Tag: out musicians

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News Round-Up: June 15, 2020

Some news items you might have missed: • SCOTUS: I’m still on cloud nine over today’s landmark ruling by the Supreme Court that current civil rights laws prohibit discriminating against LGBTQ people in the workplace. Read my post on the momentous ruling here. • Instinct Magazine: The Episcopal Diocese of Missouri now officially has a gay Black man in charge. The Rt. Rev. Deon K. Johnson, who is not only Black and gay but also a married Barbadian-immigrant and father of two children, was elected in a landslide of 115 votes out of 164. As the 11th bishop for the diocese, he represents 42 parishes in the Eastern half of Missouri. • Quibi: The new streaming app premieres its new program from ’60 Minutes’ titled, ‘60 in 6.’ Stories include features, investigations, and profiles in 6-10 minutes. In this episode, Wesley Lowery takes you to Minneapolis to go in-depth, in minutes. Download Quibi here and try it out for two weeks for free.

• Out Music: Heather Mae and Crys Matthews’s new single “6 Feet Apart” showcases the phenomenal talent of the award-winning Mae (who has been described as Stevie Nicks meets Sara Bareilles) and the unique fusion of Matthews’ Americana folk/jazz sound. In addition to the new single, the duo has announced their LGBTQ+ virtual Pride concert tour, “The Singing OUT Tour,” with dates scheduled throughout the month of June. The concerts will feature not only music but games and giveaways as well.

• CBS News: Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on policing Tuesday that aims to accomplish three things — to incentivize police departments to use modernized best practices, to increase information sharing by tracking people who have “excessive” use-of-force complaints, and to address mental health, homelessness, and addiction. • Philadelphia Inquirer: A Philadelphia court supervisor has been fired after a video surfaced on Monday of him tearing down Black Lives Matter protest signs made by children at a South Philadelphia park.

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Out Music: Tom Goss ‘Regretting’

Tom Goss in ‘Regretting’ (courtesy photo)
Out singer/songwriter Tom Goss has released the emotional single/music video for “Regretting” from his seventh studio album. Territories. On the track, neon bass reverberates through “Regretting” as a dreamy chant takes hold. After walking in on his husband with another lover, Tom and his husband decided to open their marriage, resulting in Tom falling in love with another man, to his husband’s dismay. The next music video in the story, “Regretting” comes full circle with Tom expressing his boundless love for his husband. The music video marks Tom’s third collaboration with Mean Girls/Looking actor Daniel Franzese. Franzese previously co-starred with Goss in the music videos for “La Bufadora” and “Quebec.” The 15-track concept album, produced by Ian Carmichael (Lamb, The Orchids, One Dove) candidly delves into the complications of love.

  “At the time, I was going through a really rough patch with my husband,” Goss shared with Gay Times. “I was writing a lot about the struggles we were having and I realized that I wasn’t focusing enough on why I was still in the relationship. I wasn’t honoring what we had built, what was still beautiful, and the potential future I hoped we still would have.” “‘Regretting’ is ultimately about not regretting. Regardless of how hard things have been, or may be in the future, I won’t live in regret. I will work to remember the wonderful, the beautiful, and the inspirational, regardless of how hard it may be from moment to moment.” To celebrate Pride Month, Tom is hosting a live stream show every Friday at 8PM PT for the month of June on the GROWLr dating app. The live stream events, titled Friday Night Live, feature the crooner serenading fans with original songs as well as covers. Goss has earned critical acclaim for Territories, which explores new emotional and musical terrain for the guitar-toting troubadour including a deep dive into electronic synth-pop sonic landscapes. Throughout the past year-and-a-half of world exploration and self-discovery, Goss found himself in a place that was not his own. Believing that we are more susceptible to emotional growth when we are pushed out of our comfort zone, Territories abandons any facade of safety and dives into the unknown.

(scene from ‘Regretting’)
Last year, I chatted with Goss at length about the story behind the new album, the new musical direction of the collection, and much more. Hit the play button below to hear Tom Goss share about his new album, Territories.

