Vol. X No. 3 · June 15, 2010

IS ART EASY
OR
IS EASY THE ART?

I have two wonderful neighbors who live in the building next to Calamus Bookstore. They are MICHAEL MALYSZKO and JUDITH E. HUGHES. Both, years back, were instrumental in transforming this charming neighborhood into the creative community it has become. They stopped an earlier Mayor (Kevin White) from letting his developer friends knock the neighborhood down for more sky scrapers. (Jane Jacobs lives!)

Michael is a professional photographer. Judith is a writer. Years back, when I first moved into the neighborhood, they had two dogs, Betty and Rita. They did two books with Betty and Rita--one in Paris and one in Rome, both books amusing. Betty and Rita are now gone. Tammy is their current pet, a bright and affectionate dog they got through the shelter system. Tammy is the star of TAMMY DOES BOSTON. Tammy makes the rounds of all the tourist sights in Boston, the swan boats, Chinatown, the Boston Marathon, the North End, the lot. This is a beautifully done book, full of charm and wit.

TAMMY DOES BOSTON is a hardcover; all photos are in full color, $14.95
 
GLENWAY WESCOTT: PERSONALLY: A BIOGRAPHY was first published in 2002. JERRY ROSCO, the author, knew Wescott for years and interviewed him often.

Wescott is primarily known for his four novels. Born in the Mid-West, Wescott was in Paris in the 1920s. His first book, THE GRANDMOTHERS, made him famous. (Hemingway was so jealous he went around Paris mocking Wescott.) THE GRANDMOTHERS is back in print from the University of Wisconsin Press. After he published APARTMENT IN ATHENS in the mid 1940s, he didn't publish any more novels. Wescott died in 1987, at age 86. He was very active in cultural affairs, particularly in raising money to provide grants for writers.

Roscoe's biography covers Wescott's long and colorful life, his early fame and his later struggles to write. Wescott's lover was Monroe Wheeler, the longtime curator at the Museum of Modern Art. They were at the core of a circle of creative gay men in New York (George Platt-Lynes, Paul Cadmus and others) in the 30s, 40s and after. Wescott worked with Alfred Kinsey in his sex research on homosexuality.

GLENWAY WESCOTT: PERSONALLY is a trade paperback. It includes photographs, notes and an index, $19.95
 
Originally from Tennessee, STEVE CUBINE is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. His first novel is WALKING ON ELECTRIC AIR.

Meet Dottie Westbrook, a depressed St. Louis housewife. On her fourth attempt at killing herself--the carbon monoxide filling the garage number--all Dottie winds up with is a disabled minivan and not eternal bliss. She calls Triple-A to try to get back in gear.

Enter Shelby Struthers, the auto mechanic, with a taste for the libations, who suffers his own dark demons, and Dottie's plans take a new turn.

WALKING ON ELECTRIC AIR is a trade paperback from 19 West Publishing, $15.95

 

 
 
JACOB MOTT was born (1975) and raised in Kent, England. At an early age, he started drawin males in erotic poses. There is one signature to his work; no matter how raunchy the image depicted, one of the figures is wearing a fancy timepiece on his wrist--thus the title of his new book, WATCH US! Product placement and porn; an idea whose time has come, though I might want to email the Calvin Klein people on this thought.

WATCH US! is a hardcover from Bruno Gmünder. All the artwork is in color, $29.95
 
PERRY BRASS's latest is THE MANLY ART OF SEDUCTION: HOW TO MEET, TALK TO, AND BECOME INTIMATE WITH ANYONE. Both a how-to book and a workbook, Brass has written a book primarily aimed at gay men, but of use to straight men and women. His subject is male territorialism, how many men deny it and how others mess it all up. He addresses the fact of rejection. and makes his case for honesty in sexual encounters and relationships.

THE MANLY ART OF SEDUCTION is a trade paperback from Belhue Press, $16.95
 
MARK GRIFFIN is the author of A HUNDRED OR MORE HIDDEN THINGS: THE LIFE AND FILMS OF VINCENTE MINNELLI.

Minnelli had a long and distinguished career, many years at MGM at its peak. He was brilliant with the musical format, for which he is primarily remembered. But in a romantic drama, like THE CLOCK, he also demonstrated his gifts.

