Pop Culture – Brian Ferrari's Blog

Debbie At The World (1989)

Here comes the 21st century… it’s gonna be much better for a girl like me…
-Deborah Harry, “I Want That Man”

I recently came across the 2018 Interview magazine article “An Oral History of The World: the most iconic nightclub you never heard of”. This reminded me of my one and only trip to the legendary club when Deborah Harry played there in November, 1989.

Seven years after Blondie went on hiatus, “Debbie” become “Deborah” as she released her third solo album, Def Dumb and Blonde – an eclectic 15-track collection that most fans consider to be her best effort outside of the band. Although the album did not crack the US Billboard top 100, it reached the top 10 in the UK and other countries.

I got tickets to the November 11 show. This was the second of three sold out shows at the Lower East Side club. The guy I was seeing when the tickets went on sale was no longer in the picture by the time the show came around, so I ended up taking my older sister, Kari. She had been a Blondie fan a decade before – it was her cassette of Parallel Lines that we wore out.

We came up out of the F train at Houston Street and First Avenue and started heading east into Alphabet City, walking briskly past the homeless huddled around burning trashcans and assorted drug-induced shenanigans. Kari was holding onto my arm, talking a mile a minute – engrossed in a story that I hoped would keep her distracted for as long as possible. We were somewhere between Avenues A & B when she finally looked around, slowed a bit, gripped my arm tighter and said “Oh my god. Where are you taking me???”

“Almost there!” I said, although I wasn’t sure if we were.

I knew nothing about The World – a 16-and-over nightclub that payed little attention to underage drinking, a quaint complaint given the other activities that allegedly went on there. Housed in a crumbling former catering hall, it had that air of faded decadence prevalent in many East Village hangouts. It was as if the party continued on in the ruins of past generations…. clubs and galleries in the dilapidated haunts of German, Polish, and Ukranian immigrants, followed by another generation of hippies and poets, then punks and artists who had now come and gone. We were in the last months of the 1980’s and all that the decade had wrought was slipping into the past. But would Debbie, um, Deborah Harry?

There was an air of anticipation as to how this show would go: her first solo tour at age 44 – the same age as Tina Turner at the time of her Private Dancer success 5 years earlier. Given that Harry was back on her home turf – just a few blocks from CBGB’s – would she lean into her rock/punk roots? Surely this would not be a parade of greatest hits.

Still, it was a surprise when she quietly took to the stage along with her ever-present creative partner Chris Stein and opened her set with the jazzy Motown ballad “The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game.” This Marvelettes cover was the final song on Blondie’s 1982 LP The Hunter. It was an intriguing choice for an opening number, as if she & Stein were picking up right where Blondie left off.

And then the show shifted into gear: playing through a set heavy on Def Dumb & Blonde‘s edgier cuts while seamlessly mixing in Blondie album tracks like “Cautious Lip” & “Detroit 442”. The set wound down with “Brite Side,” her latest single which segued into a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Waiting For The Man”.

For the encore, she took off her jacket and returned the stage in just a black bra. When presented with a bouquet of roses, she bit the head off of one and spit it back at the audience. She tore through a couple of conciliatory hits: “Call Me” & “One Way Or Another”, plus her minor solo hit “French Kissin’ In The USA”.

Here’s where memory gets tricky: I recall that she did a Ramones cover as her final song. In the years following this show, I saw The Go-Go’s and Kirsty MacColl both cover “I Wanna Be Sedated” as final encores at their concerts. Some mental wires got crossed and 30+ years later, I thought Harry sang it too. But thanks to the internet and her fanatic fans, I am reminded that the Ramones song she covered on this tour was “Pet Sematary,” the theme to the Stephen King movie that her old friends had released earlier that year.

Here’s a recording from The Roxy in LA on October 23, 1989 – two weeks prior to The World shows in NYC:

My sister had gone off during the encore to find a bathroom. Towards the end of this song, she reappeared, white as a ghost, saying “Ohmygod ohmygod you have to help me! I have to pee SO bad and there’s only ONE bathroom for everyone! NO STALLS. I asked someone if it was the ladies room and she said ‘Men, women… what’s the difference?’ ohmygod you have to help me!”

Downstairs in the bathroom, I stood with my back to her, holding my full-length wool coat open like some sort of reverse-flasher trying to block her from the view of everyone except the woman sitting on the toilet right next to her having a conversation with her friend. I was trying not to laugh too hard as my sister kept muttering behind me “ohmygod ohmygod unbelievable… men, women, what’s the difference… unbelievable….”

On our way out, I poked my head into the lounge, where futuristic electronic music played. I could only make out strange silhouettes in the dim colored lights of the smoky room. It seemed like a cross between the Creature Cantina and something out of The Jetsons.

After a quick t-shirt purchase at the merch booth, we were back on the street. Kari was holding on to my arm as we headed down East Second Street. A panhandler approached and said “Now there’s an attractive couple!” My sister let out a sustained “Eeew” which I punctuated with “She’s my SISTER.”

“My apologies.” He quickly said as he began walking alongside us. “I’m having a rough time right now. If you could reach down into your pockets and help me out with anything, anything at all, I would really appreciate it.”

Kari, absentmindedly reached down into her pocket and presented him with a matchbook. He was not amused.

We turned on to Avenue A as he stood there screaming after us “Fuck you bitch! Fuck you! I will fucking BURN you bitch!”

She didn’t seem to hear him. Shaking her head, she said, “Oh my god. That bathroom.”

It would be another year and a half before I relocated to the neighborhood. But The World ended just two weeks before I got there: On June 27, 1991 co-owner Steven Venizelos – described by the New York Times as “a corpulent man with a penchant for jewelry” – was found murdered on the balcony of the club. He was shot three times at close range. There were no signs of robbery and the case went unsolved. In keeping with the East Village trend, the building was demolished to make way for “luxury” apartments.

And Debbie? She’s still going strong. As she sang in “I Want That Man,” Here comes the 21st Century… it’s gonna be much better for a girl like me… the reunited Blondie brought in the new millennium with “Maria,” a #1 hit in the UK. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

Her latest collaboration is with The Dandy Warhols – “I Will Never Stop Loving You.”

Don Herron’s Tub Shots Part IV: Christopher Street (1980)

Back in 2018, I posted two collections of artist/photographer Don Herron’s Tub Shots, a series of images featuring the famous and near-famous posing in their bathtubs. This coincided with an exhibition of 65 photographs at the Daniel Coon ey Gallery here in NYC. The blog posts (Pt. 1 and Pt. II) still garner a considerable amount of traffic, as well as a third collection posted 2 years ago. Now we have a fourth selection of the collection: a Christopher Street magazine feature from April, 1980 and recollections from the subjects.

The April, 1980 issue of Christopher Street, with football player David Kopay sharing the cover with a very nice Tom of Finland illustration.

Among those featured in the Christopher Street layout was artist Mel Odom, who shared memories of the experience in Pt.1.

Ronald Chase is a San Francisco-based artist, photographer, educator, independent filmmaker and opera designer.

Demetrie Kabbaz (1944-2014) was a painter known for his highly stylized portraits of Marilyn Monroe and other iconics of pop culture.

