It's Close To Midnight, Something Evil's Lurking In The Dark...

Happy Halloween, everyone. I've posted a photo from last week's costume-making session over at Glitterlens, for your infotainment. To celebrate the holiday, I'm going up to New Haven, CT, to see history's greatest adulteress-slash-child-molester, Phedre, at Yale in a new production directed by ModFab buddy Christopher Mirto. Might do the parade later, if'n we're not exhausted when we get back. Or maybe we'll take in a screening of Michael Jackson's This Is It, which strikes me as the most morbid, spooky, freaky activity possible this year. Watching emaciated, drug-addicted dead people dance like they're alive. Fun.

So what are you doing this Hallows' Eve?

Adam Lambert and the Making of a Gay Icon

Adam Lambert's taking a lot of heat around the blogosphere for the cover to his upcoming album For Your Entertainment, but I, for one, think it's pretty amazing. Sure, it's out there, but the detail and style of the 80's-era parody is dead on. Adam's clearly in on the humorous, campy joke...that album title drips wit and irony, considering his background as a product of the Idol machine.

More importantly, though, is just how "out" the image is. When's the last time you saw the record industry embrace androgyny to this extent? I have to go at least two decades back, to RuPaul's "Supermodel" moment. Adam's making a breathtaking statement, if you really think about it...this image rejects marketing strategy, parodies the shallowness of mainstream pop, and presents an in-your-face queer icon. It practically dares you to buy it. It eroticizes feminine men in a way we haven't really seen since Bowie. It not only rejects traditional masculinity, it suggests that sexiness comes in many, many, many flavors. Yay for sexy sissy boys!

Long story short: I love it. I'm buying it the day it comes out. And if I'm lucky, I'll buy the poster and hang it in my office. Go Adam!

(Which doesn't mean I've forgiven him for that "Time For Miracles" nonsense on the 2012 soundtrack. I'm going to just pretend that never happened.)

Obama and the Hate Crimes Act

Matthew Shepard via Wikipedia

I've slammed President Obama a lot over the last few months, so let me give props when he's due: tomorrow in a White House ceremony, he will sign The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Named for Matthew Shepard, the gay teenager who was beaten to death in Wyoming, and James Byrd. Jr., the black man from Texas who was tied to a pick-up track and dragged to death, the act makes it a federal crime to assault someone because of their sexual orientation, disability or gender identity.

It's about time that America, the land of the theoretically free, ensure that LGBT people can't be attacked in the streets by homophobes. Good on Obama (and Congress, who got this legislation through with a refreshing ease). If only health care would go this well...

Fabulousity Alert: Shirley Bassey Sings New Pet Shop Boys Song

I. Am. Dying. From. Joy. The new song, "The Performance of My Life," starts at just shy of the five-minute mark.

Retrospectacle: Danny Wilson's "Davy"

Woke up humming this old, obscure song from a criminally underrated band of the 80's, and felt compelled to share. "Davy" doesn't really have the hook for pop immortality, but it's a lovely tune just the same. I wish there were a video of the much more magnificent track "Aberdeen" from the same album, but this sound clip will have to do.

Andrew Sullivan on HRC

One of the great ironies of my life is that I find myself agreeing more and more with conservative pundit Andrew Sullivan more and more. Of course, Andrew's not a Bush apologist anymore; like me, he bought the Obama line two years ago and became an advocate. Here's his discussion of the horrible behavior of the Human Rights Campaign this past week. If you've been following this story, I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

Obama, the HRC and National Coming Out Day

My thoughts are with everyone participating in the National Equality March in D.C. today. I wish I was there, but I got invited to another party first, and hey, it's an equally gay event. I hope there's some hell raising at the Capitol today, especially in light of the egregious, unconscionable speech by President Obama last night in front of the craven, useless Human Rights Campaign. (If you missed it, I'll summarize...Obama gave no timetable for his completely unfulfilled campaign promises, did not offer any new promises OR advocate for marriage equality, and the HRC put out a press release suggesting that we all wait patiently for fairness and protection and quit pressuring him. Until 2017. No, I'm not kidding.)

Add this to his other failures -- the ruination of health care, the increase in Bush's war agenda, and his inability to get anything through the Democratically-controlled Congress -- and you can't look at his presidency to date as anything but a duplicitious failure.

But let me offer a guest opinion, who speaks the truth so eloquently there is nothing I can add. Damion wrote this on Facebook today, and it is *exactly* how I'm feeling this morning. I hope the March today is just the beginning of some continued political and social action. No one will give us our equal fair share, least of all Obama, it seems. If we want to be treated with dignity and respect, we will have to get it ourselves. Come out...and come out swinging.

