**Arjuna Greist @ Burkhardt Studios, (773) 348-8536, Aug. 24
**David Daniels @ Ravinia's Martin Theater, (847) 266-5000, Aug. 26
**Michelle Malone and the Low-Down @ Gunther Murphy's, (773) 472-5139, Sept. 15
There is so much good queer music out there that I simply can't wait until October (Gay and Lesbian History Month) to tell you about it. However, if you are looking for that special song or CD to help you and your loved ones with your National Coming Out Day celebrations, it's never too early to start planning. Here are a few suggestions.
Nominated, earlier this year, for an Out Music Award in the best new recording by a duo, group or band category, Minneapolis-based All The Pretty Horses wears its Bowie influences on its tattooed sleeves. Fronted by transgender vocalist and guitarist Venus, All The Pretty Horses cross goth and glam with unusual results on the album Creature (prettyhorses.net). Highlights include 'If God Were Caught,' the blistering 'Live With A Ghost,' and the queer near-punk of 'Boys/Revolution.'
Like it or not, gay men (and many lesbians) crave dance music. There are many dance artists who are both straight and gay-friendly. There are others who take our money, but have no interest in giving back to the community. So, I am always happy to tell people about a queer dance artist when I hear about one. Evan Cowden has released a four-song EP (BOBD Productions) on which he covers Yaz's 'Ode To Boy' and Bronski Beat's gay epic 'Small Town Boy.' The remaining two songs, 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' and 'Why Can't We (Just Make Love),' are original synthesizer and synthetic beat driven dance tracks.
The Danish gay/straight duo Junior Senior makes gay party music for the 21st century on D-d-don't Stop The Beat (Atlantic). Equal parts B52s, Beach Boys, Beastie Boys and Bronski Beat, Junior Senior are its own cheering section on the beat happy and persuasive opening track 'Go Junior, Go Senior.' Surf's up on 'Rhythm Bandits' and 'Move Your Feet' is a dancing valentine to the retro disco of Chic. 'Chicks and Dicks' answers the gay versus straight musical question, 'Whatcha gonna do do after dark?' 'Shake
Your Coconuts' sounds like Junior Senior's electroclash entry and 'White Trash' pays homage to Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, Sonny & Cher, and The New York Dolls, among others.
Openly gay Drew Daniel (who has posed for Butt Magazine), one half of San Francisco-based electronic duo Matmos (whose 2001 album, A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure made music out of the sounds of surgery), is no stranger to the cut and paste method of creating gripping and bizarre music. Do You Party? (Soundslike Records), by his new side project The Soft Pink Truth, is a clip-art concoction that puts a fresh new coat of paint on house music. The thwack and thump of opening track 'Everybody's Soft' are so persuasive that it's hard to sit still for long. 'Gender Studies' is as much an exploration of queer theory, celebrating the 'girl' in one gay man's greeting of another, as it is an exercise in floor-shaking funk. In the matchless cover version category, The Soft Pink Truth wins well-manicured hands down with its cover of Vanity 6's 'Make Up,' featuring suitably detached vocals by Blevin Blectum. 'Satie (Grey Corduroy Suit)' makes reference to Erik Satie and 'Soft Pink Missy' is the kind of electroclash charged track that could potentially send Ladytron and WIT into a soft pink hissy fit.
The horns, synthetic beats electric guitars of queer singer/songwriter Rachael Sage's previous disc, Illusion's Carnival, are present and accounted for on her new album Public Record (MPress). Beginning with the questioning opening track 'What If,' Sage sounds like she has arrived at the intersection of Tori Amos and Ani DiFranco, and that's not a bad place to be. 'Too Many Women' is a fascinating list of things that there are too many of, which always ends with 'not enough of you.' 'Child' is a bluesy number, while the piano work on 'Bravedancing' continues to qualify Sage as the female Skott Freedman. 'Back To Freedom,' with its muted trumpet, is a splash of jazzy pop and the wonderful 'Back In Time (Sara's Song)' is enhanced by both a harmonica and strings. A harmonica and an organ, give 'Chasing The Girl' (with the unusual line, 'I want to be the boy with the most cake/chasing the girl with the most ice cream') a vintage warmth and glow. Fans of daring female singer/songwriters would be wise to make this Public Record a part of their permanent record collection.
