Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Queerlicue #7

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo
1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

De Staat. They're Dutch alternative rockers who make cool, vigorous music...

De Staat
... and memorable, quirky videos -- like this one for "Witch Doctor." It appears to be inspired by the whirling/spinning dance meditation of Sufism, the mystical Islamic belief system. And it's rather amazing. (I will not, however, attempt to make sense of the lyrics.)



Well-Strung. This NYC-based string quartet has considerable fun fusing classical and pop music.

Well-Strung, left to right:
Edmund Bagnell, Christopher Marchant, Trevor Wadleigh & Daniel Shevlin
They've fiddled around with everything from Kelly Clarkson to Frozen's "Let It Go," but surely no one was expecting them to reach all the way back to 1979 for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" -- a country crossover hit recorded by The Charlie Daniels Band. Since it's release, Mr. Daniels has become more infamous for his racist and homophobic rants than his music, so it's a kick to see an all-gay band make a mashup of his song and Bach's "Double Violin Concerto."



You can find Well-Strung's music on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.


Hard Ton. The Italian duo of DJ Wawashi and Max create some damn fine acid house disco.

Hard Ton: DJ Wawashi (left) and Max
Real names: Mauro Copeta and Massimo Bastasi
Great music would be enough, but these guys also enjoy making amusingly arty, over-the-top videos that feature plus-sized Max in all his uninhibited glory. And makeup. And costumes. Example: "Make Me Dance." What the guys had to say about it: "For this new video we wanted to add disturbing and obsessive elements to a hyper-candy-pop imaginary world, in order to create an acid hallucination, halfway between Mark Ryden's paintings and Alejandro Jodorowsky's celluloid visions, so that the hysterical mood of the track could be emphasized as much as possible."



Most of Hard Ton's music is available on iTunes. The rest of their videos are on their YouTube channel, here. And I'll just let Max have the final word:


Thursday, October 22, 2015

Divas vs. Queers

What happens when queer musicians dare to cover songs made famous by divas?

Adele. The Londoner has six Grammys and an Oscar (for the Bond theme "Skyfall"). Her sophomore album, 21, broke the record for the longest run at number 1 by a female artist in Billboard chart history -- she topped Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack from 1992. She breaks records, she's popular, she's critically-acclaimed and she doesn't give a fuck what you think about her weight. Quite a diverse assortment of artists have publicly admired her, too -- from Madonna, Patti LaBelle and Stevie Nicks (A duet, please!) to Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.  

Adele
There's an argument to be made that the singer's biggest hit, "Someone Like You," is a future standard. It's just piano, voice and perfectly modulated woefulness. If you're not one of the half a billion people who've already watched the video on YouTube, have a look...


"Someone Like You" is the kind of song that's destined to be covered. It will be over-orchestrated and over-sung for decades to come. Occasionally someone will get it right, like Paul Middleton, a cubby ginger Londoner who channels the melancholy with restraint and dances with his own stoicism. It's a remarkably good fit for this newcomer. Have a look/listen...



Find out more about Paul on his website. Check out his YouTube page. His music is available on his website, iTunes and CD Baby. And here are a few photos of handsome Mr. Middleton...



Paul Middleton (photo via Facebook)

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Queerlicue #6

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

Teletubbies Meet Die Antwoord. Las Vegas-based video editor Robert Jones makes mashup videos that are inventive and occasionally demented. He's taken the Teletubbies -- beloved by toddlers everywhere -- and put them together with South African rap-ravers Die Antwoord, a duo that's known for it's vaguely creepy lyrics and (sometimes deeply) unsettling videos. There's something admirably off and compelling about them.
Die Antwoord: Ninja (left) and Yolandi Visser
Now watch how Jones edits the Teletubbies to make it appear as if they're responsible for "I Fink U Freeky," Die Antwoord's 2012 hit. It's an insanely good match.


If you want to see Die Antwoord's original video for "I Fink U Freeky," go here. It's super-stylized and super creepy. Like rats and snakes and scary teeth creepy. And not safe for work. I warned you. Or you can check out the rest of Robert Jones' video mashups on his YouTube channel.


