Everyday I Write The Book

Don't tell me you don't know what love is

When you're old enough to know better

When you find strange hands in your sweater

When your dreamboat

 Turns out to be a footnote

I'm a man with a mission in 2 or 3 editions

& I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday I write the book

Chapter 1, we didn't really get along

Chapter 2,  I think I fell in love with you

You said you'd stand by me in the middle

Of Chapter 3

But you were up to your old tricks in

Chapters 4, 5 & 6

The way you walk

The way you talk, & try to kiss me,

& laugh

In 4 or 5 paragraphs

All your compliments & your cutting remarks

Are captured here in my quotation marks

& I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday, everyday

I write the book

Don't tell me you don't know the difference

Between a lover & a fighter

With my pen & my electric typewriter

Even in a perfect world

 Where everyone was equal

I'd still own the film rights

&be working on the sequel

& I'm giving you a longing look

Everyday, everyday,

 Everyday I write the book

Elvis Costello

1983

Born On This Day- August 25th... Elvis Costello

In sheer number of albums, the artists best represented in my music collection would be Tony Bennett, Paul Simon Frank Sinatra, The Police & Sting, k.d. lang, Van Morrison, & at the top of the heap would be Elvis Costello. I was crazy for him from the first listening of Alison from My Aim Is True in 1977.

Declan Patrick MacManus was born on this day in 1954. He is one of my most favorite & important musicians, with many of his huge catalogue of tunes speaking personally to me.

Costello has straddled the genres of punk, new wave, rock, pop, pub rock, traditional Irish, classical/symphonic, art song, country & soundtracks. He certainly has been prolific with 39 albums in 33 years. I used to sing Alison for auditions for shows with rock scores, & it was always included in my cabaret act in the 1980s. I modestly have to say that I feel it is one of my best numbers. I admire Costello's songwriting skills & I am zany for his singing with that hoarse little catch in his voice.

Costello is, decidedly, not gay. He is married to jazz artists Diana Krall. The couple lives in Vancouver BC.

Favorite Elvis Costello songs are too difficult to narrow down, but: Watching The Detectives, Shipbuilding (with a trumpet solo by Chet Baker!), Almost Blue, A Good Year For the Roses, Everyday I Write The Book, She, & God Give Me Strength. I could rhapsodize on & on, but I will just share one with you. This is the best cover of a country song ever.



And, of course, Alison: (You really sing it sometime. Just ask.)

Real Men

Take your mind back

I don't know when

Sometime when it always seemed

To be just us & them

Girls that wore pink

Boys that wore blue

Boys that always grew up better men

Than me & you

What's a man now?

What's a man mean?

Is he rough or is he rugged

Cultural & clean?

Now it's all changed

It's got to change more

We think it's getting better

But nobody's really sure

& so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

Who the real men are

See the nice boys

Dancing in pairs

Golden earring, golden tan

Blow-wave in their hair

Sure they're all straight

Straight as a line

All the gays are macho now

See their leather shine

You don't want to sound dumb

Don't want to offend

So don't call me a faggot

Not unless you are a friend

Then if you're tall, handsome & strong

You can wear the uniform & I could play along

&so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

Who the real men are

Time to get scared

Time to change plan

Don't know how to treat a lady

Don't know how to be a man

Time to admit

What you call defeat

'cause there's women running past you now

& you just drag your feet

Man makes a gun

Man goes to war

Man can kill & man can drink

& man can take a whore

Kill all the blacks

Kill all the reds

If there's war between the sexes

Then there will be no people left

& so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

 Who the real men are

 Joe Jackson

1982

Born On This Day- August 11th... Joe Jackson

I am posting about Joe Jackson, the English singer/songwriter who is the same age as I am, & whom I somewhat resemble... not Joe Jackson, the fabled ball player, or Joe Jackson, the father of Michael, or Joe Jackson, the jazz trombonist, or Joe Jackson, the novelist, or Joe Jackson the music journalist.

I remain a very big fan of his music, but for period, Joe Jackson's music was the soundtrack of my life. In 1982, his album Night & Day was my most played music of the year & spoke to my life in a personal way. This was as era when The Husband & I went out dancing & clubbing every weekend & I felt that I was living in slightly punked up version of a 1930s Hollywood Musical with a score by Gershwin.

