Justin Bond photographed by Amos Mac

Hello Lovers and Other Strangers,

I hope you’ve had a terrific summer .  Mine’s been HOT, but soon it will be time to ease into the cool and FALL IN WITH JUSTIN BOND at Joe’s Pub.

Last Spring while I was onstage I made a wish that I could perform at Joe’s Pub every Sunday and they’ve  done all they can to make that wish come true.  Now I’m going to do my best to give you a ROUSING season of fantastic shows with lots of  AMAZING GUESTS, great music and maybe even a chuckle or two and themes, themes, THEMES…  I DO love a theme!

I was trying to come up with a FASHION theme for the first show on Sept 12 show  since it falls during fashion week but I was somewhat FLUMMOXED because I don’t know that much about fashion other than what I like to wear.  Of course lots of my FRIENDS are internationally successful fashion designers but they’ll be busy, won’t they?  They don’t want to have to get onstage and sing a duet of  “Get Happy”, “Send In The Clowns” or, heaven forfend, “FASHION”!

What to do… What to do…

While I was racking my brain while on Fire Island this past  weekend I thought, why not go for a WALK IN NATURE and contemplate your choices? So off I went for a stroll through the MEAT RACK.  There was very little fashion inspiration other than a bunch of greasy looking NAKED MEN who were half-HARD-edly playing with themselves but I did run into GUSTY WINDS who it seems is starring in an “Independent” film called “Children of the Dunes”.

All of a sudden in the distance I heard my name  Justin Bond… Justin Bond…  As you can imagine I was thrilled to know that people were PASSIONATELY calling MY NAME aloud in the meat rack!  Although I’m sure it’s NOT an UNCOMMON occurrence I was somewhat taken aback as I’m not usually present when people call my name whilst in the heat of RUT.  Stealthily I made my way toward where the sound was coming from and  I came across two BEAUTIFUL YOUNG MEN who were mostly UNDRESSED and decidedly gorgeous in the throes of heavy, rigorous, hot SWEATY…  well, they were performing an act that I really can’t describe and they were called THE SWIMMING POOLS and they’re going to be my first guests of the fall season on Sept 12th.  and they’ve promised to perform the song that drew me to them in the Meat Rack that day:  it’s called… Justin Bond.  Now THAT’S how to get a Witches attention, write a song about her and sing it in an outdoor cruising area by the sea!  I’M COMING!!!  Are you?

Other Upcoming guests include:

Sept. 12  The Swimming Pools

Sept. 19   Amber Martin

Oct.    03  The Ones

Oct.   10   Meow Meow

I got very angry after the governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle vetoed Gay Marriage in her state and wrote the following on Facebook and Twitter:

I’m grateful to Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle because she proves that my hatred of straight people is justified and not residual childhood trauma. It’s valid.

In response I received so many bullshit comments from offended straight people that my darling Nathan dug  up this great piece. It’s worth revisitng.

From the 1990 NYC Pride March!

“I hate straight people who can’t listen to queer anger without

saying “hey, all straight people aren’t like that. I’m straight too, you

know,” as if their egos don’t get enough stroking or protection in

this arrogant. heterosexist world. Why must we take care of them,

in the midst of our just anger brought on by their fucked up

society?! Why add the reassurance of “Of course, I don’t mean

you. You don’t act that way.” Let them figure out for themselves

whether they deserve to be included in our anger.

But of course that would mean listening to our anger, which they

almost never do. They deflect it. by saying “I’m not like that” or

“Now look who’s generalizing” or “You’ll catch more flies with

honey … ” or “If you focus on the negative you just give out more

power” or “you’re not the only one in the world who’s suffering.”

They say “Don’t yell at me, I’m on your side” or “I think you’re

overreacting” or “BOY, YOU’RE BITTER.”

