Jeremey McMillan (youth) wants to know:

>I really don't want to offend anyone when I ask this question:

Oh, trust us.

>Wasn't Chopin gay or bi? I know he had a nine or ten year affair with
>novelist George Sand (Dudevant), but the author of every biography I've
>read about Chopin questioned his sexuality.

What were their reasons? Are they sound? Was it because he spoke French
with a lisp or because he was caught in bed with Franz Liszt? Do you
believe them? Does it ultimately matter to the music?

>And Liberace- Who was he? I've heard a lot about him being an entertainer
>and all, but I don't recall ever seeing a picture of him or anything.

Sic transit.  Liberace was a pianist of sorts, specializing in "light"
classics and novelty pieces like "Kitten on the Keys," neither of which he
did particularly well.  He had a huge following during the Fifties, was
somewhat eclipsed by rock and roll.  He basically reinvented himself as the
ultimate Las Vegas entertainer - with outrageous costumes, jewelry, as he
got older, more obvious make-up, and the same light classics and novelty
pieces he played in the Fifties.  Apparently, his show influenced Elvis's.

Liberace sold a kind of innocent outrageousness.  The idea was to let you
know he was gay without ever saying so and to tell the jokes which arose
from that situation.  Myself, I never saw the point, but he made a good
living, as they say.  Apparently, he was indeed gay.  His chauffeur sued
him for palimony (and lost), and he died of AIDS.  I believe there's a
Liberace museum, filled with his costumes, props, pianos (including an
incredible piano clad in mirrored tiles), and tchotchkes.

Steve Schwartz