"Yes" since I posted a cover of one Christmas standard yesterday I am on something of a roll and have decided to continue... What would the season be with out resident Entertain Me diva Sandy with a "Y" not "E"Zacky and her wonderful rendition of White Christmas? I ask you, I know you never answer, yet I still persist and shall one day prevail. Sure to bring warmth to the coldest of Holiday seasons. Prick up your ears as Sandy with a "Y" not "E" performs before a live audience at Cal State Northridge and delivers something special. Listen closely, and get the gift that keeps on giving below, listen and listen now! Mic Drop!
They Know That Santa's On His Way...
Mike Clifford
So I guess it's time to throw a little Christmas Spirit your collective way, since as you all have bared witness that I am not really that much into it. Halloween & Thanksgiving are more my jam. Yet somehow when I hear Mike Clifford's cover of the Nat King Cole classic The Christmas Song I get the warm fuzzy feeling of my youth for the Holiday. Mike was a prolific singer in the 1960's with his signature hit Close To Cathy among other endeavors. He was also a favorite of the late Dick Clark making numerous appearances on American Bandstand as well as touring with the Dick Clark Caravan. Yet our intrepid Mike had never recorded a song full of Holiday Cheer until 2017, yeah, last year. He wanted to have one on his impressive resume and here it is for all of you to enjoy. The former Teen Idol's gift to you.
"It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone" - Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone You have now been transported to another time and place. The year is 1985 the place Sean Penn & Madonna's wedding. This is where Cher and Tom Cruise met, and "yes" started dating... WTF?! Well Virginia this twosometotally dated! The Twilight Zone was a product of Hollywood and now you know why, because things like this happen in Tinseltown, thus "The Zone" is real kiddies. Cher has spilled that Tom was one of her best lovers. I am going to have to venture this was before he joined the cult of Scientology and became a mechanical boy. Because I honestly can't imagine him being all that good now. The early years, when he came across like a flesh and blood human being, fer sure. So I'm gonna leave you with this trip to contemplate on this Freaky Friday, right here, right now... Mic Drop! Cher on IG - https://www.instagram.com/cher/?hl=en Tom on IG - https://www.instagram.com/tomcruise/?hl=en
Smile Like You Have A Naughty Secret....
Michael Shinafelt
Well this week I am feeling mighty real! A special shout out to Sylvester - the original Drag Queen Superstar! So do you want smell the batch Michael is brewing?! Oh yes, yes you do... Major Meltdowns are officially a thing I like to get popped weekly My mood is bigger than yours The wait is over: Jake Gyllenhaal is finally on Instagram. OK, was anyone clamoring for this??? Do you eat dumplings? French, it's what's for dinner Virginity comments, discuss Hi. Bitch Take a deep breath and remember who the F#ck you are
Wanna thrill? Hump Day & Chill to the other Yanni...Yanni Burton
Yanni Burton Yearns To Break Free from a Sleepy Stagnant Relationship
in New Single, “Awake”
“Awake,” the new song by out singer-songwriter Yanni Burton, was inspired by Yanni’s own experience, coming to terms with the realization that it was time to break free from a stagnant relationship and find passion in life again. “I was stuck in a long distance relationship,” Yanni explains. “The days and weeks apart left me feeling lonely and empty. I remember being in a constant fog of self doubt and indecision.” Sitting down to write “Awake” helped Yanni to refocus his goals and pull himself out from his sleepy funk. The end result is a broody song that brilliantly combines his passion for pop and classical music. Produced by Yanni and mixed and edited by multi-platinum record producer Kieran Kelly, “Awake” is available on iTunes, Spotify and all major digital platforms. The music video is on Youtube.
Yanni Burton grew up in Adelaide, Australia – a small town that was first put on the map as the birthplace of pop singer Sia. He lived most days in the city with his mother but holidays were spent in the country on his dad’s farm. “The farm was in the middle of nowhere and I’d arrive in solid gold sneakers, booty shorts and a tank top, like I’d just come off the set of Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” he remembers. “I loved hanging with the kangaroos and Klunk, my dad’s pet Emu.”
He came out as gay a bit later than most in his generation. Yanni had his very first relationship at 22. When he told his mother he was dating a guy, she slapped him. Not because he was gay. She had already had a vision about that. (When Yanni was born, she noticed a rainbow light up the sky and declared to his father that their boy would be gay.) She was more upset by the man’s advanced age. No son of hers was going to be a sugar baby!