Jacksons’s songs, rooted in the late 1970s/early 1980s “new wave” of sophisticated pop/jazz/classical styled rock, maintained an edgy relationship with mainstream gay culture. Even today many people don't even know he is gay, the fact isn't even mentioned on his website.

In his memoir- A Cure for Gravity, Jackson muses on how people make assumptions about him based on his lanky & effeminate appearance. But in the book he remains ambiguous about his orientation, & speaks out against generalizing on anyone's sexuality.

But there are gay references Jackson's music. Jackson says this about meaning behind his song- Real Men: “I see the gay identity has become more & more about being so masculine that you're more straight than the straight guys. & this is something that I find quite funny. I sort of get it, & at the same time, I don't like it that much. It's mixed feelings. & if we're talking about stereotypes, then I guess what I'm saying in the song is that I almost prefer the older stereotype,  this sort of Oscar Wilde/Quentin Crisp gay stereotype.”

Jackson ran a roughly parallel career course to British new wave icon Elvis Costello. Both wrote highly intelligent, smartly musical yet somewhat abrasive punk-informed pop with sophisticated lyrics. Both took a sharp turn early in their careers to explore different musical tributaries, Costello went country & Jackson went jazz, & both matured into well-respected crafters of sharp pop songs in the manner of Burt Bacharach, Costello even going so far as to work with the master himself.

Joe Jackson’s first album- Look Sharp, is a wonder of edgy punk-pop & includes such classics as the cynical Sunday Papers& the sparse, broken,  lurching guitar pop of Is She Really Going Out With Him?, the song that got my attention. But my favorite of his albums is the sublime Night & Day, which, in addition to calling up the spirit of Cole Porter in its title, bringing that erudite uptown sensibility by featuring a drawing of Jackson sitting at a grand piano in some expansive, Manhattan apartment with a view of the skyline, drawn by legendary Broadway caricaturist, Al Hirshfeld.

Night & Day is a cynical, yet sensitive album, full of poignant songs about relationships, (with the occasional up-beat tune, like the rhumba-  Everything Gives You Cancer thrown in the mix. The most poignant of all his songs is my favorite Jackson tune- Real Men. This provocative song is about trying to find your way through the dubious puzzle of social mores, stereotypes & suppositions of being a man, any man, but especially a gay man, in America in the 1980s. Anybody pushing against stereotypes can find solace in Jackson’s sad songs.  Beyond the bombast, the song is heartbreakingly beautiful. I like the way the chorus contrasts between the giant, wordless chords & crashing drum beat fading into a gentle violin line to end the phrase.

This song took a lot of courage for Jackson to release, as it was his first big pronouncement of his sexual orientation to the public. I’d like to think that men everywhere, shiny-leather gay or straight as a line, could find solace in this song & its wise portrayal of the difficulties of being a real man.

Jackson’s more sophisticated, adult approach, was influenced as much by jazz & Latin music as rock. He continued with Body & Soul (1984) Big World (1986), Blaze Of Glory (1989) & Laughter & Lust (1991).

Jackson turned further away from the pop mainstream with the gentle, soul-searching Night Music(1994), the satirical opera Heaven & Hell (1997) & Symphony  #1, which won the 2000 Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. Also in 2000, Jackson released a sequel Night & Day II, a personal favorite of mine. In 2003, Jackson did an about turn, reuniting the band from his first 3 albums for an acclaimed album of new songs-  Volume 4, and a successful world tour. In 2008, he recorded a minimal, but still majestic album- Rain using just piano, voice, & his original rhythm section.

In addition to his own albums, Jackson has written several film scores, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker &James Bridges’ Mike’s Murder. He has also played piano & sung on records by Suzanne Vega, Joan Armatrading, Ruben Blades, Rickie Lee Jones, Nina Hagen, & William Shatner.

His new album-The Duke is a tribute album, with songs by or inspired by the great American Jazz composer-  Duke Ellington. Check out Jackson & Iggy Pop take on Beginning To See The Light on this terrific album.

Summer Song- 46 Years Ago... Wouldn't It Be Nice

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older?

Then we wouldn't have to wait so long

& wouldn't it be nice to live together

In the kind of world where we belong

You know it’s gonna make it that much better

When we can say goodnight & stay together

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up

In the morning when the day is new

& after having spent the day together

Hold each other close the whole night through

Happy times together we've been spending

I wish that every kiss was never ending

Wouldn't it be nice?