Levonia Jenkins. That's the drag persona created by Greg Scarnici, a NYC-based comedic artist, musician and author (I Hope My Mother Doesn't Read This). This is Greg...

Greg Scarnici
And this is Levonia Jenkins...


Scarnici's transformation into Levonia Jenkins is a smartly executed masculine/feminine mashup of kitschy glamour and good humor. And he's written a terrific little workplace anthem entitled "Werk and Serve and Face."


There's more from Greg (and Levonia) on his YouTube channel.


DaddyB. This Madrid-based fella describes himself as a "big, hairy, out, gay bear dance and pop artist."

DaddyB. Yeah, I could gnaw on that for a while.
His first single simultaneously educates anyone unfamiliar with the gay bear subculture and functions as a personal ad. DaddyB proudly proclaims, "I want a bear," to a retro '90s house beat. And mercifully, he has a sense of humor about his desire, because a straightforward take on this subject could have been deadly. Director Alvaro Pastor brings the right amount of whimsical exaggeration to the video, which also features irresistibly goofy choreography by DaddyB -- who's flanked by a pair of sexy bearded cubs. Warning: There's some explicit language and provocative devouring of Cornish game hens.



Want more Queerlicue? Follow the links for volumes #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Divas vs. Queers

What happens when queer musicians dare to cover songs made famous by divas?

If you're not familiar with the infectious, effervescent music of '70s Swedish supergroup ABBA, then I'm going to assume you just arrived here from another planet. Welcome, visitor! ABBA consisted of two men and two women -- Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida -- but the ladies contributed lead vocals to almost every one of their hits.

Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad & Agnetha Faltskog
My favorite ABBA song is "S.O.S." I'm not alone in my admiration: Pete Townsend, The Who guitarist, has said it's one of the best pop songs ever written, and John Lennon declared it a favorite, too. The arrangement is pure genius, beginning with a subdued D-minor key, shifting tempo and easing into major key electric rock. There's the right amount of emotional nuance in Agnetha's lead vocal; Frida's voice augments the chorus perfectly. ABBA was also at the forefront of the music video revolution. Watch their charming, low-budget little masterpiece...



Now, The Young Professionals, a popular Israeli electro pop band fronted by Johnny Goldstein and Ivri Lider, have reimagined "S.O.S." in an energetically alternative way.

The Young Professionals: Ivri Lider (left) & Johnny Goldstein
The assertive guitar work and drumming neatly amplifies the original's rock inclinations. Lider's vocal work is free of histrionics, but there's a hint of vulnerability around the edges. Watch and listen...



You can find this version of "S.O.S." on their latest -- and excellent -- album, Remixes & Covers.

For the record, the absolute worst version of "S.O.S" can be found in the film version of Mamma Mia. It's staged as a kind of clunky duet between Meryl Streep, who can sing, and Pierce Brosnan, who cannot. Brosnan's performance of the song is not simply lamentable, it's abominable and excruciating. It is, in fact, one of the worst things ever. Let me help you understand how bad it is:

The Top 5 Worst Things Ever, ranked...
1. The Holocaust
2. What we did to Native Americans and African Americans
3. Bubonic Plague -- "The Black Death" of the 14th Century
4. 9/11
5. Pierce Brosnan mangling "S.O.S." in the film version of Mamma Mia

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Queerlicue #5

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

Galantis. Among the many things I am grateful for in this life, Swedish pop music is right up there in the Top Ten. I can listen to ABBA or Robyn anytime. I'm currently crushing hard on Galantis,  two electronic dance music masters -- Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson and Linus "Style of Eye" Eklow -- that united to produce an album together. The result, Pharmacy, is a throbbing, energetic breakout hit. For more, their website is here.

Galantis: Christian Karlsson (left) & Linus Eklow
If you're going to record an unapologetically nonsensical retro-disco song like "Peanut Butter Jelly," you better give it an amazing video. Like this:




DJ Rozroz. According to the description on his YouTube channel, he's a "filmmaker, editor, musician currently concentrating on making mashups to ease the late night blues." In other words, he takes two wildly disparate songs and turns them into one. He's done it over 90 times since 2013. My favorite? His mashup of Michael Jackson's "Bad" with "Mr. Sandman," the enduring tune recorded by The Chordettes in 1954.

