Rihanna’s the queen of the dancefloor with a hot remix of ‘Don’t Stop
The Music.’ |
Hey folks. I’m slowly settling back into regular life after my annual end-of-summer pilgrimage to Boystown in Chicago. If you’ve never been, it’s block after block of hot men, gay bars, funky shops and cool eateries. In short, queer heaven.
I went out every night of the trip and got to hear a variety of local DJs and even one national mixmaster, DJ Escape (fierce!). I love to know which dance tracks are hot in the cities I visit so I always pay attention to what’s played and how the crowd responds. By the second night it was clear that two remixes were the soundtrack to Labor Day weekend 2007.
Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop The Music” (Jody den Broeder Big Room Mix) and Kat DeLuna’s “Whine Up” (Johnny Vicious Club Drama Mix) were played during peak hour by every DJ I encountered. Sweat-soaked dancers erupted in shouts of exultation every time either remix came on. Hmmm, maybe the home scene doesn’t lag as far behind the gay meccas as it sometimes seems.
Former Savage Garden vocalist Darren Hayes has recently issued his third solo album, his first since coming out of the closet last year. Released on his own Powdered Sugar label, “This Delicate Thing We’ve Made” is an ambitious, indulgent two-disc, 25-song set of pop and electronica tunes. Hayes’ singing is excellent, but his artistic reach as a lyricist and producer exceeds his grasp on several cuts.
“Listen All You People” is like an Erasure cover tune, “Me, Myself and (I)” could be from any number of artists on the Solar Records label circa 1983, while “Bombs Up In My Face” is such a rip that it not only cribs from Prince, it precisely lifts his alter-ego Camille from “Sign ‘O’ The Times” and “The Black Album.”
I admire Hayes for not simply recreating the MOR pop that made Savage Garden successful and for straightforwardly addressing same-sex love and relationships in his songwriting, but next time he really ought to pull back on the reins.
Gay, Latin pop singer Jade Esteban Estrada (pictured) was a featured speaker Sept. 17 at “Latino History Month Panel Discussion at MTV Networks,” an annual event in NYC for employees of Spike TV, Comedy Central, VH-1, Logo and other channels under the MTV Networks umbrella. The former Charo choreographer and scratch vocalist for the Backstreet Boys lent his tenor voice to the Human Right Campaign’s “Being Out Rocks” compilation CD in 2002.
Estrada is also known for his acclaimed one-man theater shows, including the riotously funny “ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1” and “Tortilla Heaven.” Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from Sept. 15-Oct. 15. |
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