Maybe if we think & wish & hope

 & pray it might come true

Then there wouldn't be a single thing we couldn't do

We could be married

& then we'd be happy

Wouldn't it be nice?

You know it seems the more we talk about it

It only makes it worse to live without it

But let’s talk about it

Wouldn't it be nice?

Good night my baby

Sleep tight my baby

Wilson/Asher

1966

Born On This Day- July 11th... Tab Hunter

Arthur Andrew Kelm Gelien was an equestrian & figure skater before his agent, Henry Wilson turned him into Tab Hunter (the same agent that came up with the name Rock Hudson). Tab Hunter has appeared in over 40 films & has worked on stage & TV. My favortite Tab Hunter role is as Joe Hardy in the1958 film version of Damn Yankees. He was the only one in the film version who had not been in the original Broadway cast.

In the year of my birth-1954, Hunter, then 23, blond & blue eyed, the perfect product of a popular perceptibility, as free from cynicism & care as a sky can be cloudless & clear, was the #1 male star at the box office with the film- Battle Cry. By 1957 he was also #1 on the pop music charts with Young Love, topping Elvis Presley.

By 1959 his ride was ending. Troy Donahue was invented & he became the next Tab Hunter, & Hunter at 28 was more or less done. Hunter began a 46 year descent into actors’ hell: spaghetti westerns (Hunter describes them as - "short on the meat sauce"), TV guest shots, dinner theater, infomercials, & the film Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood.

Then, in the 1980s, after the long trip through the depths of drek & a heart attack, Hunter was rediscovered by Post Apocalyptic Bohemian- John Waters. In Polyester (1981), Waters used Hunter, who had starred opposite John Wayne as well as Natalie Wood, Sophia Loren & a bevy of beauties, to play opposite Divine as Francine Fishpaw.  His work in Polyester reinvented Hunter as an ironic illustration of his own Hollywood iconography.

Hunter said Hollywood in the 1950s had its version of "Don't ask, don't tell": "Don't complain, don't explain." Let the studio take care of the actors, & let the public draw its conclusions.

Hunter: "Hollywood will just take you, chew you up, spit you out, dump you on the side & go on to the next, & it's kind of tragic." In 2005, Hunter released a terrific & very readable memoir- Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of A Movie Star where he finally publicly came out of the closet. Hunter: "Life was difficult for me, because I was living 2 different lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. Then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft & succeed..." the word 'gay' wasn't even around in those days, & if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process. There was a lot written about my sexuality, & the press was pretty darn cruel."

Hunter enjoyed long term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins & champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down with his partner of 30 years, Allan Glaser, a producer. The couple live in Montecito, California.

He was one of my first crushes. I think Tab Hunter was & is a blond bombshell. I don't hate that he is a Republican… but I do hate his Republicanism.

Born On This Day- July 9th... Peter Mark Sinclair Almond

I lived through & partied for much of the early 1980s with Marc Almond as my soundtrack, starting when I tasted his first leather clad success with Soft Cell.

Peter Mark Sinclair Almond claims he was sexually precocious as a young teenager & being gay was always a glorious struggle, growing up, after his parents divorced, with his grandparents in Yorkshire. In his song Trials of Eyeliner, Almond recalls being hit as a makeup wearing teenager by his soldier father, who on another occasion marched into his school, demanding to know whether his son was gay. Another song- Lavender,pays tribute to clandestine gay role models such as Dirk Bogarde. Almond: “difficult even now to come to terms with these liberated times. I’m always fearful that it’s going to change any minute.”

Artifice was the order of his day, from school, where he would pretend to have girlfriends whom nobody met, to his 1980s stardom, when he had “a PR company inventing girlfriends” for him. Almond: “You do get bruised and poisoned by your time. People my age still feel they need to be private in their lives: ‘This is my (nudge nudge, wink wink) special friend’.”

