The Last New Yorker!

The Last New Yorker begins with Lenny getting a shoeshine while complaining about how things have changed; traditions are a thing of the past. Lenny is a grand schemer in a suit and hat that touches off his being a Businessman. Lenny is aggressive with charisma and has charm down to a science. He is also loud, rude, and arrogant who shows no respect for his lifetime friend or those who he comes in contact with. He’s a force not to be reckoned with and who’s his own law with his own rules.

Ruben is angry and upset about the state of affairs in his life. His wife of 25 years has been unfaithful to him; he’s not happy camper after finding out about it. It becomes apparent that Ruben has a hard time adapting to the changes of their haunts and stomping grounds.

He and Lenny are the few who are the last of the last from the days of old New York who don't fit in with the New York of New. He’s fed up with corporatized NYC that he wants to move to Alabama or someplace warm and fuzzy. He wants out! He’ll do it only if his Lifelong Bud will join him at the somewhere new.  

It is at this point that the fast paced physical comedy and running gags passes the laugh baton to next scene in this race of the cleverness of humor. The two men are in their 70s and have no problems keeping up into the hustle and bustle of New York.  They are non-stop, keeping up with the rapid movements and frantic pace of the city, as they become a part of the crowds of the street without missing a beat.  

Lenny and Ruben pass a down on his luck man drowning in the sea of people on the streets of New York offering “Stock Advice” for cash. The middle aged man tries his best to keep up with the two elders who don’t stop they keep moving their way through the crowds.  In a New York minute he manages to bend Lenny’s ear with a stock option tip that would make him a millionaire. Under the same New York minute he slows Lenny down to write down the stock symbol without missing a beat.

The beat goes on as Lenny asks Ruben to pay the Hot Tipster $2.00.for the stock tip that would make him a millionaire. All Ruben has is a $20.00 bill and can’t comply with this bequest.  Without missing a beat Lenny grabs the $20.00 turns and buys a tee-shirt from a street vendor. He gives the man $2.00 and the I Love New York tee-shirt then gives Ruben his change. Out of curiosity he’s asks the Wall Street psychic what did he do for a living prior to this? Upon hearing the answer of Stock Advisor Lenny stops in his tracks and misses a beat! 

Ruben’s warns Lenny about doing bad things that are upsetting to the cosmic of the Universe with bad karma resulting from it. Lenny blows this off of gibberish as the two are seated on the sidewalk of a restaurant. Lenny detests being seated outdoors instead of indoors with the service lacking a personal touch. He tells Ruben about his Mystery Woman (Kathleen Chalfant) who goes to the shop directly across the street from where they’re seated with a good view. The warning becomes a true fact after an incident makes Lennythe center of attention. The apple of his eye is blackened while spying on his Mystery Woman (Kathleen Chalfant) who’s across the street looking towards the commotion and at Lenny with a coy smile.

Lenny’s nephew Zach Sugarman (Josh Hamilton) is a successful Stock Broker with a lavish office on Wall Street. He’s the next younger generation of a businessman who dressed in very loud Hawaii shirt with Dockers slacks topped off with a baseball cap. His uncle rips him a new one while ranting and raving about his appearance and laid back demeanor as a profession. Zach braces himself for the next storm after informing his Uncle that his investment in pork bellies had bellied up leaving Uncle Lenny flat broke. It was at his Uncle’s insistence that he invest all of his money in Pork Bellies. This makes Zach feel bad about it because he didn’t intervene with the better investments.

 Zach tries to an honest effort to make things right between himself and Uncle Lenny by offering him a stack of cash that would make him financially secure for the rest of his life. This is where the Last New Yorker passes the baton to Ruben who ties a bow on it to as he races and jump hurdles of his plots and plans towards the finish line with his lifetime friend.

