Dandysweets presents ... Jay Brannan Day

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Jay Brannan is a gay singer-songwriter. No wait! He’s a singer-songwriter,’cause as he says:

’I think it's time that everyone, the "gay community" included, allow gay people to take their place in the world as real people, rather than continuing to be defined and separated by their sexual orientation. I want the freedom to be myself, unafraid and uncensored, without having to market myself based on a sexual orientation, or attaching that sexual orientation to my name as a title’.

So now he’s set that straight!

I first heard about Jay Brannan from a friend of mine. And he remains my favorite slightly underground, slightly unknown artist. This will of course only be the case until he makes it big and I will start sulking about how it was so much better in the old days before he became too famous and you could still see him play in small venues, etc.





To most people Jay Brannan is probably best known for playing a part in John Cameron Mitchell’s film Shortbus:





Or maybe some people know him from his his blog where he writes about his travels and moans about his life.

Or maybe you’ve seen him on You Tube where he is a busy uploader of seemingly spontaneous outbursts of singing.

For instance on the day of Michael Jackson’s passing he, Brannan not Jackson posted his very own acoustic tribute version of 'Man In The Mirror':





Or just a few days ago (as of May 9, 2010) he posted a new song which he played in what looked like a hotel room probably somewhere in Eastern Europe, where - you’ll be aware if you follow him on Facebook – he’s travelling around at the moment.

Brannan is one of those artists who’s really embraced the whole Web 2.0 phenomena to promote himself and get his music out to as many people as possible. Well, when you don’t have a big record company backing you you have to get creative and not be afraid to ask favors of your followers on your blog or Facebook page.

Judging by the many videos that have been uploaded to YouTube by people who’ve been to his concerts he’s awesome live and good at working the audience:





He also likes to try and sing a song in the language of the country he’s playing in (obviously most of his songs are in English)







Next weekend I’ll be seeing him live for the first time in London. Since he can’t get his ass over to Copenhagen – even though he’s written a song called ’Denmark’. I mean, what’s up with that? Writing a song about a place and then not even play any concerts there? See, that’s how much I like his music, that I’m prepared to travel to another country to see him.

Maybe he doesn’t come to Denmark because then he’d have to learn a song in Danish and he probably took one listen to the Danish language and realised it would be too difficult to pull it off.

Anyway, that’s why I have made this ’Jay Brannan Day’ – because, even though the selfish part of me doesn’t want him to get too big, I like him enough to think he deserves as many people knowing about his music as possible. Having said that I’m sure that most of you good people on this board have heard of him and maybe even know him personally. But if some of you haven’t heard of him I hope you’ll check him out - just like this guy evidently has:





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Since I wrote this I've been to the Jay Brannan concert in London and I thought maybe I should add a kind of 'postscript comment' on how the concert was. But I'm not sure what to say other than it was as brilliant as I could have hoped for - my friend who I went with thought the same - Brannan has a great voice that just seems so effortless live and he's very very entertaining on stage.





