Ma Vie En Rose

Pink Carpet goes back and forth between time
periods; each trip back to the très gay 1970s is
punctuated by classic disco music cues, from "Young
Hearts Run Free" to "Last Dance." Jordan does not shy
away from his history of rampant drug use and a love
affair with alcohol. These debauched stories are shared with
wicked glee -- and not without perspective. In 1997, he
stopped drinking and taking drugs and has been sober
ever since. Upon walking into the testosterone heavy
Men’s Recovery Group he had been advised to
join, he says his first thought was, I should have
left my murse in the car. Eventually he learned to
face his fear of heterosexual men and in fact draws
strength from that challenging experience. Having won
the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a
Comedy Series, Jordan has achieved a level of success to be
envied by many in the performing arts, straight or
gay. As he said to an audience member who was talking
during the show, "Shut your hole, honey --
mine’s making money."

After
Jordan’s encore, he was bestowed with the GayFest
Community Service Award, (the first such honor), and
it was presented onstage by acclaimed playwright
Terrence McNally (Love! Valour! Compassion!).
McNally praised the performer’s "generosity,
humanity, and honesty," to which Jordan jokingly replied,
"It’s the least they could do. I worked
for free tonight." A fine comic actor, a political
activist (Jordan is involved with the Trevor Project,
a suicide hotline GLBT youth) and one hell of an out and
proud gay man, Jordan is to be admired for his many
talents and depth of character. Indeed, big things do
come in small packages.

Leslie Jordan’s book My Trip Down the Pink
Carpet is being released by Simon & Schuster on
June 3rd, 2008.