The next time some straight person comes down on you for being

angry, tell them that until things change, you don’t need any more

evidence that the world turns at your expense. You don’t need to

see only hetero couple grocery shopping on your TV… You don’t

want any more baby pictures shoved in your face until you can

have or keep your own. No more weddings, showers,

anniversaries, please, unless they are our own brothers and sisters

celebrating. And tell them not to dismiss you by saying “You have

rights,” “You have privileges,” “You’re overreacting,” or “You have a

victim’s mentality.” Tell them “GO AWAY FROM ME, until YOU can

change.” Go away and tryon a world without the brave, strong

queers that are its backbone, that are its guts and brains and souls.

Go tell them go away until they have spent a month walking hand

in hand in public with someone of the same sex. After they survive

that. then you’ll hear what they have to say about queer anger.

Otherwise, tell them to shut up and listen.”

Since ending my residency at  Joe’s Pub with my wonderful birthday spectacular I’ve been traveling a lot and have recently played two absolutely marvelous festivals, Manchester’s QUEER UP NORTH and The Luminato Festival in Toronto.

Sparkling in Manchester

QUEER UP NORTH holds a very special place in my heart because it’s the first place Kenny Mellman and I were invited to play outside of the United States in the early days of Kiki and Herb.  We had the opportunity to see first hand some of the greatest Queer performers from around the world and to make friendships that last to this day.  One of my favorite performers in the world is The Divine David Hoyle and the first time I ever saw him was in a tent in the gay village in Manchester during what was then called “It’s Queer Up North”. David is a truly subversive genius -and I don’t use that word very often.  Every time I see him perform I can actually feel my spirit being resuscitated.

This year QUEER UP NORTH was a special treat because I was performing in the Spiegeltent , a beautiful old-world pop-up theatre in the round.  The Speigeltent performances were curated by Tim Whitehead. Many of my favorite artists and friends were there from around the world. Peggy Shaw, of Split Britches legend, was doing a turn in a poetic new show she originally developed to be performed in Operating Theaters in Hospitals in the UK.  Meow Meow flew in from Australia. Taylor Mac was over from New York on the start of a UK tour. My new friends Bourgeois and Maurice who are a couple of young up and coming cabaret artists who write incredibly smart, sophisticated songs and have created a back story reminiscent of Jean Cocteau’s brother and sister in Les Enfants Terribles.  I adore them.  Musical Impresario Lance Horne pulled together a terrific band of local musician for my Close To You show of music by the Carpenters.  He’s a God!

Another treat was being invited to lunch by Antony Cotton and his lovely partner Peter in their gorgeous home in the countryside.

There were so many wonderful people in town -some of whom I didn’t get to see because I had to get back to NYC.- but honestly, going to QUEER UP NORTH is like attending a family reunion. It re-invigorates that tenuous soul string that binds our queer spirits together.  There was some talk that, due to economic difficulties and because of a misguided perception that queer communities no longer need to be supported because we’ve become “accepted by the mainstream” (oh really…)  that this may be the last year of QUEER UP NORTH.  I fervently pray this isn’t true.  A festival like QUN is so vital to developing a sense of community that it’s loss would be felt for years to come.

The Luminato Festival in Toronto, celebrating The Year of the Diva, was very glamorous indeed. Sunday night I was part of an outdoor concert in Dundas Square called Queer Divas. The other divas were Canadian rock legend Carole Pope, the handsome actor Christian Campbell, and jazz dynamo Lea Delaria. The emcees for our show were my new friend Ugly Betty star Michael Urie and Shawn Hitchens who is not only funny and talented, but very easy on the eyes!  Again, Lance Horne M.D.’d.  The crowd at Dundas Square was terrific and it was really fun to perform surround by all of the neon and billboards in the city center. Only if you looked up and saw the sky would you ever imagine you were anywhere near anything natural whatsoever!

My good girlfriend Rufus Wainwright was in the audience and Monday night I FINALLY got to see his magnificent opera Prima Donna. I had hoped to attend the world premiere in Manchester last summer but scheduling conflicts prevented me from going.

