Robert Caviano (1950 - September 22, 1992)

Robert C. Caviano, a founder of Lifebeat, the music industry's organization to fight AIDS, died on September 22, 1992, at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in Manhattan. He was 42 years old and lived in Manhattan.

Mr. Caviano died of AIDS complications, said Frances Pennington, a spokeswoman for Lifebeat.

Mr. Caviano was involved with AIDS relief efforts since the early 1980's and helped to raise more than $1 million for community-based AIDS organizations including Gay Men's Health Crisis and Bailey House.

Lifebeat directly assists entertainment-industry figures afflicted with AIDS, in part by staging musical benefits around the country to raise money for local organizations. The first such concert was held in June at the Roseland ballroom in Manhattan.

In the 1970's and early 1980's Mr. Caviano, a native of Manhattan, managed pop music stars including Grace Jones, the Village People, and K. C. & the Sunshine Band. Later he was a talent agent for a number of agencies, including Famous Artists.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/25/obituaries/robert-caviano-42-founded-aids-group.html

( Further Readings )

GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Karenna Colcroft - Lost Soul

I asked to all the authors joining the GayRomLit convention in Albuquerque in October (http://gayromlit.com/authors.php) a personal favor, a special Ebook Giveaway: every day I will post 1 book from each author, and among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. Very easy and very fast ;-) I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments! (comments close on September 24)

and the ebook giveaway goes to: whitestar_alpha, please contact me.

Today author is Karenna Colcroft (http://www.karennacolcroft.com/)

Lost Soul by Karenna Colcroft
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (April 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608206394
ISBN-13: 978-1608206391
Amazon: Lost Soul
Amazon Kindle: Lost Soul

Motivational speaker Joel Turcotte has a secret: He uses magic to "motivate" the people who attend his workshops. And that magic is fueled by pieces of human souls, which he takes from his partners during sex. Car salesman Lanny Hollister has had a crush on Joel since the first time he saw the speaker's photo on a book cover. Lanny has the strongest soul Joel has ever encountered, and Joel knows he must protect Lanny from the other sorcerer who has discovered him. Because of the death of a lover when he was younger, Joel is very careful to take only a tiny amount from the souls of his partners. Other sorcerers are not as cautious, and taking too much from a human can cause coma or death. The other sorcerer wants as much of Lanny's soul as he can get, and he has a plan for the strength he'll gain from it.

Coming Soon: The Men Next Door (2012) directed by Rob Williams

DVD Available: Dec. 11, 2012
Year Produced: 2012
Directed By: Rob Williams
Starring: Mark Cirillo, Benjamin Lutz, Ronnie Kroell, Eric Dean, Michael Nicklin
Language: English
Run Time: 90 min.
Rating: Not Rated
Amazon: The Men Next Door

Falling in love with the boy next door? That’s a dream come true. Falling in love with his father, too? That’s just awkward.

Writer/director Rob Williams (Make The Yuletide Gay, Role/Play) returns with a new romantic comedy about finding love a little too close to home. As he reluctantly celebrates his 40th birthday, Doug (Eric Dean, star of Arizona Sky and Nine Lives) finds himself falling for two very different but equally lovable men – Jacob, a secure 50-year-old (Michael Nicklin) who came out later in life, and Colton, an adventurous 30-year-old (Benjamin Lutz, star of The Love Patient and Bite Marks) who literally is the boy next door. What Doug doesn’t know right away is that the two men are, in fact, father and son! How long can Doug juggle both relationships before everyone finds out the truth?

Awards & Quotes
Winner — Audience Award for Best Men’s Feature at the North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival!
Winner — Festival Favorite Award at Philadelphia QFest!

Coming Soon: The Falls (2012) directed by Jon Garcia

DVD Available: Dec. 04, 2012
Year Produced: 2012
Directed By: Jon Garcia
Starring: Audrey Walker, Quinn Allan, Harold Phillips, Brian Allard, Benjamin Farmer, Nick Ferrucci
Language: English
Run Time: 89 min.
Rating: Not Rated
Amazon: The Falls

RJ and Chris are two teenage boys raised in Mormon communities. Though both are poster boys for their church with perfect academic records and pretty girlfriends, buried feelings soon rise to the surface when they are assigned to serve a mission together as part of their rite of passage. Now, they will have to make sense of the conflict between their desires and the rules that govern the only world they know.

