Warning... this is an adult site. If reading or viewing things about what gay men do sexually with one another bothers you - you should not read this blog. This blog is a reflection of my adventures and thoughts. Some are fun, some not so pretty. I won't name names, or kiss and tell... but I will live to tell. And baby, trust me - I am gonna spill it all over your pretty little party dress. Enjoy!
In my big gay church there is a wing dedicated to The Divas Who Represent. They're not all flashy or cocks of the walk - in fact, some never officially came out of the closet during their lifetime - but they are all extraordinarily gifted, sharing their songs, music, and insights, allowing the world at large to learn, in the most subtle of ways, what it's like 'being green'. Thanks to their gifts and their bravery, they help make the world a little more gay every time their voices are heard. And that's been their true super power all along... their voice; they were heard. They mattered. And, whether they liked it or not, they represented!
One refreshing take?
Frank Ocean.
Deep responds to deep.
Fearless, he writes from a perspective we've never experienced - it is both intensely intimate, yet thoroughly universal.
He observes, he comments, he delves, he reveals. There are no half-truths presented, this is the real deal.
His voice? One for the ages.
And though he's not released a new album since 2016, he's still very much with us, putting out the occasional recording to keep our eyes looking his way.
This is not music as doled out by labels for the masses... this is art. And art takes time, for art is ever-evolving.
He's stayed true to who he is from day one... it's all been on his terms.
And let's hope it remains so.
The gospel according to him?
Well, here's three from the hip, dropping from his lips.
The topic? Art
"Art's everything we hope life would be, a lot of times."
"I've always wanted to make a career in the arts, and I think that my only hope at doing that is to make it more about the work."
"The way I approach this thing, when I started to get my head screwed on straight and really trying to make something of myself as an artist, when I was 19 or 20, it became more about function for me. Like, what is this song doing to you? What is the function of this type of artform? What is it doing?"
"I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro."
"I like the anonymity that directors can have about their films."
"Obviously, the cinematography of films is art, just as a still shot can be art. If I'm watching a Wes Anderson movie, the color palettes alone, and the way they're painted, could be art. With music, you're a little bit limited, of course, because it's only audio."
"Whenever I think about movies, I always look at that art process as having the best of a lot of worlds. Because if you watch a great film, you have a musical element to it, not just on the scoring, but in the way that the shots are edited - that has music and rhythm and time."
"In art, at a certain level, there is no 'better than.' It's just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it. Trusting that, just because of the way people are built and how interconnected we are, greatness will translate and symmetry will be recognized."
"We all know we have a finite period of time. I just feel if I'm going to be alive, I want to be challenged - to be as immortal as possible. The path to that isn't an easy way, but it's a rewarding way."
Novocane - Frank Ocean
Super Rich Kids - Frank Ocean feat. Earl Sweatshirt
In My Room - Frank Ocean
And one last parting shot
"People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear."
In my own personal big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to what can only be described as...The True Divas. These are ones that may do many things in life, but from the moment they opened their mouths to sing they became the one thing they were meant to become: a true diva.
One such soulful beauty?
Chanté Moore
This empress of saucy seduction can either go all quiet storm...
...or get your feet moving toward the dance floor.
There's a 'knowing' to her voice. It comes deep from within and sails forth like a dove taking flight.
And music lovers are not the only ones who could not resist her siren call.
The lady married four times...
But she has always been her own woman.
Still, our diva did have some personal work to do. She met it head on and dealt with her past.
Then she found a spiritual path that worked for her and life has been magical ever since.
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The Topic?
"I think that's what I was put here to do. Talk about my own life and my own views. I like to be able to expose my experiences so that people know they are not alone."
"Growing up in a Christian family, you would have thought what happened to me would never happen because my mother loved me and she was very much aware of who I am, but I was a very mature little girl. And at 14, I was allowed to have a crush on a man who was 21. And because he was worldly, and had money, and he'd been in the Navy, you know, and I was, like, all little girls seek older men and we go, Oh my God, he's so cute. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God."
"Somehow in there my father wasn't watching, my mother was watching very closely and thought she could handle the situation and she allowed this relationship to happen. It should not have happened. I should not have been allowed to date a man, it made me have insecurities at an early age that I should never have had, but a man who could manipulate a little girl's mind and her heart. He was allowed to do things he shouldn't have done."
