SotW: Darling Buds of May by Brother Thursday, Jun 2 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 11:14 am

Alt-Nation has been playing “Darling Buds of May” by Brother a lot lately. It’s a really catchy song, and I can’t get it out of my head. Here’s the video:

Brother is a British group from Slough, the same town that The Office is set in. They have an album coming out in August. It will be interesting to see if they’re able to follow this single up with a strong LP.

Pictures of the group bring to mind a question PJ and I have often asked: “Why is the drummer always the hottest member of every group?” Frank Colucci is Brother’s drummer; he’s definitely hot!

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SotW: The Graveyard Near the House by The Airborne Toxic Event Monday, May 9 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 6:41 pm

Alt Nation has been playing the song “Changing” by The Airborne Toxic Event a lot lately. I like that song, so I thought that I would check them out and see if I liked their most recent album, All At Once. After giving the samples a listen on iTunes and watching a few of their videos on YouTube, I decided to download the album.

It’s a really good album, and once I started listening to it I fell in love with several of their songs. My favorite right now is “The Graveyard Near the House,” which is an amazing love song. Here’s a video for it from YouTube (the Bombastic videos are a series of acoustic vids — they’re all amazing versions of the songs):

It’s kind of tongue in cheek and macabre in parts, but I love this song’s view of life, love, and death. PJ and I are old enough now that these kinds of conversations happen from time to time. Much of this song sums up everything I want to say to him. I think it’s a beautiful song.

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SotW: S&M by Rihanna Monday, Mar 7 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 9:58 pm

I’ve not been a big Rihanna fan apart from “Umbrella” — I tried to resist it, but it was too powerful for me — but I keep hearing her newest single, “S&M,” and again I find myself unable to resist.

It’s a fun song and video, sexy but in a funny way. And the lyrics are catchy. I love it!

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SotW: This Time by Cassidy Haley Saturday, Feb 19 2011 

music and queer culture and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 10:47 am

I  saw the video for Cassidy Haley‘s new single, “This Time,” on Towleroad and love it:

Haley’s video obviously uses Fight Club as a metaphor for a romantic relationship. While this is a rather pessimistic view of romance, the concept is interesting and well done. It captures much of the spirit of the movie but also gives it its own twist.

As usual, I immediately noticed how hot both of the guys — including Haley — are: I can be just as shallow as the next gay man. But I’m also impressed by the visual contrast between the guys’ hotness and the blood and violence of the fight club imagery. This contrast creates an interesting comment about relationships, gay or straight, I think. On the one hand, romance can be beautiful and sexually hot; on the other hand, relationships can be destructive and hurtful to the participants. Something that starts so beautifully can end up being tragically wrong. By the end, the video seems to ask why we do this to each other. Why do we hurt each other so much when we should love one another instead. At least that’s how I read the sadness of Haley’s face in the final part of the video.

Of course the video is also a commentary on the queerness of Fight Club. Weren’t we all expecting Ed Norton and Brad Pitt to make out during it?! This video is what should have happened!

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SotW: Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” Friday, Feb 11 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 8:37 pm

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” was released today, so I immediately listened to it on YouTube and then downloaded it from iTunes. As I’ve written before, I think Gaga is a genius:

I’ve already been reading that people are comparing it to Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” I can hear a few slight similarities, but overall it seems entirely different to me. In particular, Madonna’s never explicitly acknowledged anything but heterosexuality in her lyrics. For this song’s political and social message alone, I think it’s revolutionary. Maybe I’ll teach Gaga in my GLBT lit course next year!

But it’s also just a fun dance track!

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Favorite Videos of 2010 Sunday, Jan 30 2011 

music and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 1:23 pm

Since I’ve covered albums and singles/tracks, the last of my annual music-related favorites list for 2010 is my favorite videos of the year. As usual, I’ll list the videos and explain briefly what I like about them. I’ll conclude with some thoughts about what this list seems to suggest about me.

