R.I.P.

LCM's entrance wouldn't be the same without this.

Dog Days Dirty Dozen

Wow, it took me forever to figure out how to print my shuffle.

1. My Baby Janis Joplin
2. I Wish I Didn't Love You So k.d. lang
3. I'm Alway True To You In My Fashion Ella Fitzgerald
4. Nobody's Lonesome For Me Hank Williams
5. Sly Fox Nas
6. In A Sentimental Mood Dr. John
7. Money (That's What I Want) The Beatles
8. Corazon Espinado Santana
9. Me And Mrs. Jones Michael Bublé
10. Musicology Prince
11. Time After Time (Acoustic) Cyndi Lauper with Sarah McLachlan
12. Johnny Was Bob Marley & The Wailers

It's iTunes Shuffle Dirty Dozen time!

Style - The Lemonheads
Lucky Star -Madonna
Take Your Time - Pebbles
In The Great Unknown - Mary Fahl
Believe - The Chemical Brothers
Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Jack-Ass - Beck
Club Megamix - Anastacia
Peron's Latest Flame - Madonna/Mandy Patinkin/cast - Evita motion picture soundtrack
And Finally... - M People
All I Have To Give - Backstreet Boys
Gone Too Soon - Michael Jackson

Good news, bad news

Good News (unless you believe an artist who claims they'll never tour again should live up to that promise): Billboard.com reports that Tina Turner is headed out on a tour starting October 1st.

Bad (Ugly) News: living train wreck Lindsay Lohan is signed up for six episodes of Ugly Betty, starting with this year's season finale. Ew. I sense a shark-jumping may be near.

California Soul -- LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Here's everything Wikipedia has to say about this song:

"California Soul" is a pop-soul tune written by Ashford & Simpson, issued originally as a single by American pop quintet The Fifth Dimension in 1969. It was also covered by Motown vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell that same year and was the duo's last single together when released in early 1970.

Both the Fifth Dimension's version and the Gaye/Terrell version were modest charted hits. The original performed better reaching number twenty-five on the pop singles chart, while Marvin and Tammi's cover reached number fifty-six pop but never charted R&B. The duet was released after Terrell's tragic death from a brain tumor in March of 1970.

The song was a socially conscious-type of song advocating love and peace.

In 1969 Bluenote singer Marlena Shaw also did a version of the song which is now featured in a Dockers commercial circa 2008.

(There's no actual video on this clip. Someone just posted the recording with the song title and artist.)

Speaking of 80's videos

I have to confess something. Many, many years ago, when I was but an innocent college student, I tuned into MTV one night and saw the video for Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me."

Yes, it's lame yet oddly catchy. Yes, Rockwell wore boxer shorts in the shower. Yes, it never would've gone anywhere if Michael Jackson hadn't been talked into crooning the chorus, "I always feel like -- somebody's waaaaaaaatching meeeeee!" But that's not what haunts me.

What haunts me is, who the hell played the zombie mailman?

Because for a zombie mailman, he was pretty damn hot. I never thought necrophilia would interest me, but in this case I'd make an exception.

It's official: New Kids reunite!

What does this say about the state of the music industry? That the eighties are back? That they think pop music from aging men is viable? George Michael is touring (and charging anywhere from $48 to $253 for his Philadelphia show), and soon he'll be joined by the New Kids on the Block, who are reuniting for a new album to be released this summer. A limited fall tour is planned. Aren't they too old to be called "Kids" now? And referring to them as NKOTB just never made sense.

My new favorite video

Dear Buddha:

Please bring me a pony, a plastic rocket and the guy with the tats in this video.

Thank you.

Video Flashback Double Play

The other day I saw a documentary on Logo about the Pet Shop Boys. After it was over I tuned into VH1 Classic and their video for the fabulous "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" (with Dusty Springfield) came on just seconds later! Coincidence? Well, yes...



And here's "Domino Dancing." Someone interviewed on the documentary said that this was the beginning of the end of their record-selling success in the USA because of the video's homoerotic subtext...

Is George Michael this popular?

It seems that George Michael is planning his first tour of the U.S. and Canada in 17 years. He's more famous now for trolling for sex in men's rooms than having hit records, yet not only is he playing arenas (and not as an opening act for an artist that has actually had hits recently), but for one show that's already listed on Ticketmaster the price range is from $50 to $175! Are people really going to pay for this? Am I missing something?

Another Video Flashback

"Buffalo Stance" by Neneh Cherry...my main reason for sharing this is that Wikipedia has this fun fact(?) about the song:

It inspired a unique "dance" on the television show Dance Party USA; dancers would stand absolutely still for the duration of the song.

Finally, a dance I'm good at!

American Idol Lap Dance Music

TMZ reported on their TV show that these are the songs that contestant David Hernandez stripped to at Dick's Cabaret in Phoenix:

Sexyback-Justin Timberlake
Boogie Wonderland-Earth, Wind and Fire
Shake That-Eminem feat. Nate Dogg
Never Too Much-Luther Vandross
Pictures of You-The Cure
Glamorous-Fergie
Temperature-Sean Paul
About Us-Brooke Hogan feat. Paul Wall
The Distance-Cake
Love Rollercoaster-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smooth Criminal-Alien Ant Farm
Iris-The Goo Goo Dolls
Sweetness-Jimmy Eat World
I'm In Luv (Wit A Stripper)-T-Pain

That last one seems like a natural, doesn't it?

