Querelle - Music & Art

It had been a while since I thought of the 1982 film "Querelle," directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, or that I owned the soundtrack for it. But a Facebook friend posted on my wall about a Christie's auction of some of the drawings and photos that Andy Warhol used to create the enchanting cover image for the LP. So that started me googling different elements of the art and the music.

Searching on the title "Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves" (on Amazon) I was surprised to find it has inspired a number of recordings over the years, I'm sure more than appeared on the nine albums I show in the graphic below.

But, let's get back to Warhol's art for the film, whose homoerotic plot likely inspired the direction. For example, a poster for the film was blatantly phallic, with the fetching Brad Davis.

More Brad Davis, above center...couldn't resist not sharing this one.

And the resulting art and poster became iconic, often reproduced for posters, etc.

As the Christie's auction runs only for a few more days, I...er...borrowed the images they had up for sale, with starting bids ranging from $2,400 to $16,000. I'm just glad the images were on their site so we mere mortals could see them. Warhol often took scores of photos, which later inspired the drawings, and here are some of both.

"We Have the Right," a Marriage Equality Anthem by Samia

This week I was sent a link to a new video by bisexual singer Samia, and I just have to share it. Now, a lot of artists are quick to call one of their own songs an anthem, and I usually think to myself: harumph! an anthem is decided by a wide audience and only after a long period of time. Well, this song will have a good shot at achieving that. It's called "We Have the Right."

Click to View the Video

And on this page you can view two more videos, about the making of the song and video

Samia Website

Same-Sex Broadway: The Stage Collection

Between 1996 and 2000 Dink Records released several gay-themed CDs of mostly Broadway songs, sung male to male, and (in Volume 3) adding female to female. As you can tell from the graphic, there were three distinct volumes, along with a fourth collecting songs from the first three, sort of a greatest hits, though as very few knew of these CDs, well, there were no actual hits.

The artwork was designed to catch your attention (and it succeeds) with gorgeous photos of couples, though the models have nothing to do with the recordings...hey, eye candy sells. I'll start with "Stage1" and there are some beautiful songs here. I was tempted to share with you "I Know Him So Well" (from "Chess"), which was probably the first male-to-male version of this song. (John Barrowman sang with Daniel Boys a terrific take on it, on John's 2008 CD "Music Music Music.") But instead I went with the song from the CD that grabbed my attention immediately, "Someone To Watch Over Me," from "Oh, Kay!"

Listen to "Someone To Watch Over Me"

 In all the CDs of this series the producers (Art Collins and Joey Mendoza) used a variety of singers. Michael Fawcett was the vocalist on the song above, and others singing sometimes alone or in duets were Ralph Peña, Richard True, William Riley, Francis Cruz, Leon Ko, and Robert Lee. I would have given these folks more credit than the small print in the liner notes, but that's me.

The second volume, "Stage2" had more alluring photos (of unidentified models) and 13 more gorgeous songs, this time with vocals by Ralph Peña, Charlie Owens, Sean Ray, Francis Cruz, Leon Ko, and (co-producer) Joey Mendoza. As I like my songs very queer, this time I picked the classic from "Show Boat," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," coupled with "Something Wonderful," from "The King and I" (sung by Charlie Owens).

Listen to "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" 

 For "Stage3" the producers expanded their scope, by also adding female singers, and in my opinion it didn't work nearly as well. I would have preferred they devote an entire CD to women singing this kind of material to women, and by focusing on that, really do it well. But as a result, the CD seemed to try too hard in too many directions, not quite succeeding in any of them. Again, I said "in my opinion"...:)

And the songs are more gender neutral. I mean, what is the point of including a man singing "Alfie" if he oddly leaves that name out of the lyrics? I don't want my music neutral, I can get that from a zillion hetero recordings. This is no fault of the very competent singers (Charlie Owens, Francis Cruz, Joan Almedilla, Nicole Roberts, Marnie Nicolella and Curtis Moore). The last two songs are male and female group numbers, nicely done. In fairness the liner notes say the intent was "an earnest belief in a united community among men and women in our community." 

This volume also added some more contemporary songs to the mix, like "True Colors," and I was surprised that "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" worked very well, and the performance on "Michele" was beautiful. This time I'm giving you a song with  a man singing to a man AND a women singing to a woman. You decide how well it worked.

Listen to "The Boy/Girl From Ipanema"

Volume 4, "The Stage Collection" takes 14 songs from the first three CDs, which leaves not much point if you have the first three....and actually, you can now buy used copies of the first three for less than $2 for them all. That's no reflection on the quality, I'm just reporting a real bargain. And of course I do not blame the producers for trying with Volume 4 to let their production gather some more sales.

I do wish the label had lasted longer. In 2001 it released a soundtrack I still love, "Bed Boys & Beyond." I got to see that show done at The Duplex in NYC so I was already chomping at the bit for the CD release. I also did a short interview with that show's writers, Jeff Dobbins and Alfredo Alvarez, on my March 2001 QMH show.

 

In 2001 the label also released the original cast recording of "Heading East," written by Leon Ko and Robert Lee, who were featured on Volumes 1 & 2 of the Stage series. It was, as I understand, the story of an Asian man conquering the American Dream, across many generations, and I do not believe there was any gay content. There have been a number of productions of the show over the years, since its 1998 debut.

