Interviews

CHICAGO - This weekend, Artist, curator, writer, filmmaker, and independent publisher, Billy Miller of Straight to Hell (a.k.a The Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts) will be live narrating a selection of slides and films by male physique photographer and filmmaker Bob Mizer, publisher of Physique Pictorial (started in 1953), which introduced the work of George Quaintance and Tom of Finland. Mizer notably photographed the former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenneger and Andy Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro. The two evenings of illustrated lectures are presented by White Light Cinema at The Nightingale (1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.), featuring selected works from 1953-1992.Lectures start at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6. GOTR interviewed Miller by email.

Receiving my call one afternoon, Mark Deklin pulls over to the side of the road in his car to park. I commented that he was working on the fly, and he said that's LA for you. Deklin is the only male series regular on GCB (Good Christian Belles) and playing, Blake Reilly, the gay ex-husband of Cricket Caruth-Reilly in Dallas, TX. The new ABC series starring Kristin Chenoweth, formerly known as Good Christian Bitches, is based on the eponymous book by Kim Gatlin optioned by Darren Star (creator of the HBO series Sex and the City) who attached writer Robert Harling (Steel Magnolias, First Wives Club) to script the pilot. 

CHICAGO - Upwardly mobile, bear rapper Big Dipper is moving to New York City to join the ranks of gay icon Cazwell and explore the nightlife scene where he is sure to be seen. Native to the Chicago area, Big Dipper (yes like the constellation) feels he's done what he needed to do in the second city.

Openly gay, LAPD press-credentialed photo-journalist, Mike Skiff, reports for ReelGayTV and has been a longtime freelance videographer for the annual International Men of Leather competition held in Chicago where he filmed the IML documentary Kink Crusaders in 2008. The event is produced by Chuck Renslow, who co-founded IML with his late partner Dom Orejudos who started the competition in 1978.

Go Over the Rainbow interviewed Mike Skiff about the making of his latest documentary in production, The Bruno Project, his part in the movement against Prop 8, and how his first feature directorial debut, Kink Crusaders, healed from aftermath of the assault he suffered when Sacha Baron Cohen's film crew pulled a stunt at a Prop 8 rally he was documenting in Los Angeles two days before the general election.

"I’m not a queer-filmmaker and if I were, maybe these themes would have been more political for me."

You would have a hard time missing Ike Holter in a crowd. Blazing down streets on his roller blades, gliding through crowds with his carefree attitude, this 26-year-old Chicago playwright is always on the move. Occasionally I see him at parties, with his addictive sense of humor calling out to you “Holl-ler” as he glides up with a smile. It is not unusual for Ike to attend numerous events on the North side all in one night, skating from place to place with his backpack in tow. He sat down with me, a rare occasion for this man, on an unusually cool August night to share some red wine and answer some questions about his life, career and his upcoming Steppenwolf Garage series production Hit the Wall.