Griffin did over one hundred interviews for this book--Kirk Douglas, Angela Lansbury, Lauren Bacall, Tony Curtis, George Hamilton and others. Griffin makes the presentation that Minnelli not only built a remarkable Hollywood legacy, but created an intriguing autobiography in code.  Griffin notes in his introduction: "In Jon Maran's recent play THE TEMPERAMENTALS, 'Vincente Minnelli' appears to be the physical embodiment of the closet. Marans concocted an episode in which Minnelli is approached by gay activist Harry Hay and asked to lend his support to the Mattachine Society." A nice gesture, but Hollywood didn't work like that back then.

A HUNDRED OR MORE HIDDEN THINGS is a trade paperback from Da Capo Press. It has photos throughout, notes and an index, $15.95

 
 

It's an interesting thought to recall that RuPAUL has been a cultural event since the early 1980s. And looking more fabulous than ever! And with a TV show! RuPaul's is a demanding line of work. That hard work is no where evident in WORKIN' IT! RuPAUL'S GUIDE TO LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT IF STYLE; our friend makes it look so easy

Ru's story is the art of self-invention and Ru has mastered the craft, and the craft is the genius of the illusion. And he did that rare thing--became a pop star in drag.

WORKIN' IT is a trade paperback, with lots of photos, $19.99
 
WENDY MOFFAT, an associate professor of English at Dickinson College, is the author of A GREAT UNRECORDED HISTORY: A NEW LIFE OF E. M. FORSTER. This is her first book.

One of the mysteries in Forster's life is why, at a young age, he stopped writing novels. Gore Vidal once noted that a good novelist has, on average, a writing career of sixteen or seventeen years (his being, obviously, an exception). In Forster's case it was different. Moffat sees Forster's life through his homosexuality and his living in a society where he would be at great risk to live as an openly gay man. Forster's life spans the age from the trial of Oscar Wilde to the Stonewall Rebellion in New York. His career was caught in the middle. Others made different compromises with the ethos of that time in the UK.

Moffat spent a decade researching this book, interviewing many people who knew Forster well. Hers is the first biography to integrate Forster's public and private lives, thus giving us a radical new view, revealing his astuteness as a social critic, his political bravery and his forward-looking insights of gay intimacy.

A GREAT UNRECORDED HISTORY is a hardcover from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It includes black and white photographs, notes, an extensive bibliography and an index, $32.50
 
The Brits took to Hollywood like moths to the flame. They were there for the silents, but after movies started talking, Tinseltown was a magnet for their talent.

Of those who started in the 1940s, two became out-sized legends: Elizabeth Taylor and Angela Lansbury. Ms. L, now in her 80s, is still working. La Taylor, over the past decade, has eased into a well-deserved retirement.

WILLIAM J. MANN gives us Taylor in a comprehensive biography, HOW TO BE A MOVIE STAR: ELIZABETH TAYLOR IN HOLLYWOOD. Taylor was eleven years old in 1943 and under contract with MGM. NATIONAL VELVET was just around the corner. After that came her teen years, her transformation into a sex symbol, her many marriages, her fights with the press, her illnesses, her stunning performances in works by Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee--Elizabeth became LIZ, an icon. For thirty years, she was rarely out of the tabloid presses. It takes fortitude to live a life like that.

Mann captures the fullness of Taylor's life and career, working from lots of interviews, and interweaving his biography with a meditation on what toll that kind of fame can wreak.

HOW TO BE A MOVIE STAR is a trade paperback from Mariner. It includes black and white photographs, extensive notes and an index, $15.95
 
DAVID HURLES is the genius behind Old Reliable, perhaps the original amateur studio. The first book collecting his early work was SPEEDING. Hurles grew up in Cincinnati and--a surprise to me--we went to high school at the same time, Walnut Hills High School--yes, I know, so much talent comes from those halls.

The new collection of Hurles' photos is OUTCAST: DAVID HURLES' OLD RELIABLE IN LIVING COLOR. This new volume features two hundred color photographs selected by the artist himself, chosen from his catalogues of the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

OUTCAST is a trade paperback published by Green Candy Press, $35.00

 

 

Meet the Author

Philip Gambone
reads from
TRAVELS IN A GAY NATION
at Calamus Bookstore
Friday, June 25 at 7:00 PM

For two years, Philip Gambone traveled the length and breadth of the United States, talking candidly with LGBTQ people about their lives. In addition to interviews with David Sedaris, George Takei, Barney Frank, and Tammy Baldwin, Travels in a Gay Nation brings us lesser-known voices—a retired Naval officer, a transgender scholar and “drag king,” a Princeton philosopher, two opera sopranos who happen to be lovers, an indie rock musician, the founder of a gay frat house, and a pair of Vermont garden designers.

