Welcome To The Gayborhood Pt. 2

Here's part 2 as promised, looks like part 3 will have to wait until July, but I suppose there is pride all year round. Enjoy.

K's Choice "Hallelujah" (Live Leonard Cohen Cover)
Kaki King "Lovestoned" (Live Justin Timberlake Cover)
Kiki & Herb "I'm Not Waiting" (Sleater-Kinney Cover)
Lesbian on Ecstasy "Kündstant Krøving" (k.d. Lang Cover)
Melissa Ferrick "Feel Like Makin' Love" (Roberta Flack Cover)
Mirah "Civil War" (Live Guns N Roses Cover) - I recorded this one myself long ago...
The Murmurs "H.R. Pufnstuf"
Pansy Division "Flower" (Liz Phair Cover)
Peaches "Gay Bar" (Electric Six Cover)
R.E.M. "Toys in the Attic" (Aerosmith Cover)
Rufus Wainwright "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (Leonard Cohen Cover)
The Runaways "Rock And Roll" (Live Velvet Underground Cover)
Scissor Sisters "Take Me Out" (Franz Ferdinand Cover)
Sia "Gimme More" (Britney Spears Cover)
Sleater-Kinney "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" (Live Richard & Linda Thompson Cover)
Tamala Poljak & Audrey Marrs (Karaneedoke) "52 Girls" (Live B-52's Cover)
Tegan and Sara featuring Grace Nocturnal "Rebel Rebel" (David Bowie Cover)
Tender Forever "My Love" (Live Justin Timberlake Cover)
Tribe 8 "Radar Love" (Live Golden Earring Cover)
4 Non Blondes "Bless The Beasts and Children" (The Carpenters Cover)

As always, support the artists, click the artist name for the website or use the links to the right to buy music as well as support the blog.

Welcome To The Gayborhood Pt. 1

June is nearly over, and with that we shall celebrate LGBT Pride month (thanks Obama), yes it's no longer just Gay Pride, which I think is awesome. Here in NYC specifically we've just ended Pride week, a week filled with marches, parades and parties all over the city. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the catalyst for the modern LGBT rights movement. We are still fighting for equal rights but with more and more states allowing same sex marriage and with a democrat in office again, it seems likely we will be a lot more equal sooner rather than later.

We are going to start off with LGBT artists doing covers, this includes solo artists and bands that feature out LGBT artists. Due to the large amount of songs I have that fit this criteria we are gonna break this up into two parts. Hopefully before the month is through I will do another post of musicians covering songs by LGBT artists as well.

Amanda Palmer "Creep" (Live Radiohead Cover)
Antony & The Johnsons "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan Cover)
B-52s "Downtown" (Live Petula Clark Cover)
Bob Mould "Everybody Knows/Cinnamon Girl" (Neil Young Cover)
Bonfire Madigan "Monkey Gone To Heaven" (Pixies Cover)
Bratmobile "Where Eagles Dare" (Misfits Cover)
The Butchies "Your Love" (The Outfield Cover)
The Cliks "Cry Me A River" (Justin Timberlake Cover)
Cub "Tell Me Now" (Daniel Johnston Cover)
Dear Nora "Girl From The North Country" (Bob Dylan Cover)
The Ditty Bops "Bye Bye Love" (The Everly Brothers Cover)
Erasure "Take A Chance On Me" (Abba Cover)
Erin McKeown "Paper Moon" (comp. Arlen, Rose & Harburg)
Final Fantasy "Power of Love" (Live Celine Dion Cover)
Girlyman "All Through The Night" (Cyndi Lauper Cover)
Gossip "Are U That Somebody" (Aaliyah Cover)
Hüsker Dü "Love Is All Around" (Sonny Curtis Cover)
The Indigo Girls "Tangled Up In Blue" (Live Bob Dylan Cover)
Jay Brannan "Straight Outta Compton" (Live N.W.A. Cover)
Jill Sobule "I Will Survive" (Live Gloria Gaynor Cover)
The Josephine Wiggs Experience "Head To Toe" (The Breeders Cover)

As always, support the artists, click the artist name for the website or use the links to the right to buy music as well as support the blog.

