Theodosia Sullivan has the perfect life. She has a great relationship with her dad, she runs their surf shop in Hanalei Bay, has plenty of close friends in town, and gets all the no-strings sex she wants from tourists who are thrilled to be in Hawaii and away from their homes on the mainland. Best of all is Kini, her closest friend and confidante who also happens to be the best damn baker going, and owner of Queen’s Sweet Shop.
Theo isn’t interested in “the one” or anything resembling a long-term relationship, but she loves it when other people fall in love, so she’s appointed herself the local matchmaker. Her latest match has gone so well, with her former nanny Charlotte recently marrying the art gallery owner Jim, that she’s convinced it’s her calling. So, when Laurel Kim shows up at her store looking for a job, Theo treats the sweet, naive young woman as her own personal mission. She knows she can help Laurel find the perfect man, so long as Theo can steer her clear of Kini’s shop helper, Bobby, who clearly has zero prospects and isn’t even that good looking.
Laurel becomes almost a full-time job for Theo, since she has to also teach her how to surf, show her the ropes of working in the shop, and find all the best food in Hanalei Bay (including Queen’s, naturally). And Theo’s own life gets a little more complicated than usual when Jim’s son shows up and she starts to question whether she’s actually the 6 on the Kinsey scale that she always believed herself to be.
As much as Theo thinks she has a handle on everything, she soon learns that interfering in other people’s lives can have consequences. The gravest might be for Theo’s heart, when she understands how deeply she loves Kini just after unknowingly pushing her friend towards someone else.
If I Loved You Less is a contemporary reinterpretation of the classic Emma by Jane Austen. The village of highbury has been replaced by the sights, sounds, and tastes of the out-of-the-way Hanalei Bay (and be warned about those tastes—hearing about Kini’s baking will make you crave pastries). Theo is an excellent take on Emma Woodhouse, equal parts well-meaning and meddlesome, with the former not always managing to outweigh the latter. Kini is also a perfect gender-flipped Mr. Knightley, since she’s stoic, wise, warmer than might be expected at first sight, and significantly older than Theo.
Because the reinterpretation is so faithful to the original, you’ll enjoy this best if you’re a fan of Emma, because much like Miss Woodhouse, Theo can be a lot to take. She’s impulsive, often judgy to the point of being shallow, occasionally manipulative, and prone to blurting her thoughts without consideration of the emotional wake she leaves behind her. Theo’s so much more than that, though, because she’s also warm, genuinely wants the best for others, and has a deep affinity for the people she’s closest to, like Kini, her father, and Charlotte. Because she’s so messy and real, Theo is a character that people will either love or hate, and if you love her, a lot of that affection and appreciation will come from watching her blossom into the kind of woman Kini’s known she could be all along.
Readers who have been on the lookout for f/f chicklit will also rejoice about If I Loved You Less. While it has a romance that’s lovely and satisfying, it’s secondary to the story, which is truly about Theo’s life and a period in which she goes through tremendous growth. Despite occasionally awkward or difficult scenes, the overall tone is light and Parker’s writing style is fun and engaging, making the book a great piece of escapism. Those who prefer or need audiobooks are also in for a treat, since Jill Smith does a spectacular job bringing Theo, Kini, and all the happenings of Hanalei Bay to life with her narration.
Anyone looking for a break for a few hours should consider If I Loved You Less, especially as we head into the long winter months. Just make sure you have snacks ready for your little virtual island getaway, because you’re definitely going to need them.
With one foot in historical fact and one foot beautifully in fiction, Christopher Castellini vividly reimagines one of the most fascinating partnerships of the gay literary world. The author has created a compelling narrative about the bonds of love and affection between two men: the playwright Tennessee Williams and his partner, the often overshadowed, Frank Merlo. Merlo, beloved by those closest to the celebrated Williams, still lived mostly in the playwright’s shadow. His own ambitions as an actor and dancer thwarted, Merlo functioned as William’s assistant, always getting the couple where they needed to be when they needed to be there. Leading Men is an accounting of Merlo’s time with Williams, a working-class man from New Jersey thrust onto the international stage of the mid-century’s jet set.
