Christie Keith's blog

What do Radclyffe Hall's classic lesbian novel The Well of Loneliness and Ellen: The Biography have to do with gay porn?

You'd think the answer would be pretty much "nothing." But if that's true, why would Amazon.com strip the sales ranks of those books as well as almost all gay and lesbian books on their site — including Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle, Sarah Water's Tipping the Velvet, Jeanette Winterson's Oranges are not the Only Fruit and James Baldwin's gay classic Giovanni's Room — at the same time it's removing the sales rankings for adult novels?

This is obviously a big problem for authors, but where it really impacts readers is that those sales rankings dictate search returns on the site — in other words, books that have low or no sales rankings turn up much lower in search results, if they turn up at all.

Get our latest liveblogging reports from the Xena convention here.

I tried to get some coherent commentary out of AfterEllen.com photographer KT Jorgensen about last night's Lucy Lawless concert at LA's Roxy Theater, but she just kept saying it was incredible and amazing and she really didn't know what else to say.

Fortunately she wasn't so incapacitated that she wasn't able to use her cameras, and she even remembered how to upload photos after enough caffeine hit her system. Lucky us.

The event began with the usual crowd of every lesbian within a hundred miles waiting outside:

Blogging the 14th Annual Xena Convention -- to see all Xena Con posts, click here.

In case you're looking around your hometown and wondering where all the lesbians have gone, they're in Los Angeles at the 14th Annual Xena Convention.

Proving that geekiness is always in fashion, hundreds of fans of the groundbreaking female-centric action/adventure/fantasy series starring Lucy Lawless as a warrior with a dark past and Renee O'Connor as her soul mate and sidekick will spend the weekend loving on the show and its stars.

Unlike the last two years, I wasn't able to be in Los Angeles this weekend. My mother is ill and not even Xena matters more to me than my mom. But AfterEllen.com's KT Jorgensen, who has photographed the convention for the last two years along with me, is phoning and texting in reports, and will be uploading photos all weekend. She'll also give us full coverage of Lucy's two concerts at the Roxy Theater tonight and Saturday night.

Just a word on how this works: I'll be adding to the posts from the top down this year, so the new stuff is always on the top. If you want to read it in chronological order, start at the bottom. 

We'll have one post -- this one -- for the convention coverage and photos, and a second one for Lucy's concert. Just hit refresh from time to time to see the new information at the top.

-----------updates below---------------------

It's enough to make any lesbian heart beat a little harder: Former Xena: Warrior Princess co-stars Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor at the weekend-long lovefest that is the annual Xena convention.

Add Hudson Leick, who played Xena's blonde, leather-clad arch nemesis Callisto (below left), and Jacqueline Kim, the actor behind Xena's mentor and barely-subtextual former lover Lao Ma (below right), and it's hard to imagine it could get any better.

But it does.

I fell in love with Lucy Lawless when she was the dark-haired, leather-clad bad girl of Xena: Warrior Princess, but I love her no less in all her femme incarnations. From sassy blonde '40s movie star to glittering cowgirl to — be still my heart — Sunday night's sultry chanteuse, I love the Lawless that gave her fans what most called "her best concert ever" at San Francisco's Herbst Theater, in a benefit for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation.

Photo by KT Jorgensen

AfterEllen.com photographer KT Jorgensen was there, and said, "Boy, does she know how to play with the audience. She reaches out and grabs our attention and imagination with a smile and more. During one song, she slowly stripped both of her long gloves off. Wow. Best song of the night: 'Hallelujah.'"

Photo by KT Jorgensen

Lucy sang in front of a video backdrop, including some scenes of her days on Xena, something I've never seen before at one of her concerts. Fans also saw a few clips of her role as the Cylon D'Anna Biers on Battlestar Galactica. And another first: KT says the acoustics were great.

In need of a Renee O'Connor fix? I know I am, which is why I'll set aside my usual aversion to monster movies and tune into the SciFi Channel's Monster Ark this Saturday night at 9 p.m. And it's also why I turned up bright and early for a phone interview with Renee Wednesday morning, where she talked about the film, working with Xena co-star Lucy Lawless in the film Bitch Slap, and of course, how she feels about all of us at AfterEllen.com.

To be fair, it sounds like Monster Ark is quite a bit more than a monster movie. "I like stories with strong women characters," Renee told us. "Women who change the world." And in Monster Ark she plays Ava, an archaeologist who does just that while working on a dig to uncover Noah's first ark, and inadvertently unleashing, well, a monster.

