Happy Easter from Elvira and Yours Truly...now go lay an egg!!!
Elvira on IG -
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Saturday, April 16, 2022
ALONE is "Fine"
Breakthrough Queer Artist ALONE Releases “Fine”A Song That Re-examines What Makes a Sexy Man Today
“Fine”, the brand-new single from breakthrough Queer artist ALONE is out to expand the prevalent notions of sexuality, masculinity, and what it means to be a sexy man today. “There are many expressions of masculinity and they all can be hot,” the artist insists. Produced by ALONE and recorded in NYC with a full live band, the celebratory track, with its dark, sultry vibe, pays homage to 80s Rock strip songs but from an unapologetically Queer perspective. “’Fine’ is meant to get listeners in the mood for lovin’,'' ALONE reveals, “and my hope is that it liberates people to be vocal and proud about who they are and what turns them on.” ALONE’s “Fine” is available now on Apple Music, Spotify and all digital platforms.
"Fine" is ALONE's second release following his debut single "Everything" which has garnered over 50K views on YouTube. "Fine" departs from the bright, classic RnB style of "Everything" and introduces listeners to ALONE's darker side with a Rock-inspired production. "It's the kind of song that makes you wanna take off your clothes and give someone a lap dance," ALONE explains. His powerful Blues-Rock vocals ride a dirty rhythm set by distorted guitars and a throbbing low-down bassline as the lyrics narrate a story of Queer passion. "I feel like today's culture looks at Rock music, including its Pop incarnations, as a 'straight' genre and I beg to differ," ALONE continues from his NYC home. "The Queer legacy of Rock 'n Roll dates back to its inception with artists like Big Mama Thornton and Little Richard, and has always been present through artists such as David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, and Freddie Mercury — it's time we reclaim it.”
ALONE, born “Alon,” was raised in Israel, in a small coastal town called Herzliya. His father died in military action when he was three and a half years old. He grew up in a household of women, with only his mom and sister. His musical influences were Prince, Grace Jones, George Michael and Sylvester. “Growing up as a Queer kid who never fully fit in anywhere, seeing a Queer artist like Sylvester was a beacon of hope,” ALONE reflects. “It made me feel like I wasn't alone, like there was a future for me and that there were others out there like me.”
Upon moving to New York City, Alon changed his name to ALONE to reclaim the word; empowering its meaning from something sad and scary to independent and in control. “Being alone is one thing everyone experiences from time to time. There is beauty and strength-building in it. The binary concept that being alone is bad and being together is good is false. Both are equally important to our growth and well-being.”
ALONE’s “Fine” is available today on Apple Music, Spotify and all digital platforms. Visit his website and follow ALONE on Instagram @ TogethALONE.
Friday, April 15, 2022
Film Buff Friday: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Kenneth Branagh leads an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Ian Holm, John Cleese and Aidan Quinn in his definitive cinematic version of Mary Shelley's classic tale of gothic terror. At the turn of the 19th century, visionary scientist Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on an obsessive quest to conquer the mysteries of human mortality. But his hubristic bid to create life out of death goes hideously wrong, and succeeds only in begetting a deformed monster (Robert De Niro). Horrified by what he has wrought, the scientist attempts to destroy his creation, but fails. Rejected by his creator and shunned by the world of man, the tormented creature swears vengeance against Frankenstein and his family. As the monster begins to enact his murderous revenge, Victor must face a terrible reckoning with the tragic consequences of attempting to play God. Mary Shelley's seminal novel is one of the most adapted books of all time, and this retelling faithfully goes back to the original source, lushly transforming the story's twin themes of love and death into a darkly operatic gothic romance. Unlike many versions of Shelley's novel, Branagh's adaptation understands that Frankenstein's misbegotten creation is as pitiable as he is monstrous, and never loses sight of the human tragedy lying at the core of its horrific tale. Filled with sweeping, atmospheric visuals and powerfully emotional performances from an award-winning ensemble of acting talent, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stands as a landmark interpretation of this enduring masterpiece.