When he finished school, Almond studied music, dance & performance art at Leeds Poly, & then moved to London with a friend who was working as a hustler in Piccadilly Circus. In his memoirs Almond talks openly about his sexuality & his past illicit drug use that led to the demise of Soft Cell in the mid '80s. He is a crooner who strikes me as a true artist in every sense of its meaning, charting his own course beyond the fad of the moment. Almond works without compromise, making electro-pop, dueting with Gene Pitney, singing French chansons, performing Russians love songs or strutting down the stage on a VH1 fasion music show. He is still with the long term boyfriend he’s been with for decades. Almond: “That’s always part of my life, but something that I never really talk about.” About the only thing it seems. His 2 volumes are truly “tell-alls”.

My Marc Almond album favorite is 2007's Stardom Road. This collection features many of the genres that Marc has been associated with over the years, including the Torch Song; the 1950's crooners; the grand orchestral sounds of the early1960's; the over the top glam rock of the 1970's & the electro-style of the 1980's that made him famous as part of Soft Cell.

Stardom Road is his 1st album since his near fatal motorcycle crash in 2004. The crash proved life changing, as near death experiences seem to be. It features guest spots from Antony Hegarty of Antony & the Johnsons; Jools Holland, & Sarah Cracknell from St Etienne, who duets with Almond on the Dusty Springfield song I Close My Eyes & Count To10. This is a very moving & beautifully crafted album.

Backstage I'm A Lonely is a tribute to the late Gene Pitney & it really is a tear jerker. The album is far from maudlin, with tracks like Petula Clark’s upbeat tale of surviving against the odds- Happy Heart. The only original song- Redeem Me (Beauty Will Redeem The World) is a fantastic tune. Almond has sworn to only record covers, but he shows that he's still got great songwriting chops as well. Marc has never sounded as upbeat as he does here. Kitsch, camp, melodramatic, yet full of heartfelt emotion.

Drawing on cabaret, vaudeville, music hall & the ghosts of his heroes Charles Aznavour & Jacques Brel, his work is as witty & frank as he is;  & sometimes painful, sometimes indulgent. Almond looks the same: well preserved at 54 years old, yet fragile; like something from a Tim Burton Film: dyed black crop, black jacket & jeans, eyeliner, & faded blue tattoos. His work is slightly twisted, cynical & dark while being romantic & deeply personal at the same time. Nobody wallows like Marc Almond. I adore him.

Born On This Day- July 1st... Frederick William Schneider lll

It was not just regulation Oregon mist, by the time we got to the venue, a natural amphitheater at the Oregon Zoo, the husband & I were greeted with the heavens opening up & the sheets of wet water drenched the 3800 concertgoers.

The crowd wrapped in plastic or covered with plastic, danced & sang along as the world’s best party band put on a terrific show. The Husband & I found a perfect spot, passed over by others for the lawn or the mosh pit. We stood under a large tree that mostly kept us dry, on a terrace above the majority of the audience. We enjoyed a clear view of the stage with all the umbrellas 10 feet below us.

In 1979, The Husband & I used to dance until closing, at Spokane’s only gay bar. When the B-52s were played we would sing along & dance with extra ardor. I have never stopped listening to this fun band in 33 years of dancing.

When the B-52s finished an extended version of Rock Lobster, their final encore, the rain stopped in an instant, of course.

We were invited backstage. Band member- Keith Strickland, who is my age, is super cute, lean & charming. He appears to be 2 decades younger.  

Fred Schneider was enigmatic yet charismatic. He was just a week shy of his 61^st birthday.

Schneider has released 2 solo albums, but neither of these albums were as successful as any of the albums created by The B-52's.

He is known for his quirky sprechgesang & distinctive swish. The B-52's were formed by Cindy Wilson & my good close personal friend- Kate Pierson with drummer Keith Strickland, guitarist Ricky Wilson (Cindy's older brother) & vocalist Schneider after a drunken night at a Chinese restaurant.

Late 1970s & through the mid-1980s, several nights a week were spent on the dance floor. I loved swallowing a Quaalude & dancing to the combination of dance & surf music of The B-52s. The band made a real impression with their singles Rock Lobster, Private Idaho& Planet Claire from their debut album in 1979. Wild Planetfollowed in 1980, followed by Whammy!in 1983.

In October 1985, the band members were devastated by the death of guitarist Ricky Wilson, from what was originally reported to be cancer, but was later revealed to be AIDS. The band's album Bouncing Off The Satellites (1986) was not a success, & the band went into hiatus. The B-52's returned in 1989 with the album Cosmic Thing, their biggest success, giving us the international hit- Love Shack.