"Well, I've been through a lot. People don't like talking about things that hurt. Usually we like to skip over that stuff because it brings up something that's unpleasant, but honestly it's the only way that I feel like some of those things have purpose because of somebody else's journey. And I really believe, you know, the quote from the Scriptures that says, all things work together for my good. All things work together for my good, not just the stuff I liked, not just the stuff that felt really great in the highs in my life that were wonderful, even not selling records has worked for my good because my ego is not in a place where you can't be in the same room with me and fit."
"I'm not in a place that when I see an unwed mother at 17, that I go, she probably didn't have no mama that cared about her. I had a mama that cared and I could have been that girl. And because of knowing that it could have been me, when I see them the emphatically in heart is different than somebody else's who doesn't know what it's like to be that girl whose been manipulated and her innocence stolen from her. It was stolen from me, and I know what that feels like. And you feel by yourself, you feel damaged goods."
"It happens to so many women - black, white, yellow, orange, green whatever it is. We all been in places where we've been victimized in some kind of way, usually."
"The difference is me! The difference is time, growth, pain, menopause, quarantine was a big deal as well. These things teach us how to maneuver through life. They are the hardest and the best part of our lives because that’s were real life happens. We think that we have it all figured out but we don’t. It really is one day at a time and not knowing what comes next. It’s all about dealing with it as it comes. We can’t have it all figured out. Even if we do, it’s not going to always work out the way that we thought."
"There are so many clichés that can be said but all means all. All things work together for the good. It works for you. It’s not against you. Even if something negative happens; from a death in the family, to your career not going the way you would like it to, or the love of your life not being there at all you, or you leaving them and then leaving too, a child dying or a pregnancy that you didn’t want. I don’t know what it is. You have to trust in God. If you trust in him. I know I trust in God’ and it’s not my job to make anybody believe in him. But I know what I’m supposed to declare and believe in. It’s about not being defined by your circumstances. I tell myself this all the time. If you choose wisely, you’ll end up somewhere better than before. Instead of saying I hate this, and I hate that. I woke up in a pit of depression regretting everything and so angry. Then I realized that I was angry at me. I’m not angry at o anyone else but myself. I chose everything that happened to me. I said I would be here. I said I’m not going to work here. I said I’m going to be with this or that. Choose wisely."
Love's Taken Over - Chanté Moore
Chanté's Got A Man - Chanté Moore
Real One - Chanté Moore
And one last parting shot...
"Keeping my integrity is what I think about it. You just do your job and you do it well, and you keep your integrity. And I don't sing anything I wouldn't be able to sing in front of my children. I don't sing anything I wouldn't be able to sing in front of my pastor. People fall in love whether you're, you know, at the church or if you're in the club. You do fall in love the same way - the feelings, the emotions, the things that it brings from the inside of who you are, it's the same. And I want to be sure that I sing about love and not sex."
In my own personal big gay church there is a wing dedicated to those who are one of a kind divas; individuals who have remained just that - an individual, no matter their circumstances. Maybe they never set the entire world on fire... but they did start one. And it burned long and bright, blazing a trail unlike any other...
One such blistering soul?
Millie Jackson
The first female rapper. Often called the "mother of hip-hop,"
Born the daughter of a sharecropper, her singing career was the result of a dare and a $5 bet. She and a group of friends were attending a talent competition and Millie began badmouthing one of the singers. One of her friends wanted to know if Millie thought she could do any better... and she did!
She opened up her mouth and won that damn contest.
Next thing she knew, she was singing for her supper. And when people in those supper clubs and lounges would start talking to each other, turning their attention away from her performance? She wanted to be part of that conversation. She started talking to them in order to keep their focus on her. It became her 'thing'. It became the key to what made Millie Jackson click.
Yes, Millie doesn’t just sing, child... she tells you a story.
And what a story. She brought her truth. And that of the women she grew up with. And the women watching the clothes go 'round at the laundromat. And the women who knew their man was up to no good. She shared it all... explicitly.