The novel opens in Portofino—one of the small, picturesque Italian resorts where the elite from the world of the arts, leaders of industry, and stars of the international film scene docked their yachts and gathered for pleasure by the seaside. Castellani captures this rarefied world at its louche heights. Everyone has descended on Portofino for a party thrown by Truman Capote, a friend and rival of Williams. Also introduced is the character Anja, a beautiful Swede of sixteen on the cusp of becoming a great actress. She and her ersatz mother befriend Merlo and Williams. Likewise, the mother and daughter meet another gay American author, John Horne (‘Jack’) Burns, and his lover, Sandro Nencini. All six are the victims of a mob of young vagrants intent on sexually assaulting the young Anja, a tragic incident, that they all carry in secret, until Williams writes of it as a plot device in one of his plays. But it’s Anja and Frank who remain most central to the book’s narrative as the timeline slips back and forth from the contemporary life of an elderly Anja, the early death of Merlo in the 1960s, and the height of William’s and Frank’s fifteen-year relationship in the 1950s.
A major plot point centers on Anja, in the sunset of her years, holding on to a legacy passed to her by Williams shortly before his death; it’s a final play dedicated to Merlo. The play was written in Williams’ decline, and she’s not sure of its artistic value; however, the young son of Jack Burn’s Italian lover, himself gay, finds her. An unlikely friendship blooms between the elderly and reclusive actress and the star-struck young medical student.
Leading Men is a finely-rendered narrative based upon some of the twentieth century’s most compelling artistic figures. It is broad in scope and lush in detail, without every tipping into sentimentality. It is a love story between two men—two men who existed in a rarefied world that accepted this relationship without judgment,at a time when the world-at-large most certainly did. The novel is also a fascinating examination of the early years of international celebrity culture. From Rome to Portofino, 1950s Italy comes to life again with its evocative landscapes and endless pleasures. Real life characters like Paul Bowles and Anna Magnani breathe again in theses pages, bringing back a time when to be famous was often coupled with great accomplishment. The novel is a compassionate snapshot of a bygone era and a beautiful, if tragic, story of love and remembrance.
Friday March 1 @ 7:30 pm.People’s Music Benefit for Occidental Center for the Arts!Join People’s Music for ‘a night of great music with friends’ to benefit live music venue Occidental Center for the Arts! Don’t miss this showcase of Sonoma County talent, featuring: Hoytus & New Paradise, Andy Graham, The Stoney Point Ramblers, Whispering Light, Washington Hill. MC’d by Jim Corbett aka ‘Mr. Music’. All proceeds go to Occidental Center for the Arts. Admission is $15. at the door. Refreshments available ; wine and beer for sale. Wheelchair Accessible. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental CA. 95465. Hoytus and New Paradise
In the cultural theory circles Julietta Singh traversed in grad school, “the archive” stood for the body of work one sought to claim as one’s unique site of study, from which one would ideally launch a dazzling academic career. Now a professor of English and women’s, gender and sexuality studies, Singh has remained in academia, but her new book No Archive Will Restore You takes stock of a different kind of archive: her own body and all that has traversed its shifting boundaries.
The tags on her publisher’s web-page for the book—birth, bulimia, cancer, desire, diaspora, pain, queer theory, race, robbery, sexuality, texting, the body, violence—give a sense of its range, but No Archive is less a catalog than a contemplative ramble, structured by the kind of inner logic that might guide the owner of a vast and apparently disorderly home library to any volume sought in seconds. Via email, Singh shared her thoughts on the eroticism of theory, the radical politics of hospitality, and her never-quite-finished writing process.
Contra the “born this way” narrative of queer sexuality and its quest to ground sexual difference in biology, you write at one point that “my engagements with queer theory had produced in me an unabashedly queer sexual desire.” That unexpected motion—theory producing rather than accounting for desire—to my ear faintly echoes the political lesbianism movement of the last century. I’m curious in what ways that might or might not resonate with you.
I’m in full support of the science of queer life, in and beyond human sexualities. I write in the book about a childhood experience of meeting my older queer cousin for the first time and feeling an immediate and profound desire, even while then I couldn’t quite understand it. It’s also true that this moment was caught up—as were many other moments that comprise my early life—in navigating the slippery politics of race and “racial mixing” in the Canada of my youth. In a sense, queerness felt less urgent for me as I was confronting the social struggles that were literally inscribed on my skin.
What I was trying to resist in No Archive was the formulation that I had been in the proverbial “closet.” Instead, I wanted to emphasize the ways that theory—so often presumed to be entirely intellectual and removed from embodiment—could ignite passionate desires for other forms of intimate and collective relation. I have been made, unmade, and remade by theory in countless ways. For me, theory has never been something that simply accounts for the world, but a form of active engagement that gives rise to other ways of inhabiting and imaging this and other worlds.