The article mentions a 1981 exhibit at Jehu gallery in San Francisco. The tub shot of gallery owner Ron Jehu (1937-2007) is also included alongside actress Mink Stole and popular San Francisco DJ Sheila Rene (1939-1998).

Writer Felice Picano: “Don came to my duplex at 317 E 11th Street, now owned by Annie Leibovitz and he was a sweet man, so he climbed onto the back of the bathtub where he was cramped but also supported by two walls and he shot a bunch of photos.

“He then asked if I could recommend others to shoot, and I sent him to either George Stavrinos or to Victor Hugo (Halston’s lover). By the time Don was done, he had gotten a pretty full and accurate portrait of Bohemia In New York City in the period. And, as I wrote in my book Art & Sex in Greenwich Village, Don captured what was probably the last unified downtown NYC bohemian community.”

Peter Hujar (1934-1987) was a photographer primarily known for his portraiture. His photo is featured on the same page as fellow photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989). Annie Leibovitz would later recall, “Peter and I shared a distaste for Robert. One of the reasons is that Peter thought Robert was silly, you know, which he was. And he thought that Robert copied him in certain ways, which of course he did.”

Belle de Jour was New York’s most notorious dominatrix in the 1970’s and 1980’s. She ran a successful commercial dungeon and a weekly S&M theatre in her midtown loft. Submissive men, suburban couples, and thrill seekers were known to fill the bleachers to watch Belle and her entourage perform.

Don Herron‘s own Tubshot can be seen in this ad for a 1982 gallery showing:

Sur Rodney Sur recounts his tub shot: “We used the bathroom of Cynthia Chiarulli’s loft for the photo shoot, which was styled by Suzan Silver, a jewelry maker who made her wares from mirrored plastics she purchased on Canal Street. She provided the lipstick and sprayed the sides of my hair silver.

“I used the photo for the cover of my first book of poems… I organized an exhibition of Donald’s prints at the Tribeca club Stilwende and also showcased Suzan’s jewelry. I also screened a new version of my TV talk show – the All New Sur Rodney Sur Show. Sometime after the event I produced a version of my talk show where I interviewed Holly Woodlawn in a bubble bath for a photo shoot with Donald in a television studio in Chelsea.”

Valery Oisteanu: “I remember being introduced to Don by Timothy Greenfield and Don was part of the East Village Arts scene. He was very friendly. I was writing a monthly column at that time in Cover Arts magazine called ‘The Wall Patrol’ about art galleries…. Don took a photo of me naked wearing a Mylar face mask and there are also butt plugs as a humorous prop.”

Colette Justine (aka Colette Lumiere) is a multi-media artist who is considered a pioneering street performance artist and “photographic tableau vivant.” She is also known for playing with male/female gender roles through different guises and personas.

Käthe Kruse, performer/artist: “I was staying with John Heys when he was photographed by Don. When we met in John’s apartment and he saw my hair, he asked to photograph me too. So after the shoot with John, I got off my clothes and laid down in the bathtub and he arranged my hair. Then he climbed up to the edges of the bathtub and started to photograph. He told me that he always takes the same number of photos (eighteen) and then he stopped. I love these kind of concepts. When I was back in Berlin I received one print and after all these years it is still hanging in my home. I love the photo and I am very happy and thankful to have been photographed by Don.”

Photographer/visual artist **Christopher Makos** (1980)

Stanton Weiss (1952-2022): “New York in the 1970’s was an unparalleled place. There was an edge to it and a feeling that anything could happen. I had a seemingly conservative job working for Dick Ridge, the renowned interior designer. The phone rang. ‘Stanton darling, it’s Pat. Don Herron wants to photograph me and I need to use Dick’s tub! My bathroom is being painted.’ Pat was Pat Loud, America’s first reality star of PBS’ An American Family. She is a stunning woman, and unlike other reality stars, she is the epitome of grace and style. She posed with calla lilies and then Don asked me if I would like to be photographed as well.”

Pat Loud (1926-2021): “I recall Don calling me to say he was doing a series of photographs of people in their bathtubs and would I pose for him. I told him I didn’t do bathtubs but he assured me that nudity was not his objective and I could use all the bubble bath I wanted…. I don’t know whose idea the calla lilies were that seem so dominant and strategically placed and yet so out of place for such a photo.”

Dick Ridge (1928-2021): “I received a phone call from Pat Loud, who asked me if I would pose along with other people of the moment for a picture in my bathtub. Having just returned from Southampton, I had a pretty good tan and decided ‘Why not?'”

Poet Michael Ratcliff, Performer/Fashion designer Katy K (Kattelman), Legendary nightlife performer Joey Arias.

Marcus Leatherdale (1952-2022) was a Canadian portrait photographer who was personally and professionally associated with Robert Mapplethorpe.

Michael Musto: “Don contacted me with the idea of photographing me in my bathtub. I thought that was a novel idea, especially since I usually took showers, not baths. He wanted the photo to express my eccentric side, so I wore the shower cap, shades and white lipstick. I found Don to be likeably quirky and creative. This was a time of horror because of the mounting epidemic, but it was also a time when LGBT culture, nightlife, and solidarity were on the rise. I used my Village Voice column as a venue for both anger and humor at the same time, while also expressing myself via fashion and nightlife antics. Don’s photo captured my multiple moods.”

Gay Porn Stars We Lost in 2023

In August of 2020, porn star Koldo Goran tweeted about three fellow performers who had recently died. Goran’s tweet was the only public notice that one of them, Dani Rivera, had been murdered. “I realize nobody talks about it, we are unprotected and forgotten;” Goran tweeted “We are humans, people, enough of contempt.”

Most gay news outlets choose to ignore the passing of all but the biggest names in the adult film industry. Porn companies also seem reluctant to broadcast the death of a performer who is still on their roster, forever young and willing in their website content. An obit is a real boner killer, ya know? Why jeopardize the profit margin?

Additionally, performers who abandon their porn personas and return to life under their real names often pass away unnoticed by former employers and scene partners.

This year’s list contains no people of color. Why? Is it that none have passed on or that they haven’t been reported yet? For this reason – and due to continued interest from fans – there are ongoing updates to the lists of porn star passings in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

We remember those that were lost in 2023 to prove Koldo Goran wrong – they have not been forgotten.

1) Ed Fury was not a gay porn star per se, but he was as close as the 1950’s would allow. The bodybuilder began his career posing nude for photographers Bob Mizer and Bruce of LA and appearing in posing strap film loops for AMG and Apollo studios. While his photos graced the covers of many physique magazines, major Hollywood film roles remained elusive. Most of his film and television appearances in the 1950’s were uncredited bit parts.

It was in the Italian “sword and sandal” films of the 1960’s that he found his greatest mainstream success, starring in Colossus And The Amazon Queen and as the title character in three Ursus films, among others. Back in the US, he continued to work primarily on television until his retirement in the late 1970’s.

Fury passed away at age 94 on February 24, 2023.

2) Eric Manchester, aka Ronald Liter was one of the top names in gay porn during the second half of the 1980’s. He was featured in dozens of films for the top studios of the day: Falcon, Vivid, HIS, Catalina and others. He appeared in Head of the Class and John Travis’s Powerline, both profiled here.