When she sang? The comparisons came quick. Why she sounds just like Gladys Knight. So to differentiate? She started rapping. Then, when Gladys started to add spoken word to her songs, Millie took it one step further; she started cussing and cursing - using words she knew Gladys, who she loved, wouldn't dare.
Through the years, she found her groove, though it would move through many genres - R&B, Pop, Soul, Country, Hip Hop, and Rock 'n Roll.
It's the latter that started her rather-one-sided beef with Miss Tina Turner. Millie wanted her to know that she, too, sang Rock 'n Roll. She even wrote a number about Ike and Tina's relationship. Maybe that's why, much later down the road, Tina scooped Millie on a potential single. Millie was all set to release it, but... Tina got there first! That's okay... when Elton John came looking for a duet partner for Act Of War, Tina said no, but Millie said yes.
Through it all - 28 albums in all - she wrote most of her own stuff and was self-managed. That's right. Self-managed. Oh, pity the fool who would try to tell this Ms. Jackson what to do.
In 2001, she retired from recording. Since then, she's had a radio show. And a musical based on her concept album about younger men running with older woman - which toured for four years. And the lady still hits the stage when the spirit moves her.
No, there's no slowing this diva down. Not while there are stories to tell...
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The topic? Infidelity
"I guess the reason I sing about certain thing is because I’m outspoken. There are some things that have to be said and it seems like I’m the only woman saying them right now. In fact, a lot of times people don’t compare me with other female singers but with my male counterparts! I guess I ought to regard that as a compliment!"
"Infidelity? Oh, boy. You just went down my whole album. In fact, my whole repertoire. Do you decide whether or not you want to talk about a certain part of an infidelity? Is it a man? Is it a woman? Is it both of them? Or do you want to go and start talking about what infidelity calls to life, or how it ruins a relationship, and not pertaining to anybody in particular. But, see, just like that you can write 25 songs on infidelity."
"We knew we were onto something (after If Loving You Is Wrong.) Then somebody in the studio asked ‘what now?’ And I said, ‘we finish the story. We’ve heard from the girlfriend, but what about the wife?"
"These were conversations that women had with each other at the laundromat. You didn’t hear them on records. You especially didn’t hear them on the radio."
"Men did not want my records in their house. They wouldn’t come to see me live. Because I spoke truth to women, I got a reputation for being rough on men."
"Well, if you listen to Caught Up... see, first of all, it's like a story. One side of the entire album is about the girl going with the married man. But the second side of the album, I thought the wife should have her say. So it's from the side of the wife and what she thinks about being cheated on. Her confrontation with the girlfriend. You know, 'All you're gettin' is my leftovers, digging out of love I done picked over. You oughta leave my man alone, find one of your own.'"
"When I write a story like that, I like to balance it out so people on both sides can see what's going on. That's why I did the wife and the girlfriend. And when I do my live performances, the women were always my biggest fans, but now I do both. I talk about the women, and then I go and I talk about the men, which the women expect me to do, but then I'll talk about the men and the women, so it can be balanced out that way. Try to keep it on an even keel."
Hurts So Good - Millie Jackson
Slow Tongue - Millie Jackson
Young Man, Older Woman - Millie Jackson and Reynaldo Rey
And one last parting shot...
"If you listen to Millie Jackson on the radio, you ain’t gonna hear nothing but Back in Love By Monday, Hurts So Good, and If Loving You is Wrong. Like I haven’t made any more songs, I’ve got thirtysomething albums, only got three songs to be played!"
"I didn’t sell record to bougies. It was the poor people who bought my music. The women who bought Diana Ross did not buy Millie Jackson. The people in the projects understood me. I was down and dirty. I told you like it was."
Ah, the question being asked in households throughout the land... What You Want For Christmas?
Make sure you get your order in... that is one deadline you do not want to miss!
This little beauty hit turntables and the airwaves in 1995.
Jay Ski, JeLana LaFleur, and C.C. Lemonhead make up the squad known as Quad City DJs. Their biggest hits were C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) and the theme from the motion picture Space Jam. Ski and Lemonhead, who hail from Florida, are responsible for a number of early hip hop classics, including Whoot, There It Is, It Takes A Real Man, Tootsie Roll, and Freak Me Baby. The term 'Quad' in the group's name is a local reference to bass.
