Song of the Day: 'Midnight Confessions' by Belinda Carlisle, Molly Ringwald and Susanna Hoffs

 Last summer I wrote about "The Most '80s Night Ever," when a Who's Who of the Los Angeles music scene got together for one night at the Palace Theater to raise money for the homeless. With a backing band consisting of Kathy Valentine (the Go-Go's), Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac), David Lindley, Gary Myrick, Ran Manzarek (the Doors), Phil Chen and Curly Smith, three of my favorite women -- Belinda Carlisle, Molly Ringwald and a not-quite-super-famous Susanna Hoffs -- took the stage to perform the Grass Roots song "Midnight Confessions," the audio of which just popped up on YouTube over the weekend. Enjoy!

Can anyone hear Susanna? Her voice is very distincitive and all I hear are Belinda and Molly! 

Hear the original HERE.

Song of the Day: 'Rave Up/Shut Up' by the Rave-Ups

A little-remembered song by the Rave-Ups, which managed to be in a film with the greatest new wave soundtrack ever yet wasn't included on it.

According People magazine's 30 Things You Didn't Know About "Pretty in Pink":

The Rave-Ups appear in the film as themselves, performing the songs “Positively Lost Me” and “Rave-Up/Shut-Up.” Both songs are curiously missing from the official soundtrack as well, but they remained part of Molly Ringwald’s life in one key way: Her old sister, Beth, dated the band’s frontman, Jimmer Podrasky, and the couple had a son together, Chance, for whom the band’s 1990 album was named.

Watch their other missed opportunity HERE.

The Most '80s Night Ever

ICYMI: Would love to hear from anyone who attended this "Trouble in Paradise" gala, benefiting the Inner City Law Center's efforts on behalf of the homeless.

A little research reveals that it took place March 10, 1985, at the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles. Molly Ringwald, Belinda Carlisle and Susanna Hoffs teamed up to perform "Midnight Confessions," which sounds about right given the Bangles beauty's fondness for the Grass Roots.

Kathy Valentine -- who would be blindsided by the demise of the Go-Go's right around the time this event took place -- wrote on Twitter that she was in the backing band and helped select the artists and material for the night. In addition to Kathy, the band consisted of Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac), David Lindley, Gary Myrick, Ran Manzarek (the Doors), Phil Chen and Curly Smith

Someone on Twitter asked Kathy: 

Is Christine McVie the coolest person or what? 

To which she replied: 

YES

Looks like a total riot. I also spot Vicki & Debbi Peterson and Michael Steele of the Bangles, Terri Nunn and John Crawford of Berlin, Jackson Browne, a pensive Carla Olson (Kathy's former Textones bandmate) and the late Phil Seymour, among many others.

As one person on Facebook put it, "There has never been so much cocaine in one room since Nicholson’s '79 Christmas party."

Do THESE THREE need to be separated?

Page 1 Roundup (02/19)

The Daily News: Two NYC teens handcuffed and held by NYPD for 30 hours after scuffle with school safety officers

Rosario Dawson clarifies her sexuality amid relationship with Cory Booker

Instagram: Ass Wednesday

Boy Culture: Perennial sex symbol Matt Dillon turns 56

Ja'Net DuBois of 'Good Times' dies at 81

Baseline: Novak Djokovic hits with fans in streets of Belgrade

BDN: New Maine poll shows Susan Collins and Sara Gideon nearly tied in 2020 race

New York Post: Heated LeBron James goes off on Astros’ cheating scandal

Page Six: Late ‘Love Island’ host Caroline Flack once had a fling with Prince Harry

Amie Harwick’s alleged killer stalked her at porn awards weeks ago

NewNowNext: Cher seeks to turn back time for Joe Biden with Twitter endorsement, which could double as a roast

The Washington Post: Diane Keaton neglected her mentally ill brother for most of his life. Now she’s trying to make it right.

Back2Stonewall: Rush Limbaugh says Trump called him and said to “never apologize” for his homophobic comments about Pete Buttigieg

Towleroad: Justin Fashanu, Britain’s first and only out gay footballer, to be posthumously inducted in Hall of Fame

BosGuy: Hot ginger in kilt

The New York Times: Trump grants clemency to a who's-who of white-collar criminals

Bill Barr is reportedly growing tired of Trump, but I think the call is coming from inside the house

Mayor Pete's record is a lot more complicated than either "he revived South Bend" or "he had no community support."

Another Bernie Bro conspiracy put to rest

The Wall Street Journal: Forget Dow 30K. It’s already hit 40K on license plates

Bernie's in front with four candidates essentially tied for second place, while Trump’s approval hits higher marks: poll

Hot Cat of the Day: Legendary LGBTQ activist's kitty got busted!

Page 1 Roundup (05/02)

The Daily News: Brooklyn teen charged with murder in stabbing of 17-year-old youth outside 7-Eleven; suspect’s mother charged as accomplice

Woman dies weeks after fellow hospital patient annoyed with her snoring hurled cup at her head

Mystery student whose family paid $6.5 million in college bribery scandal revealed

Towleroad  Coming soon to a newsstand near you

Instagram: Time to do Sumo deadlifts

Mother Jones: "Mr. Barr, now the American people know that you are no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any of other people who sacrifice their once decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office."

