Lewis Shepherd's Blog

Generation Y Bother

2013-03-22T16:36:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Following the Baby Boomers and Generation X, my generation tends to be referred to as Generation Y, or the millennial generation. This group of people are often cited as being born around 1982 and lasting up until 1999/2000. The generation since is as far as I know, yet to be named.

Generation Y has been getting some stick, so to speak, over the last few years, which mainly comes from them being referred to as Generation Me. This is because surveys found people in their teens and early twenties from this generation had an increase in narcissism, and are predicted to switch jobs more frequently than other generations, due to high expectations.

Because of this many young people today are often considered lazy, ungrateful and as often cited in the press; are unwilling to work. But if this is true of members of this generation then whose fault is it? Surely high degrees of narcissism and great expectations couldn't have developed without having a sense of purpose or righteousness bestowed upon you?

When we look back, young people over the past thirty years were quite lucky; they benefited from the ecological and technological boom, many people's parents were much more affluent during this time, and many people had the latest gadgets bought for them because their parents wanted to try them out, or because there was disposable income to buy them. During this time higher education also became much more accessible, which meant more people could go to University, no matter what your background, and consider a career doing something they hadn't previously. No longer where people confined to do what their parents did, or acquire a job for life that they may not enjoy simply because they needed a job.

All the time this was happening, children were constantly being told by parents and teachers they could be whatever they wanted to be, allowing aspirations of being an artist or a writer flourish in young people's minds. Add on top of this a media saturated society that allowed anyone to become famous through reality television, whether they were talented or not, and be adorned by fans across the country in various glossy magazines, its no wonder Generation Y began to think they could be anything they put their minds to.

When you think about all that was happening whilst Generation Y were growing up, there's no wonder that many may have a slightly overinflated ego or feeling of superiority. But when you add on top of this the economic downturn that hit whilst many were in their teens or early twenties, many of these promises from the media and their parents looked far more unattainable, which for a generation brought up on promises can become depressing.

Therefore we have been left with thousands of highly educated being told they can't do what they want to do and that their expensive education was almost pointless. This seems to be breading a new strand of Generation Y; Generation WHY bother?

Many young people now feel as though they have been let down and lied to about their futures, so feel as though there's no point trying any more, and yes some may feel that menial work is below them, but this is a minority.

But what the general population needs to realise is, although there is a percentage of Generation Y that feels this way, there is a much larger portion of said generation trying their best to work with what they have, and live the dreams and promises they were given in the best way they can. This includes doing unpaid work and a more menial job in order to live and hopefully further their careers, which is what the majority appear to be doing.

Despite some inflated egos that were probably achieved because of the hopes Generation X or the Baby Boomers bestowed upon them; the majority of Generation Y aren't thinking 'why bother?' they are thinking about how to be the next great generation, despite the opposition they encounter.

Have Gay People Vilified The Church?

2013-03-22T14:45:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

For as long as anyone can remember people have been in a constant battle with each other for one reason or another. Different countries have waged wars against each other, we’ve seen celebrities involve themselves in public slagging matches, and there’s usually one mega corporation suing another over a patent or something similar. Minority groups have also found themselves warring with multiple institutions such as the government, but one battle that has gone on for as long as anyone can remember is the battle between the Church and the gay community.

There are a multitude of reasons behind this on-going battle, with many people of religion finding homosexuality a sin or life choice, and fighting endlessly in the battle to prevent gay marriage around the world. Some members of the religious institution have compared homosexuality to heinous acts like paedophilia and bestiality.

Just last week the new Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio or Pope Francis, commented on same-sex marriage and gay adoption saying it was a “destructive attack on God’s plan.”

But one thing we don’t appear to have considered in this endless tirade of name-calling and accusations is, have gay people completely denounced the Church and brandished them as an eternal villain?

With comments such as this by the leader of the Catholic faith it is easy to say that the hatred expressed towards the Church by many gay men and women is deserved, but not everyone who has a faith or follows religion should be tarred with the same brush.

We have seen several news articles and feature pieces over the last decade that have discussed topics such as gay vicars or priests and how many gay people, just like the heterosexual community, believe in religion. There’s even a group called Christians for Equal Marriage that support the right for gay people to marry just like their straight counterparts.

Just last week the American LGBT religious organisation, Faith in America, spoke out about how the Church must stop harming LGBT people. The groups spokesman, Brent Childers, who was aligned with the anti-gay religious industry said in a statement: “It is critical for all to understand the devastating effects to a young person when their church leadership teaches that homosexuality is a sin and that they are not God’s best.”

“I have come to learn the unintended consequences of those that believe they are teaching what it is to be a good Catholic or Christian. In fact they are the very reason why LGBT teens suffer an unusually high rate of depression, attempted suicides, and worse, suicide.”

Various churches from around the globe have also addressed the issue of gay rights with a particular focus on gay marriage. Many have fought for the cause of the LGBT community, and have shown that not everyone is using God’s name to discriminate. Only last week a Church in North Carolina stated that they would not conduct weddings for anyone until they were able to hold same-sex weddings as well, and a chapel within the Palace of Westminster may be changed so that it can perform equal marriage ceremonies.

Also, in what would appear to be a slight turn in events, a poll conducted by an anti-LGBT rights Christian campaign group found that the majority of American’s believed that, “homosexuality is a civil rights issue like gender, race and age”.

Although there is a clear signifier that many people with a religion, and many within religious institutions around the world, believe in the right for gay people to marry and gay rights in general, there are still a number of people out there using God’s name to justify an anti-gay rhetoric.

We have all seen or heard the rants from the most famous anti-gay group, the Westboro Baptist Church, whose “God Hates Fags” slogan has become a symbol for just how unaccepting many people with faith or religion can be. There’s no doubt that their presence within the media has turned many gay men and women away from the Church as they view it as an ever present evil.

This week alone Washington Times columnist Jeffery Kuhner, accused President Obama of waging a war on the Church with his support of gay rights, he wrote: “Pope Francis is the opposite of a modern American liberal. In fact, he probably finds much of the Democrats’ agenda repulsive. President Obama is waging a war on Christians and on Catholics in particular.

Mr. Obama supports homosexual ‘marriage.’ He has allowed homosexuals to openly serve in the military. His pro-homosexual, pro-abortion and pro-contraception policies violate basic Catholic doctrine. He is an enemy of the church.”

Despite the progression of LGBT people in wider society, it does appear that the combat with the Church will continue for some time, with a number of people within the Church and many who use the word of God to support their own views actively trying to prevent LGBT legislation in a number of areas. However this not only harms LGBT people with faith, who may become conflicted in what they believe, risking psychological harm through this conflict, but also to the Church as it further becomes an outdated institution. However, the LGBT community must remember that not everyone in the Church, or with faith is out to get them, and remember that most people with faith believe that everyone should be treated equally.

That being said, the tense and conflicting battle of rhetoric between religious communities and the LGBT community is clearly far from over.

Charity and Music: Bringing the world together

2013-03-22T13:38:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

Music is a message that, at its best, is universal in connecting us all through times of trouble, sadness and happiness. It is a way of sending a message that a wide audience can understand. The lyrics speak to us in different yet similar ways and the actual music that can let two very different people, from two very different parts of the world, feel connected through the emotions it set out to convey to its listener.

The power and influence of music is strong. We all have songs, albums and even particular artists that remind of us of times, places, people and emotions, whether they are good or bad memories. It’s strange to think that a few minutes of a tune with sometimes overly repetitive lyrics can convey such powerful messages, and evoke such deep emotions from individuals from vastly different cultures, who may not even speak the same language. But it does.

One particular way in which music has helped connect those around the globe in times of trouble and strife is through the power of the charity single. We’ve all heard the songs; they get played repeatedly during the run up to a particular charity event and many of us may have danced to the odd charity single from time to time. ‘Is This the way to Amarillo?’ anyone?

But despite charities such as the British Red Cross, Barnardo’s being around for years, it wasn’t until nearly thirty years ago that the power of the charity single was truly realised.

After the 1984 BBC report by Michael Buerk about the famine that had devastated Ethiopia, future saint and former Boomtown Rat Bob Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure sprang into action and put together ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’. We all know the story after this. They roped in some of the biggest names in 80s pop music like George Michael, Boy George, Bono and Phil Collins to create Band Aid, and then recorded and released one of the biggest selling singles in UK history and help raise millions for famine-hit Ethiopia.

But it didn’t stop there for Band Aid. They held benefit concerts in 1985 and the single was re-released in 1989 by the Hit Factory, this time featuring the likes of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, for the same cause. We also saw the release of Band Aid 20 in 2004 in order to benefit the troubled region of Darfur in Sudan, which was followed by a number of Live 8 concerts in 2005.

