The Column of Life

Next Week I will be participating in the United States Conference on AIDS in Orlando, FL. My participation there focuses on reaching out to HIV/AIDS activists and finding out what is going on throughout the network in gathering data, education and treatment. It has been a gratifying and illuminating experience in the past and I expect nothing less this time around. I am here because I dodged a bullet that a majority of my gay male contemporaries, some of whom I loved much. It is why I walk and why I continue to promote events and fundraisers. Why I continue to pester. It is my part in the ongoing drama of a devastation that should have never happened. A colleague from POZ pointed out this short story from the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times where there are often soap opera-unrequited love type stories. He was “struck by this particular article, for reasons that are abundantly clear. Quite moving without being schmaltzy.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/fashion/29Love.ht

New York, New York (August 9, 2010)—We are pleased to announce the fourth annual fundraiser and launch party AIDS Walk Los Angeles, Love Out Loud West, on Thursday October 14, 2010 from 5:30 to 9:00 pm This year David Moretti of The Lair and Finding Mr. Wright will be our host. He will be joined by his castmate Matt Montgomery, Alicia Minshew ( All My Children ), Brian Gaskill ( All My Children , Broken Hearts Club ) Les Brandt ( Another World , The Resolve ) -- look for many others to come on board. The entertainment industry has lent overwhelming support through their efforts to help those with HIV AIDS. POZ events seem to get bigger and brighter every year. Be on the look out for more celebrities to come on board. The official website will be updated as the event gets closer. Visit here: http://www.pozevent.com/events.html Where: East/West Lounge 8851 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood, CA When: Thursday, October 14, 2010 5:30 to 9:00 pm How Much: $25.00 donation at the door. (cash

Jeremy Dunn Jackson (born October 16, 1980 in Newport Beach, California) is an American actor/singer. He is most widely known for his role as Hobie Buchannon on the popular television show Baywatch. [Wikipedia entry] Jeremy has a MySpace page . Sensitive "bachelor" Jake Pavelka needs no introduction. It is enough that he looks good.

Funny thing, every time an angel appeared to someone in the Bible, the first thing he'd say was, "Fear not." ... I guess they were pretty spectacular. Gilbert Morris, The Angels of Bastogne It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only. William Blake, A Vision of the Last Judgment

Michael Tomasetti Scott Herman

Savory Muffins with Goat Cheese and Tomato Jam Adapted from a recipe by Neil Kleinberg (Clinton Street Baking Company, NYC) via JBF This recipe yields butter-colored muffins with a very tender crumb. Neil Kleinberg served the mini-muffins as an hors d’oeuvre when he cooked at the Beard House. We tried them in a regular-size muffin tin, and enjoyed them with soup. The tomato “jam” can keep several weeks in the refrigerator. Muffins: 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 egg 1 1/4 cups half-and-half or whole milk 2 cups all-purpose flour (whole wheat?) 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste Tomato Jam: 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 3/4 cup chopped onion Pinch red pepper flakes 2 sprigs fresh rosemary leaves, chopped fine 4 cups coarsely chopped plum tomatoes, seeded and peeled Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons minced scallions 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese Method:

That will get you through to cocktails

Gemelli Pasta Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and Basil This comes from Michael White via JBF: Although Michael White’s soulful, flavorful interpretations of Italian cuisine indicate otherwise, he is not an Italian native who absorbed generations of recipes at birth. He is, in fact, a Midwesterner who spent the majority of his childhood days in Beloit, Wisconsin playing football and swimming competitively. At the time, cooking was simply an enjoyable family pastime and an escape from the biting winter. Go here for more about Marea and Chef White. Ingredients: Vinaigrette 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 2 eggs, hard-boiled, finely chopped Salad 1 pound gemelli, cooked al dente, rinsed to prevent sticking 6 ounces pecorino, shaved 3 mixed heirloom tomatoes 1 small bunch of basil, leaves torn Salt and freshly ground black pepper Method: Vinaigrette: Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend until smooth. If necessary, add more vinegar to

Jessie Pavelka among them ... Leo Giamani sandwiched between Alex Marte. Now there's an Italian main course, if ever there was one!

time to face the weekend!

Alicia Minshew fearlessly took over the role of Kendall Hart, child born of rape, daughter to the seemingly eternal Erica Kane. She has made the role her own much to the benefit of faithful All My Children viewers and fans. Kendall has one of those personas that defies category and for that very reason keeps us tuning in. All that panache comes from somewhere inside La Minshew who works unfailingly to bring Mrs. Slater (Kendall) to light. There are few harder working actors than the flawless beauty who will grace our fundraiser with her presence making it an evening surely to be remembered. Come out to East/West in West Hollywood on October 14 from 5:30 to 9:00 pm for Love Out Loud West, launch party for AIDS Walk Los Angeles. Contact: 212.938.2045 Alicia is not new to this. She and husband Rich Herschenfeld have been mainstays for Love Out Loud New York since 2006. That's why we love them!

Gay actor/activist Thom Bierdz returns to his role as Phillip Chancellor III on the iconic daytime soap The Young & The Restless. Between one-take scenes, he dishes about equal rights, family tragedy and whether Phillip will finally find love By: Duane Booth About Canada's Gay Life Magazine go here for more .

Mason Wyler, a gay porn star, recently revealed on his blog that he is HIV positive. That fact alone is enough to elicit my sympathy, but it's the circumstances of his disclosure that disturb me the most... Oriol Gutierrez of POZ magazine has more to say here at POZ.com

There's a Datalounge thread all abuzz about The University of Kentucky, Lee Majors and Rock Hudson. If true, oh to have been a fly on that wall[s]! Experiencing the young Mr. Majors in The Big Valley was magnificent fodder for adolescent hormonal terrain. In researching this legend, there was an interesting entry on a UK site dedicated to Lee Majors. See below and go here . And now appearing in the role of Henry Willson, Rock Hudson. The thread starts out with this: ... The Thin Thirty , by Shannon Ragland, chronicles Hudson's involvement in a 1962 sex scandal at the University of Kentucky involving the football team. Ragland writes that Jim Barnett, a wrestling promoter, engaged in prostitution with members of the team, and that Hudson was one of Barnett's customers. [source: Wikipedia] Lee Majors was a chaffeur for Jim Barnett, by the way. Two review blurbs from Amazon.com on The Thin Thirty If I hadn't lived through the University of Kentucky s shameful Thin Thirty

He "believes that if we don't actually engage in constructive conversation and debate, then we will continue to be a people troubled by fear, resentment, bias & other intolerable acts ... actions that will further foster a divide among people who truly want to progress." [from his facebook page]

Recorded in New York, New York in February 1990. ( Thank You, Singers and Saints Blog ) Personnel: Abbey Lincoln (vocals); Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Clark Terry (trumpet); Alain Jean-Marie (piano); Charlie Haden (bass); Billy Higgins (drums). "Have we been waiting for something like this since Billie, then Dinah passed on--i.e. groovy, in-the-tradition jazz singing that actually means something? Heir apparent Betty Carter is on an ego trip, Cassandra Wilson is too arty... and so on. Abbey Lincoln's trip is something else again (perhaps Parisian) as she poignantly introduces "How High The Moon" in broken French and triumphantly ends the set with Francis Lai's "Live For Life." In between, Lincoln contributes good original lyrics from the point of view of a still-feminine quasi-bag lady--"social secretary" she calls it--an adept witness to hard times past and present. Lincoln gets excellent arrangements from Ron Carter and accompaniment fro