Video Reviews, Depeche Mode Covers, Cobain Remembered
April 8, 2011
Got lots swirling around in the ol’ nugget today, but I want to lead out with yet another remembrance of Kurt Cobain. I know many think he’s overrated and overmentioned, but this week marked 17 years since he took his own life… time flies, doesn’t it?
Near the end of high school, I really got into Nirvana. The first time I heard them was just before Teen Spirit blew up. It was a random group of guys, hanging out in someone’s basement. A cassette tape was pulled out and played, and despite the different musical tastes of everyone in the room (from Primus, to Depeche Mode, to Phish fans) we all agreed: Nirvana was awesome.
One thing I loved about Cobain was his understanding and empathy of the underdog. Back before the modern era of Lady Gaga- a strong advocate for the gay community- Cobain rose to fame on the strength of a catchy guitar riff and an intense music video that MTV played with the feverish excitement that is now solely reserved for reality TV shows. At the height of his fame Cobain did an interview with The Advocate Magazine, appearing on the cover to talk about how he appreciates the gay community. Since we all know his music, I thought it would be more interesting to share this.
At the time, I probably appreciated his stance of gay issues because I’d taken a small amount of shit for in junior high and high school for having Depeche Mode as my favorite band. They were European and played keyboards, in Waynesboro, Virginia that somehow qualified as being gay. I don’t know how many times I was told my favorite band was gay- so many times that I figured it didn’t matter if they were or not. It’s funny, but even the thought that a band was gay, a band that had influenced me and helped guide me through the somewhat treacherous experience of puberty, probably had a lot to do with my opinion that sexual orientation is not something that matters in the slightest.
Speaking of Depeche Mode- I had the great experience of helping my friend, Andy Deane of Bella Morte, with a cover of one of Depeche Mode’s classic songs. It sounds great- I’ll reveal the song when Andy does. It’s being done as part of Bella Morte’s Kickstarter campaign to help fund their new record, After the Flood. The Depeche Mode cover is an exclusive giveaway to anyone who donates to their campaign, which ends of April 16. So if you want the tune, and want to help a very gay-friendly group of musicians in their own right, you have a week to donate.
It was a lot of fun singing back-up vocals on a song that I’d drive circles around Waynesboro singing in my car back in the day. Glad I could put the harmonies I worked out twenty years ago to good use!
Lastly, I’m humbled by the kind response that the Synthetic Division music video has received. If you want to hear me talk about music more, then check out an interview I did for Horrorshow Radio this week, The Life and Times of Shawn Decker. Geek Crafts also featured the “Out of Time” video, and called me a “geek chic trifecta” due to my involvement in music and writing, as well as the fact that I named my band after math… Speaking of the music video, if you look closely you’ll see a Depeche Mode music video within the Synthetic Division music video. (It’s not a clue as to which song Bella Morte covered, btw!)
Hope you have a great weekend.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
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Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
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Stephen Colbert Talks AIDS
March 31, 2011
Poz blogger Oriol has some great insights on this week’s discussion about AIDS on the Colbert Report, when Anthony Fauci appeared as a guest. I love Colbert, and think he did a great job of conveying the mass misunderstanding of HIV through his on-air character. “I thought it was done!”
My favorite part is when Colbert says that being a white guy = HIV vaccine, after a discussion with Fauci about how HIV affects communities of color at a higher rate. Funny stuff on a deadly serious topic, I honestly think this is one of the best ways to reach the complacent masses, and I hope that Colbert has Fauci back on to talk about other aspects of the epidemic.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out
the lovely Gwenn’s
Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
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Meet Dirk Roth, Watch His Cool Video
March 30, 2011
I love music videos. The only time I see them is when TiVo picks up 120 Minutes on VH1 Classic, which I highly recommend watching if you haven’t seen it. They show the best. I know, I know, you can YouTube videos anytime… but 120 Minutes really sorts out the quality stuff, and there’s always a Depeche Mode video on the 2 hour program.
