We are everywhere! On movie screens ( The Closet, Lost & Delirious ) , on stage ( The Producers ) and in concert halls and night clubs ( Rufus Wainwright ) . We're also on the shelves in your favorite music store.
The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Hedwig And The Angry Inch ( Hybrid ) is one of the soundtrack events of the summer. The movie, about the botched transsexual Hedwig's journey to rock stardom, won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and writer/director/star John Cameron Mitchell was named Best Director, making it the queer movie event of the summer. Ten of the songs from the original stage production of Hedwig And The Angry Inch made it onto the sidewalk, including "Tear Me Down," "Origin Of Love," "Angry Inch," "Sugar Daddy," "Midnight Radio," and the gorgeous "Wicked Little Town." The soundtrack also boasts Bob Mould and the band Girls Against Boys as guest musicians. The other distinguishing factor is that there are three new songs, written by Stephen Trask...the hard rocking "Nailed" and "Freaks," and the pop tune "In Your Arms Tonight."
Prior to the release of R.E.M.'s new album Reveal ( Warner Brothers ) , magnetic front-man Michael Stipe gave a revealing interview in which he stated that he had been in a relationship with the same man for a few years. Talk about a revelation! Twenty years after they first came to our attention via their college-radio-staple EP Chronic Town, R.E.M. has released their most difficult and experimental album. Far less accessible than even their most enjoyable early efforts ( such as the groundbreaking Murmur and Reckoning ) , Reveal does have its rewarding moments. As it turns out, they are also the prettiest songs on the album...including "Beat A Drum," "The Lifting," "I've Been High," the 1960s pop of "Beachball" and the Brian Wilson-eque "Summer Turns To High. "Saturn Return" and the aforementioned "I've Been High," with their unusual electronic effects sound like they could have fallen off the most recent Aluminum Group album. Those longing for a glimmer of R.E.M. gone by should listen to "Imitation Of Life" and "I'll Take The Rain."
The Wotapalava Music Festival, which was supposed to feature openly gay musical acts such as Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright, a reunited Soft Cell, The Magnetic Fields, and others this summer, was postponed until next year. If they are rethinking the event, the first thing they might want to consider is moving the "day out" indoors. There are plenty of large-scale venues, in most of the major cities in which the tour was scheduled to play, that could accommodate an event such as this. If you are disappointed about missing the opportunity to see Wainwright, he will be mounting a tour in the fall.
If you are disappointed about missing the Pet Shop Boys, the recently released, expanded reissues of their first five albums ...Please, Actually, Introspective, Behaviour and Very ( all on Parlophone/EMI/Capitol ) ...just might do the trick to help you get over it. Stunningly packaged with complete lyrics and thoughtful, song by song, commentary by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, each album comes in a two-disc set. The first disc, of each set, contains the original album. The second disc, titled "Further Listening" and the corresponding years ( i.e. 1990...1991, for Behaviour ) , features demos, B-sides, extended mixes, seven and 12-inch mixes, tracks "previously unreleased on CD," and almost a dozen never-before-released tracks. Each successive disc finds PSB becoming more overtly gay, much to the delight of their queer fans. The pinnacle, of course, is 1994's Very, an album that writer/editor/educator Aldo Alvarez accurately describes as "the Sgt. Pepper of synth pop." Beautifully assembled and well thought out, these Pet Shop Boy reissues...the equivalent of a "box set"...constitute a nearly complete overview of the first 10 years of their groundbreaking, innovative and underrated recording career.
Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to interview playwright and director Bill Russell, prior to the opening of his musical Pageant, in Chicago. In addition to Pageant, Russell is the co-creator of the acclaimed musical Side Show. Russell also wrote the book and lyrics to Elegies For Angels, Punks & Raging Queens ( Fynsworth Alley ) , which he says was inspired by both the 1987 unveiling of the Names Project Quilt and Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. Recently released in a powerful concert recording that benefits the Momentum AIDS Project, the live performance was recorded in New York, during April. Featuring stellar performances by Alice Ripley ( "Angels, Punks And Raging Queens" ) , Emily Skinner ( "My Brother Lived In San Francisco" ) , Clent Bowers and Doug Askew ( "I Don't Do That Anymore" ) , Norman Lewis ( "Learning To Let Go" ) and Ripley and Skinner together ( "Celebrate" ) , this breaks down the boundaries of live albums and cast recordings for a memorable musical experience.
