OBAMA FINALLY ON BOARD- DOMA IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a strongly worded legal brief, the Obama administration has said the federal act that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman was motivated by hostility toward gays and lesbians and is unconstitutional.

The brief was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco in support of a lesbian federal employee's lawsuit claiming the government wrongly denied health coverage to her same-sex spouse.

The Justice Department says Karen Golinski's suit should not be dismissed because the law under which her spouse was denied benefits – the Defense of Marriage Act – violates the constitution's guarantee of equal protection.
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THE THINKER

BOWIE ART EXHIBIT

Now, the sexually ambiguous space invader has his own retrospective at the Museum of Arts and Design.
The show, evocatively titled "DAVID BOWIE ARTIST," seeks to re-frame the glam rocker's artistic output as a lifelong performance piece of sorts.


Bowie's music videos, interviews, and concert footage will be on display, as well as a series of film screenings of Bowie's most notable film appearances, including Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, The Hunger, The Man Who Fell To Earth,
The Labyrinth, Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, Basquiat, and The Linguini Incident.

"David Bowie, Artist" will be on view until July 15, while a two-week run of "The Man Who Fell to Earth,"
until July 7, in conjunction with the exhibition.

MODEL OF THE MONTH

model- Johannes S. photo courtesy- Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin.

THE BEST QUOTE

" WE'RE IN HOLLYWOOD. AREN'T THERE SOME INTERESTING SHOPS?"~
grandmother trying to explain to her grandchildren about antebellum's current window.

WESTON CAGE

antebellum blogspot rarely, if ever posts about "celebrities."
we just don't find them very interesting.

we've decided to post about WESTON CAGE, because we see him as an example of contemporary celebrity in today's hollywood-
gluttonous, bloated, self-absorbed and self-destructive.
totally lacking in imagination and talent.


In 1988, Nicolas Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, who later bore their son, WESTON COPPOLA CAGE,
(born December 26, 1990). Weston is lead singer of the black metal band Eyes of Noctum,
and appeared in Cage's film Lord of War as Vladimir, a young Ukrainian mechanic who quickly disarms a Mil Mi-24 helicopter.


recently weston got into an altercation with his, "trainer" on the streets of hollywood. here's how the tabloid press covered the event-

Nicolas Cage's long-haired son is beaten to a bloody pulp in front of the Farmer's Kitchen restaurant in Hollywood ...
while several spectators stood by and watched.

The footage begins moments after 20-year-old Cage tried to deliver a roundhouse kick to his trainer after the trainer refused to allow Weston to order a certain item off the menu.

After a brief scuffle, the trainer takes Weston down to the ground ... climbs on top of him ... and rains down with a flurry of barely-contested punches to Weston's face.

The trainer kept Weston pinned down on the concrete until cops arrived.
Cage was eventually handcuffed, strapped to a gurney, and taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated.

Weston's father, Nicolas Cage, raced over to the hospital to be with his son yesterday -- and vows to stay in town as long as Weston needs him to be here.


so...... i decided to walk over to the farmer's kitchen and find out what really happened..

according to the guys that work there, (they were also there the day of the beating) weston & "trainer" never even entered the restaurant. the altercation had nothing to do with food. they were across the street,
(in front of triangle square- gay retirement home) and got into a fight about personal issues pertaining to weston wanting to run away from home, ( how a twenty year old man can run away from home is beyond me).

the farmer's kitchen restaurant had to call the police twice before they would send over a squad car.




this is the reason antebellum blogspot does not post about celebrities.
now we never need to do it again.

HAIRY

SPIRIT

photo courtesy- anthony feathers- hollywood/antebellum corespondent

MAN WILL NOT BITE DOG ANYMORE

A South Korean dog meat festival has been cancelled following growls of protest from animal rights activists.

The Korea Dog Farmers' Association had scheduled for Friday a festival aimed at promoting traditional dog meat consumption, said Ann Yong-Geun, an adviser to the association.

"We couldn't possibly go on with the plan due to endless phone calls of complaint... now there are few willing to rent us a place for the event," Ann, a professor of nutrition at Chung Cheong University, told AFP.

The association had said the festival, to be held in a traditional open-air market in the city of Seongnam just south of Seoul, would showcase various canine delicacies including barbecued dog, sausages and steamed paws.

The event at the market, well known for selling dogs for meat, would also have featured products such as cosmetics and spirits with canine ingredients.

