Song For Sunday - 29th Aug - Don't Cry

Slightly odd and unusual, but all the better for it, is this song Don't Cry Those Tears by Jack Colwell. With an atmospheric -- and beautiful mix of erotic/sad -- video to go with it, this is a Song for Sunday that I'll be going back to listen to (and watch - seriously, you're going to hit repeat at least once) often.

Bonus Song - 28th Aug

Because it's Friday night and Friday nights deserve good tunes to get into the weekend mood I thought it was time for a Bonus Song.

Ari Gold has put together GoldNation and they have a new album Soundtrack To Freedom. From it comes this - Sex Like A Porn Star

Song for Sunday - 23rd Aug - Low

Matt Gold has one of those voices that lend themselves to be included in Song for Sunday. His album, Drown Before You Swim, is a great listen on a Sunday morning.

But this song here - Low - is new and is today's choice.

Song for Sunday - 16th Aug - Be My Man

A perfect song for a Sunday. Indiana Queen with a new track that'll be on their next album - Be My Man is the song.

(Look out for a slightly re-styled Song for Sunday next week)

Song for Sunday - 9th Aug - Shake Me Up

another Sunday song from Chris Riffle - to be fair, his music is totally made for a Sunday morning - here is Shake Me Up from his album Out of Town.

Song for Sunday - 2nd Aug - Girl

A very smooth love song, perfect for a Sunday morning. So smooth that you're going to want to hit repeat at least once.
The Internet ft Kaytrnada - both the band and the singer are new to me, but I'll be looking out for more.

Song for Sunday - 26th July - Something About Him

A perfectly low key story in song this week. It'll wash right over you and you may have to listen to it twice to get its meaning. But it's worth it. Brady Earnhart is the consummate singer-songwriter, telling tales and strumming his guitar to bring his audience the joy of his creations.

Santino Hassell calls these my 'sad eyed' music choices, but  I think they suit a Sunday morning.

When safe spaces become dull spaces. ( a little local politics)

I was, until recently, fully intending to go along to the Free Pride event here in Glasgow. The event buys into all the things that are important to me and are missing from the 'mainstream' Pride event happening on the same day. In case you're not aware of what they are I'll repeat them here:
against the commercialisation of Pride
making Pride more inclusive
Pride as a protest
All three of these are aims that I support.

But one decision has made me realise that the Free Pride event is likely to be lacking the one thing that I want from a Pride event - actual Pride.
Free Pride has cast aside a core group of the queer community and has chosen to be exclusionary rather than seek compromise in order to include. It has taken on a policy of having no drag acts (their statement is here).
Where's the pride in telling a group of people that they are welcome to attend but not to perform? Where's the pride in acknowledging a group's contribution to the history of the community but telling them they aren't wanted anymore? Where's the pride in recognising and accommodating the multitude of the queer community?
By excluding drag performers the Free Pride reinforces the binary notion of gender and gender expression. Drag performers are as much a part of the colours of our queer spectrum as transgender people. This policy position turns pride to shame and inclusion to exclusion. It's no longer an event that I could go to or support.

Was it really beyond the abilities of the organisers of Free Pride to have a particular time slot for drag performers? Or to have drag performances on a specific stage, or room? Attempting to do any of those things would then enable the organisers to give the audience a ''trigger warning" of what was up next. To enable those who dislike drag (for whatever reason) to choose to go do something else instead with the time. Because let's be clear, not every person in the audience is going to like, or want to see, every single act that appears. Some people (myself included) would clearly benefit from a reason to go do something else at some point - giving other parts of the event more exposure to as many of those attending as possible.
(In case you're still wondering, this post is not any kind of attack on transgender folk and how they feel about drag, but instead a call to the organisers of Free Pride to seek ways to be inclusive of the whole community.)

Drag performers are a mixed bunch. I've seen many bad ones over the years, where the performance is outright misogynistic and lacking in any kind of understanding of the gender norms at play. I've also seen some very, very clever ones who understand that a man is not supposed to say certain things, and can only get away with saying them when presenting as a women - the role reversal of gender, the twisting of the norms and the expression of insights are more powerful than they would have been if it was a man presenting as a man.
Mix that in with a performer who is engaging and entertaining - the inclusion of the audience without being nasty, snarky or rude is in itself an art - and you can have an emotionally powerful act that entertains and makes you question assumptions about gender in one go. Does Scotland really not have a drag performer who ins't the former and can achieve the latter of these? If not then that's a pretty poor state of affairs.