The Chordettes, one of the most popular all-female vocal groups of the 1950s and early '60s
The mashup -- "Mr. Bad Sandman" -- is brilliant on it's own, but the accompanying video is equally sublime.  


You can listen to all the DJ Rozroz mashups here.


Traffic Signs & Jake the Rapper. They're actually German electronic producer Steve Bug and Bronx-born-but-Berlin-based rapper Jacob Dove Basker.

Jacob Dove Basker AKA Jake the Rapper
Collaborating for the first time, they've produced "Cookie Jar," an absurdly infectious electronic dance treat entirely suitable for a trippy, surreal video treatment. That's provided by multidisciplinary art and film director team Ben&Julia. I could describe this, but words would not do it justice. All you need to know is that Jake the Rapper dances while inviting you to "put your hand in the cookie jar." And there's 3D belly animation. 


You can find this version of "Cookie Jar," as well as several sweet remixes, on iTunes. 

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Queerlicue #4

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples for this special beards and barbers edition...

Stubble & 'Stache. I have a beard. Lots of men have beards these days -- it's a facial hair renaissance out there! Beard grooming is big business and there are hundreds of small companies devoted to helping us keep our beards looking and feeling good. I've tried a bunch of  beard oils, balms and conditioners over the past few years and I'm particularly fond of products from Stubble & 'Stache. The founder is veteran special operations Marine Nicholas Karnaze.

Stubble & 'Stache founder Nicholas Karnaze, what some might call a lumbersexual
Karnaze wanted an offbeat pitch video to introduce his original product. When I saw this, I laughed -- and it motivated me to give his face moisturizer and beard conditioner a try.


Stubble & 'Stache donates a portion of profits to charities supporting wounded veterans and their families, with particular interest in organizations combating post-traumatic stress and depression. For an interview and some backstory about Karnaze, go here.


The Gay Beards. Here's the description from their YouTube channel: Two best friends from this cozy nest called Portland, Oregon. We tend to think the world needs more love & laughter. Okay. And my description: Two startlingly handsome hairballs who like to decorate their beards.

Like this, for example:

The Gay Beards , Jonathan (right) & Brian

So, if you've ever thought, "I wish there was some kind of tutorial video that would show me how to give myself a flower beard," here you go...  


Wanna see lots more beard bedazzling? Head on over to their Instagram page here.


The Naked Barber. "Add some kink to your cut." That's the maxim of Richard Savvy, AKA The Naked Barber.

Richard Savvy, The Naked Barber (photo via his tumblr blog)
Savvy kicked his men's grooming and barbering career up a notch by stripping naked for haircuts, head shaving, body clipping and waxing -- and his clients can get naked, too. His website promises that "Richard can satisfy all your fetish grooming needs in his fully-equipped private studio located in Surrey Hills, Sydney." That's Australia, in case you're making notes for a bucket list. Straight, gay, bisexual and couples are all welcome. In the video below, Mr. Savvy spells out his philosophy and provides one of his special services, the sling shave, More specifically, a scrotum shave in a sling. It's arousing, not pornographic, but so not safe for work.


Want more? You can follow The Naked Barber's exploits on tumblr. Heads up: lots of explicit stuff.



Want more Queerlicue? Follow the links... #3, #2 and #1


Thursday, August 20, 2015

Queerlicue #3

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox. 

Scott Bradlee (Photo: Braverijah Gregg)
He's a pianist/composer/arranger who came up with an idea to give contemporary pop tunes a vintage treatment. He collaborates with different musicians, records the results and uploads regularly to his popular YouTube channel. The Postmodern Jukebox Facebook page declares: "We take pop music back in time." And Bradlee has a knack for selecting unexpected songs. For instance, Celine Dion's Titanic movie theme "My Heart Will Go On." You've heard it a million times, but not the way Bradlee arranges it and Broadway's fabulous Mykal Kilgore sings it.



