Michael Causer’s Murder to Be Remembered this Weekend

To mark the first anniversary of the murder of Michael Causer, there will be a respectful gathering to remember all victims of persecution on Sunday August 2nd, at the Memorial Stone, in St Johns Gardens (behind St. Georges Hall), Liverpool.

People are meeting at 12.00 noon. At 12.30, one year on from the exact moment of Michael's death, there will be a minute's silence, and friends and family are invited to speak about Michael, and what he meant to them.

Afterwards, while some will probably go to the bars in the gay quarter, a Music on the Waterfront event will take place at the Pier Head which could very well be the weekend and venue for Liverpool Pride 2010.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon (1 to 4pm) is an afternoon of jazzy bluesy niceness produced by some of Liverpool's finest players, supported by world music performers. For more information about Music on the Waterfront, please visit Liverpool Council's website here.

Video: 100 Years of Gay Pride

In the US, June has been named as Gay Pride Month by both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton and this year will mark 40 years since the Stonewall Riots that were such a landmark in the gay liberation movement and kick started the yearly return of evermore numerous Gay Pride events around the world.

To celebrate this anniversary and because "It's time to celebrate all the colours of the rainbow", artist Jon Gilbert Leavitt has reworked and extended a song he wrote for the 20th anniversary of the riots. The song comes with a video including a variety of iconic video footage and photographs to showcase LGBT life since the beginning of the 20th Century.



The updated song, entitled Pride 2009, is part of a CD by Leavitt, titled Pride at 40, The Music of a Movement. The Lyircs of the song can be found here (pdf file). More information about the album can be found here.

First Ever Gay Couple in a Boyband Video

More than a decade after the height of the boy band's vogue, Boyzone, who have just recently reformed and released their first new single in nine years, have just released what is thought to be the first ever music video by a boy band featuring a gay couple.

In the video for the song Better, the members of the band are paired up with actors. Stephen Gately, who came out in 1999 and lives in with his civil partner, decided that he wanted to be seen with a male actor.

He told the BBC's Newsbeat: "For me, it's just me being me and I don't think there should be a real big issue about the whole thing anyway. I just think it's just a beautiful video and I think it works superbly for the song. I'm hoping this video will have a good, positive, all-round reaction."

Find out more and view the video on the BBC News website here.

Pet Shop Boys' Outstanding Contribution to Music

By a happy coincidence, it is during LGBT History Month, next February, that Neil Tennant and Chrls Lowe, the members of Pet Shop Boys, will be honoured with the Outstanding Contribution To Music Award as part of the Brit Awards 2009.

Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have sold 50 million records since they signed to Parlophone in 1985 with four No 1 singles, 22 top 10 hits and a staggering 39 top 30 singles making them one of the most successful pop duos ever.

In 1986 their first hit single, “West End Girls”, topped the charts all over the world and the following year their single “What Have I Done To Deserve This?” relaunched the career of Dusty Springfield.

Pet Shop Boys have also worked as producers or remixers with artists including Robbie Williams, Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Madonna, Kylie, Yoko Ono, The Killers and, as part of the group Electronic with Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner.

The Boys were awarded their first BRIT in 1987 winning Best British Single for ‘West End Girls’. The duo went on to pick up the coveted Best British Group Award in 1988 and performed their hit single Go West with the accompaniment of a 200 piece Welsh male choir in 1994 while being lowered onto the stage by two huge cranes.

Ged Doherty, Chairman of The BRITs Committee said, “Since their first BRIT Award over 20 years ago, Neil and Chris have produced a fantastic body of work with songs that truly were the soundtrack to a whole generation’s lives. The Pet Shop Boys have since become one of the most influential groups of the modern era and are deserving recipients of the award.”

Previous recipients of the Outstanding Contribution To Music Award include Paul McCartney, Oasis, U2, Paul Weller, Tom Jones, Sting. David Bowie, Eurythmics, The Beatles and The Who.

