The newest from Boywonder Productions..

Teddy Pendergrass, R&B Soul Singer, Dies at 59

By JON PARELES
Published: January 14, 2010

Teddy Pendergrass, the Philadelphia soul singer whose husky, potent baritone was one definition of R&B seduction in the 1970s but whose career was transformed in 1982 when he was severely paralyzed in an auto accident, died on Wednesday night in Bryn Mawr, Pa. He was 59.

His death was confirmed by his publicist, Lisa Barbaris, who said Mr. Pendergrass had been treated for colon cancer since August at Bryn Mawr Hospital and had suffered many complications.

As the lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and in a solo career in which he sold millions of albums, Mr. Pendergrass brought gospel dynamics to bedroom vows in songs like “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” “The Love I Lost,” “Close the Door,” “Turn Off the Lights” and “Love T.K.O.”

His performances rose from breathy whispers to gutsy exhortations, making his voice the deeper, more aggressive counterpart to the styles of 1970s soul men like Al Green and Marvin Gaye. It was the flagship sound for Philadelphia International Records, riding lush strings and big-band disco from the producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

Philadelphia International’s songwriters provided Mr. Pendergrass with material that was forthright but never crude, promising nothing more explicit than a back rub.

“Teddy had that big, booming baritone voice, but he was a tender man,” Mr. Huff said in a telephone interview Thursday. “He was very lovable. You could hear it in his music.”

By the late ’70s, Mr. Pendergrass’s concerts — some of them presented for women only — drew screaming, ecstatic crowds. Women would fling teddy bears and lingerie onstage. Mr. Gamble called Mr. Pendergrass “the black Elvis.”

Mr. Pendergrass was a hitmaker for a decade. Then, on March 18, 1982, on a winding road in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Mr. Pendergrass’s Rolls-Royce smashed into a highway divider and a tree, a result of either brake failure or a faulty electric system that had disabled the power steering. Spinal cord injuries left him paralyzed from the chest down at 31.

Read more here.

Pic(k) of the Day

FanboyQ's 2010 Celebrity Death Pool

To put it lightly, 2009 was a huge year for celebrity deaths. From Michael Jackson to Brittany Murphy - Patrick Swayze to Andy Hallet to Billy Mays to Bea Arthur - the famous among us seemingly dropped like flies.

So who out there will we be mourning by this date next year? Leave it to my sick and demented mind to compile a list of ten celebrities that I doubt will be around much longer:

1. Billy Graham



2. Kirk Douglas



3. Mickey Rooney



4. Elizabeth Taylor



5. Gloria Stuart



6. Betty White



7. Dick Clark



8. Stan Lee



9. Dolores Hope



10. Jerry Lewis

Pic(k) of the Day

Pic(k) of the Day

Let's start the new year out right....

My thoughts at the end of the decade - in musical form!

Think of this as a compilation describing my thoughts, feelings and inspirations over the course of the last decade. It starts out rather dark (much like the decade itself) but we begin to see a glimmer of hope about halfway through. Or at least, that was the intention with this project. So I say goodbye to all that 2000 - 20009 gave us, the good and the bad - from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to Barack Obama to Susan Boyle to Glee - it certainly will go down as one of the tumultuous decades since the 60s. I've already done one compilation entitled The Mad Blood Stirring - and the thought has crossed my mind to make this a double disc and just combining the two...but that's a project for another day....

1. The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning - The Smashing Pumpkins
2. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul & Mary
3. 9/11 Presidential Address to the Nation - George W. Bush
4. America - M83
5. Hunting for Witches - Bloc Party
6. Hurt - Johnny Cash
7. American Idiot - Green Day
8. Fragile - Sting
9. When the Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin
10. Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay Z.
11. Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
12. The Long Road - Eddie Vedder feat. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
13. Rehab - Amy Winehouse
14. A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
15. Election Night Victory Speech - Barack Obama
16. I Dreamed a Dream - Susan Boyle
17. Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
18. Leave Me Alone - Michael Jackson
19. Halo - Beyoncé
20. The Money Song - team9
21. Don't Stop Believin' - The Cast of Glee

From me to you...

Merry Christmas...

Brittany Murphy, Star of Clueless, Uptown Girls, 8 Mile, and King of the Hill, Dead at 32

November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009

Merry Fucking X-Mas: Music for the Rest of Us - FanboyQ's First X-Mas Album!

1. What a Wonderful World - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (feat. Shane McGowan)
2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Hole
3. Winter Like My Life Is Passing - Arthur Greenslade
4. Making Christmas - Rise Against
5. Cold - Annie Lennox
6. Lonely Siberian Winter - DJ John
7. The Rose - Bette Midler
8. Funky Christmas - Brat
9. Come Undone - Duran Duran
10. It's Cold Outside - The Choir
11. White Christmas - Corporal Blossom
12. Soon Forget - Pearl Jam
13. The Bitter End - Placebo
14. Candle: Coventry Carol - Tori Amos
15. The Lovers of December - Rod McKuen
16. In the Bleak Midwinter - Sarah McLachlan
17. Imagine Santa - DJ BC
18. New Year's Back at Sunset - Glenn Close and Christopher Hampton

Pic(k) of the Day

A rare find...

