Peaches is coming back to Auckland!

Anyone who has seen her play at a Big Day Out will know the first lady of bisexuality puts on a bad ass show that is not to be missed. 

She is playing The Powerstation on Thursday September 25 with a backing band from Berlin called Sweet Machine.  Tickets go on sale July 9 from Real Groovy and Fast N Loose.

For now, I’ll just hum “I U She together, come on baby let’s go . . .”

The nerdy-looking Seattle boys who became indie pioneers have created a ride from start to finish with their sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs.  It sounds like Death Cab For Cutie got together for a polished, intense jam session - and had more of a melodramatically-fun old time than they’ve had in their lives.

It is a self-indulgent soundtrack for down days, near break ups and unrequited love.  Just the thing to listen to when you are wrapped up warm indoors and drinking red wine.

It opens with Bixby Canyon Bridge, a tune about singer Ben Gibbard’s search for a connection with his idol, writer Jack Kerouac, but becomes a taunting look at disillusionment.  Gibbard apparently went to Bixby Canyon Bridge, where Kerouac wrote Big Sur, with the aim of writing music, but came away with little more than a frustrating case of writer’s block.

The second track, I Will Possess Your Heart hurtles through four and a half minutes of bass-driven instrumental, before Gibbard’s boy-next-door vocals burst in, to create an entire eight and a half minute ride that is more captivating than any average two minute radio-pop song.  It tells the tale of an obsessive desire to be with someone who has rejected all advances, with the pleading line:

“You got to spend some time, love . . . You got to spend some time with me . . . And I know that you’ll find love . . . I will possess your heart”

Narrow Stairs begins with an upbeat pulse, but quickly becomes mellower.  It is completely dripping with the sort of dark desperation that gives Death Cab For Cutie its wallowing edge. 

The fifth track Talking Bird really slows it down, but it’s a track I kept coming back to, for its intensity and the underlying message in the words.  The album finishes with the depressing The Ice Is Getting Thinner which compares the slow ending of a relationship to ice getting thinner beneath a couple.

While producer and guitarist Chris Walla describes Narrow Stairs as a curve ball - it’s one you’ll want to catch.  However if you haven’t listened to Death Cab For Cutie before, maybe start with their 2005 album Plans.

There are no songs that can knock I Will Follow You into the Dark off its perch as my favourite EVER Death Cab For Cutie track . . . but there are a couple which come almost close:

Stand out tracks: Bixby Canyon Bridge, I Will Possess your Heart, Talking Bird

http://www.myspace.com/deathcabforcutie

(Matt Akersten has graciously handed me a pile of CDs which I will be reviewing over the next few weeks)

Since Amy Winehouse brought retro-jazz and soul back into fashion, there has been a steady stream of singers with a similar vocal style touted as “the next Amy Winehouse”. Gorgeous Australian 16-year-old Gabriella Cilmi is one such singer and has proved she’s plenty to write home about with her debut album Lessons To Be Learned. Her lead single Sweet About Me had all the catchy goods to make it to incessant play status on commercial radio, and her album has hence done pretty well in the charts.

Lessons To Be Learned has a real mix of style, from R&B and soul to rockier tracks, which keeps the album interesting.  At the start of the album, there seems to be something a tiny bit overdone which makes me feel like the natural gorgeousness of her voice isn’t used to its full potential.  However Lessons To Be Learned proves to have a rare ability to grab the ears more and more as it progresses, where many albums seem to fade after about five tracks.  The almost Erykah Badu-esque style heard in Cigaretttes and Lies makes it the stand out track for me.  Apparently, although Cilmi has songwriting credits, her music was co-written by British instant-pop hit production machine Xenomania, a writing team which is responsible for the likes of Girls Aloud.

