My Meeting With David Bowie

This week has been a big one for music legend David Bowie. He turned 66 years young and he has released his first song in a decade "Where Are We Now". With an album to follow in March.

Yes! Anything Mr. Bowie does is head and shoulders above what's out there now. It also reminded me of the time I met The Legend.

Now, I am seldom, if ever get "Star Struck" - in fact most people are a polite "Hello" nice to meet you situation.

But David Bowie, well now that was an entirely different thing. I was working my first job upon arriving in Los Angeles, CA at the once landmark, now gone Tower Records on the Sunset Strip.

Minding my own business and stocking the shelves of the tape department (cassettes not 8 tracks) - I walked by David two times, when I finally registered he was in the store. I dropped my tape box and ran into the backroom of the store so as not to embarrass myself and screamed like a teenage girl: "Oh My God, it's David Bowie, he's out there in the store"!

After regaining my composure I walked back out and got a Tin Machine album and ripped the plastic off so he could autograph it as did my fellow co-workers.

Bowie was gracious, down earth, not to mention humble. When someone I worked with said: "Mr. Bowie it is an honor you are such a legend" His response was "Oh please, I'm not that big of a deal".

This was also in the era before camera phones, otherwise I am sure the gracious Bowie would have done photos with all of us.

David Bowie is an amazing artist and man who deserves everything he has rightfully earned, not to mention being one of the coolest people on the planet. Also the only famous person I ever got gaga over meeting.

Happy 66th David - and cheers to your latest "Where Are We Now"....!

"

"When I looked in her eyes they were blue but nobody home" : www.davidbowie.com

Dudley Saunders: "Monsters"

Independent: This is the adjective that best describes Dudley Saunders, and that's a good thing. 

From his performance art - to his activism, and first and foremost his music, Dudley could be a spokesperson for The First Amendment. 

I first heard of Dudley via his CD "The Billy White Acre Sessions" and saw him perform at Genghis Cohen in Los Angeles, CA. I was hooked. 

Dudley is a gifted storyteller, musician and thought provoker who stays true to his personal vision.

His latest CD: "Monsters" is no exception, Mr. Saunders is like wine, he gets better with age. 

For those of you out there who are familiar with Dudley, this will be fun! For those of you who aren't well here's your chance to really get to know him. I recently checked in with the man behind the music and threw 10 Random Thoughts at him, and "Yes" he answered...


MS: Performance Art 

DS: Uncomfortable. Find the place that makes you want to turn away, and you’ll know that’s where you most need to go. Then you create a brand new form that fits the shape of the uncomfortable thing, which then makes the audience uncomfortable, because they don’t know what to expect. This is very exciting to me as an audience, but most audiences prefer to be comfortable. The audiences that get excited the way I do usually turn out to be great friend material.

MS: East Village 

DS: Lost Home. A geographic location where challenge and opposition to traditional modes of expression, as well as traditional subject matter, were normal and the expected minimum. A time and place not meant to stand, and maybe too easy to mythologize. I try not to look back anymore.

MS: "Love Song For Jeffrey Dahmer"

DS: Hidden key. I can tell whether people will like me based on whether or not they want to engage this song. The not-think-about-it people don’t stick around me very long. Susanne Breslin did the best interview about this song, and was not much-liked for doing it:http://www.facebook.com/l/AAQFq8mLvAQEMvlN7GaMkZy-RjEKahMDBvbZ21wPvpv63PQ/trueslant.com/susannahbreslin/2010/04/19/a-love-song-for-jeffrey-dahmer/

MS: Rolling Stone 

DS: Immaterial: the magazine traffics so predictably in the mainstream and the “officially-sanctioned indies” that it reflects almost nothing of what matters to me (except for Matt Taibbi’s political reporting). I will be shocked if they ever mention my name, although maybe when I’m 80 they’ll call me “an underground legend” in some article squib. As if they hadn’t participated in making me “underground” by ignoring me. Talk to performance artist Penny Arcade and she’ll give you an earful on that media pattern.

MS: "American Horror Story" 

DS: Meta-fiction. Pile up enough standard gothic tropes and they become something more. You start to feel the darker fears and desires that undergird them. This show addresses these old narratives head-on where I just pull pieces of them into story-songs I don’t actually think of as gothic -- like in my song THE ROSEWOOD CASKET, where the murdered woman’s skull asks him to “kiss my skinless face”. I was a little aware that that might seem a little horrifying, but not as much as I now see it is. Really, nothing I write every seems that disturbing when I’m writing it; it’s just after the fact I get all these reactions and go ‘oh yeah ...’ But I wonder now if other people see a stronger connection between me and Ryan Murphy? Usually the artist has the most skewed perspective on these things.