All Postmodern Jukebox's music -- including their latest release Swipe Right for Vintage -- is available at Amazon and on iTunes. For more info and tour dates, you can visit their website here.


Shut Up and Dance. One of 2015's biggest hits is Walk the Moon's "Shut Up and Dance."

Walk the Moon
Left to right: Eli Maiman, Kevin Ray, Nicholas Petricca & Sean Waugaman
The band's video is retro-cute and lively, but it's been officially upstaged by a fan from the Netherlands who put together a stunning compilation video for the song. The results are a marriage of irresistible power pop and memorable movie dance moments. It's joyful stuff. Curmudgeons beware.




Everyone's Upstairs Neighbor. Have you ever lived in an apartment with a noisy upstairs neighbor that made you ask: "What the exact living fuck are they doing up there?" The folks at Above Average -- an Internet-based comedy network -- have come up with one possible explanation. Meet Julia and David, whose philosophy is: "Their ceiling is our stage."

David (the awfully woofy Dan Chamberlain), Julia (Molly Lloyd)
and their hapless neighbor (Laura Wilcox).

Thursday, May 7, 2015

The Queer Cinephile(s) #34: Vertigo

I'm a gay dude who loves movies -- a queer cinephile. I studied film in college and once reviewed movies for a TV station (don't get excited; it was way back in the 20th century). For this blog series, I'm watching and reviewing 50 films I've never seen before -- Oscar bait, indie darlings, black & white classics, blockbusters, cult flicks and weird shit my friends keep recommending. Go on, say it: "I can't believe you've never seen..."

Vertigo
 (released May 1958)

James Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson in Vertigo.
This image is from a nightmare sequence in which he morphs into the Wizard of Oz for a second. 

Here's the original theatrical trailer...


What the Queer Cinephile Says: Vertigo's opening sequence -- lasting all of a minute and half -- plays like a bad dream. Police Detective John "Scottie" Ferguson" (James Stewart) and another cop are chasing a felon across some San Francisco rooftops at night. Scottie slips. As he dangles from a gutter about half a dozen stories above the street, the other cop attempts to rescue him. "Give me your hand!" he yells, just before plummeting to his own death. It doesn't feel real -- you expect Scottie to wake up from a nightmare, drenched in sweat. Nope, it happened. We never learn exactly how Scottie managed to survive the incident himself, but he tells his lovelorn college sweetheart Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) that the aftermath has left him with a fear of heights, known as acrophobia. And acrophobia can cause vertigo, a feeling of dizziness associated with being in a very high place. Vertigo is also a much better name for a movie than Acrophobia.

Scottie retires from the police force, but agrees to do some private detective work for Gavin Elster, another old college friend. Elster married well and became a shipping magnate, but now has a quandary about his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak). "Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past, someone dead, can enter and take possession of a living being?" See, Gavin doesn't want Scottie to follow Madeleine around because he suspects she's an adulteress. He just thinks she's possessed by her own great grandmother, a woman that died in 1857. And so Scottie follows Madeleine to various locations -- her great grandmother's tombstone, a museum where a painting of the woman hangs, and even an old hotel that's only slightly less foreboding than the one in Psycho. Baffled, Scottie recruits Midge for some research and they visit a San Francisco historian who connects the dots: the old hotel had once been the great grandmother's home, she was abandoned by her wealthy husband, separated from her only child, went mad and committed suicide.

Fortunately, I'd never read a single review of Vertigo before I watched it, so nothing was spoiled for me. But this is an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The celebrated director didn't do ghosts or demons or possession. Everything about his film work suggests that he believed human beings are capable of sinister, monstrous things because of individual motivations or a personality disorder. So I was not remotely surprised that the eventual explanation for Madeleine's behavior doesn't involve anything supernatural. And, of course, Scottie falls in love with Madeleine -- the only way you wouldn't see that coming is if you'd never watched another movie in your entire life.