At just 16, Cilmi has a developed and versatile voice. She is without some of the more dirty grit of Amy Winehouse, but she is also without the freaky eyelashes and substance problems (hopefully!). And with dire predictions circulating about about the health of emphysema-suffering Winehouse, someone may need to fill her wigs. Cilmi certainly has the potential to have a big future . . . but maybe leave the wigs and eyelashes alone, aye Gabriella? Standout tracks: Sweet About Me, Messy, Cigarettes and Lies, Sit in the Blues

This weekend my girlfriend and I are celebrating our second anniversary, with two nights in a lavish inner-city hotel room in Auckland.  While Friday we’ll probably stay indoors, on Saturday night we will head to Flirt’s third birthday.  If you are a woman who likes women, who lives anywhere near Auckland, you should come to K Rd and support the third birthday of what has become a key event on the Auckland lesbian calendar.  Congratulations to Sarah and Kelvery for making a lesbian night last for three years!  It’s longer than the average dyke relationship . . .  right?!

Apparently some girls from Girlfest, an annual event on the Gold Coast, are crossing the ditch especially to tell us all about the 2009 Girlfest.  Sounds very tempting. 

Flirt’s 3rd Birthday - Saturday June 21st- with DJs and live music - at Crest Bar (corner of K Rd and Pitt St) from 10pm, $10 cover charge.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical, Civic Theatre, Auckland, May 28

There is just one word to describe Priscilla, The Musical - fabulous!  

The stage adaptation takes all the heart of the original story from the 1994 classic movie, but with expansion in both the budget and music it takes it to a whole new level of camp fun.

From the gravity defying head-dresses, the divas descending from the rafters, the giddying costume changes, the $1 million specially made bus and a giant shoe that would put even Dorothy’s Sister to shame . . . it is a madly fun spectacle.

The gorgeous Daniel Scott is hilarious as Adam and his drag persona Felicia, with all the deliriously sharp shrieking tones of any truly over-the-top queen, while the classy Tony Sheldon perfectly creates Bernadette, the towering, widowed transsexual who finds love in the most unlikely place.

The story flows through one toes-tapping-and-hips-shaking-in-your-seat song after another, from I Will Survive and Go West, to at one stage almost becoming the “Priscilla Queen of the Dessert” with a wonderfully gratuitous dancing cupcake scene set to Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park.

Here’s a little taste:

While the cast members sing many of the pieces, they also lipsync while backed up by three “divas” who manage to keep smiling and emitting powerful vocals, while dangling from rooftop wires.

The crowd was full of the A-W list of Auckland celebrities and sprinkled with the wigs of local drag royalty.  All were on their feet, dancing, singing and clapping as the curtain fell.

Priscilla is a must-see for anyone who likes a touch of fabulousness in their evening . . . but just one warning . . . watch out for flying ping pong balls!

Have you seen the show?  What did you think?

I have been hard pressed to write, or do much at all, after finding the 5th season of The L Word on YouTube and trying to watch it all before it is possibly found and removed (ah!).  It is such addictive watching, but seriously, is Jenny Schecter not the MOST annoying TV character since Fran Fine?

I don’t want to spoil too much of what is going on for anyone who has only seen up to the end of season four, or less, but let’s just say Jenny’s on an even mightier power trip than ever before.  As so many fans have already said, why oh why did they kill off Dana and not Jenny?  Oh Dana . . . (sighs)

It’s exciting times for Bette and Tina fans though . . . are they . . . maybe . . . will they get back together?!  I am sooo in love with Miss Powerpants; Bette Porter.  I’ve decided she’s my HOWILF (pronounced howwwl wolf) as in hot older woman I’d like ta . . . yeah. 

In other movements, someone finds romance behind bars, someone else hits the headlines, while someone else entirely is annoying as hell (guess who?!)

There will apparently be just one more season of The L Word made and I seriously hope something new comes along afterwards, so I don’t have to be stuck watching The Box and just wishing it was a dyke channel, as the name so cruelly insinuates it could be. 