All three versions of the song hit number one in the UK, selling millions of copies worldwide and helped raise millions for their charities. For a time it helped the people of the UK to feel as through they were helping others around the world, and allowed those receiving the aid to realise that the rest of the world cared.

Not to be outdone by the British, the Americans soon released ‘We Are the World’ in 1985 to help raise money for Africa. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian, the single featured vocals from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper and its writers. It unsurprisingly reached number one around the world, selling more than 20 million copies, raising an astonishing amount of money for charity and giving the world a greater sense of togetherness on the back of Band Aid.

‘We Are the World’ received a re-release itself in 2010 following the devastation caused in Haiti after an earthquake hit the country, this time featuring the likes of Janet Jackson, Justin Bieber and Barbra Streisand. Although it wasn’t as successful as the original it still managed to reach the top 20 in many countries and helped raise money for the cause. The earthquake in Haiti saw the UK emerge with their own single to help raise money for the people of Haiti, a cover of the R.E.M single ‘Everybody Hurts’, which sold close to half a million singles in its first week, with all proceeds going to the disaster struck country.

The charity single has come in many different shapes and sizes, from original songs like ‘We Are the World’ and ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas’ to covers like ‘Everybody Hurts’, with singers from all generations jumping on board to sing their part for charity. We’ve seen megastars like Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child collaborate with several other artists on a cover of the Marvin Gaye song, ‘What’s Going On’, to help raise money for Aids programs in Africa and other disadvantaged regions. This song had been covered previously as part of Live Aid Armenia to help raise money for victims of the 1988 Armenian Earthquake.

Even the godmother of British music, Annie Lennox, roped in a vast array of singers for her song ‘Sing’, taken from her fourth studio album Songs of Mass Destruction. Madonna, Pink, Céline Dion and another 20 prominent female singers from around the world came together to raise money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS organisation Treatment Action Campaign.

Whereas these other songs may not have been as commercially successful as their 1980s counterparts, the singles still raised the profile for a number of causes and issues around the world through the power of song, with the aim of bringing the world together.

However, despite the success of these stand-alone charity singles, and the occasional benefit concert, two great British institutions have capitalised on the success of the charity single in order to help raise millions for those both in the UK and around the world.

Children in Need began back in 1980 and has helped raise over £600 million for charity, but it wasn’t until 1985, after the success of the Band Aid charity single, that they began releasing the all-encompassing charity single. After a few failed attempts and a brief breather from the single, ‘Perfect Day’ was released in 1997 and went on to sell over 1.5 million copies and raised more than £2 million for Children in Need.

Whereas Children in Need is a British-based charity raising money for children in the UK, Comic Relief, its counterpart of sorts, helps raise money for impoverished people further afield and, like Band Aid, was itself a reaction to the Ethiopian famine.

Set up in 1985 by comedian Lenny Henry and scriptwriter Richard Curtis, Comic Relief has raised over £620 million (1988-2011) for people suffering in third world countries. The power of music has also played a huge part in raising money for the cause. From 1986 onwards artists as diverse as the Spice Girls, Cliff Richard, One Direction and Susan Boyle have all lent their vocal abilities to help raise money for Comic Relief, with all but one of the singles reaching the top ten and amassing an impressive 13 number one singles. TheComic Relief single has often been talked about and with the UK population buying it by the bucket-load, with proceeds going to charity.

It’s clear to see that music has the power to evoke emotions and bring not only a community or country together, but the whole world to help others during a time of need. With the most recent comic relief single, a cover of Blondie’s ‘One Way or Another’ by One Direction, reaching the UK top spot and reaching top 10 or 20 in countries all over the globe, including America, its clear to see that the charity single is here to stay and will continue to help those in times of need.

Movie musical adaptations: Compromise over talent?

2013-03-20T12:29:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

When it comes to a big screen adaptation of a popular musical, there will always be a few grumbles from theatre snobs and fans of the original stage show. This is because stage musicals don’t always adapt well onto the silver screen, as some things can be done on stage that can’t be replicated in a film, whilst some musical adaptations achieve success at the box office when others don’t, it’s always a tricky genre to get right.

However, there appears to be a trend to getting some success out of a musical film, and that’s through the power of the cast. Big stars in musicals make big money, probably because everyone’s curious about the quality of said stars singing voice. But musicals that feature theatre stars, unknowns or the original cast don’t tend to fair well at the box office.

Perhaps directors thought they could get away with using stars of the Broadway stage, in the hope that the musical would carry itself. But in the case of Rent, which used the original cast in the film production, the name itself didn’t carry it and despite winning four Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, the film failed to recoup its budget of $40 million grossing just over $31 million.

Maybe it bombed due to not having a big star in any of the title roles, or maybe audiences just felt it hadn’t made the transition from theatre to film very well. Although, when you look at musicals like Hairspray, the implementation of an all star cast that included Zac Efron, Michelle Pfeiffer and John Travolta, may have been the reason why the film grossed over $200 million worldwide.

This overlooking of Broadway and West End musical stars is truly a sad state of affairs, as talented actors and singers are not given major roles in musicals. Why would they, when the promise of a big star can draw in a wider audience.

Of course there are a few stars of the Broadway stage that made the successful transition to film, such as Barbara Streisand and Liza Minnelli. However these are two cases that occurred over 40 years ago, whereas today the performance appears to be compromised to get more people in the cinema, to see the big star of the moment struggle through two hours of singing.

Recent musicals have seen a few successes like Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Hudson and Anne Hathaway, who all walked away with the Best Supporting Actress trophy at the Academy Awards. But when you remember that Miss Zeta Jones had a background in theatre training and Miss Hudson belted her way through a few weeks on American Idol, their performances were hardly surprising. For every nice surprise however, there’s a pretty nasty one waiting right around the corner.

In the 1996 adaptation of Evita, stars like Meryl Streep (who can sing it turns out) and star of Cabaret, Liza Minnelli were both turned down for the lead role in favour of the popular singer, yet questionable actress Madonna. The role of Eva Perón had originally been played in the West End by Elaine Paige, and had been originated on Broadway by Patti Lupone, who won a Tony Award for her turn in the lead. With the signature song of the musical being ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ the Broadway and West End versions carry some weight behind them, whereas the Madonna version, despite being successful in the charts, fails in its attempt to covey the message behind the song in a limited vocal range.

This compromise of performance can be seen once again in Pierce Brosnan who struggles to sing his way through the film adaptation of Mamma Mia. Even though Abba weren’t the most vocally talented group in the world, it’s clear that they had a bit more pitch that Brosnan. Wh not give the role to somebody who could sing it? The use of stage actors for a relevant supporting part has been done before (just look at Samantha Barks in Les Misérables), and in this case the role could have been played much better by someone from the stage.

More recently we have been treated to the film adaptation of Les Misérables, which has so far grossed more than $400 million worldwide, and in part has been carried on the strength of it as a well loved musical, but that didn’t stop the use of an all star cast. Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman, and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway proved to be brilliant in the film, whilst other weren’t so great. Russell Crowe seems like the perfect choice for Javert due to his size, look, stage presence and notoriety but the key thing missing was his vocal ability, seen and heard clearly as he struggled next the other cast members for the whole 158 minutes. Helena Bonham-Carter also had difficulty with her part as Madame Thénardier, for anyone who has heard the original cast recording the role had a much larger voice unlike Bonham-Carter’s weak vocal, but she has admitted that she can’t sing herself so at least she’s honest. The two of them stand out for all the wrong reasons in the ensemble songs, and at times almost ruin them.

Although these performances don’t spoil a film – with the exception of Madonna in her lead role – they do take some magic away when you expect a big booming and belting voice, only to be met with someone talking through the song, as they can’t sing.

With the recent news that a movie adaptation of Wicked could happen sooner rather than later, due to the success of Les Misérables, one can only hope that the studio goes with a stage actress or the original actress, Idina Menzel, as anything less than this could compromise the musicals big voiced songs, especially ‘Defying Gravity’, which would ruin the musical altogether.

The same can be said for the long talked about Gypsy and Sunset Boulevard adaptations that have seen people like Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Close and Madonna’s names thrown around them. With the exception of Madonna any of these three Tony winners would be great for the film adaptations, that’s if the studio go with talent over star power, as these actresses popularity has waned over the years as young and brighter talents appear.

