Happy (Mother) Earth Day!

 

Happy Earth Day, all! Read about the history of the holiday, which was first observed as a protest across the country in 1970 HERE.

And perhaps even more important, here's wishing Barbra Streisand a very happy 80th birthday on Sunday. To mark the occasion, Vanity Fair has 80 reasons to love and celebrate the tree-hugging Babs HERE.

In 1990, Barbra Streisand gathered together with a bunch of stars in the TV special "The Earth Day," where she performed "One Day" for the first time. Enjoy!

Song of the Day: 'Happy Days Are Here Again' by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand

 

Although things will undoubtedly get worse before they get better, just knowing the end of the reign of stupidity is near is enough to warrant this song of the day. Thank you to everyone who played a part in trying to restore our democracy. There's a lot of work ahead, but it's comforting to know that we'll be in good hands during the Reconstruction era ahead.

Song of the Day: 'Songbird' by Barbra Streisand

Another one of my favorite pop-rock songs that never arrived at Barbra Streisand's recent MSG concert. While I remember hearing this a lot as a child, it apparently only peaked at No. 25 on the singles chart. According to Wikipedia, one theory as to why it stalled is that she recorded the theme to "The Eyes of Laura Mars," which was released as a single a few weeks after "Songbird" came out. "Prisoner (Love Theme from Eyes of Laura Mars)" -- which I featured last Thursday -- reached number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and may have created competition with herself for airplay and single sales. When I searched "Barbra Streisand 1978" I came across the above magazine cover with Olivia Newton-John. "Grease" had turned the successful pop singer into an even bigger star than she already was. And speaking of hit musicals, Babs included on the "Songbird" album a cover of "Tomorrow" from "Annie," which had debuted on Broadway the previous year. (I remember seeing Andrea McArdle promoting the musical on "Good Morning America" when I was 10.) "Annie" hit the road in 1978 and became a global sensation, Naturally, my chorus at Hiller Elementary tackled it, although it paled in comparison to Grace Jones's disco take!

 

Diva squared ...

Song of the Day: 'Make Your Own Kind of Music' by Roslyn Kind

I haven't even gotten through the entire Barbra Streisand catalogue -- "Guilty," "Emotion" and "Superman" are my three favorite albums so far! -- but my curiosity got the better of me when I realized her half-sister's two late 1960s albums were also on Spotify. (I've surmised she was dropped by her label after they bombed -- being a famous singer's sister can only get you so far -- then self-released another one in 1994.) It didn’t take long before I discovered the delightful "Make Your Own Kind of Music" -- which sounds like you took Batbra and threw her in a blender with Petula Clark, Lulu and the Mamas (sans Papas) . It couldn't have been easy trying to be a singer in that shadow, which my Barbra dealer unkindy explained this way:

We saw Roslyn Kind at Below 54 a few years ago -- it's fascinating how she certainly sounds like Barbra's sister yet without the innate charisma or magic. We met her afterwards and she was very sweet, which was nice. I wish she would right her memoirs -- what a strange life to be Barbra's sister!

Song of the Day: 'Prisoner (Love Theme From Eyes of Laura Mars)' by Barbra Streisand

Who remembers this one, which peaked at No. 21 back in 1978? A Barbra aficionado tells me that she "pacified [then-lover] Jon Peters for passing on acting in "Eyes of Laura Mars" -- about coke-fueled NYC without the coke -- by recording that amazing song!" Faye Dunaway, of course, wound up stepping in when Barbra opted to exit the project. Who do you think would have made a better Laura Mars?

Song of the Day: '(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away' by Barbra Streisand, Andy Gibb

Another discovery from my Barbra Streisand hole: Turns out she did another album with Barry Gibb -- the genius behind her "Guilty" masterpiece -- and even covered his brother Andy's "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away," which I always thought should have been his fourth No. 1 single.

Song of the Day: 'No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)' by K.D. Lang and Andy Bell

You'd better put on your galoshes because Saturday night's Barbra Streisand concert has opened the floodgates. How about this lavender-wedding cover of Babs's disco classic with Donna Summer?!

Here they are miming on the Brit Awards. How random that the song was featured on the soundtrack to the completely after-the-fact Coneheads movie!

Barbra Streisand Brings It Home

What a rush it was Saturday evening to get a text from a blog fan-cum-friend asking me if Damian and I would like two free tickets to see Barbra Streisand, in her first performance at Madison Square Garden in 13 years. There was no catch -- they were comps to begin with that would otherwise be going to waste -- other than the fact that it was 7 p.m. and we were at dinner with a friend in Chelsea and would need to be at the venue by 8. Naturally we dropped everything and headed uptown -- a quick three stops on the 1 train. (Brooklyn may be all the rage but I'll always take Manhattan.) 