Ann said the festival would have displayed video clips and pictures of farms raising dogs under sanitary conditions, contrary to public perceptions.

He said there are about 600 farms raising dogs for meat in South Korea, where their meat has long been eaten and dog soup, or Boshintang, is a summer delicacy.

But growing numbers of Koreans oppose the practice and consider it an international embarrassment.

The planned festival stirred fury from South Korean animal rights groups and many Internet users.

"This is making our country an international laughing stock, and making the whole world mistakenly believe that all South Koreans eat dogs," said Park So-Youn, head of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth.

The group led online campaigns to force cancellation of the festival.
"Canines are the animals emotionally closest to humans. You can't just publicly celebrate killing and eating them," Park said.

posting courtesy- kate mcconn- ingelwood/antebellum corespondent

RAPTURE FOR ONE

as you may remember, May 21, 2011, was supposed to be the end of the world.

The apocalyptic prophet HAROLD CAMPING warned of massive earthquakes and bodies being ejected out of graves on Judgment Day. Through his broadcasting company, Family Radio, Camping's End Times' prophecy was heard in 62 countries, with tens of millions spent on a massive billboard campaign.
His message made headlines and provided punch lines for late night talk show hosts.


last night @ the STEVE ALLEN THEATER, filmmaker ZEKE PIESTEUP talked about his experience working with
Camping during the final two weeks before May 21 and showed clips of his doco about the bizarre preacher.
the event was presented by CAFE INQUIRY.

Piestrup was the only journalist who had daily, close contact with Camping, filming and speaking with him before and after his call-in radio show, "Open Forum." He and co-producer Bailey Damast posted daily countdown videos with this footage, working 19-hour days to document in real time the last days of this doomsdayer.
ironically it was doomsday only for Camping.
On June 9, 2011, Camping suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.
On June 23, Camping’s Family Radio station announced that it would replace his show, Open Forum, with new programming.


Harold Camping, a 1942 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, who started out in Christian broadcasting in 1958 with one San Francisco AM radio station that eventually became a broadcast empire, proclaimed the doomsday date in 2008.

Since then, the ministry has unleashed a giant effort to spread the word. The message has gone out over the ministry’s 216 AM, FM and low-power radio stations, plus two TV channels in the United States. And, there’s been an international effort with shortwave radio, satellite broadcasts, a website, 5,500 billboards (400 in India; 2,200 across the United States, including many around the Bay Area), and 100 million pamphlets in 61 languages, according to the ministry.

Camping oversees about 100 staff members and volunteers, a mix of ages and races, at the ministry’s unkempt Oakland headquarters, situated between a custom auto shop and a psychic near the Oakland airport.

The ministry’s finances, however, are anything but downscale: an annual budget of $36.7 million in 2009, according to the organization’s most recent IRS financial disclosure filings. As a nonprofit, commercial-free broadcasting operation, the ministry is supported by listener donations — $18.3 million in 2009 alone.

The IRS records revealed $34 million in investments, $56 million in assets and $29 million in mortgages. Camping received no salary in 2009 — in fact, he loaned the ministry $175,516 that year. On Monday he said he was draining ministry reserves to pay for the May 21 campaign.

Tom Evans, a ministry spokesman, wouldn’t make the budget available, but said it was in the “tens of millions” of dollars.

Camping previously prophesied the apocalypse for September 1994 — a calculation he now admits was flawed.

Camping, whose ministry is fundamentalist Christian but not affiliated with mainstream churches, described may 21st, 2011, as the beginning of five months of hell on earth: the Rapture. Beginning by time zone until the world is encompassed, the relative few saved by God will ascend to heaven, while seven billion will be left to suffer and die.

Devastating earthquakes will strike, he said, unearthing corpses of previously dead sinners to be “desecrated and shamed,” followed by a series of calamities until Oct. 21, when the planet will be obliterated.


Camping said that may 21st was the 7,000th anniversary of Noah’s flood. Once again, he said, God has been angered by mankind’s sins, like the growing acceptance of homosexuality.

Working-class people have reportedly liquidated bank accounts to support Family Radio’s campaign. During a ministry call-in talk show, a man said he intended to go to work this week and proselytize colleagues about May 21, knowing he would probably be fired.


Zeke Piestrup, an outside documentary maker working with the ministry, said, “I’m a little nervous for these people.”

