Imagine stepping off the V train in the Lower East Side; the streets are crowded with people from all walks of life, uniting under one rhythm in funky, colorful 80’s gear that we all try so hard to revive (and forget). Well, that’s pretty much what “unusual” singing sensation Cyndi Lauper had in mind when she shot the video for her hit single “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” on the streets if NY in 1983:

It’s a party in the N-Y-C, and Cyndi Lauper brought out the best (& worst) of the 80’s. While hip-hop rocked rope chains, bamboo earrings, Adidas, and acid wash jeans, Pop’s bad girls did the “Molly Ringwald” dance in leg warmers, leotards, oversized off the shoulder sweaters, and stacked bangles. Oh, and you can’t ever forget the tutu! For this week’s “Vintage Video” my treat to you is the party anthem of the 80’s. Because, after all, girls just want to have fun! The times & style’s may change, but that won’t. I have chosen a select few items that have the aesthetic of this video, emphasis on aesthetic. Just the vibe, quite impossible to get the exact threads.

SKIRT: Exposed Zip Mesh Skirt $13.99

BRACELETS: Rock Chick Gold Wristwear Set $27.20

EARRINGS: Enamelled Fan Drop Earrings $13.60

DRESS: Mink Pink Floral Belted Shirt Dress $110.48

CHAIN BELT: Interwoven Satin Chain Belt $7.80

HAT: Wool Felt Fedora $10.80

GLOVES: Leather Tarnished Stud Fingerless Gloves $30.59

Whether it was inspired by one of Cyndi’s iconic dresses and accessories in this video, or one of her million many extra’s and dancers, the Queens native pretty much swallowed the 80’s and spit it out on the streets of Manhattan.

Cyndi Lauper & Lil’ Kim

Perform together as part of the concert celebrating Mandela’s Birthday, back in July

SHUT UP. The bass at 1.34 is unreal.

1.58 = Lil’ Kim definitely has potential. : )

All I can say is Cyndi can RAP.

Love this performance.

NOISES ON: Can’t believe it, but they swear it’s true. The Frantics, the certifiably insane, oooh, oops, sorry, the mentally extrvagant comedy troupe

THE FRANTICS: Noises-makers

comprised of Paul Chatto, Rick Green, Dan Redican & Peter Wildman, are about to turn 30. (I know, I know, they don’t look a day over 29 .) To celebrate they’re launching a new Greatest Hits CD, Frantic Noises, and working on anniversary release dates for (1) The Very Best of Frantic Times (“more than 1,000 bits compiled from our CBC Radio show,”) (2) The Frantics Walk Upright

STOJKO: Red Door booster

(“the lost tapes of our final performance together in 1998,”) (3) an all-music CD that they’re recording now, and (4) the DVD of their Frantics Reunion Show, which aired on the Comedy Network. Big news is, they’re set to perform live at The Royal on College street — for one performance only, to launch their new CD — on Monday Dec. 7 at 7 pm. All proceeds from tickets ($10 +tax in advance, $15 +tax at the door) will go to PAL (the Performing Arts Lodge.) To order your tickets now, go to their website at www.thefrantics.com, or just click here.

GOING, GOING, GONE: Today is your last chance to bid on a unique online jewelry auction where all of the proceeds raised benefit the Red Door family

PINSENT & PINSENT: all about Uniti (photo: Zoomer magazine)

shelter. Called the Uniti Collection, the pieces are created by 18Karat Goldsmiths and inspired by celebnties partnered with designers. Sparklies adding their lustre to this cause include Leah & Gordon Pinsent, Elvis Stojko and Breakfast Television charmers Dina Pugliese and Jennifer Valentyne. To review the collection and get your bid in, click here … surfers are finding more and more treasures at on-line auctions, which is why they’ve become so popular. BID 2 BEAT AIDS, LIFEbeat’s fifth annual 10-day eBay Celebrity Memorabilia Auction honouring World AIDS Day starts December 1 at 12 noon, with proceeds going to ongoing AIDS/HIV programs in the U.S. Up for grabs are personal items from Michael Feinstein, Debbie Harry, Cheyenne Jackson, Lady Gaga, Cyndi

PUGLIESE: Breakfast jewel

Lauper, Patti LuPone, Madonna, Ricky Martin, Tim McGraw, Liza Minnelli, Stevie Nicks, Cynthia Nixon, Bernadette Peters, Joan Rivers, Henry Rollins, John Waters, Vanessa Williams and the late Bea Arthur, among others. For more information, including a complete list of participating artists and images of many of the items, click here … and  Julia Roberts is among the glitterati reportedly ready to act up for the Labyrinth Theater Company’s seventh annual gala benefit called Celebrity Charades 2009: Jackpot. Beginning

ROBERTS: charity charades

December 7, celeb teams do battle in charades competition, so in addition to Julia look for Eric Bogosian, Bobby Cannavale, Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni and more. And feel free to  follow the action online — where else?!? — at  www.LABtheater.org.

Like I said — not yer average rock band.

TOMORROW:

Why Liz Smith always makes me laugh.

Plus, Brangelina update, and more!

Take a look inside the minds of Americans online. Here are the top 40 things of interest to the American people tonight.

Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors lyrics are hot tonight at #7 as at 9pm Wednesday.

This was America today.

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.25.09~

"Have your face set. I don't wanna end up just humping air."

After having my mind blown by Star Trek, I flipped over to the American Music Awards in time to see Jennifer Lopez’s comeback attempt performing a song whose name I don’t recall and am not inclined to look up.