The Boyculture blog recently noted that Manchester passed away in San Francisco at age 58 on March 12, 2023. He was interred in his native Oklahoma.

3) Trevor Laster aka Ethan Ewers passed away at age 31 on March 30, 2023. Photographer James Franklin posted on Twitter: “My dear sweet friend @thetrevorlaster committed suicide yesterday in Eugene, Oregon. His family is devastated. ” Trevor started doing porn at Helix Studios in 2010. Over the next 12 years, he worked for Raging Stallion, Broke Straight Boys, Chaos Men, Kink, Next Door Studios, Southern Strokes, Men and others. In 2019 he shifted his focus to more fan-based platforms like Onlyfans while still making occasional studio appearances.

Laster was passionate about fitness and worked as a personal trainer. He also garnered modeling work with brands like Andrew Christian and photographers Michael Stokes and James Franklin .

4) David Hurles first appeared in Guild Press gay porn magazines of the late 1960’s before moving behind the camera at the company. He went on to create Old Reliable Studios, an iconic record of “rough trade” through the 1970’s & 80’s. Originally from Cincinnati, Hurles made his way to California, where AMG’s Bob Mizer became his mentor. While Mizer focused on the more conventional prototype of beefcake, Hurles, as the Boyculture blog pointed out “fetishized the masculine and dangerous aspects… His work is identifiable from a mile away, a collection of seedy, weedy men who looked like they arrived for their shoots fresh from prison — or on their way there.”

Although the studio was very lucrative at the time, mismanagement and internet services were its downfall, and Hurles fell upon hard times. In 2008, he was permanently disabled by a stroke just as his back catalogue was getting rediscovered.

In 2010, a glossy book highlighting the best of Old Reliable was published. Outcast: David Hurles Old Reliable In Living Color featured Hurles’ best photography. A gallery showing of his photos was curated by his friend Dian Hansen and John Waters at New York City’s Marianne Boesky Gallery. The following year, Hurles was one of the subjects of John Waters’ book Role Models. He was reportedly delighted by the belated appreciation of his work.

After years of failing health, Hurles died in a California nursing home on 4/11/23, aged 78.

Factory Video owner Scott Morris sometimes took a turn in front of the camera, including a scene pictured here with Sam Ritter (aka Stephen Geoffreys).

5) Scott Morris, aka Robert Todd Fulton was a founder and sometime performer at Factory video. He passed away on April 14, 2023 in his Cathedral City, CA home after a year long-battle with cancer of the tongue, head, and neck. He was 68 years old.

In 1998, Morris founded San Francisco Fetish Factory, an online fetish wear website that prompted an expansion into a gay male adult video company, Factory Video Productions, in the early 2000’s.

His work as an activist dated back to his teen years in post-Stonewall New York. Morris continued his work as a gay community activist, DJ and promoter in NY, Ft. Lauderdale, LA, Palm Springs and San Francisco. He was survived by his partner of 31 years, Gordon Fulton (aka Gord Reece).

6) Casey Tanner aka Slade passed away on April 15, 2023 in San Diego at the age of 28. His partner confirmed that Casey had been suffering from health problems for years. His organs began failing after he contracted pneumonia a month prior. Originally from Ohio, he worked with Helix Studios between 2013-2016 before retiring from the adult industry and moving to San Diego with his partner around 2017.

Helix model Liam Riley posted on social media: “Casey Tanner was my best friend. He was one of the funniest, sweetest, caring humans. He was sweet enough to help me move all the way across the country — if that says anything for the person he was. He was always down for an adventure! I hope he knows he was loved by so many people. Thank you for being there when I needed you. I’ll keep a piece of this friendship with me for life. Fly high.”

7) Kyle Ross, aka Aaron Cumbey was 29 years old when he died in a single car accident in Florida on April 24, 2023. The tragic series of events preceding his death played out on social media.

One of the biggest stars at Helix, the Texas native won many awards and appeared in over 100 scenes before retiring in 2020. He then worked behind the scenes at Helix until earlier this year.

8) The porn world was shocked by the brutal murder of 52-year-old William Futral, owner of The Guy Site. Model Ludvig (aka Richard Lam) was arrested and charged with the murder several days later. Lam and Futral had been living together for several months. They reportedly had an extremely volatile relationship that began after Lam started working for The Guy Site in 2020.

Just for Fans owner Dominic Ford posted on social media, “I am absolutely gutted to hear of the murder of Bill… one of the kindest, gentlest people in our industry. He was always humble, appreciative, and soft-spoken. I’ve known him for 13 years. There was never a nicer man.”

None of the news stories have carried a single photo of the victim, choosing instead to focus on the muscular (alleged) assailant. The Guy Site is now shuttered.

9) Bryan Knight, the 6’6″ 300lb “gentle giant” died of a heart attack in his sleep on September 3, 2023. He was 39 years old. Although he had a complete physical two weeks before, his family had a history of heart ailments and his enlarged heart went undetected, according to Snake, his partner of 20 years.

Robby Lewis of Luxxxe Studios shared the news online a few days later: “Adult film actor and generally good human being Bryan Knight went to bed on Sunday, September 3rd and did not wake up. Everyone at Luxxxe Studios is saddened by this loss, especially JD Daniels, who was a close personal friend of Bryan’s.”

Knight began his adult film career in 2012 with Bear Films. Over the next decade he would work with Maverick Men, Pride Studios, Nasty Daddy, RawFuckClub and many others.

Knight was also a talented comic book artist. In The Velvet Collar, he drew on real-life experiences to create something that celebrated him and the people he loved in the adult film world.

10) Jason Nikas 51, died in Las Vegas after a long battle with cancer on Sept. 18, 2023. The Arcadia, California native performed in gay and bi films under many different names – Johnny Guetar and Jason Wikes were just two of them. In trans roles, he was Ann Drogeny (get it?). For his work behind the scenes in porn productions, he used his real name: Patryk Strait, believe it or not. Nikas racked up more than 120 titles between 1992 and 2012.

Every once in a while there’s a performer whose face seems to betray them with a glimpse of an underlying air of… what? Sorrow? Pain? Something that reveals the scars of a life that has led them to sex work. Their time in the biz is usually short. The first time I ever remember seeing this was in the early 90’s with Jason Nikas. There was something in his facial expressions that evoked the word “shattered.” But unlike others, he stuck around for nearly two decades, going through the motions in scene after scene, never elevating any of them beyond the B-grade companies he worked for, which included Vivid, Leisure Time, and Robert Prion’s Galaxy Studios. Mickey Skee’s tribute to his friend and coworker gives a more well-rounded picture of someone who seems to have had a happier life than the one he exuded on screen.

11) Shane Erickson, aka Eric Anthony Crew was 38 years old when he died on September 26, 2023. His boyfriend Michael posted on a GoFundMe page “after searching for him for two days I finally found him… unresponsive and long beyond aid on the floor of a hotel room… I don’t even know what to say, he had been struggling for a long time with demons from his past. I did everything I could to be there for him and I couldn’t save him…”

The San Diego native made his first film appearance in 2005 and over the next 8 years worked for Falcon, Jet Set, College Dudes, Next Door, Kink, SX and other outlets.