I was so excited when I received a copy of Stompin' Ground (Daemon/SBS), a Cajun-spiced set of originals, 'a deep southern pocket with a 50-watt socket,' by Moanin' Michelle Malone and the Low-Down Georgia Revue, a few months ago that I wrote about, ignoring the fact that it wasn't due to be released until September. Here is a reminder that Malone moves away from the more pop-oriented tunes of her last few studio discs and sings like she's been biting the heads off of crawfish for fun on 'Lafayette,' which sounds like a lost Little Feat tune. On the fast-shuffling same-sex girl-reunion tune '2 Horn and 2 Wings' sings about a 'pretty little blue-eyed angel.' The powerful 'Flagpole' is one of the most political tunes Malone has written and the B3 organ on 'Cypress Inn,' played by Carol Isaacs, nicely complements Malone's vocals. Other standouts include 'Preacher's Daughter,' 'Samsonite,' 'Camera,' and 'True.'
Gay men in the world of cabaret are a long established fact of life. But what about lesbians? Marieann Meringolo answers that question on her latest CD Imagine … If We Only Have Love (Golden Chords/LML Music). Cleverly opening with John Lennon's 'Imagine' and closing with Jacques Brel and Mort Shuman's 'If We Only Have Love,' graceful belter Meringolo fills in the center of the album with a jazzy rendition of 'Never Never Land,' the pop cabaret medley 'Right From The Start'/'A Quiet Thing,' and a Latin-tinged interpretation of Cahn and Styne's 'Time After Time.' Her readings of movie themes song 'Theme From The Valley Of The Dolls' and '(Theme From) Alfie' have a charming retro quality. Meringolo's cover of 'Love Don't Need A Reason' (co-written by Peter Allen, Michael Callen and Marsha Malamet) deserves to be heard by everyone and the back-to-back 'wind' songs 'Wild Is The Wind' and 'Trust The Wind' are a breath of fresh air.
When I heard 'You Want In,' the opening track of Give And Take (Passionate Women), the new album by Kim Char Meredith, I almost dismissed her as another lesbian singer/songwriter with a pleasant, but powerful voice. However, Meredith totally won me over with the second song, the sensational and sunny 'Sunrise To Sunrise.' In a world not dominated by Clear Channel-owned radio stations, 'Sunrise To Sunrise' could be a massive hit single. 'Mystery Of You' is a mysterious, yet revelatory piece of acoustic pop. Meredith keeps the forward motion going with 'Rumble And Hum' and 'Take Me On The Road.' Finally, 'Giving & Getting Better' also demonstrates Meredith's nearly immeasurable songwriting gifts.
Cut from the same Ani DiFranco cloth as many other young, female singer/songwriter/spoken word performers, Arjuna Greist has distinguished herself by employing a sense of humor on her album Odd Numbers (Apple Fall). Tracks such as 'Free Bird' (the best musical response to audience requests for 'Free Bird' since Aimee Mann and her band broke into 'Sweet Home Alabama'), 'Talkin' Anniversary Blues,' and 'Suck & Blow.' There are also plenty of serious moments, including 'Mariana,' which makes reference to Rose Polenzani's 'Olga's Birthday' and the Matthew Shepard tribute 'Song For Matthew.'
Corinne Curcio, of the lesbian trio Estrogen, steps out on her own again on her second solo disc Now (cdbaby.com/corinne ). Acoustic folk pop is the primary focus here and stand-out cuts include 'Lyrical Girl,' 'I Close My Eyes,' 'Say Goodbye,' and the instrumental 'That's How I Feel.'
Opera queens everywhere must be thrilled at the renewed interest that young and rising crossover opera singers are bringing to that realm of music. Between the successes of Josh Groban, Baz Luhrman's La Boheme on Broadway, the new Sarah Brightman CD Harem, and recent releases by female 'popera' singers Laura Turner and Izzy, an opera renaissance has officially begun. Openly gay 'superstar countertenor' David Daniels extends his remarkable vocal abilities to songs by 20th century songwriters John Kander ('A Quiet Thing'), Leonard Bernstein ('So Pretty' and 'A Simple Song'), and Harold Arlen ('My Shining Hour') on his new album A Quiet Thing: Songs for Voice and Guitar (Virgin Classics). A collaboration with classical guitarist Craig Ogden, the disc also includes the kind of material (songs by Torre, Anchieta, Mena, Purcell, Bellini, Bach and Schubert, to name a few) that you might expect to hear sung by a countertenor of Daniels's repute.
Donald Currie single-handedly reinvents the books-on-tape concept with his memoirs CD Sex & Mayhem, Part 2 (cdbaby.com/donaldcurrie). Picking up where Part 1 left off, Currie regales listeners, in a mostly humorous manner, with his sexual exploits in San Francisco during the '60s. Drug-fueled, sexually uninhibited, communal living, with Cockettes-like theatrical aspirations, Currie's gay hippie youth is fascinating enough to keep us hanging on until Part 3 arrives.