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News Round-Up: June 5, 2020

(image via sadanduseless)
Some news items you might have missed: • Summer Fashion: So, I don’t know if it’s a ‘thing’ but someone is apparently trying to make lace shorts for guys (above) a ‘thing’ this summer? #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm • Washington Blade: In yet another attack by the Trump administration to enable legal discrimination against LGBTQ people, the Justice Department is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow religious-affiliated adoption agencies that receive tax-payer dollars to refuse child placement into LGBTQ homes. • Out Music: 80s pop icon Limahl (“Neverending Story”, “Only For Love”, “Too Shy” with Kajagoogoo) returns with “Still in Love,” his first foray into the mainstream in over eight years. American Songwriter calls the new track “a soulful and sultry pop ode to the darker side of love, that recurrent backfire of amore, and finding oneself after being crushed by it.”

• Buzzfeed News: A police officer in Salem, Oregon, was caught on video warning a group of white supremacists to seek shelter before the police were planning to tear gas the area and  avoid being arrested for violating a curfew so officers “don’t look like [they’re] playing favorites.” • Newsweek: Donald Trump finally got his wall/fence. But instead of being a barrier on the U.S. southern border, it’s a barricade around the White House. I’m sure you can parse the irony on your own. • The Advocate: Police fired bang shots at a queer bar owner in North Carolina after he’d set up a first aid station in his parking lot to treat peaceful protestors who had gotten injured.

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News Round-Up: June 4, 2020

DJ Thiago Oliveira (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: DJ Thiago Oliveira (above) getting in some straight-up social distancing at the beach in Spain. Follow the ‘Daddy Wolf’ on Instagram here. • NBC News: The Trump administration submitted a brief to the Supreme Court on Wednesday arguing that a taxpayer-funded organization should be able to refuse to work with same-sex couples and others whom the group considers to be in violation of its religious beliefs. • Out Music: Trey Pearson, who first found fame fronting the Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, channels LGBTQ Pride’s history of protest in his latest music video, “1984.” Pearson, who came out as gay four years ago, called the song “a love letter sent to us from the LGBT community of the ’80s” to inspire people in a time of crisis and uprising.

• Washington Post: Donald Trump’s former chief of staff John F. Kelly defended former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Thursday over Mattis’s criticism of the president’s handling of nationwide protests. Kelly also dismissed Trump’s assertion that the president fired the retired general in 2018. “The president did not fire him. He did not ask for his resignation. The president has clearly forgotten how it actually happened or is confused.” • Out: Following fellow gay dating app Grindr, Jack’d and Scruff have announced they will disable their ethnicity filters in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. “We stand in solidarity with the fight against systemic racism and historic oppression of the Black community.” • Lincoln Project: The conservative anti-Trump PAC drops this new campaign ad writing, “Trump is no longer hiding that he’s a brazen authoritarian, so desiring of control and power that he’s willing to turn our once peaceful cities into #warzones.

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Out Music: Mike½Nelson ‘Crazy World’

Mike ½ Nelson (via Instagram)
Out recording artist Mike½Nelson ponders the plight of the planet in “Crazy World,” the first single and music video release from his new visual EP, All Are Welcome. The pop-noir mid-tempo brims with an uneasy sense of foreboding meant to convey to listeners that it is ok to hit rock bottom. Mike½Nelson’s vocals sit right in the pocket with an edge that cuts like a knife through the hooky chorus. “There have been moments in my life when I couldn’t take it anymore and I had to surrender to a higher truth,” admits the artist. “I mean, look at how things are today. Why shouldn’t we feel despair and rage? The f*cking Nazis and KKK are back. They’re being called ‘very good people.’ The unacceptable has become acceptable. We should feel anguish.” “I wrote ‘Crazy World’ when I was trying to emotionally detach myself from a relationship that wasn’t working anymore,” adds the Iowa native from his NYC home. “My ex was in the throws of an intense opiate addiction, and it was a very volatile experience. At the same time, Sandy Hook, the mass shooting of an elementary school, was in the news and I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to scream my grief out the window.” In the song and its music video, directed by Max Richardson of HBO’s Euphoria, Mike½Nelson encourages listeners experiencing pain to surrender to it. Especially men, he says. “Society teaches men to suppress their emotions, but if we were given space to feel the pain inside, maybe we would have more music videos and less mass shootings.”

