Stargayzing

Wing’s “Beat It” Kicks 2016 in the Ass!

Music December 29, 2016

Happy New Year Stargayzers! I cannot think of a better way to welcome in the feeling of renewal and flush away the heartburn and heartache of ’16 than by sharing a rathe stunning live Wing performance. Perhaps you are already familiar with Wing? I have been a certifiable WingNut for years now and I am hopeful that 2017 might just be the year that the Chinese-by-way-of-New Zealand recording artist breaks big. Though she has already created a prolific body of work—over 15 albums—that run the gamut from show tunes to AC/DC and has even been satirized on South Park, she is still a fringe artist. Mature folks like me will appreciate that Wing is truly a Mrs. Miller for the hipster set, no?…

Twins Stella and Ella Interpret “Silent Night”

Music December 20, 2016

Stella and Ella Brown were more than twin sisters with a shared devotion to their faith. They were also into pantomime; early minimalists, whose interpretation of Perry Como’s laconic “Silent Night” suggests they very well may…

Florence Henderson Sings “That Old Black Magic” on <I>The Paul Lynde Halloween Special</i> (1976)

Florence Henderson Sings “That Old Black Magic” on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)

Television December 13, 2016

I assure you that there is absolutely nothing quite as wonderfully awful as the fetid, foppish, phoniness of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, which ABC brewed in a low-budget cauldron and unleashed upon an…

“Christmas Melody”: The Evolution of a Song

Music December 7, 2016

It began with an idea: for many years, I had wanted to create a song inspired by The Carpenters’ Merry Christmas, Darling—one of the all-time great holiday classics that was written by Richard Carpenter and Frank Pooler and recorded in 1970

Willie Nelson on How to Make a Great Record

Music November 16, 2016

“Simplicity is the always the key. Get in there. Sing the song. Get out. I’m not big on a hundred takes and a thousand overdubs. My kind of singing isn’t meant to be perfect.…

Which Famous Celebs Like to Gamble?

Joan Crawford’s 1968 Drunken Airport Interview: “I’m a Shtrong Dame”

Featured, Film July 19, 2016

“Where did you find her, Miss Crawford?” the interviewer asks of Carol, the terrified six-year-old placed on Joan’s lap as a prop—sort of like the crumpled flowers. One feels for the bewildered child, whom Joan now asphyxiates in the fetid brew of her alcohol- perfume- and cigarette-drenched plane ride. “Oh, I just always pick up children,” the star replies without a hint of irony, clearly unaware that George Cukor is not, in fact, the man behind the camera and that it is no longer 1940.

Remembering the “Record Store”

Music July 14, 2016

In today’s digital era, where songs have become “tracks,” we have access to most everything but we all program our playlists in isolation.

The Time Leslie Uggams Forgot the Words to “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” on Live TV

Music, Television July 4, 2016

Here we have a clip of show business legend Leslie Uggams struggling through Rogers & Hammerstein’s “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” a video that was being traded by gay collectors and folks in the Broadway community (redundant?) years before anyone thought up YouTube.

Donna Summer’s <i>I’m a Rainbow:</i> The Best Album Ever Rejected by a Major Label

Donna Summer’s I’m a Rainbow: The Best Album Ever Rejected by a Major Label

Music June 23, 2016

It’s been well over 30 years but I still find myself bewildered and annoyed in equal measure that Geffen Records (presumably label-head David Geffen, specifically) rejected Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and Pete Bellotte’s 1981…

Gay Icon Quentin Crisp on Marlene Dietrich

Film June 21, 2016

I am a huge fan of Quentin Crisp’s commentary on the great goddesses of film that were compiled in his wonderful book How to Go to the Movies. In addition to being a phenomenal writer, Crisp’s…

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