Remember Liberace, Nigel?

[Doktor Howl]

Wladziu Valentino Liberace was quite possibly the nicest man in show business.  He was, of course, as gay as K.D. Lang's mullet, in a time when that was not socially acceptable...But nobody seemed to mind.  He always had a big smile, he was always happy to perform, and he always seemed surprised and grateful that so many people came to hear him play the piano.  

He was, the story goes, just as nice offstage, and he would spend hours after each show signing autographs, free of charge.  It drove his manager nuts, but Liberace always said that he loved his audience as much as they loved him, and he didn't want anyone to be disappointed.

But some time in the late 70s or maybe the early 80s, the world changed.  It grew colder, and poorer in spirit, and suddenly there was no time for a smiling old queer with a genius for piano.  The fans still came, but more in desperation than anything else...Though no longer the highest paid entertainer in the world, he still packed them in, masses of people listening to music 20 years out of style, trying to remember what life was like when Liberace wasn't the only person smiling.

Then, one day in 1987, he left.  He didn't even have time to say goodbye.  His fans never held it against him, but life just wasn't the same without the flamboyant old man beaming out his love of his music and his fans.  They had loved him, and he loved them back.

The cleaning crew at the Radio City Music Hall say that they can sometimes still hear him playing, late at night.  The management wanted to hire an exorcist, but the janitors threatened to strike.  

Because they know that at 2 AM in Radio City Music Hall, it's always 1979.  Reagan and Clinton and Bush never happened, and there aren't tens of thousands of wounded veterans being neglected, and there isn't a Camp X-Ray, and those towers never fell.  There's no PATRIOT Act and things aren't so crowded and busy.  There isn't a future full of fears and fresh scrawls on horror's scrolls.

There's just a gaudy old man and a piano.  And a smile.

Okay for now,
Dok  

[hooplala]

I remember Liberace. 

The Enquirer is to blame, they crucified that man for not being the lonely "bachelor" next door, and he was never the same after.

[LMNO]

Wow.  Dok, that made me tear up, in the last few paragraphs.



But maybe that's because I have a soft spot for old queens who just wanted everyone to be happy.




Weepy,
LMNO

[Adios]

He was great wasn't he?

[Kai]

I teared up too, LMNO.

It always sucks to loose someone who gets IT.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Liberace was truly amazing. He wasn't faded or jaded or cynical, he wasn't lampooning anything or satirizing anything; he lived to glorify what he loved, which was music and people.

The world needs another Liberace. The world needs a dozen Liberaces, all loving what they do and loving you for loving it, too.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

 

I remember Liberace.  He was way ahead of his time!!!

1979, wow, I was 11.  Not a whole lot wrong with your life at 11.  

[Doktor Howl]

Liberace was truly amazing. He wasn't faded or jaded or cynical, he wasn't lampooning anything or satirizing anything; he lived to glorify what he loved, which was music and people.

The world needs another Liberace. The world needs a dozen Liberaces, all loving what they do and loving you for loving it, too.

I called the factory, Nigel, and they don't make them anymore.  They've retooled for jaded and sneering and cynical, for a series of generations that wants to wallow in self-pity and a piss-poor excuse for "anger".  They can ship you an Oscar De La Rocha or a Green Day UPS Red, and they can probably crank out a Warren Oates or two in a week plus shipping, but there's no Liberaces left on the shelf, and they melted the mold down to make the tooling for Taylor Swift.

Something should be done about that.

[Adios]

Taylor Swift should have her vocal cords ripped out by a toothless beggar.

[Doktor Howl]

But maybe that's because I have a soft spot for old queens who just wanted everyone to be happy.

I am sure the fundies believe he is roasting in hell.  I don't want any part of a belief system that doesn't have room in heaven for someone like Liberace.

[Doktor Howl]

Taylor Swift should have her vocal cords ripped out by a toothless beggar.

They'd just make another one.  There is an endless supply of manufactured "talent".  There was only one Elton John, one Liberace, one Johnny Cash.  There is an infinite number of Taylor Swifts, Miley Cyruses, and Justin Beibers.

[Doktor Howl]

I remember Liberace.  He was way ahead of his time!!!

No, he was out of time.  He belonged to a future that never happened.  The future we were supposed to have...Not this festering pile of shit they built while we were sleeping.

[LMNO]

TOM WAITS AND WILLIE NELSON STILL BREATHE THE AIR ON THIS PLANET.




There is, at least, that.  Not nearly as fabulous, though.

[Richter]

This is why we can't have nice things, Doc.  People with nitpicking concerns, cunnignly mongered fears, and a barely - qualifiable hardon for "Family" safe America have lsot us the right to have such Glorious Faggots.

Back then it didn't matter.  Like with my buddy, Nate the Great, some folks could jsut be spectacular, happy, and outrageously gettign a kick out of jsut beign themselves, and it was OK.  No one cared where that energy was coming from, or what they did with consenting adults in the spare time, they jsut appreciated having good, happy people around.

"Queer as a 3 dollar bill", grandad always called him, sharing a joke everyone knew, but could still get a smile out of anyways.  He had a vintage mirror from one of his houses, proudly displayed.  

Now everyone has to be the right approved flavor.  Everything has to be FAMILY ^tm safe, except of course for the sportball players, performers, or policitcos.  Every orphan has to be placed in a trailer house with dysfunctional, NASCAR, obese heterosexual foster parents who love the right sportsball players and performers, and vote for the right politicos.  Everyone has to love them some Jesus, and line up for more at the megachurch every Sunday.  

[Adios]

Taylor Swift should have her vocal cords ripped out by a toothless beggar.

They'd just make another one.  There is an endless supply of manufactured "talent".  There was only one Elton John, one Liberace, one Johnny Cash.  There is an infinite number of Taylor Swifts, Miley Cyruses, and Justin Beibers.

Mind adding Freddy Mercury to the first part of this list?