One of Falcon Studio’s biggest stars, Eric Rhodes, started blogging on Jan. 1. He’s surprisingly candid, and it’s all juicy.

And sad — especially how he writes about struggling with crystal meth.

Earlier this year, Rhodes’ name was splashed across gossip pages when he was linked to super-designer Marc Jacobs. I haven’t check in for a while, but today Gawker alerted folks that Rhodes is in yet another a major tailspin.

Let’s hope he cleans it up — a least a little — to keep writing because this is some of the best porn-related prose I’ve ever read.

Chelsea Clinton, who recently turned 28, is getting feisty in her old age. During a visit to Butler University yesterday, Chelsea was asked whether she thinks the Monica Lewinsky scandal has hurt her mother’s credibility.
“Wow, you’re the first person actually that’s ever asked me that question in the, I don’t know maybe, 70 college campuses I’ve now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business,“ Clinton says in the video clip below.

It may be the first time Chelsea’s been asked that specific question, but surely Chelsea remembers a similar but slightly, umm, more pointed one from Dallas Voice’s own Daniel Kusner during a visit to the University of Texas at Dallas on Feb. 20.

Kusner’s question went like this: “I noticed during the gay rights question, you kept using the word ‘civil’ throughout your answer. Why can’t your mother stoop low enough to grant full, equal marriage rights for same-sex couples? Or is the word ‘marriage’ too sacred for the Clintons?“

Chelsea’s response at the time was slightly more tame: “Civil unions is what my mother has supported for as long as I can remember,“ she said.

Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern squared off with Scott Jones, the openly gay pastor of OKC’s Cathedral of Hope, on KFOR-TV’s “Flashpoint” on Sunday. The OKC Cathedral was started by the Dallas Cathedral a few years ago. The video below (you may have to scroll down a little) is in two segments.

For the first time in 17 years, George Michael is touring the U.S.

On April 2, he’ll also have a new album, “Twenty-Five,” 29-songs, 2-discs with some new duets.

But tickets for the tour go on sale, Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. Prices are: $145, $85, $65 and $45. He plays American Airlines Center on Sunday, July 13.

Tickets available online at LiveNation.com,
Ticketmaster or charge by phone at 214-373-8000 and 972-647-5700

MTVU editorial board gets a sitdown with Bill Clinton, and this fabulous collegian from Massachusetts takes Bill to task over Melissa Etheridge’s recent criticism that Bill threw the gay community under the bus by signing DOMA.And Bill gets all testy.

Glad to see the kids in 2008 aren’t total wimps.

— Daniel A. Kusner

Dallas Voice promotions manager Kris Martin must have indeed thought Christ was risen when she heard loud noises at about midnight Saturday and looked out the window to find flames shooting 100 feet in the air from this former vehicle parked across the street. Martin snapped this photo on Sunday on Seevers Avenue between Southshore and Appian Way in the historic Beckley Club Estates neighborhood of Oak Cliff. Martin said the incident resulted in visits to the neighborhood Sunday by City Councilman Dwaine Carraway and state Sen. Royce West.

The vehicle was one of four more cars that were torched over the weekend in Oak Cliff, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue, bringing the total to at least 22 since Feb. 28. Authorities say the perpetrators are using molatov cocktails filled with gasoline to set the blazes, which have caused $87,000 in damages thus far. These are essentially the type of improvised explosive devices that have been used in combat around the world, most notably in Iraq.

The gossip site with flava is at it again. MediaTakeOut.com had previously reported that Keyshia Cole was sapphic and that Queen Latifah was gonna marry her “personal trainer.”

Now they’re really going for it: Da Brat and Mariah’s friendship is getting intimate.

Here’s a quote: “I just wanted to tell you guys that Mariah Carey and Da Brat are definitely dating [each other]. They were at [Villa] last night and for almost the whole night Mariah was sitting on Da Brat’s lap. And they were both sharing the same drink - FROM THE SAME GLASS!!“

 When you work on the lifestyles side of the newspaper business, you deal a lot with publicists of all kinds. A good one can really make your job easier: Setting up interviews, providing quality photography in a timely way, getting you information quickly and correctly … the list goes on. I deal with dozens of publicists on a monthly, perhaps even weekly, basis, and the number who are really good at what they do is not a long list.

Eva Chien has been one of the best.

She’s my main contact with the Dallas Theater Center, and in the last two years she’s become not just a pleasant colleague, but an actual friend. So when I heard she was leaving the DTC to return to her prior job with Lincoln Center in New York City, I was sincerely saddened. 

Then she told me she could get me comps to Broadway shows and I could stay for free at her apartment in Manhattan whenever I wanted. “Are you still here?” I said impatiently. She is until Friday.

I’ll be saying goodbye to “Evita” tonight at a going away party her parents’ restaurant in Addison. Such the publicist: Even on the way out, she throws a party.

But she will HATE that I posted this — and kill me for running a picture of her.  

If any Cathedral of Hope members are considering running for office, they might first want to go back and read some of the Rev. Mike Piazza’s sermons. That’s what Piazza, dean of the Cathedral of Hope, says in this recent blog post about the media firestorm involving Barack Obama’s ex-pastor, Jeremiah Wright.

The Cathedral of Hope and Obama’s church, Trinity UCC, are both members of the United Church of Christ denomination. Trinity is the largest congregation in UCC, and the Cathedral of Hope is the fourth-largest. However, the Cathedral of Hope is predominantly LGBT and white, while Trinity is predominantly straight and black.

There is plenty of fodder here, especially given that many Hillary Clinton supporters in the LGBT community have suggested that Obama is too closely tied to conservative black churches that view homosexuality as a sin. When the Wright controversy broke, some speculated that if Wright said, “God damn America,” he surely at some point must also have said, “God damn homosexuals.”

Turns out, that is not the case. Well, at least not really. Overall, Wright appears to be pretty darn gay-friendly for a preacher in the mainstream black church. However, as noted in The Washington Blade article, there may be some exceptions.

In this piece, the Rev. Irene Monroe argues that Obama’s handling of the Wright controversy shows that he’s willing to sacrifice anybody to save his political hide. “If Obama can throw his pastor under the bus, what will he do to LGBTQ voters on his way to the White House?” Monroe asks.

Now it’s all about race, race, race. A friend of mine who is black and straight and married to a white woman sent me the link to the blog “Stuff White People Like.” It’s great satire based on white stereotypes like.. “The dinner party is the opportunity for white people to be judged on their taste in food, wine, furniture, art, interior design, music, and books. Outside of dictatorships and a few murder trials, there might not be a more rigorous judgment process in the modern world.” But gay readers will want to check out “Having Gay Friends” which tells us “While white people love being a part of any movement, the gay movement is especially important to them because they can blend in at rallies and protests and spend an afternoon feeling the sting of oppression.”