"Thoughts on National Coming Out Day and the National Equality March 2009"
by Damion

I have been out since 1987, and owning my own truth in this has been the most powerfully freeing and empowering thing I have ever done. I have seen members of my family and friends move from hatred and fear to love and pride.... from making nasty homophobic comments to championing and marching for my equal rights. I have seen great strides and advances for the LGBT community followed by devastating setbacks. The journey to full equality can be rough and disheartening. But it can also be momentous and empowering. And while I have encountered moments of exhaustion during this struggle for freedom and equality, know that I am committed to seeing it through. I will continue to make sure people know that they have at least one queer person in their life. I will continue to tell of our histories and to teach our stories. And I will continue to call out injustice... even when/ especially when it comes from the very people who claim to be working for our best interest. So I have some things to say to the following people...

1. To the HRC (Human Rights Campaign)

I will not wait any longer. I will not give you a single dollar. I will not entertain cutting members of our community out because you find it might be politically expedient to do so. I will not sit back and watch you play politics and throw dinner parties... telling us to wait until 2017 for our rights... taking our money and claiming our voices while allowing and encouraging politicians to move our very freedoms to the back burner. Insidious.

2. To President Obama

I no longer hear you. Just like President Clinton before you, you wooed us with promises of inclusion, promised of equality, promises of action. And while you have yet to sign legislation that actively works to keep us from full equality... a la Clinton (DOMA & DADT)... you do keep dangling a carrot... baby carrots at that... in front of us in order to keep us on board and keep us quiet. And then pulling that carrot away. Or telling us we can have that baby carrot later. Patience is one thing, foolishness is another. And I am not a fool. You were elected to lead... not to compromise and shelve your integrity or your promises in order to get re-elected. You promised to end DADT... to allow ALL Americans the right to serve their country openly without having to lie about who they are and hide their families. To ask a citizen to be willing to die in service to their country while making them lie and hide who they are is revolting and shameful. You promised to end DOMA. You promised to work for ENDA. You promised us equality and freedom... And if you stab us in the back/ throw us under the bus... I will work to vote you out. You do not get an automatic pass for a hypothetical second term. Sweet words are just words.

3. To Congress

You too disgust me with your timidity and self-interest. You were given power to act not to abdicate. Barney Frank... this goes triple for you.

4. To American Citizens

This country was founded on the principle that people should be free and treated equally. People escaped to here so that the MAJORITY would not oppress them. So that the masses could not legislate their MORALITY and force it on others. The equal rights of LGBT Americans are not for you to decide, approve, or deny. They are inalienable.

A place at the "table" is all well and good, but it is meaningless if your plate has no food on it... and no one will serve you.

###

Fabstuff: My Weekend Of Worship At The Pop Diva Shrine

The Gossip

Tonight is the beginning of my Fierce Diva Weekend; Damion (or The Blogger Formerly Known As Queering The Apparatus) and I are going to experience The Gossip at Terminal 5. I think their new album, Music For Men (currently on sale at Amazon), is undoubtedly one of the great records of 2009; I've never seen them live before, so I'm thrilled to take in Beth Ditto in all her ravishing glory. The intimacy of the venue makes for pretty spectacular concertgoing...it's where we also saw the reunited Yaz concert last year.

On Saturday, we'll be joined by more ex-bloggers (Robbie from Toons 'N Tunes and Shannon, aka Shantytown, for those who remember such things) to prepare to see the one, the only...Miss Kylie Minogue. I can't express how excited I am about it. I've wanted to see her live for almost 20 years, but she's never played the States before. The reviews from this tour have been rapturous. I should be so lucky, lucky lucky lucky.

Photos and more soon.

ModFab Invades Europe!

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That's right, Euro-fabbers....I'm a-comin' to your continent! Actually, It's a trip for my day job, and most of it will be spent in beautiful Bulgaria and Romania. (Apparently, Eastern Europe is the hotbed of forward-thinking theatre in the world right now, so I'm being wined, dined, and shmoozed...and yes, I've got my very own Bulgarian translator to help me during performances!)

BUT...and this is important...I will be in LONDON as well, for a whirlwind 24 hours on Tuesday, 17 November. I haven't been to the UK since I was a teenager, and I'd love to see any of you who'd like to meet up. (That means you Raj, Fizzy, Cal and anyone else I'm forgetting!) I know I'm going to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert that night in the West End, but otherwise I'm totally free. (Cue Mr. Humphries joke here!) Email me (link in the sidebar) and let me know.

And for those of you who DON'T live in London (or Bulgaria), but have visited before...let me know your favorite spots! I'm not much for tourist stuff (I'll happily skip Big Ben and Buckingham Palace in favor of a great music shop or a restaurant). I'm staying near Russell Square, if that helps.