This is where the Last New Yorker passes the baton to Lenny in his race for love! This is also where the Last New Yorker tells it tales of a first love that's real love. Lenny found love at 70 and feels on top of the world. Lenny and Mimi’s love life begins on the corner of 38th and Lexington in the big heart of New York. The scenes of his courtship of Mimi, an elegant retired department-store buyer touches the romantic in all of us. New York is the perfect background for a love story and falling in love with elegance. (Remember Moonstruck?) Lenny feels alive with the zest and zeal of Mimi who’s a class act with style and debonair. Lenny compliments Mimi with gifts as a token of his affection towards her.

Mimi is a class act who’s polished with a high gloss that reflects elegance that’s laced with charisma that can charm the skin off of a snake!  She wows Lenny with her character that has soul, style, charm, while cycling in her own comfort zone with everything under control. She’s flattered and touched when Lenny presents her with a token from the heart that says; “I love you!”

The Last New Yorker goes through plot changes, spins, and twists that build up to a surprise ending that’s a real surprise. Lenny, Mimi, Ruben, and Zach all have a “Happy Ending” and get what they wanted and more!! The acting is superb; New York looks its best, the writing and directing seals the Last New Yorker as a classic.

This fantastic independent feature film is a first for Harvey Wang who’s a documentary photographer whose book of portraits, “Harvey Wang’s New York” inspired him to do The Last New Yorker.

The Last New Yorker is a rare comedy filmed in the style of Vaudeville; it has a 70ish top banana Lenny (Dominic Chianese) and bottom banana Ruben (Dick Latessa) banana that gets stuck holding the bag and tabs for all duo's ventures and misadventures. It’s scripted with quick witted lines that are pure-d-camp. It’s corny with slapstick humor that’s packed with punch lines. These are the comedic elements that build upon the foundation of this hilarious comedy by Harvey Wang.

The Last New Yorker has won awards from City Scape, Finalist First Feature, and the Winner of Audience Favorite Awards.

The Last New Yorker is a great film that’s now on DVD. This is a must have DVD that sheds a different light on becoming an Elder at 70 and still live a full rich life! The Special Features are 2 slide shows, trailers, ringtones, and a booklet on how to buy a suit by Lenny Sugarman.

Creatures from the Pink Lagoon

The Saga Continues...

The Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

By Nevin Jefferson

Creatures from the Pink Lagoon

Starring: Nick Garrison, Lowell Deo, Evan Mosher, Philip D. Clark, Vincent Kovar Billy,

John Kaufmann, Bill Morrison, and Bobby Jerry Lloyd

Directed by Chis Diani

Written by Chris Diani & Basil Harris

Hurray for HOLLYQUEER! Creatures from the Pink Lagoon is the ultimate in Gay films that takes you back in time to the days of the Sunday matinee Black and white horror movies after Sunday school.Seattle provides the backdrop for the campy Creatures from the Pink Lagoon. Creature from the Pink Lagoon opens with a funeral scene that ends with a hand coming up out of the grave. The hand goes limp at the wrist with this being the first of many scenes of Gay humor at its Queerest.

It is 1967 in a small town where cruisers of the highway rest stop are bitten by toxic mosquitoes and turn into ravenous flesh-eating zombies. Phillip (Hedwig, Nick Garrison) is the blonde bubble-head heroine of the movie whose boyfriend leaves him stranded at a rest stop. If this isn't enough, his boyfriend refuses the invitation to Phillip's birthday party. After playing a game of drop the lighter with the person picking it up giving a blowjob. Phillip's boyfriend is bit on the neck by a large toxic mosquito.

Phillip and his friends meet at Stan's, Phillip's best friend (Lowell Deo) beach cottage for birthday cheer and frolic. Billy, Stan's beefcake boyfriend (Vincent Kovar), Joseph, (Evan Mosher) Billy's shy, nerdy, cousin, and Randall, (Philip D. Clarke) the smoking, fussing, bitching, bitter, Queen who's the splitting acting image of the late Paul Lynne.

Like most of the horror movies nothing bad happens until someone has sex. Phillip and Billy go for a swim at the beach with Phillip getting birthday strokes and humps from fine body Billy. Body parts wash up on shore as party guests begin to disappear. Zombies make their way towards the beach house eating their way there as they stop to snack, feast, and chow down on the men along the way. They're horrifying! They're hideous! They're hungry! And they're homosexual?