It’s cool that you hear faint echoes of radical lesbianism here! The brown and black lesbian movement of the last century—Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherrie Moraga, and their collectives—are all indispensable to contemporary queer of color critique. Lorde’s essay “The Uses of the Erotic,” in which she moves eroticism out of a purely sexual realm and into everyday acts of making and moving (she cites the act of building a bookshelf!) is a really provocative way to connect with our bodies, to feel in and with them against the socially proscribed sites of eroticism.
You situate No Archive partly within a recent tradition of feminist new materialism. I think it’s also fair to say we’re somewhere in the middle of a long, rich wave of works by feminist writers (both academic and popular) examining bodily female experience. I’m excited by these works—there is still so much to be said—while also sometimes wondering how they sit en masse against the age-old cultural imperative for women, in particular, to devote obsessional attention to the body. Does this ever register as tension for you?
This is a provocative question, and I understand completely why you feel some tension around what may seem like an endless return to the female body. Part of why I think the body is so exhausting for women is because we’re locked into very rigid conceptions of what the body is, and how we should or must be in relation to it. There are, of course, long traditions of being embodied that do not require an unrelenting subjugation or obsession with the body. There are traditions of being in the body that are not disciplinary, that do not police your gender, your size, your sexuality. And perhaps for me even more excitingly, there may be ways of invoking other relations to our bodies that have not yet been played out historically. We might, in other words, invent new styles and tradition of being embodied.
The feminist writing that engages me most—across intellectual and popular spheres—shares a mutual reach toward alternative ways of reading and abiding by the body. If the body has been a source of profound struggle for many women, this for me is not a reason to abandon it. In a feminist deconstructive frame, I could say that I don’t want to flip the binary of women being “all body” by moving us to be “all mind.” I want to displace this binary altogether. We are, all of us, body-minds. I’m interested in that tangled play of the psychic and the material. I don’t want to do away with the body; I want to let it ring and echo in registers that do not align with patriarchal capitalism. I want to bring our bodies into a full, messy, and unabashed embrace.
You had another book come out last year, Unthinking Mastery: Dehumanism and Decolonial Entanglements. One could see No Archive as a companion volume, exploring what it might mean to inhabit a body that neither masters nor is mastered by itself or others—a body that’s more permeable and less bounded. What might happen at a broader political level if more of us were to reconceive of our bodies in this way?
I love the idea of No Archive as a “companion volume” to Unthinking Mastery, and it makes me realize that everything I write in some sense comes back to this primordial formulation: how can we be together in less coercive ways by reconceiving who and what we are?
One of the things I’ve written about beyond these two books, and that lingers palpably in both, is the ethical and political question of hospitality. A critical engagement with hospitality necessitates that we reimagine what is “ours,” and this requires us to rethink how we come into belonging, and why some are not eligible to belong. If we are to understand ourselves as embodied subjects that are fundamentally and infinitely bound up with the world at large, it becomes very hard to forget the refugee at the border. It becomes hard not to fight against a system that wants to wall out, or shoot, or arrest and detain the refugee. It also becomes very hard to turn away from those who are already here, and those who were here first as stewards of this place, who are excised from the systems that support healthy, sustainable life. It becomes impossible to continue to comply with an extractive capitalism that is maniacally destroying the conditions of possibility for life on this planet.
In other words, a radical re-conception of ourselves—of what and who we are—might open us to the prospect of giving up some of the things we have held as “rightfully” ours, and might urge us toward forms of living that refuse outright the very terms of exclusion and exploitation that drive contemporary geopolitics.
You end with the image of the burning book, which in a literal sense seems profoundly anti-archival. But there’s also something liberating in the image. It made me wonder: has writing this book put anything to rest for you? Or does the idea of the archive remain as fraught as ever?
Mulling over this question just made me realize for the first time that No Archive both begins and ends with the act of study! The image of the burnt book at the end marks a desire to turn toward those ideas that have been stamped out from above, that have been prohibited and destroyed. The act of burning books is certainly anti-archival, but the act of gathering up and studying the ashes of the burnt book can be said to be anarchival—demarcating a willingness to take up the partial, the fragmented, the destroyed, without needing to seek out something whole and complete, without needing to recreate the ashes into an “original” form.
No Archive itself falls apart by the end of the book, becoming somewhat fragmented in its form. Now that it’s making its way into the world, I’m still here studying, still desiring to gather up those scattered ashes, to think and feel with them. Much more than putting things to rest, I feel energized toward gathering, distributing, and holding together against the force of what burns us.