The gayest songs of Australia

Okay, it's a list from an Australian website of the 50 gayest songs of all time -- which explains the two Kylie Minogue songs that I don't think I've ever heard in the top 10. Here's the top 20 songs that Aussies voted as the gayest:

20. Dolly Parton, "9 to 5"
19. Coming Out Crew, "Free, Gay and Happy"
18. Village People, "In the Navy"
17. Frankie Goes To Hollywood, "Relax"
16. Village People, "Macho Man"
15. Judy Garland, "Over The Rainbow"
14. Bronski Beat, "Smalltown Boy"
13. Diana Ross, "I'€™m Coming Out"
12. Cher, "Believe"
11. Gloria Gaynor, "I Am What I Am"
10. Alicia Bridges, "I Love The Nightlife"
9. Madonna, "Vogue"
8. Olivia Netwon-John "Xanadu"
7. Kylie Minogue, "Better The Devil You Know"
6. Pet Shop Boys, "Go West"
5. Kylie Minogue, "Your Disco Needs You"
4. The Weathergirls, "It'€™s Raining Men"
3. Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"
2. Village People, "YMCA"
1. ABBA, "Dancing Queen"

Today's Philadelphia Queer News Update

Actually there are two updates, since I didn't get to post the first one last week when it was reported. There were a series of recent burglaries in which the perpetrators would cut holes through the rooftops to gain entry. Among the businesses robbed was a Wawa convenience store (a regional chain that's MUCH better than 7-Eleven), in which cash, cigarettes and condoms were taken. The condom theft almost make sense in light of the news that the two men arrested last week in connection with some of the burglaries are twin brothers -- and have done some work in gay porn:

The Goffney twins are also the focus of numerous hardcore Internet gay-porn videos - some of which they star in together under the stage names Keyon and Teyon, according to several Internet sites that write about modeling and gay culture.

In "Marc and the Twins," which was distributed only online, the Goffneys are hanging out on the Las Vegas strip when they offer to audition for "Marc," a chiseled black porn star who happens to pass by.

The three take the "audition" to a seedy hotel room. Although "Marc" is the focus of the encounter, the twins can be seen rubbing each other's chests and getting cozy.

"Marc and the Twins" seems to be the most popular of the online porn films that star Taleon and Keyontyli. Their co-star in the film, Marc Williams, is a fairly big name in gay porn, according to Erik Schut, editorial director of Philadelphia-based TLA Entertainment Group.

The company's Web site, TLAVideo.com, is the nation's largest retailer of gay porn DVDs. To Schut's knowledge, the twins have not appeared in any porn films available on DVD, but he said if they had chosen to further their career in porn, "They could have been huge."

Meanwhile, apparently Diana Ross isn't the only woman to have once fondled Lil' Kim's breast. A local radio DJ who is known on the air as Golden Girl wrote a book called "Sex & Celebrities: The Truth, the Whole Truth, the Naked Truth," which includes her tale of a steamy encounter with Lil' Kim. The rapper spent a few months in a federal prison here; could it have been a conjugal visit? We don't know for sure as we have no video, but because we love you, here's Miss Ross' boob-bobbling moment at the MTV awards.

Rick Astley would never...plus a Video Flashback!

Love this chart! (Click on it to see it more clearly...unless someone knows how to get the larger version to show up on the page...)























And here's the video, with VH1's pop-ups:

Coming soon: the new Madonna album!

Entertainment Weekly reports on its website that Madonna's next album (and her last album for Warner Bros., excluding hits compilations) will be out April 29th and will be called Hard Candy. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland have worked on it. I can't wait!

Are awards shows dying?

Preliminary ratings indicate that last night's Oscar show was the lowest-rated ever -- down 21 percent from last year and down 14 percent from the previous lowest-rated show in 2003.

The Golden Globes and People's Choice were basically wiped out by the writers' strike, but the Grammys and Oscars both had writers and no picket lines to keep stars from showing up, and both tanked in the ratings. Are people tired of awards shows? Are there too many awards shows? It is just that the nominated movies, songs, etc. weren't that popular this year? Was this just a bad year?

As much as I love music I never watch the Grammys or American Music Awards any more. Other than the occasional Emmy telecast I have basically never watched any other awards shows -- Golden Globes, SAG awards, Tonys, People's Choice, etc. So maybe I'm not the viewer they need to talk to if they want to figure out why the ratings are dropping.

I still watch the Oscars, although this year I saw for the first time the Independent Spirit awards on IFC, and that show was much more fun (even though Jon Stewart did a good job last night). If other shows were more like the indie awards show, I might watch them.

Today's Dirty Dozen iTunes shuffle

It's been over 2 weeks. I think we can safely trot one out here...

Walk Away From Love - David Ruffin
Behind The Wheel - Depeche Mode
No One Is To Blame - Howard Jones
Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
Da Da Da - Trio
Revolution - Nina Simone
Waterfront - Simple Minds
Trick Of The Night (The Number One Mix) - Bananarama
Pale Shelter - Tears For Fears
Come Inside - The Chemical Brothers
So Much To Say - Dave Matthews Band
Strange Way - Jody Watley

Video Flashback

It's Jermaine Stewart with "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off." Yeah, but I'm sure it helps nonetheless.



I mean, "Just slow down if you want me/A man wants to be approached cool & romantically" -- really? In Bizarro World?

Winehouse allowed in USA? No, no, no!

The representatives for Amy Winehouse now say she won't attend the Grammys because she was denied a visa by the U.S. Embassy. Does this mean our government frowns upon being caught on video smoking crack? I'm shocked.

Update: She will perform on the Grammy telecast, but via satellite. There's some good news, at least.