Rod 2.0:Beta

Pretty Ricky's Homoerotic Cover of "Knockin Boots"

When we first heard R&B boyband Pretty Ricky was covering the H-Town classic "Knockin Da Boots" we thought, "Eh, whatever." Then saw the YouTube video of "Knockin Boots 08" over at B Scott and ONTD and thought otherwise. The boys can sing, there's no question about that, although their cover is fairly derivative and too true to the classic. But the visuals are hot, hot, hot.

Lead singer Spectacular continues to live up to his name—at least visually, he's spectacular, and the country grammar is sexy—and new singer 4 Play is hot-ta-def and really can sing, Oh, and the director found multiple camera angles to document every inch of their ripped torsos, and, yes, the boys really do kiss their guns. It's kinda like a porn movie.

For a different pov, B Scott is not impressed and believes Pretty Ricky's cheesy off-air persona (Good Burger/90s fashion/male strippers) is all over the video and the vocals. "They didn’t do it for me on this song! If you are going to redo someone else’s song, please redo the damn thing and make it you own! Trollops!"

Last year, Pretty Ricky was interviewed by one of the English homostyle mags, Gay Times, AXM or Attitude,.can't remember which one. We'll look for the interview

Funeral Services and Online Tributes for Cocodorm Model Lamar

A follow-up to the tragic story of Eric Lamar Turner, the handsome popular former model (nsfw) on the blatino-themed Cocodorm who was killed in a horrific head-on highway collision after leaving Chicago's black gay pride celebration.

Funeral services were held Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky, where Turner grew up. The Louisville Courier-Journal ran a very thoughtful obit with this quote from his grandmother Jocqueline Turner: "One of my greatest fears was that Eric moved around so much and I was always afraid that something would happen," she said. "He was a heart-stealer, had so much charisma, and was very charming. He was a person you couldn't stay angry with and he loved to travel."

Meanwhile, thoughts and condolences are being expressed across the internet. The boys at the popular and always-entertaining So Gully World posted a five page virtual tribute to Lamar, and, there is a similar thread at Blackvoices' forum for black gay men. Lamar's MySpace has not been updated in several weeks. Somewhat ironically, there are well-wishes from several friends who planned to meet him at Chicago black pride.

Those wishing to send cards or flowers to the family can in care of Refuge in Kentucky Church, 207 South Hancock Street, Louisville KY 40202.

Third victim of Indiana crash was also from Louisville [LCJ]

Some Background ....
Former Cocodorm Model "Lamar" Killed in Collision [R20]

NR's Jonah Goldberg: "Black Presidential Candidate" Obama Encourages "Slave Mentality"

If you don't normally read Jonah Goldberg, editor of National Review Online, you aren't missing very much besides the usual neo-conservative screeds. However, in an op-ed at The Los Angeles Times that was crossed posted to NRO, the baby-faced, right-wing pundit jumps the shark and compares Sen. Barack Obama’s plan to encourage community service and volunteerism among students to "slavery." In the first sentence, Goldberg describes the presumptive Democratic nominee as "the black presidential candidate" and theorizes his plan may violate the 13th Amendment. It's really a piece a work:

There’s a weird irony at work when Sen. Barack Obama, the black presidential candidate who will allegedly scrub the stain of racism from the nation, vows to run afoul of the constitutional amendment that abolished slavery.

For those who don’t remember, the 13th Amendment says: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime … shall exist within the United States.

I guess in Obama’s mind it must be a crime to be born or to go to college.

The conservative pundit is outraged by Obama’s pledge to "set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year." Eventually, the cherubic right wing pundit admits "national service isn’t slavery. But it contributes to a slave mentality at odds with American tradition."

There's a ... weird irony at work when conservatives conveniently forget that for two centuries, slavery was part of the "American tradition", but, requiring students to perform for community service is a quantum leap from picking cotton. Oh, and it's no accident Goldeberg describes Obama as "the black presidential candidate." That is standard operating procedure at NRO.