It's quite down heartening to see how most drag acts have been pushed aside and their role in our community reduced to not much more than presenters of karaoke and novelty acts. Actual clever and insightful humour isn't encouraged and the concept of cabaret and drag as burlesque seems to have almost disappeared. (Both cabaret and burlesque have a fascinating role and history in entertainment and a sense of that might have informed the policy decision.)
Maybe Free Pride should have focussed on this, the dying art of drag, than on excluding an already marginalised group. Instead they chose to reinforce the marginalisation and erasure of drag.

The decision itself goes against two principles of being 'free' that Free Pride references - not under the control or in the power of another & not constrained, restricted or bound. Free Pride, in making this choice, has controlled what is and isn't entertainment and has restricted access to the possibility of free expression and enlightening entertainment.

Good drag can, at the same time as being entertaining, pack an emotional punch as much as an intellectual one. I'd have thought that that kind of entertainment would be right up Free Pride's street. That it'd be the kind of radical and non-commercial entertainment that would suit this type of event. But maybe those involved in organising Free Pride don't want the entertainment to challenge their pre-set notions of gender, sexuality, expression or politics.
No challenge means no questioning, no thinking, no chance to consider the experiences of others and how we, all of us across the queer spectrum, can share a space.

If some are excluded from that space then it no longer becomes shared.

There is no balance here. No seeking to accommodate. No inclusion. No celebration of the joy, insight and downright power to be had in intentionally playing with gender norms. Instead it seems that Free Pride has opted for a pretty picnic instead of an empowering celebration.
Which is as bland and conformist in its own way as the 'mainstream' pride event it was set up to be the alternative to.

For a reminder about the impact a good drag act can have try this:

And for a longer pondering on the nature of drag this is worth watching:

Song for Sunday - 19th Jul - Quiet

Another new to me singer, this time Harrison Blythe. This is the single - Quiet - from his album Fatal Highway. Both are good and made it onto my permanent playlist.

It's also a very good song for a Sunday morning. Enjoy

Bonus Song - 16th July - Wanna Dance

It's almost the weekend, which means we are totally entitled to a bonus song. This one is my favourite version of the song and it's sung beautifully by Matt Alber. A little moment of bliss to get you in the mood for the weekend.

Song for Sunday - 12 July - Wanting It All

A typical song for a Sunday here - something to sit back and relax to as you experience the song. Wanting It All by Stephen Leonard is from his album His Fire, which is well worth a listen.

Song for Sunday - 5th July - Trying

Here is a collection of  musical talent that goes by the name MRF. Their style is a mix of old and new and makes for a good Song for Sunday.

Song for Sunday - 28th Jun - Housewife

A perfect ode to the domesticity that comes with finding 'the one'. Also a great song for a Sunday morning.
Jay Brannan's song Housewife is a a few years old now but it's still a great thing to listen to.

Song For Sunday - 21st June - Love You Have In You

This is a new to me artist - Asbjørn - but the video and song are rather stunning. Perfect for a Sunday morning.

Bonus Song - 18th June - Boys In The Street

A rather wonderful song and video from Greg Holden. Hit play and soak it in.

Extra Sunday Song - 14th Jun - Secret

just because it's a good Sunday and because this is such a great video I thought there should be an extra song this Sunday.

Huntington & Secret

Song for Sunday - 14th June - Who We Are

A full on Sunday morning song this week. Who We Are by a thousand fires (a band featuring the beautifully voiced Coury Palermo) is a delight - a sound you can sink into paired with some break up lyrics.

This is another album worth getting - RebelLoverLiar.

Song for Sunday - 7th June - These Boots

Its a sunny(ish) summers Sunday morning, so it's time for a little light flavoured jazz - that's with an A.
Take an old campy song, reimagine it with a jazz sound, then add in one of the dreamiest voices around and this is what you end up with - Spencer Day doing These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
This is a live version, his original version is on his album Daybreak, worth a listen.

If you click through the video onto Spencer's YouTube channel you'll also hear his version of LoveFool by The Cardigans - it's focus on the lyrics rather than the original's focus on the catchy tune makes it a whole new song.

Bonus Song - Little Queen of New Orleans

I shared this on Twitter and thought that I should really add it in here too. A great blues/rock song for a Friday evening.

Song for Sunday - 31 May - Nothing But The Waves

This is almost the perfect Song for Sunday - a gentle, blues infused song about the love between two men. It's been on my favourites list for a few months now and is likely to stay there a while.

This is the type of song where you crank up the volume to just the perfect level, tilt your head back and close your eyes, then just let it wash into you, seep into your bones with what it is - a thing of beauty.