12) Hank Hightower was mainstream gay porn’s quintessential leather bear in the 1990’s. The versatile performer made his debut in 1993 and worked with Stallion, Rawhide, Catalina, Vivid, Zeus, Brush Creek, Jet Set and many other studios over a 15 year period.

His friend Jeff Yarbrough announced on Facebook: “Henry Robert Hightower passed away today, Nov. 1, 2023, at 3:30am. As per his wishes, he died at home surrounded by his two pups. He passed peacefully.” The California native was 57 years old and had been battling cancer.

Dusting Off The Holiday Favorites (2023)

I know I am not alone when I say that I take comfort in the annual repetition of the holidays: revisiting holiday-themed music, films, television shows… and now internet posts. Dave Holmes’ account of Patti LaBelle’s disastrous performance at the 1996 National Christmas Tree lighting is worth an annual revisit. Trust me.

Not to get meta or anything, but the post you are currently reading has been reworked and updated each year since 2020.

While we’re mining the past and dusting off our chestnuts, here’s the intro to the 1999 holiday episode of Bri-Guy’s Media Surf, an NYC Public Access show that featured yours truly lip-synching a little Esquivel:

Whenever the song pops up on my holiday playlist, I still do this.

I find it interesting that we immerse ourselves in certain pop culture favorites for exactly 6 weeks of the year and then pack them up in mothballs with the ornaments until next year. I mean, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” is currently at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Burl Ives, Bobby Helms and Andy Williams are also in the top 10. Are any of them on your 4th of July playlist? They aren’t on mine.

*Gabe Pressman (left) with Marilyn Monroe (1956)*

I used to look forward to the annual Christmas Eve tradition on NBC New York’s evening news when reporter Gabe Pressman would read “Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.” I taped it in 2011, knowing that the tradition wouldn’t last forever. The self-described “little Jewish kid from the Bronx” was 87 years old at the time and continued to work at NBC until his death at age 93.

NBC New York reporter Gabe Pressman’s annual segment on Virginia O’Hanlon’s 1897 letter to the New York Sun Newspaper.

In keeping with this revisit, my other blog posts of Christmas past are back to haunt you like A Christmas Carol, Mr. Scrooge:

Last week I posted Your Guide To Gay Disposable Holiday Movies, highlighting the 10 gayest Lifetime/Hallmark/Netflix movies of the past few years:

Copyright issues kept my 60 Degrees Girl Group Christmas playlist out of commission but now it’s back! I plan to post other episodes of my old radio show in the new year.

Here is my take on the 1987 Motown Christmas Special – which featured very few Motown acts.

Here are 10 Things You May Not Know About March of The Wooden Soldiers, the Laurel & Hardy classic holiday film.

My Canine Christmas Tail is a true story about my dog Sunshine, a basset hound with an appetite for tinsel.

Have you watched Christmas In Connecticut yet this year? How about that delivery woman? This year I was able to update my 2019 post, identifying Daisy Bufford as the actress who played the unbilled role.

The original version of “¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?” is featured in “Llamacita,” this year’s Amazon Prime holiday commercial. Here’s a little backstory on the song & Augie Rios, who sang the original version.

Also – would you like to hear my Spotify holiday playlist?

Way back in 2002, when Limewire was a thing and people listened to music on silvery discs, I started creating Christmas CD mixes that I would mail out or give to people. These were received with a heartwarming combination of feigned delight, veiled indifference and deafening silence. None of these CDs had a pressing of more than 20 copies. I’d like to call them “much sought after” – but no, that’s not really the case, although every once in a while, someone really got into them and would ask for copies of other volumes.

And so, I’m offering this simple playlist…. for kids from 1 to 92. Unfortunately some of the tracks on these dozen CDs are not on Spotify, but I keep adding songs that would be on the current CD volume… if there was one. And now the playlist is over 17 hours of holiday tunes. I recommend listening on shuffle – there’s something to irritate everyone. Enjoy!

Here’s one more nugget to stuff in your stocking: This vid went viral in 2011. Choreographed and performed by Alex Karigan & Zac Hammer of the Amy Marshall Dance Company, it was filmed in one continuous take at the New 42nd St. Dance Studios. There’s something infectious about it: the joy, the corniness, the celebratory queerness of it all. It makes me want to dust off my jazz shoes. Once a year.

Your Guide To Disposable Gay Holiday Movies

Last week, Queerty posted an article proclaiming, “The Hallmark Channel is gayer than ever this year!” This is followed by a massive list of exactly THREE movies that they consider gay. The first one, Catch Me If You Claus stars Luke Macfarlane in his 16^th movie for the network. Yes, the Bros co-star is gay in real life, but the character in the film is not. Kudos to him for continuing to be cast in straight roles, but… do we then count this as a gay film?

The second movie on their list, Christmas on Cherry Lane is an ensemble piece that includes a gay couple. Jonathan Bennett, Hallmark’s go-to gay actor for gay roles plays opposite Vincent Rodriguez III. It airs December 9^th.

The third film, Friends and Family Christmas centers on lesbian friends (Humberly Gonzalez & Ali Liebert) who must pose as a couple for the holidays… and you’ll never guess what happens! This one premieres on December 17^th.

So there you have it. As a reminder: The Hallmark Channel is premiering 42 – FORTY-TWO – new Hallmark Christmas movies this season. And we’re supposed to kvell because TWO of them are gay-ish? Honey, please.

Since 2020, a few of these gay disposable holiday films have dribbled out every holiday season– not just on The Hallmark Channel but also on Lifetime, Netflix and elsewhere. I’m not here to crap on the genre, but there is a conveyor belt feel to these films. With the similar actors, sets, and plots, it can be hard to remember which one had which fading star of yesteryear playing the mom. Obviously if I didn’t get some enjoyment out of watching them, I wouldn’t tune in. But I don’t go all in for them, either. Please give me some combination of humor, wit, chemistry between the romantic leads, decent acting and/or a plot twist and I’ll stick with it. Maybe I will watch it again next year, if I can remember the title and what channel it was on.

Here’s a list I put together last year to try to keep these movies straight, so to speak. It’s not definitive and I apologize for any omissions.

1) The Xmas Setup (2020) – Lifetime

Older star playing a parent: Fran Drescher
Romantic chemistry? Yes – this real-life couple generate a believable amount of TV movie warmth.

The Christmas Setup follows the story of New York lawyer Hugo (Ben Lewis) who heads to Milwaukee with his best friend Madelyn (Ellen Wong) to spend the holidays with his mom Kate (Fran Drescher). Kate arranges for Hugo to run into Patrick (Blake Lee), his high school friend and secret crush, who has recently returned after a successful stint in Silicon Valley. Hijinks begin.

2) Dashing In December (2020) – Paramount+

Older star playing a parent: Andie McDowell
Romantic chemistry? Some. I guess. It’s an enjoyable movie but I don’t see these boys staying together.

After Wyatt (Peter Porte) comes home for the holidays to try to convince his mother (Andie MacDowell) to sell the family’s Colorado ranch, he finds romance with the dashing new ranch hand (Juan Pablo Di Pace) who dreams of saving the property and its magical Winter Wonderland attraction.

