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Robert Urban Reviews & Interviews
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TV's
Gay-themed
Under
the Pink Carpet
and
its one-of-a-kind star news correspondent
Clover
Honey
|
Perhaps more than any
other U.S. cosmopolitan center, New York City presides over the world of arts
and entertainment. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered New Yorkers
who are important players in all aspects of culture, Under The Pink
Carpet
is
there to document the creativity.
Under the
Pink Carpet is the gay-themed TV news-magazine with its own
irreverent brand of sass, wit and humor.
The show is taped in NYC and presented to PBS stations across the USA
by WYBE-PBS-TV Philadelphia and distributed to cable stations by FSTV (Free
Speech TV). In Canada, Under the Pink Carpet is seen on PrideVision
cable network.
The program is
produced and directed by its founder, New Jersey gay media entrepreneur Tony
Sawicki, who also serves as its primary correspondent.
Under the Pink
Carpet proudly declares its queer cultural mission from its website -
"From television to music, from film to comedy, from cabaret to chorus,
from big budget Broadway spectacles to no-budget underground productions, gay
people and gay themes are prominent in venues that range from tiny performance
spaces to the grandest of show palaces - We take you to all of these places,
and introduce both the famous and the infamous movers and shakers who make,
and are made by, New York".
Celebrities who have
appeared on Under the Pink Carpet read like a who's who of
perennial gay favorites and include: Donna Summer, Cyndi Lauper, Rosie
O'Donnell, Boy George, Joan Collins, Eric McCormick (Will & Grace), Whoopi
Goldberg, Harvey Firestein, Jerry Herman, Liz Smith, Kelly Ripa, Rue
McClanahan (Golden Girls), Valerie Harper (Rhoda), Judy Gold, Jai Rodriguez,
Carson Kressley, Jennifer Tilley, Eden Riegel (All My Children), Michael Musto,
Sonia Braga, Mario Cantone, Deborah Voight (Metropolitan Opera Co.), Judy
Tenuna, and Steve Weber.
But Under the Pink
Carpet is more than just superficial entertainment news.
The show often probes beyond the fabulous facade of queer lifestyle by
critically examining many aspects of gay subculture. During
June 2005 pride month it did just that - offering a special hour long news
report subtitled Bright Lights/Out City that explored NYC as a center
for LGBT artistic inspiration and aired on PBS stations nationwide.
With its exceptional
"inside" coverage of au courant NYC concerts, film/theater
premieres, nightclub events, book signings, live music performances, plays,
parties, etc.; plus it's in-depth reportage of the "real persons"
behind the media personalities, UTPC is even gaining a wider, more
mainstream audience, becoming as popular with hip "straight"
audiences as it is with LGBT people.
Under the Pink
Carpet features a most unique news/entertainment correspondent - celebrity
drag personality Clover Honey (the 1st and only transgendered reporter
on national TV!)
Clover Honey is the
well-known en femme persona of New York City entertainer Mr. Clover
Welsh, who has enjoyed a successful career expressing himself as, and
performing as, a "Lady".
It was Clover's
visibility as drag/transgender entertainer, socialite, activist, comedian and
television personality that brought her to the attention of the Under the
Pink Carpet television producers. In
2002, she was invited to join the show's cast and be their "Man on the
Street".
"We
just kept running into her," says Tony Sawicki.
"I knew she was a girl who got around.
But more than that, she had poise, intelligence, character and a
genuinely likable personality - It turns out she was designer tailor-made for
the job."
Signing on a drag
news correspondent turned out to be a daring and history-making move.
The LGBT Historic Archives in Washington DC notes that Lady
Clover Honey is the first openly Transgendered correspondent to regularly star
on a national TV show and only the second Drag Queen (after RuPaul and her
show.) (Television history buffs can note - RuPaul was the first Drag Queen to
host a show in 1996. In 1948,
Milton Berle was the first man to impersonate a woman on TV).
Some think a drag
news reporter could be a liability; reasoning that people might not take a
cross-dressing interviewer seriously. Think again. "People remember
me," says Clover. "I
was recently surprised when Rosie O'Donnell recalled me from among all the
people she meets." No doubt,
Lady Clover Honey would surely stand out in a crowd of journalists on the red
carpet. "Celebrities come
over to me and bypass other reporters. I've never had a problem getting
anyone's attention," she says.
