Chris Azzopardi
Hear Me Out: Andy Bell's so-so second CD. Plus: Country singer comes out - but how's her new album?
Andy Bell, 'Non-Stop' The new-wave band Andy Bell was born from, Erasure, had a knack for bundling heavy issues in breezy, head-hogging synth-pop. On Bell's second solo outing, his approach is both celebratory and world-weary, but lost in a [...]
Wanda's New World
There's no better time than now for Wanda Sykes to return to her stand-up roots. Her eponymous Fox late-night show was canceled after one season and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," the CBS sitcom she shares with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, suffered [...]
Gayest Road Trip Ever
If you see a pink RV driving through Michigan sometime around May 21 – the day out comedians Shann Carr and her sidekick Ken Cypert stop at Stiletto's – then please, keep going. "It's overwhelming the amount of smiles and nods and stares and thumbs [...]
Lez rockers of Hunter Valentine impress with short set. Plus: Toni Braxton's strong 'Pulse'
Hear Me Out Hunter Valentine, 'Lessons From the Late Night' Hunter Valentine play tough, but underneath the rowdy rock spasms of the all-lesbian band's music lies heartbreak and relationship woes. The Toronto threesome's third album – the [...]
Toni Braxton finds her 'Pulse'
Toni Braxton's loving the ladies. Regardless of lesbian rumors that swirled around years ago, the R&B singer who rode a massive wave to superstardom with the ubiquitous mid-'90s ballad "Un-Break My Heart" isn't ashamed to mack on fly females. [...]
Hear Me Out: Madonna Mania!
'Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna' "Glee," we were already crazy for you. But then you went even gayer and did an all-Madonna episode! With Sue Sylvester doing "Vogue"! Turns out, we can love you more. The cheer coach adds her infamous [...]
One-Legged 'Love'
How gay are we? Gay enough to believe that a hairdo inspired Findlay Brown's U.S. debut album, which the classic-pop crooner told Out.com recently. His James Dean cut, though, wasn't exactly the catalyst for the neo-soul sounds of "Love Will Find [...]
King of the World
Just because you can rock an instrument doesn't mean you can sing. Which is why I should totally be pissed that Kaki King decided to put more effort into her vocals than the flex of her guitar muscles on the fifth installment in the out musician's [...]
It Takes Two
What a ride it's been for Nervous But Excited. Not just the one where the folk duo open for Ani DiFranco and become the only local band to play the 2010 Ann Arbor Folk Festival, but also the drive where they were so bored they wrote a song about [...]
Melissa Etheridge: Fierce and 'Fearless'
If Melissa Etheridge's music has seemed mellow lately, she's about to show you. Back to her rock-out roots, the tough-and-gruff musician/mother/activist makes a roaring return with the uplifting "Fearless Love," her follow-up to 2007's [...]
Sia Gets Into the Groove
The world might just end for those who feed off Sia's sad songs. She's happy! And she knows it! And she's clapping her hands! In fact, she's making everyone do it on her forthcoming CD's first single, "Clap Your Hands," a neon-colored ditty of [...]