It’s a nice surprise to see Andie McDowell here, but I am reminded of when comedienne Paula Poundstone once described her face as “an egg with a smile drawn on it.”

3) Happiest Season (2020) – Netflix

Older stars playing the parents: Mary Steenburgen & Victor Garber
Sapphic chemistry? Yes, but not between the two that we’re supposed to root for.

This is the one with Kristen Stewart, Aubrey Plaza & Dan Levy. Stewart’s girlfriend invites her home for Christmas but fails to mention that she’s not out to her family and they must pretend to be friends. Hilarity ensues. A cut above Lifetime/Hallmark movies but I’m including it because it satisfies the same itch. Same genre, but overall higher quality thanks to the cast and Clea Duvall’s writing & direction. One caveat: I wanted Kristen Stewart’s character to end up with Aubrey Plaza. But that doesn’t fit the formula, does it?

4) The Christmas House (2020) – Hallmark

Older stars playing the parents: Treat Williams & Sharon Lawrence
Romantic chemistry? The gay married couple is peripheral here, so it’s not required. They’re fine.

This was the first Hallmark movie to feature a gay couple, even if they are supporting players. Jonathan Bennett is the gay son with Brad Harder as the devoted husband. They want to adopt kids – that’s their side plot. The straight brother has the romantic interest storyline, while the parents have decided to give up their traditional grand ole “Christmas House” which, like all the other houses in these movies, looks like a realtor’s model home with decorations recently purchased at Kohl’s.

5) The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls (2021) – Hallmark

Older stars playing the parents: Same as above. R.I.P. Treat Williams. ☹
Romantic chemistry? Maybe I’m being a sap, but this couple grew on me.

The sequel to the above film. This time the brothers are competing on a reality show to create the best Christmas House. It’s harmless fun.

6) Clusterfünke Christmas (2021) – Comedy Central

“A no-nonsense hotel exec buys a family inn in northern Maine, but the town’s Christmas spirit clashes with her cosmopolitan values.” This one’s actually a spoof of the genre written by and co-starring Rachel Dratch & Ana Gasteyer as the innkeepers. Out actor Cheyenne Jackson plays the straight romantic lead. If Queerty can claim the Luke Macfarlane movie as gay, then we get this one, if not for Jackson, then just for pure camp value.

7) Under The Christmas Tree (2021) – Lifetime

Older stars playing the parents: Wendy Crewson & Enrico Colantoni. Ricki Lake is also on hand.
Sapphic Chemistry? Yes

As described in Vulture: Lifetime’s new and first-ever lesbian Christmas movie is a legitimately good queer film in which the main character, Alma (Elise Bauman), is not only accepted by her Maine-based, small-Christmas-business-owner parents for being a lesbian but encouraged to fall in love with out-of-town stranger Charlie (Tattiawna Jones). Cheesy as it is, the premise is as sweet as it is predictable with plenty of fun, memorable scenes and unexpected moments thrown in.”

8) Single All The Way (2021) – Netflix

Older stars playing the parents: Kathy Najimy & Barry Bostwick with Jennifer Coolidge as the diva aunt.
Romantic chemistry? Yes

Peter (Michael Urie) finds out his boyfriend is married. They break up and he invites his best friend home with him for Christmas to pretend they’re a couple. His mom tries to set him up with Luke Macfarlane anyway. You’ll never guess who he ends up with. This one beat out Under The Christmas Tree to win the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie. Probably the best of the bunch, and not just for this monologue:

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9) The Holiday Sitter (2022) – Hallmark

Older stars playing the parents: NONE
Romantic chemistry? Not that I recall.

Another Hallmark movie with resident gay Jonathan Bennett. Now he’s a workaholic from the big city who gets stuck watching his sister’s kids because of a snowstorm and she’s pregnant and going into labor or something. He recruits hunky neighbor Jason (George Krissa) to shepherd the precocious children through an endless list of absolutely necessary holiday activities. Bennett’s first major role years ago was in the movie Mean Girls. He also co-wrote this script, in which he actually tells the family dog “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.” I have nothing more to say.

10) A Christmas To Treasure (2022) – Lifetime

Older stars playing the parents: Nobody I recognize. Maybe they’re big in Canada?
Romantic chemistry? NONE.

A real-life gay couple with no chemistry try to find a hidden treasure… before it’s too late! 33-year-old Tyler Frey and 41-year-old Kyle Dean Massey are supposed to be high school sweethearts reunited with each other and their friends: two racially diverse straight couples. Everyone’s on an elaborate treasure hunt somehow engineered by a beloved frail old neighbor just before she croaked. However, nobody really needs the money except Frey, who wants to save the grand ole Marley house (again, a model home decorated at Kohl’s.) Someone actually says “I don’t need the money. I’m here for the cocoa.”

This one broke me. Who are these people? This movie is a painful reminder that a film can be racially diverse, but it certainly isn’t class-wise. If everyone’s so damn rich, why don’t they just give Frey the money to save the house? This one caused me to take a long break from viewing these movies. But now it’s a new season, and here we are.

Happy Holigays!

The Lost Madonna ’80s Megamix Video

Back in the dinosaur days of VHS tapes, there were various companies that offered music video subscription services to commercial businesses. Every month a new videocassette with the latest music videos would arrive in the mail, just for viewing in their establishment. These tapes were not for sale to the general public.

One of the most popular companies in the U.S. and Canada was Telegenics, a New York-based operation that produced monthly tapes over an 11 year span, from 1983-1994. They offered a variety of music styles to choose from: Top 40, Progressive, Urban, and Pop Rock with some occasional specialty releases of 12″ Remix, Dance Classics, and Christmas, to name a few.

In the late 1990’s I used to buy these tapes in second hand stores and then later on eBay. In the days before YouTube, this was often the only way to see music videos that didn’t get airplay on MTV or VH1. I had my NYC public access show Bri-Guy’s Media Surf at that time and would air obscure music videos from artist like Kirsty MacColl, Alison Moyet and others that the music video channels paid little attention to.

But the Madonna MegaMix was something else: A 7-song, 11 minute remix of hits up to the summer of 1988 when it was released. The medley features “La Isla Bonita,” “Who’s That Girl,” “Open Your Heart,” “Into The Groove,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Where’s The Party,” and “Dress You Up.”

“Where’s The Party” is of particular interest, as there was never a music video for this album track, but one is created here using clips from many of Madonna’s other music videos.

I aired the video on Media Surf a couple of times during the show’s 10-year run. In 2012, I digitized the clip and uploaded it to YouTube to share. It was immediately flagged for copyright infringement and blocked from viewing worldwide. Although it was not visible to the public, I left it uploaded to my channel and promptly did nothing with it for 11 years.

And now, as Madge has come around and is embracing her legacy with a 40th anniversary tour, YouTube (or Warner Music, or the lady herself) have decided to allow for such things to be viewed by the general public. Enjoy it while you can! It may be gone tomorrow.

A 60 Degrees Girl Group Christmas

I have always loved Christmas music. I tend to listen to older music all year round, but when it comes to sharing music with the general public, this is the only time of year when Brenda Lee is considered cool. To combat the 60’s holiday tracks that are over-covered and overplayed, I am always searching for more obscure holiday recordings by girl groups and female vocalists that are not on radio or Spotify playlists.