MS: Storytelling 

DS: Untold. Most of the stories that matter to me - or would matter to me - go untold. And the heroic model of storytelling, where a hero learns and earns his just rewards, is primarily a lie we tell to assure the evil that they have a right to the things they’ve stolen. I’m drawn to lives with foreshortened narratives -- they get trapped too early, or are broken before they can get to redemption, or the trouble they face doesn’t make them stronger but breaks them into strange distorted shapes. A lot of pop songs just regurgitate the same old stories, and you can tell where they’re going halfway through the first line. That doesn’t make me feel anything. I think the untold people deserve their own melodies.

MS: Act-Up

DS: PTSD. My old ACT UP colleague Spencer Cox just died a few weeks ago. We met for lunch when I was touring through New York in October. We talked at length about how much untreated trauma there is in our activist generation. It was a great discussion, but it turned out he was more of an example of PTSD than I realized: he’d stopped his medication, and in December just couldn’t fight off an infection. It reminds me of something that the writer Sarah Schulman once told me, that the people who create change are rarely the ones who benefit from it. The drag queens from the Stonewall Rebellion mostly ended up poor and homeless and murdered while younger gay people experienced previously unimagined freedom. And so many of the AIDS activists who saved millions of lives are having trouble saving their own. But - and this is very ACT UP - we’ll probably do better if we pull together to save each other. 

MS: "Birdbones" 

DS: Exorcism. Rageful fragility. Wow, that’s a weird response! This was the performance art piece that got me the most attention, but it also marked a turning point. 

Back then, I made art because I had all these horrifying ghosts in the back of my head that I couldn’t quite identify even though they ruled my life. I was a completely tortured, haunted person, but if you asked me what was wrong I had no idea. So I used performance art to make those ghosts manifest themselves so I could see them, feel them and wrestle with them. I used a form I called “witnessing,” which was essentially me bearing witness to these surreal horror stories in the enraptured voice of a psychosexual evangelist - I think the Village Voice used that term. Anyway: like a lot of tortured people, I believed that the pain would literally kill me if I faced it. Which means performance art, for me, felt a little like a suicide mission - but for the purpose of saving my life. In retrospect, no wonder I was such a basket case.

Birdbones got the last of those ghosts out of me and probably saved my life. I also got great reviews, and if the right wing hadn’t decimated arts funding, I might have become an avant-garde art-world star. Maybe I’m glad that didn’t happen: a few years later, I made my first record, RESTORE.

MS: Rainy Days 

DS: Falling on the just and the unjust alike. Isn’t that in Matthew, in the King James Bible? It just means that when it rains we are all bound up in one common experience. It’s a gentle version of what happens in LA during an earthquake, or during a power outage in New York. It’s inconvenient but I love it - I’d rather be uncomfortable than disconnected.

MS: "Monsters"

DS: Unseen. Monsters that look like monsters aren’t frightening to me. Reagan’s charming face used to fill me with abject terror. Or the kindly gentle smile of Rick Warren now, filling us with uplifting platitudes while preaching anti-gay propaganda in Uganda that led directly to the deaths of gay people. Most monsters don’t believe they are monsters the way most alcoholics don’t believe they have a drinking problem.

"Monsters" are everywhere at: http://www.dudleysaunders.com/

Checking In With: Sir JET

Sir JET aka Joel Evan Tye is a pop star like no other. With his super-hero body and love for skin tight costumes and anime.

JET's childhood struggle with gender anxiety that lead him to become an agoraphobic mute for almost a decade to only rediscover his voice again at age 20 and become the man you see today.
His mission in life is to help people who struggle with their identity and to encourage them to find their true selves by going within like he did, with the release of his current EP "Shout Out  to the Lonely" it's Sir JET!

MS: Your sound has evolved since your single "Storm" which had a very retro/Depeche Mode quality to it. But you did go back to that sound with your track on your current EP "Hikari Iku (I'm Coming Home)".

SJ: It does have that retro vibe. (laughs)

MS: The track was co-written by Kimberly Locke, you said it worked out between you guys really well because she was stuck in a mode. I am not familiar with her last song, is that statement true?

SJ: Well last song was "Friendly Free" I can't remember the actual lyrics, but it's a you hurt me and I'm free of you sort of thing. It's ironic because she released the video a couple of months ago, and I thought: "This song sounds very similar we must have wrote them at the same time". (laughs) She's a lot of fun to work with, very easy going and quick witted, just like me. (laughs)

MS: "Shout Out to the Lonely" is a very inspired song, what, uh, inspired you to write it?

SJ: I wanted to create a new dance track and that's a phrase, I just kind of heard: "Shout Out to the Lonely" the song grew from the title. When I first created that song it had a very different meaning than the video, I think that's because I was bringing in different people to make the video. At first the song was about how lonely we feel in crowded places. By the time we shot the video it grew into loneliness being a drug, as much as any other kind of substance, you can take too much of it. We have to acknowledge that there are so many lonely people in the world and if we don't reach out to them it just gets worse and worse.

MS: You've had your own issues with that.