Art Deco Series: Can't Help Lovin' That Man

1. Can't Help Lovin' That Man - Bud Freeman & His Orchestra
2. Masculine Women, Feminine Men - Merritt Brunies & His Friars Inn Orchestra
3. Help! - Earl Gresh & His Gangplank Orchestra
4. Right Kind Of Man, The - Golden Gate Orch.
5. He's My Kind Of A Man - The Flamingo Melodians
6. He's So Unusual - Fred Rich & His Orchestra
7. Man I Love, The - Sam Lanin's Famous Players
8. I Want To Be Bad - Ray Ventura & His Collegians (previously unreleased)
9. Gay Love - Bing Crosby
10. Am I Blue? - The Travelers
11. Can't We Be Friends? - The Georgians
12. In My Little Hope Chest - The Clevelanders
13. He's A Good Man To Have Around - Dick Cherwin & His Orchestra
14. I Got Rhythm - Harold Lem & His Orchestra
15. What Wouldn't I Do For That Man? - Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra
16. But I Can't Make A Man - The Travelers
17. One That I Love Loves Me, The - Meyer Davis & His Orchestra
18. Buy, Buy For Baby - The Columbians
19. He's My Secret Passion - Danny Yates & His Orchestra
20. Love For Sale - The Hotchkiss Dance Orch.
21. Can't Do Without His Love - Joe Haymes & His Orchestra
22. Hold Your Man - Will Osborne & His Orchestra
23. Pu-Leeze! Mr. Hemmingway - Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians
24. Come Up And See Me Sometime - Cliff Edwards (previously unreleased)
25. Beach Boy - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

Check the comments for links.

Queer-Colored Glasses: The Queer Experience Through Cinema

OutCentral Cultural Center and The Nashville Film Festival collaborate to present

Queer Colored Glasses: The Queer Experience Through Cinema

WHO: OutCentral Cultural Center in collaboration with Nashville Film Festival (NaFF)

WHAT: Queer Colored Glasses: The Queer Experience Through Cinema

WHEN: 4th Saturday of every month at 7:00 PM

WHERE: OutCentral Cultural Center 1709 Church Street (between Revive Café and Vibe. On the same block as OutLoud! and Blue Genes) Nashville, TN 37209

COST: $5 for members $8 for non-members. No one turned away for lack of funds.


CONTACT INFORMATION:

For Queer-Colored Glasses: The Queer Experience through Cinema:
FanboyQ@gmail.com


For OutCentral:
info@outcentral.org


OutCentral Cultural Center is proud to be partnering with The Nashville Film Festival for a twelve month, twelve film series entitled Queer-Colored Glasses: The Queer Experience through Cinema that will focus on filmmakers, actors, writers, stories and plots of particular interest to the “queer” spectator.

From the first flickering images that ever lit up a screen, cinema has been a place where queer voices have called out and demanded to be heard with varying degrees of success. From films made by LGBT filmmakers and performers to the particular phenomenon that gay people often “see” a film differently than their straight counterparts.

“Images of GLBTQ people on the big screen--both positive and negative--have had such a tremendous influence on our lives,” said Jim Hawk, Executive Director of OutCentral Cultural Center.

“Most of us can remember the first time we saw "one of us" on the screen. This series takes an important look at those images and how they effected our lives--and the lives of generations of GLBTQ people.”

Historically, most LGBT filmmakers were forced to work in relative secrecy about who they were, being mostly relegated to avant-garde and independent film circles. Thus, cinema is also the forum for the queer voice of the “other” – stories and characters that – while not necessarily gay – represent the outsider whose story queer audiences identify with.

"I am extremely excited about the partnership between the Nashville Film Festival and OutCentral,” said QCG Artistic Director Joshua Thomas.

“I believe one of the most important tools we in the gay community have for examining our past is in film theory. Gay audiences have historically experienced films differently than the rest of society. In examining the past through this collection of films, we'll have the unique opportunity to watch society's views on homosexuality change throughout the years."

With the enormous cultural and historic differences between films made in the 1930’s and those made in modern times the characteristics that gay culture use to signify homosexuality have also changed dramatically over the years. While present-day films are allowed to be relatively forthright about sexuality in their presentations older films were often forced to only hint at it in varied ways. Thus, many classic Hollywood performances, directors, actors and – in some cases – entire genres must be closely examined in order to hear the queer voice within them.

“NaFF is thrilled to partner with OutCentral to present a unique collection of voices from film history,” said NaFF Artistic Director Brian Owens.

"We believe that film represents a great opportunity for those unheard or seldom heard to present their stories in ways that create dialogue, understanding, and bind us all together as a greater community. We hope people will come and enjoy and talk about these films and what they mean to the GLBT community and community at large.”

Pic(k) of the Day

Top 10 Songs of the Decade

It's hard to believe that in just a few short weeks the 2000s will be over. Obviously, it's been an interesting and troubling decade.

The Hubs and I were talking the other day about the way music has changed over the past 10 years. That got us talking about what we would consider our favorite song of the decade.

I can never do just one.

Here's a list of my favorite songs that were released from 2000 - 2009. I'd like to hear what your favorite song (or list of songs) from this decade is.

10. Umbrella - Rihanna

9. Hurt - Johnny Cash

8. Get Together - Madonna

7. Music - Leela James

6. Sexy Back - Justin Timberlake

5. Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Beyonce

4. Passive Aggressive - Placebo

3. Maps - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2. Rehab - Amy Winehouse

1. All These Things That I Have Done - The Killers