deborah's 34 today! holy smokes!

today is deborah gibson's 34th birthday! 34! when i was 10 i became obsessed w/ her (along w/ tiffany, who can outsing deb anyday! lol). i just thought it was noteworthy because one of my childhood idols is now in her mid-thirties. that's not too unbelievable as i am now 27. in her honor i will be listening to my deborah gibson mix on my ipod.

there is only one episode of six feet under left. that sucks!! this season has been great. i am assuming it won't be on this weekend since it's a holiday. uff! guess we'll have to wait a whole 'nother year to find out what happens. but can i just say...get rid of george already! he's creepy. on a lighter note america's next top model is coming back! not sure when, but i know it's soon. i've seen billboards up around chicago already. must check on the date.

since it's ms. gibson's bday i'll reinstate my song of the day feature. i think i'll just pick a song and not try and say something witty or clever about it. with that being said today's song is free me from her '92 release body mind soul (my fave deb album of all time). i know let the dork comments begin. ciao ragazzi.

jem delayed...

yes people. the release scheduled for tomorrow of season three of jem! has been postponed until september 14. not sure why, but actually it's ok by me because i wasn't gonna be able to purchase it until friday anyway...i'm broke! and friday's payday. so now i can be prepared :) i guess i'll have to wait a few more weeks before i can relive some of my favorite green haired bad girl's antics. if you'd still like to, preorder it here

glorious indeed...

so saturday was the gloria estefan concert @ the united center. i must say that before the show i wasn't the biggest fan, but i have to say that gloria gave a great show. i've got a newfound admiration for la estefan. it was a night filled w/ classic hits, latin beats and just a homo-riffic time! i went w/ my hubby and my milwaukee sister eddie. eddie and i were ready to riot if gloria did not perform anything from her dance drenched album gloria!. much to our delighted squels she performed 3 songs from this effort including heaven's what i feel, i just wanna be happy & oye. all in all it was a great show. much better than madonna (all 3 of us agreed unanimously). i almost forgot to mention our dinner beforehand. we went to eat at wishbone in the west loop (aka where oprah is filmed) and we could not get over the uncanny resemblance that the hostess had w/ salsa's reigning diva la india. eddie and i could not stop giggling when rob finally got her attention. damn it! why didn't i have my camera!?! she told us she gets it all the time. ok i say we go back, no one's ever gonna believe us!

the music world has lost a great voice. singer laura branigan passed away in her sleep at age 47 of a brain aneurysm last thursday. i am sure a lot of you remember her for her 80s hits gloria and self-control. truly sad as she was so young. r.i.p. i just read this yesterday on sayhey. i also read this there yesterday too: actress rosario dawson was arrested! here is a quote from the article that i found online:

Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Manhattan Sunday to show their opposition to President Bush as the Republican National Convention kicked off at Madison Square Garden. Estimates of those in attendance ranged from 120,000 to 400,000 – with about 240 arrests reported, including that of actress Rosario Dawson, whose credits include Men in Black II.

oh rosario...i have a newfound respect for ya sista!

in other news the olympics are over. thank god. no offense but they never interested me. but...i heard that anna vissi, greece's reigning diva, performed at the closing ceremony! i heard it was a 40-minute set. i am so upset. i wish i would have known. i love anna! i have no idea what she's saying but she's got some killer grooves.

before i go i have to leave you w/ this pic of canadian swimmer alexandre despatie. what a hottie! he's only 19! yikes! ok so the olympics are good for one thing i guess: eye candy! ta ta...

blu james

last night my wonderful boyfriend bought me the new paola e chiara cd at the virgin megastore i had looking for everywhere! i'm digging it. paola e chiara are currently my favorite italian pop stars. they are these two slutty sisters who have some catchy tunes! this new album is a bit mellower than previous efforts but none-the-less just as good. they have really pretty voices and at times remind me of laura pausini. thus far my fave track is facciamolo. i have no idea what the means. i'm really pissed though because it is an enhanced cd that ONLY works on a PC. what the f--k! do they not have MACS in italy?? i even tried it on rob's PC and still couldn't get it to work. oh well.

in other news the return of transvision vamp front woman wendy james is looking good! recently she has done some press in the UK about her forthcoming release under the name racine project. the new album is set to be released in the fall and she will be doing live dates starting in october! check out this cool interview w/ ms. james here.

i almost forgot that tomorrow is the gloria estefan concert! i am not necesarrily a big fan but i promised rob and my milwaukee sister i would go with them. i saw gloria when i was like 13 when she was touring to support into the light. this is also her "farewell" tour as she will not be touring anymore so she can spend time w/ her family. i'd like to spend some time w/ her hot son nayib! lol. back to gloria. while i enjoy gloria's music i've never really been a big fan of her voice. it's just kinda there. i find it to be rather bland, but that's doesn't mean i can't enjoy her live shows. trust me i'll have fun. she better do some material off her über gay album gloria!.

i want it! now!

so i was reading the latest issue of rolling stone while taking the train home. i came across a piece on porn star jenna jameson. can we say tragic? anyhoo, they had a passage from her new autobiography how to make love like a porn star: a cautionary tale. i want more! the book is out, i saw it today while i was leaving the post office at the sears tower and passed by the bookstore. funds are low so i guess i am forced to wait til next friday when i get paid. but i can't wait to read it as it just seems like it will be trash-a-riffic! if you'd like you can order it now on amazon.

in other news my good friend la diosa dominicana, glennys suggested we start a free gloria trevi campaign! she saw my previous post about ms. trevi and dug out her old cassettes. so for your viewing pleasure...here is the banner i made to show your support for gloria. please don't directly link to my image but post it on your own webspace or for free @ photobucket.com.

found it!