The ceremony which will also feature a performance with the band will take place on Wednesday 18 February.

Brokeback Mountain, The Opera

The American composer Charles Wuorinen has been commissioned by the New York City Opera to compose an opera based on Annie Proulx’s renowned short story Brokeback Mountain. The story made into a popular and controversial award winning film by Taiwanese director Ang Lee in 2005, famously tracks the complex relationship of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, over 20 years after the two young men meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963.

Currently slated to premiere during City Opera’s 2013 spring season, this work will mark Wuorinen’s second world premiere at City Opera; his Haroun and the Sea of Stories, an adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s colorful novel, had its world premiere at New York City Opera on October 4, 2004.

Wuorinen said, “Ever since encountering Annie Proulx’s extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it, and it gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so.”

Wuorinen, who celebrated his 70th birthday this week, is a native New Yorker, who has been a major presence on the American contemporary music scene for more than four decades. His many honors include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and a Pulitzer Prize, for his electronic work Time's Encomium in 1970, when he became the youngest composer ever to receive this award.

Wuorinen's compositions encompass every form and medium, including works for orchestra, band, chamber ensemble, chorus, keyboard, percussion, and electronics, as well as ballets and operas. He has been described as a "maximalist," writing music luxuriant with events, lyrical and expressive, strikingly dramatic. His works are characterized by powerful harmonies and elegant craftsmanship, offering at once a link to the music of the past and a vision of a rich musical future.

Brokeback Mountain on Wikipedia
New York City Opera

New LGBT Hip-Hop Website Launched

The growing rise of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgendered hip hop artists and rappers has given birth to a website exclusively catering for the underground music scene that has long been referred to as "homohop". OutHipHop.com says their goal is to be the primary destination on the internet for all "out" hip hop artists (and their fans), an all inclusive home for LGBT artists who make all forms of rap and every variation of hip hop and are "out" with their sexuality.

The website, which is already live, features Interviews, CD reviews, a robust Artist Directory, Feature Stories and News, a Bulletin Board, and Media. The site presently offers a free Mixtape download and promises more content as time goes by.

Many of the news items and CD reviews are featured in a blog-like manner, which allows readers to post comments.

Hidden Gay Hip-Hop Scene Revealed

Terrance Dean, a former executive at music channel MTV, has penned a memoir of his life and times in the hip hop industry as a gay man. It is an explosive exposé of a thriving gay subculture in an aggressively male business, where anti-gay lyrics and public homophobia are common.

[...] That gay hip hop subculture certainly seems to be thriving. Dean's book describes a world where many industry executives and some artists are leading secret gay lives, which are often obvious to everyone but rarely talked about. And, despite using some false names, the book contains enough information so that it will undoubtedly spark off a frenzy of speculation as to who some of the characters are in real life.

[...] Dean hopes that by bringing out his book he will allow a leading hip hop figure to come out as gay and thus pave the way for the notoriously homophobic industry to come to terms with its secret side.

[...] There are signs that things are changing. Several leading rap artists, including top seller Kanye West, have admitted that homophobia is rampant in the industry and they have spoken out against it. West had previously spoken out against gay lyrics. There are also a handful of openly gay rappers such as Deadlee, who has held national US tours of his music and appeared on television to talk about his sexuality.

Read the full article in the Guardian here.

Hiding In Hip-Hop, on the low-down in the entertainment industry - from music to Hollywood by Terrance Dean was released on 13 May in the USA and will be available on 17 July in the UK. Dean is also the author of a blog.

Brian Epstein Memorial Campaign

A campaign is underway to create a lasting and fitting memorial to the man who discovered The Beatles and died tragically before he had time to enjoy the fruits of his labour in 1967.

Artist Maggi Hambling has expressed her interest in the project, the Gay Bussiness Association is backing the campaign and the proposal is to be put before Liverpool City Council with the hope of getting all party support.

There is also a petition available here.

