Merry Christmas From the LGBT Comedians of Twitter
The 23 funniest queer Christmas messages in 140 characters or less.
www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/12/25/merry-christmas-lgbt-comedians-twitter
Daily Archives: December 25, 2016
Pop superstar George Michael dies at age 53
Pop superstar George Michael dies at age 53
George Michael has died at the age of 53, his publicist has confirmed.
The out singer, who launched his career as the front man of ’80s duo Wham! and went on to a successful solo career, is said to have died “peacefully at home.”
Michael came out as gay publicly in 1998. “This is as good of a time as any,” he told CNN‘s Jim Moret at the time. “I want to say that I have no problem with people knowing that I’m in a relationship with a man right now. I have not been in a relationship with a woman for almost 10 years.”
He was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, and over the course of his four-decade strong career sold upwards of 100 million albums.
Related: Inspiration alert: David Bowie spent his final year creating magic
It’s a sad day for music, amidst a year that has seen one beloved musician after another give their final encore.
In a statement, the star’s publicist said: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.
“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”
Michael, who was HIV+, struggled with some highly publicized health problems over the years, including addiction.
Earlier this month, it was reported that he was teaming up to create a new album with producer and songwriter Naughty Boy.
Tributes to the singer are sure to be shared in the coming days, so in the mean time we’ll leave you with this:
George Michael Dead at 53
George Michael Dead at 53
2016 has taken another huge icon. Singer George Michael “passed away peacefully at home” at the age of 53, according to his publicist.
Thames Valley Police said South Central Ambulance Service attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire at 13:42 GMT.
Police say there were no suspicious circumstances.
Michael, who was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in north London, sold more than 100m albums throughout a career spanning almost four decades.
Earlier this month it was announced that producer and songwriter Naughty Boy was working with Michael on a new album.
In a statement, the star’s publicist said: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.
“The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”
A gigantic loss for so many. RIP.
The post George Michael Dead at 53 appeared first on Towleroad.
Dallas Coulter, designer to drag superstars, has us drooling for glam xmas gowns
Dallas Coulter, designer to drag superstars, has us drooling for glam xmas gowns
Dallas Coulter, the Designer Supreme to the drag glitterati, has been a busy little elf this season with her latest flurry of gowns for the Who’s-Who list of drag in America. From the biggest names to Drag Race alumni to the underground nightlife impresarios from coast to coast, wearing Coulter has become the glamour gold standard.
Take a look at some of our favorite looks that you could have for Christmas, give or take 5k:
Courtney Act
Courtey Act
Naomi Smalls
Pandora Boxx
Pandora Boxx
Detox, with dear friends Marc Jacobs and Michelle Visage
Alaska Thunderf*ck 5000
Donald Trump Hijacked My Holidays
Donald Trump Hijacked My Holidays
A black gay man reflects on how racism and homophobia prevented him from going home to North Carolina for Christmas.
www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/12/25/donald-trump-hijacked-my-holidays
Inspiration alert: David Bowie spent his final year creating magic
Inspiration alert: David Bowie spent his final year creating magic
As the one-year anniversary of David Bowie’s death from cancer approaches, Hollywood Reporter reached out to various collaborators on the pop icon’s off-Broadway show “Lazarus” and final two albums, gathering accounts of the artist’s final days, which he spent honing his last releases in a flurry of creative energy.
“He was excited to see what other people would do with his work,” says Henry Hey, the musical director of the show. He met Bowie in 2012 after legendary producer Tony Visconti asked if he’d be available for a “hush-hush” project, which became 2013’s The Next Day, Bowie’s penultimate album.
“It was almost like a ball game with him,” Hey says. “He would throw the ball up in the air and see what you were going to do with it.”
Related: Elton John Was Angry For 40 Years Because David Bowie Called Him A Token Queen
“Years ago, he had come to see my band,” says jazz composer Maria Schneider, who helped arrange several songs on Blackstar, Bowie’s final album. “I didn’t see him, but everyone else did.”
“He knew I was very scared [to meet him]. He just encouraged me. He said, ‘If the plane goes down, no one gets hurt. Everyone walks away.’ He just laughed.”
While working on the instrumental backdrop for “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime),” saxophonist Donna McCaslin remembers it took about six hours in the studio to finally get a version that everybody liked.
“At that point, David put down a scratch vocal,” he says. “What was amazing about that was, I don’t remember him doing any vocal warmup. He sang a few notes, like 30 seconds for a mic check, and then did a scratch vocal from start to finish. That was a tour de force vocally… ‘Sue was almost nine minutes long!”
(That scratch vocal can be heard on Bowie’s 2014 career retrospective, Nothing Has Changed.)
“He never let [the cancer diagnosis] define him,” Hey says, who was told “necessarily” about the illness. “Even when he was not feeling 100 percent, he kept a beautiful humanity about him.”
Director Ivo van Hove learned about the cancer the day before launching a workshop of Lazarus, during which he’d expected to finally meet Bowie.
“But then he wasn’t there,” says van Hove. “He was on Skype, and he was clearly sick. Then he told us. I was blown away. I don’t think I uttered two words because it was totally unexpected. But did it influence the work? No. Because I felt from the first time I met him that this project was for him very urgent and very important. Of course, it then became even more urgent to tell that story, to finish it, hopefully with him alive.”
“Whatever he was going through healthwise had no effect on his performance,” McCaslin says. “He was totally on point from start to finish. I was struck by how, when he walked into the studio, he was really just present, enjoying the process. After that first rehearsal, he sent me the funniest email. He said, ‘I haven’t had this much fun since my heart attack.’”
“No one from the cast knew anything because he only came when he was feeling well,” says van Hove. “But I could see, when he looked at me, in his eyes there was really a troubled man, anxious about dying and also about leaving a family behind. You could see a heartbroken man in his eyes, if you knew it.”
Related: RIP David Bowie — Here’s His Isolated Vocal Track From “Under Pressure” With Freddie Mercury
McCaslin also hints that there is at least one brilliant song from the Blackstar sessions that has yet to see the light of day.
Tony Visconti reportedly told her that Bowie had FaceTimed him a week before his death, telling him that he was highly keen on creating one last album and sending along demos of five new songs.
Related: David Bowie’s Final Album Was A Parting Gift To Fans
Hey hasn’t heard these demos and can’t confirm they even exist, but he wouldn’t be surprised if there was still plenty of material to hear.
“David was always creating,” he says. He says that following almost a decade with four years of constant creativity was, in the end, “a pretty good trade-off.”
Watch the video for David Bowie’s “Lazarus” here:
These singing Oxford lads are spreading all the cheer
These singing Oxford lads are spreading all the cheer
Oxford’s premier all-male a cappella group, Out of the Blue, is doing their part to help spread some much-needed cheer this holiday season. The lively lads have just released the music video for their charity single “Sleigh Ride.”
Related: The gay subtext of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” isn’t subtle
Proceeds from the song will go to the Helen & Douglas House, the world’s first children’s hospice. The hospice provides end-of-life and bereavement care to life-limited children and young adults, and their families.
That’s kind of depressing, so to help keep the spirit light and bright, the guys have put together an upbeat video with subtle hints of BDSM and homoeroticism.
Related: Fiona Apple Trolls Trump With Dark Rendition Of “The Christmas Song”
Check out the video below, and good luck getting that song out of your head for the rest of the day…
PHOTOS: Submerge yourself in a sea of manflesh in Brussels
PHOTOS: Submerge yourself in a sea of manflesh in Brussels