Prima Donna was given an absolutely smashing production.  I took my Shortbus co-star Sook-Yin Lee as my date (Sook-Yin has written and directed a new film called Year of the Carnivore which opens in Canada on friday).  From the very first notes of the overture we were  enthralled.  It’s the story of a tragic diva as only a gay man can tell it.  The arrangements were beautiful and the vocals soared. I met Janis Kelly, who played the lead with such majesty as well as the rest of the cast afterwards.  Anna McGarrigle was in attendance looking gorgeous.  Anna stopped in Toronto on her way back to Montreal after the all-star tribute to her sister Kate McGarrigle in the Meltdown Festival in London.

But the star of the night on Monday was definitely Rufus.  He turned it out!  With a couple hormones shots and the right wig he could easily take the mantle of “The Hardest Working Woman in Show Business” from Miss Tina Turner!

Thanks to Chris Lorway, Janice Price and the wonderful staff and volunteers and Luminato.  I had a blast!

Well, I’m writing this is in the back of a taxi from LaGuardia airport. I’m almost home. In a few days I’m off to LA to do a small part in a film called “Cooler”. More on that later.

Smooches,

mx Bond

Hello!

Buy a Tranny a Piano?

I have been in need of a piano for some time and Nathan’s guitar is crap so as a belated birthday present my friend Charles, aka Mr. Rabbit, asked for permission to rally our friends to come up with the money for us to buy new instruments.

Who would have thought that in ONE DAY we would come up with a third of the money? THANK YOU to all who’ve contributed!!!

I’m sending this out update to let those who are feeling generous know where they can contribute.

I’m currently in Manchester and tonight I will be performing “Justin Bond is Close to You” in the Spiegeltent but soon I will be back in NYC to begin working in earnest on my CD and hopefully writing great new  songs on my new piano!

to contribute to the keys and strings campaign click one of the links below:

I have been in need of a piano for some time and Nathan’s guitar is crap so as a belated birthday present my friend Charles, aka Mr. Rabbit, asked for permission to rally our friends to come up with the money for us to buy new instruments.

Who would have thought that in ONE DAY we would come up with a third of the money? THANK YOU to all who’ve contributed!!!

I’m sending this out update to let those who are feeling generous know where they can contribute.

I’m currently in Manchester and tonight I will be performing “Justin Bond is Close to You” in the Spiegeltent but soon I will be back in NYC to begin working in earnest on my CD and hopefully writing songs on my new piano!

to contribute to the keys and strings campaign click one of the links below:

http://www.sineroma.com/Keys_&_Strings/Home.html

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keys-and-Strings/128355517179198

Thanks so much to Mr. Rabbit and to all of YOU who have contributed!!!

Big Love,
Justin

This past weekend I was invited to perform at the Brighton Festival on the southern coast of England. It was a particularly beautiful weekend weather-wise, warm and sunny with a slight breeze.  Lots of the pale English people were turned bright red by the end of the day with some of them sprawling their lobster legs out in the street over the edge of the curbs once the sun had gone down in hope of getting some relief from the cool gutter, I guess.   Many were glass-eyed and drunkenly shouting while simultaneously  spewing bits of fish and chips from their mouths as they ambled their way along the sidewalk.  The wise old moon beamed down on all of the commotion; the screaming sirens, crawling traffic, kissing couples, single girls crying on their friend’s shoulders, grown men wearing masks waving their arms around to show how intimidating they could be, women with their skirts tucked into their underpants hobbling along on their heels, tattoos, boob jobs, snippets of overheard conversations, “Alright. You done head-butted him twice today!” a couple of greasy, too tan young women who were part of a Hen party shouting at some boys who were clearly straight but were walking arm and arm, calling them “faggots” and laughing at the boys while desperately trying to conceal their own angry insecurities. In short it was the kind of evening that Jack Kerouac might have called “a fairy tale saturday night” but which I would describe as “Heteros in Dunderland”.

The following morning I was invited to have breakfast by my dear friend Neil Bartlett, the much heralded novelist, playwright, director and performer. Neil and his husband James have a beautiful home with an extremely lovely garden in the back where we sat and enjoyed fresh fruit, coffee, tea, toast and jam and a good old girlfriend gabfest.