Find out more about Brian Epstein here and here.

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes is a new documentary examining manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture. Director Byron Hurt, former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and gender violence prevention educator, conceived the documentary as a "loving critique" of a number of disturbing trends in the world of rap music.

The film is now on limited release in the UK.

* Website
* Trailer
* 'Hip-hop has more to offer' - Guardian's review.

Mel Cheren Dies

Mel Cheren, nicknamed "The Godfather of Dicso" died on 7 December of an AIDS related illness, aged 74. He was the founder of the legendary New York club Paradise Garage and West End Records in the mid 1970's. He was also a prominent New York AIDS activist.

In 2000, Cheren published a memoir called My Life and the Paradise Garage: Keep on Dancin', which wa used as the basis for a documentary entitled The Goldfather of Disco.

Disco pioneer Mel Cheren dies at 74
RIP Melvin Cheren: Dance Music Legend And AIDS Activist
LIFEbeat mourns founding board member Mel Cheren
Mel Cheren profile - West End Records

The Lost Boys - Epstein, Orton and Meek

Jon Savage threads together the extraordinary lives of Brian Epstein, Joe Orton and Joe Meek - three men persecuted for their homosexuality who died in 1967 - the year the stigma was supposed to be lifted.

Read the full Guardian article here.

BBC Four will be broadcasting documentaries on Joe Orton's and Joe Meek's lives next week as part of their Hidden Lives seasons. More details about the season will be posted here tomorrow.

On Wikipedia:
* Brian Epstein
* Joe Orton
* Joe Meek

Mad About The Boy

Songs poured out of Noel Coward, over 400 of them. From the 1920’s to the 1960’s they filled his revues and musicals – love songs like Some Day I'll Find You or the wit of Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Now they’re overshadowed by his plays.

For BBC Radio 2, Pet Shop Boys’ lead singer, songwriter and composer Neil Tennant talks to fellow performers and enthusiasts about the enormous range of Coward’s work – tender love songs, yearning melodies, sharp lyrics and skilful wordplay. Coward’s own performances make the songs particularly his own, but Neil Tennant presents versions by todays’ singers and bands and meets those, like Dillie Keane of Fascinating Aida or Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, that recognise his influence on their work.

Mad About The Boy: The Songs Of Noel Coward
BBC Radio 2
Friday 20 July - 1900-1930

Related Links
* The Noel Coward Society
* BBC 4 Interviews: Noel Coward
* Noel Coward on Wikipedia

Gloria Gaynor Homophobic?

Gloria Gaynor is currently in the uk for a series of shows. This morning she was interviewed by Radio4's Woman's Hour. The singer talked about her youth, her career, about some of her most famous songs, several of which have become gay anthems. She also talked about her becoming a born again Christian.

Finally the interviewer asked her about her status as a gay icon. She said she was really pleased with this and that saw it as an opportunity to lead her fans towards Christ. The interviewer then asked several times if there might be a contradiction between her faith and her having a gay fan base, if she considered homosexuality as a sin. Gaynor each time refused to answer the question directly. She only said that she is leading her fans to Christ and what he has to offer to them.

Listen to the interview here.

Mored details here.

Meek 60's

1967 was undeniably an important year for gay rights. The change in the law however came too late for some.

On 3 February of that year, the pioneer record producer and songwriter, Joe Meek killed himself, aged 37. Arguably he was mentally ill, suffering from paranoia. His homosexuality, at a time when it was illegal, and the police's interest in him in respect of the "suitcase murder" (that of Bernard Oliver whom Meek had known) were probable factors in his decision to end his own life.

PopMatters, an online magazine of cultural criticism, celebrates Meek, who released 245 singles, as some sort of warped musical genius, doing its best to avoid his disappearance in the sound archive of history.

