Now that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is a thing of the past, I felt it only fitting that I also celebrate the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender members of the armed forces are celebrated as well. No, not just Alexander the Great, although he was a great one. I am talking about all the LGBT folks in the armed services who can return from a tour of duty and be greeted like they should. As part of this celebration, I will bring you a couple of clips of the San Fransisco Gay Men's Chorus, performing USS Metaphor, a new-age (and tongue-in-cheek) look at Gilbert & Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore'. Here they are performing "We Sail The Ocean Blue".
Gay Men's Choruses can be found in most major Metropolitan areas, and have earned our support. They have not only made some good music and great entertainment, they have also helped pave the way toward equality for us all. Check out another song from 'USS Metaphor', "The Navy Knows".
For more about the San Fransisco Gay Men's Chorus, visit their official website. You can support them buy purchasing some great music in their online store. Supporting LGBT musicians, be it the Choruses or great indie musicians, is always a good thing. It is through the visibility of these out and proud artists and others in the arts and public life, as well as the drag queens, from Stonewall to RuPaul, that have helped scenes like this come to be...
On Monday, I ran a preview of Tom Goss' latest music video, for his song Lover off the Back To Love album. Tom was good enough to take some time out of his busy schedule and talk to me about it while putting final touches on it before the big day. Before I start, I want to be honest and say I am not only a fan of his music, I am also a big fan of Tom Goss, the man, whose honest voice and beautiful soul is so inspiring, and one I am lucky to call my friend. That said, let's start talking to Tom.
Lover is his fourth music video, joining the video for Rise from his Rise EP, Till The End from Back To Love and You Don't Question Love from the Politics of Love EP. The video was filmed in Washington, DC, and Alexandria, Virginia. It is directed by DC residents Aram Vartian and Michael Key of DC; Dylan Comstock is director of photography.
When I asked him about the idea for the video, he told me, "I knew that Lover needed a video. I would see all the videos online that use the song – there are like 100 of them on YouTube – and just knew I had to make it.
"I’m a very relaxed guy,” he said, as I agreed. “One of the reasons it took so long to release this video is that it had to be something so much bigger than I had done before. So exciting. I kept bouncing ideas off people for the video and none of them seem to stick." He continued, "A friend was writing a screenplay for a film about two soldiers – the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) theme – and he kept using the lyrics for Lover to explain it to me. I started to see it, and I had to call him and tell him ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I am stealing your story,’ he laughed.”
I asked Tom more about the early process. "Aram, Michael and Dylan are cinematographers at heart. I think mainly about the story and the music, while they think about images. We had to figure out how to make it all go together. But I think a more powerful story is the result.
"There are things I’ve never done on video, like the crane," he said enthusiastically. "It was exciting. There is a scene where we start with a close up on my face in the grass and zoom out. I had all these new visual angles in my mind, and just needed to figure out what to do with them. And we had a blood specialist – how cool is that?”
I asked him about the three-day shoot. "It was easier than I thought. I knew I didn’t want to hide behind an instrument on this one. I wanted to be open, honest and vulnerable, so I had to get out from behind the instrument. But I’m no actor, so that was a little scary. Both stories are told on parallel tracks; me at home without my lover and him fighting a war. There was this intense, long scene, and it was just so,” he paused before adding “intense. It was just me in the scene, and it seemed so long, but I had to sell the scene and tell my story. That was hard. I had to stay intensely focused. For me, it was a new role, as an actor.”
I had to ask the obvious question, is this a new political Tom Goss? "Although it’s political, it’s a love story at its heart. It is reality. At the end of the day, we just wanted to tell a story. It’s real. The video tells the untold story of what DADT really does to people.
"When I wrote the song with Matt Alber (Who We Are), I talked to a lot of people,” Tom explained, “and heard this story time and time again. It’s (DADT) bullshit, but that is the reality. This video is not about politics, it is reality. I had to trust I could find the most successful way to tell their (gay soldiers) story, for their reality to be honored. I hope we managed to do that.”
I asked about the realism of the video. "With me and my ‘lover’, (played by Ben Horen), there are three soldiers. They are the real deal. Mike Almy, David Hall and Danny Hernandez were all discharged because of DADT. We were always telling them ‘if you see us doing something that isn’t real, tell us."
The video is released on YouTube, and will be sent to LOGO and all the other major networks. With that in mind, Goss told me, "We will see who will be brave enough to show it." Here is the video.
While I had him on the phone, I wanted to catch up a bit on new music, and his life in general. " The last year has been so heavy and political. With the release of Who We Are, You Don’t Question Love, and now Lover, it’s been heavy and I’m exhausted. So the new album is lighter and pop! I am trying to inject the fun back into the music.
“My life is amazing and so fun,” he continued, “full of love, full of happiness. I live in DC, where it is easy to be gay. I can get married and have a house. The last year for me has been about the things people are struggling for; equal rights, marriage equality. I have what people are struggling for, and sometimes I feel guilty about it.”
In the midst of this talk of his ‘heavy year,’ I asked him about a special event. “The wedding (to husband Michael Briggs) was amazing. I am so, so happy. We had family coming from all over for it, but afterward, they went home. That was a little sad, because I just wanted it all to keep going.”