I guess there is always Grey Anatomy, which I find pretty boring generally . . . but I hear there is a lesbian storyline happening involving that hot Dr Callie Torres.  Did anyone see the elevator kiss?  I’ll have to check it out.  As long as they don’t move in together and try to have a baby next week (eek turkey basters!), I’ll take any lesbian storyline I can get.

Here’s the first part of the first episode from season five of The L Word anyway ladies (and all you guys who love The L Word after being introduced by your lesbian mates).  The links to the next parts of the episode, and further episodes, pop up when you open it in YouTube.  Watch it while you can!

I was getting a little morose, thinking after a dream Summer and Autumn, concert season had dried up.  I feared all that would be on offer over winter would be the likes of Westlife, Panic at The Disco (now apparently without an exclamation mark, which doesn’t help anything) or even, God forbid, the freaking Ten Tenors (isn’t one enough!?)

Anyway, thanks to the awesomeness of Cheese on Toast and their pre-sale, I have two shiny tickets to see The Breeders in a courier bag on the way to my house.  The Breeders feature Kim Deal, of the Pixies, who is perhaps one of the rockingest most talented women in rock history.  It’s bound to be a cracking show.  Having never seen The Breeders before, I am VERY excited. 

Also in my concert diary are indie rockers Band of Horses, who are coming in July.  If you haven’t heard these guys and their beautiful sound, do yourself a favour and check this out:

And finally rounding out my concert heaven, is the queen of my soul, the legendary Mary J Blige, who is making her first trip to New Zealand.  Hopefully she pulls out some of those heart wrenching slow jams that were part of the soundtrack to my early-teens, like this one:

Oh and anyone going to see Elton tonight - have a wickedly camp time!

The results from a gaynz.com contest asking you to name your favourite Madonna song have some interesting results.  They’re counted back here . . . with a bit of music trivia and some videos for the top five, to boot (and a gratuitous girl on girl kiss pic).

10th equal. Frozen (1998) and Erotica (1992)

Trivia: Naomi Campbell appeared in the Erotica video.

9. Into The Groove (1985)

Trivia: This song featured in Madonna’s first feature film; Desperately Seeking Susan.

8. Holiday (1983)

Trivia: This was Madonna’s first ever hit song.  

7. Jump (2006)

Trivia: Madonna is trying to channel a Japanese anime character in the video for Jump.

6. Music  (2000)

Trivia: Madonna was five-months pregnant with her son Rocco during the filming of the video, which is why an animation section was included.

5. Like A Prayer (1989)

4. Hung Up (2005)

3. Vogue (1990)

2. Like A Virgin (1984)

1. 4 Minutes (2008)

So what do you think?  I must say I’m surprised at the number one.  With all Madonna’s classics to choose from, why pick a song where she, like so many current pop artists, chose to use the combined timber powerof Timberland and Timberlake, rather than going it on her own? 

As soon as I hear a song that starts with Timberland groaning, I can’t hear anything else . . .  meanwhile Justin Timberlake groping at Madonna’s clothes in the video is just plain scary - did he learn nothing from “nipplegate”?

The most disappointing thing about this song is that you can barely hear Madonna’s vocals through everything going on the background.  If 4 Minutes is supposed to save the world . . . somebody call Al Gore and tell him not to bother. 

Give me the 80s, Like a Prayer and Like a Virgin, over 2000s hip-poptastic Madonna any-day!  

So come on gaynz.com readers - tell me WHY OH WHY is 4 Minutes your favourite Madonna song?  Is it just the first one you thought of in your haste to enter the contest . . . or do you really, truly love it? 

So there’s been a bit of hype around for awhile about Scarlett Johansson releasing an album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, which is a Tom Waits tribute with one original track.  I heard a version she did of Summertime a little while back and thought it was pretty nice, so I had high hopes for her upcoming album.