As Scottie, James Stewart gets to play a man with acrophobia and vertigo, then acute melancholia with a twist of guilt (yeah, that's a thing), and finally he's consumed by unrelenting obsession. I'm not a James (It's a Wonderful Life) Stewart fan at all, but Hitchcock pulled quite a performance out of him -- before it's over, he's a fervent, anguished mess. As Madeleine, a stunning and excellent Kim Novak is just the right combination of strange and alluring -- it's as if she's bathed in a mysterious dreamlike aura. In contrast, there's Scottie's down-to-earth college sweetheart Midge, played by Barbara Bel Geddes (known to '80s night time soap fans as Miss Ellie on Dallas). She's a nice lingerie designer with a funky cool little San Francisco apartment that would probably rent for $4,500 a month today. Midge has a bittersweet, unrequited crush on an oblivious Scottie, and there's nothing she can do as he becomes increasingly obsessed with the gorgeous, enigmatic Madeleine. Spoiler alert: It doesn't end well.

Vertigo received mixed reviews back in 1958 and only broke even at the box office. It was removed from circulation for a long time, but finally given another U.S. theatrical run in 1983 and released on home video in 1984. Proving commercially successful with '80s viewers, many contemporary critics reevaluated the movie. By 1989 it was recognized as "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1996, Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert called it "one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made." Then something genuinely amazing happened to Vertigo: it was named the greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound,  the British Film Institute's film magazine. Every ten years since 1952, Sight & Sound has asked the world's leading film critics to compile a list of the 10 best films of all time. Vertigo entered their list at 7th in 1982, then placed 4th in 1992, jumped to second place in 2002, and took first place in 2012. Most astonishing, Vertigo bumped Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) from the top spot, a position it had held since 1962!

Vertigo is a far-fetched but insanely compelling mashup of mystery, melodrama and romance. I can agree that it deserves preservation in the National Film Registry, but I'm going to have to disagree with Sight & Sound over that greatest-film-of-all-time acknowledgment. Vertigo is not a better film than Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. I studied Kane in college; it's a flat-out masterpiece that changed American filmmaking. In my opinion, Vertigo is not even Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film. I'd argue that Rebecca (1940) or Rear Window (1954) are superior works. And if you want to call any one of his films "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant," look no further than Psycho (1960).

Vertigo is the first film in this blog series that left me genuinely conflicted. I admired some of Hitchcock's choices, including long dialogue-free sequences, the use of San Francisco area locations and some splendid camerawork and cinematography (which would later be replicated by directors like Steven Spielberg and Brian DePalma). But a couple of things really bothered me. I was troubled by one nagging plot hole. Bernard Herrmann's score is frequently terrific, but there are moments when it sounds awfully similar to music he composed for Psycho two years later. There's a psychedelic nightmare sequence that looks like an experimental blooper. And it just feels too long. Then I watched it again. After a second viewing, my verdict on Vertigo: it's a great film.  The central performances are outstanding and the final thirty minutes are riveting. All the things that bothered me the first time I saw it were still there, and that led me to the obvious conclusion: even great films have flaws.

Stray Gay Observations:

Vertigo's main theme music is cleverly sampled for the opening sequence of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City mini-series that originally aired on PBS in 1993.

As far back as silent films, Hollywood has been obsessed with female eyebrows. Some of the earliest stars had their eyebrows completely shaved off, then drawn back on with a grease pencil. The desired arch and fullness have evolved over time, but the trend toward a more natural look didn't really arrive until the1960s. Below, Kim Novak has a common 1950s look. The arch is softer and her real hair is enhanced with a pencil to make it look darker and fuller. Vertigo was shot in color using the higher resolution wide-screen VistaVision format, so Novak's eyebrows didn't really have a chance at looking natural -- they look like they were painted on by someone in the makeup department.

