French Musica

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"It's a great day to import all my new French CDs. "

Check it out!

This is a shameless plug for my (much older) brother's new blog about music.

Gary Listens To Music

It's a personal blog about what music means (or doesn't mean) to him. Go on, give it a whirl.

Ladies & Gentlemen, Cher!

Even though I am totally peeing my pants to see Kylie not once, but TWICE this weekend, I have to pause and give credit to another diva:

CHER TURNS 65 TODAY.

Don't judge, Share / Don't judge Cher

I got this fun post via the Post Apocalyptic Bohemian. The idea is to answer a series of questions using the song titles by one artist. He chose The Police because they are an all-time favorite of his. I have selected Cher 1) because I like her, 2) because I have a lot of stuff by her and 3) because she's sung just about every song ever written.

Try it... I got hung up on the last one about food.
Are you male or female? – Just Like Jesse James

Describe yourself – Strong Enough

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How do you feel about yourself – If I Could Turn Back Time

Describe where you currently live – Paradise Is Here

If you could go anywhere, where would you go – The Girl From Ipanema

Favorite form of transportation - Taxi, Taxi

Your best friend is – All I Ever Need Is You

Your favorite color is – Am I Blue

What's the weather like – We'll Sing In The Sunshine

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called – One By One

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

What is life to you – I Hate To Sleep Alone

What is the best advice you have to give – The Beat Goes On / It Aint Necessarily So

Watch Sonny & Cher - The Beat Goes On - 40 years ago in Music | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

If you could change your name, what would it be – Hey Joe

Your favorite food – All Or Nothing

La Place Dalida

If on any given Saturday night you can walk into any gay bar in America and see a drag queen performing a song by Madonna, then the equivilant in France would be Dalida! As many have told me in the past, "Dalida was Madonna, BEFORE there was a Madonna." J'adore Dalida.

Sadly, On May 3, 1987 Dalida died as a result of an drug overdose. She left a note that read, "Life has become unbearable ... Forgive me."

However her music and her legacy live on. Here is one of my personal favorites:

Here is a fun game/amusement when you have nothing else to do, are alone, with friends, drunk or ravenously bored. I stole this from this Tyler's blog.

Turn on your itunes, click shuffle and then forward to receive the deep meaningful answer to each question below:

What does next year have in store for me? La Passion - Gigi D' Agostino
Now that is an auspicious year!
What’s my love life like? A Slick Chick on the Mellow Side - Dinah Washington
I am never mellow.
What do I say when life gets hard? Tammy - Ray Conniff
Strangely this is nearly true.
What do I think of on waking up? Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room - Dwight Yoakam
Mostly I think this when I wake up in the dark by myself.
What song will I dance to at my wedding? Let's Call The Whole Thing Off - Michael Feinstein
This would definitely NOT have been the song played at our wedding, and we had no dancing.
What do I want as a career? Karaoke Overkill - Robbie Williams
Mostly I just want Robbie Williams.
My favorite saying? It's Too Late - Gloria Estefan
It's never too late. Oh Gloria, why do you lead us astray?
Favorite place? Lesson 1 Mandarin Chinese - Pimsleur
With all the French music in this blasted itunes, you'd think it could get this one right? Non?
What do I think of my parents? Sing It Back - Moloko
I don't even know this song. It came on a CD marketed as the Best Millenium Music Ever!
What’s my porn star name? La Faute À Voltaire - Les Misérables - Original French Concept Album
Finally some French music. And its showtunes. Pretty gay if you ask me.
Where would I go on a first date? Coca Cola Commercial - Fontella Bass
My musical tastes are clearly odd and varied.
Drug of choice? Something Got Me Started - Simply Red
I would have guessed Sugar by the Archies would have come up if this blasted Ouiji Board of a game really worked.The thing I like doing most? Make Me The Woman That You Go Home To - Gladys Knight & The Pips
Aw, that's just rude. Always calling me a woman.
What is my state of mind like at the moment? Jingle Bells - Singing Cats
How vile is this game that it reveals that I actually have this song in my computer. Bad game! No biscuit! No kibble treats for you in your stocking this year!

How will I die? Lebanese Blonde - Thievery Corporation
Remind me to not travel to Lebanon for a long time...

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

I didn't take any video. But someone else did...

