SGL Café

Mighty Real: a new millenium anthology destined to become a classic!

It seems like ages ago and oddly just like yesterday when I was first approached to participate in this ambitious endeavor. A new millenium collection of black gay literati to combine their voices for one memorable, historic work. In the honorable and noble tradition of In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology, Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men, and Shade: An Anthology of Fiction by Gay Men of African Descent, comes Mighty Real. At a whopping 737 pages, this newest addition to the lexicon of Same Gender Loving Literature "features both new and established writers. Grounded in a poignant and truthful sensibility, imbued with the realities of sex and love, Smith and Williams present a culmination of poems, short stories, radical essays, sermons, plays and interviews honoring notable figures within the SGLBT community." So put on some sounds from our tearfully soulful, gender-bending, trend-setting icon of yesterday, the late-great Sylvester [who's song "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" began a disco anthem] - and sooth your souls with our griots of today.

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality from Sid Jordan on Vimeo.

Stanley Bennett Clay remembers E. Lynn Harris

[Lambda Literary] I first met Lynn in the early nineties, just as his well-deserved star began illuminating the literary horizon, thanks to Doubleday’s publication of his self-published phenom Invisible Life. At the time I was publisher and editor-in-chief of SBC Magazine, the largest national monthly for the Black LGBT community. I knew immediately that this was a groundbreaking artist who absolutely had to be celebrated in the pages of my magazine. But upon meeting Lynn for our first interview, I not only found a visionary, but a new friend, whose southern charm, gentle ways and generous spirit made him more than just an editorial feature subject. As I recall the many, many phone calls and lunches that we shared over the years, the laughter, the gossip, the ups and downs of our love lives, our genuine appreciation of each other, and our partings that always ended with an “I love you, man/ I love you, too,” I will always hear in my head and in my heart the gentle ring of his smiling voice, rich with the warmth of his southern-gentleman way. Though the pain of his loss is a void I fear cannot be filled, I take solace in the sweet memories that we shared; two black gay men that truly knew love, knew life, knew friendship and shared dreams of a community that could be changed with the stroke of a pen. I love you, man. I miss you, too. ~ SBC This July LambdaLiterary.org will be honoring the memory of author E. Lynn Harris, who passed away last year. As a part of our tribute, we asked his friends and peers to tell us about the important legacy of his work and his incredible impact on the community.

... also check out Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute To E. Lynn Harris Stanley Bennett Clay, Terrence Dean , James Earl Hardy It's been getting 5 star reviews. Stay tuned for the SGL Café review. In the interim, check out our reviews of Stanley Bennett Clay's In Search of Pretty Young Black Men and Looker ...

Stanley Bennett Clay - In a class by himself

My love affair with Stanley Bennett Clay began with In Search of Pretty Young Black Men — his steamy tale of a beautiful hustler driving the residents of a wealthy black enclave to murderous distraction. His latest novel, Looker, has all the raw eroticism of its predecessor, with even more heart. Brandon Heywood and Omar Stevens were the best of friends since childhood. Brando is a handsome, popular, and successful entertainment lawyer; a man whose seemingly idyllic life lacks passion. Choosing to remain celibate for 2 years after the end of a long term relationship, he goes through life quietly on the sidelines. Omar, a showbiz writer and journalist thrashes through life and love, all the while hiding the romantic feelings he has for Brando that he has kept hidden since they were teenagers. Soon, murder allegations throw Brando and Omar up against some harsh realities which may make them see what’s been there all along. Stanley Bennett Clay once again proves to be a master, lyrical storyteller who other writers aspire to emulate. ‘Looker’ deserves five and one half stars, but there is no category for that – which is appropriate, because Clay is in a class by himself.

Hairspray: Reviewed by Stanley Bennett Clay

Last night I went to the screening of what's got to be the best dance-in-the-aisle feel-good movie of the year. I saw "Hairspray" on Broadway a couple of years ago and was totally blown away, fearing that a movie version simply couldn't do it justice. Boy was I wrong. This film rocks with a kick-ass 60's musical score, great performances, and a comically touching storyline that riles against prejudice and discrimination.

Tracy Turnblad is a plus-size white teenage girl in 1962 Baltimore whose hair and dreams are equal to her girth. Without a second thought she plays hooky and auditions for the local TV dance show which features tall, slim Anglos. She loses out and earns detention to boot. Detention is filled with mostly black kids who are allowed to dance on the TV show only once a month, on "Negro Day." Tracy, immediately relating to the black kids, wonders why can't every day be "Negro Day."

Because of turmoil caused by this innocent questioning, "Negro Day" is cancelled. Tracy, joining forces with her black friends, decides to picket the show, as they demand not a "Negro Day" but full integration.

Now remember, this is based on a John Waters film, so it's not as glumly pedantic as it may sound. The jokes are fast and furious and sly (although in deference to the genius of Mr. Waters, this is a film suitable for the whole family. I'm even taking my eighty-year-old Jehovah's Witness mother to see it). You will (as the cliché goes) laugh and cry throughout this wonderful film where even the villains as lovable.