There's water zombies, surfer zombie, ascot zombie, cake zombie, arm-biting zombie, coatless zombie, well-dressed zombie, smoking zombie, bearded zombie, bald zombie, science teacher zombie, aggressive zombie, and last and Gay-camp least, dildo zombie. Billy becomes a glutless blunder while Randall gets eaten for desert while smoking and bitching away. While under attack the gang hears the news bulletin from a radio announcer who gives the attack of the zombies a full scientific explanation of it being from the toxic lagoon with mosquitoes spreading it around the rest. This leads up to the scene where the victims find something to stop the zombies like in all of the other B horror flicks. This time its Brute 33 to the rescue. Phillip, Joseph, and Stan fight off the zombies with Brute 33 which makes the zombies hurl chunks and foams.

Love blooms between Phillip and Joseph as they combat zombies side-by-side. Stan's does his best to keep the rotting corpses out of his spotless home. Phillip's cheating boyfriend makes his way to the party to eat...not save them. Stan saves the day and changes the hungry zombies back into hungry horny men by playing a Judy Garland song with the radio hoisted high over his head. Once the terror and fighting for their lives are over, Phillip goes back to his no-good dog of a boyfriend. The nerd is left behind fading off into his pencil holder. Stan rides off into the sunset a convertible with Billy's dumb-bells on the seat next to him. The Pink End!

Creatures was filmed in Steward Park and on the beach. Seattle makes a great background for movies shot here. This is the second film at the Seattle Gay Lesbian Film Festival that was filmed in Seattle. Boy Culture and Creatures from the Pink Lagoon gave the film festival a touch of home with the Space Needle being our beacon of Seattle.

Ski Trip!

The Saga Continue...

Ski Trip

By Nevin Jefferson

My movie of choice for this year's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival was the Ski Trip, which is written, directed and starring, Maurice Jamal. The Ski Trip is the an outstanding movie in this year's film festival. It's superbly written, directed, and has the 'talent' that Jamal was casting for when he set out to create a stellar cast. He was seeking an "OUT" Black Gay man who knows the perils of hell that goes on in Hollywierd. He asked the typical Gay questions during auditions that only a Gay man would know. He wasn't out to discriminate against others because he doesn't like to be discriminated against himself. He ended up with a 50/50 split of Gay and straight.



The movie opens with close-ups of Corey's close friends as they leave their joyful and cute birthday messages for the, now, 30-year-old Corey. One caller is a man who got Corey's phone number off the bathroom wall. Corey awakens recently dumped, unemployed, and riddled with guilt about not going to the gym for a year. The story is narrated by Corey as he leads us into his world. Terry (Daren Fleming) calls Cory to bring him into the first day of making 30 along with the snide remarks and cute comments that only a true drag queen can say. Corey tries to escape the from the 'dish' by hanging up on Terry. Terry, an over the top part-time drag queen who performs under the name of "Grenadine Ross" - full of aspiration - continues to call back. This leads the audience into the first stint of comedy after Cory's mother calls with Cory thinking that the call was from the persistence Terry. He quickly finds out that it's his mother! The voices of Corey's mother and her boyfriend (who's called Uncle by Corey) are done in the sounds of "blah-blah" and horn sounds (i.e. like in the Charlie Brown cartoons).


The next person we meet is Nikki (Cassandra Cruz), an on the prowl for the 'Drawers' Butch Lesbian who's one of the boys. Her mouth motions and mannerisms along with Lesbian commentary will thrill the Lesbian audience. We quickly learn that Corey, Nikki, and Terry go way back to the 90's when they were straight. This is why they're able to come over whenever the mood strikes them because, they have key's to Corey's apartment. Upon seeing the broken framed picture of Marcus (William Blagrove), Corey's ex on the floor of the apartment, Terry and Nikki begin their plans to cheer Corey up. It's the friend in need who gets the help indeed. Terry comes up with the idea of a party at their favorite bar, then begins calling people to invite them.