READ MORE-

LABELLE~ NIGHTBIRD

PATTI LABELLE, NONA HENDRICKS & SARAH DASH AS LABELLE~ PERFORMANCE OF NIGHTBIRD- LIVE- CIRCA- 1972
posting courtesy- syd curry-mississippi/antebellum corespondent

1980 FLOORSHOW- BOWIE

BOWIE at his best... back in the day...

I Can't Explain from the 1980 FLOOR SHOW outtakes.
Filmed at the Marquee Club in London in Oct. 1973.
posting courtesy- syd curry- mississippi/antebellum corespondent

MATHIEU BERTHEMY

MAISON MATHIEU BERTHEMY is a parisian label that conceptualizes unique pieces through capsule collections destined for the lens. Composed of Mathieu Berthemy and Paul Kemler, BERTHEMY | KEMLER is a parisian photographer duo expressing their authentic vison of singular aestheticism through film photography.

"I realized that the male fashion industry was cruelly lacking perspectives. Women have a myriad of choices in terms of image as a result of brand rivalry and industrial competition. On the contrary, the male attire is often boring and monotone. Hence this explains my desire to express myself through male fashion and in turn deliver my vision, regardless of the industry's marketing goals or the society's moral expectations".

KNOW YOUR ENEMY- TONY PERKINS

"There was no mistaking the message Friday night when the highest point in the city lit up like a towering rainbow, its colors blazing across the New York skyline. Like a warning flare, the reds and blues and greens exploded over the city, announcing the arrival of same-sex “marriage” to the world. Overnight, New York had become a beacon in the fight for family–a symbol of people who had lost their way.

When the law goes into effect next month, New York will be the sixth and largest state to shatter the definition of marriage in America. To understand the devastation of that defeat, consider this. Within hours, the number of people living in jurisdictions with same-sex “marriage” doubled. With one vote, New York forced more Americans to bow to its twisted definition of marriage than the combined population of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa, and the District of Columbia. And none of it would have been possible without the political cowardice of New York Republicans…


Despite all of the disappointment, God is on the move. Regardless of how things appear, never doubt that He is at work behind the scenes. Rainbow colors may cut through the New York night, but shadows are where you and I are called to shine. The world takes advantage of the darkness, but only the church can set it ablaze."

TONY PERKINS- president of the FRC,( Family Research Council).

In 2010, the Family Research Council—under Perkins' leadership—
was classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
FRC President Tony Perkins dismissed the hate group designation as the result of a political attack by a
"liberal organization" and "the left's smear campaign of conservatives".



and without further adieu, antebellum blogspot presents~

THE BEST OF TONY PERKINS



(BTW, it's very clear to me that tony perkins is lying, (about traveling to Honduras) during this debate)

FIRE TORNADOS

WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU SAW ONE OF THESE?!

posting by ole thomas- oslo/antebellum corespondent

LIGHTING FLOWERS STRIKE ME AGAIN

lichtenberg figures may also appear on the skin of lightning strike victims. these are reddish, fernlike patterns that may persist for hours or days. they are also a useful indicator for medical examiners when determining the cause of death. lichtenberg figures appearing on people are sometimes called lightning flowers, and they are thought to be caused by the rupture of small capillaries under the skin due to the passage of the lightning current or the shock wave from the lightning discharge as it flashes over the skin.

posting by ole thomas- oslo/antebellum corespondent

ANTEBELLUM WINDOW

check out the newest window @ ANTEBELLUM featuring oil painting by RENFIELD based on a photo entitled-
LEFT-HANDED by ME- RICK CASTRO

RENFIELD- "Left-Handed, after Rick Castro", 24x48- oil on canvas, 2011.

MR. WARD CREATES DEBATE

WARD OF THE STATE: TONY WARD ARTIST MUSE
has created quiet a buzz...
here's a little back & forth on the huffington post-

'Ward Of The State: Tony Ward, Artists' Muse' At Rivera & Rivera Gallery In West Hollywood

'Ward of the State: Tony Ward, Artists' Muse' is a group exhibition of Greg Gorman, Steven Klein, Patrick Hoelck, Patrick Martinez, Herb Ritts, Estevan Oriol, RETNA, Tony Ward, Paul Rusconi, Bruce Weber, Robert Standish, Michael Gregg Michaud, Jules Muck, Rick Castro, Christoph Schmidberger, Ray Turner, Maya Mercer and Tony Ward. These works all capture their shared muse, Tony Ward. For the artists, Ward, a supermodel, embodies their ideals of masculinity, beauty, brutality, fashion, and sexual ambiguity. He becomes a blank canvas to rework and reinterpret his personal for their artistic agenda.