Watch this clip of Mr Michael announcing that Dr. Phil is in the audience. I'm not a fan of Dr. Phil so I really enjoyed the reaction of the crowd. A light cheer followed by a hearty "booooo..." (I promise I only whispered my objections). Then Dr. Phil gets a roasting from the stage. Oh, and Dr. Phil and company were escorted from the 3rd row center seats by arena security well before the encore.

It was George's Birthday. And none other than celebrated Republican Bo Derek presented him on stage with a fake cake. I have issues with Bo. But that is for different post. Ok, I'll just announce that I think she is an idiot. There. Happy?

Tony Sweet's Gospel Dream

You know it seems I don't feature enough Gospel music on my blog. Oh yeah, I've never featured Gospel music on my blog. But that's because my good friend Tony Sweet has never been on television competing for his Gospel Dream!

Tonight we are hosting a party in honor of Tony's appearance on television at our house (we have a very large TV) and you could watch along at home!

Check and see if you receive the Gospel Music Channel and tune in at 9pm (ET) or 6 pm (PT) this Sunday and the following Sundays and see how he does.

You can see a quick snippet of him by going to the Gospel Music Channel website for behind the scenes videos and then click on the video called "Gospel Dream Rehearsals".

You can also vote to make him (Tony is third from the end) a fan favorite - remember vote early, vote often! -seriously, repeated voting (in a new window each time) counts.

And if you'd like to find out anything else about my very good friend (so good, I am pimping him out here on my blog) you can track through his myspace page.

GOOD LUCK TONY!!!

Christmas Mash-up

This is what it's like to live inside my head with all that Christmas music (and regular music).

Fun Facts revealed!

And now, for the nine of you that wondered if you got it right, here is the breakdown of some of the Christmas songs I have the most versions of. Our top spot went to a song no one even voted for, Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... The Christmas Song.

1. The Christmas Song – 58
2. Silent Night – 52
3. Jingle Bells – 48
4. The Little Drummer Boy – 47
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – 44
6. O Holy Night – 44
7. Winter Wonderland – 42
8. White Christmas – 41
9. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – 34
10. I’ll Be Home For Christmas – 32
11. Sleigh Ride – 30
12. Rudolph – 28
13. Hark The Herald – 26
14. Frosty the Snowman – 21
15. Deck the Halls – 19

Favorite versions

Having multiple versions of the same song sung by anywhere from 10 to 58 different artists in varying styles keeps my holiday mood moving. But if I had to choose the definitive version of a song, could I? Here's what I came up with.

• Christmas Song, The (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) - Torn between Diane Schuur and Ella Fitzgerald, both so different and yet so good.
  
• Deck the Halls - London Symphony Orchestra (I like a big loud traditional rendition)
• Frosty the Snowman - Ronettes
• Hark The Herald - Vince Guaraldi Trio (from the Peanuts TV show)
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - I've got to go with the classic by Judy Garland
• 
  
• I’ll Be Home For Christmas - Tony Bennett, this song can be a real downer, but his version in very swingin'.
• Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters (a very close second is by SheDaisy)
• Little Drummer Boy - people either love it or hate it. Strangely I just like it. But the primary version for me is by the Norman Luboff Choir (same arrangement we sang in choir in high School) and then for the geniusness of it all the version by Marlene Dietrich in German.
• O Holy Night - for powerful vocals, I've gone with Wynonna. But right on her heals are Martina McBride and Billy Gillman (I love his angelic baby voice that sounds like a girl)
• 
  
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - Dean Martin
• Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - The version by Phil Spector. How can I not choose this one, it starts with, "Jimmy, I just came back from a lovely trip..." Hello, she's speaking to ME.
• Silent Night - in German, Stille Nacht, performed by Chanticleer.
• Sleigh Ride - André Kostelanetz
• White Christmas - two versions chosen. Barbra Streisand because she does the intro I love to hear in Los Angeles, "The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway. There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills, LA. But it's December the 24th, and I am longing to be up North..." And then all the rest of the vote goes to Rosemary Clooney.
• Winter Wonderland - Lena Horne
• 
  

Fun Facts about Christmas Music!

I fell in love with Christmas music and the smell of tires at the same time.

