Between Solitude and Lonliness

Now and then, especially at night, solitude loses its soft power and loneliness takes over. I am grateful when solitude returns.

Donald Hall

Remembrance of Gene Anthony Ray (aka Leroy Jones of Fame)

Gene Anthony Ray

Watching him dance was quite literally a breathtaking experience. literally.   How could anyone move with so much style, grace, and natural beauty! And he was a self-taught dancer  with tons of natural talent . 

Gene Anthony Ray was born on May 24 1962 in Harlem and grew up street dancing. Later, like his character in Fame, he enrolled at the High School of the Performing Arts, only to be expelled after the first year. "It was too disciplined for this wild child of mine," said his mother.

Ray was 17 when he auditioned for Fame. Handsome, with doleful eyes, he later claimed that "the eyes had as much to do with obtaining the role of Leroy as the dance. A flash from those babies followed by a routine and I had them all hooked".

Parker's choreographer Louis Falco was bowled over: "Gene uncovered something inside me that I hadn't witnessed before," he recalled. "He was just incredible. I felt like I was in the same shoes as the person who had maybe seen Fred Astaire for the first time." There was no question in Falco or Parker's mind that the confident, slightly confrontational Gene Anthony Ray and Leroy Johnson were one and the same.

His life started falling apart in 1984 after his mother was jailed for running a drug ring, and he failed to turn up for work 100 times and got fired.  He eventually got a job dancing with the Weather Girls (Martha Wash of "It's raining men" fame)and the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Carrie (1988), in which he was Billy, the nastiest of the boys.  He also did some commercial work for Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper. 

Despite his incredible talent and fan appeal, the twin demons of drug addiction and  alcoholism overwhelmed him and  he found himself sleeping on park benches, and during a failed attempt to launch a Fame-style dance school in Milan, sharing a flat there with a porn actress. In 1996 he was diagnosed HIV positive. He suffered a stroke in 2003 and died a few months later..

Flamboyantly camp, he brushed aside questions about his sexuality. He never married.

This obituary by Marcus best I have found to describe the world's loss at his passing  May he rest in peace.

November 22, 2003

OBITUARY: Gene Anthony Ray Gene

OBITUARY: Gene Anthony Ray
Gene Anthony Ray, the actor who played Leroy Johnson in
'Fame', died yesterday in Manhattan at the age of 41.
I am writing this with a great sadness in my heart. 'The Kids
from Fame' was the soundtrack to my childhood, and I'm not
afraid to admit it! The explosive talent of Gene's singing and
dancing could be felt once as BBC1 broadcast the weekly
episode. The show would be duly recorded and I'd spend the
following week learning the new songs and practicing the dance
routines in front of the TV.
Gene brought a force and determination to the character of
Leroy, in his passionate dance routines and tempestuous
on-screen relationships. My favourite song routines included
the kitsch-camp 'Desdemona', the smooth-as-chocolate
'Lay Back and Be Cool', and the uplifting ensemble numbers
like 'Starmaker'.
There is a certain grace & style in male dancers and Gene was
up there with the best. He pulsated, rocked and leapt through
the air. Thank you Gene - you'll live forever and I will  remember
your name...

[for more obituaries, see www.fameforever.com]
Posted by marcus at November 22, 2003 09:12 PM

Why is Health Care So Expensive?

 

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

Why progressive tax rates make sense

A friend argues for a flat rate income tax as the only fair solution. 

Here was my rep;ly

Progressive taxation makes sense because of something called the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility. This law says that each extra dollar I earn is less valuable to me than the one I earned before it. In other words, if I am earning $10,000 a year then a 25% tax rate hurts me a whole lot more than if I am earning $1,000,000 even though the millionaire would be paying a whole lot more (100 times more) actual dollars than me. Progressive taxation recognizes this and attempts to equalize the pain of paying taxes by increasing the rate as income increases.

Now you may ask how do we do this equitably? Who gets to decide how much the rate should be for each income tier. We should come up with a formula which is based upon multiple factors among which would be an agreed upon fixed growth rate applied to all incomes and the total tax revenue target,

That way, when taxes have to be increased everyone's marginal tax rate would increase by the same percentage amount. If your old tax rate was 10% and mine was 50% and the tax multiplier is 10% then your new tax rate would be 11% and mine would be 55%

Toni Morrison talks to the BBC about racism in America

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-19834043

When politics mixes with religion

Reading this entry in Andrew Sullivan's blog set me off on this rant.  

Picture a room full of people who are so proud of their goodness and righteousness that they actually believe they deserve all the good things in life their god  has blessed them to have. They believe that if others do not have these things then there simply must be something wrong with them: they are some combination of lazy, shiftless, immoral, ignorant, stupid, and they feel the world owes them a living. Yes, they say, God IS good and merciful, but you have only your own selves to blame for your problems. Shame on you.  You simply don't deserve to live as we do.

These people may be religious but they are anything but spiritual. Whatever happened to standing in awe before the face of God?  God is no mystery to these folks.  They have put him in a little box and made him their own. 

Reflections on the recession the day after Obama addresses Congress

I am tired of all politicians talkiing like there is some kind of magic bullet for ending the recession - more stimulus, less regulation, lower taxrs, green energy development, corporate tax holidays.




The plain truth is that recessions are part of the business cycle and will end when it ends. Here is an analysis of US recessions since 1819 http://www.e-investing.in/world-economy/1749-us-recessions-observation.html In the last 200 years most recessions caused by systemic financial crisis have lasted much longer than recessions caused by other factors.



Whatever policy is in place when the recession ends, the proponents of that policy will take credit for ending the recession.



John, you are currently calling the 2009 Stimulus plan a failure because it didn't end the recession. (Funny that you are smarter than the CBO http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/123xx/doc12385/08-24-ARRA.pdf who feels the stimulus did provide some employment and helped avoid a more serious financial breakdown). If we are in a 6 year recession then don't expect it to end before its time. Also, unfortunately, don't expect any politician to tell you this truth.



This being the case why do I feel the first stimulus was worth it and the new stimulus will be worthwhile? Because people are suffering and the stimulus helps the people hardest hit by the recession.



HuffPost approached 10 republican senators about Obama's proposal to reduce the payroll tax and only two, McCain and Brown responded. Both said they supported the tax cut but only on the employer's portion, not the employee portion. Their reason was to give employers more money to hire additional workers. This is complete BS. Everyone knows employers aren't hiring because there is a lack of demand. Most companies are sitting on money. The economy is awash with capital. The problem is that employers are willing to use it now.



I am tired of the argument that government stimulus only prolongs the recession, that the New Deal caused the depression, that Hoover just needed a little more time before the free market would work its magic and find jobs for everyone.



Say what you want about FDR and the New Deal. The people who benefited from FDR's Nes Deal were grateful to him for the rest of their lives. They believed he made their lives better. He made it possible for the unemployyed to find jobs and feed their families. He gave them hope that things would get better.



There are millions who have lost the livelihood and their homes who could use a little hope right now too