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Shilling For The Harlem Real Estate Industry?

Lauren Price's article, "What's Up in Uptown?" (Gay City  News, May 14, 2014), seemed more suited to the Real Estate section of the Sunday New York Times than the pages of a gay newspaper. In fact, the whole article made her look like a shill for the real estate industry.

I was very disappointed. I was expecting an article that was focused on how gays and lesbians were helping to transform the Harlem community, not an advertisement about what's available in Harlem for sale or rent.

Don Cheadle Is Miles Ahead On His Miles Davis Film

Now that actor Don Cheadle has gotten his Miles Davis biopic, Miles Ahead,* before the cameras, maybe he should consider doing a biopic of Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's openly gay friend and collaborator. (Strayhorn wrote among other well-known tunes, Take the A Train.)There was supposed to be a film version of  Lush Life, David Hadju's biography of Strayhorn, but nothing came of it. It would be wonderful if a film about Strayhorn would be made. Such a film would remove him from Ellington's shadow.


*Note: See Alan Light's article, "Middle-Aged Man Without a Horn," in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section (September 14, 2014). It is about Don Cheadle's making of the Miles Davis biopic.

An Unpublished Interview With Ben Bagley

I have an interview I did with the late record producer Ben Bagley at WBAI-FM in New York. It was recorded in 1977 and was never broadcast. I hope to transcribe the interview for publication in this blog and/or in one of the New York-based newspapers or magazines. Bagley (1933-1998) produced several record albums of music by Broadway composers such as Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, and Cole Porter. These recordings were released on his Painted Smiles label.

A Second Blog is Planned Focusing On NYC Film/TV Industries

There has been a lot of film and television production in the New York area. So I plan to start a second blog focusing on that activity. More details about this later.

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