Kim Novak
One of the original problems I had with Vertigo is the significant (and obvious) age difference between James Stewart and Kim Novak. He was 49 and she was 24 at the time the film was made. At first the disparity irritated me, but then I realized Vertigo is way more serious about obsession than love. As it progresses, that age difference adds an extra measure of creepiness to what's happening. Although Hitchcock deemed Vertigo one of his favorite films, he wasn't shy about blaming it's tepid box office and indifferent critical response on James Stewart. Stewart, he claimed, was too old to be a convincing love interest for Kim Novak. So here's what I'd say to Hitch if we could resurrect him for a chat: Oh, Alfred, please. You cast the man. You also cast Barbara Bel Geddes as his old college sweetheart. Bel Geddes was 35 when you made the movie. So she was roughly 15 years younger than Stewart. Was he her professor at this college? And incidentally, you also cast Tom Helmore as Novak's husband. He was even older than Stewart -- 54! Consider this: Maybe 1958 audiences didn't connect with your movie because it was an unexpected departure from the romantic thriller promised by the trailer. Your movie is dark. Very dark. Your leading man is an emotionally disturbed abject failure. Your ending is cruel and shocking; it offers no solace. In other words, your film was way ahead of its time. So let's just be thankful for all those people who rescued it from obscurity back in the 1980s.  

Should You See It? There are Hitchcock films I find a lot more satisfying, entertaining or disturbing than Vertigo -- RebeccaStrangers on a TrainRear Window and Psycho. And I definitely have some personal reservations about it, but that wouldn't stop me from recommending Vertigo. It may be flawed, but I can't deny that Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo is also an audacious, twisted and risky motion picture that deserves to be seen and discussed .
  
Next Time: Cabaret (1972)

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Queerlicue #2

Queerlicue* noun, kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

Kazaky. They're a Ukrainian-based synthpop/dance boy band that's been around since 2010.

Kazaky (a current iteration; the lineup seems to change every year)
Although kazaky is Ukrainian for "Cossacks," the revolving members of this group claim their name has nothing to do with Russian history's self-governing military communities, but is rather a derivative form of the Japanese word Kazaki, a popular name for boys in Japan. Personally, I'd have gone with the Cossack thing. Anyway, they gained attention outside the Ukraine back in 2012 after appearing as backup dancers in Madonna's video for "Girls Gone Wild." They aren't just dancing. They're dancing in heels. Stiletto heels. In one of their more recent videos -- below -- they have some fun fusing hyper-masculine and feminine fashion together.




Ke$ha & The Veterans. Four men who served in the armed forces -- Mat, Jarred, Rocco and Derek -- were looking for a way to acknowledge Veteran's Day 2014 and promote their clothing line, Article 15. The solution? A lip dub video shot in a car. The twist? Rapper/singer/songwriter Ke$ha pops up from the back seat to pick the song -- "Your Love Is My Drug," her 2010 hit. And then they all make complete fools of themselves.



If you'd like to check out Article 15's irreverently butch t-shirts or beard care products, go here.


Deviant Otter & "All About That Bass." After shooting a handful of porn scenes, the tumblr sensation known as Deviant Otter became a do-it-yourself adult filmmaker himself. His videos have an uninhibited, unscripted style that the SexFlexible blog called "an unapologetic display of natural, organic, real sex." In other words, he's found a niche in the competitive world of amateur porn. I'm not going to show you one of his fuck scenes -- I'm certain you can figure out how to find those yourself. (Side note: If I was 20 years younger, I'd kidnap this man. Or, at the very least, I'd make porn with him.)

Deviant Otter (photo via his website)
Turns out he's pretty frisky and talented outside the bedroom as well. In his spare time, D.O. and some friends put together a funny, sexy parody of "All About That Bass," Meghan Trainor's 2014 funky pop hit. This is no lip dub -- it's a brand new recording of the song. I can probably get you to watch this just by letting you know he strips down to his underwear, but the whole endeavor is giddy indulgence. Deviant Otter has some moves. And he can twerk.




Wanna see Queerlicue #1? It's here.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Beards of Modern Music, Vol. 3

There's a facial hair renaissance going on out there, folks. This series is all about the bearded men who make music. Check out the fuzz and stubble, but stick around for the sound.


The Timbers. They're four men from Down Under -- Simon Basey, Benjamin Roberts, Kyle Vause, Joe Murphy --  who describe their sound as "Raucous Alternative High Energy Modern Australian Folk." Find out more on their website, Facebook page or YouTube channel.

The Timbers, left to right: Joe Murphy, Kyle Vause, Simon Basey & Benjamin Roberts 

Song & Video: "Mean Streak." Catchy, rambunctious as hell, and I bet they have you singing the refrain before it's over. The video is a great example of what a good imagination can do with a low budget.




