My friend, Chris

We're so proud of her...

Secret Lives of Women: Mistresses - Christine Video - WEtv.com

(No, we were never that close... ...though she did flash her breasts at me once or twice, when we were about 14 or so...)

"And then there’s Christine: She’s not your typical mistress. Christine is a girlfriend, a mother, a businesswoman, an author, and…a Dominatrix. To her clients she’s known as Mistress Cristian, a domme whose sole purpose is to be worshipped. For 12 years married men have been lining up for the chance to live out their secret fantasies with Mistress Cristian. Some want to be beaten, some want to be humiliated, all want a release when they come to her. Christine says they’re not cheating and what she provides is a service. And it’s no mystery why most of her clients are married, not many wives would do what she does."

Anyway, that promo & blurb is for tonight's "Secret Lives of Women: Mistresses - WEtv.com episode.

Here are the showtimes:

Tuesday, July 15 at 10pm | 9c
Wednesday, July 16 at 1am | 12c
Tuesday, July 22 at 11pm | 10c
Wednesday, July 23=2 0at 2am | 1c

A little behind the scenes action:



She also wrote a book: Amazon.com: The Domestic Domina ..My Life As A Suburban Mother and Celebrity Dominatrix: Mistress CRISTIAN: Books

More info:
YouTube - newyorkdominatrix's Channel

MySpace.com - Mistress Cristian - Tri-state NY, NY

THE DOMESTIC DOMINATRIX;..MEMOIRS OF A SUBURBAN MOM, AND CELEBRITY NYC DOMINATRIX ( AS SEEN ON MONTEL WILLIAMS, INSIDE EDITION, WE TV)

She's one of the only celebs I know, (and the only one whose tits I've seen in person...) so forgive me for a little excessive promotion...

Rene Marie & the (Black) National Anthem

Updated, 7/12/08



My initial reaction--which hasn't changed, much--was that this singer was wrong for doing what she did, but that the song, and the idea behind it, is beautiful. She was hired to sing a particular song and, while I agree with artistic expression, and really dig the version she offered, this wasn't the proper venue for it.

Given Rene Marie's penchant for blending such songs in past (see/hear below), the city probably should've taken the extra step to be sure she wasn't going to do so in this situation. It's not as though this information wasn't available...

Still, while I agree that she shouldn't've done it the way she did, I'm glad I heard her sing this (& hope I can find an mp3 of it to add to the iPod), and I will be buying some of her music.

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UPDATE: 7/12/08: I found a place to hear/download not only this piece, but the whole three part composition--"Voice of My Beautiful Country" that the "Star-Spangled Banner/Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" piece is a part of... Go here to hear it, and (while it lasts, anyway) to Rene Marie's site to download it.
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'Black National Anthem' brings City Council president hate mail :
Local News : The Rocky Mountain News:

Hickenlooper said in an interview that he spoke to Marie after the ceremony and that she apologized profusely.

The mayor also said that Marie told him she meant no disrespect.

"She blended the two songs together," Hickenlooper said. "She was trying to make an artistic expression of her love for the country. She did not intend to make a political statement or anything."

Marie sang the first verse of James Weldon Johnson's "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," also known as the "Black National Anthem," but adapted those lyrics to the tune of the "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Marie said she had no regrets. She deliberately didn't tell anybody about her song choice "because I don't think it is necessary for an artist to ask permission to express themselves artistically," she said.

"I would not change a thing," Marie said.

"You have to risk things. You have to. Otherwise, you might of well live your life by a script."

Rene Marie breaks out :
Music : The Rocky Mountain News:

Marie calls herself a "GRITS" ("a Girl Raised in the South") but no one below the Mason-Dixon Line, or anywhere else, knows what to think the first time he hears the most daring medley in her repertoire.

When she first sang it in Mississippi, every jaw in the place dropped. When she called the tune, using its short name, in early rehearsal at the recording studio, drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts, who came up with New Orleans-born trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, dropped his sticks and said, "I'm not playing that."

Not playing what?

Marie, who relishes the drama of the unexpected, had thought to pair the traditional white anthem Dixie with the heartbreaking meditation on lynching Strange Fruit. She brought off the collision of opposites as an ironic comment on the way the world still works.

In Mississippi, black and white audience members approached her afterward with tears in their eyes and tragic stories to tell. The same thing happened everywhere else, too. Born in controversy, Dixie/Strange Fruit became the emotional centerpiece of Marie's much- praised CD Vertigo.

Anyone shopping for symbols can find one right there, illustrating the purposes of Marie's unblinking, semiautobiographical work.

"I want to make you laugh and cry," she says. "I want you to squirm uncomfortably in your chair, think of a loved one, get angry, hang your head in shame and raise your hand in protest. . . . I want you to take that leap, make that change, turn that corner."

Hear: "Dixie/Strange Fruit" here

More info:

Another perspective on the controversy: Rene Marie’s patriotic lesson - Colorado Independent

rene marie ~ Q & A

The history behind the 'Black National Anthem' - Cleveland Lifestyles – Living, Food, Health & Fitness News from The Plain Dealer

Golden Rule of "Steves" (or Johns, or Richards)

I'm with Doctor Awesome... Keeping it in your pants except when absolutely necessary is the way to go...

But there aren't any clear guidelines for proper etiquette posted anywhere. Nobody has told these old men that they aren't in WWII fighting on the German front anymore, so they can put some clothes on. So I'm developing what I'll refer to as the Golden Rule of Steves. We all know the golden rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Modifying this for locker rooms, I'd say we should do unto other Steves as you would have done unto your Steve. If you don't want to be constantly subjected to random Steves as you are getting dressed, then don't subject other people to your Steve while they are getting dressed. Very practical, and very considerate.

Let's look at the very important First Corollary of the Golden Rule of Steves, the No Contact Rule. It goes without saying that there should be no physical contact of any kind. But there also should be no eye contact either. Pretend that Steves are like the sun, and that looking directly at them will blind your retinas for life. This is out of respect...you wouldn't want another man staring at you like next weeks' winning lottery numbers are written there, would you? Another aspect of the no contact rule is verbal. If you are naked, or even partially exposed, there should be no words exchanged until you are covered again. That rules out conversation at the urinal, for instance. There are some good reasons to be naked, but talking at length about the game last night is not one of them. Put your drawers on!

Read the whole piece here: To Every Man A Manswer: Golden Rule of Steves