We can only hope that the future of musical film stars will rely on talent alone, and not how many column inches they can attract, but if they do stick with this formula lets hope the person they chose for the lead role won’t need the showstopper song changing too much. There’s only so many keys you can take a song down to…

Review: Stereophonics - Graffiti on the Train

2013-03-18T13:05:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

Being Welsh I was brought up on the likes of Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers and Catatonia. So when I found out the 'Phonics were releasing their first album in nearly four years, the biggest gap between any of their album releases, I was pretty excited. As a massive fan, I was a bit dubious about listening to the album at first because, let's be honest, the first two singles from the album, 'Indian Summer' and the title track, didn't exactly set the charts alight. Also, you can pretty much guess what the album sounds like as they've been around for ages. You know what to expect.

Of course, album number eight doesn't buck this assumption, but with Kelly Jones' vocals sounding as strong and gravelly as ever, coupled with their mix of sadness and upbeat melancholy, the record isn't entirely rubbish. Despite the first two singles bombing, there are some really good tracks on the album, such as 'Catacomb', 'Roll the Dice' and 'We Share the Same Sun', which try to recapture the best of the 'Phonics back-catalogue. However, this is counteracted by some pretty Goddamn awful tracks, like 'Take Me' and 'Violins and Tambourines', which are just dribbling messes of moping and tedium.

Although the album isn't the best one they've made, it is something you can listen to and enjoy. The band mix it up between complete depression, happy-yet-sad songs and angst-ridden, guitar-driven tracks. The vocals from Kelly are the highpoint but there isn't a stand out song at all, which is disappointing. Overall, an alright listen.

Self Scan Kind of Life

2013-03-15T13:40:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Recently I've been thinking that with the rise of the self scan and self service machines, and with the impending closure of the entire high street, you may laugh but you won't be laughing in five years time when the high street resembles a scene from a zombie apocalypse movie, that we appear to be heading for a self service life.

Firstly I blame the supermarkets for this, or more importantly all those people who wondered how amazing it would feel to scan their own food just the once, well that came back to kick you in the face didn't it, because now the chance of getting served by a real person is about as remote as finding a unicorn in the Sahara desert.

Although they do come with their perks, because lets be honest some times you wonder how the person serving you managed to get a job in customer service as they send a scowl in your direction, whilst scanning your vegetables because you disturbed them. However if I had to sit there and scan someone's ten bottles of wine knowing they were off to a party I think I'd be annoyed too.

But despite this one minor perk of the self scan, we now find ourselves regularly shouting at machines in the supermarket because there's an "unexpected item in the bagging area," which was once reserved for your own living room when your computer told you that you'd "performed an illegal operation.'

The worrying thing is though, we seem to have become our own shop assistants when in store, in Ikea there's a machine so you can locate an item in store so you don't disturb the otherwise overly busy staff. In Argos there's also a self-service machine so you can go and sit on those horrible little chairs and stare at you item on the shelf for ten minutes before they call your name.

Even though the high street may die a death, machines powered by us will probably run the shops that remain open. But this technique of doing things ourselves appears to be running into other areas of our lives.

Just look at hospitals and doctors surgeries. I have spoken before about how difficult it is to get an appointment at a doctors surgery, in fact by the time you get there you'll probably have already recovered from your illness or died a horrible yet convenient death for your GP. But just in case the wait at A&E is too long or your problem isn't that serious and you can't get into your GP surgery for another six weeks, there's always NHS direct.

Anyone who's used the NHS direct system, either online or by telephone will tell you that it is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. When you phone you can sometimes be on hold for about thirty minutes, if not a full hour, and if you check online the categories and questions are so vague that you end up being told you have bubonic plague.

After this mass struggle to find out what is wrong with you via this efficiently rubbish system, the person on the other end of the phone or the computer usually tells you to make an appointment with your GP or go the A&E anyway, rendering the whole experience pointless.

Although during the journey into the self scan life, some people bypassed the whole NHS direct thing and became self-diagnosing self-trained doctors, well if you can become a shop assistant yourself why not a doctor?

This has then lead to a nation, if not a world population turning into a bunch of screaming hypochondriacs who think they have some weird sub-tropical disease that hasn't existed since 1906 because they Googled 'what is wrong with me if I have a red rash on my stomach.' Basically no matter what your symptoms, Google is going to tell you you're dying, no matter what.

Certain aspects of our lives such as doing the weekly shop or popping to Argos or Ikea have become the first casualties to the self-service lifestyle. But I wonder how long it will be before we are doing everything ourselves? If we've already began developing into Google trained doctors, who knows what else will come next in our ever evolving self-scan/self-service kind of life.

Sci-Fi Is Definitely A Little Bit Gay

2013-03-14T13:37:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

I’ve never really been a big fan of the Sci-fi genre, apart from a bit of an obsession with Doctor Who and a childhood love of Star Wars. But everyone’s allowed to like the odd film or TV show from a selection of different genres. However, recently I’ve found myself to be quite partial to the odd bit of Sci-fi.

Over the last few weeks I’ve basically shut myself out from the rest of the world, and immersed myself in the television show Heroes. After 77 episodes and copious amounts of hours dedicated to watching this show I can honestly say I’ve been converted to the Sci-Fi cause, but one of the main things I took away from the show was how much you can read Sci-fi, and this show in particular, as an allegory for gay rights.

This may sound a little strange, but let’s take a look at the whole thing. If you don’t like spoilers then stop reading now, but if you don’t mind them then carry on.

Firstly the show centres on a group of people who have certain abilities like telekinesis, mind reading, the power to heal themselves, stop time and fly, amongst many other different abilities. These people, also known as specials to those in the show, are hidden away in society afraid to come out so to speak, and show ‘normal’ people what they can do.

Throughout each season we see various scenarios about what will happen if they do come out. In some of these scenarios they are accepted, and in other scenarios, other members of society hunt them because they are scared of them.

This can be seen as reflective of what happened to gay people in society as for many years gay people stayed hidden, feeling that they were not the same as straight people and many lived in absolute fear of persecution, and many in certain countries still do, just like the specials.

Throughout the show, during flashback segments and primarily in season one, the majority of people with abilities don’t realise that there are others like them, just like many young people when they first realise that they are attracted to members of the same sex.

By season four of the series we are introduced to a group of specials living at a carnival as they were either rejected by friends or family, or simply had nowhere to turn, as they were different.

As many of us are aware, over the years many gay people around the world have suffered issues of rejection from friends and family and society in general, this in turn has resulted in communities being formed, the fact that we have LGBT pride parades are a prime example of this.

Sadly Heroes was cancelled at the end of season four, and judging by the final episode of the show, season five would have seen the specials integrating into society, being proud of who they are. However we will never know what would have happened to the specials. We can only assume that like gay people they would have integrated and gradually people would have learnt that they were not to be feared.

This would have been similar to when gay people finally came out of the closet, and after much persecution and resistance society learned that people from the LGBT community were not to be feared either. However, as we know this is not true of all places around the world, and many gay people are still persecuted and their fate at the moment is very much as mysterious as what happened to the specials. But as they mentioned several times in season four, the world and people can change, and one day this will hopefully be true of the whole world when it comes to LGBT rights. If many Sci-Fi programmes are to be believed, then it most definitely will.

Gay anthems aren’t all sparkles and belting

2013-03-14T12:35:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

The gay anthem is something that has become synonymous with the gay community over the last couple of decades. From ‘Over the Rainbow’ to ‘I’m Coming Out’, all the way through to ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Born This Way’, sung by Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera and Lady Gaga respectively; and that’s only a few songs and singers off the top of my head.

There are plenty more where they came from as the gay anthem can date back to as early as the 1920s with ‘The Lavender Song (Das Lila Lied).’ The song is often thought to be one of the very first gay anthems as it was produced during a brief moment in time when the quality of life for gay men and lesbians was improved in the German Weimar Republic, and was written after the first international conference of sexual reform. Even ‘Over the Rainbow’ is more than 70 years old, and when it comes to listing gay anthems today we can usually see the formula used to create it: a bit of struggle, a dash of hardship and the mandatory big voice to belt it out.

However, the one thing I have noticed when it comes to the lists of gay anthems is that they are always rather mainstream and obvious choices. These lists tend to contain a number of artists closely associated with the gay community in one way or another. It’s not unusual to see gay anthems being listed as everything in the back catalogue of artists like Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Barbra Streisand, which in all honesty is a little limiting. After all, there are plenty of songs from other genres, besides disco and Broadway show tunes, that contain songs that can be viewed as gay anthems and in fact convey a message that many of these often-recognised anthems do.

There are two very specific songs that spring to mind from the rock genre, which may surprise you because it isn’t an obvious place to look for a ‘gay anthem’. The first of these songs is ‘Minority’ by Green Day. The song unashamedly shouts out about wanting to be the minority and not, as they put it, ‘the moral majority’. You can see that this song is giving a voice to all those people who are persecuted because they aren’t the white, straight, middle class American suburban family that are married with two children and a white picket fence. In a way, this song, much like Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way‘, is giving a voice to anyone and is a song about rights and embracing who you are. However, as a rock song it doesn’t really make the standard lists which are filled with big voice divas belting their way through four minutes of self-discovery.