An interesting topic
in itself, Clover's groundbreaking work in journalism certainly challenges the
stereotypical notion of drag queens in entertainment as being little more than
award presenters or event hostesses. As the San Francisco Examiner recently
noted of her, "Having a drag queen reporter could itself be seen as a
political statement of sorts considering drag queens, whose flamboyance was
once not only embraced but celebrated by the gay community at large, have
recently been made to feel like outsiders by their gay brothers."
In addition to her
collaboration with UTPC, Lady Clover Honey also hosts her own local
television program on Manhattan Cable called Gender Talk TV - a news,
talk and interview show where she chats with local transgender individuals,
drag performers and trans political activists. Her other television work
includes appearances on Sex in the City and Straight Plan for the
Gay Man.
Beyond television,
news and entertainment, Clover is active in the world of politics.
She co-chaired the planning committee that organized the first
fundraiser for the New York Association of Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) and
assisted NYAGRA board and staff members during the successful campaign to pass
Int. No. 24, the Transgender anti-discrimination law enacted in 2002.
Clover also participated in lobbying the NY State legislature in Albany
on the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) and has done volunteer
work for the Empire State Pride Agenda, HRC and other LGBT political
organization. She is also a
well-known presence at NY Democratic committee functions, holding seats on the
Board of Governors of several prestigious Democratic Committees.
I recently caught up
with national broadcast journalist Clover Honey as she covered the 2005 Fresh
Fruit Festival's opening night gala, held at The Museum of Sex on July 11th
in New York City.
|
Robert
Urban – In addition to your work as an interviewer, I have also seen
you operating Under the Pink CarpetŐs video camera at several
different events. How do
you like being a "camerawoman"?
Honey
Clover - I'm kind of new at behind the camera. I just purchased my
own video cam and I love the control aspect of deciding what gets
taped (in other words – what gets seen).
Not that many people are good both in front of and behind the
camera. I've always been
kind of "ambidextrous" at it.
|
Honey Clover & Didi |
RU - Has the
recent blossoming of new gay cable television stations and shows, such as
MTV's HERE channel, etc., had an affect on independent ventures like Under
the Pink Carpet?
CH – For
years, our show has been seen on PrideVision (Canada's gay cable
network), and is a favorite queer show up north.
Gay TV networks are still relatively new in the U.S., so we'll have to
wait for the impact. Under the
Pink Carpet has spoken with the U.S. gay cable networks and nothing fell
through as of yet.
RU - Has the
current right-wing/conservative political and religious atmosphere in the U.S.
had an affect on Under the Pink Carpet gaining continued access to PBS
and/or cable television stations?
CH - Indeed it
has. Even though Under the
Pink Carpet was picked up for circulation by a top PBS distributor, (NETA),
it was not picked up by many areas. Many
foundations that fund PBS are conservative, making many PBS stations air
programming that is non-offensive and staid.
The producers of Under the Pink Carpet insist on realistically
portraying the LGBT community and will not offer a sanitized version.
We received favorable mentions in Current magazine, a PBS trade
journal, and on the PBS TV magazine program News Hour with Jim Leher.
However, many PBS stations are reluctant to air a series that is unique
and honest. For example, we let viewers know that some males dress and express
themselves like women.
RU - Can you also
tell us more about CLOVER HONEY'S own cable television show – Gender Talk
TV?
CH - It's on
Manhattan's community access television. I always did love to educate the
public about Transgendered people and those who express their gender in
alternative ways. ItŐs not
slickly and professionally edited, but it is community television and those
who are interested in the topic enjoy watching it.
One episode was 28 minuets of myself and Pauline Park of NYAGRA (New
York Association of Gender Rights Advocacy) talking about non-discrimination
laws. I thought it would be
boring to viewers, but so many people wrote in to say they loved it.
For more info visit:
or
or
scroll down to Clover
Honey
The material above may only be copied and or used with the direct permission
of the author, Robert Urban.
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