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p.s. Hey. Today the blog's longstanding friend and d.l. Dandysweets employs her guest-hosting spot to spotlight and share her fandom for the musical artist Jay Brannan. He's new to me, and I'm very grateful to Dandysweets for the add, and I hope you guys similarly enjoy the introduction, if you're also newbies, or the show of you aren't. Please pass along your feedback. Thanks! A reminder that tomorrow around here will house the blog's seventh writers workshop, so please prepare to give it some of your attention this weekend, thanks again. ** JoeM, Hey. Oh, I certainly don't think Gisele and I have reached the end of our collaboration. This is a tough piece with a lot of ups and downs, but 'Kindertotenlieder' had pretty rough spots in its development too. If the new piece is a huge flop or something, all bets might be off, but we're already talking about our next collaboration, so I think in the long term everything in G's and my working relationship is just fine. I really appreciate your concern, though, and, hey, my being 100% wrong wouldn't exactly be a first. ** Misanthrope, Yeah, I agree about 'AI', the film. I thought it was quite an interesting mesh of Kubrick and Spielbergisms until the very ugh, very 100% Spielberg ending, which seemed like Spielberg being unable to let his goody two-shoes side go or something. ** Chris (British), Oh, man, I never took your short awayness for rudeness in the slightness. Point is, it's great to see you. Very nice about the new flat. And very interesting about Russian animation and its fate. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey, David. Thanks! ** Nerstes, Hey. Glad my words had any value. Relaxing is key, but, man, it's not easy to do, and it's often really hard in the moment to realize what's blocking you is not your writing but your stress and anxiety about it. Very tricky, but I have my little exercises to try to recognize when I should just give my writing and myself a decent rest. Hang in there. ** David, Oh, I hope Alec saw your Baltimore stuff. I'll alert him to look, if he didn't. Nice nailing of 'AI', the TV show, there. ** Alan, Yeah, I think we're agreeing. The material relations are a key factor for me too, naturally, given my A in a circle philosophy. ** Kier, Hi, Kier. How's it? Oh, what an awesome gift! Geez, cool. Can I share it? I can, right? Everyone, here's a gift from Kier. 'Nuff said. ** JW Veldhoen, Nah, liking isn't better, actually, or I don't think so. The sincerity and ease of it is nice, I guess. ** Bernard Welt, Hm, I'm not sure if it's that I don't quite understand what you're saying or that I disagree. I mean, we're having a discussion, not a tribunal, and it seems to me that holding out the possibility of judgement is a perfectly legitimate and useful tool with which to organize one's thoughts and solidify the form of one's opinion. You framed it as Afghani men having non-consensual relations with boys, but it could also be framed as the enslavement of boys by moneyed men with hard-ons, and it could probably be framed as other things as well. And where would one draw the line between that which can be judged and that which is too unknown to judge. Obviously, there are countries where gays are severely denied rights, persecuted, raped, imprisoned, and worse. Are we supposed to deny ourselves judgement about that because we don't throughly understand those countries' societies and cultures? That seems to be their argument, and that was key to the Confederacy's pro-slavery argument as well. If kids are being bought and sold and owned, quite likely without their consent, and if I don't know whether they've somehow ended up having the times of their lives in their captivity, I shouldn't entertain a very negative opinion about that? Deciding that's out of my league and none of my business seems like a far more restrictive way to try to think about it to me. I don't see judgement in the context of a discussion, and a quite thoughtful one in the case of our b-b think aloud fest, to be a problem whether it's emotionally generated or torn from a deeply held belief system. I'm rambling, but I guess what I'm saying is why would maintaining an absolute neutrality be the best or right or most productive way to think about this? You don't have to answer that, B. I'm mostly just shooting off a confused mouth. ** Sypha, Awesome news about the Rebel Satori contract! That's great, very exciting! Ha ha, I guess there's no right way to respond to a request like that guy's. Mm, I'm shy? I'd rather do that in your arms? I don't know. ** Heliotrope, Actually, not so gratuitous a quote at the moment, ha ha. Wow, that is a dilemma on J's job front. Really nice to be so wanted, of course, even if that doesn't the choice any easier. I'm pretty damned sure that doc will interest me once I find it. What's not to like, you know? You're taking me back with 'Electric Music for the Mind and Body'. Actually, not that far back since I listened to it again last year. What a weird band, weird sound. So