The second song that stands out is ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ by American rock group Gossip. The song itself was written as a response to the denial of gay marriage in America, something that the gay community across much of the world can understand. Despite receiving considerable chart success here in the UK thanks in part to its use in the promotional advert for teen drama Skins, and being heavily considered as an alternative indie floor-filler, it is often overlooked for what it is actually about – equal rights, which automatically puts it in the alternative gay anthem category. Furthermore, a lesbian with a big voice sang it and, even though Beth Ditto isn’t your conventional diva, that surely gives it enough credit to be a gay anthem.

There are many more songs by various artists that could also be included on this list of alternative gay anthems. Just listen to a handful of songs by Placebo whose songs were used throughout Queer as Folk USA due to their subject matter, specifically ‘Taste in Men’. Then there are artists such as Peaches, whose gender-bending stage antics and controversial lyrics about sex and sexuality automatically put her high on the ‘gay icons’ list. But songs such as ‘I U She‘ convey a message that, although we are forced into boxes, it is ultimately ourselves who choose how and who we have sex with, something that many in the gay community know about. Clearly there are more songs out there other than Broadway tunes that give gay equality a voice, and in many cases they have far more substance to them than those by the big voiced divas.

Even though stereotypically rock and indie music aren’t considered to be favourite genres of gay people, it certainly has many songs that the gay population can relate to.

My Favourite Foreign-Language Track: Edith Piaf – Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien

2013-03-13T12:23:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

It’s not often that a foreign-language song becomes big in any music market other than in the one it was originally released. Occasionally we get song’s such as PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’ or ‘Joe Le Taxi’ by Vanessa Paradis that manage to break into other markets and become commercially successful worldwide. Though these seem to come by once every so many years, one foreign-language song that became known worldwide and has also stood the test of time since its release over 50 years ago, is ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.’

The troubled yet endearing French singer Edith Piaf, whose other famous songs include the widely covered ‘La Vie en Rose’, sang the song. Piaf herself has received a little bit of a career revival over the last decade with the release of the film La Vie en Rose, a biopic about her life that won lead star Marion Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress.

However, despite the success of the film it’s the song that has become widely used in recent years. Many may be familiar with the song as it was the final one used in the film. Alternatively, you may have heard it on the advert for Specsavers, which was a strange choice to say the least. Some may also remember the cover of the English language version by Janey Cutler on Britain’s Got Talent.

The English language version translates to ‘No Regrets’ and has been covered by stars such as Shirley Bassey and Elaine Page, who also played Piaf in the stage show based on her life. But where as the English language version is good, it just doesn’t compare to the original by Piaf.

The song talks about having no regrets, and this being sung by a singer who struggled with morphine and alcohol addiction, endured several near-fatal car crashes, entered rehab multiple times to no avail and was seemingly unlucky in love most of her life, you can feel the passion and conviction in her voice as she sings, apparently about her own life, all the time letting the audience know they shouldn’t regret a single thing.

In a way, due to her fame and struggles, Edith Piaf is almost the French version of Judy Garland and this song is her version of ‘Over the Rainbow.’

Despite the translated versions being sung by great singers, which also means I can understand them better, when it comes to passion and conviction in a song it doesn’t matter whether you can understand the lyrics or not, you can hear it in the vocal performance and that is definitely true of ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’, which is why it is my favourite foreign language song.

Review: Liza Minnelli live at the Royal Festival Hall

2013-03-12T12:50:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

If there’s one person you should see live before you die make sure its the queen of showbiz herself, Miss Liza Minnelli. At the age of 66 the legend of stage and screen showed the audience at the South Bank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall just how she became a living legend.

Minnelli’s performance was part of The Rest is Noise Festival, which was billed by London’s South Bank Centre as being a tribute to the Weimar era, though Minnelli herself didn’t perform much from the era attributed with inspiring the reason for her performance. However, this didn’t stop her from being mesmerising, witty and funny, or from giving an all-round triumphant performance.

From the moment she walked onto the stage she had the audience in the palm of her hand as they sat their enthralled by her. The performance was her first at the Royal Festival Hall since 1973, when she performed Liza with a ‘Z’, and we got a reminder of this when she performed the song in question.

Despite her vocals being a little shaky at the beginning, they improved significantly as the show moved on, giving the audience a look at her memorable belt that, despite everything, she has managed to maintain. While the voice was incredible for someone her age, she looked a bit shaky on her feet and required a rest at one point allowing her pianist, Billy Stritch, to perform a solo number, ‘No Moon At All.’ Stritch was a big part of the show in fact, as he performed a duet of ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ with Liza, to a roaring applause.

The applause and laughs throughout the show continued as Minnelli told hilarious stories from her past and gave impressively big performances of ‘Maybe This Time’ and ‘Cabaret’, which received standing ovations; there were also a couple of humourous songs such as ‘He’s Funny That Way’ and ‘You’ve Let Yourself Go.’ But one of the best performances of the night came when Liza performed Charles Aznavour’s ‘What Makes A Man A Man.’ Lit by a spotlight, the audience could see Minnelli, and Minnelli only, as she sang the song about sexual identity and told her audience to be themselves. I’ve heard the song on a number of occasions but seeing it live gave me chills.

Minnelli ended the stellar show with her signature tune, ‘New York, New York’, giving the audience a glimpse of her signature “YEAH” before the song and ended on an incredible high note that saw waves of applause fill the room.

After 90 minutes on stage and being every inch the professional non-diva, Minnelli gave a number of encores for her fans – something you wouldn’t see at a Madonna concert – and ended by singing a cappella to fans; proving that despite the ups and downs of her life, the voice is still as big and strong as ever.

Review: MS MR - Fantasy

2013-03-12T12:10:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

MS MR are a self described Tumblr Glitch Pop/Soul fuzz/Electroshock American band who, after releasing their first EP Candy Bar Creep Show last year, are on the verge of releasing their début album Second Hand Rapture.

In the run up to the release of said album the band are currently touring around the world, and their single ‘Bones’ was featured in the season three trailer for Game of Thrones.

The first commercial single release from the band comes in the shape of ‘Fantasy’, a single that sounds rather indie-alternative for a band describing themselves as Electroshock. Upon first listen, the track’s sound feels all too familiar and verging on uninteresting.

The vocals on the track are reminiscent of other female singers around at the moment, most notably Florence Welch and Ellie Goulding. However, the vocals on this track have a bit more oomph than Goulding’s but aren’t as feisty as Welch’s.

This being said, the strong yet delicate and ghostly quality of the vocals, coupled with the mix of indie, dance and ethereal sounds, did increase the song’s appeal after a few listens, and you can definitely hear influences from bands such as Florence + the Machine. But it’s the drumming noise used throughout the song that really hooks you in after a while, as it creates an anthemic quality that could make this quite good at a festival.

Although this song doesn’t necessarily seem like an obvious choice for a lead single from an album, it certainly piques interest for the band’s future output.

The Ever Changing Teenage Tech Problem

2013-03-08T12:33:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

I noticed something strange the other day; during two trips through my town centre, one on the way back from the train and other whilst returning from ASDA I noticed a group of teenagers hadn't moved from a particular spot on a bench. Now this may not seem like anything unusual apart from the fact that they had seemingly been sat there for over an hour, and also appeared not to have parted from their phones.

My partner then informed me that the particular bench they were sitting on was the best place to get free Wi-Fi in the area, as there are four open connections there. This got me thinking that at the age of 22 how much the telephone has changed in the last few years. When I was 15 the thought of being able to sit on a bench and access free Internet through my phone was pretty unfathomable, and for my partner, who is 29, the thought of doing so when he was 15 would have been even more preposterous.

As my brain began to fathom the thought some more, it made me realise that in the last thirty years the technology that allows everyone to communicate has changed vastly, and that the issues for teenagers communicating with each other whilst out and about has changed rapidly as well.

Long gone are the days that your parents talk about when you had to "knock on" to see if someone's in. In fact the though of knocking someone's door not knowing whether they are in or not seems positively medieval these days. But for those who were teenagers in the 90s, thus most likely being born around 1980, the troubles that they experienced when trying to find their friends not only differ from their parents, but also greatly differ from their own children or younger siblings.

For example my partner was born in 1983, therefore the troubles he had would have been similar to others born in the early 80s. His telephone communication issues surround the phone box, which seems positively Stone Age these days, I mean I've never used a phone box in my life and there's only seven years between us. He began telling me about the problems of finding a phone box, making sure you had money to use it and the anger you would feel when you saw someone enter a pound into the aforementioned phone box. The thought of using a phone box to me seems ancient, which fills me with dread about how people feel about my teenage communication methods.