While 1999-2000 really seems like just yesterday, the decade has, indeed, come to  a close and things are not what they once were, as evidenced by Lopez’s tumble after vaulting off the back of a dancer while wearing five-inch heels. She recovered from the tumble, gathering herself enough to ask the crowd (via lip-synch) “You miss me?” The resounding response seemed to be “Once upon a time.”

Now, I could go in on Jennifer Lopez about the tumble or the singing poorly and such, but I have to admit: When she fell I gasped. I clapped my hand over my mouth and actually felt bad. Seeing any performer stumble is cringe-worthy because it really is like dying a thousand deaths on stage, but this emotion had something more to it.

I imagine anyone who saw it thought to themselves “JLo woulda nailed that. Jennifer Lopez, mother of two out of the limelight for a few years, apparently cannot.” Watching great performers lose a step always kind of hurts a little.

A few more thoughts on the AMAs in no particular order:

- Adam Lambert has vocal talent, but I think seeing him perform last night proved that performing live in a concert setting takes a particular talent that plenty of people don’t nail their first time–if ever. As I watched him cavort about the stage as in his spiked suit get-up, face-humping dancers and, at one point, pulling at the crotch chain of a woman in leather underwear, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This is one time when being gay is helping this dude.” There are things each group can get away with that other can’t e.g. Blacks and “nigga”; women and “see you next Tuesday”…and I feel like crotch-chain pulling is not something I could do successfully.

-Taylor Swift is a talented kid. I was aware of her Pre-Kanye and can say that she does her thing and moves units with pre-Napster-like efficiency. In the pop sense, she is the real deal. That being said, enough is enough. Her windfall from being the little (white) girl who had her moment stolen from the drunken (black) dude is without parallel. Her beating Michael Jackson at anything just looks terrible in the historical sense, but I frankly think it’s worse that she beat a living person by the name of Lady Gaga. This robbery was tantamount to whoever won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar over Val Kilmer for his role in Tombstone. Really. Twitterer @BlackCanseco summed it up nicely when he said, “Once again #TaylorSwift is gettin more sympathy/support than Rihanna. And dude neva laid a glove on her.”

-Gaga is a no-pants wearing beast. Just talented and terribly mesmerizing. Still, those who worship at her altar should keep in mind that she’s Cyndi Lauper with the benefit of the internet.

-HD doesn’t flatter anyone. That’s not even throwing shade; it’s a sad reality that really can’t help the ego of anyone who has cameras pointed at them all the time. Watching the various acts, I started subconsciously touching my own face and thinking “Damn, they’d see every possible ingrown hair scenario on my already big-looking head”. It’s just like one of those giant “Oh crap, I’m ugly!” vanity mirrors women have on their nightstands.

-Jermaine Jackson is eating this up. I’m sure he misses his little brother–I’m sure of it–but he’s eating this up.

-Whitney’s a cagey veteran who really does deserve credit for bouncing back as she has, but people who mention this should do so with a hint of context. Yes; she came back from the brink, but you’re not really ever on the brink brink when you’re a wealthy world-famous entertainer who wasn’t foolish enough to squander every dime you have and thus, have the resource to come back from whatever needs coming back from.

-No big deal Jay but…numbers lie all the time. In fact, they’re often skewed for the purpose of deception so…yeah.

-Eminem began “Crack a Bottle” announcing, boxer-style, his height and weight, then rattled off these statistics “17 rapes, 400 assaults and 4 murders.” Maybe I work too much in news and such, but I found that first part particularly Pelosi Face-inducing. In semi-related news, I’m convinced a lot of already-famous rappers are no longer interested in rapping altogether and are completely nonplussed at the prospect of having to do so live.

-Timbaland’s fatal mistake wasn’t coming on stage looking like he’d started Thanksgiving a few weeks early; his error was in going from round to fit to rounder. You just can’t do that. If you’re going to stay round, people will notice your expansion, but won’t think much of it unless you become morbidly rotund. If you get swoll and take pictures in just smediums and clearly want it to be known you’re getting it in physically, you have to stay somewhere in that range. You cannot come out looking like you just ate Rick Ross with a side of Jazze Pha. For good or ill, those are the rules.

-I don’t pretend to really, really know what happened between Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, but I’m disinclined to think it was on the level and feel funny whenever I hear her singing love and relationship songs. On a semi-related note, has any woman gotten to skate more on something as egregious? I’m thinking her only competition of famous famous people is Angelina Jolie and even she didn’t break up a home with a kid in play. Lots of women have tried to tread this ground before and ended up like the first dude who tried to find the grail in The Last Crusade.

OD Records

Laoying Shao Road, Fenghuang, China

On the banks of the calmly flowing river Tuo, in the back water river-town of Fenghuang, sits  OD Record store.  Narrow and quaint, snugly camouflaged by tea shops and  food stores; a record store that could easily be unseen by even the most observant eye.

We enter the shop, which has more in common with a long slim corridor than your average store (the idea of browsing space, having not really caught on), and discover a wall dominated by CDs without covers.  Each CD sits in a perfectly fitted clear plastic wallet, offering neither explanation nor reason for their naked forms. I stare closely at the specimens and discover them to be neither official release, nor pirated copies, but press-release promotional CDs, the likes of which are usually sent to music journalists or radio-stations.

I stare closely at a remastered release of The Police’s Reggatta Da Blanc, and notice that each CD is dotted with  stickers offering press-friendly promotional notes in Mandarin. We stop for a minute and gaze out to the River Tuo in wonder, contemplating how a small shop in the middle of nowhere in China, could have come into such a supply of promotional CDs. We come to a swift conclusion; that the store is either an ex-writer/ radio presenter/ editor’s personal collection for sale, or else a record-label company has liquidated its stock onto the market (which, according to copyright legislation, is technically illegal).

