Richard Hefner - Girls & Boys

Hey, Y'all....you know, there just are Not enough lyrically gay country songs, so I've got to spread the word about this one. Richard Hefner wrote and sings it, and it's called "Girls and Boys," and not only do I think the song is terrific, and the video, but the reason behind it is as well, with a portion of the proceeds to be donated to organizations benefiting youth at risk. They even did a video behind the video.

Facebook Page 

Amazon Link to MP3 

Rod McKuen Sings about 1960's French Drag Queen Hustlers

The title sums it up as succinctly as I can, though I perhaps took some liberties saying "drag queen hustler." Hustlers who used to wear dresses describe it better. In the 1960's Rod McKuen was one of America's best selling poets, and his LPs of poetry and songs sold millions. A 7-CD very deluxe box set was released in 2006 called "If You Go Away: The RCA Years 1965 - 1968," and if you have around $200 it can be yours.

But I'm not hawking CDs, I'm writing about one very unusual previously unreleased demo track the box set contained. It was called "The Money Boys of Cannes" and  was written by McKuen, and he and Glen Yarborough recorded it, in 1966. It's been quite unusual for McKuen to address in song the subject of being gay at all, not to mention those gay hustler boys.

Click to hear "The Money Boys of Cannes"

A friend sent me this track today, and by a bit of serendipity I had just this week received a magazine I had purchased with an article about that very same thing: "Les Boys of Paris" with the subtitle "The Sodom of the Seine is the New Playland of the Gay, Gay Set."

The article is quite biased, implying that the female impersonators of Madame Arthur's and Le Carrousel were hustlers instead of the professional entertainers they were, but that didn't make good copy in 1957.

 

Article found in "She," a pocket magazine (4"x6") from December 1957

 

 

The article mentions the famous Paris clubs, Madame Arthur's and 

Le Carrousel, and I have extensive sections on them on my website.

Madame Arthur's                        Le Carrousel

Neat...the French site YAGG picked up this entry

OutPostChoir - Be Out, Sing Out

Now, here's an inspiring & innovative project, OutPostChoir. It's an online LGBTQ choir where folks from all over, even where there are no choruses near them, can add their voices, taking a pride through unity approach and really doing it, globally. Imagine the good feeling participating in this could give an LGBTQ person "stranded" far away from an actual community.

Above is the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir performing the song "You Make Me Proud," and below see how the vision has evolved to include more and more choruses and individuals, a growing work of art. Click to View the Video.

 
 http://www.outpostchoir.com

Facebook Page

 
You Make Me Proud.org

 The Brighton Gay Men's Chorus has recorded a charity single of the song

 

Haberdashery, A Synthpop Delight

"Haberdashery is electropop that incorporates multi-layered cinematic sounds with pop sensibilities." Well, that's what the website says and I think that sums it up perfectly. What is not immediately obvious is that it's not a band, it's the work of one person, Chicago artist and musician Stephen Pearlman. He writes, arranges and records all of his music, and he's been quite prolific. 

Since his debut release in 2004, he's released five full albums, and over twenty singles...with the singles having multiple mixes each. And I love the designs of his album covers, which have a very distinctive style.

 

 Here's the cover of his latest CD, "Tonight the Angels," and then a few videos:

 

 

http://haberdasheryinfo.com/

 Would you like some free downloads from his Christmas EP? 

He keeps adding tracks to it, and now there are six.

http://music.haberdasheryinfo.com/album/christmas

Declan Bennett Interview

Okay, this is a shameless plug for my latest OutRadio show...and I think Declan Bennett gave me a terrific interview. And he was oh so patient with me, as I tend to dig deep into someone's career. We talked for a solid hour and it was all good stuff,  so I wanted to share all of it. It became the first two-hour interview on OutRadio. It covers a lot of territory: his sting in the boy band Point Break, his Broadway and West End acting career, and his three solo albums. And of course I've fit in some obscure goodies. It's on my November show, which also includes two other hours of the best of recent GLBT music.