Every year my parents would go to Goodyear Tires and buy snow tires. With those snow tires came a free Christmas LP! Though they also offered a free Christmas LP at Firestone. But we got our tires at Goodyear. Oh the horror of having to choose your tires based on who was on this years Christmas LP. Lucky for me, my dad worked for an automotive parts store and had connections. (strangely, when I recently had to go buy new tires for my car, just the smell of all those new tires took me back directly to my childhood and memories of sitting in the waiting area for my dad to get off work so I could get a ride home.) Regardless of where we purchased our tires, or how many tires we purchased we got all the LP's available. Is it an early indicator that I would turn out gay that I was the one begging my father to hurry to Firestone before they ran out of LP's?

So I fell in love with the King Family Singers, Doris Day, Julie Andrews, John Davidson, Mahalia Jackson and wide variety of singers at a tender age.

I was going through my Christmas music in itunes. Of the 1800 songs I have under the "Holiday" genre I was stunned to find some fun facts.

There is one song title that I have 58 versions of. Take the poll on the side and tell me which one you think it is.

Here are the top twenty songs in my Holiday list by virtue of how often they claim to have been played. That play count is not for the week. It's from whenever I added the song. Kinda sucks to be the new kid on the block. How will poor Josh Groban ever catch up?
Still interesting to know what apparently gets played a lot for the the holidays at me house. Again this is the top 20 out of 1800:

1. Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Julie Andrews 56 plays
2. The Bells Of St. Paul by Linda Eder 54 plays
3. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear by Julie Andrews 51 plays
4. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love 50 plays
5. Cool Yule by Bette Midler 49 plays
6. Medley: Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride by Henry Mancini 48 plays
7. Jingle Bells by Natalie Cole 48 plays
8. Mele Kalimaka by Bette Midler 47 plays
9. Sleigh Ride by Billy Gilman & Jessica Andrews 45 plays
10. Christmas Trumpets by Ray Anthony 45 plays
11. Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes 45 plays
12. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Linda Eder 43 plays
13. Let It Snow by Michael Bublé 43 plays
14. Sleigh Ride by André Kostelanetz 42 plays
15. We Wish You A Merry Christmas by Booker T. & The MG's 42 plays
16. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by Chris Isaak And Silvertone 42 plays
17. Little Bright Star by Diana Ross & The Supremes 42 plays
18. Jingle Bells Cha Cha Cha by Pearl Bailey 42 plays
19. It Happened In Sun Valley by Randy Van Horne Singers 42 plays
20. Do You Hear What I Hear/The Little Drummer Boy by Vanessa Williams 42 plays

A Christmas gift for you

I am hesitant to reveal just how awful my taste in music can be, except for this Heidi Klum song "Wonderland" - you must listen to it 3 times before you dismiss it. After that, you will beg me for it.

Guilty!

I have a guilty pleasure. I am addicted. I can't control myself and whenever I am home alone you will find me with it...

LEGALLY BLONDE - THE MUSICAL

Ohmygod, ohmygod you guys!! I saw it was going to be on MTV in October and decided it looked so bad I'd have to see it. Now I think I've watched it about 4 times. Then on the cruise we took, I met someone who also shared my obsession and he gave me a copy of the soundtrack. Itunes tells me I've listened to it 7 times so far. Lately, I've taken to re-enacting scenes that feature Elle Wood's dog, Bruiser, with my little lovely Lola. "What's that? Elle's trapped in the Old Valley Mill? Old Valley Mall?!"

Apparently my nieces are also infatuated with this. Once again I have far too much in common with 14 year old girls.

I am now working on how to get to New York to see it in person and how to trick Lyle into going with me...

For my sister

Every year at the Holidays there is a tradition between my sister and I. Who will be the first person to make the other person cry for Christmas. No, we don't poke each other in the eye. We play the worlds saddest Christmas song ever. (and it's not that damn Christmas Shoes song)

So, in an effort to catch her where she least expects it, here you go.


The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot sung by Nat King Cole written by Connor/Carr/Leach.

He's the little boy that Santa Claus forgot,
and goodness knows, he didn't want a lot.

He sent a note to Santa
for some soldiers and a drum,
it broke his little heart
when he found Santa hadn't come.

In the street he envies all those lucky boys,
then wanders home to last year's broken toys.
I'm so sorry for that laddie,
he hasn't got a daddy,
the little boy that Santa Claus forgot.

spoken:
You know, Christmas comes but once a year for every girl and boy,
the laughter and the joy they find in each brand new toy.
I'll tell you of a little boy that lives across the way...
this little fella's Christmas is just another day.
he's the little boy that Santa Claus forgot,
and goodness knows, he didn't want a lot.