Spurred on by the apparent rarity of the promos on hand (after-all when was the last time you saw a CHINESE promotional copy of a record!), we get flicking. A few interesting titles raise their heads; a chill out CD featuring a Radiohead remix tempts my purse strings, as does a James Brown live album from the 1980s, and Supertramp’s Greatest Hits.

I scan my eyes over the hypnotically monotonous shelving, searching for anything unusual or that I have wanted for a while. I spy Roger Water’s The Wall Live In Berlin,  haphazardly jammed at the back of one of the stands near the cash register. Recorded way back in 1990, the live album features the likes of Van Morrison, Sinead O’Conner and, erm, Cyndi Lauper, dueting with the ex-Pink Floyd singer.

Picking up on the slight interest I show, the manageress slots the The Wall into the shop’s stereo and cranks it up to 11. The opening chords of In The Flesh ring out, and a biro on top of the old speakers near the till rattles as Water’s aged voice eventually  croons, “So you thought you might like to go to the show”,  the infamous first lines of that infamous album.  I listen to the track,  reminiscent of that spine-tingling night at Live 8, and, light of its 40Y (£3.64) price tag, can’t say no.

We pay up, and wander back to the balcony of our hotel, where we listen to the album, as the sun sets over the quaint river town.

Purchase:

Roger Waters – The Wall Live In Berlin – £3.64 [Tracklisting]

Total Purchases:

Armand Van Helden – Ghetto Blaster – £1 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli 1 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.48 [Tracklisting]

Club Azuli Part 2 – Mixed By Dave Piccioni – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

Chemical Brothers, The: Brothers Gonna Work It Out – £2.77 [Tracklisting]

Defected In The House – Mixed By Copyright – £0.79 [Tracklisting]

DJ Hardy Heller – Mix In Motion – £1  [Tracklisting]

DJ Shadow – The New Collection – £2.38

Elektrik 02 – Mixed By King Unique & Nubreed – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Fabric 25 – Mixed By Carl Craig – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Fabric 26 – Mixed By Global Communication – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Le Le – Breakfast 12″ – £8.24 [Tracklisting]

Moby – Last Night – £0.59 [Tracklisting]

Roger Waters – The Wall Live In Berlin – £3.64 [Tracklisting]

Santos – Camels 12″ – £1.18 [Tracklisting]

Samim: Flow – £1.98 [Tracklisting]

Underworld – Cowgirl (Remixes) 12″ – £1.18 [Tracklisting]

Underworld – Underneath The Radar 12″ – £8.91 [Tracklisting]

Total Spend: £36.68

Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” has inspired a lot of covers. After The Show has compiled 8 different versions of the song, starting with the original:

Cyndi Lauper:

Miley Cyrus:

The Killers:

Ben Gibbard:

Greg Laswell:

The Ordinary Boys:

Robots in Disguise:

Emily Deschanel on Fox’s Bones:

“Show me a smile then,
Don’t be unhappy, can’t remember
When I last saw you laughing”
(TRUE COLORS – Cyndi Lauper)

Wednesday night was my third MTVU Woodie Awards show at Roseland Ballroom and one of the most fun! We had a perfect spot near the artist lounge, enjoying a DJ set by Diplo and catching performances by Death Cab for Cutie, Passion Pit, Matt & Kim, The Dead Weather and more.

There was an interesting array of presenters including a ranting Zooey Deschanel, legendary Cyndi Lauper and Leighton Meester, Mary Louise Parker, 3OH!3 dressed like Lady Gaga, will.i.am in a snuggie, a drunk? Pete Wentz, and Janelle Monae channeling a robotic Grace Jones.

Friendly Fires post-Ninjasonik derailed interview

The day before the awards show we chatted with Friendly Fires at their Fred Perry party at SPiN NYC and they mentioned hoping that they didn’t get Kanye’d at the show. Well that didn’t exactly happen, but they DID get Ninjasonik‘d during their interview with Matt Pinfield which was totally derailed. Hilarious! Check out our pictures below and keep a look out for the broadcast of the show. Until then enjoy this video I snapped of the epic set by Dead Weather!

Dead Weather at the MTV Woodie Awards Originally uploaded by TLC Blog

More pictures can be seen HERE.

MP3: Matt & Kim – Daylight (Troublemaker Remix feat. De La Soul) or zShare
MP3: The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother (Diplo Remix) or zShare

83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2009 has a new route! For the first time ever, the parade route will bypass Broadway and travel down 7th and 6th Avenue’s to Macy’s in Herald Square.

Stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Enchantment returns this November as Macy’s magical procession of pomp and pageantry ushers in the holiday season at the 83rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. From the trumpeting of the time-honored phrase Let’s Have a Parade. to the first glimpse of one of Macy’s signature giant helium balloons, the march of whimsy will delight more than 3.5 million spectators lining the streets of Manhattan and more than 50 million viewers nationwide. America’s Parade steps to the beat of its own drums on Thursday, November 26th at 9:00 AM bringing with it 8,000 participants including the nation’s best marching bands, jaw-dropping performance groups, cheerleaders, clowns, giant balloons, fanciful floats and the biggest star of them all, the one-and-only Santa Claus.

From a small band of Macy’s employees gathered in 1924 to commemorate the holiday season to a tradition that has delighted millions for generations, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is truly an icon of American popular culture. Changing with the times from a Parade of floats, zoo animals, clowns and bands that marched down a more than 5- mile route to a Parade filled with giant helium balloon characters, celebrities, and more; the Macy’s Parade this year will mark yet another milestone moment. Having marched down parts of Broadway for 82 years, the 2009 procession will be the first to bypass Broadway in the history of the Parade. Over the years, the Macy’s Parade route has changed five times as it traveled through Manhattan. From the initial Harlem step-off site in the mid 1920s to its current 77th Street starting line, the Parade route has evolved with the city.

