respect, one of the leaders in this ... the new black gay renaissance? But then the podcast continued, and he said he wouldn't care if it was canceled "if he [Patrik-Ian] was gonna continue writing it." Once I digested that foul statement from a fellow SGL brother making moves of his own, I realized it was not about his dislike of the writing of the show. Hell ... to each his own, right? But this over-the-edge negativity toward Patrik smacked of something else entirely, something so many out there wrestle with--even me--that I don't need to mention it by name. My mother always said ... if you don't have anything nice to say, then shut-up (then she'd proceed to gossip about somebody, but that's neither here nor there). Bernard Bradshaw certainly has a right to dislike the show. And he did back-pedal and say he "didn't" want the show to be canceled and expressed concerns for the future of black gay programming ... but as Jasmyne Cannick said regarding Tookie's good works, it was just "too little too late." With it all due respect, 'cause I truly love Sex & the Second City ... but for your short-sighted and malicious attack on the bedrock of all future black gay/SGL/lgbt TV programming and an SGL brother who's worked tirelessly for years knocking down doors and their attached homophobias to bring us Noah's Arc ... fuck you, Bernard Bradshaw ... and Merry Xmas. Keep doing what you do well, talking about the more ho-ish aspects of black gay life, which titillate us so. I'm still a fan of your blog and associated podcast, and will continue to support it. But I just can't live with myself ... when I don't call a spade a spade. ~~~ On a lighter note ... wanna get warm? Fly Life Wednesdays' re-opening kick-off this past week was packed despite the cold!

The rustic, tri-level spot is over the top cozy and cute ... with a roaring fireplace to warm you while you get your dance on ... and cushy sofa's where you can lounge while you get your drink on, or just ogle all the eyecandy that showed up to party.

But I didn't sit much, not with the thumping sounds spun Fred Pierce and Mark James. The Queen of Comedy, Harmonica Sunbeam, practically had to throw us out at the end of the evening because no one wanted to leave. Check it out this Wednesday.

Jersey City is warming up ... again.

Harmonica Sunbeam & Fred Pierce present ...

Fly Life Wednesdays are BACK!! Jersey City is Hot again ... Grand re-opening ... Wednesday, the 21st. FREE Admission.

Noah's ARC is finished. For now. And what a glorious debut season it was. LOGO is still considering a second season. Considering. Well, lets help their decision along ... sign the Petition below ... for Season TWO!! Let LOGO know, we want this show ... again!! Petition to LOGO for Noah's ARC Second Season Let's make it happen people. Show some love, and support, for the first Black Gay TV show ever. It only takes a minute to follow the link above.

"I am nobody's disciple.

I don't belong to any belief system. I love people from all over the world and I never compare them. They are all unigue, a Zarathustra is a Zarathustra, a Mahavira is a Mahavira, a Buddha is a Buddha, a Jesus is a Jesus, a Moses is a Moses ... they are so unique that you should not make one of them a criterion that everybody else has to fit with." Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ~ Indian Spiritual Leader, 1931-1990

We stopped hanging people in the town square for a reason. Stanley 'Tookie' Williams did some good in his life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t soon enough. A part of me is in anguish because I really thought Arnold would exercise compassion and not put a nobel-prize-nominated-author to death. But I guess … that’s the only muscle he’s never flexed. Another part of me understands how some want him to pay for killing four with a shotgun in ‘79, regardless of the possible transformative powers of incarceration. He said he didn’t do it though. I guess that doesn’t amount for much when most of the convicted claim to be innocent. But the truth of his possible innocence coming out wouldn’t be worth a damn to Tookie now. The Death Penalty is barbaric to biblical proportions. We’ve evolved since the days when we threw a loose woman into a pit and pelted her with rocks until she died. We know better now … we know a woman has the right to be a freak if she chooses, and I can’t bust her with a rock if I don’t like it. If our justice were perfect, if we’d never had men wrongly convicted … then maybe. But since we know better, since we know the system sometimes makes grave mistakes, the death penalty should never be an option. As prison psychologist Gregory Goldstein warned the spectators, “Don't be surprised if you feel panic, anxiety or other emotions similar to those one might experience while "stuck in a natural disaster." An execution, he added, is a "highly unusual event." Highly unusual. Uh ... yeah.

The Death Penalty is outdated. Can a true civilized society actually put its citizens to death ... and still consider itself, civilized? And I really don't care whether it deters crime or not. I personally find the thought of spending the rest of my life in a tiny cell surrounded by neanderthal murderers and rapists a lot more terrifying than dying. And isn't it funny how the method of execution has evolved to be more humane. Could that be because there's something deeply, inherently wrong with it? We stopped hanging people in the town square for the same reason we don’t have slave auctions anymore … or use leeches to cure the sick.

We’ve evolved.

Just because something is in the Bible doesn't make it right. I live for the day when people realize that. AHrnold, Georgie boy … is anyone listening?