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[berto]

It seems more than a few people end up at Gay Republic Daily in search of KidsOnTV's European tour.

How do you know these things, Fer? Are you magic?

[Feral]

shhhhhhhhh




yes

[berto]

hee-hee :mrgreen:

Anyways, Jake and the Sisters have a new video out...

The Scissor Sisters have just finished filming their new single Kiss You Off.

[...]

Ana Matronic takes lead in this Blondie-esque anthem to breaking up "I think it's one of the most polished and professional looking things we've ever done but don't hold that against us; it was so much fun to do. We hope you like it," says Ana Matronic.

Stills @ link...

[Feral]

Towleroad has an interview with Chris Garneau. The lad only just released his debut album and there's already another in the works.

This is a good thing.

[Feral]

Agitprop Records is soon (though hardly soon enough for my taste) to back online. This is, in some quarters, Earth-shaking news. (OK, many of those quarters are in my own house, but there will surely be others.) Queer Control Records is new to the neighborhood, but I have a feeling they'll make themselves comfortable in short order. Chainsaw Records and Spitshine Records are still around.

Never imagine that House and Trance is all there is to Gay music.

[Feral]

Straight Radio Station Owner Energizes Gay Media Market

Since hitting the airwaves nearly three years ago, Bayliss has charted a course for San Francisco's only independently owned radio station that has enabled it to turn a profit and become the most listened to dance/electronic radio station on the West Coast.

"The gay community, which makes up 15% of the San Francisco market and represents $670 billion in consumer spending, has a passion for dance music, but no one was playing it. So we launched Energy 92.7FM Pure Dance," said Bayliss. "We took an old-fashioned approach to our business model: local, live personalities and grass roots community involvement and went to work."

Bayliss and his team put together a radio line up of the hippest dance club music available with dynamic on-air personalities that today includes America's first all-gay morning radio show. Additionally, the Energy team began supporting local non-profits and taking an active role within the community. "We wanted to be the kind of station that not only played great music, but was there for the community 365 days a year," added Bayliss.

Anyone want to bet that the number one reason this concept wasn't put together by Gays is that "my orientation is just one small part of who I am"?

[berto]

Isn't that just pathetic....

[Feral]

Well, yes and not so yes.

Mr. Bayliss and his radio station appear to be fine and good friends to the local Gay community. Hardly surprising in and of itself since it may be in his commercial interests to be seen as a fine and good friend to the Gay community. We do not have so many friends, good or otherwise, that having this one can in any way be a bad thing.

I'm just asking if anyone here assembled wishes to wager some imaginary pink dollars against the proposition that the number one reason this concept wasn't put together by Gays is that "my orientation is just one small part of who I am." For myself, I would have thought the idea of a radio station playing dance music was not a good one, even in San Fransisco. After all, the bulk of Gay-produced music seems to be in genres other than 'dance' and I'd have thought it a pretty good guess that the tastes of the Gay public would follow that trend. This is probably why Mr. Bayliss owns a radio station and why I do not.

[vanrozenheim]

I'm just asking if anyone here assembled wishes to wager some imaginary pink dollars against the proposition that the number one reason this concept wasn't put together by Gays is that "my orientation is just one small part of who I am."

Most probably you have right. But it's also very well possible that lots of gay people simply have no confidence in what they can do. You know, the "Straigh Man Desease" ...  :roll:

[Feral]

Oh Yeah!

This is a clear example of Straight Man Disease. All things must come from the straight man. After all, he rightly rules the world. Why would anyone dare to question this Divine Right? Everyone knows that Gay people can't do anything for themselves. Certainly not something so difficult as a profitable radio station. This we must leave to the Straight Man. He will take care of this and many other things for us if we only behave ourselves well and keep to our place.

Not that I regret having Mr. Bayliss as an ally -- to the contrary: I find he is a rare and precious thing.

[berto]

Oppose the mainstream: Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett

It's hard not to love Owen Pallett.