See it at Rivera & Rivera, 454 North Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood,CA until June 28th.

reader comments-

artprof-
@artbot, I checked out this show and bought a catalogue. Roughly 30% of the work in the show included other mediums besides photograph y. Paintings, video, collage etc. The hyper realistic paintings created in oils by Christoph Schmidberg er and Robert Standish are easy to mistake for photograph y. The paintings by Jules Muck and Patrick Martinez are subversive and very much addressing your comments as did the painting titled Buy, Sell, Loan by Robert Standish ). There was even a
TONY WARD TOILET and TONY WARD TEA SET. I also believe that the things you are unsettled by for better or worse are no less valid subject matter for creating art than whatever you deem " real art". One wonderful thing that has occurred here from the show is your comments further create the dialogue that the show on many levels is addressing . Be sure to check out the photos from the show by Maya Mercer dealing with alcoholism and gender identity or Tony Ward's self portrait which boldly and courageous ly rips in half the beautiful and sexy commercial and fashion image that Mr. Ward has become so marketed as.

artbot-
please huffpost.. .. real art. not something attached to fame, marketing, glamor, movie stars, rap, narcissist ic, vanity, attention starved, histrionic , pop-ish, street.... really!
this is fashion photograph y. grrr.... just art. good pure art.

robjh1-
Just an example of what drugs and alcohol abuse will do to a perfect body of work.

americancolonyinhell-
Isn't that the guy from the Belinda Carlisle video back in the Paleozoic era?

Hardyman1966
The big one was the "Justify My Love" black and white Madonna video that caused such a fuss

crayola 08b-
at 48 he's still one hot dude.

NY NOW HAS MARRIAGE EQUALITY, SO POLICE RAID A LEATHER BAR

An unannounced inspection that several agencies carried out at a gay bar in Manhattan on Friday night occurred at nearly the same time that patrons were celebrating the passage of legislation in Albany legalizing same-sex marriage.

Police officials said on Saturday that the inspection was part of a routine operation planned long ago. But Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said that he was troubled by descriptions of what took place at the
EAGLE BAR, on West 28th Street off 11th Avenue,
and that the actions amounted to a raid.

The inspection occurred late at night, Mr. Stringer said, and while it was “true that there are these multiagency inspections,
I think this one was ill-conceived and ill-timed given the circumstances surrounding the marriage equality celebration,
on Pride week.”

According to those present, about 100 people were mingling at the Eagle, when representatives from the New York Police Department and three other city agencies, as well as from the State Liquor Authority, showed up, at nearly the same time as a vote by the State Senate to legalize same-sex marriage and as the thrill of victory was swirling through the place.


“I was on the roof deck, smoking a cigar and having drinks with friends, and all of a sudden, the police showed up and started shining flashlights in everyone’s face and offending everyone,” said Thomas J. Shevlin, a financial markets researcher and the treasurer of the Stonewall Democratic Club.

“Basically, it is offensive,” Mr. Shevlin, 40, said. “It is real serious harassment that they come out on pride weekend.”
READ MORE-

PIN UP- WOW!

LANCE LOUD

TODAY IS LANCE LOUD'S BDAY
LANCE LOUD- was the first reality TV star — the eldest son in a family made famous by the groundbreaking 1973 PBS documentary An American Family.

(June 26, 1951 – December 22, 2001) was an American magazine columnist and new wave rock-n-roll performer. Loud is best known for his 1973 appearance in An American Family, a pioneer reality television series which featured his coming out, which led to his status as an icon in the gay community.

Loud was born in La Jolla, California, while his father was in the United States Navy.
He spent his early childhood with his parents and four siblings in Eugene, Oregon, and his later childhood and adolescence in Santa Barbara, California. as teenager, Loud discovered Andy Warhol, The Factory, and The Velvet Underground. He later became penpals with Warhol.
(it is said that Warhol responded to lance's letter with-" send me a naked photo of yourself." lance obliged.- RC)

As a teenager, Lance commandeered the family car and drove some friends to Haight-Ashbury to investigate the San Francisco neighborhood's renowned cultural scene. He hitchhiked to Altamont Raceway Park to attend The Rolling Stones concert, which later became the subject of the documentary Gimme Shelter.