We hit on many topics: politics, The village People, gay history, Barbara Stanwyck movies, sex, our work, it was a pleasant meandering conversation. Eventually we got onto the subject of our fathers which was interesting because in my experience it’s not so unusual for queers to talk about their mothers, but it’s a much rarer thing for us to talk about our fathers. I had brought my friend Lance to the luncheon. He’s a handsome, sweet,  amazingly talented, award winning musician who I have the privilege of working with sometimes.  As it turns out, Lance’s parents are brutally homophobic Christians. He came out to them not too long ago and they have been just awful about it. I have so much admiration for Lance’s courage in the face of such heartlessness.  It seems his parents have tried every form of manipulation to bend Lance to their selfish, narcissistic desires and yet he has somehow remained strong, loving, independent and human -in the best possible way.

During the course of  our conversation Lance relayed a story that nearly broke my heart.  It seems that his father owns a company that builds fences -most of the fences in Wyoming were built by his father’s company, including the fence on which Matthew Shepherd was crucified. Lance recounted the memory of Matthew’s murder  and his father’s reaction to it.  Evidently, when he heard about the death of Matthew Shepherd Lance’s father took pride and pleasure in knowing it had happened on a fence of his and expressed this to Lance who was not yet out to his parents. I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for Lance as a young closeted gay boy to know that it just as easily could have been him hanging like a scarecrow on that wretched fence and wondering whether his good Christian, upper middle-class father would have worn the same satisfied smirk had it been the senseless torture and murder of his own son who at the time was  filled with so much youthful hope and promise while suffering silently in needless, unnecessary pain.

On the Sunday afternoon train back from Brighton to London I was so overwhelmed by Lance’s story I found myself writing this poem:

Fences

(for Lance’s Dad)

No more sitting on the fence

the fence is crowded

the fence of evil intention

limitation, intimidation

a warning

a capitol offense

mercenary fencemen, hired henchmen

“Prepare to die on this fence”

Six degrees of separation

blood stained by association

Berlin, China, Arizona, Palestine and Laramie

held captive by the strongest, most violent

the greedy and extreme

blind fundamentalists

killing life

killing beauty

turning God into a monster

a sacred monster in their own image

a false god of brutality

built of barbed wire and bone

imagining ownership of the vistas

the souls of their children

erecting fences between reason and love

fanaticism and desire

Father and son

Surely Abraham heard God say, “Free him.”

Yet these Abrahams turn cold, deaf ears

killing their children, killing God

raising more fences

monuments of pride

tendering a tawdry heritage

of dirt, blood and tears

these sons of Abraham,

these fathers of misery

desperately clinging to their fences of certitude

their guns and ammunition

as their wayward sons and daughters

move to heal the fallow pastures

left by these bloat-bellied

fathers of division

a nice lady

“Antichrist or Antihistamines?  Considering Easter”

When I decided to call my Easter show “Antichrist or Antihistamines” I was in the throes of a constant gnawing anxiety about whether or not the US Congress was going to pass health care reform.  I’ve been amazed at all the excitement and hysteria this legislation has generated in our country over the past year and I find it all to be very, very exciting.  It’s making me love this country more than I ever have, I think.

I love that a black man and a white woman have finally been able to pass historic legislation that puts the poor and the sick ahead of corporate interests.  I love how all the angry, entitled, limp-dicked ineffective, greedy corporate lackies of the male, caucasian persuasion have effectively shut themselves out of the proceedings by throwing one hugely ridiculous hissy fit, pouting and waving their guns while collecting their medicare, unemployment and social security checks.  I love that they have officially become, and will continue to be, the “normal” minority.  Any power they may have enjoyed exists strictly in the past and their efforts to intimidate through fear-mongering and their talk of “values” is becoming as old and tired as they are.

But this isn’t about them. We’re considering Easter.

But first more things I love.

