At Upstairs on the Square at Barnes and Nobles in Union Square, Armistead Maupin told the audience that Ian McKellen had read some of his work in a one man show. He laughed out loud at the thought of Sir Ian intoning the immortal words, "Barney''s winking sphincter."
There were a lot of laugh out loud moments on Thursday evening as Maupin read from his latest book, Michael Tolliver Lives. Tolliver, one of the main characters in Maupin's six part Tales of the City series,is not only alive, but thriving. It's been nearly two decades since Maupin has written about any of those lovable quirky San Francisco characters. In 1988, at the end of the series, Tolliver was HIV positive, engaged to his boyfriend and felt slightly betrayed because his best friend, Mary Ann Singleton, was leaving San Francisco for a new career in New York.
In the new book, Tolliver is 50-something, alive and well and has a hot young boyfriend. Journalist Katherine Lanpher, who moderated the event, asked Maupin, what was the inspiration for the "intergenerational romance." Maupin introduced his husband, Christopher Turner, who had been sitting in the audience. Turner stood up and revealed himself to be a young, hot, buff bundle of inspiration. Maupin said he wanted to give Tolliver a happy ending. His partner died of AIDS and his second partner left him. Now Tolliver is an older gay man. Maupin said that age is the last closet for gay men. He said getting older is particularly difficult for gay men because they idealize both beauty and youth. Maupin wanted to capture the experience of having lived through the raging AIDS epidemic, thinking any moment you would be dead, and now confronting an 'ordinary mortality."
One by one, each of the Tales in the City characters make their way back into the new book. Originally, it was only going to be only Tolliver and Madrigal (and let's not forget Barney), but each of the characters appeared to him and pleaded their case to be included in the new book. Maupin said he was pleased and surprised that younger people are finding and reading his books.
Also appearing at the event was Elk City, a fabulous indie rock band, who performed some of the songs from their new CD, New Believers. Their song, Cherries in the Snow, Lanpner said, was based on the famous Revlon lipstick color, which Anna Madrigal might have worn. Renee LaBue, the beautiful singer and songwriter of the group, has a smooth joyful voice. Her song Los Cruzados, inspired by T Rex's Unicorn album, is meant to be a psychedelic spiritual prayer. LaBue sleeps with a tape recorder because songs come just as she's falling asleep. "You don't censor yourself when you're in that groggy state of mind." she said. Elk City will be having a CD release party at Joe's Pub on Wednesday, June 27th.
Watch the whole event at the Barnes and Noble's website.
-Sherry Mazzocchi
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