Loud's fame came with An American Family, a documentary of his family's life, which was broadcast in the U.S. on PBS in 1973,
(THS WAS THE FIRST REALITY SHOW), drawing 10 million viewers and causing considerable controversy. The show was based in Santa Barbara, California. He moved to New York City, driven by his obsession with the Velvet Underground and everything related to Warhol. He became a regular at Max's Kansas City and attended Charles Ludlam productions at La Mama,
with luminaries such as Jackie Curtis
(who later became a close Loud family friend) and Holly Woodlawn. Shortly after the series ended,
Lance appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, performing with a working version of what would later become the band "Mumps" (which at that point included Delilah Michelle and Kevin in the line-up), under the name "Loud". He stated at the time that he thought the filmmakers had intentionally edited the series to make him seem obnoxious and grating.


Loud became a gay icon by having his homosexuality revealed to a national audience in the documentary series, although he never explicitly came out on the series. His sexual orientation became a topic of national controversy and media scrutiny after several appearances on Dick Cavett and other talk shows, but the overwhelmingly positive and grateful feedback of thousands of gay men led Lance to embrace this role with passion and flamboyant, often self-deprecating wit.

Loud regrouped his band, called Mumps, along with Santa Barbara High School friend Kristian Hoffman
(also featured in An American Family), Rob Duprey (later of the Iggy Pop Band), high school alumnus Jay Dee Daugherty
(later of the Patti Smith Group and The Church), and Aaron Kiley. Daugherty and Kiley were soon replaced in what would become Mumps classic long term line up: Lance Loud, Kristian Hoffman, Rob Duprey, Kevin Kiely, and Paul Rutner.

The Mumps were one of the most popular bands on the Max's/CBGBs circuit, as well as clubs all over America, for almost five years. Despite this popularity and two critically acclaimed, top-selling independent 45s, they failed to secure a contract with a major record label.

When Loud retired from music, he became a noted columnist for several magazines, including The Advocate, Details, Interview, and Creem.

Through journalism and sheer force of personality, Loud remained active in many cultural scenes throughout most of his adult life, giving occasional lectures on the impact of An American Family on American society at colleges around the country. He was present at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh when his teenage letters to Andy were officially entered into the Andy Warhol archive.

Lance Loud! A Death in An American Family, was a poignant depiction of Lance's physical decline, due to a combination of an addiction to crystal meth, which had lasted for over 20 years, and complications from HIV. It was shown on PBS in January 2003.


In 2001, Loud entered the Carl Bean hospice in Los Angeles, California, suffering from HIV and hepatitis C. Realizing he was dying, Loud called the Raymonds back to film again, expressing dissatisfaction with the way An American Family ended and how the family members were portrayed in it. His wish was that the Louds be portrayed as the loving family Lance knew them to be. While in the hospice, he wrote his final article, "Musings on Mortality".

On December 22, 2001, Lance Loud died of liver failure as a result of hepatitis C and a co-infection with HIV. He was 50 years old.

Subsequent to the showing of A Death in An American Family, Pat and Bill Loud moved back in together, granting Lance's dying wish. They live very close to their surviving children, Grant, Michelle, and Delilah, and keep in close contact with an out-of-state Kevin and his family.

“. . . F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that in America there are no second acts....I must say that I came up with this all on my own. There are plenty of reasons to be happy and proud of us Louds instead of being sad of my demise. Things have changed. And for the nay sayers that claimed American Family revealed us to be vacant, unloving, uncaring morons of the materialistic 60’s, this image will be proven wrong when Mom and Dad get re-married around the time of Grant’s wedding....Make no mistake...This is not to emphasize the sadness of my demise but rather emphasize the love of my family and friends. I also stand as a role model as to what not to do in one’s life.” Lance Loud - October 2001



At midnight, just as I was returning home from the Sparks concert, it became Lance Loud's birthday. What concert would be more apt to return home from? Happy birthday, dear lost loved one.-
Kristian Hoffman- band member & loving friend.

i had the pleasure of meeting lance many times throughout the years. he was sweet, smart, endearing and very sexy..

RIP MY DEAR BROTHER~ RICK CASTRO