Ian’s journey is really a series of milestones. She made her recording debut at the age of 15 in 1966 with “Society’s Child,” a Top 40 single about interracial teen dating that many radio stations wouldn’t touch. Her classic, Grammy-winning “At Seventeen” was the first song ever performed on Saturday Night Live and still remains one of the most astute, heartfelt tales of outsider angst and growing up ever written (listen for it in Mean Girls). Last year, 15 years after Ian came out on her album Breaking Silence, “At Seventeen” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In September, Columbia/Legacy released The Essential Janis Ian, a two-disc anthology spanning Ian’s four-decade-long career and coinciding with her U.S. tour and the paperback release of her book, Sociey’s Child: My Autobiography.
An autographed copy of The Essential Janis Ian -- The definitive, career-spanning collection compiled by Janis Ian including "At seventeen", "Society's Child" and 29 more classics and rarities!
Society's Child: My Autobiography by Janis Ian -- The long-awaited autobiography chronicling Ian's fascinating journey through fame, love, and life.
To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite Out 100 photo of the year (you can see the full portfolio, shot by Jason Bell, here) by 11:59 pm on Friday, November 27, 2009 and we'll choose two lucky winners at random from the entries.
If you'd like to buy The Essential Janis Ian (it'd make a great Holiday gift), head here.
"Sure, why can't [gays] get married? They should suffer like the rest of us do."
-- Dolly Parton speaking out about loving her gay fans (she also said she shares a kinship with them because, "...they know I'm different too, and it took me a long time to be accepted,") on The Joy Behar Show.
We love you John, but we just can't get behind your re-enactment of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video. If this were November 2008 your vaguely "dad chaperoning the sophomore homecoming dance and doing his best to embarrass his daughter even more than his mere presence already has" dance routine would be kinda cute, but a full year later we're just scratching our heads and saying, "huh?"
While performing her hit song "7 Things" in Kentucky the other night, Miley Cyrus made a curious last-minute lyric swap. Instead of singing "The 7 things I hate about you / oh you you're vain / your games, you're insecure" as she usually does, the most famous 16-year-old in the world belted out "oh you you're vain / you're gay..."
Was it just an innocent slip of the tongue or does Miley need to get schooled by Hilary Duff? And more importantly, if she meant it, is she talking about Justin Gaston? Because we'd be happy to have him come over to the homo side.
Previously > Hummer: Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" Video
The video for "Bad Romance," the first single from Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster, the re-release of her debut album The Fame packed with eight new tracks and due out on November 24, debuted today and it's nothing short of fan-fucking-tastic. Since arriving on the scene a little over a year ago, Gaga has been known for her berserkly spectacle-acular fashion, videos, and performances and "Bad Romance" proves that while some naysayers think her initial success was a fluke, she apparently always has more to give, push, and/or peddle and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
The pop star recently told MTV, "there’s this one shot in the video where I get kidnapped by
supermodels... I’m washing away my sins and they shove vodka down my
throat to drug me up before they sell me off to the Russian mafia,” but that's only the beginning. With Gaga as the queen leading her colony of white vinyl humanoids through a variation of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance routine, a pink-tressed Gaga with giant anime eyes, a polar bearskin rug worn as a cape (among 48,532 other costume changes), and the return of her famous flame-throwing bra from her Much Music Awards performance (this time used for a much more nefarious purpose than merely entertaining her fans), the video left me wanting a cigarette, a shower, a nap, and another 18 hours of footage.
To see our '50s B horror movie–inspired photo shoot with Gaga from our September issue, click here.
To read our September Lady Gaga cover story, click here.
Arjan Timmermans, one of our 2009 "School Days" themed Out 100 honorees (the dashing blogger and head of Arjanwrites.com was voted "Most Likely To Be in the Computer Lab" and is pictured above left with blogger Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend), will take to Santos Party House in NYC on Thursday night to oversee the second of his Superfraiche concerts.