My favorite video of 2010 is Brandon Flowers‘ “Crossfire”:

This is the first time that my favorite song of the year is also my favorite video, but the song itself is part of what I love about this video. I also love its Charlize Theron as ninja storyline — I love kick-ass women! I also love Flowers’ smile every time she shows up to rescue him. Together, these elements are an interesting spin on the more traditional damsel in distress. I also love when she puts her arm around him at the end as a sign of comfort. This reversal of traditional gender roles is bloody brilliant. And it doesn’t hurt that I think Flowers is one of the hottest men in the world.

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Slice by Marco Castro Thursday, Jan 20 2011 

food and male models and music thisgaudygildedstage 9:45 pm

Lately I’ve had a constant craving for pizza. Any pizza. Pizza from the cafeteria at work. Pizza from our local pizza places (chains or locally owned). Homemade pizza. I can’t seem to get enough.

So, I find this short video by Marco Castro fascinating, partly for the pizza but mostly for the model, Asher Caplan! I first saw it on my new favorite blog, Sissydude, who saw it on another great blog, Homotography:

I love pizza too, but somehow I can’t manage to look this good eating it!

 

SotW: Ricky Martin’s “The Best Thing about Me Is You” Friday, Jan 14 2011 

music and song of the week thisgaudygildedstage 11:53 am

Like most people, I’ve long thought that Ricky Martin is hot — or at least I have since he cut his hair shorter! For example, in recent pics (one’s in which he’s got short hair and has matured) Martin is HOT:

I don’t think he was all that hot when he was younger and had long hair:

Now that he’s out, he’s even hotter. I first heard this single when he sang it with Joss Stone on Oprah. At the time I was skeptical about it. It felt wrong for him to be singing a heterosexual love song after having just come out.

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Favorite Songs/Tracks of 2010 Thursday, Jan 13 2011 

music thisgaudygildedstage 9:38 pm

Having written about my favorite albums of 2010, it’s time to list my favorite songs/tracks of the year. As usual, I’ve identified my favorite 25 songs, whether they’re singles or tracks from an album. The list isn’t an attempt to be specifically accurate — it’s not that I like #17 more than #18 but that the top ten or so are more my favorites than the next five and so on. I’ll also try to explain what I like about each song/track.

#1: Brandon Flowers‘s “Crossfire,” a great song with a great video:

I love The Killers, and this song retains much of the flavor of one of their songs. I also like that it’s catchy and kind of a love song. From the first notes, I immediately loved every bit of the song the first time I heard it.

#2: Glee‘s “Teenage Dream”:

I know that I’m in danger of being an old, gay perv by liking this song, but I think it’s wonderful that this kind of song is on TV and no one really takes it as the demise of Western Society any more. That a guy could sing this song more or less to another guy is just great. As a “gay” song, it’s also a great love song. And Darren Criss is an energizing addition to Glee. (I have to say, though, that I find it a little creepy hearing an adult woman sing it to an adult man —  a little too I’m-going-to-be-your-teenage-dream pedo fantasy for me.)

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Fruit Fly: A Review Thursday, Jan 6 2011 

movies and music and queer culture thisgaudygildedstage 7:45 pm

Fruit Fly is a 2009 musical that PJ and I recently watched on Netflix. It stars L.A. Renigan as Bethesda, a Filipina performance artist who has just moved to San Francisco. Her performance art is about her search for her birth parents, whom she has sought out after her adoptive parents’ death. Her biological father is now also dead, but no one knows what has become of her mother. She has found a room for six months in an apartment building, and the film follows her attempts to stage her performance piece while getting to know her new roommates. Here’s the trailer:

Fruit Fly is a fun, entertaining movie. PJ and I both really enjoyed it.

Part of what I liked it about is its experimental nature. It’s not a traditional musical in which the characters break into song to sing about their emotions or falling love or stuff like that. These characters do break into song, but their songs are about public transportation, workshopping your performance piece, being a fag hag, or meeting another versatile bottom. In other words, this is a musical about urban, racial, gender, and queer identities.

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