When I began hosting my internet radio show 60 Degrees with Brian Ferrari back in 2008, I started an annual tradition of putting together a holiday program full of female 60’s singers and girl groups interspersed with vintage commercials and sound clips from classic holiday movies and television shows. You can listen to the Halloween show here.

East Village Radio was a pirate radio station that went legit and switched to the internet, broadcasting from a storefront in New York’s Lower East Side. This first 60 Degrees holiday show debuted on December 22, 2008 and was repeated annually throughout the shows 5 year run. By 2012, the holiday programs had gained such a following that 60 Degrees was given an uninterrupted 16-hour marathon on Christmas Day.

At the beginning of Part 2 of this episode, I read a Christmas poem that I wrote about an incident from my childhood involving our tinsel-eating dog Sunshine, which has previously been posted here and also on The Good Men Project website. You can’t say I don’t recycle!

Other than my speedy vocal delivery (someone tell that guy to slow down) and some minor sound level issues, the show holds up pretty well. There are a few mis-statements that I wish I could fix:

I said that Maya Rudolph’s mother, the late great Minnie Riperton was not singing lead on The Gems tracks. But it turned out that she was.
I mis-pronounce the Meditation Singers as “The Mediation Singers” and would add that soul singer Laura Lee was a member of the group, having replaced Della Reese in the 1950’s.
Janice Orenstein is the singer on “There’s Always Tomorrow” from the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer soundtrack.

Part 1

Donde Esta Santa Claus – Toni Stante
Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas – Carla Thomas
My Boyfriend’s Coming Home For Christmas – Toni Wine
Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day – Brenda Lee
White Christmas – Baby Washington
Snowfall – Doris Day
I Want A Boy For Christmas – The Del-Vetts
You Better Be Good, World – Shirley Ellis
Peace For Christmas – Gigi Parker
Christmas Calling – Valerie Masters
Christmas Time – Jan Bradley
All I Want For Christmas Is You – Carla Thomas
Christmas Is The Time To Be With Your Baby – The Orchids
Christmas Time Is Here Again – The Flirtations
O Holy Child – Dusty Springfield
Sleigh Ride – Darlene Love wi/ The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Deep in the Heart of Christmas Darlene Love wi/ The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Christmastime For The Jews – Darlene Love
Xmas (Baby Please Come Home) Live 2005 – Darlene Love

Part 2:

Wish You A Merry Christmas – Kim Weston
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – The Miracles (featuring Claudette Robinson)
Oh Holy Night – The Supremes (featuring Florence Ballard)
Won’t Be Long Before Christmas – The Supremes
Blue Christmas – The Meditation Singers
Blue Holiday – Aretha Franklin
Love For Christmas -The Gems
Jing Jing A Ling – Honey & The Bees
Silver Bells – Rachel Sweet
Close Your Mouth (It’s Christmas) – The Free Design
The Christmas Song – Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66
I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You – Margo Guryan
Happy New Year Baby – JoAnn Campbell
Happy New Year Baby – The Sisters
January First – Peggy March
Happy New Year – Beverley
Jingle Jingle Jingle – Burl Ives
There’s Always Tomorrow – Janice Orenstein
Auld Lang Syne – Honey & the Bees

I’ll be uploading other episodes of 60 Degrees in the future. I hope you enjoy them. Thanks for listening!

’60s Girl Group Survivors

Recently, the Gr8terDays blog featured cast photos of TV shows throughout the golden age of television. Surviving cast members are pictured in color while those who have shuffled off this mortal coil are depicted in black and white. I found this method of categorizing to be a bit jarring and sad, but also informative.

The post begins; “I’ve always been the morbid type. Even as a kid, I would watch old movies and TV shows and zero in on, ‘Which of these people is still alive?'”

Well, I was that kid too, although I didn’t get that way without help. I remember watching The Wizard of Oz on television when I was 5 or 6 years old while my parents made casual conversation of tallying the deceased cast members. “Yeah, she overdosed. And he’s dead. That one’s probably dead too… I’m not sure about Jack Haley.”

This might explain why my last post was Zombie Divas, a piece of Halloween fiction that featured a reanimated Judy Garland and other dearly departed entertainers hanging around the narrator’s apartment.

I have written about my love of ’60s girl groups in the past. From 2008-2013 I produced and hosted 60 Degrees with Brian Ferrari, a 2-hour weekly program on East Village Radio devoted to female singers of the 1960’s. I have great respect for these women and am very much enjoying the newly released book Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? An Oral History Of The ’60’s Girl Groups by Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz.

With that said, here’s my list of surviving members of 30+ girl groups (primarily) of the 1960’s. They may be gone, but their music lives on.

Lead singer Peggy Santiglia and Phyllis “Jiggs” Allbut are the last original Angels. Besides Barbara “Bibbs” Allbut, first lead singer Linda Jansen and Bernadette Carroll have also passed on.

Darlene Love’s group The Blossoms started as The Dreamers in 1954. The evolving lineup went through many group names and members, with Fanita James as the one constant throughout. The 1964 lineup with Love, James and Jean King were regulars on the TV show *Shindig!* and continued until Darlene’s departure in 1975. Jean passed away in 1983, while Fanita died on Thanksgiving, 2023.

When Reather Dixon Turner died in 2014, co-lead singer Emma Pought Patron became the sole surviving member of The Bobbettes, which formed in East Harlem in 1955.

Seminal girl group The Chantels formed in the Bronx in 1957. Although they lost Jackie Landry to cancer in 1997, members of the group are still performing today.

Baby, That’s Me: The last member of The Cake is Barbara Morillo.

The Chordettes were of an earlier generation than the other girl groups, having formed as a folk group in the late 1940’s. They later shifted over to pop music with hits like “Mr. Sandman” and “Lollipop”. Carol Buschman, the last member from the group’s heydey, passed away on September 30, 2023 at age 96.

Chiffon Sylvia Peterson passed away in July, 2023. Barbara Lee had previously died in 1992. Lead singer Judy Craig still occasionally performs with her daughter and niece.

Original Crystals lead singer Barbara Alston passed away in 2018.

The Butterflys were a quartet with two former Crystals: Myrna Giraud and Mary Thomas along with lead singer Paulette Holland. All three are still in New York City… but where in the world is Carmen Santiago?

The original Cookies formed in 1954 and later morphed into the first incarnation of the Raelettes. They have all passed on, but the second lineup included Earl-Jean McCrea and Margaret Ross Williams, who are still with us. Margaret still heads a Cookies lineup and honors the earlier group in live shows with their song “In Paradise.”

Sole surviving Dixie Cup Barbara Hawkins keeps the group alive with current member Athelgra Neville, sister of The Neville Brothers.

The exciting Brenda Reid, lead singer of The Exciters, is the last surviving member of her group.

No pearly gates for these Flirtations: The group, formed in New York as The Gypsies in 1962, moved to the UK in the late 60’s. All three are still performing together, including Viola Billups, aka Pearly Gates.

Guitarist Carol McDonald (aka Shaw) passed away in 2007. In October 2023, the group was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame with the surviving members in attendance.

Honey Cone lead singer Edna Wright (sister of Darlene Love) passed away in September, 2020.