A video you won’t see on VH1 Classic is one that I came across when a friend of mine, Mike Johnson of the band Ego Likeness, shared it on Facebook. It’s a video for the band Joy Division, created using Playmobil toys and stop-motion. The creator, Dirk Roth, basically took a live TV performance and recreated it, making something even better than the original.
Compare the two… the real band:
Now check out Dirk’s version…
Pretty awesome, huh? What’s equally awesome is that Dirk agreed to make a music video for Synthetic Division last month… and it debuts soon! More information in a couple of days- stay tuned.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
WWE Wrestles With Gay Issue
March 28, 2011
I am an unapologetic pro wrestling fan. Oh, wait, sports entertainment fan. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) takes great pains in correcting journalists who label their product “professional wrestling”, as that is far too limiting in scope when you consider the long line of products (from movies to merch) that the family-friendly company offers.
But I’m not a journalist, I’m just a longtime fan since I was kid. Old habits are hard to break, so I’ll just call it “pro wrestling”. In fact, one of my dreams is to write for the company down the road, one this little HIV thing is cured. It’s nice to keep up with the happenings by continuing to tune, so my transition from talking and writing about AIDS can be as seamless as possible.
Recently my beloved sport has run into a long-running issue: homophobia. A couple of weeks ago, their biggest hero to children, John Cena, raised the ire of GLAAD when he delivered a speech aimed at the Rock. While rapping about his nemesis and his movie career, Cena joked that everyone knows that the Rock is more Brokeback Mountain than Witch Mountain. See what he’s doing? He’s suggesting that the Rock isn’t a real man by insinuating that he is gay.
Aside from trying to diminish the value of a fellow fan-favorite by gay-baiting, Cena also targeted the company’s current champion and my 2008 Person of the Year, the purposefully arrogant Mike The Miz. As the Miz stood in the ring with his lackey, Alex Riley, Cena smirked whilst wearing jorts and a trucker hat, telling a live crowd and TV audience of millions that Miz and Riley were partners in more ways than one. Wink wink, nudge nudge. That they shopped together at Bed, Bath & Beyond… I’d estimate that Cena’s biggest fans are between the ages of 8-12, what good does this kind of tactic do for them?
WWE issued an apology on Cena’s behalf, although the top star himself remained silent. They said they value their gay fans and will work with GLAAD to make sure this doesn’t happen again. See, in wrestling stars like Cena get a little more free reign on the mic, so it was a good move for GLAAD to explain to their heroes (and villains) why targeting gay people might make life for gay youth a living hell… because all gay teenagers need are classmates in jorts targeting them.
I was quite happy to see the immediate response from WWE about partnering with GLAAD. Whether they took a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond is unknown.
The honeymoon phase of the new partnership got off to a rocky start. Via Twitter, the company’s top villain/announcer, Michael Cole, struck. In a public message to a fellow broadcaster, he tweeted one word: “faggot”. When TMZ helped to expose the situation, he posted a lame apology and the following, “I was not ordered to apologize I said I am sorry because I am. Now can I get back to being a character again please?” He deleted this, along with the original post of “faggot”. It seems to be his way of saying he tweets as his on-air persona, but he’d never dare to utter the word “faggot” on national television, so it’s a flimsy, thinly veiled excuse.
It’s not known whether or not he would have been forced to apologize. I personally believe that WWE would have made him, as they can’t be pleased with the embarrassing behavior one week out from their biggest event of the year, Wrestlemania. What is known is that, over the course of three weeks, the company’s top hero and heel found common ground when it came to stepping on not only their gay wrestling fans, but fans who are straight and get how damaging this kind of language and psychology can be.
Is it grown men pretending to kill each other? Yes. But with most of the onscreen time these days being dedicated to talking instead of wrestling, it’s just as important for the wrestlers and company to choose their words wisely. One mistake in a match injures one or two people, but one mistake on the mic could prove physically harmful to many outside of the ring.