Media
Bonus Materials
- New 4K restoration from the original camera negatives by Sony Pictures Entertainment
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary by film historians Michael Brooke and Johnny Mains
- Brand new interview with composer Patrick Doyle
- Brand new interview with costumer designer James Acheson
- Brand new interview with make-up designer Daniel Parker
- Mary Shelley and The Creation of a Monster, a brand new documentary featurette on the origins and evolution of the Frankenstein story, featuring Gothic specialists David Pirie, Jonathan Rigby and Stephen Volk
- Dissecting Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a brand new featurette with David Pirie, Jonathan Rigby and Stephen Volk on the differences between the novel and Kenneth Branagh’s screen adaptation
- Frankenstein: A Liberal Adaptation from Mrs. Shelley’s Famous Story for Edison Production (1910): The first screen adaptation of Shelley’s story in a 2K restoration by the Library of Congress, with music by Donald Sosin
- Original trailers
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Laz Marquez
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by Jon Towlson and Amy C. Chambers
Order Here:
Thursday, April 14, 2022
Michael's Musings
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| Got Tail? Michael Shinafelt |
Here comes Michael with his tail...Hey, Easter is this Sunday Minions, thus I am getting in the spirit. That's right I have risen to the occasion and am ready for my rabbit test.
Did I pass??? Hopping along...next!!!
Caught St. Elmo's Fire on IFC for the first time since I've seen ii in a theatre back in the old days. All I could think of while watching it: Pay Phones & Indoor Smoking
Life Hack: If you are on Weight Watchers it's Easter, live a little! Put down you had three eggs, no one has to know they were Cadbury Eggs
Just in case no one told you today: You are beautiful! You are important! That booty tho!
So if you don't have fur babies should one call ones children skin dogs? Asking for a friend
BTW Please stop asking me questions you can easily Google
R.I.P. Funnyman Gilbert Gottfried
Turn down the self doubt drama mama!!!
Currently I am massaging lasagna and am going to announce I am joining a boy band
Woman Crush of the Week - Pamela Anderson for giving them that ole razzle dazzle and knocking them dead as Roxy Hart in Chicago on Broadway
I really want a Chucky Doll, is it so wrong?!
You know the adage: Pics or it didn't happen? Well send them, I'm waiting...
FYI Just because Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez are back together does not mean you should text your ex
You can't reach what is in front of you until you let go of what is behind you
Off to dye some eggs, tis the season ya know
Send nudes here -
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Hump Day & Chill
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| Nicolas Cage & Laura Dern Wild At Heart |
Lately I have been ruminating on the films of David Lynch. "Yes" DL's work has been very much on my mind of late. Why? I do not know, but hey it's there renting space in my head and I gladly accept it.
Thus today we are going to Hump Day & Chill to I think what may be my favorite Lynch film Wild At Heart starring Nicholas Cage & Laura Dern.
Mulholland Drive is pretty neck and neck with it, but this one has the edge for moi, for the simple reason that at it's "Heart" (pun intended) it is one of the best love stories ever to grace the silver screen.
While the film is bonkers in the way only David Lynch can do it, there is a romantic, honest quality to Cage & Dern's relationship that makes this movie tick.
So why not get comfy and Hump Day & Chill with Wild At Heart today, you know I'll be hitting the couch and doing just that this evening...
WAH on Wikipedia -
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Sing To The Walls
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| Chastity Brown Photo: Brad Ogbonna |
CHASTITY BROWN
New album SING TO THE WALLS out 6/17/22
Pop Matters premiered the first single Wonderment here
Pop Matters premiered the first single Wonderment here
Pre-order / pre-save Sing To The Walls here
CHASTITY BROWN EMBRACES MODERN SOUL AND EVOLVES HER SOUND ON SING TO THE WALLS, HER NEW ALBUM ON RED HOUSE RECORDS OUT JUNE 17
A pandemic, riots and racial reckoning provided the soil for a stunning work about love to be planted. The first single Wonderment will be released on April 15 – Pop Matters premiered the track here
As the daughter of a blues musician, Chastity Brown was born with an innate ability to channel complex circumstances into beautiful, uplifting songs. But after surviving the isolation of the early pandemic and witnessing the global racial reckoning that manifested itself in the riots mere blocks from her South Minneapolis home, even she is surprised to hear the way her new album Sing To The Walls turned out.
“It’s a love album, in a way I didn’t plan on,” Chastity says.