Yanni, Yanni, Yanni!
Photo:
Charles Quiles
His dad took the news much better. Yanni told him while they were on a trip to rural Pennsylvania, visiting the Amish. “I was bawling my eyes out under the fluorescent lights of a moldy Motel Six hallway and Dad simply hugged me and said, ‘Its ok, I love you.’”
For college, Yanni attended the prestigious Juilliard School in Manhattan where he studied the double bass. In fact, he holds a bachelor's and master’s degree in orchestral performance and is Producer and General Manager of the Salome Chamber Orchestra, where he has performed alongside a long list of celebrated artists including John Legend, Michelle Williams, Natasha Beddingfield and Rufus Wainwright. John Legend and Rufus Wainwright were instrumental in helping Yanni to obtain an artist green card. Both graciously agreed to write a letter of support for his US residency.
He is not the man featured in the music video for “Awake”. That is Reed Laplau, a fellow Aussie who danced for the Sydney Dance Company before moving to NYC where his career has taken off on Broadway in productions of The Great Comet of 1812,Fiddler on the Roof, and the upcoming Moulin Rouge.
The video was shot in an incredible 20,000 square foot warehouse in Brooklyn. “It was abandoned and the lovely lady who owns it offered us the opportunity to do whatever we wanted with it…so naturally we filled it with lighting rigs, skeletons, and flour,” Yanni laughs.
Yanni aspires for his audience to connect, see, and feel themselves in his music and lyrics so that ultimately, they hear their own story being told. “I hope my music conveys to listeners that it is okay to be yourself. Never censor who you are or hold back in expressing yourself. Step up for what you believe in and most importantly, have fun.”
Remember when Jane Fonda was Queen of Fitness? If so, then you are a person of a certain age. Oh yes you are...
Lightyear Entertainment, in partnership with Fonda, Inc., has announced the release of two more of the best-selling fitness videos of all time, on DVD and Digital Media, with a DVD street date of December 18, 2018.
This follows the successful release of 5 of the Fonda Workouts in 2015, including the Original Workout, plus a DVD boxed set, The Jane Fonda Workout Collection.
The new titles are the Lean Routine and Lower Body Solution Workouts. The DVDs will be released in the U.S. and Canada through MVD Distribution.
Lower Body Solution is a complete workout for abs, buns, and thighs. Adaptable for all fitness levels, the low-impact choreography is user friendly to beginners, while optional bench aerobics add variety and challenge for intermediate and advanced exercisers.
Lean Routine is the ultimate fat-burning workout for everyone. It includes low impact high energy aerobics, applicable for beginners through advanced.
Jane Fonda said: "Who knew that this many years later people would still be doing The Workout, but they are!"
Arnie Holland, President of Lightyear, said "The five DVDs we released in 2015 and the Boxed Set have been selling extraordinarily well and steadily for the past 3 years. We are delighted that Jane Fonda and Warner Bros. have agreed to allow us to release more of these programs, which changed the face of the home video business when originally released. They set unheard of sales records, dominated the sell-through charts for more than a decade, and changed American culture. Lean Routineand Lower Body Solutionare two of the programs that fans have most often requested."
Both programs have been digitally remastered and color corrected for the upcoming release by Gerry Curtis at Forest Lake Films.
Lightyear Entertainment, a distributor of independent films and music, was founded in 1987.
In keeping with yesterday's Hunky Holiday theme today's Monday Motivation comes in the form of none other than Santa Claus! Well Kurt Russell as Santa in the Netflix Holiday movie The Christmas Chronicles, saw that three times fast, c'mon I dare ya! Who 'd have ever thunk that Santa would ever qualify as Hunky?! I ask you, "yep" I am asking so gimme an answer, post haste. Well when 67 year old Kurt Russell portrays him, he magically becomes Hot Daddy material. Thus Kurt, not Santa is really what motivates me this Monday to keep up on the fitness and health regime I have embarked on and to keep getting better and better. So with a mighty Ho, Ho, Ho I send you on your way this Monday December 3rd 2018 to take on the world and do something good for yourself. "Tis the season after all...!!! Kurt on IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000621/
