The Gayest New Music You'll Hear This Week

Pet Shop Boys

As obsessed with film scores as I am, I am very surprised by my recent rash of new music posts. 

Uncle P came of musical age in the 80's when I discovered so many musicians; bands; performance artists and singers from every era and genre. For the most part, the music with I most connect the beginning of my musical awakening is the often bizarre dance music to which my college friends and I spent many a Thursdays (with Jon Stewart tending bar) dancing at 90 Cent Dance Night Thursday at the notorious City Gardens in Trenton, NJ.  90 Cents to get in and 90 Cents for a watered down well drink. We'd get a pitcher of Kamikazes to start the night and then move on to the cheap stuff, dancing so much that we never really got all that drunk. One of the era's few surviving groups, Pet Shop Boys have a new single out called "Vocal." The song and the video (via) are everything I have always loved about the eccentric gay (not a couple) duo. Enjoy:

Then there's the heavily 80's influenced George Alley and his latest single, "Smoke." Alley channels The Smiths, The Cure and Pet Shop Boys, while infusing his own sense of weirdness (via). Alley is entertaining, but an acquired taste:

Next, Autoheart takes a stab at Russian homophobia with their single, "Moscow" (also via):

And finally, a dance track from self-described "small town Wisconsin boy" Garek, coming out (in every sense) with his debut single "Save the Queen"(also via):

While none of the videos posted tonight are NSFW, the "(via)" links to their source sites may be very NSFW.

There seems to be a wonderful musical explosion among openly gay singer/songwriters and LGBT-Friendly bands. I'm so excited to live in a time when no one needs to hide anymore.

More, anon.
Prospero

The Gayest Thing You'll See This Week (NSFW Version)

John Stewart served me many drinks in the early 80's. He was a bartender at a local progressive dance club in Trenton, NJ. City Gardens was a dump - a converted warehouse, it had a stage and a dance floor with tables, bleachers and a large bar in the front room and more tables, booths and smaller bar in the back.  There were holes in the floors and heaven help you if you had to use the toilet for anything couldn't be done while standing.

I heard every great alternative dance song of the era at City Gardens on 90 Cents Thursdays - 90 cents to get in and 90 cent well drinks. The place was usually packed with an assortment of punks and new wavers and downright weirdos. People watching was half the fun. My friends and I would drink all night (the drinks were watered, of course), but dance so much we never felt it. I also saw some of the 80's biggest names in alternative music there: Sinead O'Connor (in an amazing performance on her first trip to America to promote her first album); Devo (ask me about Q and the vampires some day); The Ramones and The Dead Kennedys, among others. Man, I wish had half the energy now that I had back then...

"And just how is any of that gay?" you may well  ask yourself. Well, it was the 80's... there was a lot of that going around.  But everyone was terrified to have sex (don't worry, we got over it). And now that Stewart is a star and host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, he knows how important it is for middle America to show some love our way. Stewart is and always has been pro equality. But the smirking little scamp can't help himself sometimes, and its his job to point out the silly and absurd, sniggering all the way to the bank (and deservedly so). Thankfully, Stewart and his writers are never really mean to the folks they're poking fun at. And that's why I love this possibly NSFW clip from the other night (via):

The Daily Show is clearly comedy with a liberal slant, but they're equal opportunity offenders and no group goes unjabbed. Of course, they jab some more than others,  also deservedly so. I wish I got to see it more often but I would need a 28 hour day, and 24 is enough...

More, anon.
Prospero