Jimmy Somerville • Small Town Boy 2014

Sometimes, I hear certain things and take a second to absorb it. This is most certainly the case when I saw this was the 30th anniversary "Small Town Boy", the brilliant song by the Bronski Beat off their seminal album, 'Age of Consent'. Only, in the original release, it was known as "Smalltown Boy". It reminded me I have been a fan of lead singer Jimmy Somerville, whose career I have followed from Bronski Beat to The Communards to his solo work, always making me thrilled to buy the album, and eager to buy the next. His latest is no exception to that rule.

To mark the 30th anniversary of "Small Town Boy", Jimmy has recorded a new version, proving the song to be just as amazing in 2014 as it was in 1984. In the anniversary version, it is just Jimmy and a piano, and it adds a stunning new texture to the song. The song was written by the band, meaning Jimmy, Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek, taking a look at the life of young gays in 1980s Britain. Whether they realized it or not, the song touch gays across the globe, all who felt the sting of bullying, rejection, and persecution at some point in their lives. This is Jimmy Somerville with "Small Town Boy 2014".

Not only is Jimmy looking great, he still sounds remarkable. I still look and listen with awe as he effortlessly hits notes many couldn't dream of singing. He sounds every bit as bold as strong 30 years later, and I would love to hear him perform this live. You can purchase "Small Town Boy 2014" from iTunes and Amazon. To learn more about Jimmy, visit his official website. You can also 'like' him on Facebook.

Bronski Beat • The Age of Consent

Jimmy Somerville, Larry Steinbachek, and Steve Bronski.

I could not possibly finish out my birthday week without focusing on a group that positively rocked my world when I first found them. In the fall of 1984, Bill and I moved to the borough of Brooklyn, after finding a big apartment on 7th Street in Park Slope. One day, while channel surfing, I come across this station playing music from I don't know where. I decided to leave it on, and go about my business. At one point, I hear this amazing voice singing a familiar song. I look up, and it is the most incredible sound coming out of the time man on my screen. It was the Bronski Beat, with lead singer Jimmy Somerville, singing "It Ain't Necessarily So", the great song written in 19?? by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1935 musical 'Porgy and Bess'. It was then I realized I needed to pay attention, and figure out who this band was. I learned it was Bronski Beat, a British synth-Pop group, made up by Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek.

The first chance I got, I was in the import record store in the West Village, on Cornelia Street just off of West 4th. After all, I was working close by, at the Circle Repertory Theatre on Sheridan Square. It was at this store I purchased 'The Age of Consent', the first album in my collection from an unabashedly out and proud group. It was amazing on just so many different levels, and still holds a warm spot in my heart. Not only where they out and proud, they were also pissed about being treated like second class citizens. You can really hear that on "Smalltown Boy", the riotous first single off the album. It was written by Jimmy, Steve, and Larry. This is the emotional music video for the Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy".

With the sound of smashing glass and the clarion call of Somerville's voice, "Why?" starts off the album letting us know this is not your typical dance album. Thirty years before talk of marriage equality was commonplace, and before a simple kiss between two men on ESPN could become a topic of conversation for days, if not weeks, the Bronski Beat had the courage to stand tall in the face of oppression and ask a simple question as to how a man should be treated by others. This is the official music video for "Why?".

When this post first started, I mentioned how I discovered this group. They were playing a song this theater geek knew as a song from 'Porgy and Bess', by the great Gershwin brothers. When I was growing up, I had heard people sing a line or two from the song, when making a point that something was not going to happen. The group put their own spin on it, and giving new meaning to it with their gayness. This is the Bronski Beat with the music video for "It Ain't Necessarily So".

Finally, I could not talk about Bronski Beat or 'The Age of Consent' without bringing you the mind-blowing event that was "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me", a mash-up of the song written by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, and Pete Bellotte for Summer's 1977 album, with a song written by Geoff Goddard that became a 1961 hit for John Leyton. Summer's "I Feel Love" caused quite the scandal, with talk of orgasms in the recording studio, making women blush worldwide. Goddard's "Johnny Remember Me" was an innocent, yet dark song, but it was given new meaning when paired with the other, and sung by two of the most outspoken gay artists of the time. Here is the heaping teaspoon of amazing that is the Bronski Beat featuring Marc Almond singing "I Feel Love/Johnny Remember Me".

Back in the mid-1980s, a gay couple might have been able to walk hand in hand in The Village, but not without a bit of fear creeping in. I worked around the corner from the Stonewall Inn, where the infamous riots were marked with a plaque on the wall. Fifteen years later, LGBT people still did not feel safe, and there were police reports to prove why. But three men put out an album that captured our hurt, our pain, and our rage, and continued the spirit of the Stonewall riot, by standing up and letting everyone know being pushed around was not acceptable. You can purchase 'The Age of Consent' from iTunes and Amazon. To this day, I still follow everything Jimmy Somerville does, as he has remained an inspiration to me.

National Coming Out Day

To celebrate National Coming Out Day, I will include a couple of videos from some artists who were out and proud long before it would any publicist thought it was OK or wise. There are several I won't get to post here, but these are four I find particularly big for myself. Sylvester was bold, brassy and bodacious. He hid behind nothing and no one. While I was going through my own struggles, he was singing loud and proud. Here he is singing his 1978 hit, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).



Bronski Beat were unabashedly gay, singing songs that were gay-themed when the world would have preferred not to listen. But they did, for who could ignore the amazing voice of Jimmy Somerville? The first time I heard them, they were a revelation. They were a band of gay men, singing about gay things. Listen now as they tell the tale of far too many LGBT Youth in Smalltown Boy.



kd lang had a look that few other women had ever tried. She also has a voice few other could touch. I am sure she oerheard many a people making comments about her, but none could say a thing about her talent. Such a gift. Listen as she sings her hit, Constant Craving.



Erasure is made up of the glorious Andy Bell and the talented Vince Clarke. Together them made some rapturous electronica. Bell never shied away from his gayness, and Clarke was nothing other than an amazing str8 ally. Listen to their beautiful A Little Respect.



These talented performers came out in a time there was no day to celebrate such things. Their honesty and bravery gave me hope things would get better.

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

When I first came across the Bronski Beat, I can't tell you how excited I was. Here were gay men singing about gay issues, including in this video, which dealt with homophobia and abuse in 1984. That is a topic I had never heard broached before, and seldom since. The album, Age Of Consent, was a revelation, and lead singer Jimmy Somerville instantly became a hero to me, and remains one to this day. I continue to purchase any music he puts out and am blown away by the quality of it. But it all began with their first single, Smalltown Boy, released in June of 1984, and started my habit of hanging around the import record store in the West Village hoping to find out when the next release was on the way.



The video featured Jimmy as a gay kid in high school with a crush on a boy who was not only not interested in what Jimmy had to say, but who felt the need to find him and beat him up. When Jimmy was brought home by the police, his mother was heartbroken, and his father angry and disgusted. Soon, Jimmy was on his way to the big city, a story that has been the same for so many gay boys before then, and I am sure still remains a popular one. Rather than be defeated by him being tossed aside by his parents, Jimmy and his friends make it a happy leg on their overall journey, staying strong. Crank up the volume, and hit the video to full-screen, because this is a great song!



Since this video tells the tale of abuse LGBT Youth, it is a perfect opportunity to remind the readers that if you are someone, or know someone who might be feeling the effects of prejudice and bullying, here is the website for The Trevor Project. They have set up a hotline that can be reached at (866)488-7386. Share the number with those how you think might benefit, because the teenage years are hard enough without the additional issues discovering you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.