Like so many artists who endured the uncertainty of the 2020 lockdown, Chastity’s instinct was to turn inward, at first out of self-preservation, and then because the new songs kept coming and coming. Since finishing her last album, 2017’s Silhouette Of Sirens, she estimates she’s written nearly 100 new songs, 10 of which found their way onto Sing To The Walls.
These songs unfold with Chastity’s expressive voice and expansive melodies, leading the listener through intertwining tendrils of atmospheric sounds. Even the titles hint at the album’s sense of optimistic yearning, from the dreamy opening track “Wonderment,” to her ode to healing a broken heart post-breakup “Curiosity,” to the pulsing promise of “Hope.”
With the exception of “Golden,” a searing indictment of white complacency and a cathartic release of post-uprising rage that comes halfway through the album (and was released in an earlier form in mid-2020), Sing To The Walls is ultimately an album about hope, connection, and love; an ode to the sweetness of life, even amidst a pandemic, even in a city that’s experienced so much pain.
“I think it’s an audacious response,” says Chastity. “Like how funk music came after Malcolm, Martin, and everybody got murdered in the ‘60s. Then the ‘70s popped off, and there was funk! This isn’t funk, but it’s rooted in that same kind of response. I just want to feel good. Straight up.”
The album was started in Stockholm, Sweden with revered session drummer and producer Brady Blade, with the rest completed at Chastity’s own home studio with her longtime drummer Greg Schutte. Additional production and mixing was done by Chris Bell in Austin, Texas.
For the first time, Chastity also served as the lead producer on some of the tracks, and co-producer on all of them. “I just was like, ‘why can't I do it?’ It maybe meant that everything took longer, but it was like, ‘Where am I going anyway?’ The way I've worked since the pandemic began, as far as songwriting and arranging and composing, I've never been so productive. Whatever touring life becomes going forward, I want to always carve out writing time. I'm addicted to it. And it's such a cool high,” she says.
Sing To The Walls is a sonically expansive album; it mines the roots of Americana, folk, and soul music, but Chastity’s stories are delivered in a style that feels remarkably timely, modern, and forward-thinking. "I celebrate the emotional richness in the tradition, but in my music I’ve committed myself to moving forward and reflecting the experiences of those overlooked by tradition."
In the same way, her lyrics seek to reach across a great divide. “I will sing to those walls, hope it gets through / And I will sing to your scars, they need healing too,” Chastity sings on the album’s title track, a pandemic love song about breaking through the physical, emotional, and social barriers that have been constructed around all of us in recent years. By the next track, “Like the Sun,” she breaks through into a melody that rises like a wide-open prairie sunrise—a heart-rending moment that demonstrates her talent for expressing big, beautiful ideas in her music, and to create songs that radiate bliss.
Even amid the chaos of the times, while delivering the release-valve verses of “Golden,” she remains steadfast. “I’ve got joy even when I’m a target, if you think that’s political don’t get me started,” Chastity sings, demanding to know: “Why have I got to be angry?”
Between writing sessions she’s been vibing to chilled out, forward thinking artists like Leon Bridges, H.E.R., SZA, and Daniel Caesar, taking their cue to expand beyond genre and her folk/roots history to encompass her appreciation of all Black American musical art forms. “I also want to poke at what the blues is,” Chastity reflects. “It has a lot of stereotypes, like it’s mostly only played by blue-eyed white guys now. But what about Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey? I feel so closely connected, in a pure, undeviating lineage, to the heritage of being a Black, queer blues woman. I want to share this music with them, to say that I’ve listened, and I’ve done something new.”
“This album does not serve sorrow,” Chastity says bluntly. “And in that way, it’s my trying to emulate Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God—seeking personal spiritual fulfillment while rejecting expectations. What matters to me is my survival—and for my survival, it’s been necessary to try to embrace some joy.”
Like so many artists who endured the uncertainty of the 2020 lockdown, Chastity’s instinct was to turn inward, at first out of self-preservation, and then because the new songs kept coming and coming. Since finishing her last album, 2017’s Silhouette Of Sirens, she estimates she’s written nearly 100 new songs, 10 of which found their way onto Sing To The Walls.