My pal Jimmy and his friend John had great seats -- one friend had fallen ill while another seemed to have flaked -- so we were even more excited than we already were at the prospect of seeing Mrs. Brolin  live for the very first time. And before the show even got going, the crowd was worked up into a tizzy at the arrival of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Jerry Nadler, David Dinkins and Al Sharpton! (Mariah Carey was also reportedly there, although I didn't spot her.) 

A message last week from my brother  ...

My relationship with Ms. Streisand dates back to the early 1970s -- to my earliest memories of seeing "What's Up, Doc?" with my family, a film we would watch over and over again throughout my life. More scandalously my Aunt Linda (rather inappropriately but mostly unwittingly) took my brothers and me to see "Jaws' in 1975 -- I was 8 -- only it turned out to be a double feature with "The Owl and the Pussycat," in which Barbra played a part-time prostitute. (The film had come out fives years before, but in the days before home video it wasn't uncommon for movie houses to pair older titles with current ones as double features.) From there, "The Way We Were" ripped my young gay heart out. Then pork-belly futures were never the same after "For Pete's Sake," followed by Patti D'Arbanville's chronic hack and Barbra's envelope-licking paper cut, both of which still have me in tears from "The Main Event"! 

And I was surely the only kid at Rhodes Junior High to cope with the Iran hostage crisis by counting down the days till the release of “All Night Long.” (Even Siskel and Ebert on PBS’s “Sneak Previews” couldn’t scare me off.) As an adult I saw “The Prince of Tides” on Thanksgiving 1991 with my friend Mark on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, after attending a dinner party at my neighor’s on South Bundy Drive where a guest “innocently” brandished a revolver sending guests fleeing; “The Mirror Has Two Faces” with Mark and Brad at Fashion Island in Newport Beach around Thanksgiving 1996; and “Meet the Fockers” with my siblings in Ahwatukee on Christmas 2004.

All of this is to say that I had never seen Barbra live in part because -- gay gasp! -- I'm really a superfan of her movies more than her music. (Perhaps her spastic version of "Jingle Bells" on my parents' "A Christmas Album" 8-track is partially to blame!) Which isn't to say I'm not a fan of her singing -- who isn't? But when she started to tour again -- Teleprompter in tow! -- I had a feeling she would be putting on a show that would be incredible, but perhaps not quite what I was wanting from her. Sure enough, Saturday’s set list was heavy on standards and show tunes -- all fabulous -- yet a little voice in my head kept whispering: You know what would really sound great for her to sing? A Barbra Streisand song ... or at least what a child of the 1970s and ‘80s thinks is a Barbra Streisand song!

And to be fair, she did sing some. "People," "Evergreen" and "The Way We Were" reduced me to tears. But "Comin' In and Out of Your Life" never came into mine that night, nor did "The Main Event/Fight," which is undoubtedly Barbra’s funnest song. (Being 77 doesn't seem to have slowed her down at all, so I was hoping for some satin shorts and a makeshift boxing ring!) Damian is younger and knows considerably less about Barbra's catalog. But "Enough Is Enough" and "Guilty" (my all-time favorite) are mainstays on his jukebox playlist, so when both of them were truncated into a quick medley, he (and I) were equally crestfallen. He rationalized that they had both been duets originally, but "Woman in Love" -- another Barbra pop classic -- would definitely be given the full treatment. But that was not meant to be. ("Songbird" never landed, "What Kind of Fool" was foolishly discarded and she didn't send me or anyone else flowers anymore, although New Wave Babs in the "Emotion" video made a cameo on the screen behind her!) 

But if all this sounds like a lot of complaining for great seats at no charge, please don't take it that way. Like most mortals, I could listen to Barbra sing Huey Lewis and the News covers all night. There will never be another voice like hers. And watching her fall in love with herself over and over again as photos from an upcoming memoir were projected on a huge screen was worth the trip alone. Plus “Send in the Clowns" (and the "Who Is This Clown?" Trump parody!), "The Man That Got Away," "Alfie" and a dozen others were hardly filler, officially converting me into a more well-rounded Barbra Streisand queen. (Thanks again, Jimmy!)

“Who Is This Clown?”

He says he’s rich

Maybe he’s poor

‘Til he reveals his returns

Who can be sure

Who is this clown?

Something’s amiss

I don’t approve

Now that he’s running the free world

Where can we move?