Original members Schneider, Kate Pierson & Keith Strickland are all openly gay. Fred Schneider turns 61years old today.

I surmise that Debbie & Fred know each other. I sure would like to have them over for cocktails in the Boy’s Fort. That would be a kicky evening! It is 2012 & this summer Blondie & the B-52s will be playing a handful of shows together. How cool is that?

Here is a shot of me with my good close personal friend, the B-52s’ Kate Pierson. At 64 years old, she is still stunning & sassy & she can still shimmy like no other. It was a special night for the Post Apocalyptic Bohemian. Thank you to my blogger buddy- David of Domani Dave for helping make that memorable evening happen.

Born On This Day- July 1st... Deborah Ann Harry

Summer 1979, I am living in the historic Browne’s Addition of Spokane. After spending the mid-1970s living in NYC, I have moved back to the city where I grew up, trying to re-group & decide what to do next. I immediately got work in the theatre. I never would have believed when I left Spokane in 1972, on the day I graduated from high school, I would find myself wanting to a be a big fish in a tiny pond, instead of the tiniest minnow in the very biggest pond & so I return to my hometown.

I spot this girl in an aisle at the supermarket. She is wearing cat glasses & a leopard skin coat over a tiny black jumper & a skirt of tropical fruit themed oil cloth, paired with cowboy boots. I had only seen this type of female in NYC & certainly not in tried & true, conservative Spokane. I cruised her for a bit, before getting up the nerve. ME: “Excuse me, but I just need to tell you how fabulous your look. You can’t possibly be from Spokane. You are really putting it out there? SHE: “Well, I’m not from here, but I am here now. I know I look fabulous; that’s what I do, & you look like a pud. But, I think I like you sweetie. Wanna come to a party with me?”

I go to this party with my new friend. There are boys kissing boys, boys kissing girls, girls kissing girls. I drink something handed to me & I smoke something passed to me, I snort something on the coffee table, & I was really loving the music. I was loving the music a great deal. It was my first time hearing Blondie & the song was named- Heart Of Glass & I am crazy for it. I dance for hours.

I bought the album- Parallel Lines with the songs like One Way Or Another & Sunday Girl. I am zany for Blondie, but I stayed with Debbie Harry after the breakup of Blondie & I have never strayed far away.

Rapture was my first rap song. I have had several firsts with Debbie Harry.*

I am crazy for her solo albums & her work with Jazz Passengers.  As the face & sound behind one of new wave's most influential bands to emerge during the punk heyday of the 1970s, Harry was the ultimate diva. She was the Blondie front-woman, a vixen with hypnotically wild stage moves & an edgy cool voice. A killer sneer matched her signature blonde hair & made her a star. I love her. She is a goddess to me. Debbie Harry is my muse. Debbie Harry is a Gay Icon.

Not enough to be an influential musician, her acting career spans over 30 film roles & numerous TV appearances. She looks & sounds astoundingly hot at 67 years old. Today is her birthday.

*Sordid footnote: I did mushrooms with the husband, circa 1980, & I had a sequence of time during that experience, where I went “into” The Husband’s medieval Flemish tapestry. I was walking the candle lit hallways of a castle, wearing stunning Aramini clothing. The soundtrack from this debauched adventure was Call Meby Blondie.

Born On This Day- June 30th... Gay Icon, Lena Mary Calhoun Horne

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

She was my father's favorite movie star & he has a story of filling her automobile's gas tank at the gas station he worked at on La Cienega Boulevard in 1944. Lena Horne had a primary occupation of nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. Besides her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 & brought her 3 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989. She appeared in 16 feature films & several shorts between 1938 & 1978. She performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony winning show- Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981/1982; & she sang & acted on radio & TV.

Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally & in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers.

By 1969, when Horne acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing & musical training lent he talent to the popular music of the day, rather than the blues & jazz more commonly associated with people of color. Lena's photogenic beauty was close enough to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration & raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, Horne could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.

Horne was closely associated with the songs of her friend-the openly gay Billy Strayhorn.

She left this world 10 years after the start of the new century, with a legacy of the music & images of her stunning beauty.

