Jeff Straker - Vagabond CD

I'm very pleased add to my blog entries a brand new CD by Canadian Jeff Straker. His albums are always an event with me, and the new one is called "Vagabond." This album, like a lot of his, seem to be complete works of art, so it almost seems wrong to just pick single songs to hear, but you can hear a bunch of them on his site. The ones that stick out for me so far are "Birchbark Canoe" and "Botanic Garden."

Jeff Straker Website

Jeff Straker on Facebook

And, I confess, I've been a fan of his music since 2006, when he released "Songs from Highway 15." I got to interview him in 2010 when "Step Right Up" came out. That was the one that really solidified my fandom. He told me at the time that CD got a lot of comparisons to early Elton John meets Rufus Wainwright, with a dash of Mika. Well, I think in that CD's case, more than a dash...there's a bunch of theatrical pop on it, with infectious energy and fun. But I don't mean to slight 2011's "Under the Soles of My Shoes." I saw him sing just a few songs in a showcase in 2006, so I know I would love to see a whole concert. Next time he gets down from Canada I sure hope he comes my way.

 

Above, Jeff & me, 2006, NYC

 

Lavender Cowboy - A Song History

In an article in Time Magazine, March 25, 1940, NBC revealed that 147 songs were on their list of "blue recordings," with "blue" meaning they were blacklisted from radio. This may have been prompted by ASCAP's concern about what they perceived as a wave of "salacious and suggestive songs." It seems difficult to believe these days that the country song "Lavender Cowboy" would be on that list. Written as a poem in 1923 by Harold Hersey, it was set to music and recorded in 1927 by Ewen Hall. Country legend Vernon Dalhart recorded a version that stuck strictly to the words of the original poem. But it didn't take long for the lyrics to gradually change, and to more explicitly portray the cowboy as homosexual, or at least (in 1937) as a "cream-puff," as done by Bob Skyles and His Skyrockets.

Burl Ives recorded a quite tame rendition in 1950, one without a chorus, the version most people know and most recorded by others. But then in the UK Paddy Roberts turned things darker and our hero does not survive the song, after they quite nonchalantly shot him.

The song got one more change, and quite a drastic one in 1980, by the Newfoundland group, Sons of Erin. This time the cowboy survives, and their approach is quite campy and stereotypically gay. They even performed it on their TV show.

 Click to View the Video

You can find a Lot more information on a special page of my site, view the lyrics, and hear many of the recorded versions.

Lavender Cowboy - A Song History

I Love To Be Queer

Here's a queer anthem, literally, that I have been nuts about since I first heard it in 2000, but over the years I've found very few people know about it. The duo Sponge Finger is comprised of Clayton Littlewood and Rob Brown, and their 12" release of four mixes of "I Love To Be Queer" came out of the UK, with a quite Pet Shop Boys feel to it, in 1995.

Listen to "I Love To Be Queer" (Radio Unfriendly Mix)

I first found this and a handful of other tracks by them on the once-wonderful website mp3.com, in 2000, only the act was billed as Rent. I searched at the time on the net but could really find nothing about them, and then mp3.com changed and all the good stuff was gone. Fast forward ten years and I saw a listing for "I Love To Be Queer," but by Sponge Finger, so on impulse ordered it...and found it identical to the Rent recording. From that I easily tracked them down, and learned that Rob, trying to get some more life out of the tracks, had uploaded them to mp3.com under the Rent name, getting the idea from the PSB song, and also having fun with "rent" being slang for a male hooker.

Below, Clayton Littlewood and Rob Brown

The guys have not been active much musically in recent years, but just lately have been working on a new album, perhaps for next year, and some of the likely tracks can be heard on YouTube.

Sponge Finger YouTube Page

Sponge Finger on Facebook

I also recommend Clayton's website, as he's become an acclaimed author. I've read his first book, "Dirty White Boy - Tales of Soho," and thought it delightful. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, "Goodbye to Soho."

Clayton Littlewood Website

The Many Sides of Zebedy Colt

Zebedy Colt was born Edward Earle Marsh and had two parallel careers. As Edward Earle, he was active in theatre, with several small Broadway roles, and many more regional theatre credits. And he was a musician, and that work included appearing on one of Ben Bagby's albums in 1967. Those albums paid homage to the forgotten music of major composers and there a whole series. The LP I found him on was "Ben Bagby's Noel Coward Revisited," and on it he gave us the only full-song version I know of for Coward's "Green Carnations." That was originally was from "Bittersweet," in 1929, and that made it a very early lyrically gay song.

The other side of Zebedy Colt attracted much more attention. Of interest to me was his 1969 LP "I'll Sing For You," of mostly standards, with those songs intended to be sung by women...but this time sung man to man, and without any campy nuances, they were done...er, straight. Included are the songs "The Man I Love" and "I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy." Now this was not the first time an album of standards were done in this fashion...I give "Love Is A Drag," from 1962, that honor. But it certainly was a very early approach considering the young genre of "gay music."

By the mid-1970's, Colt had found an additional career, in straight porn, with "The Story of Joanna," (1975) being his best known title. This was at the same time he was appearing on Broadway, under the name Edward Earle. His cast-mates in the Royal Theatre Company were quite surprised when they went to the film and recognized Zebedy as their fellow actor Edward. There's a lot more info at the link. 

QMH Zebedy Colt Tribute Section

Mike Rickard: Regular or Hi-Test?

I first became a fan of the music of Atlanta artist Mike Rickard in 2004 when he released his debut CD "Shaken Not Stirred." Then came his next release, in 2009, called "Sweat." I interviewed him for my show Queer Music Heritage (April 2010) and he told me:

"You know, 'Sweat' is about…I would say more about living in the moment. The songs and stories talk a lot about being in a particular situation at that moment and what you feel about it, and just living life to the fullest. There's a definition of 'sweat' that I really like, that says 'to labor or exert oneself so as to cause perspiration.' And I think you can just either go through the motions in life and it kind of runs you, or you can run your life and accomplish some of the things you want to and have fun while doing it, and that's some of the thought process behind the CD."

Well, I think that in addition to the energy of the music of that album, there is also a lot of "meat" to the lyrics. When I mentioned that to him, he replied, "Well, thank you, I would say that I tend to be one who's a bit analytical and always questioning and searching and trying to grow, and I think that probably just comes out in the lyrics. But I did want to balance where I felt that the last CD…some of the content might have been a little darker, a little more introspective, I wanted this to still be…be more in the moment but still really have something to say."

Hear the Interview

The songs in particular that really spoke to me were "Stupid Stuff Like That" and "When the Hot Cools Down." This artist can write about relationships and the music reaches out to you.

Okay, so why am I writing about this today? Well, Mike has just released an EP of remixes of some of the songs from "Sweat," taking them to a new level, and then some. That's where I came up with the blog title "Regular or Hi-Test." I think you'd like both, and hope you check out his music.

Mike Rickard Website