Maybe a town!

Just who is this clown?

This is not a farce

It’s not just smoke

Is this his “Art of the Deal” or some awful joke?

You’ve got to admit

This fraudulent twit

Is so full of …

More photos HERE.

Act 1 
As If We Never Said Goodbye (Andrew Lloyd Webber)
Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home (Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer)
Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) (Billie Holiday)
The Man That Got Away (Harold Arlen)
Evergreen (Love Theme from "A Star Is Born")
With One More Look at You

Medley:
Guilty (Barry Gibb)/Stoney End (Laura Nyro)/Woman in Love (Barry Gibb)/No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

Second Hand Rose ("Fanny Brice")
Don't Rain on My Parade (Jule Styne)

Act II 
On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever) (Burton Lane)
The Way We Were
You've Got to Be Carefully Taught / Children Will Listen
Send in the Clowns (Stephen Sondheim)
Walls
People (Jule Styne)
My Man ("Fanny Brice")
Sing (Joe Raposo; says she used to sing with her son, Jason Gould, watching "Sesame Street")
Happy Days Are Here Again (Milton Ager)

Encore: 

What the World Needs Now Is Love (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) 

Encore 2: 

Alfie (BacharachDavid)

P.S. Thanks to Spotify, I now “own” most of Barbra’s albums. Might be time to dig in deeper.

Page 1 Roundup (03/23)

The Daily News: Cop who shot rival while off duty indicted for planting evidence, not attempted murder: officials

Robert Mueller delivers final report to the attorney general, marking the end of the Trump-Russia investigation

What the hell is wrong with Barbra Streisand?

UPDATE: Babs has issued a complete and total apology (I accept.) 

The Atlantic: And like it or not, there actually is strong science to suggest pedophilia -- the attraction, not acting on it -- isn’t a choice, so perhaps that’s what she was alluding to

ABC News: I thought tax cuts paid for themselves

CBS News: Jimmy Carter becomes oldest living president in U.S. history

New York Post: Parkland massacre survivor Sydney Aiello kills herself

Mueller submits full Russia report

The Washington Post: ‘If you took it all in in one day, it would kill you’: What Mueller’s investigation has already revealed

The New York Times: The makings of an epic constitutional battle over the executive branch’s power to keep information secret from Congress started to take shape on Friday, as Attorney General William P. Barr began to weigh how much to disclose about the findings of the special counsel, Robert Mueller

Trump undercut his own Treasury Department on Friday with a sudden announcement that he had rolled back newly imposed North Korea sanctions, appearing to overrule national security experts as a favor to murderous dictator Kim Jong-un(!)

The Wall Street Journal: The secret to winning votes: Take the name of a popular leader

When Linda Ronstadt and Others Went 'New Wave' for the '80s

My Bonnie Tyler post yesterday got my friend Seth thinking about another musical phenomenon: when singers and bands reinvent themselves -- with completely different personas and styles in different decades -- and end up succeeding both times, and how they frequently end up having two "trademark" songs. (Heart and the Pointer Sisters, for starters.) I loved the idea -- and Linda Ronstadt's new wave album, 1980's "Mad Love" immediately came to mind, where she covered three Elvis Costello songs, including this favorite of mine.

But Linda was in good company ...

Others from the era include Rosanne Cash -- whose hair matched her new-found cowpunk sound. (Not a coincidence that she and Maria McKee of Lone Justice both recorded "Never Be You," with the latter's winding up on the "Streets of Fire" soundtrack and the former's on Cash's crossover album "Rhyme & Reason," featuring her cover of John Hiatt's new wave girl anthem "Pink Bedroom."

She's a punky princess in the video for "I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me."

Cash's stepsister Carlene Carter also rode the new wave, with her synthy "C'est C Bon" LP. ("Third Time Charm" was yet another miss that sounded like a hit.) 

And the list of people new wave happened to went on ... 

"Julie"

"Never Should Have Started"

The best of all had to have been Cher, who pulled a Tori Spelling at an Aaron Spelling audition and formed a "punk band" without putting her name out front. Black Rose recorded one bomb album before disbanding.

But Cher is nothing if not persistent. Two years later she returned as herself, releasing  "I Paralyze" ... which pretty much summed up the record-buying public's reaction to the endeavor. 

Barbra Streisand gave it some "Emotion" ... and with purple hair and crazy eye make-up, 42 never looked so punk!

Diana Ross, who had a more successful turn than Cher as a Disco Diva, had the new wave sound down to pat on "Pieces of Ice," even if the video was more "Cats" than Clash ...