Born On This Day- June 25th... Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou

Oh, those crazy 1980s! He won me over big with Wham! & Careless Whisper in 1984 (my favorite year of my life, so far), & I never let him go. The hits kept coming & I was right there for the next 25+ years. I am just a sucker for a hot ass in a tight pair of jeans, a leather jacket, & some stubble. Add in those phenomenal pipes & the killer hooks & it is a love affair for Stephen. The love has never wavered.

George Michael was the 1st white male to top the Black Music charts & the 1st white male to duet with Aretha Franklin with the infectious single- I Knew You Were Waiting. His breakout solo album Faith (1987) had 5 #1 hit singles & spent 51 weeks in the Billboard Top 10, including 12 weeks at #1.

Faith left Michael struggling to deal with his secret homosexuality. The feelings of loneliness, disaffection were themes in his next album- Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1. (1990) The album had a more soulful & stripped-down sound, producing 5 U.S. Top 40 hits: Waiting For That Day, Cowboys & Angels, Heal the Pain, Praying for Time & the personal confessional song Freedom! 90. It sold 7 million copies & spent 42 weeks in the Billboard Top 100 charts.

George Michael's album- Older is my personal favorite, an album that speaks to me in a deep personal way. Older was the soundtrack of my life in the late 1990s & I was moved by the title track & the mournful Like Jesus To A Child in a way the was profound & very moving. Like Jesus To A Child is a salutation to Michael’s secret partner- Brazilian fashion designer Anselmo Feleppa. Feleppa had died 3 years earlier of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage, leaving Michael feeling alone & despondent. Michael was not openly gay & no one knew who the song was about. Olderwent on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide & spent more than 96 weeks on the charts.

After grappling with the death of Feleppa, he met his future husband, American Kenny Goss. In 2005, Goss opened the Goss Gallery in Dallas, which shows contemporary art, including those collected by the couple. They had homes in London & Dallas. While the joy of his new relationship started to ease his pain, he soon lost his mother to skin cancer, a loss that tormented George for several years. He did not write or record during that period, except Songs From The Last Century, an album of standards & covers in 2000. On the opening night of his world tour in 2011, Michael announced that he & Goss had split 2 years earlier.

In 1998, Michael was arrested in Beverly Hills on a charge of lewd conduct in a park bathroom. Who of us has not? The arrest made worldwide headlines & led him to come out of the closet. He poked fun at the arrest in the hit single- Outside.

In 2004 Michael released Patience, which sold more than 200,000 copies in the first week. It spun several Top 10 hits including Freeek!, Amazing & Flawless (Go tothe City), all dedicated to Kenny Goss. In 2006, George Michael announced his 1st tour in 15 years. The 25 Live Tour was a massive & worldwide, & spanned 3 individual tours over the course of 3 years.

I was in a panic when he almost died. Michael was admitted to hospital in Vienna, in November 2011, after complaining of chest pains at a hotel while on tour. Michael later confirmed that he had suffered from pneumonia & was in an intensive-care unit for more than a month. Michael's current partner, celebrity hairstylist Fadi Fawaz, was at his side. Michael made a public speech in London about how the staff at the Vienna General Hospital had saved his life & how he was so grateful that he was going to perform a concert for the staff. While making the speech, he became emotional & became breathless & he mentioned he had undergone a tracheotomy.

With Fawaz this spring

I am rathered pleased that he lived. 30 years after the first Wham! Single- Wham Rap, written with Andrew Ridgeley entered the British charts, Michael released his most recent song- White Light to celebrate & commemorate those 30 years on the exact anniversary of that chart date.

Portland Pride Day... 25 Gayest Songs Of All Time

25. 9 to 5- Dolly Parton

24. In the Navy- Village People

23. Relax- Frankie Goes To Hollywood

22. Macho Man- Village People

21. Small Town Boy- Bronski  Beat

20. I’m Coming Out- Diana Ross

19. I Am What I Am- Harvey Fierstein

18. I Love The Nightlife- Alicia Bridges

17. Vogue- Madonna

16. Constant Craving- k d lang

15. Xanadu- Olivia Newton-John

14. Go West- Pet Shop Boys

13. No More Tears (Enough is Enough)- Babs & Donna Summer

12. You Make Me Feel Mighty Real- Sylvester

11. Don’t Rain On My Parade- Barbra Streisand

10. Love Shack- B 52s

9. YMCA- Village People

8. Dancing Queen- ABBA

7. Secret Love- Doris Day

6. Faith- George Michael

5. Hot Stuff- Donna Summer

4. We Are Family- Sister Sledge

3. It’s Raining Men- Weather Girls

2. I Will Survive- Gloria Gaynor

1. Over The Rainbow- Judy Garland

He Made It Through The Rain To Sing The Songs The Whole World Sings

Today is the 69th birthday of Barry Alan Pincus of Brooklyn NY. He wrote a whole bunch of songs & along the way sold over 360 million records as writer, producer, arranger or conductor, up there with Sinatra, Michael Jackson or Bruce Springsteen.