SJ: Right, and I learned from my experience that if you just keep closing in on yourself it's just going to get worse and worse. You really need to do that reaching out and find that thing that you care about. Otherwise you go down a selfish spiral, of feeling not good enough. It's amazing I see posts on my Facebook wall all the time about how lonely they are and how they need attention or a boyfriend...you break out of that struggling by finding something you passionately care about, that you can do for other people.

MS: You are also working on something called "The Marriage Equality Video Project".

SJ: It's to my song "Like God". The song is about finding the love of your life, and learning to let go of that fear of love. It came to me listening to the song that it would make a great video if the development of it was a song that leads to a wedding. Marriage Equality is a hot topic right now and I thought: "How could I use that to help the efforts"? Monetizing the video on YouTube was a way I thought could help the cause. So, that's how the idea got started, and I've been working towards it ever since. To raise the funds myself and the people behind it are going to start selling wristbands that are going to say: "Committed to Equality" on them.

MS: Oh, cool!

SJ: By wearing the wristband, you are committed to the cause like you are committed to someone you want to marry.

MS: Want to hear something about "Like God"? The song really stood out for me being a power ballad. However, while I was listening to it, I somehow accidentally hit my iTunes, and I hear this driving alternative rock sound in the background. I thought: "This doesn't sound like that song". It sounded kind of cool though, I had accidentally started playing "Head Like A Hole" by Nine Inch Nails behind it! (laughs)

SJ: Oh, my! (laughs)

MS: It sounded good, maybe you should sample that behind it sometime as a re-mix.

SJ: Not a bad idea, we could have a alternative rock wedding. (laughs)

Get on "equal" footing with Sir JET at: www.iamsirjet.com

And his Marriage Equality Project at:  www.likegodmusicproject.com

Happy 2013....!

Me & Pamela Sue Martin

OK I may be a tad late wishing everyone a Happy 2013 - but the Holiday Season was extremely busy for me not to mention I was without a computer for an entire week which is pretty much a major deal for those of us who write.

So here I am communicating on my new lap top and finally catching up on work, that's right for some reason and I never do this, I actually enjoyed the Holiday Season instead of stressing about things like I do with precision every year they roll around.

I spent the weekend in Palm Springs with friends at their house I had four separate Birthday celebrations with various friends not to mention the usual life things that one has to take care of. Of note I also attended the 40th anniversary screening of "The Poseidon Adventure" at The Egyptian in Hollywood, CA - the theatre that it actually premiered at some 40 years ago. I got to say "Hello" to past interview subject and Poseidon star, Pamela Sue Martin (pictured with me above).

Keep your eyes peeled she will be an upcoming interview on "Entertain Me" soon.....

Enough of my prattle, time to move onward into 2013, and what better way to kick my first posting of the New Year off than with some Pentatonix and the video for their latest song: "Save The World/Don't You Worry Child".

2013 is underway let's get crackin'!

Christmas Eve: Apollo Run

It's Christmas Eve time for a song for the Holiday Season. Oh Holy Night Batman! On this evening before the day, comes Apollo Run with their cover of Mariah Carey's "Oh Santa" !

Since I am not familiar with the original version (I am an AMCAAC's type of guy) Translation: Avoid Mariah Carey At All Costs. This is quite "entertain"ing and you can see the fun poked at Ms. Carey in it.  Hey "Entertain Me" is the name of the blog and that's what I aim to do.

Levity to all and to all a good night....

Mariah Christmas from Apollo Run: http://www.apollorun.com/

Farrah Burns: "New York State of Mind"

"90% chance that the fans going to hate/ but hates the new love that's all I gotta say"-Mey Mey Star

With that statement Ms. Farrah Burns, after taking some time to re-define herself is back and bolder than ever with her latest track "New York State of Mind".

Need more proof check out the buzz on Farrah's current single: "New York State of Mind" was a tribute to the different elements of Hip Hop. Each character represents an era from Hardcore, Westcoast, Old skool, Backpack, Mainstream, Abstract and Eastcoast. Farrah Burns taps into the different dimensions over a classic Nas track, setting the stage and revolutionizing the sound of music. Creative director Dominick Troy and Videographer Camko visually stimulates in a rare portrait/documentary style of video. The natural born Actress/Artist plays 7 different characters, each packing a lyrical punch sending shocks waves in the Hip Hop industry. Watch the "New York State of Mind" video.

Are you fluent in Hip Hop? Let Farrah present the "7th Element" to you...

"I'm in a New York State of Mind"

Farrah Burns is in the house at: https://www.facebook.com/farrah.burns?fref=ts

"Diamonds" NYU

Here is a gem (pun intended) of a song that a friend sent me for my Birthday they thought I would like, it's a cover of the Rihanna song "Diamonds" by students attending the Clive Davis Institute at New York University.

Rihanna could learn a thing or two, OK a whole lot from these talented musicians.

A very inspired cover from this group of students, and since it is my Birthday and I liked it, I am posting it on "Entertain Me".

Happy Birthday to me and to the rest of you an early Christmas present from me....ho ho ho... ; )

NYU: http://www.nyu.edu/