friends of dorothy
ok, so first off, my humblest apologies for the long hiatus, i guess when u start blogging everywhere that u can and u rely on the public library for your services, things can get tight, as well as having to work and attend hip hop extravanganzas (whew!) but life seems to be coming back to "normal"...so welcome back.
this blog will be dedicated to the Wiz, and the Muppets Wizard of Oz, and it seems appropriate due to my bonding with gay boys and the like, (sigh), i can't help it if i'm a faggot magnet, or if i have to police my gaggle of fags, faggle if you will, as in rock, to keep in line with the muppets theme.
oh, to preface, i had an epiphany after ?uestlove...scurvy's friend billie jean was in the back of the truck saying "i'm white, i don't like rap" and when asked, what about jo-dee?, she answers "jo-dee's gay, he might as well be a black woman. true true, though i think that i'm the opposite, the attitude i have comes from me really being a gay man...anyways,
back to diana ross and mj, and that movie that's gayer than gay. and set in harlem/atlantic city/jersey (how nuts is that? oz is atlantic city and the fraud of a wizard is from jersey..) the yellow brick road is indicated by yellow cabs which are magically off duty as soon as you approach, and i think that there's a shot of the skyline with a large floating apple..i love it, i love it.
diana, pre-diva hair and attitude, as a shy schoolteacher with the baby fro, showing off some serious singing skills, as dorothy clutching her little dog, is swept away in a snow storm to discover her destiny because she's never left 125th street. the munchkins are really graffiti kids come to life.
next we meet michael when he was still black, and kinda fat, as the scarecrow, and it's evident that diana influenced him, because it's eery how at times, you can't tell them apart when u close your eyes.
but there he is, tied up like he's on a crucifix, surrounded by crows who remind him that he "can't get down". even though he "begrudgingly" sings the song "u can't win", he's wining his body like a snake ma, and it's sort of disturbing.
not as headshaking though, (and worthy of remarking how this movie is gayer than gay) as when we meet the tin man, who feels so good when dorothy and the scarecrow are oiling him, and michael's looking at him smolderingly and longingly..all the while singing that "those who don't have to lubricate got it made". he finally evokes his "metal metatarsals" not to fail him and the three of them hit the stage and tap dance in the way that minstrel shows were brought to the millenium in Bamboozled.
on to meet the "bear" of the group, the cowardly lion that busts through his statue on the steps of the library, sashaying around with a mirror and whipping his tail at folks, then bawling when toto bites his toe. oh my.
well, we all know what happens in the end, but this was certainly an entertaining version..with the evil witch being a sweatshop leader who is the ultimate drag queen/mammy and when the workers are freed, they become naked and do interpretive dance, all of the men in thongs. uh-huh.
so, the history of this film as a gay legend continues, as freaks of the world unite under the rainbow and we all search for "home" within us and work for community. all4now.