In the street he envies all those lucky boys,
then wanders home to last year's broken toys.
I'm so sorry for that laddie,
he hasn't got a daddy,
the little boy that Santa Claus forgot.


Great, now I can't even read my own blog.

Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!

The Hollywood Bowl goes Over the Rainbow.

On Sunday we saw Rufus Wainwright perform Judy Garland's 1961 Hollywood Bowl Concert. Strange concept. Very intriguing. We were trying to get four terrace level box seats, but since I drug my heals, we wound up in the Benches. The joke of that is that for the price of ONE seat in the terrace box level, we had four seats and parking for one dollar more. YAHOO!

I won't bother to give a review of the concert. Many others have done that better than I can.

I likes me some Judy Garland. I'm not a crazed fan. I likes me some Rufus Wainwright. But again I am no crazed fan. I can tell you that some people seemed disappointed that Judy didn't show up. I say go see and impersonator. Some thought Rufus' voice sounded tired and there were times on some song endings where his voiced seemed to give out.

It seemed to bring home the point of how amazing must that original performance have been. At three hours of non-stop singing and you know Judy Garland was still belting them out. Murder I tell ya'. Murder.

What I enjoyed the most was the one of a kind experience it was. Rufus is doing this mini-tour recreation of the original tour. New York at Carnegie Hall, London at the Palladium, Paris at the Olympia and finally in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. I am always up for one of those "Only in LA" type of experiences, though in this case it was actually "Only in New York, London, Paris and LA" I still wanted to go. (the Carnegie Hall album and DVD will be available in stores December 4, 2007 - you know I'm getting that.)

I knew from reading a little in advance that he should at some point come out in the classic Judy Garland wardrobe for "Get Happy" which is a double breasted black tuxedo jacket,a black fedora and fishnet stockings. After he allegedly had sung his last song bu the orchestra was still on stage, I told my little group to stay put, they were going to love the encore. And sure enough he did not disappoint.

Judy "Gets Happy"

Rufus "Gets Happy"

So I enjoyed the spectacle of it all. I loved the part where he went out into the audience and gave Debbie Reynolds a kiss. I loved that he brought out his performing mother and sister and included them. I loved seeing Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter) perform and being able to close my eyes and hear Judy Garland on the stage. And in the end I'm glad we bought our $22 tickets and not the $100 tickets because then I can do more things like that.

Debbie Reynolds gets a hug from Rufus.

Lorna Luft and Rufus Wainwright.

This is a mini-movie I made with low quality images from my cellphone video camera. Clearly I added the soundtrack.

Here are some much better video's shot by other people:

Rufus Medley from glass on Vimeo.



Zing! Went the Strings... from glass on Vimeo.



Over the Rainbow (partial) from glass on Vimeo.

That was all fun and great, but now for the most interesting part. The stacked parking lot at the Hollywood Bowl. There were two lanes of cars parked between a green strip of grass wrapped in concrete curbs with Palm trees spaced in the middle close enough that you could not drive a car between them. In Stacked parking, no one goes until the cars in front are occupied and leave. You know this when you pull in. Oh well, such is the parking at the Hollywood Bowl.

Except for the Asshat in the minivan three cars back and one lane over.

Since we had been sitting for about three hours, when we got to our car and found no one in the four cars in front of us, I said, "No point in getting in the car and sitting some more. Let's just hang out here next to the car." A common sentiment around us as three other groups of people waited around their cars next us.

Then the minivan man flashes his lights and sticks his head out his window, "COME ON! LET'S GO!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?"

Mostly the groups of people glance up then sort of laugh it off. He gotta be kidding. Right? Too bad he's not really funny.

Then he repeats his light flashing, shouting tirade. This time accompanied by honking his horn.

Oh my God. He's serious.

So I walk back three cars and ask him what he wants us all to do? "MOVE YOUR CARS!"

"Well that would be great!" I tell him, "Did you bring your car jack that lifts 3 ton cars and moves them to the other side of the parking lot? Or are you just so big and burly that you're going to come out of that car and he-man lift them all by yourself. We're not all just standing around for the love of standing. We have to wait for the cars that are in front of us, just like you do. So if you have some magic powers that the rest of us don't have, be my guest and come on down."

To which he responded, "Oh I'd like to 'Come on down' for you sweetie." with a slight mocking tone. To which I replied, "I don't think you'll ever be man enough to do that!" as I walked away.