I love that the catholic church is embroiled in a huge pedophilia scandal for covering the asses of their bilious perverted brethren while they continue to oppress women and children in the name of God.  I love that the Pope, “God’s Highest and most Holy representative on earth” has been caught lying about it.  I love that “Christian” militias are threatening war and revolution from their pick-up up trucks and trailer parks across the land.  I love that they are killing abortion doctors and harassing health care givers in the name of God.  I love that they are using their “Righteous” anger to do everything they can to prevent gays from having loving, stable relationships.  I love that they are fanning the flames of racism and nationalistic fervor.  I love that they are passing laws requiring history books to be filled with falsehoods and scientific inaccuracies.

Mostly, I love that they are demanding we assert ourselves as one Christian nation, under God.

Isn’t that hilarious?

I love that the same people who are calling themselves Christians are waving their guns around and proclaiming our President to be The Antichrist, claiming he is engineering the downfall of America because he is trying to provide our citizens affordable health care.

How ironic.

If you think about Jesus and what got him killed, his “Politics” could have been described as socialist.  He condemned the money lenders, preached about healing the sick, feeding the poor and clothing the needy.  Jesus never married, hung out with prostitutes and working class men, demanded respect for women and was a dark skinned Arab Jew -I love that too.

If I recall the Bible stories I learned as a child properly, when Jesus was healing the sick he didn’t say, “Sorry, I can’t heal you blind man. You’ve got a previously existing condition.”  He didn’t say, “The greatest of these is love but Ew, gross!  Not that kind of love. Stop it!  It’s not natural!” nor did he say, “thou shalt not kill unless you get the go ahead from Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh or you get the idea to do so from a “joke” when Sara Palin sets her sights on you.  Ooo, I love all the violent rhetoric.  It’s a real turn-on, and so Christ-like!

But what I REALLY LOVE is that all these heinous, religious institutions, Bible thumpers and flag wavers are revealing themselves to be the corrupt, violent, fronts for greedy, manipulative power mongers who are trying to keep people ignorant by denying them proper educations, scaring them into thinking there isn’t enough to go around, that it’s impossible for everyone to be taken care of and to get what they need in order to be happy, healthy and secure on this mortal plane.  I LOVE that they are fanning the flames of fear, hatred and intolerance in the name of GOD.

I love how desperate they are.  It gives me hope.

Conversely, I find it terribly sad that so many, agnostic, secular people, sometimes even -yes I’m going to say it- atheists!  Shhhh…..  as I was saying, it’s shocking that these people along with a bunch of foolish, mis-informed Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and well,  PROGRESSIVES! of all different genders, ethnicities and spiritual backgrounds somehow find themselves inexplicably walking in the steps of Christ (I’m assuming this is just some horrible accident, a cruel joke).  All these “Godless”, “Socialist”, “Evildoers” seem to be following Jesus example and trying to get things done, and to do the right thing by looking for ways to protect, respect and care for each other.

What, in heavens name, is this world coming to?

I was raised a Christian but I look at these self-proclaimed Christians I see on TV and I am ashamed and embarrassed.  But at the same time I am filled with joy, because it’s so obvious that change is coming and it’s unavoidable, much to the consternation of all the bloated, red-faced white people screaming on the radio, internet and television screens across the land.  No matter how much hateful, vitriolic bile they spew or who they hoot, jeer at or spit on there is no denying that Hippy Jesus said, “LOVE”!   Shortly before they killed him.

Happy Easter!

I will be performing my “Pre-Existing Cabaret Show” at Joe’s Pub on Easter Sunday night at 9: 30 with Doveman and the genius Taylor Mac.

a concerned citizen

On Monday, Jan. 25, don’t miss the first night of the inimitable art and film series, Queer/Art/Film, now at the IFC Center!  We open with  Downtown superstar Justin Bond presenting an almost-never-screened, X-rated version of Ken Russell’s outrageous THE DEVILS!