Ava is a deeply spiritual person, and her quest for the ark is part of her own journey of faith. Her ex-husband, Nicholas (Tim DeKay), on the other hand, is a hard-headed scientist, whose agenda is very different. "We have some friction between us, some unresolved matters," Renee said, and then laughed. "And we try to resolve them while — yes — saving humanity."

This all sounds suspiciously like a dynamic we've seen before, the one between Xena and Gabrielle on Xena: Warrior Princess.

Wrap-up report on the 2008 Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

Another Xena: Warrior Princess convention is over -- this one was the 13th, and that's apparently Xena's lucky number, because from the opening day to the close, and including Lucy's two sold-out concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, it was a love-fest all around.

KT and I could pretend to you all that it was just another day at the office, but that would be a lie. We're fans. The upside of that is that we have a unique insight to share with you, but the downside is that apparently I turn to mush whenever I'm around Lucy and Renee. Fortunately, when I spoke to them backstage on Saturday, they helped me remain standing:

Before losing all power of speech, I interviewed Lucy and Renee for a forthcoming article on AfterEllen.com. I also spoke with X:WP writer and Army Wives writer/creator Katherine Fugate (who promised us an upcoming story arc featuring Renee as a lesbian).

More live-blogging of the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

It's the third and final day of the convention. I've just updated yesterday's entry about Lucy and Renee's appearance with photos, here.

I missed Steven Sears' second appearance -- but I had a good reason which I"ll get to later. Right now, it's time for Zoe Bell!

For those who don't know her, she was Lucy Lawless' stunt double, as well as Uma Thurman's in "Kill Bill." She's doubled for Sharon Stone and did some of the stuntwork in "Catwoman," and was featured in a documentary about her, "Double Dare." She'll also be acting and doing her own stunts in the upcoming season of "Lost."

More live-blogging of the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

Lucy Lawless gave her second in a weekend of sold-out concerts at LA's Roxy Theater last night. She sang the same set of rock favorites with some country flavoring thrown in, and goofed around with Xena co-star Renee O'Connor after a repeat of their duet on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Lucy jazzed things up a bit Saturday with a pair of glitter chaps. Lucy in chaps is one of the seven wonders of my personal world, so it was worth the trek to Hollywood in one of the worst rainstorms in recent Southern California memory, even without another of the wonders of the world: Renee O'Connor. Dancing in a purple suede fringed dress.

More live-blogging of the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

We're back at Day 2 of the convention with XWP producers R. J. Stewart and out lesbian Liz Friedman, both wearing WGA pins -- Liz is a strike captain.

I was backstage talking to Lucy and Renee -- reports to come, and photos -- during Ted Raimi's appearance, so no Joxer fix. Sorry. I also missed the very beginning of R. J. and Liz, although I understand he took some heat over Xena's death at the end of the series.

Jumping right in with a question asked of Liz about lesbian TV today:

"I can't stop walking the L Word, but it's awful. It's the worst written show on TV. It's not a good show. And Cashmere Mafia, they suckered us in with the pilot, but by episode three she's flirting with guys again."

More live-blogging of the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

The crowd is getting warmed up by an auction of memorabilia... although the crowd's actually maybe a little bit hot already. Thirty minutes until Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor take the stage.

More live-blogging of the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

Lucy Lawless made her fans very very happy last night at a packed concert at LA's legendary Roxy. She sang an eclectic set of rock-tinged favorites, with a smaller band and a more intimate vibe than last year's more razzle-dazzle, post-Celebrity Duets show.

And she made them -- oh, who am I kidding, she made us -- more than happy when Xena co-star Renee O'Connor came out on stage to sing a duet of Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty rocker "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Live-blogging the Xena Convention in Burbank! To see all Xena Con posts, click here.

Burbank, CA is the unofficial headquarters of the Lesbian Nation this weekend -- and the site of the official 13th Annual Xena: Warrior Princess Convention, which begins at 12:20 PM Pacific Time this afternoon.

Today we've got:

Because Warrior Princesses never die, AfterEllen.com is going to the Xena: Warrior Princess convention in Burbank, CA this weekend.

I covered it last year, and interviewed lesbian icons and Hot 100 hotties Lucy Lawless (Xena) and Renee O'Connor (Gabrielle). I also live-blogged the entire convention on my own blog, and one day looked up from my little laptop in the convention hall to find that 10,000 Xena fans had dropped by to follow along.