The 2009 Macy’s Parade will begin at 77th Street and Central Park West, travel down to Columbus Circle where it will turn onto Central Park South. Once the Parade reaches 7th Avenue it will turn once more and march down 7th Avenue through Times Square to 42nd Street. At the famed intersection, it will turn east to 6th Avenue and begin its final march down the Avenue of the Americas to 34th Street, where it will turn towards Macy’s famed flagship and end at 7th Avenue marking a 2.65-mile march.

“This is a milestone year for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” said Robin Hall, executive producer of Macy’s National Events. “Dramatic changes in the mid-town landscape will divert us for the first time from the fabled Broadway route we have followed since our first Parade in 1924. However, our course will remain true and the Parade will continue to entertain millions as Spider-Man returns to the sky and the first new Santa Float in almost half a century makes its debut.”

The 83rd Annual Macy’s Parade will be an unparalleled crowd-pleasing spectacle that features 1,500 cheerleaders, dancers, singers and performers; 800 clowns; 15 giant character helium balloons; 35 novelty/ornament balloons, balloonheads and balloonicles; 10 marching bands; 24 floats; and a host of celebrity performers.

Rise of the Giants
The sky above the streets of Manhattan will be alive once more filled with colorful friends as the Parade’s signature giant helium character balloons soar on Thanksgiving morning. The line-up of giants features a who’s who of children’s classic characters from comic book superheroes to the stars of television, films and American pop culture. New arrivals to the Thanksgiving Day balloonfest are everyone’s favorite neighborhood super-hero™, the web slinger himself, Spider-Man®; the ever cute and cuddly Pillsbury Doughboy®; America’s favorite clown Ronald McDonald®; and the top mouse on deck, Sailor Mickey Mouse.

Making a vaunted return to the Parade to complete the 15 giant balloon line-up are some of the nation’s most favorite characters including Abby Cadabby, Buzz Lightyear, Dora the Explorer™, Flying Ace Snoopy, Horton, Kermit the Frog™, Pikachu™, Shrek®, Smurf, SpongeBob SquarePants™ and Supercute Hello Kitty®. These giant balloons are only one portion of the buoyant procession; the Macy’s Parade also boasts 35 novelty/ornament balloons and balloonicles, which can range in size from 12 to 25 feet tall and give the line of march a tiered perspective. The Macy’s Parade features a team of Balloonatics – balloon experts who create, maintain and inflate the Parade’s balloon line up. A fun bunch, the Parade Balloonatics are known to give lessons in balloon speak to spectators every year. Two very important facts should be known when referring to the Parade’s giant helium characters. One is that although the Parade’s signature balloons seem to float in the air, they are indeed balloons – not floats. The second and most important is that Macy’s does not blow up the balloons – that would be very disappointing to millions who would not get to see them fly on Parade day…that’s why they are inflated!

Floating Scenes of Wonder
Riding down the street on Thanksgiving Day will be the Parade’s magical lineup of floats that feature landscapes of fantasy. These moving stages transport millions of spectators on unexpected journeys. The new float line-up includes a salute to the heroes in our everyday lives on the Local Heroes Helping Everyday float; a magical land where friends come to life to play and dance on the There’s A Party in My City float, and the first new Santa’s Sleigh in more than 40 years.

The dazzling stages that ride down the streets of New York City each year take months of painstaking work by the skilled artisans of the Macy’s Parade Studio. The gifted Studio team design and build each float from the ground up. Wood, foam and other materials are the skeleton that gives life to this fleet of fantasy. In addition to the three new stages, 21 floats will make a return appearance to the line up this Thanksgiving.

The returning float roster includes 123 Sesame Street, Big Apple, Bridge To The Future, Bountiful Harvest Cornucopia, The Care Bears™ Winter Fun-derland, Castle of Dreams, Cele-bear-ate Hugs Worldwide, Doodlebug, Jolly Polly Pirate Ship, M&M’s® Chocolate Candies on Broadway, Marion-Carol Showboat, Musical Innovation Bigger Than Life, Pep Squad, Shine On, The Smurfs™, Snoopy’s Doghouse, Spirit of Liberty, Tom Turkey, The True Spirit of Thanksgiving, Winter Wonderland in Central Park and Woodland Family Gathering. In addition, the famed Speed Racer Mach 5 will be making a special appearance in the line of march this year.

Drum Roll Please
Strike up the band and pump up the volume, as the Parade’s signature marching bands hit the perfect rhythm this Thanksgiving. The musical heartbeat of the Parade, the marching bands and students representing their home states in this year’s holiday spectacular are the nation’s highest caliber musical and marching talents. Ready to step to the beat are Adair County High School from Columbia, Kentucky; Frank W. Ballou Senior High School from Washington, DC; Choctawhatchee High School from Fort Walton Beach, FL; Franklin Regional High School from Murrysville, PA; Harrison High School from Kennesaw, GA; Morgantown High School from Morgantown, WV; Pickerington Central High School from Pickerington, OH; Pittsburg High School from Pittsburg, CA; Towson University from Towson, MD; and Macy’s Great American Marching Band featuring students from all fifty states.

Taking Center Stage
Adding pomp, cheer, spins, flips and dips to the holiday revelry are some of the nation’s best performance groups. From the cheerleaders to a one-of-a kind group of peddlers, the Parade features a host of unique performers. Set to wow the crowds are performers from the Big Apple Circus, Chinese American Community Center Folk Dance Troupe, Mike Miller Dance Team, NETSational Seniors & NETS Kids Dance Team, The Purple Peddlers, Varsity Spirit, Spirit of Long Island Mounted Drill Team, Stagedoor Manor, and USA Jump Rope.

Stars on 34th Street
Celebrating the start of the holiday season will be performers from stage, screen and music riding down the streets of New York City to Macy’s famed home on 34th Street. The stars joining the line-up include Bello, Grandma and the cast of the Big Apple Circus, Andrea Bocelli, Boys Like Girls, Alan Cumming, Billy Currington, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba!, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, Gloria Gaynor, Sarah Hughes, Kermit the Frog and Tiffany Thornton, Jane Krakowski, Cyndi Lauper, Ziggy Marley with Judah Marley, Katharine McPhee, Miss America 2009 – Katie Stam, the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Mitchel Musso, Keke Palmer, The Pizzarelli Quartet, Jay Sean and Carly Simon.

Nationwide Star
From coast to coast, Americans will gather around the television to share in the magic of the Parade via the national broadcast on NBC-TV. One of the nation’s most viewed events, NBC’s Emmy® Award winning telecast of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be hosted by TODAY’s Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera and Al Roker. The telecast will air from 9:00 AM to 12 Noon in each of the four time zones in the continental United States. Star power on Thanksgiving morning will include performances from some of the hottest Broadway shows including Billy Elliot, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, and Shrek. In addition, the world-famous Radio City Rockettes® will return to kick in the start of the holiday season.

A Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s finale features the biggest star of all, the one-and-only Santa Claus. As his sleigh comes into view, Macy’s will wish everyone “Happy Holidays” and a “Merry Christmas.”

Source and Photos: Macy’s

Enjoy!

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Make sure to check out our specials page for November’s NYC virtual office promotion.

With regards,
The Team at VH International Business Solutions, Inc.

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Jak co roku, w grudniowo-styczniowym numerze magazynu OUT opublikowana została gorąca setka osób związanych ze sceną LGBT. Wśród 100 postaci najbardziej zasłużonych dla środowisk lesbijsko-gejowskich Anno Domini 2009 znalazło się tylko 30 kobiet. Dziś zapraszam na pierwszą piątkę.

Na specjalne wyróżnienie zasłużyła sobie Wanda Sykes, uhonorowana w kategorii “komediant(ka) roku”. Oprócz tego, że gra dość wywrotową rolę w serialu “The new adventures of old Christine” (rozwiedzionej, heteroseksualnej kobiety, która bierze ślub ze swoją najlepszą przyjaciółką tylko po to, by dostać “zieloną kartę”), to jeszcze w związku z kampanią na rzecz odrzucenia słynnej “8 poprawki” wyautowała się publicznie na jednym z wieców zwolenników małżeństw homoseksualnych.

W tym miesiącu zadebiutowała z  własnym talk show – “The Wanda Sykes show”. Wróżę sukces. I życzę sukcesu.

Kolejne wyróżnienie otrzymała Cyndi Lauper, ogłoszona “Sojusznikiem(czką) roku”. Uhonorowano ją za szeroko zakrojone działania na rzecz osób o orientacji homoseksualnej: koncerty charytatywne, wystąpienia, domaganie się uznania zbrodni na homoseksualistach za zbrodnie nienawiści, a wreszcie założenie fundacji True Colors.

W tym roku organizacja Lauper stworzyła True Colors Residence, dom dla bezdomnej homoseksualistów od 18 do 24 roku życia, którzy znaleźli się na ulicy z powodu swojej orientacji seksualnej. Młodzież może w Rezydencji zamieszkać i zacząć życie od nowa.

Swoje miejsce w pierwszej setce znalazła też Kelly McGillis, amerykańska aktorka znana chociażby z ról w “Oskarżonych” czy “Top gun”. Ostatnio można było podziwiać ją w “The L Word”, w którym grała panią pułkownik bojącą się wyjść z szafy.

Na uwagę zasługuje fakt, że McGillis, mimo 52 lat, dopiero w tym roku przyznała się do homoseksualnej orientacji. Wcześniej miała trzech mężów, a z ostatnim rozwiodła się w 2002 roku.

Jako ciekawostkę mogę przytoczyć zabawne odniesienie do Kelly McGillis w książce Stelli Duffy “Calendar Girl”. Otóż przedstawiona jest tam ona jako ideał urody. Lesbijski ideał urody, dodam. I przypominam, że książka została napisana w 1994 roku, czyli 15 lat przed coming outem McGillis, gdy w najlepsze trwało jej trzecie małżeństwo…

Tammy Baldwin jest polityczką. Demokratką. Jest nawet członkinią amerykańskiego kongresu. No i jest też lesbijką. Ujawnienie sięw przypadku Baldwin mogło skończyć się załamaniem kariery, ona jednak nie wahała się ani chwili. Co więcej, jako pierwsza wyautowana lesbijka w kongresie odważnie walczy o legalizację małżeństw homoseksualnych. OUT wyróżnił ją również za zdecydowany sprzeciw wobec inwazji Stanów Zjednoczonych na Irak, jeszcze za czasów prezydenta Busha.

Piątą kobietą na liście OUT jest w tym roku Sarah Waters. Cieszę się, że znalazła się na niej choćby dlatego, że zrobiono jej z tej okazji poniższe zdjęcie:

Ten rok literacki należał do Waters. Wydała nową powieść “The Little Stranger” (przetłumaczoną na polski jako “Ktoś we mnie”), została nominowana do nagrody Bookera i znalazła się wśród finalistów, a wreszcie poinformowała media, że powstaną kolejne dwa filmy na podstawie jej tekstów: “The Night Watch” (Pod osłoną nocy”) i “The Little Stranger” właśnie. Pięć wydanych książek i pięć obrazów na ich kanwie. Nieźle, pani Waters!

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Tak wygląda pierwsza wyróżniona piątka. Też nie możecie doczekać się następnej?

PS Wszystkie zdjęcia pochodzą z magazynu OUT, który jest raczej pismem dla mężczyzn

Besties Michele Weinberger and Romy White; image courtesy of infoplease.com

Tonight’s post is in honor of girlfriends. Here’s to the ladies who are supportive, give us perspective, and make us laugh. I intend to have some quality time with one of my close ladyfriends this weekend. Kristen and I are gonna boycott New Moon and catch a matinee showing of Precious instead.

So, when we think about Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” in conjunction with Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, the daffy blonde buddy comedy starring actresses who went to Harvard and Vassar, most people are probably imagining this scene.

Admittedly I find this scene, wherein the nerdy millionaire Sandy Frink (played by Alan Cumming) finally gets his high school crush Michele Weinberger (played by Lisa Kudrow) to dance with him at their ten-year reunion, to be silly and charming. And I also appreciate that Michelle won’t dance without her BFF and roomie Romy White (played by Mira Sorvino). But there’s a bit of heterosexual recouperation in this configuration. While the boy has to share the girl with another girl, he still gets the girl. If only Janeane Garofalo’s outcast Heather Mooney got to dance with them instead. She’s clearly my favorite character.

Man, I never thought I’d argue that a romantic assemblage that involved Alan Cumming resulted in heterosexual recouperation. The proudly bisexual actor seems to delight in queering everything around him. I am usually delighted as well.

Alan Cumming's cologne -- pun intended; image courtesy of mirror.co.uk

But I’m referring to this scene.

Apart from the obvious, at-times hilarious age disparity between the thirtysomething actors and the teenaged versions of their characters, I find this scene to be really sweet and moving. For me it captures how hard it is to be the weird girl and how sometimes having a like-minded ally is as essential as air or water. Also, I think it’s hella queer, even if lesbianism is something the girls claim to have ruled out (at least if they’re still single at 30). To review.

1. Rather than match their corsages with some dudes’ cumberbands, they chose to go as each other’s dates and have coordinated their outfits accordingly. In doing so, they are announcing themselves as a pair instead of as two high school girls who couldn’t get boys to take them to the prom.
2. Just as they served as each other’s date, I have no reason to believe that they didn’t make the outfits themselves. It is well-established that Romy and Michele make their own clothes, eventually opening their own boutique at the end of the movie (with, ugh, Sandy’s money).
3. Romy and Michelle are both dressed as Madonna. Romy is representing the Material Girl’s be-Gaultier‘ed Blonde Ambition period and Michelle staying true to her early Boy Toy heyday. Each girl is an individual, but complements the other.
4. By aligning themselves with the Material Girl, they are connecting themselves to girl fandom and gay iconography.
5. By dancing to Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time,” they link up with another 80s pop star with a memorable look, a notable girl fan base, and a big LGBTQI following.
6. And by accepting Michelle’s offer to dance after being stood up by her lunkhead crush Billy Christiansen, I think it’s pretty clear who Romy really loves.

That title could be a double entendre — while I really don’t think that American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert is afraid of actually being out, he is certainly a little tepid when it comes to Out magazine.

The gay publication featured Adam in their Out 100 this year — on the cover, no less, with the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Wanda Sykes — but a scathing editor’s letter revealed that Adam’s handlers did not want him to appear “too gay” in the photo spread and that the interviewer was given a similar instruction.

Before, it didn’t bother me that Adam was suckling breasts in Details — it’s all  a part of rock and roll, I said.

Now, it just seems like the very opposite of rock and roll. You’re letting your managers and handlers make all the calls, and while you can call yourself post-gay, you are still a role model to a lot of young gay men and women. And I just don’t think you should ever have to gloss over who you really are.

Don’t be afraid, Adam. There is nothing wrong with a gay pop star posing for a gay magazine. And you aren’t tricking anybody, so why even try to seek the approval of the closed-minded, who aren’t likely to support your career, anyway?

Out magazine has deemed Adam Lambert as one of the people of the year! Adam Lambert is on the December cover of Out magazine along with celebs like Wanda Sykes and Cyndi Lauper! Congrats Adam! Way to shine in the spotlight!

Wanda Sykes, Dan Choi and Cyndi Lauper look fabulous on the cover of Out Magazine’s 100 Honorees List of 2009, as Adam Lambert gets slammed in an open letter from Out’s editor. In one of the most public cases of gay-bashing this year, Out’s ed is peeved at Adam posing with naked girls in Details Magazine and also saying he has had oral sex with a girl when young.

This seemed to have irked the editor to write the very patronizing letter. If anything, the editor reinforces the unhealthy stereotype that it is the b*tchy nature of the gay community to devour and exploit the young. That stereotyping in this letter needs to be addressed I think! Gay bashing gay… is so ghetto dumb! Not smart at all. Wow! Harsh. The open letter follows:

Dear Adam,

I like you, I really do. Although I’d never watched American Idol, I became a fan this year thanks to your unapologetic flamboyance and sexual swagger. It was refreshing to see someone playing by his own rules among so many cookie-cutters. And although you narrowly lost to Kris Allen, you were the real winner for those of us who saw your success as a test of America’s growing tolerance. That’s why we’re proud to have you in this year’s Out 100, along with all the other men and women who don’t believe their sexuality should be a barrier to success. It’s unfortunate, therefore, that your record label and management don’t share the same view.

We’re curious whether you know that we made cover offers for you before American Idol was even halfway through its run. Apparently, Out was too gay, even for you. There was the issue of what it would do to your record sales, we were told. Imagine! A gay musician on the cover of a gay magazine. What might the parents think! It’s only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all — albeit with the caveat that we must avoid making you look “too gay.” (Is that a medical term? Just curious). Luckily, you seemed unaware that a similar caution was issued to our interviewer.

Perhaps we should have had you and Cyndi in a tongue lock. That would be radical. It’s odd, because this magazine has done covers with Pete Wentz and Lady Gaga — getting straight men and women to do Out is easy these days. It gives them cred. Getting gay stars like yourself is another matter. Much easier to stick you in Details, where your homosexuality can be neutralized by having you awkwardly grabbing a woman’s breast and saying, “Women are pretty.” So are kittens, Adam, but it doesn’t mean you have to make out with them. Imagine how much more radical it would have been to go down on a guy instead of that six-foot Barbie. We don’t think you would have a problem with that — why should you? — but your record label would, and letting them dictate the terms is the very opposite of rock ’n’ roll. And did you read the article? You would think your entire fan base was made up of women and heterosexual men, or “straight dudes” as the writer describes them, just so we can all be clear. No mention of your gay fans, which is kind of disappointing, don’t you think, given what your success represents?

We don’t want to sound ungrateful — you agreed to do our cover, and your interview is gracious and frank — but if the Out 100 has a purpose it’s to challenge the kind of apartheid that lays down one rule for gay mags and one for all others. We think you probably feel the same way — you even say as much — so we don’t mean to diminish your achievements this year. That’s why you’re in this issue. You’re a pioneer, an out gay pop idol at the start of his career. Someone has to be first, and we’re all counting on you not to mess this up. You have to find your own path and then others can follow. We just hope it’s a path that’s honest and true and that you choose to surround yourself with people who celebrate your individuality. The irony is that right now it would be easier to get Kris Allen to do a solo cover shoot for us. But only because he’s straight.

Aaron Hicklin, Editor in Chief

Editor-Dude perhaps needs to go easy on B-Glam. Don’t interview him, chomp his profile with mainstream, if you don’t let an interview subject be themselves! Where’s democracy in that?

Thank goodness Wanda Sykes, Cyndi Lauper and Dan Choi are so fab. That’s the saving grace of this magazine cover and issue.

~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood, California USA. 11.17.09~

Just in time for the upcoming Runaways biopic — directed by Floria Sigismondi and starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning — the Mattel toy company is unveiling its “Ladies of the ’80s” collection’s Joan Jett Barbie.

The set includes Joan Jett, Debbie Harry, and Cyndi Lauper in all their ’80s glory – Lauper in a poofy red dress, Jett rocking out with a guitar in all-black and sneakers, and Harry in a tight, shiny, hot pink mini-dress with mic stand in hand. The dolls are going to sell $34.99, and set for release in December.

Harmless nostalgia or upsetting appropriation of feminist icons by a most unfeminist icon?

Any guess as to the average age of doll buyer? Would the girl who LOVED JJ buy a Barbie of her as an adult? With no twinge of guilt?
I’m guessing any hesitation will be quickly overcome. Too optimistic?

“It’s fun to put in the odd moment of vocal insanity.”

I can’t say I’ve ever easily pinned down who Kate Miller-Heidke is. Her demeanour suggests coy, gentle lady of the house, ready to throw a tea party. Some video clips, like Can’t Shake It, reveal her as a Gwen Stefani hopeful, teetering towards hysteria with colour changing black head remover still in place. And when I speak with Kate I feel I could just as easily be sharing a pint with an old uni friend.

Despite her approachable down-to-earth friendliness, Kate has good reason to be a snooty cow. After winning multiple ARIAs, an APRA award, gaining international recognition and seeing her album Curiouser go platinum last month, Kate is about to embark on a tour with Ben Folds. Kate informs me that this entails, “singing the Regina Spektor part of You Don’t Know Me,” adding, “slightly shitting my pants about that.”

She needn’t be nervous though. It’s not the first time she has sung with a big wig. Kate also tells me, “last year we opened for Cyndi Lauper and I watched her perform from the side. I wiped a tear from my eye after she sang True Colors. Then she came over and said ‘hey Kate, do you wanna come up and sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with me?’ It was unforgettable.” Um, yeah! Singing with the great squinty one is a solid peak point!

Surely Kate is still in plateau mode, managing to keep herself (and her husband and bandmate, Keir Nuttall) busy working on a new album and a lot of “to-ing and fro-ing. We just got back from Nepal, where we did a gig for MTV Asia, to raise awareness about human trafficking over there.” Lady of the house, bonkers AND humanitarian?! Is this collection of personalities why her music has changed so much over the years? The last album certainly shares a bit more of her classical training, what with the crazy vocals and all. But it’s okay; Kate hasn’t lost the plot, clarifying, “I come from a folk music background and I think the first EP and Little Eve reflect that. Whereas Curiouser was much more about exploring the joys of expansive, experimental pop music… I think in the end a song has to come down to the lyrics and melody. But it’s kind of fun to put in the odd moment of vocal insanity.”

Since Kate is about to tour for the release of the single The Last Day on Earth, I thought I would ask who it is about (presumably not Didge from Neighbours) but I am told, “that song was initially inspired by a recurring dream about the apocalypse; it’s a love song during the apocalypse.” Quite the ominous tour then!

Author: Peter Rosewarne

Kate Miller-Heidke – Monster

From Playbill.com:

Out 100 2009

Out Magazine won’t be publishing its annual list of the “most interesting, influential and newsworthy LGBT people” of the year until Monday, but a leaked photo of its December/January cover has revealed that singer Adam Lambert and movie director Rob Marshall will be so honored. Meanwhile, the magazine’s website, which has been citing other Out 100 honorees, recently announced that playwright Tony Kushner also made the cut.