My method of teenage communication however seems a little less pre-historic as mobile phones became the norm by the late 1990s. As I was born in 1990 I was using mobile phones throughout my teens and the main issue I had was my signal cutting out, which usually resulted in dancing around like a lunatic with my arms waving above my head, trying to make my phone grab any dreg of signal that happened to be floating about. When I was 15 we also had WAP, which is an ancient form of mobile Internet only seen now in museums, but everyone knew it was rubbish so didn't really bother with mobile Internet. Besides we had MySpace and MSN to communicate through at home, my how I feel old.

This then brings me to now, I have a younger sister who's only eight years old, yet she has a mobile phone that is more advanced than mine was at the age of 18. It makes me think that by the time she is 15 the major problem when it comes to her mobile phone will be not having a 3G signal in order to Facebook her friends, tweet a whimsical yet non-informative 150 characters via Twitter or to Instagram her lunch, with the thought of actually making a phone call just passing her by. However I think this may already be happening, but as I am now clearly over the tech hill at the age of 22, it doesn't really matter.

All this said I too feel like I've been catapulted back to the Stone Age when my 3G connection cuts out, as I'm sure many of you do. But if I've never used a phone box it makes me a little sad that teenagers these days are going to have much better phones, resulting in tech traumas that I've never heard of, which quite frankly makes me a little jealous for some unknown reason. However if 3G were to cut out completely I wonder how teenagers would communicate? After all without free WI-FI that group of teenagers I saw would have just been sat on a bench, not talking to each other. Oh the joy.

Could Proposition 8 Finally End?

2013-03-07T12:30:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

Gay marriage has been a huge talking point around the world for at least the last 10 years. If you live in the UK then you will know that the coverage the debate has received in the past six months alone is incredible, and hopefully the debate will end soon and gay marriage in the UK will become an everyday occurrence. In America however the debate has caused a huge divide between political parties, individual states and the everyday American.

Indeed the issue of gay marriage in America is a vicious fight that many gay Americans and their supporters have been fighting for years, where they have been met with success and vast hostility alike. Proposition 8 has been high on the agenda for many people around the world for the last few years, and it looks as though the battle to repeal it is once again rearing its head.

This week alone we have seen several incidents across the pond highlighted in the media surrounding Proposition 8, and the hopeful removal of it, as the Supreme Court is due to consider whether to overturn it on March 26th. This comes after the controversial decision in 2008 to add a clause to the Californian constitution, which stated marriage could only be recognised by the state if it were between a man and a woman.

One incident we saw, which could have huge effects on equal marriage in the US, was 75 leading Republicans signing a brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8. This figure has now swelled to over 100 and includes Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood, who was previously against supporting equal marriage. The official document filed with the Supreme Court has also seen a number of former governors and members of George W Bush’s cabinet change their stance on Prop 8 and sign the document, which could also lead to significant effects on the Republican Party.

The Obama administration has also become involved in the issue this week after filing their own brief to the Supreme Court, which also urges them to strike down the ban on equal marriage in the state of California. The document has been welcomed by supporters of equal marriage in America and could in fact be applied to other states that also ban equal marriage.

The administration said of gay Americans in the document: “They establish homes and lives together, support each other financially, share the joys and burdens of raising children, and provide care through illness and comfort at the moment of death.”

President Obama himself has been quoted this week mentioning how he would remove laws banning same-sex marriage if he were a Supreme Court judge saying: “If I were on the court, that would be the view I’d put forward.”

There is hope that with the weight of the President and his administration behind the repeal of Proposition 8 that it could help with its removal.

The Republicans and the Obama Administration are not the only ones to act vocally this week on the repeal of Prop 8. Hugely popular talk show host Ellen DeGeneres wrote an open letter to the Supreme Court on her website talking about her marriage to actress Portia de Rossi, saying: “Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life.”

Some of America’s largest companies such as Facebook, Apple and eBay have also urged the court to remove Proposition 8.

All this debate in the run up to the Supreme Court’s ruling has also seen the revelation of a new poll that shows 61% of Californians support same-sex marriage, which is a record percentage in the state of California and a 9% increase over five years.

It would appear that in the land of free there is still a huge reluctance to allow some people their basic human right to marry the person that they love, and in America we have all read countless articles and heard news stories about the discrimination some gay people still suffer. But with the backing of the general public, celebrities, super companies, political parties and the president of the United States himself, March 26^th could see a huge step forward for equality not only in America but around the world.

Review: The Glass Canoe - Through Lianas

2013-03-05T11:21:00.000+00:00

Originally posted on www.soundblab.com

San Diego-based, experimental pop duo The Glass Canoe, which consists of members Max O'Reilly and David Korrigan, return with their second album, Through Lianas. Two years after the release of their debut album, Chimera, the band have finally deemed the world ready for their follow-up effort. However, being experimental can be good, and sometimes it can be a very, very bad thing. Sadly for these two, it's the latter.

I was pleasantly surprised by first track 'Quasi'; the melancholic, watery music was definitely atmospheric, with a kind, compelling sadness about it. Considering it was just music for the first half of the song it was definitely something different and I liked it. However, they then decided to start singing, and it was bad. Half the time they sounded like they were wailing and the other half of the time they were being drowned out by the music, which was a good thing.

Some of the music itself is good, especially the first track, the end bit of 'Don't Find', and the pop sound throughout 'Lift'. However, this is where the praise stops, as for the majority of the time everything just sounds confused and was almost headache-inducing. I was sadly disappointed as I thought this album could be interesting and I was hoping that the half-spoken indie vocals would get better. But I was wrong, as this album is proof that the technology to make music is way too accessible for some people.

I think these two need to return to the drawing board and discover their own sound. I found the album boring, painful and confused. There's nothing wrong with being experimental but when you throw everything in the pot and hope for the best, you end up sounding like a paranoid, bipolar person, and if you don't what that sounds like then listen to this album.

No Room at the Inn

2013-02-28T20:35:00.001+00:00

Originally posted on www.vadamagazine.com

Living in the UK, where equal rights for gay people are exceptionally better than many other places in the world, and where the debate for equal marriage has gained continued momentum, things only look like they’re going to go from strength to strength for LGBT issues. However, despite this there remains a certain degree of discrimination shown towards members of the LGBT community on a regular basis that we hear about in the news.

Just this week it emerged that a gay couple were refused a double room at a hotel in London by a receptionist who asked them numerous times: “are you sure you don’t want single beds?” (Nick Hurley, the person in question is pictured above).

Despite booking their room online, one of the men in question explained how he felt he and his partner had been treated in a homophobic way.

I doubt the same treatment would have been given to a straight couple if they arrived at a hotel room looking to share a bed.

However this treatment isn’t isolated to one particular case, but instead we can find a string of numerous news stories that highlight this type of treatment given to gay people.

Last year a gay couple won a court case against the owners of a B&B after they were turned away, despite booking the room and paying a deposit, because one of the owners claimed that allowing them to stay would violate her religious beliefs.

There were also two separate incidents in 2011 where a lesbian couple took legal action against a hotel after they claimed they were turned away for being gay. 2011 also saw the gay kiss pub protest after a gay couple were thrown out of the John Snow pub in Soho for kissing, which was called “obscene.”

Another incident in January 2013 saw a gay couple denied access to a bar because it was “couples only” and they were the wrong type of couple.

It’s awful to think that in 2013 some people still feel they can deny basic forms of equality such as sharing a bed or accessing a bar, simply because someone is gay. This in spite of The Equality Act making it illegal to refuse people goods and services on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Could you imagine if the roles were reversed and a gay person or couple denied a straight couple a hotel room simply because they were not gay, or if a person who doesn’t like children refused a family a table in a restaurant or a room at a hotel because they had a child? Well you couldn’t because this thing would probably never happen as it would be deemed ridiculous. Yet some people still think it’s OK to deny gay people basic rights.

The Thistle hotel involved in the incident in London has apologised to the couple involved, with spokesman Chris King telling ITV News: “From our initial investigations it appears that the couple booked through an online booking system which didn’t work properly and so when they arrived at the hotel there were no double rooms available. We are very sorry if the couple feel they have been badly treated and we are now looking into the situation.”

He added: “Having spoken to Mr. Hurley we understand that the couple were not too upset that there were no double rooms available, but rather with the manner in which this information was conveyed. We have offered them a free night in one of our hotels but they have refused this offer. Thistle does not tolerate homophobic behaviour and will investigate this matter thoroughly.”