 

Declan Bennett Interview

 Declan Bennett Website

Tom Goss Is Naked

Okay, I won't be the first, or last, to write about the new video by Tom Goss. It's just too delicious to not mention in this blog. He took his song "Make Believe," from his CD "Turn It Around," and decided to make himself a work of art, (not that he wasn't already). Now, I would have used a wrist watch instead of the clock, but that's just me. Enjoy the Video!

Official Website

Remixes of the song are available at iTunes & Amazon, Etc

Songs About Billy Tipton

Billy Tipton was a jazz musician who achieved only modest regional success in the 40's and 50's. His career included live radio shows with Big Bands and evolved into jazz quartets and trios playing in night clubs. In his 74 years, in addition to being a band leader and a booking agent, he was a husband 5 times and adopted three children. After he died in 1989 in Spokane, a coroner revealed that he was much more, and the mysterious story ran wild on the wire services: Billy Tipton was a woman.

It seems that Tipton's decision to adopt a male disguise was likely motivated, at least at first,
by practical reasons: It was the depression, people were desperate for work, and it was
especially difficult for women to get work playing in jazz bands. So, at 19, Dorothy Tipton began cross-dressing to get a job in a band. She cut her hair, put on men's clothing, bound her breasts and re-christened herself Billy Tipton, eventually fooling 5 wives and the world for more than 50 years. Tipton left no letters of explanation, so we can only speculate on what drove her, but we can learn much of what there is to know from a biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook called "Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton."

While I felt it necessary to give that short history in case some had not heard it, this blog entry is really concerning Songs About Billy Tipton, as the legend inspired a few songs. And the first was from Phranc, known as the "All-American Jewish lesbian folksinger." The sound clip begins with Phranc talking about the song, taken from my QMH September 2005 interview with her.

Phranc - Tipton (with introduction, from "Positively Phranc," 1991)

Jill Sobule's song remains unreleased, but is not difficult to find on the web. And the heavy metal "Legend of Billy Tipton," by Video Dead I guess is a tribute; I often have trouble understanding lyrics in that genre.

Jill Sobule - Billy's Thing (unreleased, 2002)
Video Dead - Legend of Billy Tipton ("Brotherhood of the Dead," 2005)

Steve Schalchlin (with lyrics by Paul Zollo) wrote "Brilliant Masquerade" about Billy Tipton, and it's already been recorded by two choruses. He's well known for the musicals written with his partner Jim Brochu, such as "The Last Session," and "The Big Voice: God or Merman," and his solo project "New World Waking."

Steve Schalchlin - Brilliant Masquerade (unreleased, 2007)
San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus - Brilliant Masquerade ("Creating Harmony," 2008)
Miami Gay Men's Chorus - Brilliant Masquerade (live at GALA, 2012)

 The most recent song is by a self-proclaimed Diva, known as Pasheen. 

It's called "Cross Dress," and is from her 2011 CD "The Big Purr."

 Pasheen - Cross Dress ("The Big Purr," 2011)

Honorable Mention:

 

"The Slow Drag," was a 1998 musical starring Kim Criswell, and included jazz standards (no songs about Tipton). It had a plot inspired by Tipton's story, with the lead character named Johnny Christmas. Of course just listening to the CD gives no sense at all of the story you could see during a performance.

*******

The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet was a Seattle area band taking their name to honor Tipton. Under that name they were active from 1989 through 2002, when the name was changed to Tipton's Sax Quartet. Founding members included Amy Denio, Jessica Lurie, Marjorie de Muynck, and John Otto.

As a side note, at the time of its founding Otto was named Babs Helle and performed with them until 1990. Per Wiki he coined the group's name, and has gone on to become a transgender activist. Pam Barger (earlier of Two Nice Girls) played drums on at least two of their early CDs. In their career under both names they have released ten albums. I have only three in my collection and do not know if any songs on other CDs were actually about Billy Tipton.

 And, for more info I recommend Diane Wood Middlebrook's book "Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton."

 Please check out my QMH Tribute Page for MUCH more on Billy Tipton.