Trying to keep track of the many Ikettes is akin to herding cats, but this classic lineup – which became The Mirettes – featured Robbie Montgomery, Venetta Fields, and Jessie Smith, who died in February, 2021.

Bluebelle Sarah Dash passed away in September, 2021. The New York Times recently reported on the ongoing health battles of Cindy Birdsong, who left the Bluebelles to join the Supremes in 1967.

Late 60’s Vandella Sandra Tilley succumbed to an aneurysm in 1982, but Martha Reeves and her other Vandellas are alive and well.

Katherine Anderson Schaffner, group spokesperson and the one constant member of The Marvelettes, passed away on September 20, 2023. The surviving members are now Juanita Cowart Motley, the first to leave the group in 1963, and Ann Bogan, who replaced original lead singer Gladys Horton in 1967.

When Murmaids lead singer Terry Fischer passed away in 2017 from Parkinson’s disease, her sister and fellow Murmaid Carol Fischer Morell called her “the heart and soul of the group.”

Sole surviving Orlon Stephen Caldwell is still active on the oldies circuit with replacement members.

Middle Paris sister Sherrell has been the sole surviving sibling since the death of Allbeth in 2014. Youngest sister Priscilla passed away in 2004.

All three Pixies Three (as well as replacement member Bonnie Long-Walker) are still at the party.

Ruth Pointer is the oldest and last surviving member of The Pointer Sisters.

Reparata (Mary Aiese) had two sets of Delrons in the 1960’s. Only Carol Drobnicki has passed away.

Cousin Nedra Talley Ross is the last Ronette.

The elegant Royalettes from Baltimore, Maryland lost their first member when Anita Ross Brooks passed away a few years ago.

The Shangri-La’s: The Ganser twins have been gone for decades, but Mary Weiss passed away on January 19, 2024, leaving her sister Betty as the last surviving group member.

The Shirelles formed in 1957 and hailed from Passaic, New Jersey. Shirley Owens Alston Reeves has retired from performing, but Beverly Lee tours with her own Shirelles.

Early 4th Supreme Barbara Martin has also passed on, but all of the 1970’s post-Diana Ross Supremes are still with us.

Cissy (mother of Whitney) Houston and Estelle Brown are the surviving members of this legendary backing group.

Fayette Pinkney was one of the founding members of The Three Degrees, which was formed by producer Richard Barrett in 1963. She went solo in 1976 and passed away in 2009. Originally from Philadelphia but now based in the UK, members of the group are still touring.

The Toys were assembled in Jamaica, Queens in 1961. Lead singer Barbara Harris is the only one still performing, although the retired members often show up to support her at shows. All three still live in the Tri-state area.

At different times, Motown’s Velvelettes also featured Vandellas Betty Kelly and the late Sandra Tilley. Founding member Bertha Barbee McNeal passed away in December, 2022.

The Ad Libs were not a true girl group, but “The Boy From New York City” and their follow-up Blue Cat singles sure fit in the genre. Sadly, Mary Ann Thomas and the boys from Bayonne, New Jersey have all passed on.

The cast of the Phil Spector Christmas LP, released 60 years ago this holiday season.

Other books I highly recommend: John Clemente’s Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked The World, which is cited as a reference source on anything related to the genre. Prior to that, Alan Betrock’s 1982 Girl Groups: Story Of A Sound and the 1983 documentary based on that book were the first attempts to tell their story.

Zombie Divas

Marlene Dietrich is slumped in a wing back chair chain smoking in the corner of our living room. She is clad in her trademark top hat and tuxedo, although the ensemble is far from crisp and clean. I am on the leather settee across the room, drinking my second cup of coffee while reading the Sunday New York Times. I embraced technology and began to read the newspaper on my iPad last year, but recently I had to switch back to the hard copy. Marlene is strangely drawn to the light of the iPad. As soon as I open it, she starts hovering around, trying to paw at it. She got her hands on it once when my partner Tim carelessly left it open on the credenza. This resulted in considerable damage, which of course I had to pay for. Now I keep it locked in my briefcase and only use it for work purposes.

Sometimes Tim and I talk to Marlene, but she rarely responds. When she does, it is with incoherent mumbles shrouded in a thick German accent. Most of the time she just sits there, staring off into space with a look that might be described as profound sorrow or excruciating boredom. It’s open to interpretation. What is certain is that she is constantly smoking cigarettes. She smokes like a … well, like a fiend. There’s no other way to put it.

The constant smoke is pretty offensive, even if it does simulate that hazy effect in which she was photographed for her films. When Tim and I realized that the acrid smoke was masking a more ghastly smell of decay, we stopped complaining about it. Tim always liked to burn incense and scented candles anyway; now he has gone full-throttle with air fresheners, perfume oils and room deodorizers. There is an apothecary on Lafayette Street that sells $150 cheesecloth bags of a special potpourri blend created specifically to eradicate the stench of the divas. Tim visits there pretty much every week, although I can’t help but think that Emiliano, the part-time model behind the register might also have something to do with the frequency as well.

I tried to explain to Tim that we can’t afford this extravagance – the nightly news suggests that a simple $1.49 box of baking soda would do the trick. But as with all matters financial, he doesn’t like to talk about it. He seems to think that as long as our credit cards are not declined, then we have the money to pay for anything.

I go to the kitchen to refill my coffee cup. Tim is standing at the stove, scrambling eggs. His shoulders are tensed halfway to his ears, his mouth a taught crimson bowtie as he shuffles the eggs around the pan, shaking his head slightly.

“She drank the rest of the gin.” he says curtly.

“How do you know it was her?” I ask. I turn to the sink and begin to nonchalantly rinse out the crystal goblet which I had used for the previous evening’s nightcap.

“Just look at her.” He nods towards the corner by the garbage can, where Edith Piaf is rocking back and forth on her feet, twisting a tortured handkerchief in her fists. The empty bottle of gin is lying in the recycle bin next to her, right where I left it the night before. She will burst into song shortly, most likely “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rein.” It was quite jarring at first, but now we see the signs: first the rocking starts, followed by the handkerchief twisting, then the low, guttural moans begin and eventually form the familiar tune that used to flood through our home on many a Sunday afternoon. I have grown accustomed to it. Tim, however, has not. “Fucking lush,” he mutters.

From the living room, I can hear the sounds of Marlene on the move: Every day, like clockwork, she heads out on a quest for cigarettes – dragging her filthy shoes across the antique Persian rug. Tim and I used to be fanatic about trying to maintain all of the fine furnishings we had purchased when we moved into this apartment together. Here, we had created our dream dwelling: a chic little paradise with an art deco design scheme. We were setting the stage for an endless series of sophisticated cocktail and dinner parties that never materialized: these are different times. Besides, we were working too hard to even think about entertaining. And then the divas showed up. Now there are stains and cigarette burns and everything is hopelessly caked with mud and ashes and god knows what else. Our broken Dyson vacuum lies in a heap underneath the baby grand piano.

“Why doesn’t THAT reanimate?” Tim cracked. I thought it was funny but I didn’t laugh. I wasn’t in the mood.

I return to my newspaper with a fresh cup of coffee. “See you later Marlene,” I say with faux exuberance. She flicks her hand over her shoulder as a sign of vague acknowledgement. At the front door, she softly begins warbling “Fawwing in wuv again… nevuh wanted tooooo….”