[...] he built the first TV in his town, was an RAF radio engineer, a technician with the Midlands Electricity Board, and before branching out on his own was a BBC sound engineer. He did not last at the BBC because his methodology of altering recordings was completely at odds with tradition. So, in his rooms above a leather goods store at 304 Holloway Road in London, Meek became Britain’s first independent record producer, pioneering special effects, tape reversal, direct imput of the bass guitar, close-mic’ing, and multi-tracking.

Read the full article here:
Carry on Compressing!: Joe Meek and 1960s Britain

George Melly: singer, writer, fisherman, 'tart'

George Melly 1926 - 2007

George Melly, jazz musician, writer, bon viveur and bisexual, who was born on 17th August 1926, died yesterday 5th July 2007. Melly had been suffering from lung cancer but he refused all treatment and carried on delighting his fans on stage. His last performance was only four weeks ago. He was also suffering from dementia.

George was an early hero of the gay rights movement with his openness about his own ambiguous sexuality, told with such humour and affection in his autobiography Rum, Bum and Concertina.

He was also a long-time supporter of secularist causes, not only as a vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) but also an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

Read his obituary here:
* The Guardian
* BBC
* The Telegraph
* The Independent

* Goodbye to the good times, The Observer
* 'I hope I die before I get (very, very) old', Melly in his own words

View pictures here

The Boatswain’s Mate

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was born to a strict military family in which she was introduced to music and composition as ladylike activities suited to her position in society. As a teenager, however, she became determined to pursue music as a career and went on a prolonged hunger-strike to persuade her formidable father to allow her to study in Leipzig . Her operas included Fantasio and The Wreckers, and she also found success with orchestral and choral works such as her enduringly popular Mass in D (1891) – as well as providing the anthem for the suffragette movement, The March of the Women. A prominent suffragette, Smyth met and fell in love with Emmeline Pankhurst (buried next to the Finborough Theatre in Brompton Cemetery ) in 1910 and dedicated two years to the suffragette movement as political activist and its unofficial composer. She spent several weeks imprisoned in Holloway for the cause. Later in life, Smyth fought for political causes such as a subsidized national opera for England and the rights of female orchestral musicians. In 1922, she became a D.B.E.

Written in 1914 and unseen in London for more than 50 years, The Boatswain’s Mate is Smyth’s fourth and most obviously feminist opera. A witty and inventive battle of the sexes, it features a feisty heroine – supposedly based on Emmeline Pankhurst – who outwits her suitors in a series of entertaining and resourceful deceptions. Mrs Waters is a wealthy widow whose first husband has left her with a country pub and a determination never to remarry. When the retired boatswain George Benn devises a scheme to win her hand by ‘saving’ her from a burglar whom he has in fact paid to break in, he reckons without her bravery and quick-wittedness.

The first production in Primavera’s three-month residency at the Finborough Theatre, The Boatswain’s Mate will be a fully costumed production-without-décor, opening on 17 June for five Sunday and Monday performances as part of the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre’s [ rediscoveries season 2007 ] and their acclaimed sell-out thefinboroughgaieties – Celebrating British Music Theatre series.

The Boatswain’s Mate
Sunday, 17 June and Monday 18 June; Sunday, 24 June 2007; Sunday, 1 July and Monday, 2 July 2007 , 8.00pm
Finborough Theatre, The Finborough, London
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Reggae stars renounce homophobia

Three of the world’s top reggae/dancehall singers have renounced homophobia and condemned violence against lesbians and gay men.

Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton had previously released anti-gay hate songs, including incitements to murder lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. They have now signed up to the Reggae Compassionate Act (Word file), in a deal brokered with top reggae promoters and Stop Murder Music activists.

The agreement follows the three-year-long Stop Murder Music campaign, which resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of the singers’ concerts and sponsorship deals, causing them income losses estimated in excess of five million dollars.

Peter Tatchell, who is the coordinator of the worldwide Stop Murder Music campaign and helped negotiate the deal with the three singers, said of the agreement:

“The Reggae Compassionate Act is a big breakthrough. The singer’s rejection of homophobia and sexism is an important milestone. We rejoice at their new commitment to music without prejudice,”

“This deal will have a huge, positive impact in Jamaica and the Caribbean. The media coverage will generate public awareness and debate; breaking down ignorance and undermining homophobia.