We get an introduction to the cast as they're called by Terry who invites them to the celebration. Byron (Nathan Hale), is a Bitchy Queen with a serious attitude. When he finds out that Corey and Nikki are listening to the conversation on a speaker phone he calls Terry a "Bitch" for doing this ploy. The three in return call him a "Bitch" after the call ends in a hang up by all parties. Later on in the day, we meet Omar (John Rankin) who has a oblivious crush big time on Corey, who could care less about Omar. Not only does Omar come over to Corey's small apartment with a cake, he gives Corey a action figure of one of the cartoon characters in Corey's comic book. The one that Corey has given up on.


At the bar we meet Carlos (Emanuel Xavier) where he's a bartender with high hopes of becoming a music producer. Carlos serves 'cocktails' in the bathroom to the hot numbers he scores - complete with condoms. This is how he became friends with Terry, Corey, and Byron, whom he had sex with after being called a "HO" by Terry and Corey. Carlos defends himself by confessing to being a slut which, he says, is different. Every bar has it's sexy and muscular studs with looks that stop time and start lustful fantasies from those looking on. Tyson (Haaz) is this same described Stud who blows everyone in the bar away. One scene becomes hilarious after Terry lures Tyson over to Corey, then, he bails out on the two.


Corey says and behaves in a way you're not supposed to when trying to make an impression. Byron ends up stealing Tyson away from Corey by doing the 'booty' dance. Corey explodes from humiliation - after becoming a human bomb - while attempting to score the man of his and everyone else's dream. The Ski Trip takes off after Nikki suggests that they go on a ski trip to get away. For entertainment, Terry is prepared to do a Talent Show as Cassandra Cruz who spends most of the time cruising. The Ski Trip delivers from the setup of characters who go on a road trip that becomes one adventure after another. Terry Fed-Ex's his clothes to the house where they're staying for the weekend after learning that there's no room in the trunk of the very small compact car that Omar rents as their transportation.

Most Blacks and Hispanics don't ski because putting two sticks on your feet, then, sliding down hills isn't something that they desire to do in their lives. Neither do these characters who we observe packing, driving, lodging, dressing, drinking, and having a snowball fight. We see Terry going into a masculine mannerism after getting hit with a snowball. This gives commentary to the fact that Black LGBT ski weekends draw as many non-skiers as skiers. The avalanche falls on the webs weaved by the characters as they play 'tell a story, then, drink.' The claws come out with fur flying as secrets are exposed center stage and placed in the spotlight. I'm not going to spoil it by telling you how the 'snow' hit the fan - complete with a Blizzard that traps them for a couple of more days. The friend in need adage blow's up in the faces of Corey, Terry, and Nikki after learning that Cory's love affair reality is really a lonely Gay man's fantasy .


The Ski Trip does have a happy ending. This is a combination of comedy and drama; with drama being in bold print. Ski Trip tells the tale about a Black and Latino community that explores our relationships for what they really are, rather than what we would fantasize them to be. As well as how Blacks and Latinos are real and true to themselves without being a stereo-type. The Ski Trip was the winner of the "Best New Feature Film" award at the 2004 Oakland Black Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Jamal worked in advertising and is currently the writer, director, and star in the Don Chappelle Show.

The end production is a extremely well packaged film complete with fantastic editing, directing, and acting. The Ski Trip was made on a budget of $10 thousand smack-a-roos that screens like a $100,000 dollar production. The soundtrack of the movies is simply the best. Ski Trip has been picked up by Logo, the new Gay station on Direct TV and Comcast. His next production will be on a bigger budget with Loretta Divine and Sherly Lee Ralph starring. After the preview, Jamal spoke to the audience where he shared his woes with the movie, because most festivals had a hard time with a Black movie with Gay characters. Black Festivals, who had a hard time with a Gay movie that stars a Black cast. With gifted talent like his, Jamal has nothing to worry about. The Ski Trip is a delight to watch and a must for your DVD collection.