In this age when contemporary gay America is still coming under attack, Gambone captures the humanity of each individual. For some, their identity as a sexual minority is crucial to their life’s work; for others, it has been less so, perhaps even irrelevant. But, whether splashy or quiet, center-stage or behind the scenes, Gambone’s subjects have managed—despite facing ignorance, fear, hatred, intolerance, injustice, violence, ridicule, or just plain indifference— to construct passionate, inspiring lives.

“By asking good questions and really listening, Philip Gambone opens an illuminating window into the minds, hearts, and guts of a fabulous array of extraordinary Americans. At this critical time in America’s decades-long movement toward LGBTQ equality, you really shouldn’t miss this view.” —Will Fellows, author of Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest

Philip Gambone teaches English at Boston University Academy and at the Harvard Extension School. An award-winning essayist, journalist, and fiction writer, he is author of Something Inside: Conversations with Gay Fiction Writers and Beijing: A Novel, both published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

TRAVELS IN A GAY NATION has just been published in trade paperback, $26.95

 
FEATURED DVDs
SHARON GLESS stars in HANNAH FREE, a touching story of the lifelong love affair between two very different women. The story weaves between past and present, describing how they kept their passion alive through marriage, a world war and family denial. In English, 86 minutes, $24.95

 DAVID DeCOTEAU's film, HOUSE OF USHER, is a contemporary update of the title by E.A. Poe. Victor visits his first love, Roderick Usher, at the latter's crumbling estate. He finds Roderick and his sister decaying before his eyes. He stays around to discover the awful secret that's keeping them alive. In English, 83 minutes, $19.99
BARGAIN BOOKS
SCOUTS IN BONDAGE is a fun little book, edited by MICHAEL BELL. The full title is SCOUTS IN BONDAGE AND OTHER VIOLATIONS OF LITERARY PROPRIETY. Bell, in his years as a used book seller, collected amusing book covers, some a bit racy, some just silly and this is his collection. This is a small hardcover from Simon & Schuster, $5.95

NICE ASS is the black and white photography of DAVID ADEN SPRIGLE featuring the posterior exposures of handsome male models, many posing herein for the first time nude. The bum, as every other part of the body, serves its fine purpose and most seem to be indistinguishable, but Sprigle, with his sharp camera, makes the point--each tush is different! This is a hardcover from FotoFactory Press, $15.95
RE:PAST
Out-of-print, first editions or curios from the Calamus collection
Call (617) 338-1931 for ordering information
BRYAN MAGEE's book, ONE IN TWENTY: A STUDY OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN MEN AND WOMEN was first published in Great Britain in 1966. Magee has a very liberal and sympathetic way of explaining homosexuality--very sixties. This is a hardcover from Secker and Warburg, $7.95 Francis Cardinal Spellman was thought by some of his co-religionists as "the scandal of the church." He certainly was in the running. In 1984, JOHN COONEY published THE AMERICAN POPE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN. There was controversy at the time of its publication. Times Books, the publisher, was said to have demanded cuts of some of the more sensational parts. There was no shortage of scandal-mongering with regard to Spellman. This is the hardcover first edition, $19.95

I recently acquired a substantial collection of DRUMMER magazines, some from the early years. If interested, contact me. I have priced them at $7.95 each.
MARTIN GREEN, born in the UK, but a teacher at Tufts for many years, wrote a wonderful account of cultural life in Britain after WWI, CHILDREN OF THE SUN: A NARRATIVE OF "DECADENCE" IN ENGLAND AFTER 1918. Originally published in 1976, the is the 1980 paperback edition, $12.95 FRANCIS KING's novel, A DOMESTIC ANIMAL, was first published in 1970. It is the story of a young Italian philosopher who arrives in England to do research, stays with a male middle-aged novelist and they have a love affair. This is the 1984 trade  paperback reprint from GMP (Gay Mens Press), $6.50


 

 
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