He was the first real gay person I ever saw on TV. Probably the first real gay person anyone my age saw on TV. And he loved Warhol and the Stones and all the things I was just getting into. He rocked! I remember watching Lance and his sister sitting around listening to the Kinks and thinking everyone in California was rich and glamorous. Later he moved to NY and formed the Mumps, who never get enough credit as one of the original mid-70s NY Max's/CBGB bands. I guess they were too poppy, too faggy. I dunno. He also wrote some hysterical articles for Hit Parader and Circus way back when.
Later on I became friends with him for a spell. And he was quite a character and I'll miss him.
― Arthur, Wednesday, 26 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― anthony, Wednesday, 26 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
I don't hold much hopes for a repeat any time soon. Apparently after it was first shown, PBS would only handle the show with latex gloves and a clothespin on the nose. There was the original run, a repeat, and then PBS abandoned its bastard child until the 1991-1992 airing I caught. As far as I know, aside from a completely unadvertised late- night showing a year or two later, PBS hasn't shown it since. Back in the day, it received a LOT of negative controversy and charges of exploitation, plus, as the unwitting grandfather to a shitload of godawful "reality" programming, no doubt PBS thinks of it as somehow declasse compared to another airing of the latest round of motivational speakers, over-the-hill opera singers, and gutless nature shows.
(There was a redux of An American Family a couple years ago, with a interracial couple from New York as its subject. It was longer and more ambitious than the original, yet also got fairly lukewarm promotion. I never even got a chance to see it.)
― Michael Daddino, Thursday, 27 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
We shared a close relationship with Norman Fisher, a fantastic character who collected fine art, kitsch, and celebrity friends with equal enthusiasm. Norman died of karposi's sarcoma in 1980 before AIDS was named as a syndrome. But all of us were well-acquainted with a variety of STDs, had friends mired in (or dead) from drug abuse, or simply dealing with the stigma of being gay and/or different.
Lance never really got over not becoming a rock star, and while he always wrote and his writing got better over time, he loved cameras on him and being interviewed. He had a incredibly active "love life" that he never discussed with me in detail, and after Norman's death he was determined not to fall ill as so many of his friends were doing.
Despite carrying the effects of several bouts with hepatitis, Lance, always a handsome, virile man, became the picture of health. Despite the distance between us, I was always very proud of his survival and the quality of life he maintained.
Lance was the funniest, best-looking, sweetest and most talented friend I ever had: I miss him terribly and I know that his wonderful family will cherish his legacy of entertainment and honesty.
― Ron Ross, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)
Ned-the Mumps compilation is called Fatal Charm. It's on Eggbert and it's still in print. And it is quite charming. My old roommate Kristian, the one you'll someday meet, wrote most of the songs.
― Arthur, Friday, 28 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)