In my own personal big gay church, there is a wing dedicated to what can only be described as...The True Divas. These are ones that may do many things in life, but from the moment they opened their mouths to sing they became the one thing they were meant to become: a true diva.
How much crow did Simon Cowell have to eat due to this one?
I guess winning an Oscar is a great start!
This lady? She's not going anywhere!
With a voice this big one must be heard.
She came to our attention via a talent contest, and although she didn't make it to the finals, she sure ended up coming in first!
Yes, this girl is a winner.
And beautiful to boot.
She grabbed the brass ring and shows no sign of stopping.
Her latest? She pays homage to one of her biggest influences - Aretha Franklin. Does it up in style and even co-produces it!
The gospel according to her?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from her lips.
The topic: Talent
"Appearance can always be changed, but the talent stays the same."
"My focus has always been on talent over looks. This theme of people putting an emphasis on looks first has been a constant reminder throughout my life that most people don't see things in the same way that I do."
"The talent should speak for itself."
"When I'm acting I don't sing, and when I'm recording I'm not acting."
"When you hear my music and you feel the emotion, it's real. When you see me in a film and you see a tear, it's real."
"I'm really not sure what people think or expect me to be, but I am surprised when people say, 'You're not supposed to be like that ' I'm not exactly sure what 'that' is, so I choose to take it as a compliment."
"Loving yourself means caring enough to make the hard decisions in your life."
"When other people reject positive changes you make for yourself, there is always some nerve to get to the root of in those other people."
Spotlight - Jennifer Hudson
I Can't Describe (The Way I Feel) - Jennifer Hudson
feat. T.I.
Here I Am (Singing My Way Home) - Jennifer Hudson
And one last parting shot...
"To me, the biggest notes and the longest notes are the easiest notes."
Destiny's Child knew precisely what they wanted when it came to the holiday season. So, why not write a funky Christmas tune to spell it all out - explicitly. (The only thing lacking are diagrams and diaphragms.)
Released in November of 2000 as a promotional single, 8 Days of Christmas was written (with Errol McCalla, Jr.) and performed by Destiny's Child. It served as the title track for their 2001 Christmas offering.
Based on the traditional carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, the eight days in the title is a actually a reference to Hanukkah, though the holiday goes unmentioned. At the song's video premiere, Knowles said, "Actually we wrote the song two years ago, when we went in the studio to do some Christmas something. That's what started the idea of doing a Christmas album."
The song would chart, hitting #57 on Billboard's US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Yes. What would the holidays be without getting a little something-something?
Now get your big monster hoof over here, fool, so I can give you that damn foot rub!
Sometimes
a song can remain winning in spite of some flaw, such as lyrics that cause one’s
brow to furrow, as in, ‘Huh?’. Such is
the case with today’s ‘Of Note’ selection, Samsaya’s infectious ‘Beginning at
the End’.
Born in
India, Samsaya moved to Norway at the age of 11 months old.She started her first band at nineteen,
working with other hip-hop musicians heavily influenced by NWA.Her breakthrough actually came as an actress
in a string of three films, two of which were horror movies.
She
released her second album, ‘Bombay Calling’ earlier this year. ‘Beginning at the End’ reflects her time
spent in New York; a smoother, more pop oriented sound. Catchy
and hook-laden, ‘Beginning’ remains buoyant, despite its depiction of a ‘doomed
from the start’ romance.Sure, the
lyrics are a bit forced at times, nonsensical, even, but it’s hard to deny
those sunny sounding ear worms and that irresistible chorus.
Mohombi
(Mohombi Nzasi Moupondo), formerly part
of the Swedish hip-hop group Avalon, has been doing it solo since 2010. His first single, ‘Bumpy Ride’ was a big hit
in Europe, going top ten in many countries.
He’s had several others since, but not broken through in the U.S. ‘Universe’ is his latest and greatest and is
looking to change that.
It’s
currently on Billboard’s Club Play Dance charts (falling, after peaking at #7) and, with any luck, will grace
the Hot 100 sometime soon.
It’s a
great song; uplifting and sunny as the day is long with hooks to spare. I love
the bridge and those chugging strings that drive the entire song.His vocals are dead on and I will be
surprised if this one doesn’t find a wider audience.