Velvet Buzzsaw that went straight from the SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL onto the Netflix is probably the campiest movie we have seen for some time. Written and directed by DAN GILROY and packed with a A list cast that included JAKE GYLLENHAAL, RENE RUSSO, TONI COLLETTE, TOM STURRIDGE and JOHN MALKOVICH it’s a psychological sci-fi thriller about how greed in the art world can have fatal consequences.
Everyone is decked out in their best fashionista outfits and living in spectacular contemporary L.A. mansions with the exception of Josephina (ZAWE ASHTON) a junior Art Gallery agent who lives in an old apartment downtown. When one of her reclusive neighbors dies she discovers that his apartment is crammed full of extraordinary and disturbing art.
When her boss and a famous critic (Gyllenhaal) (and her soon to be temporary boyfriend) decide this is the work of a genius, they steal it all and present it to the world with the idea of making an obscene amount of money. However unbeknown to anyone a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.
Gyllenhaal is pitch perfect as the outrageous critic who ditches his live-in-hot boyfriend to try his luck with Josephina is by far the best thing in Velvet Buzzsaw, and he is the reason to keep with it until its bloody conclusion. It’s rather silly story does at least show the vapidness of the art world, and gives us another (and too rare) opportunity to see Rene Russo back on our screens
First global LGBTQ+ streaming network, Revry, announced a deal with Comcast that will soon bring its service to Comcast’s Xfinity X1. (See televised announcement HERE on Cheddar.com)
With Revry’s authentically diverse mix of films, series, music, podcasts and originals, the forthcoming launch on Xfinity X1 is part of Revry’s plans to continue to expand its reach. One of several partnerships the streaming network expects to announce this year, Revry’s availability on X1 bolsters Revry’s cumulative reach to over 50 million viewers across platforms.
At launch, Xfinity X1 customers will be able to subscribe to the service and access it over the Internet by saying “Revry” into their X1 Voice Remote. Additionally, they can simply say “Pride” or “LGBTQ” to access Xfinity X1’s broader LGBTQ Film and TV on demand destination, the first diverse, community endorsed LGBTQ entertainment experience in the home that features one of the most complete libraries of LGBTQ entertainment, soon to include Revry available anywhere. X1 customers will be able to sign up for Revry directly on X1, and add it to their service for $6.99 per month.
“Launching on X1 will be a game changer and allow Revry to bring more authentic LGBTQ+ stories and content to millions more homes in the US,” states Revry CEO Damian Pelliccione. “Our dream of becoming easily accessible to people who need to hear these stories from around the world is one step closer to becoming a reality!”
“We’re excited Xfinity X1 customers will soon be able to enjoy Revry Originals like Room To Grow and Queens of Kings starring Drag Race Winner Aquaria, plus movies, shorts, music and podcasts all within the ease of the X1 experience,” said Jean-Claire Fitschen, Executive Director, Multicultural Consumer Services, Comcast Cable. “Revry’s expansive offering includes stories of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender experience that our customers will love and greatly complement our current collection of programming for this audience.”
Revry is a source for authentic queer representation with fresh, innovative LGBTQ content from all around the world. Committed to inclusion and creating a space for all voices in the LGBTQ+ community to be seen and heard, Revry is making investing in the queer community a family affair with its equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest (https://www.seedinvest.com/revry/seed) which is closing shortly. Anybody, regardless of income, can invest in the private company and share in the company’s future growth.
About Revry
Revry is the first queer global streaming network, available in over 50 million homes in over 100 countries, with a uniquely curated selection of LGBTQ+ film, series, and originals along with the world’s largest queer libraries of groundbreaking podcasts, albums and music videos. Revry is available worldwide. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Revry is led by an inclusive team of queer, multi-ethnic and allied partners who bring decades of experience in the fields of tech, digital media, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @REVRYTV. Go Online to: https://revry.tv.
Revry is offering securities under Regulation CF and Rule 506(c) of Regulation D through SI Securities, LLC (“SI Securities”). The Company has filed a Form C with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with its offering, a copy of which may be obtained at: https://www.seedinvest.com/revry/seedIt is advised that you consult a tax professional to fully understand any potential tax implications of receiving investor perks before making an investment. The individuals above were not compensated in exchange for their testimonials. In addition, their testimonials should not be construed as and/or considered investment advice.
About SeedInvest
SeedInvest is a leading equity crowdfunding platform that provides individual investors with access to pre-vetted startup investment opportunities and has only accepted 1% of those companies to feature on the platform. For more information, visit www.seedinvest.com.
This year, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2019 is pleased to, once again, partner with OUTwatch, Wine Country’s LGBTQI Film Festival, offering a slate of films curated by their producers as part of our program.