Carly Simon told us "Why," which was a smash in the U.K. when released as a single from the soundtrack for the sex comedy "Soup for One," but never got a U.S. release. This was strange given that her album from a year or two earlier, "Come Upstairs," had been a success with its synth-driven songs including "Jesse," which a pal refers to has a "sublime low-self-esteem anthem"!

By the time she released "Spoiled Girl" in 1985 -- at the height of the new wave -- people had lost interest in her again. It didn't help that "Tired of Being Blonde" was inferior to "Why."

Chameleon Bette Midler -- who'd gone disco with 1979's "Thighs and Whispers" -- attempted to cash in on the new wave with a cover Marshall Crenshaw's "My Favorite Waste of Time," which had been the B-side of his only Top 40 hit, "Someday, Someway." Fans weren't buying the Divine Miss M's latest makeover. 

Kim Carnes -- who started out more a country and folk singer -- was already (unwittingly?) riding the Blondie bandwagon when "Bette Davis Eyes" topped the charts in '81. But her "Voyeur" followup was a full-blown attempt at new wave ... 

"Anxiety (Get Nervous)" was Pat's attempt, although the album cover -- which is kind of a cousin of Debbie Harry's "Koo Koo" -- was probably the biggest shift in style.

Billy Joel and his band looked the part in 1980's "You May Be Right."

And then there was Sheena Easton, who wound up singing the James Bond theme when Blondie backed out -- they'd written their own and weren't interested in doing a Bill Conti song -- reached maximum new waveness with "Swear." It stalled at No. 80. Turns out fans were much more interested in her being a nymph than a new waver ...

Olivia Newton-John had the spikey hair and the synthesizers out in full force for this inferior follow-up to "Twist of Fate" (1983)

This was a real shocker at the time. Shell Kepler, who played goody-two-shoes nurse Amy Vining on "General Hospital," must have tired of Dr. Noah Drake getting all the attention, so released a five-song EP of new wave songs under the moniker Shell and the Crush. Perhaps the most shocking thing? It was kind of good.

And last but certainly not least, Shaun Cassidy tried to reinvent himself in 1980 with the new wavey "Wasp." It featured an Adam Ant-ish album cover and and production by Todd Rundgren, who would later helm the Psychedelic Furs' breakthrough album. It also included Talking Heads and David Bowie covers but as the Wikipedia entry kindly put it, "never found an audience, effectively ending the onetime teenybopper's recording career."

UPDATE (2025): Just saw this by Jim Froelich, who too was intrigued by this era!

I am fascinated by 70s-era artists of many genres who tried to evolve with the zeitgeist and stay relevant by cutting their hair and going "new wave" at the dawn of the 80s, e.g. Alice Cooper ("Flush the Fashion"), Neil Young ("Trans"), Peter Frampton ("Art of Control"), Village People ("Food Fight"), Triumvirat ("Party Life"), etc. A fave, though, is former teenybopper Shaun Cassidy's "Wasp" from 1980. Here, Cassidy hooked up with producer Todd Rundgren and most of Rundgren's band Utopia to record synthy originals plus covers of David Bowie, Talking Heads, Ian Hunter and The Who. Like the efforts of most of his peers, it was a commercial failure but I think it holds up independently as a passable relic of its time. 

NOTE: this phenomenon was not exclusive to artists bridging the 70s into the 80s. You can see it in any era as style and culture changed; from the 60s to the 70s, and very obviously from the 80s into the 90s with the advent of grunge. 

Pictured: Shaun Cassidy "Wasp" (WB/1980)

Remains of the Day (11/06)

Miami Herald: Transgender woman dies suddenly, presented at funeral in open casket as a man 

YouTube: Non-binary artist Grayson debuts music video for "Brother"

COS: Sinead O'Connor is so woke she may never sleep again 

The Associated Press: Nadal out of ATP Finals with abdominal injury, ankle surgery

Boy Culture: Addicted's La Maison underwear line is guaranteed to get you hot and bothered

Towleroad: Barbra Streisand robocalls LGBTQ voters

Tennis Life: Player rep Roger Rasheed ousted from ATP Board

OMG Blog: Kamil Nozynski bares all on HBO Europe's "Slepnac od swiatel"

BosGuy: Be a Masshole, not an asshole

Baseline: The last tennis player on earth who should be doing so is launching a fashion line

Page Six: I used to watch "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and feel so badly for Laurie (Waring) Peterson, who has been rewarded with nothing but grief for having a son 

Instagram: Joan Lunden wows fans with most androgynous look yet

Back2Stonewall: Horror author Stephen King wants horrible GOP wingnut Nazi Rep. Steven King voted out of office to end confusion

