Chris Azzopardi
Merry ... 'Midwinter'?
It's so like the religiously ambiguous Tori Amos to elude all the churchy mumbo-jumbo and trace popularized carols back to their non-worship roots. She does just that on her new holiday album "Midwinter Graces," out Nov. 10. On it, she re-works [...]
Ferndale hot-spot, Club 9, changes business owners
It's time for Tom Pearlman, the former business owner of Ferndale's Club 9, to move on. He's passed on the gay party place at the corner of Nine Mile Road and Woodward to Kiana Dennis and Angela Vincent, the team behind SIXX Events, a party promoter [...]
Hear Me Out: Tegan and Sara make heaven out of hell, Backstreet Boys bomb
Tegan and Sara, 'Sainthood' "My misery's so addictive," Tegan Quin speed-sings on the hyper-rocker "Northshore." No crap – whatever the direction this Canadian-twin duo takes with their angsty indie-pop, they never forget to plug in obsessive [...]
Jill Sobule's 'Years' fly by
Jill Sobule kissed a girl first. Then when Katy Perry did, the couple-hit wonder showed her who's boss by calling the pop lesbian-poser a "little slut" to cultural online-pub The Rumpus. Smart move, Sobule: It gave the queer folkie a shot at [...]
Don't Let Her Be Misunderstood
Singer-songwriter Susan Werner calls her latest covers album "user friendly." Photo: Asia Kepka Susan Werner wants me to friend her on Facebook. Little does she know that I've already done so – and she accepted. "Oh, did I?" the do-it-all musician [...]
And I'll remember: New Madonna video collection serves as a self-reflective time warp
Madonna made me want to be a mermaid. I didn't care what Ariel said that same year – when I was just 8 – about flipping your fins, not getting far and yadda-yadda-yadda. I wanted to flip my fins, damnit. I wanted thingamabobs. But most of all, I [...]
BODS' rethinks the figure
"The body is organic, with beautiful shapes and forms – hopefully," quips Ray Fleming, the owner of Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham. What he's referring to is the concept of his studio's upcoming exhibit, "BODS: Rethinking the Figure," which [...]
Hear Me Out: Mariah Carey vs. Madonna
Mariah Carey, 'Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel' Mariah Carey's feeling emotions, so on her 12th album – imperfect, and too one-dimensional to be a "memoir" – her life is one big romantic-comedy cliche: Love sucks, then love gets good again. Carey [...]
Welcome to the Jungle
Rita Mae Brown: "Every big mistake I've ever made in my life is because I just didn't trust my animal self.' Situated on a quiet, rural area of central Virginia, on a sprawling 1,000-acre farm, is Rita Mae Brown – and 70 foxhounds, 19 hunting [...]
Tori Amos talks 'Midwinter Graces'
Tori Amos releases "Midwinter Graces" on Nov. 10. Tori Amos gravitated toward sin on her last studio album. Her follow-up then, a seasonal LP dropping Nov. 10 – only a few months after the release of "Abnormally Attracted to Sin" – seems like an [...]
Hear Me Out: Mika's golden, folk-rocker Mason Jennings goes raw
Mika, 'The Boy Who Knew Too Much' Pop's gayest big post-pubescent boy – still probing childish innocence with songs like "We Are Golden," a slyly-written bubble of fun, kid choir included – wants you to know that you might not know about [...]
Rolling with the punches
Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and Kristen Wiig in 'Whip It!' Photos: Fox Searchlight Pictures There was hugging and gushing. Big smiles. Kudos for Drew Barrymore's black-dyed hair tips. Only a pair of traveling pants was missing as the queer-adored [...]