The evening is likely to sell out, so buy your tickets in advance here online (only $1 additional service charge) at:

https://www.movietickets.com/purchase.asp?perf_id=598543706

It makes perfect sense that Justin Bond, that self-proclaimed “tranny witch” who gleefully mocked religion during his days in the duo Kiki & Herb, would select an ultra- blasphemous film for his QUEER/ART/FILM selection. Adapted from an Aldous Huxley novel, Ken Russell’s 1971 cult-classic THE DEVILS stars Vanessa Redgrave as a hunchbacked Mother Superior in 17th century France, whose sexual obsession with a handsome priest (Oliver Reed), spirals out of control. The film was considered so shocking when it premiered in 1971 that it received an X rating, and was sliced by the censors. But don’t worry, we will be screening the full, uncut version of the film. Expect lesbianism, torture, orgies, masturbation, and incredible production design from another controversial British filmmaker — Derek Jarman! EXPECT TO BE SHOCKED!

(1971, 35mm, 111min)

Justin on THE DEVILS:

When I was very young I fell in love with Vanessa Redgrave. The film roles she played deeply stirred my imagination… Mary, Queen of Scots, Isadora Duncan, and Lillian Hellman’s best friend Julia to name a few. So many of her films I wanted to see weren’t shown in the small town in Maryland where I grew up, or on TV. The advent of VCRs opened a whole world of film to me. I scrambled to see as many subversively glamorous movies as I could. One of them was THE DEVILS. At the time I was a closeted Tranny Witch living in a stiflingly oppressive, conservative town. As soon as I put on THE DEVILS, I knew I was watching something “evil” that I shouldn’t be exposed to and I was thrilled. THE DEVILS was my first Ken Russell film. He lacerated the sacred monsters of the church, was blatantly homoerotic, sympathized with the witches and was stylishly camp. The production designer, Derek Jarman, would latter go on to make one of my all-time favorite films, Jubilee. But I was asked to choose a film that influenced my world view during my formative years, In that regard THE DEVILS definitely takes the communion wafer.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (Perfect Lovers), 1987-1990, wall clocks, 14 x 28 x 2 ¾ inches overall 2 parts: 14 inches diameter each, Image by Peter Muscato, ©The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

2010, or as so many of my friends have dubbed it, 20-femme, is shaping up to be a beautiful year.

I rang in the new decade with a huge house party on New Years Eve where I unwittingly forgot to put on music, so basically from 9 pm until 6 am hundreds of people were engaged in conversation in my loft.  It was heavenly.  We are living through such difficult and uncertain times economically and even for some, spiritually, that people are being forced to look at their lives and their ways of addressing things in new, hopefully inspired ways.  How do we move forward?  I think the first thing we have to do is to start talking with each other.  We aren’t going to find answers by turning to the TV or even the internet, but by discovering solutions and alternative ways of thriving within our own communities. We need to spend time feeding each other, drinking together, playing and getting to know each other in more intimate, meaningful ways.

I am meditating on the idea of 20-femme as the return to intimacy.

These past two weeks I’ve seen amazing work presented by my fellow artists here in the Big Apple. The creative output is amazing right now.  The Coil Festival at PS 122 is currently giving us the remarkable Edgar Oliver in his mesmerizing one-person show, East 10th St. Last week I was blown away by Miguel Gutierrez and The Powerful People in their latest piece, “Last Meadow” at The Abrons Atrs Center, Big Art Group presented an amazing installation at The New Museum last night and Emily Nepon aka “Killer Sideburns” and friends were truly “under the radar” in a warehouse space in Brooklyn last weekend in a piece entitled “Between Two Worlds or, Who Loved You Before You Were Mine”  (A show about yearning for ancestors, the empty spaces left by AIDS deaths & the ways the next generation is called to fill them.  A show about community, memory, consensual possession, desire, gender, sexuality, heteronormativity, glitter and tchotchkes.  In a culture of chosen families, which desires are inherited? -taken from the show’s flyer) based on The Dybbuk.

Queer culture is thriving and growing and being supported by an increasingly mixed audience while “cis” culture appears to be  increasingly irrelevant and shallow.

Today I decided to revisit one of the more beautiful gallery shows I saw last year.

