Monday, September 26, 2011

Larry La Fountain at Taller Puertorriqueño (Philadelphia)






Upcoming Event at Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia:
Saturday, October 1st, 2011/ 24th Annual Feria del Libro y las Artesanías. An all afternoon event this year featuring guest writer, Dr. Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes to present Uñas Pintadas de Azul/Blue Fingernails. These 14 short stories represent a Latin American poetic journey, a sensory pilgrimage through the pains and pleasures of Diasporic, cosmopolitan gay and lesbian Puerto Rican identities in a postmodern, ever-shifting world. Artisans from Puerto Rico, local artisans, music, storytelling for children, workshops for the whole family and more./Una tarde de literatura y artesanías con talleres y cuentos para niños, música y bailes. 1 - 5 p.m. Books and Crafts Store /Tienda.*
*Sponsorship opportunities available! 
*This is a Free Event
*Free parking at the Municipal Parking Lot at the corner of 5th & Huntingdon

Friday, September 23, 2011

Run Karis Run - Cazwell, "Tonight" (2010)



Lola von Miramar is a little obsessed with Cazwell's 2010 video "Tonight," featuring Karis in a Run Lola Run role. Here's the fantastic video:



First of all, it took Lola like forever to realize that Karis is a boy! A Mexican-born one who performs in drag in Mexican Lucha Libre Burlesque Reviews for Cinco de Mayo, that is! OMG. And then, of course, you have Cazwell sampling Shannon's 1984 song "Give Me Tonight"!



(Many of you might be more familiar with Shannon's "Let the Music Play", a classic of Latin freestyle--see video here.)



So by now we have a girl who is actually a Mexican boy making out with Cazwell in a scene of grand domesticity and then running madly through New York City after they have this horrible fight, and Cazwell tells us "I'm gonna write you a love song", and that "you're gonna fall in love with me," all with his white boy banjee realness, meanwhile Karis keeps running (conjuring images of homeless, runaway trans youth), Shannon's song keeps playing, the camera keeps going crazy, the editing has us looking everywhere in its Run, Karis, Run sequences, running through the space of relationships and emotions, through masculinity and femininity, through musical styles and genres, historical periods and influences, and through the upside-down cityscape of construction scaffolding, train platforms (Grand Central Station) and other sites. The juxtaposition of Latin freestyle--which came about as an electronic dance music alternative to 70s disco--to Cazwell's mellow pop rap draws us in, the frenzy of the imagery is reproduced in the music and then exploded with the rapper's all-out jump into more straighforward hip hop rhyming: Cazwell as a queer homothug Massachusetts-born channeling of Detroit's own Eminem. Puerto Rican freestyle meets queer rap (also known as homo hop) in NY. All of this graced with the surreal presence of trans celebrity extraordinaire Amanda Lepore, who suddenly appears in the video as if a Playboy bunny stepping out of a cake. Cazwell's rap shifts the romantic tone of the song to a frustrated account of failed exchanges. But Shannon's backup chorus lyrics always overlay, rescuing the possibility of love. THIS VIDEO'S JUST TOO MUCH! I LOVE IT! Hope you like it too.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

la novelabingo - 7 octubre 2011


La Junta de Directores
y la Directora Ejecutiva
del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
le invitan a la presentación de
la novelabingo
de
Manuel Ramos Otero.

La presentación estará a cargo
del crítico literario Rubén Ríos Ávila
y la escritora Ana Lydia Vega.

Viernes 7 de octubre de 2011
7:00pm
Patio interior Sur
Antiguo Asilo de Beneficencia
(sede del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña)
Viejo San Juan

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Learn Spanish by Making Cocktails

Country Queen, City Queen (with the Feast of Fun)




Listen to this fab Feast of Fun podcast in which Larry La Fountain chats away with the fabulous Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion about national and international lesbian and gay migration to large cities and about the uber-controversial Puerto Rican politician Roberto Arango (of recent sex-scandal infamy) and the cross-dressing Mexican-American boxer Oscar de la Hoya! (FOF #1433, posted September 2, 2011)

Friday, September 9, 2011

Lola von Miramar Takes Over the World


Curious about what Miss Lola von Miramar has been upto lately? Listen to this fabulous interview on the Feast of Fun podcast! Sure to make you smile and laugh. With Larry La Fountain, Fausto Fernós, and Marc Felion, recorded in Ann Arbor, Michigan! (FOF #1431, posted August 25, 2011)