Maybe Barry Manilow will never be ready to take a chance again. During a 2004 concert in NYC, just as he started to sing a duet with Brian d’Arcy James, Mailow joked to the audience: “Of course, we're not going to sing it to each other—that would be creepy.”

His own website diminishes the fact that he began his career in a gay bathhouse, despite the fact that he’s admitted ripping off his tuxedo & jumping into the bathhouse’s pool with lots of gay nude men. He blamed losing his inhibitions on the drinks & joints that had been passed to him. Manilow: “That’s such a bit of misinformation. There was just 1 bathhouse called the Continental Bathhouse & I worked there for 2 weekends with Bette Midler & that was it. I accompanied her for two weekends there & then we went on to a lot of nightclubs around NYC, Chicago & L.A. & she exploded like a year later. So it really wasn’t ‘gay bathhouses.’ I don't know where that came from.”

On the plus side, he canceled an appearance on The View because of Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s ultra-conservative stance. Manilow: “I strongly disagree with her views, I think she's dangerous & offensive. I will not be on the same stage as her.” When Manilow was being honored in Palm Springs for his AIDS awareness efforts, he stated: “I've had 4 personal assistants in my career since the ’70s, & 3 out of the 4 have died of AIDS. My personal assistants have always become my best friends. They are my brothers.”

Manilow complained that when the Reagans became his neighbors in Bel-Air: "I thought it was pretty hot, but the secret service was all over the place. I always know when they are coming home because of all the helicopters. If I am out there sunbathing in the nude, I go, shit, the Reagans are coming home.”

When Elizabeth Taylor asked him the early 1980s for help raising money to fight the disease he was there. Manilow: “Her friend, Rock Hudson, had died. She was the first one to try to make the public aware of this disease that was infecting everybody, & she was throwing a big dinner party. She called her entertainer friends, & they all turned her down. I don't know why. But I got the call & said, ‘Of course.’ But my band wasn't around. I just went there & played piano & sang for a good hour. It was the first one she had, & it was the first time I had ever done anything like that.”

I have never been, nor do I suspect that I will ever be, a Fanalow. Even with my egalitarian & encompassing musical tastes, I never did find myself on the Manilow journey. The closest to an exception was when I was working for ASCAP in NYC, circa mid-1970s. I was engaged in listening to 6 hours of commercial radio play & entrusted to identify all the music played: commercials, bridges, lead-ins, cues & songs. I would not listen to songs all the way through. I was paid a bonus for finishing more than the 6 hour tape. Yet, I was very taken with an AM radio hit. I knew the song in the first 3 notes, but I would listen all the way through. I began to think it would be an effective ballad in my own act. The song was Weekend In New England sung by Barry Manilow.

I think it is unfortunate that Manilow suffers from the same fear of fan rejection that Liberace did. It would have been fun to have him be an out & proud gay man. For 25 years, Manilow has lived with his "manager" Garry Kief in homes they share in NYC, Bel Air & Palm Springs. Could It Be Magic?

June 2012 Playlist

June Playlist

Could It Be Magic- Donna Summer

Only The Horses- Scissor Sisters

Move In The Right Direction- The Gossip

Have You Got What It Takes- Mari Wilson

Jimmie Standing In The Rain- Elvis Costello

The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys- Rickie Lee Jones

Good Intent- Kimbra

I Started A Joke- Bee Gees

Stay- Sara Bareillies

That’s What’s Up- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic  Zeros

When I Am A Kid- Demis Roussos

The Book Of Love- Mark Kibble

Daylight- Matt & Kin

Little Lion Man- Mumford & Sons

Dauoalogn- Sigur Ros

Nessun Dorma- Nathan Pacheco