FLOATING A BOULDER: 
WORKS BY FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES AND JIM HODGES
currently on view through JANUARY 27 at the Flag Art Foundation in Chelsea.

If you have a chance go and see it.

Earlier this Fall Jim Hodges asked me to write an essay for the catalogue.  I thought I’d put it on my blog in hopes of encouraging you to go and see this remarkable exhibition.

Here it is:

One of the luxuries of living for an extended period of time is that you get to be a “witness to history”, to get a feeling for the ebbs and flows, the repetitions, the constant tug of war between opposing forces.  You get the opportunity to discover that, if  Benjamin Franklin’s theory that insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results, mankind is completely bonkers.  Hopefully, in spite of this discovery, you’ll be able to find a place of comfort or a glimmer of inspiration that will keep your heart and mind in an aspirational mode.

In an essay entitled 1990: L.A., “The Gold Field Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a witness to history, recounts a series of disheartening statistics about the  state of the US economy and the choices being made by the government on behalf of “the people”, the savings and loan bailout, trickle down economics, the stalemate on healthcare, the destruction of the environment… He also discusses the trivialities “the people” decide to focus on: the funding of “immoral” art, Ketchup as a vegetable, two men kissing… The “strategy employed by the right of deflecting meaning by using charged symbolic images”.

As we survey the cultural landscape we have carved out for ourselves in the 19 years since it can be a most disheartening exercise.  We have just spent billions of dollars to bail out the savings and loan industry, more americans are uninsured than ever before, we are at war in the middle east, global warming continues unchecked, there is still no substantive federal funding for art and there is no cure for AIDS.

It would seem that problem solving ain’t our forté.

And yet, there are insistent and unrelenting strands of gold that are inextricably woven through the fabric of our culture deflecting and rejecting the shit our society chooses to invest it’s energy, time and resources maintaining. Within the mire there remains a core of belief in the possibilities of a stronger nature, a fiercer heart.  The power of beauty -or of candy- resonates through time.

Art and resistence are a hand-me-down game.  Soldiers fall, witches tire, color fades, blood dries up and turns to dust until along comes a new imperative for creation and that blood is mixed with water and becomes vital once again.

I’ve been a witness to history too.  So has Jim Hodges.  So have you.

Those of us who lived through the 80s and early 90s (a time when it seemed the world would surely end), those of us who lived through the 80s and early 90s ( a time we discovered that heartbreak doesn’t kill), those of us who lived through the 80s and early 90s (when two men loving was still not only an act of love but of defiance of time and logic), those of us who lived through the 80s and early 90s (trumped the body and the system).

Funny how romance, once so deadly has now proven itself to be, in a certain sense, immortal.  The act of loving killed, the art of loving remains pristine and wrapped in plastic on gallery floors, time keeps ticking, perfectly synched between the hearts of the living and the dead.  Flowers and mirrors, words and numbers call out to each other through space. Myriad angels are resurfacing, opening their throats and gently blowing their songs.  Across the threatened landscapes they are floating a boulder and on the wind we hear change… change… change…

Justin Bond

October 7, 2009

For those of you living in Los Angeles I will be appearing at The Upright Cabaret for two shows only -Jan 30 and Feb 6th.  It will be a intimate show with Thomas Bartlett aka Doveman as my musical director.  Please tell your friends and buy tickets soon because the venue only holds 80 people!

Hello all,

I just wanted to let you know that tickets went onsale today for We Are Plastic Ono Band with Yoko Ono and Plastic Ono Band at BAM on February 16th and I will be performing in the show along with other special guests including:

Eric Clapton, Cornelius, Kim Gordan, Yuka Honda, Haruomi Hosono, Jim Keltner, Sean Lennon, Bette Midler, Thurston Moore, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Harper Simon, Paul Simon, Klaus Voormann, Martha Wainwright & YOU!

My advice is to buy your tickets NOW!!!!!