Dlisted: Pamela Anderson still isn't very bright

Brooklyn Vegan: 10 music movies to watch

View this post on Instagram

‪From @alleycatrescue: “Bobo had his leg checked by the vet and HATED getting his splint reapplied. This boy is an energetic attention seeker and we can tell the cast is in his way and driving him nuts. He wants to run and play so bad! Bobo’s leg is healing well and we’re optimistic he’ll be on four healthy ones soon. #rescuekitten #helpcats #savecats #spayandneuter” #catsofinstagram ‬

A post shared by Cats of Instagram (@cats_of_instagram) on Nov 5, 2018 at 9:00am PST

Hot Cat of the Day: This is a tad hard to watch, but I think the little cutie is just being a big baby!

Song of the Day: 'Evergreen' by Barbra Streisand

All this talk about the re-re-remake of "A Star Is Born" had me thinking about the Stresiand-Kristoffersen version. The soundtrack may be evergreen, but this photo I came across while reading about it sure isn't. Time for an all-out boycott of all things Babs -- or perhaps a public execution? 

[If only I were being hyperbolic by today's "standards."]

Song of the Day: 'My Buddy / How About Me?' by Barbra Streisand

Forgot to post a Babs song on Tuesday for the legendary singer/actress's birthday -- who is the same age as my Molly -- so here's a sweet medley of two!

Remains of the Day (02/27)

Bammer47: Have you checked in with gay historian Mike Balaban lately?

Dlisted: Are the Spice Girls performing at the Royal wedding?

The Washington Post: Kushner's overseas contacts raise concerns as foreign officials seek leverage

Towleroad: "Clueless" Stacey Dash is running for Congress in California

Press Release: Kylie Minogue to headline New York City Pride

NPR: Michelle Obama's "deeply personal" memoir will be published Nov. 13

Broadway World: Friend-of-the-(212) Dennis Hensley's "You Don't Know My Life!" comes to the Los Angels LGBT Center on March 11

Time: Bernie Sanders's son Levi announces run for Congress 

Page Six: Cynthia Nixon snapped with Sarah Jessica Parker amid Kim Cattrall feud

Baseline: Serena's hubby puts up Billboards in Palm Springs

Curbed: Judge rules stockbroker must vacate his ill-gotten affordable Chelsea apartment

The New York Times: I've always said most actors are cast for who they are, not how they act -- and this interview with Lauren Ambrose was like catching up with Claire Fisher

Hunk du Jour: Anthony Gallo really does these Polo slip briefs justice

HuffPost: Gay GOP group leader still believes Crazy Donald is a"pro-LGBT" president(!)

The Wall Street Journal: U.N. report links North Korea to Syrian chemical weapons

The Guardian: Slovakian journalist investigating claims of tax fraud linked to ruling party shot dead

The WoW Report: Barbra Streisand reveals she had her dog cloned -- TWICE

Metrosource: Just how many "unseen" photos of Marilyn Monroe still exist?

Boy Culture: How do we feel about the "Heathers" reboot headed to television?

Vice: Streaking makes a comeback

Daily Intelligencer: GOP Senator Bob Corker decides to retire (this time for real)

Hot Cat of the Day: Let's sure hope this little cutie finds a good home, now that our governor has granted $5 million to fund state animal shelters

Simply Shiftless

Everything I missed by being, literally, just too lazy to go to the Barbra Streisand concert at the Barclays Center. Read HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Any Moment Now' by Barbra Streisand with Hugh Jackman

OK. Now Hugh Jackman's even too gay for me!

The Mane Event

Was invited to see Barbra Streisand in Los Angeles last night by my Detroit BFF, Mark, but it wasn't meant to be. As great as I'm sure the concert was, it was the hoopla surrounding it that I'm most sad about missing!

More fun HERE.

'People' Pleaser

This still won't get me watch the Tony Awards, but is enough to get me to look for her part part online the day after!

The Way We Were

Retarded people are people who need people, too.

In this 1970s PSA for the Retarded Children's Association, Barbra Stresiand opines about a "retarded boy putting his own hat and coat on for the first time, all by himself."

(H/T The New York Times)

Song of the Day: 'Woman in Love' by Barbra Streisand

Not sure how applicable this would be in the general population, but I've never seen something bring people together of all shapes, sizes, races and backgrounds as this Babs classic did the other night at Julius' in the West Village. Perhaps we could replace "The National Anthem" with it for a while and see how it goes?

Guilty - Barbra Streisand