Archive for August, 2008

Religious freedom

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Be careful for what you wish for.
We are told this and learn this many times if we are lucky. Along with religious freedom comes a variety of other freedoms. Richard Snyder became a minister online of the Universal Life Church and it was he who married us a few weeks ago. I took the bait […]

Rufus changes his mind

Friday, August 29th, 2008

The Metropolitan Opera
Rufus Wainwright has decided to “drop his plans” to compose an opera for the Met in 2014. Rufus had to compose the piece in French and Peter Gelb insisted on English. They parted on good terms. The New York Times wrote a piece on it a few days ago.
PRIMA DONNA will have its […]

Our Joker

Friday, August 29th, 2008

Today we went to Universal Studios. We started with The Mummy Ride, then The Simpsons Ride, and then Jurassic Park. All were wonderful, but seemed short. “You mean that’s it?” I found myself saying. And everything had too much jabber before the ride with people standing around waiting for doors to open. We went to […]

Uncle Bo and Little Roger

Friday, August 29th, 2008

This weekend I have a special guest: James Roger Bourland, son of my brother, Andrew Bourland, and Susan Casey. I’m looking foward to pretending like I’m a tourist in LA and do everything I’ve always wanted to do but have been too busy to do. “Little” Roger will be 14 next week and now is […]

Putting people together

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Yesterday in my duties as a chairman, I attended several meetings where we discussed and invented jobs for graduate students who in turn oversee other students whose duties we also defined. I couldn’t help but feel like a member of “the gods” who set cosmic parameters in motion and watch them play out.
At UCLA, each […]

Cole Porter: Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (1956)

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

Here is Celeste Holmes and Frank Sinatra singing “Who wants to be a millionaire” from HIGH SOCIETY by Cole Porter

Singing for my supper

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008

On Sunday, two days after our Mill Valley marriage, Richard and Paul invited two dear friends for lunch. Tatyana and Serge are terrific people and the fact that they came bearing jamon iberico had me prejudiced in their favor from square one.
I have tried to get HOMER IN CYBERSPACE out of my head for months […]

We are married!

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

Daniel and I were married last night in the home of Richard and Paul: Richard has a California license to marry people, and Paul was the witness. It was a deeply moving experience with all four of us in tears. I thought I would be the only one crying after the “I do” part but […]

Homer in Cyberspace: Conference of the iGods

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Conference of the iGods; © Roger Bourland and Mel Shapiro
“Conference of the iGods” from HOMER IN CYBERSPACE
Music: Roger Bourland
Lyrics: Mel Shapiro
Chief: Nathan Langdon

Conference of the iGods (12:51)
Tina:
Stay as far
Under the radar
Of the i-gods,
My man
Don’t let them
Know you exist
They won’t hesitate
To control your
Fate
Don’t let them
Get your number
The i-gods are as strong
As titanium
And deadly as
Uranium
They’ll re-wire your […]

Getting our marriage license

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Daniel and I are getting married this week.
This morning we went to the Beverly Hills Courthouse and got our marriage license. It was a funny trip. As I came out of the elevator, I glanced to the right and just like the DMV, there was a big sign pointing us to get in line for […]

The Doors: My Wild Love (1968)

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

My wild love went ridin
She rode all the day
She wrote to the devil
And asked him to pay
The devil was wiser
Its time to repent
He asked her to give back
The money she spent
My wild love went ridin
She rode to the sea
She gathered together
Some shells for her head
She rode and she rode on
She rode for a while
Then stopped […]

Bourland and Hall: Shame (1994)

Friday, August 15th, 2008

“Shame” from FLASHPOINT/STONEWALL (1994)
Music: Roger Bourland
Lyrics: John Hall
Chorus: Gay Men’s Chorus of LA, Jon Bailey, director
Video: Kim Paulsen
Published by Yelton Rhodes Music/Los Angeles
Alex Theatre, Glendale CA: 1994
Shame
As a a boy I was hated and called names
for being something different.
I did not understand.
I recognized the difference but could not comprehend
what that difference […]

Cutting

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

We have had to make some drastic cuts in our department related to the California budget crisis. The process is a painful one but necessary and interesting. To console myself, I think about patterns in nature, where when you cut off a branch, two grow back. Pruning is a pattern and is always good […]