Instagram: Nothing in "Magic Mike" was nearly this hot

The Hill: Warren makes headway in three new polls

New York Post: Chinese family paid $6.5 million in admissions scam to get daughter into Stanford

Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme: I’m still in love with Charles Manson

 Former Dallas Cowboy Jeff Rohrer living with new hubby, ex-wife, kids

Vulture: Anyone who loves old(er) Hollywood must read this interview with Anjelica Huston, who pulls no punches when it comes to Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, Penny Marshall, Ryan O’Neal, Woody Allen, Oprah Winfrey and her “Transparent” colleagues who complained about Jeffrey Tambor

The New York Times: Dating advice for those who never thought they'd need Tinder

The Washington Post: Lindsey Graham kicked off Barr’s testimony by whipping up a Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory

Barr’s refusal to testify before House panel increases likelihood of contempt citation from Congress

The alleged synagogue shooter was a churchgoer who talked Christian theology, raising tough questions for evangelical pastors

The Wall Street Journal: It's not Allentown: Billy Joel's helicopter commute irks Long Island neighbors

WSJ Magazine: Molly Ringwald's surprising career path as a novel translator

Song of the Day: 'Our Lips Are Sealed' by Susanna Hoffs and Belinda Carlisle

'80s ladies: Molly Ringwald, Susanna Hoffs, Belinda Carlisle and an unknown woman impersonating Debora Iyall

This one's notable for a few reasons: It's sung by the lead babes of the two biggest female bands of all time; I was in the audience at the Largo the night it was recorded; and, shockingly (to me), it was the last time I was in Los Angeles -- after having gone every year since leaving in 1993! I miss you, L.A. :-(

Living on Video

When I look at this photo and watch this clip I must admit that I actually feel sorry for people who didn’t experience the ‘80s. I wouldn't trade record stores, thrift-shop clothes, 12-inch singles, John Hughes movies, music magazines, wooden tennis rackets, men with unironic mustaches, hanging out at the mall, dance clubs, MTV veejays and world premiere videos, camping out for concert tickets, old-fashioned stalking, and New Wave and other great music on the Hot 100 for anything. Maybe this is why aging doesn't hurt as much as you thought it would when you were a kid: You don't envy the young because the world they live in is so much less cool than the one you got to be a part of.

P.S.:

Can you imagine someone thinking this is a life? What's sad is I know for a fact this isn't an anomaly.

Kids Today

Um, if Andie can figure it out why can't this chick?

And did you hear that Andrew McCarthy's son is an actor and Molly Ringwald is playing his mom in a new movie?

'Pretty' Persuasion

OK, this is something I could be up for. "Pretty in Pink" will return to theaters to celebrate its 30 anniversary next month just in time for Valentine's Day!. Rolling Stone promises the re-release celebration -- on Feb. 14 (aw!) plus Feb. 17 -- will include the original ending that test audiences rejected, where Andie and Duckie ride off into the sunset together sans Blane (sans wig). (The 25th anniversary DVD, "Everything Duckie" edition, claimed it had the original ending, but it DID NOT!) I'm assuming Ted Turner will digitally heterosexualize Jon Cryer's part for the occasion.  The film was originally released on Feb. 28, 1986.

   Must have seen this at that theater on Longmore with Greg, Tina, Yuki and Deanna a dozen times!

Tripping With Molly

Apparently Boy Culture wasn't the only one moved by Simple Minds' nostalgic performance of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" on something called the Billboard Music Awards. See HERE

I saw Molly Ringwald do it herself at the Carlyle Cafe last fall.

Sheedy, Ringwald Talk 'Breakfast Club' at SXSW

To kick off the March 26 theatrical re-release of "The Breakfast Club," Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald stopped by South by Southwest this week to discuss their classic film:

Sheedy, 52, who now volunteers as a teacher at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, said the movie's message was a loving one. "You do matter, we are interested in you, and we're going to tell your story," she said, adding that she was a bit lonely after production wrapped.  

The film chronicles five teens subjected to spend Saturday in detention at the fictional Shermer High School in Illinois. Played by Ringwald, Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson, the students aren't all initially friends, but become close by day's end.  

"The movie has this message that in spite of people's differences, there is something unifying in the experience of growing up and trying to find yourself," Sheedy said. "I think things are much more complicated and much more difficult right now than they were in the world of Shermer High School. It's a different world." 

A blonde Ringwald said she recently saw the movie with her teenage daughter and was surprised to find that her daughter most related to Hall's character, Brian Johnson. Nicknamed "the Brain," Johnson was a straight-A student who attempted suicide after flunking an assignment in shop class. 

"She felt that I had too many expectations on her," Ringwald, 47, said. "It was this incredible moment where I realized I was the parent." 

"It's surreal. I don't know how this happened!" Ringwald told People, of being three decades removed from filming the movie, which she said was a remarkable time for her. "I was really loving the work that I was doing. [Director] John [Hughes] and I had a symbiotic, respectful relationship. I didn't know I'd be talking about it 30 years later! But it was a great experience." 

