Bronski Beat

Artist: Bronski Beat

LP: 7" single
Song: "Smalltown Boy"

[ listen ]

When this song came out, I made a photocopy of the cover so I could add it to the new wave music collage on the wall of my bedroom in our Tampico, Washington farmhouse. But Bronski Beat was the first openly gay group I'd ever heard of, and I was afraid someone would notice the song's sleeve with the telltale pink triangle in my collage and figure out I was gay! So I craftily placed this particular piece behind the 1960s lamp that hung over my bed so that you couldn't see it from the room unless you were lying on your back in my bed. I must've figured that by the time somebody was lying in my bed, they would hopefully already be finding out I was gay. Anyway, of course I'm the only one who ever saw it. 

It's still a good song all these 35 years later, don't you think? But seriously, does anyone really believe that any young gay man would be able to fit everything he owns into a little black case? The hair products and face creams alone would fill a very large red one.

Bronski Beat on YouTube:

[ "Smalltown Boy" ]

[ Bronski Beat ]

Sam Harris

Artist: Sam Harris

LP: 7" single

Song: "Over the Rainbow"

[ listen ]

Here's a little something in honor of the Gay Pride festivities and celebration that will be taking place in downtown Seattle later on today. Though Sam Harris' rendition of the Judy-Garland-classic-turned-gay-anthem is probably one of the most headache-inducing you're ever likely to hear (Harris goes way, way over the rainbow, after which he turns around and strangles the rainbow, and then he blasts the rainbow to smithereens), it's evidently considered to be the flamboyant Star Search champion's signature tune. Personally, I prefer Harris' 1984 top-40 hit "Sugar Don't Bite," partly because the song is a lot more fun and partly because the cover of the single shows off Harris' sexy arms and legs. You can read about the life and career of Sam Harris on Wikipedia here, and go here to read Sam's musings about being a new father after he and husband Danny Jacobsen adopted a baby boy in April of 2008.

Meco

Artist: Meco

LP: The Wizard of Oz

Song: "The Wizard of Oz — part one"

[ listen ]

Song: "The Wizard of Oz — part two"

[ listen ]

Yesterday morning on NPR's StoryCorps series, I was moved as I listened to Michael Levine describing what it was like to witness the Stonewall riots in New York City on June 28, 1969—an event which marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. You can listen to Levine's account of the events on that fateful and historic evening here. On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York to commemorate the Stonewall riots of the year before. You can read all about the Stonewall uprising and the various phases of the gay rights movement since then on Wikipedia here. Tomorrow, the "Over the Rainbow" pride parade and festivities here in Seattle will be marking the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Gay Pride March. Unfortunately, I won't be at the parade tomorrow, since I have to play the organ for some Christian church out in the suburbs. But if they start singing hymns about gay people going to Hell, I promise to make lots of mistakes. In solidarity with the movement, and to show my support for equal rights for the LGBT community—including marriage, adoption, and the right to be tacky and annoying—I'm posting this fabulous and overlong disco version of "The Wizard of Oz," produced by Domenico "Meco" Monardo in 1978. Meco, who you can read about here, reportedly says of this LP, "This is my best work, bar none!"—and what I think he means is that, unlike most of his other work, he can stand listening to this one without getting stone drunk down at the local watering-hole first.

 [ The Stonewall Riots — June, 1969 ]