R.I.P. Donna, Even If You Didn't Totally Love Us

She may have tried to deny some very homophobic comments she was said to have made during a concert in 1983, just as AIDS was hitting the news, but Donna Summer has long been thought of as a homophobe who was ultimately ungrateful to the gay community who were, arguably, the sole reason she was ever famous. Even this Sadvocate writer tried to make sense of it all after news of her death at age 63 arrived yesterday. (He admits than when he asked her in a 2008 interview if she supported gay marriage, she wouldn't give him a clear answer.) Anyway, we don't care that much. The gays have loved a lot of people over time who probably didn't care too much for them — we could name a handful of gay-for-pay porn stars, to begin with, who all are kind of troubled in their own right but have no real love for the fags. And Donna's music was the soundtrack to mainstream gay life of the late 70s, at a moment before AIDS and before Donna became born-again, and we'd prefer to focus on that moment. So, here's a scene from the film that won Donna her Oscar for Best Song, Thank God It's Friday. See you on the flipside, lady. 

I Am?

If you are one of the many gays who has taken Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" as a personal mantra (I am beautiful/No matter what they say), allow us to provide you with an alternative anthem.  Swiss supermarket chain, Migros, has produced a new video for the classic disco diva song "I Am What I Am."  So go ahead, play rugby in the mud, start a little person band, frolic naked on an iceberg!  You are what you are, you crazy homo freak!

R.I.P. Loleatta Holloway, Disco Diva

Most of you will probably know the big belt of Ms. Loleatta Holloway from the early 90s hit "Good Vibrations" from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. Sadly, she has just died at the age of 64. Below, we've got a video of some dance remix of the song called "Love Sensation," which features a) a really got guy touching himself, b) some queens vogueing, c) footage of Holloway singing. Plus, we've the song "Dreaming," from her earlier days as a disco diva.

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SPKR: An SF Party and Benefit Celebrating the Music of Clubs Gone By

San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society and DJ collective Honey Soundsystem are joining forces to throw a hot party tonight at Public Works (161 Erie Street near Mission & 14th) called SPKR that will take partygoers back in time through five eras in San Francisco club history — as represented by the music of legendary DJs at five venues (only one of which still exists), the Trocadero Transfer, the I-Beam, the EndUp, Townsend and The Box. Honey Soundsystem will be joined by two legendary SF DJs, Bobby Viteritti — who held court at the Trocadero from 1978 to 1981 — and Steve Fabus — who DJd the Sunday Tea Dance at the I-Beam from 1977 to 1980 and also worked alongside Bobby at the Trocadero started what is still known to this day as “Church” at the EndUp.

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Memorial Day Weekend Tuneage: "Tubular Bells" by Ruby Flipper (ca. 1976)

Happy Memorial Day everyone! It's the celebretory kickoff of summer, and while the NY gays are headed out to the shares on Fire Island and the Hamptons, the S.F. gays jaunt up to the Russian River, and the Chicago gays get sloppy at IML and the Grabby Awards, we're going to leave you with this little disco wonder. It's a video that aired on Top of the Pops in England in August of 1976, and it feels very May/rites of spring. As Rose et Ridé tells us, it's the disco remix of the theme from The Excorcist, otherwise known as "Tubular Bells," by an outfit called Ruby Flipper. [Rose et Ridé]

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