Where as we can see public apologies being made and public protest, particularly in the incident with the Soho pub through the now infamous kiss protest, these are only the incidents we know about. Many people still feel as though they can’t come forward with their stories because they are scared or feel that there is no point, as nothing will be done.

But as we can see things are getting noted and acted upon, there is definitely a need to speak up and say something. Issues involving gay people are now being covered much more frequently by the press, and not in a negative manner, because gay people aren’t taking it anymore. People have been fighting for full equality for years and finally it looks like we may not be far from it, in the UK anyway.

When Procrastination Turns Into Laziness

2013-02-28T12:45:00.000+00:00

Originally posted on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

Procrastination is something that I have become a master of over the last few years, which began in sixth form when certain tasks become a priority over my coursework for my A Levels. However at the time I was unaware that this was the development of my status as the procrastination king.

As I went to University I began perfecting this art. As many University students will know, when it comes to gathering a pile of books to find information and quotes to help develop a 2,000 word essay, menial tasks suddenly become the most important things that ever existed. You tend to find yourself taking your clothes to the washing machines knowing that in an hour they will need to be put in the tumble dryer, this means that for the next few hours you can't actually start your essay as you will need to go to the tumble dryer and move your clothes and then ultimately have to bring them back and put them away.

This is only one of a number of tasks I found myself doing during the first two years of my University life, one time I found myself on my hands and knees cleaning my bedroom skirting boards, as they looked a little too dusty. The fact that I had a deadline in a few days time obviously had nothing to do with my sudden need for a spring clean, well that's what I told myself.

I know a whole host of people from my time at University who also found they succumbed to the need to complete pointless tasks in order to delay thinking too much about their essays. However luckily for me by the third year I had grown out of this phase, as I wanted to get my work done and attain a good grade, since this was the main reason I went to University in the first place. I also know that a number of my fellow students grew out of this as the workload got heavier and more important.

This was a good thing as the constant work made sure I couldn't get too distracted, obviously now and again updating my Facebook status became much more important. But overall this art of procrastination was beginning to go as I prepared myself for the workload I would endure when I was finally finished with my studies, and entered the world of full time work.

However for me, like many other graduates things didn't manifest as I'd hoped and I found myself sitting at home applying for copious amounts of jobs praying for the day I'd start work. This therefore brings me to a key point, when does this art of procrastination stop being procrastination and become laziness and more importantly does having nothing to do breed laziness?

I say this because when I was at University procrastination may have distracted me from my studies but it also meant that tasks such as the washing the dishes or doing the laundry got done, and in the end so did my assignments. But now that I am out of University with no assignments I don't find myself becoming distracted by the washing, therefore it doesn't get done as much as it used to.

Now I find myself sat on the sofa, drinking tea, applying for jobs and watching the TV, in a state that many people would call laziness. Its not that I am lazy, in fact I love being busy as I'm sure many other people do, it's just that I have nothing to do, so by having nothing to do these menial tasks become the only thing I have to do and once they are done they are done, leaving me with extra hours to sit around and do nothing.

The way it feels is that whilst the job market is in such a bad state, meaning that many graduates and people in general can't get jobs, leaving them at home with nothing to do after they've done their tedious tasks and applied for all the jobs there are to apply for, which isn't many, they find themselves slipping into a state of being bored where doing nothing is the only thing to do.

With more and more people being out of work for much longer periods of time, and by having nothing to do its looks as though the inability to get many people into work is breeding a generation of experienced laziness as their main skill, not because they are lazy but because it's the only thing they now know how to do.

Review: Call Me Kuchu

2013-02-28T12:07:00.001+00:00

Originally published on www.biggaypictureshow.com

Call Me Kutchu takes an intimate and thought provoking look at the state of affairs for members of the LGBT community in Uganda, against the backdrop of the kill the gays bill.

In recent years the world has become aware of the negativity shown towards gay men and women in Uganda, and this film shows us what activists in the country are doing to try and make inequality a thing of the past. It also shows us the final year of gay rights activist David Kato towards the latter half of the film, which will evoke strong emotions from the audience, some of you may even cry.

The documentary is an eye opener for those of us who live in the West that don’t realise how easy life is compared to that of many around the world. In the documentary we hear a number of harrowing tales from a select group of gay people and activists in Uganda that range from violence, stoning, abandonment and even rape. Some of these tales will leave you open mouthed and shocked that nearly 50 years after gay liberation started, some people are still subjected to persecution on a daily basis. The realisation of just how severe things are in Uganda is shown when David Kato is murdered and the scene that ensues at his funeral.

One thing that is particularly good about this film is the way in which directors Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall show us the debate on homosexuality in Uganda from both sides. We see the negative affects it has on people on a daily basis and what they are doing in the fight for equality, but they also enable us to see the mind-set of the people trying to oppress them and how they are targeting gay people. This is most evident when we are told by the managing editor of The Rolling Stone newspaper that in the name of journalism, they would ignore the right of privacy to expose gay people for public knowledge, and also how the paper itself links gay people to terrorism.

However against the sadness of the documentary you see hope in the LGBT community, as they enjoy themselves together and remain positive in a shared optimism that one day Uganda will be fully equal.

Overall the film is a touching and informative human tragedy that will have you engrossed from beginning to end, and cheer when you see just how much progress they are making. But as they mention throughout the film the struggle continues.

How Music Gave Gay People a Voice

2013-02-28T11:44:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

We’ve heard a lot of talk through our lives about how people and certain aspects of culture have helped change perceptions of gay people. From films such as Cabaret and Brokeback Mountain to people like Antony Grey and Peter Tatchell, and of course there are the Stonewall riots.

But one thing that has been a constant throughout the fight for equality is the sound of music, and I don’t mean the Julie Andrews film. Music is a way of connecting people from a broad range of social backgrounds as it expresses pain, emotions, determination and everything else in between and has certainly given many gay men and women across the world a voice over the years. Not only that but many of the artists have helped give us representation in the public eye for quite some time now.

Before and up to the mid 1960s it would have been pretty hard to release a record such as Lady Gaga’s‘Born This Way.’ During this period, many gay men attached themselves to songs such as ‘Over the Rainbow’ and ‘The Man That Got Away’ by Judy Garland, who is often considered a gay icon due to her struggles, which many gay men identified with. But back in the 1960s there was a counterculture big enough to see the release of some records that are now seen as gay. The book From the Closet to the Charts: Queer Noises 1961 – 1978 documents this and discusses a number of records such as ‘The Shower Song (I’m So Wet)’ that would have apparently embarrassed the Village People, and even an openly gay record label called Camp, which saw the release of 10 singles and two albums.

Music itself hasn’t always been as ‘straight’ as many would think. Openly straight songs about men and women falling in love dominated the charts back then, but you have to remember that during 1960s America black people had their own separate music charts. The mainstream industry was very straight and white then; some people didn’t even like the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.

However, as music progressed into the 70s and 80s it got a little more ‘queer’. We saw the birth of disco and glam-rock; filled with sparkles, platform shoes, big hair and men in make-up, and we saw gay men hit the charts and gay songs do very very well.

One of the most well-known and arguably most pivotal moments of the 1970s was David Bowie’s ‘I’m Gay’ interview in Melody Maker, which finally saw music come out, so to speak. However, years later Bowie stated that there was a backlash in America, but there’s frequently some kind of resistance over there. You only have to look at the controversy Adam Lambert caused during the 2009 American Music Awards – where he kissed a man on stage, prompting ABC (the American television network that aired the awards) to receive over 1,500 complaints and cancel Lambert’s performance on Good Morning America – to see just how shocking something like this would have been in the 1970s. Still, we progressed and music helped in our fight. Hits like ‘Y.M.C.A’ proved popular across the world, despite the majority of the straight population not realising that the song was referencing the YMCA’s reputation as a gay hook-up and cruising spot. Similarly, Sylvester burst onto the scene with ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’. With a black, gay drag queen now lighting up the charts we can see just how far music had progressed, and the exposure Sylvester gained for gay people should never be overlooked.

It’s no doubt that Sylvester helped inspire a barrage of gender bending stars of the 1980s. As the MTV generation was born, singers like Boy George, Steve Strange, Pete Burns and in many ways Annie Lennox – whose androgyny blurred the lines of what it was to be male and female – burst into the mainstream with their highly popular music videos showcasing a new non-traditional image for all to see. The decade saw gay people get a huge voice through music as Frankie told everyone to relax and Bronski Beat let the small town boys know they knew exactly how they felt. The 1980s saw the thumping sounds of so called ‘gay music’ burst onto the scene and dominate the charts the world over; I can just imagine the faces of many a bigot flicking on their TV sets to see Divine singing ‘You Think You’re a Man.’