OUTwatch began as a day of LGBTQI films at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts in 2012 and has grown into a robust and well-attended festival of its own. Its producers curate the best of LGBTQI film in both narrative and documentary formats and bring it to the North Bay to entertain and educate the community at large.
As such, we are proud to co-present three documentaries their curating team hosts under the OUTwatch Banner: 2 wonderful features, The Rest I Make Up and Leitis In Waiting and the short, A Great Ride. Look for the OW icons in the program.
The Rest I Make Up
Friday March 29, 4pm Rialto Cinemas® #9
Maria Irene Fornes is one of America’s greatest playwrights and most influential teachers, but many know her only as the ex-lover of writer and social critic Susan Sontag. At the vanguard of the nascent Off-Off Broadway experimental theater movement in NYC, the visionary Cuban-American dramatist constructed astonishing worlds onstage, writing over 40 plays and winning nine Obie Awards. When she gradually stops writing due to dementia, an unexpected friendship with filmmaker Michelle Memran reignites her spontaneous creative spirit and triggers a decade-long collaboration that picks up where the pen left off. Theater luminaries such as Edward Albee, Ellen Stewart, Lanford Wilson, and others weigh in on Fornes’s important contributions. What began as an accidental collaboration becomes a story of love, creativity, and connection that persists even in the face of forgetting.
“A Great Ride” is a documentary about older lesbians aging with dynamism and zest for life.
When they were young these women forged a social movement to come out as true to themselves. Now they are pioneers once again as they face the next daunting challenge: growing old, which can come with frailty, loneliness, and the death of dear friends. In this group portrait, these women are courageous role models for aging, which they do with determination, engagement, an independent and irreverent spirit and a heartening delight in living.
Features Rainbow Women of Oakmont Village, Sally Gearhart & the Women of the Willits Women’s Land, and Brenda Crawford in Vallejo.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/268670512
Leitis In Waiting
Friday March 29, 7:30pm Rialto Cinemas® #7
Leitis in Waiting is a raw yet tender portrait of Joey Mataele and the Tonga leitis, an intrepid group of native transgender women fighting a rising tide of religious fundamentalism in their South Pacific Kingdom. With unexpected humor and extraordinary access to the Kingdom’s royals and religious leaders, this emotional journey reveals what it means to be different in a society ruled by tradition, and what it takes to be accepted without forsaking your culture and traditions.
Other LGBTQI films at the festival: Holly Near: Singing For Our Lives, Derby Crazy Love, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, From Baghdad to the Bay, The Racer (Short Program #3), Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond (Short Program #3), I Have Something To Tell You (Short Program # 1 & opening short)
Holly Near: Singing For Our Lives
Friday March 29 4:15-5:45 Brent Theater – Sebastopol Center for the Arts
Singer, songwriter, and social activist Holly Near has been performing for well over 50 years and in the process created what Gloria Steinem called, “the first soundtrack of the women’s movement.” From small-town Northern California to sold-out shows on some of the most iconic stages to million-person peace marches, Singing for Our Lives documents the story of the activist and her art. It also serves as an important testament to a time—a time of protest and coalition building, and the weaving of a multicultural consciousness always rooted in contemporary activism. Featuring Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, the late Ronnie Gilbert, and the late Tom Hayden with appearances by Pete Seeger, and others, this film, directed by Jim Brown (The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time!), elevates Near to her deserved status of iconic artist and activist, and speaks to anyone who believes in peace, justice, feminism, and humanity.
Trailer: https://www.hollynear.com/
Derby Crazy Love
Sat March 30 1:45-3:15p Brent Theater – Sebastopol Center for the Arts
A bad ass documentary about the third wave feminist revival of roller derby, featuring NY’s Gotham Girls, UK’s London Roller Girls and Montreal’s New Skids On The Block. This is not your Mom’s Roller Derby. These Derby women are modern, young and totally committed to the sport. Their names are crazy and they may be quirky but they are hard working athletes who go all out to win. This film captures the spirit, danger and excitement of today’s rough and tumble Roller Derby as the team struggles to win against the top ranked Derby women in the world.
Dr. Anne Innis Dagg re-traces the steps of her ground-breaking 1956 journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild. Now, at 85 years old, Anne sees a startling contrast between the world of giraffes she once knew and the one it has become. Weaving through the past and present, her harrowing journey gives us an intimate look into the factors that destroyed her career and the forces that brought her back. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Alison Reid.
