Friday Video #57: Clatter Crash Clack

"It's music! Now dance!"

My favorite track by Bjork would have to be "Cvalda," taken from 2000 movie Dancer In The Dark and the album Selmasongs. With Christmas around the corner, this is the type of song that can get me into the holiday spirit without jumping the gun by playing Christmas music too early. This is the scene where Bjork perfoms the song. In it she playing a factory worker going blind and likes to fantasize about movie musicals. This is similar to her 1995 video "It's Oh So Quiet," only somewhat more frantic and over the top. Lars Von Trier directed Dancer In The Dark, and yes, that is Catherine Denevue helping Bjork out on vocals.

She should have just used Photoshop instead

Madonna's got some animal activists pissed off. She was doing a photo spread of her Wiltshire estate for a Vogue book and decided to dye her sheep blue, pink, yellow and green. As a result the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) protested, saying: "Why is it necessary and what are they trying to prove? It is an irresponsible publicity stunt. It sends out the wrong message about how to use animals." Madonna insists that the dye used was temporary and did not harm the animals.

Santa Saturday 2007

This Saturday I will be in New Hope, PA for the 34th Annual Santa Saturday at the Raven. The Bucks MC host this fundraiser which draws a lot of leathermen and bears from the Philly and NYC areas (as well as quite a few drag queens). Proceeds go to various AIDS and aging organiztions such as AIDS Community Alliance and Bucks County Agency on Aging. Get there early, since attendance at the last couple was pretty big--over 1,000 people. That's a lot of leather and fur!

Friday Video #56: Love Kylie X4

I am so looking forward to the new Kylie Minogue album X, which will be coming out internationally on November 26. The following clip pretty much shows why I am. Here is Kylie performing "The One" on her television special The Kylie Show, which was aired in Great Britian earlier this month.

"The One" was co-produced by the Freemasons, who has done some great remix work such as Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm" and the Beyonce/Shakira duet "Beautiful Liar." Kylie just radiates sunniness and warmth here. I hope that this will chosen as a future single. It reminds me a bit of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" (which in turn reminds me of New Order).

X won't be released in America until February of next year, so I've order an import copy from Australia. As I've said in a previous post, stupid US label.

Post-Punk reunion show and other stuff

My birthday was this past Thursday and I've been celebrating it in a couple of different ways. This past Saturday I was out at Tritone on South Street in Philly to see Bunnydrums, Bush Tetras, and Certain General perform, with some great vintage post-punk songs spun in between sets. I really enjoyed myself that evening.

Among the stuff I got was a Starbucks card, so over the weekend I treated myself to a couple of peppermint mocha lattes, which had just come out for the holidays. I'm not a big fan of Starbucks but they are quite tasty.

Does It Really Just Take A Fairy?

The latest edition of my PhillyGayCalendar.com has just been posted up. Here I talk about the pop culture image of gay men helping out straight people, which I like to call the "good fairy." Queer Eye For The Straight Guy would probably be the best example. I admit I do watch it every time there's a new episode on, but there are certain issues the show raises that I address here. Another one would be To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar (Patrick Swayze's "Sometimes it just takes a fairy" quote from that film was the inspiration for the title of the article).

Does It Really Just Take A Fairy?

Friday VIdeo #55: Supermodel

15 years ago tomorrow--November 17, 1992--RuPaul's single "Supermodel (You'd Better Work)" was released. It would reach #2 on the Billboard Dance Chart and #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1993. It would become RuPaul's best known song. Here is the original video. There's also a 12" version of this video as well.



RuPaul would rerecord "Supermodel" in 2006 as "Supermodel 2006." The video here features behind-the-scenes footage of his latest movie Starrbooty. The track can also be found on his ReWorked remix album.

Philly Leather 2007 Report

The Mr. and Ms. Philadelphia Leather Contest at the William Way Center this past Saturday night went very well. I arrived at the center at 5:00pm and helped with setting up. The contest started at 7:00pm. Ryan Goldner and Carlota Ttendant were the emcees for the evening. There were four male conestants, but surprisingly there were no female contestants this time around. The winner of the Mr. title was Scott Daddy and the first runner up was Andy Liu. Since there were no female contestants and the producers hated to see a good trophy go to waste, so it was decided that Carlota was chosen as an honorary Ms. Leather titleholder. After the contest I went over to the Bike Stop for an hour then I went home (I was getting over a cold). The bar was the most crowded that I've seen in a while.

Click here to see photos from the event thanks to EDGE Philadelphia.

Went back into Philly next afternoon for the Leather Victory Social, which was hosted by the Philadelphians MC. Since it didn't start until 6pm, I spent a couple of hours doing some shopping and whatnot in Center City. The CD section in the Borders on Broad and Chestnut was a mess with so many CDs misplaced in the wrong section. You'd think that with record stores closing left and right you'd think that the staff there would put in more effort in discouraging the customers that still wants to buy their music in a store. Then I had some chicken soup at a local diner, and then it was off to a nearby Starbucks for some tea (I had a Starbucks gift card given as a birthday gift). While I sat with my tea, a homeless guy came in and tried to buy something but he wound up arguing with the guy behind the cashier and left the place before the cops were called on him. The Starbucks in Los Angeles get celebrity trainwrecks like Britney and Lindsey Lohan while the ones here just get mentally unstable homeless people.

The Leather Victory social was fun. Not as busy as the previous night but it did draw a good crowd. All the male contestants showed up. I help out with selling 50/50 raffle tickets. It was over by 10pm and I went home. Fun weekend, now it's time rest up and take care of that cold so it can go away for good.

UPDATE: The Philadelphia Gay News covers the Philly Leather contests.

Philly Leather Weekend 2007

Tomorrow night, Saturday November 10, the Mr. and Ms. Philadelphia Leather Contest will be held at the William Way Community Center from 7 to 10pm. This year Philly's leather community will be celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Ms. Philadelphia Leather and the 25th Anniversary of Mr. Philadelphia Leather. There will also be a Victory Social, sponsored by the Philadelphians MC, in the basement of the Bike Stop the following evening (November 11) from 6 to 10pm.

Further information about Philadelphia Leather Weekend 2007, including a complete event schedule, can be found online at http://www.phillyleatherweekend.org/

Friday Video #54: Queer Eye Anastacia

I'm currently working on my next PhillyGayCalendar column, which will be up next week. It will focus on the pop culture image of the gay man helping out straights, or what I'd like refer to as "the good fairy." The TV show Queer Eye For The Straight Guy is the best example of this. As I was doing some research for this article, I came across a YouTube clip of the show's fashion guy Carson Kressley miming to the Thunderpuss remix of Anastacia's "Love Is A Crime." This was shot at a taping of the show where a "Straight Guy Pageant" was held; former guys who were helped on the show were brought back to see who had kept up with their makeovers and who hadn't. The one who did the best job keeping up was crowned "Ultimate Straight Guy." This show was taped back in 2006 but it wasn't aired until October 2007.

Sometimes it just take a fairy belting out a disco tune.

Friday Video #53: Sgt. Sass

Here is a video of an up-and-coming queer hip-hop group called Sgt. Sass. "Homo Homie" (Baltimore Club Mix [remix done by Moblin]) was shot at OUTfest last month. Sgt Sass will be part of the line-up of an all-queer hip-hop night at Tritone in Philly on Saturday November 3, along with Girlz On Bikes and Mirror Boiyz.