H/T: Think Progress

Forced servitude in America? [LAT]

ACLU Launches Online Resource for LGBT Activists

The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a new online resource for gay and lesbian activists. Get Busy Get Equal was created by the ACLU's LGBT & AIDS Project and offers a comprehensive guide to gay rights legislation in the 50 states, as well as chapters on laws that affect relationships, family law, parenting, discrimination. Get Busy Get Equal offers many of the tools that you can use to reach out to your neighbors, schools, employers and elected officials and get them to pass laws or adopt policies protecting LGBT people and the relationships of LGBT people

The ACLU and Get Busy Get Equal are sponsoring Rod 2.0. If you have a few minutes, please take a few minutes to check it out.

More Than 3 Million Celebrate Sao Paulo Gay Pride

More than 2 million people celebrated gay pride in São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South American and the host of the world's largest gay pride celebration. With music blasting from more than 20 sound trucks, gay men, lesbians and elaborately costumed cross-dressers danced and cheered along the skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista in the heart of São Paulo's financial district. The pride march urged an end to violence, discrimination, homophobia and sexism.

Lavish carnival costumes and go-go boys in shorty shorts were the uniforms of choice. Some of the sights and scenes from Made in Brazil and Flickr:

According to local reports, organizers expected more than three million people at the annual São Paulo Gay Pride Parade. The São Paulo Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgenders Parade Association said attendance was more than 5 million.

This is the 12th year the parade has been staged.

Brazil's gays stage huge parade against bias [Reuters]
Millions attend gay pride pageant [Press Assn]
Pride 2008: At Avenida Paulista [MIB]

Lou Dobbs Confronted on "NAFTA Superhighway": "I Reject You!"

On Wednesday, Media Matters published a fantastic report and video which found that cable news hosts Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck regularly "serve up a steady diet of fear, anger, and resentment on the topic of illegal immigration.

Last night on CNN, an obviously irritated Lou Dobbs hosted Media Matters fellow Paul Waldman to debate the findings. Waldman pressed Dobbs to provide evidence of one of the major myths promoted by his popular show—that there is a "secret plan" to build a "NAFTA Superhighway" from Mexico to Canada. Dobbs could provide no evidence and angrily said, "You’re charging nonsense ... I reject it, I reject you, and I reject your position." Dobbs also called Waldman and Media Matters "ideologues" and "a left-wing hack." YouTube and transcript via Think Progress:

WALDMAN: So the question is, do you have — do you have actual evidence that there — that there is a plan that is going to take this all the way from Mexico to Canada? What is the evidence there? […]
DOBBS: The evidence is straightforward. … We haven’t enough time for this. … You are a left-wing advocacy group. You’re charging nonsense … I reject it, I reject you, and I reject your position!"

Dobbs has often broadcast erroneous immigration stories, such as claiming "illegal immigrants" were at risk for leprosy and aired a report saying the "invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans." When CBS News' 60 Minutes confronted Dobbs and told him the claim was false, Dobbs simply replied, “If we reported it, its a fact.”

Al Gore Releases Video Endorsing Gay Rights and Same Sex Marriage

In a new video uploaded at his Current TV, former Vice President Al Gore delivers a strong argument for gay rights and same-sex marriage, saying "gay men and women ought to have the same rights as heterosexual men and women—to make contracts, to have hospital visiting rights, to join together in marriage. ... Shouldn’t we be promoting the kind of faithfulness and loyalty to ones partner regardless of sexual orientation?" asks the recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Echoing his recent remarks on same sex partners of Iraqi war veterans, there are no "ifs", "ands" or "buts" about Gore's forceful endorsement for gay rights and same sex marriage. It's too bad the leading Democratic presidential candidates cannot do the same, but, it's because of Gore's non-participation in the election that he can afford to make bold and visionary policy suggestions.

More AL GORE

Some Background ...
Gore on Iraq: "My Heart Goes Out to All Those Who Have Lost Partners" [R20]
Right-Wing Attacks Gore After Oscar [R20]
Right-Wing Attack After Gore's Nobel [R20]
Live Earth Brings Global Awareness to Warming [R20]

The Boys from Ipanema: Four Reasons to Enjoy Carnival in Rio

The boys from Ipanema will out in full force at the upcoming Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Front and center will the male "muse", or, the lead dancer and drummer. Our friends at Made in Brazil preview the four finalists who were selected from different samba schools in Rio, and, you can vote upon your favorites.

The finalists are Cássio (seen above), Márcio, Julinho (below), and Júnior, who is only 17. There is also a link to a behind-the-scenes video of the photo shoot. Below are some captures from the video and 34-year-old Junlinho.