It's the music that gets you first. There is a fiercely compelling quality to the songs penned by the Toronto violinist. And once drawn in, small tastes of Pallett's personality — during live performances or radio broadcasts — has most listeners hooked. Deeply personable and amusingly self-effacing, the young musician is quite willing to spill his guts on all the biggies — whether music, sex, religion, cooking, pop culture and social theories.

Pallett's solo project Final Fantasy (a tribute to the Japanese videogame series of which he is a fan) eases in and out of melodramatic baroque pop. Amidst the swells of evocative strings, the lyrics are intimate, sometimes confessional and always part of a bigger concept.

Still, to dissect Pallett's music is hardly to do it justice. What it comes down to is this — somehow, despite the melodrama of the songs and Pallett's quavering voice, the music is touchingly beautiful.

[...]

Pallett believes that, like it or not, he is defined by his sexuality. The Final Fantasy sound, which is his appeal, has everything to do with being gay.

"I do have a theory," he says. "I think that the gayness of the artist is reflected in the art, whether or not it's political or sexy or has anything to do with gay sex. There will always be that whiff of anti-traditionalism."

Still, as many have said, being gay is not enough. But virtuostic ability plus the creativity of an untraditional life — is the key to Pallett's music.

Pallett's own music is the farthest thing from traditional and he likes it that way. And having toured internationally, Pallett is grateful that he lives in a country where his offbeat art really stands out.

"Canada is very privileged in the gay culture scheme of things. We're both accepting of homos and yet still pretty conservative, which, for gays and lesbians, is the perfect mix. I have this theory that one of the main goals of homosexuals is to be in constant opposition to the mainstream — to always remain counter-cultural. Right? So, Canada has it good for gays. We're accepted here and can marry. But at the same time, the culture is pretty conservative, with our try-hard-to-be-cutting-edge architecture and our pedestrian film scene."

[...]

Incredibly, the 2006 album, which took the eight schools of magic in Dungeons & Dragons and translated them into lyrical day to day phenomena, managed to win the 2006 Polaris prize. Many were not surprised. Pallet apparently was.

Chosen by music journalists the Polaris Music Prize is an award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. Pallett is still not reconciled to his win. "I don't think I really deserved to win and so I harbour strange, bipolar feelings about the experience. I'm not being self-effacing. I just can't believe that a roomful of people thought He Poos Clouds was better than Destroyer's Rubies."

Check out the sound...

There's a mini-tour on:

Toronto.
(appearing with Do Make Say Think)
Harbourfront Centre.
Sun, Jul 1.
www.harbourfrontcentre.com.

Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Folk Festival.
Sat, Jul 7.
Sun, Jul 8.
www.winnipegfolkfestival.ca.

Ottawa.
Bluesfest — Black Sheep Stage.
Mon, Jul 9, 9:15pm.
www.ottawabluesfest.ca.

Calgary.
Folk Festival — Prince's Island Park.
Fri, Jul 27.
Sat, Jul 28.
Sun, Jul 29.
www.calgaryfolkfest.com.

[Feral]

Pallett believes that, like it or not, he is defined by his sexuality. The Final Fantasy sound, which is his appeal, has everything to do with being gay.

"I do have a theory," he says. "I think that the gayness of the artist is reflected in the art, whether or not it's political or sexy or has anything to do with gay sex.

Clever lad. He's right, of course. Being Gay is not "just one small part" of who he is. It's who he is. That said, it is entirely possible to write music about the classes of magic users in Dungeons and Dragons (not that I've have recommended that) rather than croon about the bumpy boys of Chelsea and still have it be essentially Gay music. The gayness of the artist is reflected in the art.

[berto]

Crossing the continent for love:  Antoine Bédard is Going Places

In 2005, at age 27, Bédard encountered the driving force behind his music — and his move to BC. "I fell in love with a boy and I moved to Vancouver for him," he gushes. "It was life-changing, that's for sure.