From Baghdad to The Bay
Sunday March 31, 2-4pm Rialto Cinemas® #7
“From Baghdad to The Bay” is a personal look at one man’s harrowing journey to be true to himself amidst adversity. This award winning film follows the epic journey of Ghazwan Alsharif, an Iraqi refugee and former translator for the U.S. military. Wrongfully accused of being a double agent, tortured by the U.S. military and ostracized from family, Ghazwan struggles to rebuild his life in the San Francisco Bay Area while coming out as an openly gay activist.
Saturday March 30, 11:15-12:15pm Rialto Cinemas® #9
A fine art photographer employs his craft to heal old wounds and ease his anxiety about sharing his HIV/AIDS diagnoses with his loved ones, creating an acclaimed portrait series in the process.(Note: Not a typo, “Adrain” is his birth name.)
Short Program #3 – Along with A Great Ride, these are several other shorts in program #3 of interest to LGBTQI.
Jodie lives and breathes motorcycling. But the road to reaching the top is paved with difficulties, if it wasn’t for her dad’s unwavering support.
Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond
Madame Mars: Women and the Quest for Worlds Beyond reframes the story of space exploration as a feminist issue, connecting the original space age that denied opportunities to women to current Mars initiatives that still lack a full commitment to diversity. The powerful narrative taps into public enthusiasm over proposed human missions to the red planet and argues for a more inclusive spacefaring future. Dr. Jan Millsapps spent four years finding and amplifying the stories of women who have worked in the shadows of more prominent and visible men – female engineers, scientists, coders, doctors, technicians – and of aspiring Martians, women preparing today to live and work on Mars. Madame Mars is populated by accomplished, intelligent and curious women who not only share the dream of finding one’s own place in space, but also a commitment to the ensuring that humanity will represent itself accurately and completely as we take our next big step out into the universe.
Saturday February 23 @7 pm. Occidental Center for the Artswelcomes back famed folk singer/songwriter duo Steve Gillette& Cindy Mangsen. Gillette (Darcy Farrow; Bed of Roses; Back on the Street Again) and his wife, singer-instrumentalist Mangsenwill delight you with traditional and contemporary folk songs, rich harmonies, accomplished guitar, banjo, and concertina accompaniment, and a good dose of humor! compassrosemusic.com $18 Advance /$22 at the door. Fine refreshments. Black History Month exhibit in our Gallery. Wheelchair Accessible. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org.
Kacey Musgraves accepts Album of the Year at the 2019 Grammys. (Screenshot via YouTube)
Country singer Kacey Musgraves won the coveted Album of the Year award for her album “Golden Hour” marking the end of a Grammys award show filled with plenty of queer women representation.
Musgraves, who also won Country Album of the Year, has emerged as an LGBTQ ally in the country music world. She has spoken up for more LGBTQ inclusion in country music and her song “Follow Your Arrow” was hailed as a pro-LGBTQ anthem. Musgraves also served as judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Musgraves also took home Best Country Solo Performance (“Butterflies”), and Best Country Song (“Space Cowboy”) Awards for a total of four winning categories.
Lesbian singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile won three awards during the pre-telecast including Best Americana Album for “By the Way, I Forgive You” and Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance for “The Joke.” She received the most nominations of any woman this year and became the first LGBTQ person to win awards in those categories.
While accepting the award for Best American Roots Performance, she shared that she came out in high school at age 15. She says she never was invited to high school parties or dances.
“I never got to attend a dance. To be embraced by this enduring and loving community has been a dance of a lifetime,” Carlile said. “Thank you for being my island.”
Carlile also received a standing ovation for her vocal powerhouse performance of “The Joke” during the televised ceremony.
Other queer artists with impactful Grammys performances were Ricky Martin who performed with Camila Cabello, J Balvin, Arturo Sandoval and Young Thug for a Broadway musical-inspired Grammys opener to Cabello’s song “Havana.”
Miley Cyrus, who identifies as pansexual, dueted with Shawn Mendes on his song “In My Blood.” She later also teamed up with Katy Perry, Maren Morris, Musgraves and Little Big Town for a tribute to Dolly Parton.
Janelle Monáe performed her bisexual anthem “Make Me Feel” off her album “Dirty Computer,” mixed in with her feminist song “Pynk.” She didn’t win for either category she was nominated for (Album of the Year and Best Music Video) but she did dedicate her nominations to her “trans brothers and sisters.” In an interview with Variety, the singer was asked about coming out as queer last year.
“People do it everyday,” she replied. “My trans brothers and sisters, they do it everyday. And they are shunned from these sorts of events. So this one is for them.”
Lady Gaga scored two wins (Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written For Visual Media) for her “A Star is Born” duet with Bradley Cooper, “Shallow,” which she also performed.