You have to love those boys from Rio. Tall and tan and young and handsome ...

News: iPhone, Pharrell Wiliams

The Apple iPhone debuts after thousands of gadget-hungry consumers wait hours or even days for the do-everything phone with a touch-sensitive screen that company "hopes will become its third core business next to its moneymaking iPod music players and Macintosh computers." Mixed reviews: Wired News: "Truly remarkable device—easy to navigate and use—€”but at the same time it has some serious shortcomings. Gizmodo: "The audio quality is great as well, as is the send frequency response."

· Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street waits almost 15 hours in line for the coveted iPhone and a passer-by demands, "How can you sit here with 200 murders in the city already?"

· Blackberry announces spectacular Q3 profits: Up 73 percent and 3-for-1 stock split.

· Rod 2.0 crush object Pharrell Williams is in demand. Over the weekend, the producer and fashionista—along with Kanye West and new buddy Elton John—appears in the London concert for the Princess Diana. Next week, he jets to Rio to headline the Live Earth concert on Copacabana Beach, one of Al Gore's 24-hour worldwide events to raise awareness for global warming.

· Potential cure for HIV? "Scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell. The enzyme is still far from being ready to use as a treatment but offers a glimmer of hope for the more than 40 million people infected worldwide."

· Mad Professsah deconstructs the hotly contested special primary in California's 37th congressional district to fill the seat for the recently deceased Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, describing Assemblymember Laura Richardson's win as "a win for both the African American and LGBT communities."

· Another day and more proof the troop escalation is not working. CNN reports deadly roadside attack in Baghdad kills five American troops, making the 99 soldiers killed in June as "part of deadliest three-month stretch of war."House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to introduce troop withdrawal legislation.

Kevin Aviance Describes Recovery from Crystal Meth Addiction

It was almost one year ago at this time that Kevin Aviance, the iconic gender-bending performer and downtown personality, was savagely attacked in a gay-bashing in Manhattan's East Village. "Aviance found his image changed overnight from that of an oversize black man with an outsize drag persona to that of an invalid stuck in a wheelchair," reports the Village Voice. "Not only couldn't he sing, he could barely talk through jaws wired shut."

As a result of the depression, isolation and unstructured time, Aviance turned to an familiar habit that threatened to destroy what his four young assailants could not: Crystal methamphetamine. "I'd been doing drugs for a long time. It was a way of life. I was able to have a career, wear the clothes I wanted, get high."

"It got crazy," he said. "I was drinking, drugging—shopping to sex to everything. I was trying to fill this void in my life. Crystal meth was the one thing that took me over the edge. I was doing it to keep myself going. I had to get outside my head..."

Fueled by alcohol and any other mood-altering substance within reach, Aviance went on crystal binges that got longer and longer, with "Suicide Tuesday" comedowns that grew worse and worse.

Thankfully, friends staged an intervention and Aviance went into rehab. (More on crystal meth and black gay men here and here.) Kevin's recovery has been remarkable—in addition to producing his third album, the performer just debuted a line of women's shoes which "run to a size 13!" he laughs.

Clay Cane was treated to a glamorous preview: "Kevin's expression is just as creative as his stage performances. The heels are graced with names like 'Willona', 'Alive' and 'Belinda', full of straps, jewels, buckles and more. The footwear range from $70 - $100—not bad to walk in the shoes of a diva."

"I’ve always wanted to be a designer and to go in that fashion world," Kevin Aviance tells Cane in an interview at the New York Blade. "I have a big fetish for high heels. The inspiration is my mother and other fierce women in my life. I’m dedicating my first collection to them."

Becoming Kevin Aviance, Again [Village Voice]
Kevin Aviance Releases Women's Shoes [After Elton]
Walk the Walk [NY Blade]

You May Want to Read ...
Four Guilty in Aviance Bashing [R20]
Michael Sandy Rally Today [R20]
Suicide Tuesdays [R20]
(Virtual) Sex and the City [R20]
Murder Suspect Only "Arranged" the Crime [R20]
News: Divas Fight Crystal and HIV [R20]
The HIV Morning After Pill? [R20]
Campaign Links Viagra, Crystal Meth and HIV [R20]