"The whole record was inspired by my relationship with my boyfriend," he continues. "The cheerfulness and the playfulness of the record come from this amazing relationship."

"Best Boy Electric," a boy-on-boy duet, narrates Bédard's romance. "It was a refreshing experience to sing along with another guy!" he says. The pop track's theatrical arrangements, redolent of musicals he admires, capture his childlike joy and refusal to take things too seriously.

"It was the first time ever that I allowed myself to be silly," he says. "I like laughing, and I didn't want to fake it by being intimate and tortured and serious."

[...]

For Bédard, to compose songs with an air of joy to them was a deliberate choice. "Real happiness is never represented anywhere. It's taboo to be happy... you're supposed to be miserable. There are serious things happening, I understand. But if you want your life to be happy, there's nothing stopping you."

"This record is about allowing yourself to be happy," he continues. "People keep things inside too [often]."

Bédard's writing comes from a more trusting, benevolent perspective. "I think people can find a lot of warmth and comfort in it, because that's how I felt when I was recording it."

[...]

Going Places.
Montag.
www.montag.ca.
www.myspace.com/montagmontag

.

[berto]

Toronto-based trangendered singer breaks new ground, but doesn't want his music to be seen as a 'gimmick'

The front man of Toronto rock band the Cliks bares a turbulent tapestry on his arm: a dragon leaping through flames and waves, two guns bearing wide wings, and the word “Survivor.”

“This is all to commemorate what I went through,” says Silveira, who is transgender. “Fifty percent of trans people commit suicide. I went to that place, and I know where that comes from. I felt so lucky that I got through it that this was to commemorate the entire ordeal.”

Silveira is the first out transgender artist to be signed to a high profile label, Tommy Boy’s gay-friendly imprint Silver Label. These days he is trying to build a career as he rebuilds his life as a biological female who identifies as male.

The Cliks were featured on the recent gay-oriented True Colors Tour, playing alongside Cyndi Lauper, Erasure, and Debbie Harry. This spring they released Snakehouse, an emotional, guitar-driven album. Their single “Oh Yeah” spent several weeks atop a musical countdown on Logo, the gay-themed cable network.

Performers who defy the status quo face a challenge: how to live up to the hype on an artistic level that their identities generate. Sometimes these acts rely on novelty alone for sales and popularity. Conversely, Silveira hopes his artistry will eventually outshine a gender identity considered edgy in the pop mainstream.

At first glance the singer, who declines to give his age, looks like a petite tomboy with stylish, cropped locks and thick, lush eyelashes. While shopping for sneakers in downtown Manhattan (”I love shoes, man,” he gushes), salesmen offer him women’s sizes even though he asks for men’s. Silveira knows he looks more female than male; on his records he sounds like it too. He sacrificed the male attributes hormones offer to maintain his singing voice. Instead, he underwent a double mastectomy to feel more comfortable in his skin.

“People are like, ‘How opportunistic of you. Is this a gimmick? Do you think it’s stylish to be this way?”’ he says of skeptics. “And I am like, ‘Yeah, I am really, really into having a double mastectomy for fashion.”’

[Feral]

A discography for the pre-2005 Tommy Boy Silver Label is here. Post-2005 Silver Label offerings are listed here.

"... the Cliks music kinda sounds like what might happen if Chrissie Hynde and the Murmurs Leisha Hailey fell in love, got Bowie to help out with insemination and gave birth to an indie rock love child. It's all kinda raw but sweetly melodic, with a ballsy cabaret swagger." -SARAH LISS, NOW Magazine

I don't quite know what a 'ballsy cabaret swagger' is supposed to sound like, other than music-reviewer double-talk, but the rest of the description is dead-on. You can judge for yourself at the band's website. Naturally, they have a MySpace page as well (who doesn't?). Aficionados of Rock and Roll will probably find their tunes quite pleasant. Those who prefer their music to go "BOOM" won't.