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    Never In

    Is coming out over? Let's hope Jim Parsons' nonchalant gay "disclosure" is thenew normal

    Sarah Rufca
    May 24, 2012 | 3:12 pm

    Buried deep in The New York Times' exhaustive overview of Houston native Jim Parsons' career on stage and his acting craft is one seemingly benign sentence:

    "'The Normal Heart' resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said."

    The Internet hive mind has dubbed this Parsons' "coming out," but that unfairly implies that he has been living in the closet. He hasn't. His relationship has been open knowledge to anyone who cared enough to Google it, and there are plenty of paparazzi photos of Parsons and partner Todd Spiewak, not to mention shots of them together at award shows. This is just the first major publication written acknowledgement of Parson's sexual orientation, and it doesn't even merit the entire sentence.

    The days of announcing "Yep, I'm Gay" on the cover of Time magazine are over, and that's actually quite refreshing.

    The days of announcing "Yep, I'm Gay" on the cover of Time magazine are over, and that's actually quite refreshing.

    In the past year fellow Houstonian Matt Bomer acknowledged his relationship with Simon Halls (with whom he has three children) via an award acceptance speech and Zachary Quinto nonchalantly dropped "the bomb" in New York mag when talking about his role in Angels in America. This month Queen Latifah said she was happy to be "among [her] people" while performing at the Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival (though some argue that it wasn't a true coming out — I guess she could have just been referring to everybody in the LBC).

    What each "outing" has in common is that the actors brought up their status in a way that was relevant to the moment or conversation, not in a way that implied that their sexual orientation is newsworthy.

    There are celebrities who like to make their relationships front page news — they are called Kardashians, and we hate them for it, remember? Demanding that gay celebrities talk about their sexual orientation while leaving straight celebrities their privacy is a weird double standard, and furthers the assumption that everyone is straight unless they constantly and publicly declare themselves otherwise. Anderson Cooper doesn't talk about his sexuality, but neither does Soledad O'Brien.

    We live in a time where some celebrities will use extreme measures to hide being gay while others make that status a major part of their public identity and persona. For Parsons, Bomer, etc., maybe the more authentic path is somewhere in the middle.

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    Metallica concert review

    Heavy metal legends Metallica roll into Houston with thunderous riffs

    Craig Hlavaty
    Jun 15, 2025 | 12:59 am
    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
    Photo by Brittaney Penney
    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

    Heavy metal is a baton that has been passed on for generations now. Now, more than ever, metal has turned into family entertainment. On Saturday night at NRG Stadium, the Metallica family reunion left ears ringing and hearts full, with a few scorch marks from hellacious pyro.

    Metallica — 44 years into this — is a frenetic, multigenerational machine. Four gray hairs from San Francisco that can still pack out a football stadium. The current lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo is the longest-running one in the band’s history.

    Hetfield’s frenzied screech from 1981 is now a smoky, barrel-chested growl. Hammett’s metallic, exploratory guitar lines are a part of the metal vocabulary, and Trujillo — still the new guy — has been the sturdy thunder below it all. Urlich’s reliable drumming is its stadium-honed heart.

    Openers Suicidal Tendencies and Pantera provided direct support, with ST serving as a bracing thrash appetizer. Keeping it all in the family, Trujillo’s 21-year-old son Tye is now playing bass for ST, just as Robert did in the ‘90s. The band’s set whizzed by before most fans were able to enter the building, but those who arrived early witnessed a masterclass in ‘80s hardcore thrash.

    Texas sludge legends Pantera have been celebrating the lives of departed brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul since the group reformed in 2022. Collapsing in acrimony in 2001, the band and its fans never got a proper sendoff, and, with the violent shooting death of Dimebag and Paul’s death due to heart disease, the current lineup only features two original members in lead singer Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown. Guitar hero Zakk Wyle, stepping into Dimebag’s shoes, is a Hall Of Fame avatar for Dimebag, perhaps the only living human that could have delivered the appropriate riffs. Anthrax’s Charlie Benante now handles drumming duties.

    It’s 2025, and I’m watching a Pantera pit on the floor of NRG Stadium from a comfortable seat in the end zone. Anselmo, seemingly ageless, stalked Metallica’s sprawling, jaggedly circular stage barefoot and howling, splitting the difference between Henry Rollins and Rob Halford. Heathen anthems “Walk” and “Cowboys from Hell” still slice with precision, just as they sounded in the adjacent Astroarena in 1995.

    Before Metallica hit the stage around 9 pm, bored fans passed the time by doing the wave in NRG Stadium, but it only made a few laps before fizzling out.

    Kicking off with “Creeping Death” from 1984’s Ride The Lightning, Metallica reveled in rumbling NRG Stadium’s foundations.

    “For Whom The Bell Tolls” sounds as apocalyptic as ever, one of the early highlights of the night. The band has embraced it’s Load and Reload era recently, with the latter’s “The Memory Remains” and “Fuel” making setlist appearances. The crowd deftly filled in for the late Marianne Faithfull during the former. There’s still a lot of love for ‘90s eyeliner Metallica.

    Metallica’s 2023 album 72 Seasons saw the quartet reconvening for a loose and unrelenting collection of songs. “Lux Æterna” and “If Darkness Had a Son” have a slithery swing to them, borne from those famous Metallica jam sessions that sometimes appear on YouTube.

    1991’s “Nothing Else Matters” is still a romantic ballad for metalheads, a Gen X wedding staple.

    Few hard rock bands can still pack a football stadium in 2025, which makes Metallica among the last of a dying breed. All in their early ‘60s, they’re not unlike a performance hot rod team with 30 or so souped-up machines in the garage that only they know how to drive. They just have to take a few more breaks than they used to in between laps. Those four guys together still make magic via extremely loud noises.

    Closing out with “Master of Puppets and “Enter Sandman,” Metallica pushed Houstonians out into a humid Saturday night, covered in each other’s sweat, looking forward to the next Metallica family reunion.

    Setlist

    Creeping Death
    For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Ride the Lightning
    The Memory Remains
    Lux Æterna
    If Darkness Had a Son
    Kirk and Rob Doodle ("Hit the Lights" and ZZ Top's "La Grange")
    The Day That Never Comes
    Fuel
    Orion
    Nothing Else Matters
    Sad but True
    One
    Seek & Destroy
    Master of Puppets
    Enter Sandman

    Metallica concert Houston NRG Stadium 2025
      

    Photo by Brittaney Penney

    Metallica played a career-spanning set on June 14, 2025.

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