John Travolta is absolutely adorable as Tracy's shy, stay-at-home Mom, without even a hint of drag-queen winking. You really fall in love with him, er, her.

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Latifah, is up to her brilliant self again; very funny, and when you least expect it, moments of tear-jerking poignancy.

Michelle Pfieffer is the deliciously hissable villainess who is less a racist than a beautiful ball-busting Cruella DeVille bitch-mother (is that an oxymoron?) capable of anything to advance the unadvancibles of her dim-witted blond bimbo daughter.

But the film belongs to eighteen-year-old newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad. From the very opening to the last frame she throws her weight around with the joy of an 'Ugly Betty' butterfly flutter; demanding justice with such naively joyful conviction, discovering love with the hottest hunk on campus, dragging her mother out of her shell, shining as the apple of her father's eye, bringing
black and white folks together before it was fashionable, and changing the world with the sheer force of her irrisistability and lovliness, not to mention a killer voice and a soul-sistah boogaloo that soul-sistahs can take note of.

Something wonderful is happening. Maybe we are finally getting sick and tired of the Paris Hiltons, the Britney Spears, and the Nicole Ritchies of the world; these dinizens of fake. I love the fact that we are finally celebrating nontraditional beauty, (or should I say real beauty under-appreciated) and undeniable talent (can we say Barbra Streisand on both counts?). Jennifer Hudson's total sweep of every award in existance last year gave me hope. Witnessing Fantasia's fantastic performance in the Broadway production of "The Color Purple" this past June confirmed it. Last night's introduction of the new star birth of Nikki Blonsky totally locked it for me. I don't know what she's like in person, but seeing this film, I immediately wanted to become her new best friend.

The closing number in "Hairspray" boldly says it all. It's titled "You Can't Stop The Music" and what the creators are saying boldly, proudly, with great conviction and bravado is that when it comes to social, political, racial, and cultural progress, "You Can't Stop The Movement."

Look for a lot of Hairspray Oscars in 2008. And look for this lovely little musical touching hearts and minds in this wonderful country of ours we call America now, tomorrow, and at the polls in 2008. ~~

Stanley Bennett Clay
author of the new novel Looker

In Search of Pretty Young Black Men, by Stanley Bennett Clay

“A lust-laced hallelujah.” That’s how G. B. Mann described the steamy novel, In Search of Pretty Young Black Men by award-winning filmmaker and playwright Stanley Bennett Clay. The quote, by the author of Low-Hanging Fruit, is on the back cover of the dust-jacket. I made a skeptical little sound at the magnificent, though extremely ‘authorly’ quip—one carefully crafted to be repeated, and therefore, somewhat self-serving. Why am I repeating it, you say? Because after reading the book, I realize that Mr. Mann’s four little words can't be bested. He hit the nail with this one … dead center. I took the provocatively titled tome on my birthday cruise and between peaceful moments staring at the sea, I was enraptured by this tale of Dorian Moore, “... a mysterious and seductive young man who provides comfort to the moneyed, the neglected, the lost, and the lonely in an elegant hilltop community in Southern California.” It was the title that drew me in, and I ordered it from Amazon without knowing a thing about Stanley Bennett Clay. Maybe because I've resigned myself to the fact that, in a way, my life has been a search for pretty young black men ever since I was one … and also that, until the day I die, they’ll have the heart-stopping ability to bring a smile to my face, a tingle to my nether-region, and make me play the biggest fool. Yeah. The good ones can. As I sun-bathed and enjoyed the pleasant rocking of the ship, I peeked over my shades at the most pleasant sight. A real, live, pretty young black man (who'd only been old enough to drink for ten minutes, tops) sauntered by looking edible, dangerous and darkly Brazilian in his Speedo. I watched him set up a deck chair opposite me … and then put on a seductive show involving languid application of oil, and a few choice stretches. I thought of Stanley Bennett Clay’s character, Dorian Moore—who drove some residents of the exclusively rich black enclave of Baldwin Hills to lascivious and tragic distraction—and I had to admit that lust for such heavenly creatures ... can do exactly that. “…Was he a god, or was he just another piece of trade? Maybe Dorian Moore was one and the same; after all, gods and trade both provide comfort.” And Stanley Bennett Clay goes on … “The cannibalizing of Dorian Moore, and morsels like him, will continue. It is the law of nature that these are grown for the nourishment of others.” Halle(fuckin’)lujah. But don’t forget … G. B. Mann sorta said it first. Stanley Bennett Clay grabs you by the nuts, and slowly squeezes. In Search of Pretty Young Black Men made me question the objectification of the pretty young ‘anythings’ of the world, and ponder society’s ideas (and my own) about lust and morality. And reading it was kinda like being ravaged by a pretty young black man ... well ... almost.