Showing posts with label kd lang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kd lang. Show all posts

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I Will Survive

After reading that Mitt Romney had his scientist/atheist father-in-law baptised as a Mormon after he was dead, I have become restless, sleepless & hapless with the possibility that this could happen to me. I can't shake the paranoia.

You, my dear readers of my little spot on the Internet, are as close as I have to family. I am the only son of an only son. I am the end of the line. So, I am begging you to not let this happen to me. Don't convert me after I have left my body. Do not make me wear special underwear in the next incarnation.

I am leaving a few instructions & I am counting on you to see this through:
1. I do not wish to be buried or cremated. I want my body to go to a University where I will have scientists questioning my brain & penis size & how they relate.
2. In my obituary, mention that I enjoyed unprecedented success as an actor, singer, horticulturalist, writer, & lover. Claim that I won an Emmy, Grammy, Tony, Oscar, Pulitzer. Claim that I had the #1 album- Jock Straps & Vicodin, for 113 weeks.
2. Publish that although it has been noted that I was a perfect partner & spouse to one man for 50+ years, that I also had passionate affairs with: Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Kurt Russell, Robert Conrad, Paul Newman, Twiggy, Alan Bates, Jack Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Lawrence Olivier, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Sean Connery. Joe Dellesandro, James Dean, Warren Beatty, Sting, Jon Hamm, James Franco, Seal, Daniel Craig, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Taye Diggs, Hugh Jackman, Nancy Walker, Sidney Poitier, The Queen Mother & Cher... & yet never have had a sexually transmitted disease.
3. I insist that there be no funeral, but a memorial service would be acceptable, & a party would be preferred. I have a list of 10 songs that I want played at my party/memorial service:
If I Had A Boat- Lyle Lovett
Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)- Frank Sinatra
Beyond The Sea- Bobby Darrin
Every Breath You Take- The Police
Waters Of March- Art Garfunkel
Once In A Lifetime- Talking Heads
Don't Cry For Me Argentina- Patti Lupone
Something Good- Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer
God Only Knows- The Beach Boys
I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

Your Host circa 1992


At first I was afraid
I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live
Without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights
Thinking how you did me wrong
& I grew strong
& I learned how to get along

& so you're back
From outer space
I just walked in to find you here
With that sad look upon your face

I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second
You'd be back to bother me

Go on now ,go walk out the door
Just turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble?
Did you think I'd lay down & die?

Oh no, not I
I will survive
As long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
& I'll survive
I will survive

It took all the strength I had
Not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend
The pieces of my broken heart
& I spent oh so many nights
Just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
But now I hold my head up high

& you see me
Somebody new
I'm not that chained up little person
Still in love with you
& so you felt like dropping in
& just expect me to be free
But now I'm saving all my loving
For someone who's loving me

Go on now go walk out the door
Just turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye
Did you think I'd crumble?
Did you think I'd lay down & die?

Oh no, not I
I will survive
As long as i know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
& I'll survive
I will survive

Go on now go, walk out the door
Just turn around now
You're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to break me with goodbye?
Did you think I'd crumble?
Did you think I'd lay down & die?

Oh no, not I
I will survive
As long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive

I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
& I'll survive
I will survive
I will survive!
Perrin & Fekaris
1978














Friday, December 9, 2011

December Songs... Calling All Angels


Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Santa Anna,
 Santa Susannah
Santa Cecilia, Santa Copelia, Santa Domenica,
 Mary Angelica
Frater Achad, Frater Pietro, Julianus,
 Petronilla Santa, Santos, Miroslaw, Vladimir
& all the rest

a man is placed upon the steps, a baby cries
& high above the church bells start to ring
& as the heaviness the body oh the heaviness settles in
somewhere you can hear a mother sing

then it's one foot then the other as you step out onto the road
how much weight? how much weight?
then it's how long? & how far?
& how many times before it's too late?

calling all angels
calling all angels
walk me through this one
don't leave me alone
calling all angels
calling all angels
we're cryin' and we're hurtin'
& we're not sure why...

& every day you gaze upon the sunset
with such love and intensity
it's almost...it's almost as if
if you could only crack the code
then you'd finally understand what this all means

but if you could...do you think you would
trade in all the pain & suffering?
ah, but then you'd miss
the beauty of the light upon this earth
& the sweetness of the leaving

calling all angels
calling all angels
walk me through this one
don't leave me alone
callin' all angels
callin' all angels
we're trying
we're hoping
we're hurting
we're loving
we're crying
we're calling
'cause we're not sure how this goes
Jane Siberry
1993



Wednesday, November 2, 2011

She Is A Big Boned Gal... k d lang

Happy Birthday, Kathryn Dawn Lang!  Welcome to the 50s; it is not for the faint of heart, believe me.


Before there was George Michael, Elton, Ellen, Mellissa or Rufus, there was k.d. lang. This little spot on the internet is intended to celebrate all things important to me; art, film-theatre-TV, design, books, food, cocktails, travel, friends & lovers, & of course the art form that moves me & informs my life the most: Music. Among the Top 10 musicians who have meant the most to me, k.d. lang may be the artist that speaks to me the most.

Her stunning, pitch perfect, unadorned voice, androgynous look (she’s the girl next door & the boy next door) & brilliant performances have fully engaged me & swept me a way to new heights for the past 25+ years. She is the small group of artists, along with Lyle Lovett & Bette Midler, that I have seen in concert more than 6 times.

lang came out of the closet in 1992 with no real negative affect on her career; indeed she won 1 of her 4 Grammy’s around this time, for Constant Craving & her album- Ingénue was her best selling to date. How would & pick a cut that would be her best or my personal favorite? I know that every time she did Roy Orbison’s Crying in concert, every hair on my body would stand on end. I am crazy for her album of covers about smoking- Drag (1997) & I still dig the stripped down pop of her 3rd album- all you can eat (1995).

lang continued so record & to slide into different geners: the lovely summer bon-bon- Invincible Summer (2000),  Hymns of the 49th Parallel (2004) which featured cover versions of songs by Canadian singer-songwriters, an album of duets with Tony Bennett- What A Wonderful World (2007), an album of new material- Watershed (2008), & this summer's country album Sing It Loud, with Sis Bang Boom.

When she isn’t working, lang is mostly a homebody, living quietly with a girlfriend she refers to as my wife (they’re not legally married) & her two dogs.

The Husband loves her, my parents love her, my rock music loving friend- Eiric loves her, lesbians lover her, gay men love her. She is an activist & vegetarian. For just hair raising virtuosity & for the glory of her voice I will post Halleluiah by fellow Canadian- Leonard Cohen. & a personal favorite- Cole Porter’s So In Love from Red, Hot + Blue with this amazing & disturbing video; It breaks my heart: