Tag Archives: gay icons

In 1968, an aspiring 18 year-old singer auditioned to replace Melba Moore in the Broadway musical Hair, but was instead cast in the German road production of the show, later switching to the Austrian version. Years later, during a stint in the Vienna Folk Opera, she met, married, and had a child with Austrian performer Helmut Sommer. In 1974, Mrs. …

Three years ago, with Dr. Jeff and our DC pal Jimbo, I trekked out to Coney Island for Donna Summer’s massive outdoor free concert under the Brooklyn stars. It was hot, pushy, and maddeningly overcrowded. It was also fantastic. But not just for the music. It was also amazing to see several generations of gay men, including not a few …

Horrible news. Donna Summer, the queen of disco, has died of cancer. TMZ has the early details.

Ticket information.

Fan sites are buzzing after Ticketmaster posted then immediately deleted a Barbra Streisand concert date at Brooklyn’s still unfinished Barclays Center. Ms. Streisand’s name had been scrubbed from Ticketmaster’s Barclays listings. And an eerie and oddly constrained silence was upon the lips of those who could speak to the facts. “We are not confirming this,” said a Barclays spokesman, Barry …

And it wasn’t the biggest.

Thirty-five years later the song (arguably) still most closely associated with Grace Jones is her first chart smash, I Need A Man, which spent two May 1977 weeks atop Billboard’s disco report before being shoved aside by Marvin Gaye’s epic, Got To Give It Up. An early version of the track was first released in 1975, reaching a limp #83 …

And here’s her first ever charting single, People. The clip below is from her Oscar-winning performance in the 1968 movie version of Funny Girl, but the single reached #5 on the Billboard pop chart when it was first released from the 1964 original Broadway cast recording. Yes kids, Babs had her first hit record 48 years ago.

Many more clips from the event are here.

Yesterday the New York Times published a column lamenting that Judy Garland is not an icon to the youngest generation of gay men. An excerpt: I asked Brodie if he’d ever heard gay guys refer to themselves as “Friends of Dorothy?” “Why would they do that?” “Because gay men once identified, very powerfully, with Judy Garland: her wit, gravitas, glamour.” …

Billboard reports: Madonna’s “MDNA” and Lionel Richie’s “Tuskegee” bow at Nos. 1 and 2 this week on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 359,000 and 199,000 copies, respectively (according to Nielsen SoundScan). Madonna has now etched a total of eight No. 1 albums: three in the ’80s, four in the ’00s and now one in the ’10s. She missed scoring …

Courtesy of the Karpel Group, this week’s Swag Tuesday prize is Madonna’s 1991 behind-the-scenes concert doc, Madonna: Truth Or Dare, which is released globally on Blu-Ray beginning today. Madonna: Like you’ve never seen her before. This movie reveals her as she really is, on stage and off–den mother to her family of dancers, sex goddess to her millions of fans, …

As of this week, Madonna has topped Billboard’s various charts 150 times. (Times, not weeks.) Leading the list are the 41 songs that have hit #1 on the Dance/Club chart. Of more mainstream interest are her twelve #1 pop singles and her seven #1 pop albums, the latter of which will become eight with next week’s #1 debut of MDNA.

“She is what she is. Which means she is more than obscene—she’s a Catholic basher. Girl Gone Wild begins with Madonna reciting the first few lines of The Act of Contrition. She must know it’s Lent. Then she prances around to the backdrop of a light-show configured to resemble a cross. The guy who is shown wearing a crown of …

Courtesy of the Karpel Group, this week’s Swag Tuesday booty is MDNA, the twelfth studio album from global superstar Madonna, which features the hit singles Give Me All Your Luvin and Girl Gone Wild. MDNA is available online and at retailers worldwide today. We have three CD copies of MDNA to give away. Enter to win by commenting on this …

The interview was live-streamed on Facebook to a potential audience in the hundreds of millions. No word on how many actually tuned in.

Earlier this week Madonna vowed to break St. Petersburg’s new “don’t say gay” law during her coming concert. Today the bill’s author declared that he will be at the venue and will charge Madonna, should she break the new law against promoting homosexuality. The law, which took effect March 11, in part prohibits “the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among …