Dua Lipa and St. Vincent, who is sexually fluid, did a steamy joint performance of her song “Masseducation” and Lipa’s “One Kiss.” St. Vincent and Jack Antonoff won Best Rock Song for “Masseducation.”
History continued to be made with Cardi B becoming the first woman to win Best Rap Album and “This is America” by Childish Gambino winning Best Song. This is the first time a rap song has won in that category.
Jennifer Lopez also gave dance-filled tribute to Motown while Diana Ross honored her own birthday, which is in March, with a performance. Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Jennifer Lopez also made appearances at the top of the show to help host Alicia Keys reflect on the importance of music.
Check out the complete list of winners below.
Album Of The Year — “Golden Hour”- Kacey Musgraves
Record Of The Year — “This Is America” – Childish Gambino
Best New Artist — Dua Lipa
Best Rap Album — “Invasion Of Privacy”- Cardi B
Best R&B Album Winner — “H.E.R.”- H.E.R.
Best Rap Song — “God’s Plan”- Drake
Best Country Album — “Golden Hour”- Kacey Musgraves
Song Of The Year — “This Is America”- Childish Gambino
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — “Shallow” Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical — Pharrell Williams
Best Rap/Sung Performance — “This Is America”-Childish Gambino
Best Rap Performance — “King’s Dead”- Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, Future & James Blake / Bubblin, Anderson .Paak
Best Rock Album — “From The Fires”-Greta Van Fleet
Best Rock Song — “Masseduction” – St. Vincent
Best Metal Performance — “Electric Messiah”- High On Fire
Best Rock Performance — “When Bad Does Good”- Chris Cornell
Best Urban Contemporary Album — “Everything Is Love”- The Carters
Best R&B Song — “Boo’d Up”- Ella Mai
Best Traditional R&B Performance — “Bet Ain’t Worth The Hand”- Leon Bridges / “How Deep Is Your Love”-Pj Morton Featuring Yebba
Best R&B Performance — “Best Part”- H.E.R. Featuring Daniel Caesar
Best Latin Jazz Album — “Back To The Sunset”- Dafnis Prieto Big Band
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album — “American Dreamers: Voices Of Hope, Music Of Freedom”- John Daversa Big Band Featuring Daca Artists
Best Jazz Instrumental Album — “Emanon”- The Wayne Shorter Quartet
Best Jazz Vocal Album — “The Window”- Cécile Mclorin Salvant
Best Improvised Jazz Solo — “Don’t Fence Me In”- John Daversa
Best Reggae Album — “44/876”- Sting & Shaggy
Best Dance/Electronic Album — “Woman Worldwide”- Justice
Best Dance Recording — “Electricity”- Silk City & Dua Lipa Featuring Diplo & Mark Ronson
Best Contemporary Classical Composition — “Kernis: Violin Concerto”- James Ehnes, Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony
Best Classical Compendium — “Fuchs: Piano Concerto ‘Spiritualist’”; Poems Of Life; Glacier; Rush”- Joann Falletta
Best Classical Solo Vocal Album —” Songs Of Orpheus”-Monteverdi, Caccini, D’india & Landi, Karim Sulayman
Best Classical Instrumental Solo — “Kernis: Violin Concerto”- James Ehnes
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance — “Anderson”- Laurie: Landfall, Laurie Anderson & Kronos Quartet
Best Choral Performance — “Mcloskey: Zealot Canticles”- Donald Nally
Best Opera Recording — “Bates: The (R)Evolution Of Steve Jobs”-Michael Christie, Garrett Sorenson, Wei Wu, Sasha Cooke, Edward Parks & Jessica E. Jones
Best Orchestral Performance — “Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11”- Andris Nelsons
Producer Of The Year, Classical — Blanton Alspaugh
Best Engineered Album, Classical — “Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11”- Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra
Best Pop Vocal Album — “Sweetener”- Ariana Grande
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album — “My Way” -Willie Nelson
Best Pop Solo Performance — “Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?)”- Lady Gaga
Best Country Song — “Space Cowboy” – Kacey Musgraves
Best Country Duo/Group Performance — “Tequila”- Dan + Shay
Best Country Solo Performance — “Butterflies”- Kacey Musgraves
Best Music Film — “Quincy”- Quincy Jones
Best Music Video — “This Is America”-Childish Gambino
Best Regional Roots Music Album — “No ‘Ane’I”- Kalani Pe’a
Best Tropical Latin Album — “Anniversary”- Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano) — “¡México Por Siempre!”- Luis Miguel
Best Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album — “Aztlán”- Zoé
Best Latin Pop Album — “Sincera”- Claudia Brant
Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling) — “Faith – A Journey For All”- Jimmy Carter
Best Children’s Album — “All The Sounds”- Lucy Kalantari & The Jazz Cats