Coming Soon: Speechless (2012) directed by Simon Chung

DVD Available: Nov. 27, 2012
Year Produced: 2012
Directed By: Simon Chung
Starring: Jian Jiang, Qilun Gao, Pierre-Matthieu Vital
Language: Mandarin
Run Time: 96 min.
Rating: Not Rated
Amazon: Speechless

In a small town in southern China, a man of Western appearance is found naked on a riverbank. At the local hospital, Jiang, a handsome nurse’s aide, takes an interest in the foreigner and the two develop a wordless bond. When Jiang learns the foreigner is to be sent to a mental institution, he risks everything by whisking him away to his uncle’s country home where he uncovers secrets from the stranger’s past.

Coming Soon: Funkytown (2011) directed by Daniel Roby

DVD Now Shipping!
Year Produced: 2011
Directed By: Daniel Roby
Starring: Paul Doucet, Justin Chatwin, Patrick Huard, Sarah Mutch
Language: French & English
Run Time: 132 min.
Rating: R
Amazon: Funkytown

This energetic Boogie Nights-style ensemble drama from openly gay screenwriter Steve Gallucio (Mambo Italiano) follows the glamorous denizens of Montreal’s Starlight disco — from superstar deejay Bastien and his drug-fueled rise and fall to the mismatched gay romance of out fashion maven Jonathan and his closet-case boyfriend Tino (Justin Chatwin, Shameless). Funkytown is a glossy, big-budget movie featuring a spectacular, greatest disco hits soundtrack.

Bastien Lavallee (hunky Patrick Huard) is the superstar deejay and host of Montreal’s hot TV show, Disco Dance Party. Adriana (gorgeous real-life model Sarah Mutch) is the super knockout model who falls into a hot drugged out affair with Bastien (despite his nagging wife). TV celeb Paul Doucet stars as Jonathan, the gay fashion maven who falls for the closeted Tino (hottie Justin Chatwin, Shameless) despite Tino’s double life and thuggish gay basher friends.

Featuring a spectacular soundtrack of the greatest hits of the era, Funkytown is a glossy, big-budget and loving recreation of the glitz, sex and debauchery that was Disco. This wonderfully authentic drama (drawn from true stories of the time) features such hot classic disco hits as: Disco Inferno, Don’t Leave Me This Way, Knock on Wood, Doctor’s Orders, Hot Stuff, I Feel Love, and of course Funkytown.

The Best Revenge by Andrew Grey

I tried to understand the meaning of the title, The Best Revenge, and I think it means the best revenge is to be happy even if life is not turning smiles to you.

Tyler’s love for Mark is easy and immediate: as soon as they met they understand there is something special between them, and when Mark is suddenly homeless, even if they only had one date and barely a kiss, Tyler asks Mark to move with him.

The relationship between them never falters and to be true, they find more allies than enemies, but those few enemies are the ones who hurt them more. Both share the sad experience of being rejected by their own mothers (and in Tyler’s case, also father) without neither a chance to explain themselves. For Tyler it was easier, since he had the help of a wealthy grandmother, who provided for him and allowed the guy to follow his dreams. Maybe for that reason, Tyler feels like he needs to help Mark, and for sure there is the small details he is in love with the guy.

I liked the fact that Mark doesn’t put out a stubborn pride, and he is able to accept Tyler’s help for what it’s, a love act. That of Mark and Tyler is not a “common” life, they are on the middle-up side of social status, they have money, even if they are not outrageously rich, and in a way, money seems to call other money. A series of lucky circumstances are following these two men, and there is really nothing opposing their love.

The only negative constant is Mark’s brother, even if I didn’t really understand his hate, if not out of spite: apparently he is really an evil man, and everything he does, it’s from being a bully; it’s not even a question of money, it’s simply stupid hate.

The Best Revenge is set in the same place where many other books by Andrew Grey takes place, and so many of the cameos are from couples of previous novels (Tom and Bill, Sam Davis, Peter Barrett,…); as for the previous books, I had the feeling this is the reflection of the community where the same author is living, and so there is a little share of true life in what he is writing.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1460

Amazon: The Best Revenge
Amazon Kindle: The Best Revenge
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 23, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 193519268X
ISBN-13: 978-1935192688

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle