LGBTQ news and entertainment
Regular readers of The Randy Report know I’m a big fan of Christmas music in the house throughout the holiday season – so, it’s time! Continue reading “Christmas Music: Straight No Chaser ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’”
Bringing you 10 holiday songs for your uber-gay Christmas Day. All of these artists are proudly LGBTQ and celebrated for their artistry in their respective genres. 1. George Michael (back in his Wham! days) delivered unto us this now-required listening holiday pop gem, “Last Christmas,” in 1986.
2. Out country hunk Ty Herndon takes the iconic “O Come All Ye Faithful” into African rhythm territory here, and it totes works.
3. It doesn’t get any more camp than this: the first true bear band, Bearforce1, with their holiday mashup, “Christmas is here!”
4. Two-time Out Music Award winner Matt Zarley covered Mariah Carey’s “Miss You Most At Christmastime” to spectacular result as part of his ‘UnCOVERED’ cover song series.
5. Award-winning cabaret star Ann Hampton Callaway offers this uber-jazzy “Jingle Bells.”
6. Before winning an Emmy Award as an insane murderer on American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Darren Criss’ “Blaine” was singing and dancing the holiday classic “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in high style with out actor Chris Colfer’s “Kurt” on GLEE.
7. Tony Award winner Levi Kreis (Million Dollar Quartet) gives you a little bit gospel, a little bit rockabilly on his new cover of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”
8. Elton John released his “Step Into Christmas” in 1973 and it raced all the way to #1 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart that year.
9. Handsome out smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz shared this cover of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)” on his 1997 release, December Makes Me Feel This Way.
10. Bright Light Bright Light gifted us with this synth-pop version of the classic “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
The perfect recording for Christmas Eve. Years ago, when I was a struggling actor in NYC, my best friend Carlye discovered Mannheim Steamroller’s first holiday album, Christmas. Mannheim Steamroller’s founder, Chip Davis, had found the perfect formula of light, airy instrumental versions of favorite holiday songs. The first time Carlye played this for me, we were huddled up in our sweats about 10 pm on Christmas Eve. With only candles lit in our small one-bedroom apartment, and our version of “egg nog” – egg nog, amaretto, and a bit of vanilla bean ice cream – we sat quietly enjoying our inexpensive real Christmas tree as this played out in the shadows. The last-minute or so always leads me to imagine Santa and the elves working through the winter, getting ready for the big night. And as the toy piano and jingle bells play, the wind at the north pole whips up to send him out into the night. To this day, one of my favorite memories AND traditions, thanks to my BFF Carlye. Looking back at how little we thought we had, it’s amazing to know how much we really did. Happy Christmas everyone.
In full rotation in my house every Christmas season. What I love about Vanessa’s recordings is she reveals, alongside stunning vocals, her rich and artful musicianship. Her brilliant arranger/music director on her holiday albums, Rob Mathes, brings rich and rhythmic gospel flavor to these takes on “Do You Hear What I Hear” and “The Drummer Boy.” If you don’t have Vanessa Williams’ holiday albums, you’re missing out. Love, love, love.
Forever-young UK pop star LIMAHL offers his latest for the holidays, the romantic and sublime “One Wish For Christmas.” Continue reading “Christmas Music: Limahl ‘One Wish For Christmas’”
This clip is from a TV special Rosie O’Donnell hosted December 5, 1999, at Broadway’s Longacre Theater which also included Trisha Yearwood, Celine Dion, ‘NSYNC and Gloria Estefan. Porter’s holiday season is certainly merry and bright as he’s currently shooting season 3 of his hit series Pose, and will be co-hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest on December 31. Watch him wail below. Merry merry, folks.
Marissa Rosen & Marty Thomas release ‘The Award Winning Holiday Album’
The Randy Report: Congratulations on The Award Winning Holiday Album. You’re already ‘award-winning’ before being released! Most recording artists take their holiday albums straight on down the ‘music lane,’ but you specifically bring the comedy here. How did you come to that approach? Marty Thomas: All that we’ve had to keep us company during this pandemic is art, hope, and humor. The concept of this album has been an inside joke all year and Marissa and I finally figured out that it was a joke that might be funny to someone else too! The whole award show approach developed organically as we were curating the album. My boyfriend says I laugh at all of my own “dad jokes” more than the rest of the world. If that’s true, I guess I’m okay with that. TRR: The tracklist is an eclectic mix of holiday tunes. How did you choose the songs? MT: We definitely wanted to try and steer clear of the same 10 tracks every artist releases on their debut holiday album. We also wanted to represent our individual backgrounds and our love of cabaret and musical theater. We poured through so much music and put a lot of care into narrowing the setlist. It was very important for me to represent Marissa’s family and their celebration of Hanukkah as well as my celebration of Christmas. There really aren’t a lot of Hanukkah bops out there so I was determined to arrange a disco Hanukkah anthem to get the party started. I found a song by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, tailored it to fit Marissa’s strengths and it quickly became my favorite track on the album. Six of our besties from around the country all signed on to record remotely and I was able to create my dream arrangement of Dolly Parton’s “Hard Candy Christmas.” This album was incredibly joyful to create. TRR: You’ve been ‘Broadway best friends’ for so long. How does that rapport come into play when you’re creating something new? MT: Marissa is one of the hardest working, most creative people I know. I often have to “sell” her on my stupid ideas, but she is always open to putting in the work and creating. We can sort of read each other’s minds musically, and hilariously sound almost identical when singing backup vocals. We weren’t able to enlist any studio singers for the record because of the pandemic and recorded the entire thing in the corner of my studio apartment. All of the vocals you hear on the record are just the two of us. Our long history of working and singing together really came into play nicely. Also, it was just really nice to get to hang out together, like the good old days before Trump gummed up the works. 