Last night I was on a flight from New York to San Francisco and I read a tweet  posted by my friend Julian Fleisher concerning the vote against Gay Marriage in the New York Senate which sent me on a rampage of Twitters that cause quite a stir.  I thought I would put them all in order on my blog.  Glenn Belvario compared me to Valerie Solanos -which I took as a great compliment.  I haven’t shot anyone yet and I hope I never will, but I would not be adverse to forming a new version of S.C.U.M. -The Society to Cut Up Marriage!

Here is Julain’s tweet which got it all started followed by my response.

@Julien Fleisher  Hope my straight friends in NY take this issue seriously. Consider not getting married until we all can. Watch how fast the law changes…

@mxjustinbond  I’ve been saying that for years, but straight people are selfish cunts or we’d have gay marriage already.

They say nice, supportive things because it makes them feel good and they think they’re being kind and then they step on your throat. They step on your throat on the way to the alter because although they “support you” they have to live in the “real world”. So have a drink.  Make cynical jokes. Sing some cheesey ass song for them at their wedding and then wait until they have a couple of  ”adorable” children and get swept up in their entitled mainstream paradigm and see how much time they have to give to you.

By then they’re resenting the fact that you just won’t let it go and be happy. You’re to negative! Why not just relax? Actually all this negative agita is affecting the children. We don’t think you should come around anymore.

“We’re not college age anymore, we don’t really believe in all that naive stuff. Just let it go.”

“Why worry about getting married, you’re single anyway? Gay relationships don’t last. Not like ours -we’ve been struggling through this for years on account of the children….”

Then a few years and many tearful phone calls later…

“Oh my God, gay friend. It didn’t work out! We’re divorcing!”

“I need my gay friends so much more than ever! You are so lucky you can’t get married!!!”

We have to start aggressively picking fights socially with every straight person we know to shame them into doing something about this.

If we’re to be subjected to the tyranny of the majority. We’ve got to make each and every one of them feel personally responsible for taking care of this problem as often as possible… bring it up OFTEN!!!

Boycott married homes. When invited out, inquire if married people will be there, then decline.

Ask people to please not introduce their partner as their husband or wife -it’s offensive. Better to say, ‘Is this your friend?” NEVER let the word marriage or any of it’s derivatives pass without reminding people how thoughtless it is to bring up such a callous, hurtful topic.

Any straight person who does not actively support gay marriage is our enemy.

Personally, I don’t believe in marriage, but if they do, they should be held accountable for my lack of one!

After we get all these people to do the right thing, then we do everyone involved a great big favor and move on to something more interesting.

The church has been our enemy from the get go. They’re siphoning money to pay for gay genocide in Uganda. They’ve been sponsoring hatred of gays, and the oppression women nonstop, ad nauseum, worldwide for millenia.  It’s the responsibility of decent members of these organizations take on their leaders and hold them accountable for their vicious acts or barbarity! Remind them of this.

Get decent loving straight people to back us up on this and everybody wins. Marriage doesn’t do anyone any favors. Get rid of it. But in order to get rid of it we’ve got get it first!!!  This is not about destroying the family. It’s about destroying archaic institutions used to maintain a vicious, cruel sadistic power structure designed to keep the queer trouble makers and critical thinkers who aren’t willing to be blind followers either disempowered or, better yet, dead.  SO until we actually have gay marriage, we’ll never be free of it.

People who don’t step up to the plate and take a stand are passive haters. I don’t want to have to feign compassion for one more person who tells me they feel awful about the way things are as they stand idly by. As if by saying they care it makes it true. FUCK THAT! Stand up to the bullies in your churches, on your streets, in your government or be honest with yourself that you actually only want to feel good about yourself while doing NOTHING to help.

From Now on “friends” can’t let “friends” hang on to the delusion that they are compassionate if they stand by and idly watch their henchmen run the show.

So the first thing single straight people can do is boycott marriage until everyone is free to marry.  And at the very least people who are already married should publicly “suspend” their marriages until further notice!!!!  AND BE SURE AND MAKE A POINT OF BEING LOUD ABOUT IT!