If we are all outrageously lucky, this will be very worst thing to have transpired at City Hall between the hours of 10:00 and 12:00 on Tuesday, June 12. But I sort of feel like we've been had.
A few quotes stand out:
"The reason I prefer transgressional [sic] art is because it's the kind of art I like to watch."
[Dowd] was, he says, unaware of the complaints about Needles until the day the proclamation was issued.
On the other hand, when asked afterward if she were trying to use her performances to discuss specific issues, she said flatly, "No. That's not my problem. I'm an artist and I don't [redacted] have to answer for my work." (C-P, Lauren Daley)
Can anyone locate evidence that Ms. Needles has labored in some way to counteract bullying or stereotyping? Or is the extent of her contribution that she has "put herself out there" and been recognized on reality television?
On the flip side of the coin: there is now NO WAY we can justify continuing to refuse Wiz Khalifa civic honors. He has won a Billboard Music Award and an AMA, been nominated for multiple Grammys, notched a number 1 hit single and a number 2 album, and almost every one of his videos does honor to our City and its beloved sports teams. His latest album is named for one of our best public high schools. What does he have to do next, freestyle about the Promise?
After all -- what we do with proclamations is honor the good work people do. It doesn't mean we support everything Wiz Khalifa does. To continue ignoring him would be horribly racist, don't you think?
OMG!! It flips me out that you can convey such great messages in so few words!! Still, I am on the fence about Khalifa, but I am a prude.
ReplyDelete"Can anyone locate evidence that Ms. Needles has labored in some way to counteract bullying or stereotyping? Or is the extent of her contribution that she has 'put herself out there' and been recognized on reality television?"
ReplyDeleteSome evidence from a very quick bit of googling:
http://iamdivinefoundation.org/post/24258492472
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/dangerous_minds_endorses_sharon_needles
http://www.teachersyndicate.com/ttsd/node/2815
I gather a lot of her reputation for being a spokesperson in this area came from things she talked about on the show, but even that seems to go well beyond the limits of the second option Bram presented.
BrianTH - Alright. You google better than me. That's why I asked.
ReplyDeleteDeeGazette - Do you like the Grateful Dead? Led Zepplin? The Beatles? I hope not, those schnooks did acid, that'll mess your mind.
I was very disappointed, and offended by the material I found in Needles past. (Just when I joked that she stole the show, since I too received a proclamation that day, as a Blazing Emerging leader via The Pittsburgh African American Leadership Association for my volunteer community work in the West End, I can now realize, that I was okay…actually better than okay!)
ReplyDeleteDowd is lying about not knowing!
ReplyDeleteFor at least 3 day prior his chief of staff had the following video posted on her facebook wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcEyihTYh-A
That should have been enough to convince him that she wasn't worthy of the city's honor.
Someone in his office took down that posting prior to the article being released.
Sadly this is par for the course for Dowd in my opinion. I do hope that an intrepid reporter follows up on this and asks Dowd how his office could have been aware of this and still decided to go ahead with it.
Ricky - Congratulations on that award, by the way. I've been mulling how to tease you about being upstaged that day, or maybe, "Wow Ricky, I didn't know that you were Sharon Needles!" But I guess now people have seen you both in the same room.
ReplyDeleteLol! Not sure if I could of pulled it off! (Im kinda burly for a dress) And... many thanks!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to next year's Sharon Needles Day half off sale in the Kohl's designer apparel department.
ReplyDeleteRe: Wiz. Didn't council recently declare a Greg Gillis/Girl Talk Day? Girl Talk's mash ups are chock full of celebrations of untoward behaviors, particularly where misogyny and drug ingestion are concerned.
I was in Paris last week and saw a poster for a Khalifa performance and I'm like dang, from the Hazelwood dairy mart to Gay Paree, if that doesn't get the LTV site development off the ground and preserve the PIT to CDG flight, nothing will.
BTW, did not see any Paris posters for Ms. Needles, even in the Marais. Guess the Lawrenceville hipsters are just more sophisticated.
Is it just me, or was the best darn city council group photo ever?
ReplyDeleteJohn Denver. Rocky Mountain high.
ReplyDeleteWell played, Dee. Though I feel honor-bound to report:
ReplyDelete"In 1998, Denver was arrested for having a box of marijuana delivered to his home. He originally said that the box had come from Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island, but he later refused to name her in court and testified that "some crazy fan must have sent it." The police reportedly found more of the plant and related paraphernalia in Denver's home. He pleaded no contest and received six months probation.[3]" Wikipedia
There do not exist people, anymore, who think marijuana is a justly punishable thing. Except maybe the poor law enforcement officials who, god bless 'em, are sent out on the streets at immense risk to their persons to try their best to suppress it. I wonder if that's who Council is scared of offending.
I think the chance to kiss a skunk furry and have the pic go viral was just too much for Patrick to pass up, no matter what his staff knew.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1:11 - Hey, are you being transphobic or anti-Furry? Either way, ahem. Both are huge job creators.
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, Dowd and Needles reminds me of the Fonz on a surfboard jumping a shark.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a motorcycle.
ReplyDeleteSo what if Needles is a Pittsburgh prostitute? A girls gotta eat. I'm sure we'll see Wiz and Mac Mueller on the remix so keep that tuck tight, hunty.
ReplyDeleteGoogle wasn't much help on that one:
ReplyDelete"For abs, keep that tuck tight during hoe downs, balance, TTN and lunges. I am feeling my obliques on those moves big time now that I'm really concentrating on my tuck."
Hunty was easier.