Best Folk Album — “All Ashore”- Punch Brothers
Best Contemporary Blues Album —” Please Don’t Be Dead”- Fantastic Negrito
Best Traditional Blues Album — “The Blues Is Alive And Well”- Buddy Guy
Best Bluegrass Album —”The Travelin’ Mccourys”- The Travelin’ Mccourys
Best Americana Album — “By The Way, I Forgive You”- Brandi Carlile
Best American Roots Song — “The Joke”- Brandi Carlile
Best American Roots Performance — “The Joke”- Brandi Carlile
Best New Age Album — “Opium Moon”- Opium Moon
Best Song Written For Visual Media — “Shallow”- Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media — “Black Panther”- Ludwig Göransson
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media — “The Greatest Showman”- Hugh Jackman (& Various Artists)
Best World Music Album — “Freedom”- Soweto Gospel Choir
Best Roots Gospel Album — “Unexpected”- Jason Crabb
Best Contemporary Christian Music Album — “Look Up Child”- Lauren Daigle
Best Gospel Album — “Hiding Place”-Tori Kelly
Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song — “You Say” -Lauren Daigle
Best Gospel Performance/Song — “Never Alone”- Tori Kelly Featuring Kirk Franklin
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album — “Steve Gadd Band”- Steve Gadd Band
Best Immersive Audio Album —” Eye In The Sky – 35th Anniversary Edition”- The Alan Parsons Project
Best Remixed Recording — “Walking Away (Mura Masa Remix)”- Haim
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical — “Colors”- Beck
Best Historical Album — “Voices Of Mississippi: Artists And Musicians Documented By William Ferris”
Best Album Notes —” Voices Of Mississippi: Artists And Musicians Documented By William Ferris”
Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package — “Squeeze Box: The Complete Works Of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic” Weird Al Yankovic
Best Recording Package — “Masseduction”- St. Vincent
Best Arrangement, Instruments And Vocals — “Spiderman Theme”- Randy Waldman Featuring Take 6 & Chris Potter
Best Arrangement, Instrumental Or A Cappella — “Stars And Stripes Forever”- John Daversa Big Band Featuring Daca Artists
Best Instrumental Composition — “Blut Und Boden (Blood And Soil)”- Terence Blanchard
Best Alternative Music Album — “Colors”- Beck
Best Musical Theater Album — “The Band’s Visit”- Original Broadway Cast
Best Comedy Album — “Equanimity & The Bird Revelation”- Dave Chappelle
Brandi Carlile says she “can’t wrap her head around” being the most-nominated female artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, but she’s keenly aware of the overall significance of those accolades.
The folk-rock singer-songwriter’s latest album, “By the Way, I Forgive You,” saw her talking a stance on a number of contemporary issues, like addiction, immigration and bullying. Released in February 2018, the album received massive critical praise and helped Carlile score six Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year (for lead single “The Joke”) and Album of the Year.
“I feel like I’ve always been on the fringes of mainstream acceptance like that, but it means the most that I’ve received this honor at this point in my life,” she said in a new interview with Variety. “Being a 38-year-old mom, with two kids, who’s gay and lives on a farm, and is nominated alongside Janelle Monae and Cardi B, it’s kind of unbelievable.”
Carlile isn’t taking that newly expanded platform for granted, either. She went on to explain why she feels it’s more important than ever for LGBTQ artists to be open about their sexuality in spite of the professional risks that may arise.
“Representation can be kind of life or death for a kid in a small town,” she said. “At the very least it can give someone hope.”
The Washington state native, who cites Elton John and Freddie Mercury as influences and recently teamed up with Sam Smith for a duet version of her hit, “Party of One,” is about to kick off an action-packed Grammys week. In addition to Sunday’s awards ceremony, she’s due to perform at a MusiCares tribute to Dolly Parton on Friday and appear at Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala the next day.
And though Carlile may be lauded by LGBTQ fans and advocacy groups for being so frank about her sexuality, she’s quick to credit other queer female artists, such as the Indigo Girls and k.d. lang, for having paved the way.
“They were made fun of for being frumpy or not dressing right or not walking right,” she said. “Me and Courtney Barnett [a gay Australian singer-songwriter] are a product of the fact that they took those hits for us and now, nobody thinks it’s acceptable to say those things about us.”