I’m hoping they get this all cleaned up by the time the cure rolls around and I start writing pro wrestling storylines for a living.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Elizabeth Taylor: A Moving Star to the AIDS Community
March 24, 2011
Elizabeth Taylor is a legend for a far more important reason than pretending to be someone else while being filmed.
In the 1980′s, when this country and her own inner-circle of friends were beginning to see the harsh realities of AIDS and it’s unbearable stigma, she spoke out. Also, she never stopped caring about people whose lives had been shaken by HIV, even as others in Hollywood moved on to more fashionable causes in the late 1990′s.
No, Liz stuck by us.
As her own health was failing, she would attend fundraisers and give moving speeches about the issues of HIV/AIDS, such as discrimination and homophobia. If AIDS were a physical entity- and I think it’s helpful to think of it as such since HIV’s power is living in the silence of shadows- then it certainly picked a fight with the wrong person when it targeted Liz’s friend, Rock Hudson.
Ultimately, it was her honest and moving reaction to the moral backlash associated with a sexually transmitted infection such as HIV that made Liz a friend to all of us who are living with HIV. And we’re surely going to miss our beloved friend.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Click the image above to read her 1997 interview with Poz magazine. Check out Sean Strub’s memories of how that interview came to be.
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
Republicans VS. Planned Parenthood
March 4, 2011
One of the reasons why I’ll probably never be able to cast a vote for a Republican is because of their views on sex, whether it’s institutionalized homophobia (in which they obsessively cannot get the sexual imagery of homosexual acts out of their minds- hmmmm) or their opposition to open dialogue about safer sex.
Here, the Daily Show explains the most recent attacks on Planned Parenthood by House Republicans, who should just stay out of the way and let PP talk to their teenagers about sex since they refuse to do so.
WeekDaily Blogging and I Dream of Bieber
February 12, 2011
So I’m loving this daily blog stuff. I enjoy passing along interesting bits of news and random stories to fill in for the general lack of excitement in my own life. And really, that’s kind of what blogging and social networking has evolved into- more of a sharing of information as well as a way to express ones self which is how it started.
But, one conclusion I have come to is that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with 7 blog posts a week. I’d rather have a WeekDaily Blog than a Weak Daily Blog. Of course, if anything urgent is happening or I have a particularly compelling dream on a Friday night that I must share, then sure, I’ll post something…
Like just this past week. One of my favorite wrestlers these days, CM Punk, had an epic unplanned nosebleed on Monday Night Raw on live television. The kind of gusher that took me back to my childhood with hemophilia. He soldiered through it during the whole bit- which involved scrapping with Randy Orton (whose clumsy lunge caused the unintentional damage). Well, that nosebleed made it into my dream, only it wasn’t CM Punk who was sporting it. I was having a talk with another wrestler, Edge, when Justin Bieber turns up- with a massive nosebleed.
Strange, huh?
OK, so maybe I won’t be posting about my dreams on the weekend.
Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great Saturday afternoon. Me? I’m about to go get an iced mocha. I know, big surprise.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
A big thank you to my weekend mocha sponsors: Joyce Anderson and Lauren Hoffman, who gave me a welcome home mocha on Friday after Gwenn and I returned from a trip to snowy Kansas City this week. Thanks, ladies!
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
In Depth Super Bowl Analysis (via Twitter)
February 6, 2011
For more real-time musings and outbursts of anger, click on the tweet above and follow me on Twitter.
Positively Yours,
Shawn
Watch, Friend and Follow me on:
YouTube, Facebook and Twitter
Website: ShawnandGwenn.com
Also check out the lovely Gwenn’s Fashion/Coffee Blog
My CD, Synthetic Division, A Symptom of Life, is on iTunes!
SHARE THE BLOG. NOT THE VIRUS.
LIFE IN PHOTOS
Face Time fun with my Goddaughter. She was digging our phone chat- even though we were about three feet away from one another.
Making the enemy quit out with @squirrel_munky and @vaineos :)
Closing out the Joe with @gwennbarringer this afternoon.
Caught in full Mocha Mode...
Speaking About Sexual Health
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