In recognition of the undying Xena love, AfterEllen.com's going to let me live-blog it here this year — and yes, I'll also be interviewing Lucy and Renee, and yes, I'll have photographer KT Jorgensen with me. We'll be taking photos, interviewing fans, and hopefully getting a chance to talk to some of the creative folks behind the show about issues near and dear to our hearts. We'll also be at Lucy's sold-out concerts at Hollywood's legendary Roxy Theater, but alas — no wireless there. We'll recap it after the fact, instead.

Live-blogging will start here on the AfterEllen.com blog on Friday morning, January 25 and run through the afternoon of Sunday, January 27. If you have questions for any of the guests, feel free to post them in the comments section and if I get a chance, I'll ask them for you.

I've also told Lucy and Renee I'll be doing this, so who knows? Maybe I can get them to drop by, too.

And if you're going to be in Burbank, come say hi! I'll be the tall one with the laptop.

First she shook her fringed mini-dress on Celebrity Duets and made America realize Lucy Lawless wasn’t just the Warrior Princess anymore. Then she won the hearts of lesbians everywhere at her two sold-out concerts at LA’s Roxy Theater and a follow-up set of shows in New York City. This weekend, it was Chicago’s turn.

Although I couldn’t get there, there are those who could, and fortunately for Lucy and Renee fans everywhere, they agreed to spill. KT (the other KT, not the KT who does photography for AfterEllen.com sometimes; the Xenaverse can be very confusing, I know) had this to say about Lucy:

There are only so many times a girl can watch her Xena: Warrior Princess DVDs. Well, theoretically, there's a limit. I wouldn’t know. But if you’ve been hoping for something new from Renee O’Connor, there’s some good news — the DVD of her new film, a romantic comedy called Diamonds and Guns, was released this week.

When I talked to Renee at the Xena convention in January, she described the film, which she produced and stars in, as a female friendship flick about two women who go to Las Vegas thinking they’re auditioning for the Broadway show Cats. Turns out it’s actually a strip show called Kittens. Ooops. One of the women, played by New Zealand’s Helena Beaven, needs to get married to stay in the country, and ties the knot with a mobster’s son. Unfortunately, his family had other plans for him, and instead of a quickie divorce decides to opt for an even quicker execution.

Renee said her character spends pretty much the entire film either high on valium or sick with food poisoning. And a quick look at the official website suggests she also finds time to put on feathers and high heels.

Renee sadly affirmed at the Xena convention that there is no lesbian content in the movie, but then she brightened and said, “They’re really good friends, though.” I’ll take it. Of course, I’ll take anything if it comes with Renee O’Connor included. If you will, too, then go order the DVD. Do it soon and you’ll get a copy autographed by Renee herself. That means she’ll have touched it.

I’m sure most of the reporters covering the Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala and awards dinner in San Francisco Saturday night were there for the politics, and honestly, I’m normally the very soul of queer political activism.

But that night? Let’s face it: I was there for Lucy Lawless.

Lucy was all glammed up in high heels, evening gown and tousled curls. She sailed into the pre-dinner VIP reception like an old-fashioned Hollywood star, and signed autographs and posed for pictures with adoring Xena fans both male and female.

Since she looks just as good in girly clothes as in jeans and a cowgirl hat — not to mention her Xena fighting leathers — it’s not hard to see why she made it onto the top 100 on the AfterEllen.com hot list. What did Lucy think about that? “Well that’s pretty great,” she beamed. “I love that. Thanks very much for the vote of confidence, girls, and just thanks so much for the support, and I want to be here to support you.”

In January, I had the grueling assignment of going to Los Angeles for the Xena convention, where I got to interview Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor. Photographer and Renee fan KT Jorgensen came with me, and took some great shots of Lucy and Renee backstage, and also at Lucy’s concert at the Roxy.

So, I was feeling really good because interviewing Lucy and Renee was basically my life's goal as a journalist. In fact, I was supremely happy — until KT called me last weekend and said she was, at that very moment, hanging out with Renee at the Burn Foundation Relay Run in L.A. And then I was supremely jealous.

KT took some beautiful photos of Renee, and also chatted with her about her fans, life and — yes, really — AfterEllen. Renee said she loved spending time with the AfterEllen crew at the Dinah in Palm Springs (OK, now I have to hate all of you who were there, too) and is looking forward to working with AfterEllen again.