analog in that great early Pink Floyd way. I think I decided that was their only really good album. Maybe the second one that came with the board game or whatever was pretty good too. I do need to listen to 'Triangle' again. It's been yonks on that one. What a great voice what's-his-name had. ** Christopher/ Mark, Hey. Oh, that clip is really nice. I'd never heard of them before at all. I think I'll pass that along via your words of introduction, if that's okay. Everyone, this is cool. Here's our pal C/M: 'I could hardly believe my eyes and ears when I found this on Youtube this morning. For you "younger" viewers, John Wallowitch and Bertram Ross were two of the most engaging acts in New York in the 70s and early 80s. Their first song "A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You" is one of the greats, and they would do "naughty" numbers too ("Have you seen my Pussy (cat)" and masses of Irving Berlin lesser-known and Rodgers and Hart. I last saw them at the Ballroom, that much-missed place some will remember. And I have one CD. I saw John once as accompanist to Jackie Curtis, who referred to him as "my husband" as she was wont to do. But this clip is utterly hypnotic to me and I suspect others, and even Oprah makes an appearance... Bertram Ross in his other life was a dance partner of Martha Graham for decades....' ** Heart, Koes? Is that really you? I believe it is. Well, wow, how are you, my much missed friend, d.l., and more? Tell me what's going on, what's new, how you are? Got a minute? It's just loveliness to see you! ** Statictick, Oh, I understand about the Acker thing. As I think you know, when I co-edited that Kathy's greatest hits book for Grove Press, I had to read every piece of fiction she ever wrote straight through for a few months, and, great as that was, I had to take a much needed multi-year break from her after that. 'Hausau', hm, sounds kind of like a must if possible. Okay, thanks, N, and over and out for now. ** Casey McKinney, Hey, man. Glad what I said made some sense. I'm just trying to get my particular mind around it. Your kiddo likes 'I Am the Walrus'? That's cool. He has nerves of steel. It's kind of a spooky song. I want to meet your kid, I don't know how, but somehow. Love right back to you. ** Oscar B, It's today. I mean, I'm reading your comment today. Time is meaningless or something. Yes, let me just finish off this thing I'm doing right here, jump in the shower, jump out, shave, dress, and I'll call you re: the big powwow. Re: your late comment, yeah, 'Dreamland', that's the show. Sounds vastly intriguing, no? ** Joseph, Well, they'll still be supervising and jacking around future yous when you're basking in the shade of authorial greatness. That's my prediction and blurb. End of June, nice, just a few thousand plus clock ticks away. Perfect day? I'll try. Don't be disappointed if it's just better than average. It is however imperative that your day be perfect. ** Rigby, Hello, Rigby. Excited about Eurovision tomorrow night? I strangely am. Very strangely am. I read about that guy they arrested. What an interesting story. I'm expecting a very fruitful spate of unfolding news that I can coopt. For my work, I mean, not my life, ahem. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, King's a dude. He does seem to be. I was watching a clip of him talking to some Yale students last night, and I was totally getting into his teenager in his sixties vibe and his frightening tie-dyed peace symbol t-shirt too. I think your thought for the day is spot on. No sooner had you said it than my mind was a swirl of repeating mellotron riffs. Interesting (to me) you should mention Xenakis' 'Formalized music' because Stephen O, huge Xenakis fan, offered to lend me that books months ago, and we both forgot. You really stood six feet from Branca playing 'Lesson No. 3'? You are a god. I'll keep telling you that until you believe it. ** Justin, Ha ha, I did use that Wal-Mart clip, yes. Good call. You should write that coprophilia book, or, for sure, its foreword. Do you know Dominique Laporte's 'History of Shit'? It's not definitive, but it's pretty brilliant. I haven't thought about writing the through-line for a ballet mostly because ... do people still make new ballet pieces? I guess they must. I'd totally do it. I had a couple of years way back when I was kind of obsessed with ballet and saw as many as I could. Adam Ant's solo work isn't bad. Some of it, anyway. I have a soft spot for his stuff. ** Steevee, Emeralds, yeah. They were in the Hypnagogic Pop post a few days ago. I like them a lot. Their brand new album from Mego is really terrific. ** Ken Baumann, Yeah, the title 'Les Experts' is pretty boring among other things. TV show retitling is not a French metier, it seems. Like 'House' is 'Dr. House'. Boring! Wow, you're cooking on the writing front. I'm thrilled to hear that. That paragraph of your comment was totally vibrating. Seriously. And my reading glasses are totally clean. I just cleaned them. Speaking of vibrating, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? Blake's new novel! Fucking 'A! I'm totally set over here. I don't think the Banksy doc has played in Paris. Or is it DVD only? I'll definitely check it. Thanks, man. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Welcome back. I'm almost finished putting together that post that uses your list of favored horror writers finally, btw. I'll trust you on the SatC2 movie. Honestly, I'd rather jump off the Empire State Building than watch that. But if it pleased you, I'll call off the suicide bombers. Oh no, yesterday was the last Bendy day? That's sad news, gosh. You okay? Do you think he's a 'staying in touch' kind of guy? It'd be nice to get even phone- or chat-filtered Bendy reports, but I'll be fine if not. My days ... They were pretty sparse. Let me see what I can remember. Worked on novel, was okay. It rained a lot. I had coffee with Kiddiepunk and Oscar, and we caught up on the past week and a half. Those two plus Scott Treleaven plus Paul P plus me are going to do a one-night only collaborative art show and performance in the Recollets brand new gallery space, probably in mid-June, and we're going to nail that down today. We're going to send out a Facebook invitation and everything. This is serious! So, we talked about that. Uh, I realized the Eurovision Song Contest is tomorrow night, and I'm in the mood, so that should be wacky fun. 'Un Type Immonde', the French 'Ugly Man', got some nice reviews, and that was cool. I started putting together the next escorts post, and then I stopped 'cos I needed to buy cigarettes, and one of the escorts I'd just put in the post was buying cigarettes in the same Tabac. He saw me looking at him like I knew who he was, and he looked back at me like he either knew who I am or figured that I was about to try to rent him, and that was an odd moment. I think that's all I can recall. Life's a bit uneventful right now because I'm just catching up on stuff. I'll try to forge today into something more. How's Friday in your world? ** Postitbreakup, Wow, hi, man! It's really great to see you! Welcome back. How are you? What's going on? ** Alec Niedenthal, Hi, Alec. I ... think the theater piece will turn out fine. What's difficult is kind of too lengthy to go into. It's just a big piece, a big job, and we only have a week left to finish it, and I think it could use a couple of more months to become everything it could be. We've spent so much time getting all the technical stuff and special effects and lighting and the stage to work that we've had to move more quickly on the performance itself, and that may turn out to be just fine, but it's not the way we've worked before, so it feels strange and harder to gauge, I guess. You saw d.l. David's comment about Baltimore yesterday? He knows it well. It might be work a look back if you didn't. Yeah, that sounds very, very complicated with your ex-girlfriend. I'm not tired of hearing about that at all. No way. Relationship complicatedness is not foreign to me and very easy to relate to and sympathize with. Reviewing Bernhard should be quite interesting. I wouldn't know how to best do that. My novel progresses steadily and far more slowly and with greater difficulty than I'd hoped, but, that aside, I'm very happy with it so far. Hopefully, I'll finish in time that it can come out next year. You have a good one too, A. ** Frank Jaffe, I'll try my best not to let Kings' books' bigness ward me off. I will. I have to get John W.'s new book. I can't wait. John is a god if not possibly God Himself. Butterface guy, what a nice term, especially to a guy like me who's writing a cannibal novel, ha ha. Thanks, Frank! ** Creative Massacre, Hey, pal! I'm doing okay, I guess. You're in a slump? What happened to the Texas trip? I hope that's not part of the slump. ** Bollo, Hey. Both of those clips/links we're great. You're such a resource. Hold on. Everyone, the great Bollo found two things that you should now consider finding. First is Bugs Bunny Rides a Rocking Horse, and second is Kung Fu Kitty. The flip side belongs to us, man. ** Changeling, Hey. You caught my interest big time with your most edible celebrity discussion. Who got the nods? Tell me. Pretty please? Actually, one of the things that made me want to write a cannibal novel in the first place was this Russian porn model whose 'stage name' was Chris. He was pretty big in the very early 90s. I did a post about him, I think. I'll try to locate it. Anyway, every time I looked at him, I kind of wanted him, but then I couldn't figure out why 'cos he wasn't the usual type I gravitated to, and then I realized that, if my fantasies had their druthers, I'd want to eat him. It was weird. There was just something edible about him. Anyway, yeah, tell me. I've always wanted to write a remake of a novel. Maybe King's the way to go. It might be interesting to try to turn one of his behemoths into a sliver. Hm. ** I'm finished. Check out Jay Brannan today, please, and talk to Dandysweets about JB/her post, if you don't mind. See you along with the writers workshop in tow tomorrow.