Lesley Gore & Dusty Springfield Sing Commercials

In the 1960's Coca Cola recorded at least 50 commercials with rock & pop stars of the day singing that "things go better with Coca Cola," or variations. These were the big names of the day. Lesley Gore, as far as I know, recorded the "Things Go Better" ad in three lengths: 30, 60 and 90 seconds. The 90-second ad was actually released on a 45 rpm record, given out for promotion. It also featured Roy Orbison, The Drifters and Los Bravos. This was good stuff, and that disc today is usually in around the $40 range. In 1967 more commercials were produced and Lesley got another one, usually called "Her Little Sister," done in 60 and 90 second versions. I do not believe this one or the others done then were pressed on vinyl. I've read that both of Lesley's songs were written by the team of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, and their sound fit that completely. As I could not find all three of these on YouTube I put them together in this medley.

Things Go Better With Coca Cola, 90 seconds

Her Little Sister, 60 seconds

Her Little Sister, 90 seconds

And, I don't want to leave out our other lesbian diva of the 60's, Dusty Springfield. Her contribution to the music of commercials was in 1967 for a product called Great Shakes, which was a powder added to milk to make it into a milkshake. That company also recruited a number of popular acts, including The Tokens, The Yardbirds, The Who, The Chiffons, The Happenings, and others. Fortunately, there was already a video slide show on YouTube for this ad, and it can be found on a 2011 CD as a bonus track, on the Dusty collection of rarities, "Heart & Soul."

Link to YouTube Video

This one can be found on vinyl, on what is probably a late 1970's pressing, collecting a number of these type of ads.

OutRadio Best of 2012 Show

It's my Best of the Year Show, and yes, a Very subjective list.

Part 1 is for Albums and Part 2 for singles or songs from an EP.

OutRadio for January 

http://www.queermusicheritage.com/outjan13.html

Part 1

Mika - Celebrate
Kiya Heartwood - Change (Is Gonna Come)
Levi Kreis - Gonna Be Alright
Rick Berlin - Kitchy
Matt Alber - The River
Andy Units - Sea of Stars
Matt Gold - Oh, Joe
Maia Sharp - Me After You
Veronica Klaus - The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game
Kevin Wong - Books & Drinks
Sir Ari Gold - If I Steal Your Boyfriend
Ezra Axelrod - American Motel
Jay Brannan - Beautifully
Michael V. Doane - Follow Me, Follow You
Krystle Warren - Forever Is a Long Time
Gossip - Move in the Right Direction

Part 2

Gavin Creel - Noise
AG - I Saw Her Standing There
LP - Into the Wild
Jen Foster - You Stayed
Cheyenne Jackson - Drive
Richard Hefner - Girls & Boys
Josiah Carr - Alone with You
Chris Riffle - And I Love Him
Jana Fisher - 30k
Pushovers - Boy or Girl
Kat Devlin - Dear Emmi
Sugarbeach - Led Me To You
Jason Gould - Amazing
Jonas Oakland - Who's That Boy
Darren Ockert - The Rain from London
Matt Fishel - Behind Closed Doors

You can stream or download the show anytime, at

http://www.queermusicheritage.com/outjan13.html

Thanks for listening, JD Doyle

http://www.OutRadio.com

http://www.QueerMusicHeritage.com

All segments of both shows are archived.

That’s 13 years of very gay music.

DykeAppella: Lesbian Picnic +3 Video

As I produce a show called Queer Music Heritage, you might expect that I love to honor the work of artists & musicians who did great work, but just did not, in my opinion, get the credit or exposure they deserved. The group DykeAppella fits that description, and they did it with only one album released. Out of Madison, Wisconsin, and recorded in 1997 the album "At the Gates of Heaven" I think is simply wonderful. I love harmony and also very out-of-the closet music, so this CD was for me a given. I plucked four songs from it and put them into a video slide-show medley:

Lesbian Picnic  (original written by Bratton/Kennedy, updated lyrics by Kathy Younger)

Teenaged Lesbian  (written by Kate Canon, 1981; also recorded by Judy Fjell in 1993)

Hollywood Haircut  (written & recorded by Judy Reagan, 1983)

Sit on My Face  (source unknown; but a definite crowd-pleaser; a hidden track on the CD)

DykeAppella was: Tara Ayres, Normajean Bunton,
Nancy Gerber, Emily Jones and Tess Meuer. Their farewell concert was in June 2001.

I am especially pleased that they included on the CD Judy Reagan's song "Hollywood Haircut," as it honors the work done by lesbians in the 40's-60's, paving the way.

You can own your own copy of the CD by visiting Amazon.

You can hear more audio samples at this page of my site:

http://www.queermusicheritage.com/dykeappella.html

And in general, see my website, at http://www.QueerMusicHeritage.com

for more information about the history of GLBT music.

Teddy Boys - He Only Goes Out With Boys

I have no reason to think this Canadian band is gay, but it's in my collection for one reason only: the 1980 LP includes the infectious track "He Only Goes Out With Boys." And while they certainly do not look the part on what is, I think, their only release, their name is a nod to the Teddy Boys subculture of 1950's & 1960's UK. Those 60's Teddy Boys were all about dressing up and slicking their hair back, per the photo below.

Listen to "He Only Goes Out With Boys"

Per the liner notes the LP's music was from a stage musical, 

but google doesn't seem to know much about them.

TWO: The Homosexual Viewpoint in Canada

I recently acquired six issues of TWO, and so naturally want to share them, along with my comments. TWO was published from 1964 to 1966 by Rick Kerr, and the office address given was that of the Melody Room (457 Church Street, Toronto), one of two gay clubs he owned (the other being the Music Room). The magazine name was obviously inspired by the American homophile publication "TWO (Truth Will Out)," a supplement to the magazine One, which began in 1953.

The magazine's content was eclectic, with articles, drag photo revue coverage, stories, and lots of teen model physique photography. Of the six issues in my collection, totaling 164 pages, physique photography made up half (82 pages). And the obvious reason was that Kerr also owned two studios, Rik Art and Can Art. He sold photos and books of the photography, advertised of course in the magazine. In TWO there were no nudes, and the "naughty parts" were blacked out with pouch-shaped black marker, a little distracting. You can read all six of the copies in my collection on my website.

TWO Magazine

There were a few features regarding drag awards or

 festivities on Halloween, and some "serious" articles:

But by far most of the pages were of the late-teen physique photography genre.