The Flirtations contributed a brilliant cover of the song "Angels, Punks & Raging Queens," on the various artists disc A Love Worth Fighting For. Jon Arterton was a member of that legendary vocal group and he is a member of another close harmony group...The Three Marys. On their self-titled album ( www.thethreemarys.com ) , Arterton, Mary Jo Paranzino and Mary Abt perform songs by Paranzino ( "Homophobic Blues," "Provincetown," and "It's Alright" ) , as well as covers of songs by songwriters with whom many will be familiar, such as Sarah McLachlan's "Angel," Peter Gabriel's "Wallflower," Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's "Feelin' Good," and because "in Provincetown 'Mary' is frequently a man's name," they sing George M. Cohan's "Mary's A Grand Old Name." Some of the songs were recorded live ( such as Vivaldi's "Laudamus Te," the aforementioned "It's Alright" ) and others were recorded in a recording studio ( with John Thomas on piano ) . A perfectly queer album for summer enjoyment.
At various times during her career, Madonna has been an angel, a punk and a raging queen. She has also been worshipped by angels, punks and raging queens. On the remastered and expanded ( two bonus remixed tracks on each disc ) reissues of her first three albums...Madonna, Like A Virgin and True Blue ( all on Warner ) , she exhibits some of her original personae, and what's most remarkable is these albums merely cover the first three years in a career that, like it or not, shows no signs of coming to an end. Her 1983 self-titled major-label debut disc holds up surprisingly well, nearly 20 years later. The songs that were something special back then..."Borderline," "Holiday," "Lucky Star," still inspire the same combination of heat and goose bumps today. Like A Virgin, from 1984, is notable for the songs "Material Girl" and "Like A Virgin." Those are so far superior to rest of the album, that they only serve to magnify the flaws in the rest. As with Like A Virgin, True Blue's best songs..."Papa Don't Preach" and the ballad "Live To Tell"...are so exemplary that the rest of tracks pale in comparison.
Linda Tillery's Say Yo Business ( Earth Beat! ) is another sensational live album by an artist from within our community. Performing with the four female members of the Cultural Heritage Choir, Tillery is also joined on this joyous live album by lesbian singer/songwriter and renowned bass player Laura Love ( "Wayfaring Stranger" ) , Wilson Pickett and Eric Bibb ( "Don't You Ever Let Nobody Drag Yo' Spirit Down" ) , Odetta ( "All The Pretty Horses" ) , Richie Havens ( "Spirituals Medley" ) , and Kelly Joe Phelps ( "Ain't No Mo' Came On Dis Brazos" ) . As a side note, Tillery also produced the album Sugar Mama by lesbian rhythm and blues artist Gwen Avery.
Also recorded before a live audience is Jason Stuart's album Gay Comedy Without A Dress ( www.jasonstuart.com ) . Stuart's trademark rapid-fire delivery is as funny as ever. He has become something of a gay Don Rickles, the way he latches on to audience members and verbally abuses them. No one is safe...not members of his family, Jews, politicians, celebrities, bisexuals, or his ex-boyfriend. The "question & answer" portion was especially funny, allowing Stuart to use his improvisation skills.
Lambda Literary Award-winning writers Michelle Tea and Eileen Myles are two of the best known lesbians reading from their work on Sister Spit's Ramblin' Road Show presents Greatest Spits!: A Spoken Word Compilation ( Mr. Lady ) . The 18 tracks are a combination of live and recorded material, both serious and humorous. There's even some storytelling that is spontaneous and combustible.