Earlier this year Timmermans, who launched his site in 2003 and was the first-ever credentialed blogger to cover the MTV VMAs and the Grammys, debuted the Superfraiche series, which aims to introduce and provide a platform for worthy new pop acts, with a show featuring Fritz Helder and the Phantoms, Noah, Kate Havnevik, and Kaci Battaglia.
On Thursday the show will feature Dangerous Muse, Brad Walsh (who, when he isn't making irresistible pop songs, spends his time boyfriending Project Runway's Christian Siriano), Menya, Reni Lane, Sam Taylor, and DJ Josh Madden. All proceeds from the event will benefit War Child, a worldwide organization that provides humanitarian assistance to kids
in war-torn areas around the word. More specifically, this Superfraiche will
support the music programs of Artists United for Children and Youth Development (AUCAYD) in Sierra Leone. British music retailer 7Digital.com will also be giving away free mp3 album downloads to everyone who attends the show.
We caught up with Timmermans at the first Superfraiche concert this summer and here's what he had to say about his inspiration for creating and curating the series:
Remember the 90s? Remember that barking German band Rammstein? They had that crunchy, metallic hit single called “Du Hast?” (see above). Seemed kinda homo and horny in that “latex bodysuit night at the gay bar” way? Not ringing a bell? Well, let’s just say that you do remember them. Even fondly. You’ll be happy to know that they didn’t disband after that one taste of American success. They just went back to Germany and got even nastier. And “Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da,” their forthcoming CD, will available in an attractive limited edition metal box set, one that features a pair of handcuffs, some lube and six pink dildos molded on the band members’ own Euro-penises (sizes vary). There’s also some music in there somewhere.
The never-making-it-through-airport-security holiday gift is both a happy shout-out to what we think of when backroom-bar-having cities like Berlin come to mind and a nod to rock history’s favorite cheerleader, Cynthia Plaster Caster, the artist who made a career out of arousing rock stars like Jimi Hendrix by any means necessary and immortalizing the resulting boners as sculpture.
Britain's 72-year-old grand dame of the music, Shirley Bassey, is set to release her first all-new record in more than 20 years tomorrow. The Performance, produced by James Bond soundtrack genius David Arnold, features songs written especially for the singer by a gaggle of some of the most famous gay (and/or gay adjacent) musicians currently recording including The Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright, KT Tunstall and Take That's Gary Barlow. The album isn't due out in the U.S. until early next year, so if you want a copy of it now hit up Amazon.com or get the import at your favorite local record store.
Billboard: You've had compilations and remix albums, but this
is your first all-new record in more than 20 years. Is that because the
material wasn't right for you before? Shirley Bassey:
Well, not only that. I'd really retired, to tell you the truth, and was
just coming out for special occasions. These writers have brought me
back. Only that could have done it, and it was a challenge, because you
wouldn't have thought they were my songs. I took them on holiday with
me, and I would say, "I can't do this, they're too difficult." But I
was listening to the way the writers were singing them, and trying to
sing in their key, which never helps. It wasn't until I actually went
into the studio, with a piano, and put my voice on, that I started to
get excited. I could hear myself. I'm always up for a challenge, and it
paid off.
Billboard: Why do you think you still draw big crowds and have a loyal fan base after all these years? Bassey: My down-to-earthness, I think. But if I knew what makes
success, I'd bottle it. That's the magic of this business -- you don't
know why you're successful. Those critics who say it's an all-gay
audience ... not at all. There's mums and dads, and their children
bring their children, so it's a family audience.
Billboard: Do you have a favorite song on the album? Bassey: I love all of them. But the Pet Shop Boys' song ("The
Performance of My Life") got right into my head and made me sob, and
not many songs do that. You can get too carried away with a song,
especially onstage, but you can't be crying during every one. When I
heard that, after doing all the other songs, it was just too much for
me. I don't need to write a book. The record is my autobiography.
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