I got back to my group of friends and asked them if they would tell me if he was getting out of his car with a crowbar and walking towards my back. They promised they would.

A minute went by and a man approached from behind nearly scaring me, "I just have to tell you, that was brilliant. Thank you." and he went back to his car which was parked next the the Asshat.

We continued to wait for the cars in front to be moved by their owners. Still not enough had arrived to free us. Then the lane behind us started to open up. The last car left, the next car left... but still one car was sitting behind us keeping us from a reverse exit. Oh well, what can you do. We started chatting to the people around us as we were out of topics to discuss amongst ourselves.

By now the lane next to the minivan was open but neither car in front of him nor behind him had come to drive away. Stacked parking has attendants that encourage you to pull in as tight as you can so they can fit one more car, one more car, one more car at the end.

But the minivan believed he could get out.

He started inch forward, turn wheel, inch back, turn wheel other way. Inch forward, turn wheel, inch back, turn wheel other way. This was going to be a lengthy 18 point turn. Then on inch forward and back number 16, he thought he could skip a step and pulled forward past the car in front... or rather he thought he would but instead scraped the hell out of the back bumper of the car in front. Then continued to jockey back and forth.

This did not sit well with the witnesses. One man from the car next to us reached into his car, got out his camera cell phone and went over to eh minivan and took a close-up photo of his license plate.

"What the hell are you doing?"
"If you aren't going to leave your contact info, I will." said the camera man.
"I didn't even hit it!"
"How would you know? You never got out of your car to check. Even Britney Spears got out of her car to check!" Which of course you must have figured out by now, that a Judy Garland Tribute concert there were in fact quite a few gay men waiting for their cars to be unblocked. Gay men love a good Britney in trouble reference.

So the man got out of his car to come and check the damage to the front car's bumper. He deems it just minor dust disturbance. And his wife shouts that he doesn't know how to drive and she will now be taking over. She gets out of the passenger side, wobbles, then staggers to the driver's side and revs the engine.

"Oh my god, she's hammered!" says Lyle.

She pops it into reverse, jumps the curb behind her, pushes on the palm trees (which luckily stopped her from going into other traffic) then swings the car hard around to ram into the front of the car the used to be behind her. Hell yeah,she's the better driver! She made a much louder noise!

With no intention of leaving anymore information this time either, the husband goes to get in on the passenger side and the pair of them will make their getaway. Except for all these pesky people who've been watching. The mob drags over a parking attendant who has been watching but from a distance. As if to protect himself from becoming involved.

Mob member #1: You need to stop them!
Mob member #2: Don't let them drive away!
Mob member #3 (to different attendant): You! Go get the police!

And the mob steps into the van's way and the parking attendant walks over to tell the man that he's going to have to wait where he is.

It takes longer than it should to get the police there. They are standing at the base of the driveway (about 500 feet away) and seem reluctant to step away from watching traffic drive past them. But finally one officer arrives,then a second. The drivers are both removed from the minivan and it is discovered neither one has brought their license.

Now the owners of the scraped cars return. Cameraphone photos are sent and finally the drivers of the last car behind us has arrive. Except that blasted van is now blocking our reverse escape!

Lyle tells the police to move the van. The protest that it is now a crime scene and can't be moved. Lyle tells them that the crime happened one lane over and the van has already been moved so why not let all the nice people who did their job of holding the drivers leave by the reverse escape route and the police finally agree.

As we are departing, one friend in our car is chanting "Cuff 'em! Cuff 'em! Cuff 'em!" and I make Lyle promise to lock the windows so he can't shout that as we drive by.

So, to the Asshat who was in such a hurry that he thought he could do a 36 point turn and leave after the Rufus Wainwright concert, I hope those 15 minutes you thought you could save were worth the night you probably spent in jail Smart one.

Bassey Belts

A few years back I was watching a concert/documentary with Shirley Bassey (as the subject, not sitting next to me on the sofa), and Dame Shirley Bassey refers to a review someone wrote about her in which they said, "Bassey Belts." I've always thought that would be a good name for a line of pant cinching instruments.

In 2006, Marks & Spencer in Britain had an ad campaign with Shirley Bassey singing Pink's hit "Get This Party Started." It was BRILLIANT.

I've been wishing I could own it ever since then... and now we all can. Miss Bassey has released a new album. Sort of. One new song and a bunch of remixes. I don't care. I must posses it.

Oh, and our dear girl Shirl is 70. I've got to discover her secret...