Despite the negativity of the AIDS crisis, gay men and women were still fighting hard throughout the 90s, but not without a little help from the power of song. As Melissa Etheridge came out and Brian Molko and Billie Joe Armstrong announced their bisexuality, the queen of pop Madonna was bringing ‘voguing’ into the mainstream straight out of the gay clubs of New York. Not only that but she also released the very provocative ‘Justify My Love’ video featuring gay men. Despite the fact it was banned on MTV it was still out there and managed to become a huge hit. But one of the most significant parts of the 1990s, in terms of LGBT visibility and music, came from the overly camp Eurovision. Out were the days of Cliff Richard and Sandy Shaw with their wholesome images and in was Dana International, the transsexual Israeli pop singer and winner of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest. By now we had moved a long way in terms of freedom and rights and music had progressed and indeed helped with it, but this was only the beginning.

As we swung into the 2000s gay people were out and proud; gone was section 28, in America Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was finally repealed in September 2011 and gay marriage has been a hot topic around the world for many years. In terms of music, we saw t.A.T.u hit number one on the charts, despite using lesbianism as an obvious marketing ploy, and Madonna kiss Britney Spears at the 2003 VMA Awards, in one of the most memorable moments in music history. By now it wasn’t just gay men making a splash, lesbians were also edging into the mainstream despite only having a few moments previously in terms of music. With acts like Will Young selling millions of records, and gay men and women popping up in the finals of massively successful programmes like The X Factor, it became apparent that gay musicians were now firmly a fixture on the charts.

We also witnessed many anthemic songs appear in the last 10 years – ‘Beautiful’, ‘Firework’, ‘Standing in the Way of Control’, ‘Born This Way’ – and gay men and women were being featured in music videos more frequently too (just watch Kylie Minogue’s ‘All The Lovers’ below). It’s clear to see just how music has helped shape the way gay men and women are viewed, not to mention giving them a platform on which to be noticed.

From the days of being closeted and listening to Judy whilst a sub-culture was being born, to the openly gay pop stars and songs telling us to embrace ourselves and love who we are, we’ve come a long way in our fight for equality and music has undoubtedly played a prominent part in that.

Review: Coasts - Oceans

2013-02-25T13:50:00.001+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With their début single ‘Oceans’, Coasts grab your attention from the very first second of the song. Taken from their limited edition début EP Paradise, they give us a great mix of sad, melancholic and atmospheric music and lyrics, but manage to counteract that by making the song hopeful and happy at the same time – a rare ability that recalls the stylings of Mumford and Sons.

With the echoing chant style chorus the band demonstrates that they would be excellent live (and are currently on tour) and you could imagine thousands of people singing along to this at a festival – a good way to judge the merit of a single. Luckily this one passed the festival sound test.

The music itself lives up to the band and the singles names as they sound very water inspired, which is a nice touch. Although they do sound like a number of other indie bands around, the song is very catchy and sounds fresh and new.

This is a great single and an even better début single. Hopefully, off the back of big Grammy wins by bands such as Mumford and Sons, the British public will be looking for something new again, and they need look no further than Coasts.

Liza Minnelli's Latest Comeback

2013-02-25T13:20:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With an Oscar, an Emmy, multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under her belt and over 50 years in the business that is show, Liza Minnelli is the definition of the term ‘living legend’.

Not content with sitting out her later years on a vast yacht in the baking sun telling stories about all the other greats she’s known – such as her mother, her father, Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davies Jr. – Liza continues to keep busy, and this year is no exception as she brings her celebrated gifts to the London stage for a one-night-only performance on March 1^.

Minnelli will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Berlin in the 20s and 30s’ weekend, where she will perform songs from the legendary Cabaret, jazz standards and Broadway tunes. However, as she mentioned in The Telegraph, she’s still re-writing the show, so who knows what could happen.

The performance at the Royal Festival Hall will be her first performance at the venue since 1973, when she performed her renowned Emmy Award winning show Liza with a Z there.

The weekend will also see a screening of Cabaret, which celebrates its 41^st birthday this year and marks the 40^th anniversary of Minnelli’s Oscar win for her performance of Sally Bowles.

Aside from her one night engagement in London, this year appears to mark another comeback in the life of the legendary performer. With scheduled performances at the New York City Town Hall alongside Alan Cumming, a performance at the State Theatre’s 25^th annual benefit gala in May, a return to acting with a guest appearance as herself in TV shows Smash and Arrested Development and even, according to an interview with The Huffington Post, a new album in the works, it looks like Liza may be doing a few more appearances this year. Well here’s hoping she does.

Dying for an Appointment

2013-02-22T12:12:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

For a while now I've been seeing a number of debates online surrounding medical care in the UK, whether its about budget cuts, the issue of privatising the NHS or a number of problems surrounding the treatment of patients, which largely concentrates on the negative aspects of care some people have received. However something I rarely see, which is something that I've experienced recently, is the complexities of trying to get an appointment with your GP.

Recently after experiencing some problems I contacted my doctor's surgery to try and book an appointment, this to me seemed like a very straightforward task that would involve a telephone call and arranging the appointment. I'd already considered the fact that I may have to wait a few days, but as usual nothing is completely straightforward.

During my telephone conversation I was told that the earliest appointment I could have was the 1 March, which would have been fine if it was a few days before. However I just happened to be ringing three weeks before the given date, which to me seemed very strange. When I enquired about getting an earlier appointment I was told that they were fully booked until then, a phrase I thought was reserved for hotels, restaurants, hairdressers and the sort. Then when I mentioned that I'd been having a pain in my chest the receptionist, in a very rude manner, told me I should go straight to the hospital before saying goodbye and hanging up.

After this happened I was in total shock. I know if you experience pains in your chest then you should go to the hospital, but as the pain had been happening for a few days I was quite sure it wasn't a heart attack, hence my delay in approaching the hospital. It's also worth noting that a few months back when my partner had experienced extreme chest pains and we went to the hospital, he was told at A&E he should have gone to his local GP first. Talk about mixed messages.

The whole situation is baffling as it would appear the GP surgery expected me to predict and schedule the days that I was ill, I know this isn't the case but given the way I was told they were fully booked this is how it felt. I was also rudely told on the phone that to get a quicker appointment I would have to ring the next morning at 8am, which tells me and anyone else who has experienced this that the GP surgery did in fact have appointments, which they could hand out instead of making countless potential patients angrily tap away at their phones the next morning in an appointment bidding war.

I have actually done this before and it took around 68 engaged phone calls in four minutes before I actually got through to a person, at which point I couldn't get an appointment until 4pm.

Now many may blame this type of treatment on budget cuts or privatisation, but for as long as I can remember it has been like this. I can even remember my own mother enduring the telephone bidding war when I was younger to try and gain an appointment for the illness that she had so inconsiderately miss-scheduled.

It is a sad state of affairs that many people who are unwell and may in fact have a more serious underlying condition have to wait weeks on end to see their GP, by which time it could be too late. You could go to the hospital where like I previously mentioned you will be told you should have seen a GP first, be made to feel like you're wasting valuable hospital time and resources only to find out that there's nothing to worry about. You also get to find this out after an eight-hour wait, which is always a lovely experience.

Sadly there's nothing that can be done, and it looks like this is going to continue if the frightful news stories about the NHS and doctor's surgeries are to be believed. However I did file a complaint with the surgery on the day that I was denied an appointment as there was no room at the inn, but as you may have guessed I'm still waiting for a reply, which I won't hold my breath for as I may not be able to get an appointment for the lack of oxygen in body whilst doing so.

Is Football Truly Becoming The Beautiful Game At Last?

2013-02-21T12:49:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

The beautiful game took another step out of the middle ages this week when American international and former Leeds United footballer, Robbie Rogers, came out of the otherwise bolted football closet.

The former midfielder made the announcement that he was gay through his own personal website after he tweeted “just getting some sh*t off my chest” with a link to the web post. In the post he went on to discuss how he’d had fears about coming out as he didn’t want the fact he was gay getting in the way of his dreams, which he went on to discuss: ‘Dreams of going to a World Cup, dreams of The Olympics, dreams of making my family proud. What would life be without these dreams? Could I live a life without them?’

By coming out Rogers has become the most high profile football star to come out since Justin Fashanu did back in 1990, and makes him the second out footballer playing professional football next to Anton Hysen.

However, being one of only two openly gay professional footballers in the world was short lived as Robbie also announced his retirement from football, stating: ‘Now is my time to step away. It’s time to discover myself away from football.’

This action however makes the move a little counter productive. By coming out Rogers was making one of the biggest leaps in terms of professional football, which could be compared to the move Gareth Thomas made when he came out in 2009, and for sport as a whole. But by announcing his retirement it’s prolonging the myth that if you’re a footballer then you can’t be gay, as Rogers is now an ex-footballer.