"I Am What I Am," in Spanish, by Sandra Mihanovich

Sandra Mihanovich has been a very popular Argentine singer since the early 1980's, and when "I Am What I Am" was still a new song (1984) she recorded her part dance version, to some acclaim in that country, and she's still singing it. I found videos of her doing the song, in Spanish, "Soy Lo Que Soy," one being a studio track, and many other live performances.

While it's always iffy research when googling foreign language websites, I gather that Mihanovich has not been all that publicly out of the closet. Her one-time partner, Celeste Carballo on the other hand, has been very open about being lesbian. In a 2004 interview in the UK magazine Diva, it was indicated that "Everybody knows that Sandra is a dyke. But, people say, she doesn't make a song and dance about it the way Cece does"

See that Interview

I found a video of Sandra and Celeste performing together, in 1988, and the album cover below, from 1990,  is a bit more explicit.

 

Sandra Mihanovich Website       Celeste Carballo Website

After I posted this blog entry an email correspondent of mine in Argentina wrote me that Sandra's mother was a TV celebrity there and it was she who would not allow Sandra to come out publicly. But Sandra did appear for the first time in the Gay Pride Parade last year. The way my friend described the coming out was that despite her mother "you cannot hide the sun with a finger. And 'soy lo que soy' was a sun for many of us...the first gay hit (sung by a lesbian) ever in Argentina after the dictatorship."

Miss Destiny Tells All

Okay, raise your hands, how many have heard of Miss Destiny? Well, she was likely the most famous drag queen of 1960's Los Angeles, and she got that fame courtesy of John Rechy. He devoted a chapter of "City of Night" to her, and as that book is considered one of the early landmark works of gay literature, she was delighted. 

Her celebrity enabled her to tell her own story in the magazine "One, The Homosexual Viewpoint," in September of 1964, where she took a couple of snipes at Rechy,  but he forgave her. You can read that entire article on a page of my website, by clicking below.

Read "Miss Destiny"

And, she'd be so pleased, there's now a rock band in Melbourne, Australia, calling themselves Miss Destiny, in her honor.

Also, on a long shot, thinking I might could do some genealogy research on her, I wrote to John Rechy, asking if he knew her real name. Alas, he never knew it, and wrote me:

Dear Mr. Doyle,

How wonderful, a page for Miss Destiny!...  I'm afraid I  knew her only as "Miss Destiny," and little else about her, other than her passionate desire to have a "fabulous white wedding."...  I don't know how she got my telephone number back in the 80's, but she would call me sometimes late at night to tell me that she had a "new husband" who did not believe she was "the fabulous Miss Destiny".  Please, she said, tell him it's so.  I would take the telephone and would say to a boozy voice that, yes, he was with the "real Miss Destiny."...  I never again saw her beyond the scenes in "City of Night." 

You may be interested to know that this year marks the 50th anniversary of "City of Night."  My publisher, Grove Press, is putting out a special edition to mark that date, with some supplemental material.

Regards,

John Rechy

Judge Judy

Judy Small is an Australian folk legend, and an openly lesbian one. Her music works commenting on social justice over the last thirty-plus years made her an icon in that country. And this year she received a couple of very deserved honors. The above various artists CD was released to honor some of her musical treasures, with contributions from an Aussie who's-who of folk artists.

And, now she's...pardon the easy humor...Judge Judy. See the announcement below.

If the script is too small for your browser, in short she and one other were selected out of 82 candidates for appointment to the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia. 
 

But, of course I want to tell you more about her music, and more about the tribute CD. It's part of a new series of compilations, with others honoring Bob Dylan, Eric Bogle and Joni Mitchell, so Judy is in very good company. One of the lesbian-themed songs included, was done by Glenys 'Willie" Wilson, who performed in the duo Willie & Fleur. 

Listen to "Lesbian Chic" by Glenys 'Willie' Wilson

I thank my Australian music journalist friend Sue Barrett 

for sending me this CD and getting Willie's autograph

Hearing that, I naturally need to mention my favorite Judy Small release. In 1993 many of her fans got together and sponsored a recording intended to gather her gay-themed songs, and it's a wonderful collection, one I consider a must. It was called "Let the Rainbow Shine."

 

Listen to Judy sing
"Influenced By Queers"

"I Can Be a Lesbian"

At my site I've set up an Extensive Judy Small Discography

and in 2002 she gave me a delightful interview

Judy Small Website

Judy on iTunes

Gay Boy Scout Songs

Well, a partial victory today led me to drag out the two songs in my collection that lyrically address the issue of gays in the Boy Scouts. The earliest one, from 2000, is by a singer going by Peto, and appeared on his CD "In My Place." He called it "Scout's Honor."

Hear "Scout's Honor," by Peto

Visit Peto's Site and CDbaby Page

 

And the other is from a folk satire group called the Ray Korona Band. On their 2002 album "The People Are in Charge" they gave us the tongue-in-cheek song "Gay Free Boy Scouts."

Hear "Gay Free Boy Scouts"

Visit their Site and CDbaby Page

If you know of any other songs lyrically about this issue, please contact me

GLAAD Org/Scouts