TRR: After a lot of fun upbeat tunes, the final track on the album is “Hard Candy Christmas” from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The sentiment is a bit melancholy but definitely forward-looking. It feels like that was a conscious choice to end on? MT: That’s awesome to hear because that’s exactly what I was going for. I imagined it as a very welcomed zoom-call style catch up with our friends from around the country. I’ve always seen that song as a sad, yet still hopeful message. I wanted it to musically represent us comforting each other, supporting each other, and encouraging a bright future. Positivity and vulnerability are hot commodities these days. Marissa and I truly hope someone else out there can relate to the tune. TRR: This whole album could be a cabaret act in itself. Have you considered turning The Award Winning Holiday Album into a live performance? MT: ABSOLUTELY! What’s the point of waking up in the morning if the process can’t eventually be turned into a cabaret act!? Lol. I love creating old school albums, intended to be listened to, from beginning to end. My hope is to do a new holiday album and a holiday concert/party annually. If anything positive came from this window of time 2020 gave us, possibly it was the drive and the time to begin a new joyful journey with my best friend.
The Award Winning Holiday Album is available on all digital download/streaming sites now. You can follow Marty and Marissa on Instagram here. Take a listen to the terrific ‘finale’ for the album, “Hard Candy Christmas,” below.
‘Map daddy’ Steve Kornacki (screen capture)
• Axios: Donald Trump has told friends he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network, sources tell me. Some Trump advisers say Fox News enraged Trump by making an early call (seconded by AP) of a Joe Biden win in Arizona. “He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it” said a source.. • The Hill: Prosecutors in the case over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery earlier this year presented the court on Thursday with racist text messages and social media posts from one of the two white men who fatally shot him while he was jogging in Brunswick, Ga. • KDKA: A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Friday rejected an effort to block about 9,300 ballots that arrived after Election Day. The three-judge panel, led by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Brooks Smith, ruled “that the lawfully cast vote of every citizen must count.” The ruling involves the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to accept mail-in ballots that arrived by Friday, Nov. 6, three days after the close of polling places.
BREAKING NEWS: A federal appeals court in Pennsylvania has rejected a Republican-led effort to block about 9,300 ballots that were postmarked by Nov. 3, but arrived after Election Day. https://t.co/0uxGfmTo0l
— KDKA (@KDKA) November 13, 2020
Mariah Carey’s holiday hit single, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” finally hit the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 23 years after its initial release. The song was not officially released as a single back in 1994 which meant it wasn’t technically eligible for the Hot 100 chart. But thanks to millions of streams on Spotify, the track became Carey’s 28th Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. And now, after a journey 25 years in the making, Mariah Carey’s 1994 carol “All I Want for Christmas Is You” crowns the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. Factoid: the song is only the fifth-holiday song to hit the Top Ten, and the only one to have the word “Christmas” in its title. Much of the track’s chart lift came from millions of streams on Spotify. The song isn’t one of my top holiday favorites, but there’s no denying how infectious the Christmas ditty is.
An act of kindness, and the magic of movies at Christmastime. This comment on the YouTube video for Josh Groban’s “Believe” from Polar Express has received over 1,000 responses:
I remember when i didnt like christmas bcuz i was a little black boy who saw everyone else with a “complete” family, but i only had my brother and my ma. They always seemed happy, while my ma seemed stressed all the time. so i kept to myself, hoping that at least someone seen that i was hurt especially on a holiday.
But no one did. I started to think that wen people say “christmas bring ppl together” was shitty at only the age of 6.
But an old white lady at school saw my hurt, and made my time at the school fun. She gave me things, taught me things, played with me (oh, is it appropriate to say its tough to literally have u and ur brother as the only blacks at that school?), and treated me with more respect than anyone at the school.
One day, she called me out of class, and to be honest i thought she was mad at me, but she took me out to see this movie (Polar Express). I was so happy, it was jus like yesterday.
Maybe bcuz i was a innocent little kid then, but i felt like she was family. I never knew someone like her would make that hate for christmas turn into pure love and respect.
I never seen her since, but Im 17 now, 11 yrs later, and one of the best christmas gifts ever is to see her again and thank her for turning that hate into straight happiness all year round. Not only for Christmas. She had a big impact on who i am today.
Idk whos reading this, but i hope the rest of your years here on earth is great. Happy holidays!
“You have everything you need, if you just believe.”