He is back on the road in March, with a show in Philadelphia. In April, he will kick off a 50-city tour to support the new album. Lover will be available for purchase on iTunes in 6 to 8 weeks. You can visit Tom on the web here. You can purchase Tom's music at the store on his site, or you can check him out on iTunes here.
Singer/Songwriter Tom Goss is offering a selection of songs available for free download. Twelve songs are offered, including Tom's wonderful Till The End, a brilliant cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy, and You Don't Question Love, the beautiful song he wrote with Matt Alber. Here Tom performs it live at a DADT rally in Washington, DC, headlined by Kathy Griffin.
To access the free downloads, click here. The link should be good for all of Wednesday, June 23, 2010, so hurray and get some great music now!
Sometimes two talented people can come together and something really special happens. Sometimes, two talented people can feel strongly about an issue, and make the words they write sing like few others have. Sometimes, two strong voices come together to tell a truth so clear and in tune, it just takes your breath away.
This time, those voices belong to Tom Goss and Matt Alber, two amazing out and proud singer/songwriters I have enjoyed separately, and tried to enjoy in concert together, except for a major blizzard preventing me from attending. But it didn't stop them from writing the song Who We Are, a fantastic song with great music and lyrics from the heart. And once they were done, they brought two friends, both discharged using the shameful policy 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', and a camera crew from The New Gay, to raise their voices on the National Mall, exorcising the right to speak their minds fought for by many who have found themselves out in the cold because who they loved didn't meet the standards set by politicians who seem to want to protect the majority instead of protecting the rights of all.
Shots from the video for Who We Are.
So two men came together to write a song, and on video, two voices become four as two brave soldiers join in. Raise your voice, too, and allow four voices to become 100, and soon thousands. Sing along, and let those voices be heard.
Go here and download this beautiful song for free. Yes, for free. All you have to do is enter in your email, and you will receive the MP3 for Who We Are. But don't stop there. When you get to the following screen:
There are also other links, for the websites fo both Goss and Alber, and for the not-for-profit site for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, where you can make a TAX DEDUCTABLE donation to help U.S. Servicemembers unfairly discharged or serving in silence. They signed up to serve to protect the lives and rights of all, only to have their own lives interrupted and their rights removed. I am unwilling to see them accept that without a fight, just as I don't want to accept my own life is worth less than those of others.
So download the song, and give money if you can. And tell others about it. Bloggers, post about this song, this issue. You wanna use this post, feel free to contact me and I'll send the code. You wanna write your own, please let your voice join the chorus. And Tweet about it, and put it on FaceBook or Tumblr or MySpace. Let our voices be heard, let them be strong, cause this is a song worth listening to.
As we here in the States are seeing an average of 2 enlisted people a day being persecuted by the US Government for openly and honestly talking about their sexuality, it was fantastic to come across a Tweet from The Advocate Magazine about the cover story for Soldier - the Official Magazine of the British Army. Handsome and proud, Trooper James Wharton graces the cover and in a feature article entitled Equal Partners. Tpr Wharton is a 6-year veteran in military service, and have been serving as an out gay man for the last 4 years. Accompanying the article are a few pictures, including one of Tpr Wharton marching - in uniform - as part of of a group of enlisted soldiers - at the London Gay Pride March. They also mention he is in line for a promotion [not a court martial], and will soon be a lance corporal.
Trooper Wharton poses and Tpr Wharton in uniform at London Pride.
Interestingly, the magazine allows Trooper Wharton to make a comment about the policy of the American armed services. “I still can’t get my head round the US’ ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” said Tpr Wharton, who has served Queen and country for six years. Luckily I don’t have to deal with it, but clearly there will be gay soldiers in the US Army who are not being themselves – they aren’t allowed to be.”
It is an interesting article that seems to actively take on some of the myths and misconceptions about gays in the military, as well as in general. Nice to see the British Army taking that on, unlike our own armed services, who spend time and money to discharge qualified and patriotic men and women who want nothing more than to be of service to our country. You can read another article about him here.
As we here in the States are seeing an average of 2 enlisted people a day being persecuted by the US Government for openly and honestly talking about their sexuality, it was fantastic to come across a Tweet from The Advocate Magazine about the cover story for Soldier - the Official Magazine of the British Army. Handsome and proud, Trooper James Wharton graces the cover and in a feature article entitled Equal Partners. Tpr Wharton is a 6-year veteran in military service, and have been serving as an out gay man for the last 4 years. Accompanying the article are a few pictures, including one of Tpr Wharton marching - in uniform - as part of of a group of enlisted soldiers - at the London Gay Pride March. They also mention he is in line for a promotion [not a court martial], and will soon be a lance corporal.
Trooper Wharton poses and Tpr Wharton in uniform at London Pride.
Interestingly, the magazine allows Trooper Wharton to make a comment about the policy of the American armed services. “I still can’t get my head round the US’ ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” said Tpr Wharton, who has served Queen and country for six years. Luckily I don’t have to deal with it, but clearly there will be gay soldiers in the US Army who are not being themselves – they aren’t allowed to be.”
It is an interesting article that seems to actively take on some of the myths and misconceptions about gays in the military, as well as in general. Nice to see the British Army taking that on, unlike our own armed services, who spend time and money to discharge qualified and patriotic men and women who want nothing more than to be of service to our country. You can read the complete article here.