A Seed Dies

Well this blog is just full of great news the past 24 hours. I know I just covered the passing of MJ, which I'm sure many blogs have done or will be doing, but we lost another musician yesterday as well, Sky Saxon of The Seeds. The Seeds were an LA based 60s garage rock band who never really made it that big outside of the California vicinity. They had a couple popular tunes such as "Pushin' Too Hard" which was named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll as well as "Can't Seem To Make You Mine". The band broke up and reformed many times with Saxon as the only member in all incarnations, between these stints with The Seeds Saxon worked on other musical interests. Sky Saxon passed away in Austin, TX at age 63, possibly due to an infection of the internal organs.

Here are three covers the The Seeds tune "Can't Seem To Make You Mine":

Fuckulele (web)

Garbage (web)

The Ramones (web)

The Gloved One

I had been working on another post but this is much more important. Hopefully can get the other post up later.

As everyone knows by now, Michael Jackson has passed away from cardiac arrest. I just heard recently he wanted to get into better shape to do that 50 show stint in London was it? Perhaps the exercise was too much? I'm sure the truth will come out in the next few days or weeks as to what caused this. Although I haven't cared much for his music the past few decades I'll admit that I used to do gymnastics in my parents living room to the Thriller album...on vinyl, that album was so scratched and chipped it was unbelievable. MJ you will certainly be missed by many.

Aerogramme "Thriller"
Cobra Starship "Billie Jean" (Live)
Emm Gryner "Beat It" (Live)
Amy Winehouse & Charlotte Church "Beat It" (Live)
KT Tunstall "I Want You Back" (Live)
Supergrass "Beat It" (Live)
Ben Gibbard "Thriller" (Live)
Chris Cornell "Billie Jean" (Live)

As always, support the artists, click the artist name for the website or use the links to the right to buy music as well as support the blog.

Five For Friday 12

Another week gone by and another week without a post, until now.

I got some good news this week and I'm riding high for a variety of reasons. Enjoy another smattering of songs with no rhyme or reason. Hopefully tomorrow it rains (literally) and I will actually write up some posts and put them in the pipeline, but don't hold your breath because I'm certainly not.

Of the following songs I'm really fond of The No-No's one. I'm sure most of you are not familiar with the band but I fell in love with their cuteness the first time I heard them in the mid to late 90s. Perfect pop gems appear on all three of their albums. I am sure they are out of print but if you find them in the bargain bin I highly recommend them for all you pop fans.

Keane "That's All" (Live Genesis Cover)
The No-No's "Love Is Only Sleeping" (The Monkees Cover)
The Paper Scissors "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" (Hall & Oates Cover)
Hole "Do It Clean" (Live Echo & The Bunnymen Cover)
Nirvana "Here She Comes Now" (Velvet Underground Cover)

As always, support the artists, click the artist name for the website or use the links to the right to buy music as well as support the blog.

Inked...Again

This past week I went in for some new ink. I always spend months if not years thinking about what I would like to have permanently inked into my skin and where I would like to place it, then spend time researching the artist if it is not someone I've already visited. This time I went for something near and dear to my heart, the eggplant. It is not only my favorite food but it has been something associated with me by various people for more than a decade now, I thought it was only fitting to be with me always. I normally have work done by male artists, it's just happened that way, not on purpose, but I felt this piece needed a woman's touch so I decided on the talented Joy Rumore owner of Twelve 28 Tattoo, if you are in NYC I recommend checking her out. I also recommend Alex McWatt owner of Three Kings Tattoo which is whom I'll be headed back to soon, as he's already done a few large pieces on me.

Tricky "Tattoo" (Siouxsie & The Banshees Cover)
Petra Haden "Tattoo" (The Who Cover)
Kaki King "Fashion Tattoo" (Live Bubonix Cover)

As always, support the artists, click the artist name for the website or use the links to the right to buy music as well as support the blog.