RightOutTV Music & Video Awards 2014 • Janet Whiteway & Sarah Golden

The winners of the 2014 RightOutTV Music & Video Awards were announced recently, proving what great music is being made by LGBT artists. Well, that was obvious when I saw the list of nominees, coming from all around the world. RightOutTV was founded by Marlee Walchuk and Tully Callender, devoted to the promotion of LGBT artists and their music all across the globe. The submissions are from many genre, from Rock to Country to Electronica. Once again this year, I was proud to be asked to be a judge, hearing some more great music and discovering a few new artists. But enough with all that. It is time to showcase some very deserving artists. The first of those are Janet Whiteway (above, left) and Sarah Golden, (above, right).

The first category this year I bring to you is 'Best Song So Far', set up by Marlee and Tully for artists to promote the music released prior to the four-year-old awards. This attracts from amazing submissions, and there were five outstanding nominees. The list included Matt Zarley with "Here I Am", Kevin Wood and "The Moon Says Something", Caroline Murphy's "Hurricane", and Summer Osborne with "Letting Go". This year, the award went to Janet Whiteway and her fantastic song, "Pure Sunshine". The Toronto-based singer/songwriter has a rich history of performing, both as a solo act and in a band. In 2010, Janet released the album 'Pure Sunshine', and the title cut is now being honored as 'Best Song So Far'. This is the music video for "Pure Sunshine".

You can find "Pure Sunshine" on her album of the same name. You can purchase 'Pure Sunshine' from iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby. To learn more about Janet Whiteway, visit her official website. You can also 'friend' her on Facebook, and 'follow' her on Twitter.

The second honoree is an American singer/songwriter who gave an impressive audition in season 2 of The Voice, a part of Team CeeLo. The Houston-based Golden released a single last winter, "The One I Love". The song is a beautiful and honest song about love and life, and was named 'Best Folk/Roots/Country Song', with deep competition from Norine Braun's "I Found You", Andrea Nardello's "Home To Me", Run Jenny's "Get My Whiskey On", Toni Vere's "This Old Heart", and Sarah McCracken's "Horse Grapes". This is Sarah Golden with her achingly beautiful "The One I Love".

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You can purchase the single "The One I Love" from iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp. To learn more about Sarah Golden, visit her official website. You can also 'like' her on Facebook, and 'follow' her on Twitter.

Marlee and Tully developed RightOutTV to help LGBT artists with promotion, as a way of giving back to the community. The couple are also a musical duo, making up Sugarbeach. They were kind enough to ask me to participate in the awards for the last few years as a judge. To learn more about RightOutTV, visit the RightOutTV website. You can also 'follow' them on Twitter, and 'like' them on Facebook.

Worth Another Listen - REM (Document)

There are times when I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed since I first heard a song or a band. This is once of those times, as I was thinking about the band REM, I band I first heard in the early 80s, while working at the college radio station. Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Bill Berry and Mike Mills where on the forefront of a new style of music that was just starting to be heard, labeled as 'alternative' by the music industry. They were the first of several bands from the Athens, Georgia, area, very much the antithesis of what many thought rock music should be. Buck delivered a searing guitar work, often punctuated by crisp and clear solos, while lead singer Stipe, with his angelic face and shy demeanor, had a vocal style that was more invested in muddling the tone, on swallowing at times rather than projecting, ushering in a new style and feel that would change Rock for decades to come.



The first time the band had a significant spot on the US music charts was 24 years ago, in 1987! As I mentioned before, I had remembered hearing Radio Free Europe in the early 80s, but it wasn't until later that the band scored a Top Ten hit with The One I Love, the aching love song from the IRS album Document, the last one they had with the small label before being picked up by Warner Brothers. The song was written by the band, and was the first single released. It made it to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #2 on US Mainstream Rock Tracks.



The band followed that up with the frantic song The End of the World As We Know It, which might come as close as you are gonna get to rap for a bunch of 80s rockers. And it brought the band out into the open, following up the plaintive and some might say whiny heart-ache of The One I Love with the politically charged and highly public rocker to cement a forming fanbase. Although the song only went to #69 on the Billboard Hot 100, it did score a Top 20 on the US Mainstream Rock Song chart.



The third single from Document didn't hit the Pop charts, and really wasn't a player on the rock chart either, but it is of interest because it showed yet another side to the band, and an oddly homo-erotic video. Finest Worksong was released at the beginning of 1988, and was the last single before the band was signed by Warner Brothers.



Way back when, there was much discussion about the relative charms of Michael Stipe, as both the boys and the girls were just crazy about him. Stipe seemed to shy away from talking about his personal life, at least until the new millennium, when he started referring to himself as a queer artist, although he pushed aside the 'gay' marker as too limiting. Whatever, he was now sleeping with guys, no matter the terms he feels most at ease with.

For more about the band REM, you can check out their official website here. With so much great music still to come, I am sure you will see them popping up again soon!