As a gay young man, he admits to feelings of isolation through much of high school, but says he eventually found his niche within the artsy crowd. They would wear outrageous costumes and put on theatrical shows in their town square. It was at that time that he started writing music and continued through his years at the University of Iowa, where he also discovered his first gay bar, a tiny watering hole called “The Alley Cat.” After college, he made the journey to NYC where he found his new tribe – the underground scene populated by drug addicts, prostitutes and scoundrels. “They were nice to me when nobody else would be,” he remembers. “And I loved the drama that they brought. They were fun and I have a soft spot for people who struggle because I have struggled myself.” He watched as some would eventually evolve into healthier occupations. Others found their bliss going even deeper into the underground. “If someone is lucky enough to find happiness in this life, then go for it, baby. I really can’t judge. It’s a big tent. All are welcome.” The songs for All Are Welcome view the world through a prism of danger, grit and fun as they explore topics of resilience, hope, and heroism. “One thing that gives me hope for the world is witnessing the courage and devotion of the frontline heroes and hospital workers today,” Mike½Nelson adds. “To get up every day and fight to help others when you’re putting your own life on the line. That’s a strong heart, baby.” Mike½Nelson’s “Crazy World,” is available now on Apple iTunes, Amazon, and all other major e-music retailers. His upcoming EP, All Are Welcome, drops June 12. Follow Mike½Nelson on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

(photo credit: Wiafe)

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Podcast: NYC Pride’s Big 2020 Plans, Uganda, Albania, Daytime Emmys, PrEP

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • Prosecutors in Uganda have dropped charges against 19 LGBTQ people held in jail for 49 days • A ‘once every two months’ injectable version of PrEP has shown very positive results in clinical trials • Albania bans so-called ‘conversion therapy’ • NYC Pride has announced a huge 50th anniversary Pride television special featuring Billy Porter, Dan Levy, Janelle Monae, and more. • The 2020 Daytime Emmy nominations are out with big love for LGBTQ actors and shows Here’s the link to my recent interview with the Emmy Award-winning creators of the Amazon series ‘After Forever’ • Out singer/songwriter Clinton John’s new single “Cry” taps into those frustrating times when you realize you’re really not over that lost love. Link to download “Cry.” All that in this episode of The Randy Report.

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New Music: All Singer/Songwriter Clinton John Wants To Do Is “Cry”

Out recording artist Clinton John drops the music video for his single "Cry"

Clinton John (photo: Acacia Evans)
Out singer/songwriter Clinton John’s synth-pop single, “Cry,” offers his take on the internal push/pull of letting go of a past relationship. The downtempo earworm pairs top-shelf, pure-pop production with candid lyrics that capture the realization you haven’t moved on from a former love as much as you’d hoped. I recently chatted with the handsome Nashville-based artist about the single and a few other things. The Randy Report: Congrats on the new single. What inspired the track? Clinton John: “Cry” came about from the classic struggle of trying to get over someone. I had tried everything that I thought would help. I partied, hooked up with other people, basically used anything to distract myself from the feeling. After months passed, I saw that person again and all the emotion came flooding back and I was so frustrated that I had made no progress in getting over them. It was that type of frustration that makes you so mad you just want to cry and scream. And that is when I wrote the song.
Clinton John (photo: Acacia Evans)
TRR: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? CJ: The best advice I have ever been given is “no one cares what you do.” It doesn’t really sound like great advice per se, but as an artist creating music it’s so easy to get in your head and the worry that people might not liking what you create holds you back from making something authentic or special. Also, as coming out as a gay artist I had years of built-up fear of what people thought of me that giving myself the freedom to just live authentically and care about what people think. TRR: What’s next on the musical horizon? CJ: I have a collaboration with another LGBT artist named Stasney Mav, a song called “SOLO.” After that, I have another single lined up for the beginning of June, and many other tracks in the works to release throughout the rest of the year! Check out Clinton John’s “Cry” below. The single is available on digital download sites here, and you can follow him on Instagram here.