Synoptix. It's the musical project from a trio of dudes out of Yekaterinburg, Russia. The sound -- a satisfying evolution from their 2010 debut album -- is a blend of beatbox, electronics and electric guitar. Think rock infused with hip hop, funk and lounge. Disarming but gutsy -- and vocalist Alexey Bobylev is my current music man crush. They're recording new tracks as I write this, so -- fingers crossed -- there'll be a new album this year (or they'll release the singles, at least). For now, there's more music on their YouTube channel.

Synoptix, left to right: Alexey Bobylev, Vitaly Finsky & Denis Burhanov

Song & Video: "I Had a Soul." It's an impeccably arranged breakup tune that puts Bobylev's voice up front. Shot on a makeshift stage in an art gallery, the video is a live performance that captures the band's enthusiasm and skill, as well as Bobylev's impressive vocal range.




Carl Espen. At 17 he won a local singing competition and started to believe a career in music was possible. Sidetracked by military service and a day job in the glass business, it wasn't until he was 31 that he got an enormous break: Mr. Espen was Norway's 2014 Eurovision Song Contest entry with a genuinely intimate and evocative ballad called "Silent Storm." Written by his younger cousin, Espen took the song into the Top 10. Post-Eurovision, looks like he might get a shot at that career after all. Check out his website here.

Carl Espen

Song & Video: "Holding On." The tune feels personal, touching on a universal theme: knowing when it's time to let go in a relationship and move on. The lovely plaintive quality of Espen's voice suits it perfectly. Sounds like a downer, right? Nah, it's sneakily hopeful. The video was shot in Oslo, Norway, a city you rarely see represented in pop culture. But the real draw is Carl Espen. The man has a presence; he doesn't need to wave his arms or beat his chest to hold your attention.




Wanna see the first two volumes in this series? Click on either link below.

Volume 1
Volume 2

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Queerlicue #1

Queerlicue* 
noun
kwir~li~kyoo

1. like a curlicue, but with a queer flourish
2. something amusingly odd, strikingly unconventional or accidentally fabulous

* Yeah, I made up that word.

Examples...

Karl Wolf. This Lebanese-Canadian singer hit big in 2008 with a thumpy pop-rap-dance fusion of Toto's '80s classic "Africa." He's been roundly criticized for reinterpreting old songs, but remains undeterred.

Karl Wolf (from his Facebook page)
I just discovered this: Wolf gave Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" a makeover in 2013. He lifts the chorus, attaches new verses and teams up with award-winning filmmaker David Zennie for a video that can only be described as a glorious homosexual wet dream. You must see this. Seriously, I can't even be mad at the guy for mangling my favorite Fleetwood Mac song when he's so enthusiastic about it... and buff, tattooed, reeks of testosterone and should definitely have a side career in gay porn.


One more photo of Karl Wolf because, well...


Dover Police DashCam Lip Sync. Police officers in various parts of the United States made the news for some pretty heinous behavior in 2014. Is there any way to offset all the negative publicity? Master Cpl. Jeff Davis of the Dover (Delaware) Police Department thinks so. With the Department's encouragement and consent. the father of four performed a super-amusing lip-sync rendition of Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" from behind the wheel of his cruiser. "I'm kind of a crazy guy anyway," Davis says. Taylor Swift's Twitter response: "LOLOLOLOL THE SASS." Yup, he's sassy.



Nic Bello and Pancho. Born in Turin, Italy, filmmaker Nic Bello has become famous by co-starring in a series of YouTube videos with his pet Chihuahua, Pancho.

Nic and Pancho (from their Facebook page)
Chihuahuas don't seem to have such a great reputation -- they're often described as nervous, and considered easily provoked to attack. When I was a kid, my favorite aunt and uncle had one named Tissy. She would chase her own tail until she got dizzy and collapsed. True story. Anyway, Pancho is clearly not your typical Chihuahua, perhaps because he's devoted to his yoga and meditation practice with Nic. I'd like to do yoga with Nic, too.