“Having these major reggae stars renounce homophobia will influence their fans and the wider public to rethink bigoted attitudes. The beneficial effect on young black straight men will be immense."

This view is mirrored by fellow Stop Murder Music campaigner, Dennis L Carney, Vice-Chair of the Black Gay Mens Advisory Group (BGMAG) in London. Mr Carney is of Jamaican descent, and played a leading role in negotiating the Reggae Compassionate Act. He added:

“I am thrilled that Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton have signed up to this historic agreement with the Stop Murder Music campaign. We welcome their commitment to not produce music or make public statements that incite hatred and violence against gay people”.

“This is a giant leap towards restoring peace, love and harmony to reggae music. These performers are sending a clear message that lesbians and gay men have a right to live free from fear and persecution - both here in the UK and in Jamaica”.

In this declaration the artists promise to not sing lyrics or make public statements, in Jamaica or anywhere else in the world, that incite prejudice, hatred or violence against lesbian and gay people.

Peter Tatchell also said:

“The Reggae Compassionate Act applies worldwide. If any of the three singers break this agreement anywhere in the world, we will resume the campaign against them.

“As a result of them signing this statement, for a trial period we are suspending the campaign against these three performers. If they abide by the agreement we will make this suspension permanent.

“The other five murder music artists - Elephant Man, TOK, Bounty Killa, Vybz Kartel and Buju Banton - have not signed the Reggae Compassionate Act. The campaign against them continues. These singers have incited the murder of lesbians and gays. They should not be rewarded with concerts or sponsorship deals.

The Reggae Compassionate Act was negotiated by Eddie Brown of Pride Music UK, with the support of the promoters Michel Jovanovic (Mediacom France), Klaus Maack (Contour Germany), Peter Senders (Panic Productions Holland), Fabrizio Pompeo (Tour de Force Italy), Julian Garcia (Roots and Vibes Spain) and Tim Badejo (Dubble Bubble Scandinavia).

There is however some concerns about the viability of the agreement. A similar one was reached with other artists two years ago but within a few three acts - Beenie Man, Buju Banton and Bounty Killer - were said to have broken their pledge and the truce was cancelled.

See also:
* Reggae acts renounce homophobia, NME
* Gay bashing reggae performers promise to stop the hate, PinkNews

Good Evening, Miss Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich’s bisexual exploits, her fondness for butch drag and her medal-winning heroism in the Second World War have added to the legend that has already enthralled several generations of gay men, stretching right back to Weimar Germany, where Marlene’s career began.

It was in the Berlin of the 1920s that the aspiring actress would be seen at the drag balls that were popular at the time. She found international fame with The Blue Angel and went on to make more than 50 other Hollywood pictures.

As Hitler came to power, Marlene was quick to realise that this was the twentieth century’s biggest monster, and she renounced her German nationality and became an American citizen. “If that is what being German involves,” she said, referring to the Nazi regime, “then I am no longer German”.
After the War she embarked on her third career as a cabaret artist. Her one-woman show, which she perfected with the help of Burt Bacharach, became a phenomenon, and she toured around the world with it for twenty years.

“Good Evening, Miss Dietrich”, hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA) and presented by Terry Sanderson, takes up the theme of this year’s Pride in London (“Icons”) and examines the varied and extraordinary life of this great entertainer who has a strong and lasting fascination among both gay men and women.

This tribute evening shows Marlene in her many guises. From her first screen test for von Sternberg, to a full performance of her famous show (recorded in 1963 by Swedish Television) the audience is taken on a trip through the 20th century to explore Marlene’s fantastic film career, her war work and her music.

Good Evening, Miss Dietrich
Thursday 28 June 2007, Conway Hall, London
website