These songs unfold with Chastity’s expressive voice and expansive melodies, leading the listener through intertwining tendrils of atmospheric sounds. Even the titles hint at the album’s sense of optimistic yearning, from the dreamy opening track “Wonderment,” to her ode to healing a broken heart post-breakup “Curiosity,” to the pulsing promise of “Hope.”
With the exception of “Golden,” a searing indictment of white complacency and a cathartic release of post-uprising rage that comes halfway through the album (and was released in an earlier form in mid-2020), Sing To The Walls is ultimately an album about hope, connection, and love; an ode to the sweetness of life, even amidst a pandemic, even in a city that’s experienced so much pain.
“I think it’s an audacious response,” says Chastity. “Like how funk music came after Malcolm, Martin, and everybody got murdered in the ‘60s. Then the ‘70s popped off, and there was funk! This isn’t funk, but it’s rooted in that same kind of response. I just want to feel good. Straight up.”
The album was started in Stockholm, Sweden with revered session drummer and producer Brady Blade, with the rest completed at Chastity’s own home studio with her longtime drummer Greg Schutte. Additional production and mixing was done by Chris Bell in Austin, Texas.
For the first time, Chastity also served as the lead producer on some of the tracks, and co-producer on all of them. “I just was like, ‘why can't I do it?’ It maybe meant that everything took longer, but it was like, ‘Where am I going anyway?’ The way I've worked since the pandemic began, as far as songwriting and arranging and composing, I've never been so productive. Whatever touring life becomes going forward, I want to always carve out writing time. I'm addicted to it. And it's such a cool high,” she says.
Sing To The Walls is a sonically expansive album; it mines the roots of Americana, folk, and soul music, but Chastity’s stories are delivered in a style that feels remarkably timely, modern, and forward-thinking. "I celebrate the emotional richness in the tradition, but in my music I’ve committed myself to moving forward and reflecting the experiences of those overlooked by tradition."
In the same way, her lyrics seek to reach across a great divide. “I will sing to those walls, hope it gets through / And I will sing to your scars, they need healing too,” Chastity sings on the album’s title track, a pandemic love song about breaking through the physical, emotional, and social barriers that have been constructed around all of us in recent years. By the next track, “Like the Sun,” she breaks through into a melody that rises like a wide-open prairie sunrise—a heart-rending moment that demonstrates her talent for expressing big, beautiful ideas in her music, and to create songs that radiate bliss.
Even amid the chaos of the times, while delivering the release-valve verses of “Golden,” she remains steadfast. “I’ve got joy even when I’m a target, if you think that’s political don’t get me started,” Chastity sings, demanding to know: “Why have I got to be angry?”
Between writing sessions she’s been vibing to chilled out, forward thinking artists like Leon Bridges, H.E.R., SZA, and Daniel Caesar, taking their cue to expand beyond genre and her folk/roots history to encompass her appreciation of all Black American musical art forms. “I also want to poke at what the blues is,” Chastity reflects. “It has a lot of stereotypes, like it’s mostly only played by blue-eyed white guys now. But what about Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey? I feel so closely connected, in a pure, undeviating lineage, to the heritage of being a Black, queer blues woman. I want to share this music with them, to say that I’ve listened, and I’ve done something new.”
“This album does not serve sorrow,” Chastity says bluntly. “And in that way, it’s my trying to emulate Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God—seeking personal spiritual fulfillment while rejecting expectations. What matters to me is my survival—and for my survival, it’s been necessary to try to embrace some joy.”
Monday, April 11, 2022
Were Off To See...
 |
| They're Off To See The Wizard, What's Your Destination??? |
Heading into this week I am dwelling in possibility, I feel there are many opportunities that are heading my way. "Yes" I am in a good place much like Dorothy & Company approaching the Emerald City, I am feeling good vibes only.
Imagine you are walking towards the gates of your own Emerald City today. Sure that sounds a tad silly perhaps, but think about what a herculean task this gang took on and the chutzpah it took for them to "Just Do It."
Now click your heels together three times and say "Yes, I can" and get out there and take this week on. I believe in you, like I believe monkeys can fly somewhere over the rainbow...
Soar Minions, soar!!!
The Wizard of Oz on Wikipedia -
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