However I have been listening to some samples of her covers and I’m far from impressed, in fact I’m entirely underwhelmed.  What has been produced is a mish-mash loud synthesizers over Johansson’s barely-audible voice, which she’s pushed down deeper than sounds natural.  The album actually sounds like it’s inspired by that song Kokomo, you know “Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya . . .”

Let’s make it clear that I have a real soft spot for Waits, who to me is all whiskey and gravel and goodness.  I was introduced to his music by my current girlfriend and love of my life.  We’ve since spent plenty of nights painting, drinking, smoking and get real laid back while listening to Tom.  Here’s an example of who he is, megaphone included:

While Scarlett Johansson was super cute as the kid in The Horse Whisperer and great in Lost in Translation, she’s now taken a step into towards that hazy popular part of the entertainment world I attempt to avoid, almost (but not quite) into the irredeemable company of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and slobbering paparazzi hounds.  No matter how great your producers are and how many incredible guest artists you have, if you don’t have a great voice you can’t be a singer. 

While it’s not awful, there is just nothing memorable to Scarlett’s voice.  It’s monotonous and dull and boring, no spark, no fire.  The irony is that if you’ve seen Jim Jarmusch’s brilliant Down By Law you might be able to make a strong case that Waits trumps Johansson in the acting stakes anyway!But there’s always hope there will be a few hot music videos, which I for one will be probably watching on mute.  Stick to being gorgeous Miss Johansson - leave singing to the singers.Which brings me to what really is floating my boat right now - the new album from Portishead; Third.  It’s stunning.  Do yourself a favour and buy a copy.  Beth Gibbons - now that is one woman with a hot, hot voice.Meanwhile, if you want to hear some fun Scarlett Johansson inspired music, try this track from The Teenagers “Starlett Johansson.”

What a harrowing loss.  

Mahinarangi Tocker has passed away at North Shore Hospital this afternoon after having a massive asthma attack last week.  We are told she died peacefully.

The first time I saw her perform live was at the first-ever Big Gay Out I went to, when I was a sorta-straight girl seriously questioning my sexuality.  I can recall her standing on the stage, I think she was actually barefoot, just so laid back and churning out one beautiful song after another.  She paid tribute to her partner, saying she had been with her for about 15 years.  That really struck me - and sparked the thought that maybe I could find a woman to be with and love for a long time.

The next time I saw Mahinarangi perform she completely blew my mind.  It was at the Auckland performance of the musical tribute to the poet Hone Tuwhare that Charlotte Yates collaborated.  The late Hone Tuwhare was my favourite poet and hearing his inspired words to music was an incredible experience, intensified by the fact that Tuwhare himself, despite being ill, made the trek up to Auckland from the depths of Otago.

Mahinarangi’s take on the poem ”A Northland Heart-Scape” was breathtaking.  I can still recall the way her voice ascended then crashed in a heart-rendering finale.

My thoughts are with her partner.  I hope she knows how much Mahinarangi was loved and respected by many New Zealanders, gay or not.

I don’t have the words to pay tribute to such a life, so I’ll let Mahinarangi speak for herself, in a poem “Never” which was in her 2001 collection “Lyrics Without Melody”.

a breath is a breath
is a sound is a sigh
is a knot in my belly
that I’ll never define
I’ll take all I get
and get all I give
to be caught in the bow
of a ship I’ll not sail
and the season of truth
is a season of change
as abrupt and as sharp
as a thunderous rain

a kiss is a kiss
is a heart beat to rest
in a clotted vein best
returned

and my song is your song
a verse of a chorus
to be with you and under
we walk the hand walk
and we talk the mouth smooth
to the end of an earth
that I don’t realise
in adventures and toil
you’ll be precious to spoil
and I’ll lay in your arms
to hide
away from avoidance
away from the known
that make me forgive
what I need to forget
as in wild winter
as winter in wild
here we are stormed
and treacherous…
to lie in together
you die in my lap
we are wrapped in deception
and truth…

a sigh is a sigh is a breath is a breath is a knot in my belly that I cannot digest…