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Out Music: Project Moses “He’s Not Staying”

Project Moses (right) in his music video ‘He’s Not Staying’
The new single, “He’s Not Staying,” from out artist Project Moses, explores the quiet turmoil of living with mental illness. The music video for the song, directed by Zach Adam (who also wrote and produced the track) was shot in on Fire Island during the quiet, cold weeks of November. Somber and reclusive, Project Moses says it was “the perfect setting for the dark subject matter of this single.” The story-telling for the video is artful and delicate as the artist reflects on the pensive journey of the song. Project Moses’s evocative vocals are clear and sure, never veering to hyper-emotional, letting the listener take the ride for themselves. Project Moses admits he was drawn to the song but had to do some self-exploration to understand his connection. “It took me a while to recognize what was going on in my head and the reason why none of my relationships with friends, family, or lovers lasted,” explains the artist. Over the years, he came to grips with the rejection he felt from his family after revealing he was gay. “For whatever reason, the feeling of abandonment cut deep into my heart,” he adds. “While my family and I are in a much better place today, the scars from our past remain.”
Project Moses (promotional photo)
Scars aside, playing the track for his mom proved to be a cathartic moment for both mother and son. “My mom cried when I played the song for her,” shares the handsome artist from his home in New York City. “It was the first time she realized how close I came to ending it all.” But just as the song evolves from a gloomy, melancholy sound to a more progressive, light at the end of the tunnel vibe, Project Moses says that he too has “transformed.” “He’s Not Staying,” from the upcoming album Better Man, is available now on all digital download sites. Check out the moody, wistful music video below. Follow Project Moses on Instagram here.

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Out Music: Drake Jensen Wants To ‘Burn The Floor’

Drake Jensen (center) in his music video ‘Burn the Floor’ (screen capture)
Out country artist Drake Jensen’s latest music video, “Burn The Floor,” is an upbeat, infectious, country/dance confection. “‘Burn the Floor’ was the result of country music imagined in a different way,” Jensen shared with The Advocate. “I really feel this is my strongest offering to date, and I created it with the ideology that I have had for years since starting my musical journey: that country music is for everyone. As long as there was a voice to send the message.” The music video for the new single, filmed at the Kinki Lounge & Kitchen in Ottawa, Canada, is a celebration of LGBTQ diversity featuring a wide-ranging spectrum of community members all celebrating as one. In a statement, Jensen said the inclusivity of the video was part of the message:

“There has been a lot of divisiveness within our community as we tend to sub-categorize each other. My answer to this was to create a song that would be completely inclusive and then invite the gay community of Canada’s capital to film the video. The result was an outburst of fun with so many different members of our community, all of who help make up our beautiful rainbow, where we all party the night away together as one.”

Check out my podcast interview with Jensen and fellow out Canadian country artist Patrick Masse chatting on their duet, “Go Your Own Way,” an empowering anti-bullying anthem for young LGBTQs.

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Out Music: Dance Loud Asks ‘Why Lie?’

L-R Desereé Fawn Zimmerman, Kristin Sanchez
Chicago-based electronic duo Dance Loud (Desereé Fawn Zimmerman & Kristin Sanchez) release their hypnotic new music video, “Why Lie,” asking the eternal question: why do some people choose dishonesty in relationships? The chill soundscape seems more like a ‘journey’ than an episode as the ebb and flow of the moody downtempo track feels soothing and tranquil. I especially like the extended rhythmic passage at the end. The Chicago Tribune raved about the real-life couple’s live performances: “The tandem’s live performances are a joy to behold. Sanchez’s beats build and build on the dance floor like any good house music set, then Zimmerman joins the production, adding layers of intricate drum rhythms that both complement and contrast with the synths.” I covered the duo’s euphoric single “Hollow” back in March. Both tracks are from their upcoming indie album The Moment due out June 5. You can Instagram the duo here.