GAY ROCK star vs. gay ROCK STAR?

The shows that I did with Boys' Entrance in 2010 and so far in 2011 have gotten me to start thinking and reassessing. This is the twentieth year of Boys' Entrance, a period where I single-mindedly pursued rock music for gay people. I wanted to provide music and lyrics that spoke to our unique perspectives, needs, and experiences. But I have been feeling increasingly bridled.

In college, I took a creative writing class (got an A+!). The course taught me, "Write What You Know". That dictum has been my guiding light throughout my musical career. The course taught me that even in the intensely personal is a universal message, and that is the lesson I have clung to even as I spilled my guts on the most personal details of my life.

That was made easier by the thought that I was speaking to people like me first and foremost. The straights were incidental. But I did find that my music did cross over occasionally and some straights did pick up on it. I was blessed to work with straight friends who helped me produce the music I heard in my head. I am so grateful to those straight-but-not-narrow allies: Tom, Greg, Glass, Jeff, Vojo, Kurt, and Larry.

Here's the thing. I am feeling that what I want now is to be thought of as a gay ROCK STAR, more than a GAY ROCK star. The sound Mike Ferro and I are producing is ROCK. Yes, it is steeped in androgyny- like any good GLAM band is. But it ROCKS. Frankly, mos gays are not into it. They are made to believe they should be into dance and pop- or maybe that is what they actually like?

It has always been so. Broadway queens, Disco bunnies, House honeys, Techno twinks. It has always been so. There too have always been queens who rocked: Little Richard, Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Rob Halford (and countless closet cases and near-Missies).

I will not change my pronouns. I will not change my content to fit it. I am only changing my self-definition from GAY ROCK star to gay ROCK STAR.

"David Bowie Is Dead"

David Bowie is Dead c 2010 Tim Cain

David Jones lies in repose
On his chaise in his New York flat
A neural-jack clipped to his brain
The first such permanent connection
Of a comatose rock star and the Internet
On Bowienet again today
No Re’pondez, s’il vous plait
There’s nothing more to say, but
David Bowie is dead

His holographic self accompanies his wife
Down carpets red, and flashing lights
Collect his image pale and white
The transmissions are exhausting
So he requires a lot of rest
On Bowienet again today
No Re’pondez, s’il vous plait
There’s nothing more to say, but
David Bowie is dead

There’s been a lot of buzz
That the Spiders might regroup
If the programming is successful
Dave and Ronno’s holograms
Backed by Trevor, Woody and Mike
On Bowienet I read today
“Virtual Reality Tour” has been announced
The tour need never end, though
David Bowie is dead

Need I paint a vulgar picture?
One compilation disc too many
“An extra track and a tacky badge”
Though a tour seems a bit far fetched
Stranger things have happened
On Bowienet again today
The announcement finally made
“The Spiders Rise Again” though
David Bowie is Dead

"David Bowie Is Dead"

Dear Readers,
This is not actually the case, but virtually the case, that David Bowie is dead. It is how I feel. His absence is palpable, more than at any time in his career- that is life. It feels like David Bowie is dead to me. I am experiencing a similar kind of grief- believing that there may never be another transmission from his mind.

This is the genesis for my song, "David Bowie is Dead". The song is a sci-fi homage to La Bowie. It explores the possibility that he is on the verge of breaking through a new artistic barrier (just as he was one of the first recording artists on CD). This time, he is imagined "on a chaise in his New York flat, a neural jack clipped to his brain, the first such permanent connection of a comatose rock star and the Internet".

Where as his last tour was called the Reality Tour, he is now being prepared to go on the Virtual Reality Tour- with Ronno. Has the technology progressed enough to keep the dying alive, and bring the dead back to life? In my song, it has.

I hope you enjoy it. http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_8157018

Dorothy' Last Fling-Boys' Entrance{cover of chainsaw kitten's}

This is the first song we did at ABSOLUTE Fringe on Jan. 30th. The video was shot by my husband, Santos, but the microphone on the camera phone was overwhelmed by the sound. So there was a video shot of the second show on Mar. 27th, and Brett Basil took the audio and fused it to the video. Now we have a really cool video of this cover of one of my favorite Chainsaw Kittens songs, "Dorothy's Last Fling". I hope you like it.