And Australia...you're next!

Modfab On...Blake Lewis "Heartbreak On Vinyl"

The most surprising new contender for 2009's best album has to be Blake Lewis's charming, accomplished, and addictive sophomore disc, Heartbreak on Vinyl. It is easily the strongest recording from any of the American Idol alumni since Kelly Clarkson; but more than that, it reveals the maturation of a major dance artist...one that should, in there is any justice in today's music industry, be around for a very long time.

Lewis's first album, 2007's Audio Day Dream, hinted tantalizingly at the young beat-boxer's promise. Still under the supervision of Idol's production team, however, Audio Day Dream felt a little cloying, a little desperate, a little market-tested for my tastes. Heartbreak on Vinyl, by contrast, has been made under the watchful eye of Lewis's new label, Tommy Boy, an organization with a decades-long history of successfully promoting dance artists. The change in direction and approach is clear, and pays off magnificently.

Heartbreak on Vinyl's admirable qualities rush over you from the very first notes, and it's hard to decide exactly which virtues impress most. The album exhibits an astonishing understanding of the mechanics, context and history of dance music and club culture. Lyrically, the songs straddle the personal ("The Point") and the political (the title track is an upbeat requiem for record store culture) with blunt intelligence that never seems inaccessible. Lewis is unafraid of melody or rhythm, a rarity in the genre today. One listens to Heartbreak on Vinyl with the sense that it's a dance classic, like Moby's Play or Daft Punk's Discovery, that satisfies the need for beat without having to check your brain at the door.

Although all 13 tracks hang together extremely well as a set, some of the individual songs warrant shout-outs of their own. Chief among them are the robots-in-love cheekiness of "Binary Love," which is destined for massive club play; the elegiac "Rebel With A Cause;" and "Love or Torture (Please Don't Stop)," which feels like a 21st-century variation on the thumping eroticism of Soft Cell. It's rare to find a young artist knock a home run out of the musical park, but this Heartbreak brings nothing but joy.

Listen | "Binary Love," Blake Lewis
Watch | "Sad Song," Blake Lewis

BREAKING: Bloggers Will No Longer Be Rich, Powerful Gazillionaires

You may not realize the jet-set, luxury-laden lifestyle bloggers enjoy. By simply posting our random thoughts on a public website a couple of times a week, we get PERKS...diamond jewelry, trips around the world, sex with really hot Brazilian models, Maseratis and cocaine by the truckload.

Or at least, the FTC thinks we do. So they're going to regulate bloggers, to put a stop to this grotesque gravy train of perks, once and for all. No more "computers or trips to Disneyland" without full disclosure. Thank God someone spoke out about all of the enormous wealth and power bloggers have accrued...here I thought we were all socially inept nerds with odd hobbies. Turns out we're all millionaires.

Kylie Begins U.S. Tour

Although I have fifty gazillion things to do, I can't even focus....since dawn, I've been totally obsessed with the videos, tweets, and blog reviews of Kylie Minogue's first U.S. gig in Oakland last night. SPOILERS TO FOLLOW:

Robbie (he of the much-missed Toons 'N' Tunes blog, who is also one of my dates for the NYC concert on the 11th) called to share the playlist from last night's spectacular show in Oakland:

Light Years
Speakerphone
Come Into My World In Your Eyes
(costume change)
Medley: Shocked/What Do I Have To Do/Step Back In Time/Spinning Around
Better Than Today (new song!)
(costume change)
Like A Drug
Boombox/Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Slow
2 Hearts
(costume change)
Red Blooded Woman
Where The Wild Roses Grow
Heartbeat Rock
Wow
(costume change)
White Diamond (ballad version)
Confide In Me
I Believe In You (ballad version)
(costume change)
Mashup: Burning Up/Vogue
Loco-Motion
Kids
In My Arms
Encore: Better The Devil You Know
Encore: The One
Encore: Love At First Sight

All in all, a pretty great list. Some of the choices seem to be reconstructed from previous world tours, especially the medleys...but since America never saw them before, they're new to us! Most of the hits are here, with the only major omissions I can see being "The Loco-Motion," "All I See," "Chocolate" and maybe "Finer Feelings." The set definitely leans heavy on the last four albums, with very few tracks from her early catalog. I'm especially psyched that some of my favorites -- especially "Devil," "Step Back In Time," "Wow," and "Slow" -- made the cut. I would have killed to see some of the cheesier stuff off the Light Years or Body Language, like "Sweet Music," "Loveboat" or "Cuckachoo," but I won't be greedy.

Any California readers see the Oakland show last night, or going tonight? Let me know!