Keep reading HERE.

On the Rag, Vol. 342

A weekly look at what's making news in the free gay mags:

Echo (Phoenix) saddles up for the Arizona Gay Rodeo's 30th anniversary! Read HERE.

Next: Not everyone spends Valentine’s Day having romantic candlelit dinners—some of us just love to party / Read HERE.

Metro Weekly (D.C.): Damian Veron Seth MacFarlane on music, gay equality and Stewie's sexuality / Read HERE.

Rage (L.A./Orange County) thinks Molly Ringwald is so much more than pretty / Read HERE.

Get Out! magazine catches up with the fabulous Yuhua Hamasaki HERE.

Grab (Chicago) visits Neverland / Read HERE.

Visit on Facebook HERE.

Don't You Forget About Molly Ringwald at the Cafe Carlyle

When I got invited to review Molly Ringwald's just-opened two-week residency at the Cafe Carlyle, my first reaction was: What time do I have to be there? So with that fan-boy mentality in mind, there are two ways to evaluate this show. One: If you're a fan -- and what Generation X gay man isn't? -- go. And go now. Molly is as bubbly and delightful as you remember her -- ageless, really -- and sings so much like a Broadway-bound Karen Carpenter it's almost frightening. The show's a hoot -- she opened with "Sooner or Later" from "Dick Tracy"! -- and her awkward attempts at connecting with the audience are priceless. (Tickets on sale now HERE.)

On a slightly less fawning note, I will say this. Molly describes the songs she sings -- there was also an album called "Except Somtimes" -- as being from the Great American Songbook, yet also interchangeably refers to her musical career as a foray into jazz, something her musician father introduced her to. (I always thought they were two different things, but I guess because so many Great American tunes were interpreted by jazz artists there's some overlap?) The songs she did that I actually know to be from said songbook are fantastic -- we're talking Sondheim, Hoagy Carmichael, Rodgers and Hart -- and suited her "Cabaret"-tested vocals perfectly, kind of like when Linda Ronstadt sang standards in the '80s. The songs that were either jazz standards or had jazzier arrangements were a little less effective -- anything that hints of scat singing is just not in my wheelhouse, plus lady doesn't really sing the blues to be doing no Billie Holiday, okaaaaay? -- but because she seemed to enjoy performing them so much, it was kind of a wash. That she ends with one positively non-Great American Songbook number -- a reworked version of "Don't You Forget About Me" from "The Breakfast Club" -- is worth the price of admission alone!

Susanna Hoffs and Molly Ringwald pics in one week? If I run into Kristy McNichol by Sunday, I will have my boyhood-crush trifeca completed!

Afterward I made a beeline for the notoriously Pretty in Pink one, who was gracious enough to pose for a picture while being about as cold as Claire Stand(off)ish was in Saturday-morning detention. And truth be told, would you really want Molly Ringwald to be any other way?

Except Sometimes - Molly Ringwald

An Evening with Molly Ringwald continues through Oct. 18. Performances will take place Tuesday - Friday at 8:45 p.m.; and Saturday at 8:45 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. Reservations made by phone at 212.744.1600 are $70 ($120 for premium seating, $50 for bar seating) Tuesday – Thursday and the Saturday late show; and $80 ($130 for premium seating, $65 for bar seating) on Friday and Saturday. Reservations made online HERE are $65 ($115 for premium seating) Tuesday – Thursday and the Saturday late show; and $75 ($125 for premium seating) on Friday and Saturday. Café Carlyle is located in The Carlyle hotel (35 East 76th Street, at Madison Avenue). Molly Ringwald is joined by her musical director and pianist Peter Smith (all dates except October 9 where he will be substituted by Laurence Hobgood), Tony Jefferson on drums and Trevor Ware on bass.

Set list:
Sooner or Later (Stephen Sondheim)
Exactly Like You (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields)
I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes) (Hoagy Carmichael)
I'll Take Romance (Oscar Hammerstein/Ben Oakland)
I Thought About You (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Mercer)
Don't Explain (Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog Jr.)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (E.Y. "Yip" Harburg/Jay Gorney)
The Very Thought of You (Ray Noble)
If I Were a Bell (Frank Loesser)
It Never Entered My Mind (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)
Mean to Me (Fred E. Ahlert/Roy Turk)
I Feel Pretty (Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein)
Don't You (Forget About Me) ( Keith Forsey/Steve Schiff)

Song of the Day: 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' by Molly Ringwald

   It's not so much that Molly Ringwald's voice isn't half-bad, it's the jazz arrangement of Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" that makes this so appealing. Download the album, "Except Sometimes," HERE.

Pretty in Pink

Those Los Angeles queens have all the fun. First their gay and lesbian center has the coolest fundraiser ever, and now Molly Ringwald has just been named grand marshal of the 2012 Pride parade! (Did you know she has a story about a 6-year-old transgender boy in her forthcoming book, "When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories"?) Guess I only have myself to blame for not asking Andrew McCarthy to be ours when I had the chance.