Theories abound as to the cause of this phenomena – 24 hour news channels devote considerable programming to speculative hypothesis involving a century of electronic sound, radio, and television waves intersecting with static electricity and wifi hot spots or possibly some other random factors that resulted in these reanimated corpses taking on the forms of our dear departed divas.

The idea that the subject has to be deceased is cause for even more speculation. There are no reports of Madonna, Britney or Cher zombies. It’s those that have been mourned and continue to be revered. Conspiracy theorists are having a field day.

I should also explain that these are not your garden variety “shoot ‘em in the head to kill ‘em” movie type of zombies. Go ahead and destroy your Lena Horne – by dawn the next day, another one will be back in a glittering pantsuit, angrily shout-singing “Stormy Weather” around the apartment.

There’s no point in maiming them, either – our friends Thomas and Ed had a Dusty Springfield that kept gesticulating wildly, smashing knickknacks and bric-a-brac with every dramatic swoop. They accidentally tore off her arms while trying to restrain her before she destroyed every last piece of their precious mercury glass collection. The next morning they awoke to a ghostly rendition of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” as a fully intact Dusty zombie hurled, one by one, the remaining contents of their china cabinet down the hall towards their bedroom.

Our Judy is perched on top of the dresser in the corner of the master bedroom – she wears a fedora, black tights and a dress jacket…. eternally snapping her fingers to the intro of “Come On Get Happy.” She rarely ever sings, but ya gotta give credit to that corpse: she’s got rhythm. Even as the flesh wears away on her fingers and falls onto the floor, she keeps steady time.

It’s not really them – we have to remind ourselves that. And some of these zombies are cast wildly against type for the roles they are now inhabiting. I saw a TikTok of a little old Asian Mama Cass that really had the moves down. But it’s not the same.

Our divas disappeared – often prematurely, tragically, suddenly. What we were left to comfort ourselves with were their images, movies and recordings – these are the trappings that most likely brought them forth in their most stereotypical and obvious incarnations. Now that they have been among us, even in these imperfect decaying forms, we can’t go back to having them at arm’s length. Not anymore.

Ronnie Spector 1980

I recently found myself perusing (as one does) the March, 1981 issue of In Touch For Men Magazine when I happened upon an article about Ronnie Spector. “How timely,” I thought, as August 10th marked her 80th birthday. Unfortunately, the Ronettes lead singer passed away at age 78 in January, 2022 – click here for a tribute with some choice song recommendations.

Ronnie didn’t have a whole lot going on when Genya Ravan called her up out of the blue and asked her to sign with her new record label, Polish. Ravan was a fellow rock and roll veteran – a Holocaust survivor from Poland who, as Goldie Zelkowitz, fronted the legendary female rock band Goldie & The Gingerbreads. After a name change, a stint fronting the band Ten Wheel Drive, and several solo LPs, Ravan was ready to use her production skills on her own record label. In her memoir Lollipop Lounge: Memoirs Of A Rock And Roll Refugee, Ravan clarifies the label’s name: “‘Polish’ as in shine, not the nationality.”

While the music industry might have been through with Ronnie, Ravan was extremely excited with the prospect of producing her first solo LP. “I was a great fan of hers. I’d loved the sound of her voice ever since I first heard it,” she wrote. “Also, my own career as a singer seemed to be looking bleak… so working with Ronnie seemed to offer an alternative way of permanently stamping my mark on the music industry.”

Ravan’s idea was to expose Ronnie to some of the acts from CBGB’s that she was producing – to bring her iconic voice to a contemporary rock setting.

The album was recorded at Media Sound, RPM and Electric Lady studios with contributions from members of Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers, the Dead Boys, Mink DeVille and many others. In addition to producing, Ravan also provided backing vocals.

In her own autobiography, Ronnie admitted that she did not feel a connection with the New York punk scene that she felt Genya was pushing her to embrace, although she would concede that the harder edge of Siren inspired her to cut loose on the vocals in a way that she had never done before.

While the lady doth protest, it must be noted that her cover of The Ramones’ “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” was a natural choice for her to cover: Phil had just produced The End Of The Century for the group, including a cover of The Ronettes “Baby I Love You.” Joey Ramone would later produce Ronnie’s 1999 EP She Talks To Rainbows. If Ronnie didn’t like “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” initially, she must have had a change of heart, as she re-recorded it for her 2006 CD The Last Of The Rock Stars.

She also collaborated with classic punk band The Misfits on a couple of tracks in 2003. Safe to say, Genya Ravan was on to something after all.

*Ronnie & Goldie: Spector with Genya Ravan (1980)*

Another standout track that is often overlooked is “Any Way That You Want Me,” a Chip Taylor composition originally recorded in the 1960’s by The Troggs and then Evie Sands. As producer, Ravan’s idea for the album was to “make sure the music had an edge, but at the same time I didn’t want to lose Ronnie’s 1960’s sound entirely.” This track walks that tightrope very well.

Unfortunately, the album doesn’t quite stick the landing with its final track: “Happy Birthday Rock ‘N’ Roll” is a 6 minute passive aggressive valentine-slash-middle finger of a song dedicated to Phil Spector. Harkening back to her ex-husband only negates the distance that the rest of the album puts between Ronnie and her musical past.

By 1980, the story of Ronnie’s barefoot escape from her marriage was no secret. Giving this song the subtitle “For Phil” is just bizarre. Imagine if Tina Turner had dedicated the title track of her Private Dancer LP to Ike.

The lyrics present Phil as the embodiment of “Rock ‘N’ Roll” itself, alternately praising him for his accomplishments, but noting that “You’re pushing 40 / but you’re still not old,” and “Some people say you’ve lost your grip / They say you’re past your prime and you’re no longer hip.”

One can imagine that Phil was not thrilled when he listened to this.

The songwriting on this track is credited to Elkie Brooks and Peter Gage, even though there are several breaks that segue into the choruses of “Be My Baby,” “Baby I Love You,” and “You Baby” – Ronettes songs that originally listed Phil as a co-writer. None of the original songwriters are credited here. As a comparison, Eddie Money’s 1986 hit “Take Me Home Tonight” – with Ronnie’s “Be My Baby” refrain – lists that song’s writers – Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich/Phil Spector alongside the other songwriters. Perhaps if Siren had been a commercial success, the famously litigious Phil would have come after them.

Reviews for the LP were all over the place – from high praise to the lowest dismissal:

Above: NME – Great photo / Terrible review (8/30/1980)

*A pan from The Austin American-Statesman, whose reviewer also mis-genders Ms. Ravan. (9/27/80)*

The Newsday review above was followed by one for Blondie’s AutoAmerican. (12/26/80)

In a more recent assessment, Joe Viglione writes on the AllMusic website; “If Phil Spector overproduced to good effect, Genya Ravan purposely underproduced, choosing instead to let flavors of different musicians paint the fabric behind Ronnie Spector.”

Genya Ravan stands by the album, writing; “I’m very proud of Siren… and of what I did for her on it. I think it’s the best thing she recorded after her glory days with Phil Spector.”

Category: Pop Culture