Maybe the terrible tale of Justin Fashanu, who came out in 1990 and faced a barrage of negative publicity before committing suicide in 1998, still sends fear through the minds of gay footballers even today, which would explain why a footballer coming out is a very rare occurrence. Although if Rogers had stayed in the game, maybe he could have debunked the myth and taken an even bigger step for gay footballers than he already has. There was even discussions on Twitter commenting on how Rogers had quit football and then come out, with journalist Charlie Beckett saying: ‘Brilliant for coming out, shame he couldn’t stay in the game.’

But despite this negative aspect to the news of Robbie Rogers coming out, the former player has been bombarded with positive responses via Twitter from fellow footballers and others from around the world, which proves that the world of sport is changing and has changed significantly since Fashanu came out all those years ago.

The news about Rogers coming out isn’t just a big move for football, but a big move for sport itself, which has seen a number of considerable movements towards equality recently. Brian Ellner from gay rights group Athletes Ally, which campaigns against homophobia and transphobia in sport told Reuters: ‘We’re at a tipping point.’

Recently the world of sport has seen Orlando Cruz come out, making him the first professional gay fighter, we’ve seen over 100 professional hockey placers say they’d support an openly gay team mate and footballers Gareth Southgate and Matt Jarvis have both mentioned how football is ready for openly gay players.

Maybe it isn’t the players holding total acceptance back as they all share a love of sport regardless of sexuality, maybe it’s not even the fans who get criticised heavily for not allowing players to come out, surely they just want their team to win. It looks as though footballers, their team mates and their fans are ready to accept gay players in football and other sports for that matter but why aren’t gay footballers, hockey players and gay athletes in general coming out? For football maybe it is the harrowing story of Fashanu, but the more likely reason is because of the sponsorship deals and the PR surrounding them.

If gay footballers are seen to make less money from sponsors or not get sponsors at all, then surely their PR man isn’t going to want them to come out for fear of making less money, even Max Clifford has spoken about how he has advised footballers to stay in the closet.

From what’s happening around the world at the moment maybe we are at a tipping point, after all players from other sports are starting to come out and straight players are defending their gay counterparts and so are the fans. Robbie Rogers may have come out and retired but from the positive reaction he’s received, maybe this action will open the door for other gay footballers to come out and finally break down homophobia in sport.

The Application Complication

2013-02-21T12:08:00.000+00:00

Originally published on www.instant-impact.com

For those who are trying to break into the creative industries whether its in journalism, marketing, fashion, advertising or PR it can feel as though it’s easier to get through immigration or break into a bank vault, wearing a very fetching yet itchy balaclava, than kicking down that otherwise heavily padlocked door.

It’s an annoyance that will come to all of us who are trying to make it in a very difficult industry where unpaid internships, extremely long hours and a second job are the norm. But aside from the fact that for many, the majority of these jobs are located in London thus making it hard to afford the move from wherever you’re currently located, the biggest annoyance when it comes to trying to crack the creative industries is the dreaded application form.

We’ve all endured it and we’ve sighed a nauseating sigh of disbelief once we’ve downloaded the seemingly never ending questions on the application form that wants to know everything about you, the fact there isn’t a question regarding your inside leg measurement is actually surprising.

The first thing they make you want to do is scream, run away and hide under your duvet at the sheer thought of filling out this form. It’s a generally tedious task that asks you everything that is already on your CV, so after spending a large chunk of time copy and pasting your previous experience and education into some boxes that clearly haven’t been formatted properly by a company that demands excellent Microsoft Word skills in their job description, you can almost feel the laziness pour over you.

However this isn’t the end as you then have to make yourself sound like the best candidate for the job in the relevant experience section, which is just asking you to tell them how you match up to the criteria in the person spec, which isn’t only a monotonous task that can take hours but also makes you feel vastly pretentious as it makes it sound as though the sun shines out of your behind. If that isn’t bad enough the section after this asks for more information about you that you may not have covered in the previous section, so you find yourself mentioning rubbish like you once mowed your grandmothers grass and that you were a top student in primary school because you have run out of self promotion in the last section and quite simply can’t think of anything else they would want to know. Maybe you drop your inside leg measurement in as a thought.

Alas the application form isn’t the only annoying thing about applying for jobs within the creative industries. If they aren’t asking for a 500-page application form to be submitted then they’re asking for a CV, cover letter and in my case examples of previously published work. Now for many people who have to work as well as apply for these jobs they don’t have the time to have written much for other companies, because they’re either searching though umpteen pages of search results on job sites to find jobs that in then takes 3 hours to apply for, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

Usually after sending this they usually then ask you for a written piece that they assign to you, if they haven’t already asked for this in the first instance. The worst part is after spending hours doing this you rarely hear back or get a rejection email that can’t give feedback due to the high volume of applicants, it just makes you think “why do I even bother?”

I find myself asking what’s wrong with a simple application process of your CV and a brief hello in the email because surely they will find out if you’re right for the job at the interview? That’s if you even make it to the interview. But apparently this would make it far too easy for you and the people reviewing the applications may have to do some serious interviewing, when clearly they’d rather interview a small handful.

It’s a sad state of affairs that so many creative people are failing at cracking the industry because they just can’t get their big break due to excessive job searching and application forms, which can restrict the time to be creative and create published work, or simply because the vast size of the application form is just emphasising a wave of laziness that has already been brought on by months of daytime TV and unsatisfying menial work.

Review: Fear of Men - Early Fragments

2013-02-19T12:16:00.001+00:00

Originally published on www.soundblab.com

Self-described alternative indie-pop band Fear of Men are entering the world of albums in a very unique and unusual way. Hailing from Brighton, the quartet are releasing their debut of 90s-influenced music, which technically isn't a debut at all. How is this?, I hear you ponder to yourself. Well, the band are currently working on their debut album as we speak, but to get us excited the band is releasing Early Fragments, a compilation of previously released singles.

After releasing singles on various UK indie labels, this album contains eight songs which span their career so far, from their debut single in 2011 all the way up to the present day. The band have made quite a name for themselves after touring extensively, in fact, they are still touring at the moment, and have been compared to another indie-pop band: Veronica Falls.

Unlike albums from Veronica Falls, this is much easier to listen to. In common Veronica Falls, they do have a few singles that sound the same, but whereas you tend to zone out because the Veronica Falls singles sound similar, you just don't with Fear of Men, perhaps something to do with the fact that all the songs were singles. Aside from this comparison, the band at times remind me a little of The Cranberries. You can hear the obvious 90s influences shining through. Maybe 90s indie-pop/rock is making a comeback.

There are two songs which stand out more than the rest: 'Mosaic', with its haunting yet summery sound which makes you want to dance around and reminisce about times gone by, and 'Ritual Confession', a catchy and infectious song with brilliant music and excellent vocals which you get lost in from the moment it starts. The remainder of the songs on the album are good but don't quite match up to these two, except for 'Spirit House', which is just a yawn-inducing sleep-fest that blends into the background and makes you want to switch off. No wonder it's the last track on the album.

Aside from this, the album is good and is just enough to get you a little excited for their first full-length. However, I've heard this sound before and, with only one or two standout tracks among the already released singles, the band are going to have to turn it up a notch for their first proper album.

Review: Alicia Keys - Brand New Me

2013-02-18T12:32:00.000+00:00

Origina.ly published on www.sosogay.co.uk

Musical powerhouse Alicia Keys returns with the second single from her top 20 album Girl On Fire and the follow up to the top five single of the same name.

‘Brand New Me’ is a piano-driven pop ballad about personal growth and becoming a whole new person, which Keys herself has described as her autobiography. Co-written by current golden girl of British pop Emeli Sandé, the song has all the ingredients of a sure fire hit, however it just missed the mark.

Starting with a slow piano opening that has become expected from the multiple Grammy Award winner, the song showcases the soulful and powerful voice of Keys but it fails to give us anything different and never really goes anywhere. With a sullen background of slow beats shrouded by piano, we endure a few minutes of Alicia Keys wallowing in misery.

Towards the end of the song the music does pick up with an almost rocky and angst-driven Keys belting out a powerful vocal, but just as this happens and the song begins to get going it fades back down to her peaceful yet depressing tones.

It feels as though this song was trying to be empowering, trying to give listeners some kind of strength, a bit like ‘The Voice Within’ by Christina Aguilera, but unlike Aguilera’s 2003 hit this song stalls at its opening.

Overall the song is fair, the vocals are beautiful and the key change really hits you, but the overall tone and theme to the song just fails to light you up. It leaves you wanting more, but not in a good way.