More inside!

The leaked photo, which can be seen here, features not only Lambert and Marshall, but Wanda Sykes, Cyndi Lauper and Lt. Dan Choi on the magazine cover and lists Neil Patrick Harris as also making the top 100.

Adam Lambert, a former musical theatre performer who had starred in the touring production of Wicked, shot to stardom on the eighth season on “American Idol,” placing second in the reality TV singing competition.  His debut album, “For Your Entertainment,” drops Nov. 23.

Rob Marshall got his start dancing on Broadway before moving on to choreographing and directing musicals, receiving six Tony nominations for his work in such shows as Kiss of the Spider Woman and Damn Yankees.  He gained further acclaim as director of the movie adaptation of Chicago, which went on to win six Academy Awards.  Marshall’s newest movie, a film version of the musical Nine, opens Dec. 18.

Out 100 2009

Cyndi Lauper is an amazing artist. Enjoy Lauper’s timeless music that knows no boundaries or borders in the world.

~Posted by Horiwood, Hollywood California USA. 11.14.09~

You with the sad eyes
Don’t be discouraged
Oh I realize
It’s hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that’s why I love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,
Don’t be unhappy, can’t remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And you’ve taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I’ll be there

And I’ll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that’s why I love you
So don’t be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow

Who?

Wyclef Jean, formerly of The Fugees, one of arguably the most important hip-hop musicians of the ’90s. Who’s arguing that? I am, damnit. Forget all of the amazing shit he did with Lauryn Hill and Pras for a second — The man made The Carnival. The Carnival is one of the best albums I have ever heard, and contains one of the five songs that made me love hip-hop over everything else, “Gone till November”. (Make sure when you listen to that, you get the album version, not the radio single.)

Anyway, besides The Carnival, The Ecleftic was an underrated album, The Carnival, Vol. II wasn’t awful and Welcome to Haiti Creole 101 put Haiti in the spotlight. I was a history major, and I dabbled in Haitian history from time to time and let me tell you something: Fuck George W. Bush about all that “Haiti is a failed state”, Haiti is an amazing country that got royally fucked by every white person on the entire planet. Literally. All of them. In fact, here’s some trivia nuggets that’ll tide you over.

• Haiti is the only country where a successful slave rebellion occurred. Ever. In the history of the world.
• Haiti was responsible for 2/3rds of France’s exports around the time when Napoleon came to power.
• Napoleon sent over 300,000 troops to Haiti after the rebellion kicked-off, which was one of the main reasons the Russians were able to defeat him (though there are plenty of other reasons)
• Napoleon sold some spare land he had when the Haitian revolt succeeded, because he was going to use that land to support Haiti’s agricultural production. That land? The Louisiana Purchase. AKA: Haiti made America what it is today.

Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion

There isn’t a ton to say here. It’s a mixtape, so it’s not going to get rave reviews from me. The name Toussaint St. Jean is a combo of his own name and Toussaint L’Overture, who was like the Martin Luther King combined with Ghandi combined with Jesus combined with Spider-Man of the Haitian revolution. When the French were trying to arrest him, he once said, “Your ship cannot hold a man like me.”

Bad. Ass.

HOWEVER, Wyclef has given us a few great little nuggets of greatness, especially enlisting the help of, that’s right, CYNDI LAUPER, to sing the chorus of “Slumdog Millionaire”. God knows I never thought I would type that sentence in my life. The song’s not bad either. I dig it, even though Lauper sounds like a chain-smoking, union dockworker. The whole album has a mix between island, laid back sound and gritty-ish street-life hip-hop. Interest dynamic if nothing else.

A lot of the album, like “The Streets Pronouce me Dead”, Wyclef voices his frustration that youngins have no idea who he is and continually confused him with Will.I.Am. I got no problem with that. He’s kind of like a rich man’s DMX, people are quick to forget how effing important that man is (although Wyclef did a better job of not turning himself into a compete joke like the Dark Man).

Listen, it ain’t great. But there’s enough worth listening to to make it worthy of a spin or two.

So Now What?

Use this small window of Wyclef relevancy to tell your friend’s little brothers and sisters to go out into the world and listen to The Carnival. Wyclef might not have it in him to make hit records anymore, but that doesn’t mean we should forget how boombastic The Carnival was.

I remember when I was in high school I used to have a crush on this girl, and every time I drove to pick her up I would blast “Mona Lisa” in the car. Now whenever I hear that song, I think of a 1995 green Volkswagon Jetta and this PYT I once knew. Besides that, I still can’t bring myself to skip “Gone till November” when it pops up on the shuffle. Can’t do it. It’s a masterpiece.

For serious, everyone take three or four minutes of your day today and go listen to “Gone till November”. You’ll be glad you did.

Wyclef Jean – Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion

1. From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion (Interlude) – N/A
2. Warrior’s Anthem – ★★★
3. The Streets Pronounce me Dead – ★★★
4. Slumdog Millionaire (feat. Cyndi Lauper) – ★★★
5. Every Now and Then (Interlude) – N/A
6. Walk Away -
7. More Bottles (feat. Timbaland) -
8. You Don’t Wanna go Outside – ★★★
9. Toussaint vs. Bishop -
10. The Struggle (Interlude) – N/A
11. We Made It – ★★★
12. Suicide Love (feat. Eve) – ★★★
13. Letter From the Pen -
14. Robotic Love – ★★★
15. Gansta Girl (feat. Lil Kim) – ★★★
16. Tell the Kids the Truth -
17. The Shottas – ★★★

Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion Total ★: 27
Toussaint St. Jean: From the Hut, to the Projects, to the Mansion ★ Ratio: 1.92