i found the pic of tiffany and her new hubby. his name is ben george. he is 28 and is from cannock, england. they will be spending their time between the UK and the US. they rushed their wedding because tiffany's grandmother was diagnosed w/ lung cancer and wanted her to be there. tiffany wore a wedding gown by jessica mclintok. the ceremony was in LA and they plan to renew their vows later this year in south africa w/ ben's family present. special thanks to debbie in the uk from the true to tiffany mailing list for sending me this pic!

in other news...

still looking for a new job. anyone see any hot art director positions in chicago send 'em my way! i check craigslist on a daily basis...but nothing yet. oh well. i've been thinking about the end of the year because our lease is up. so we'll be moving. so we must start saving up for it now.

i got some disturbing news the other day. my good friend paloma's husband justin is being sent to iraq for 18 months. he will be leaving on september 12 i believe. this is horrible. paloma is just about to graduate from the police academy and now justin is leaving. what's even worse is their daughter natalie. she is my god daughter, so that makes justin and paloma my compadres (even though paloma and i were comadres long long ago). i just feel so bad that she is gonna be w/out her dad for so long. stupid bush. i promise to not let my political feelings run amuck when i see them in two weeks. they are in my prayers.

in some more lighthearted news, one of my divas, tiffany has gotten remarried. she is now going to be living in the UK w/ her new hubby (he's british). apparently rumours have been that tiffany will be recording a more dance oriented album. don't get me wrong i love dance music but i was so hoping she'd take what she'd done on the color of silence to a new level. that album was simply amazing. i was hoping to post a photo for you all, but i'm having a hard time finding one. in the meantime you can read about her nuptuals here.

lost and found #1: javier garcía

so i decided periodically i would post about my favorite lost artists. for my very first lost and found i've selected javier garcía. javier burst onto the latin music scene in spring of 1997. here in the states he was released by fonovisa. his debut single became huge. a funky latin number entitled tranquila. at the time i was managing my parents store, mundo musical, in milwaukee, wi. of course i got a promo copy of his self-titled debut album. once i heard it...wow! i could not put it down. as a true fag 99.9% of my cd collection is female. so for a male singer to penetrate my musical likings the way mr. garcía did was rather astonishing.

what an album! javier is truly a gifted musician. he pretty much wrote and produced the entire album. he has a very spaniard sounding voice, yet his music is so eclectic. this is probably due to his global upbriging. born in spain of cuban and irish parents, he lived in ireland for some time as well and finally ended up in miami. like i mentioned already, his music is extremely eclectic. he dables in flamenco, reggae, trova, twenties music, etc. i am sure alot of people at the time just wrote him off as a one hit wonder. but you really need to check out this album. and if you have it, dust it off! it's quite intoxicating. if you like you can purchase it used on amazon.com for as little as $5.99. what a steal!

so what the hell happened to this guy? in september 1998 fonovisa released a remix entitled remix (how original). the only new song included was a cover of lágrimas negras. there were some really hot remixes i must admit. but that was almost 6 years ago. things have been really silent since. one bizarre thing i did notice (or rather my bf pointed out to me) was a review by mr. garcía himself of the spanish import of his album that stated the following on amazon.com:

Pay close attention and be ready for my next CD "Intuicion" or "Un segundo" I'm still undecided.

this was posted on june 7, 2000 according to amazon.com. well it's been 4 years. where's the album? does anyone know anything about javier garcía? does he still perform in miami? the only thing i could find recent was that in 2001 his album was released as love for life in italy where apparently tranquila was a hit. someone has to know what he's up to? he is too talented to be silenced this long. i'll keep searching. but i have hope. if my favorite obscure teen singer from the 80's, ana, can make a comeback (as the trashy latin pop singer mía) anything is possible!

spicy? sweet? hot? sour?

as i mentioned before i picked up the mexican import of the new ely guerra album, sweet & sour, hot y spicy. before i go on, let me tell you all that the cd is getting a US release (again w/ higher octave) on september 21, 2004. you can preorder it on amazon now. i know i could have waited until the US release, but come on it's ely! i have to have it NOW. (i'm sure i'll buy the US edition just to support sales). for those of you who know me, you know how much i love this woman. in fact i've probably turned a lot you onto her.

so how can she top the oh so subtle and beautiful trip hop-tinged lotofire? well in the almost 5 years since it's release, ely has grown a lot and it is quite evident in this new release. she's fallen in love. she's gotten a crazy afro (as you can see in the above picture and on the album cover), she's trying new things musically, vocally, etc.. i've just barely begun to listen to this album properly but already i can hear the growth. one thing i notice on this release off the bat that her past releases didn't have was that she really let's go vocally. if any of you have seen her live you know how intense she can get. none of her albums really showcased this. rather they are very reserved compared to her live wails and yelps. but you get to hear that here.

before i give too much away, also note that this album is basically two mini albums in one. hence the title sweet & sour, hot y spicy. you'll notice one half are more soft, melodic, etc. while the other half is louder and harder. anyhoo i don't want to give away too much. have to leave you something to look forward to. i shall get back to listening to the greatest voice in mexico today.

true colors

so last night was the cyndi lauper concert. wow! once again this woman amazed me. she was a little under the weather, but that didn't stop her from giving a killer performance. no cameras were allowed but i took mine anyway and managed to get this shot for you all. we had 4th row tickets. excellent seats! i love ebay. my only complaint was the evil lesbian security guard who continued to shine her flashlight at me and others in our area repeatedly. it did not allow us to really enjoy ourselves for the first couple of songs. we'll have to send a letter of complaint. anyway...getting back to la lauper. she did a great set. faves like change of heart, i drove all night, money changes everything, at last, stay, shine, sisters of avalon, etc. but there were two highlights of the night. she spoke briefly about the full-length relase of shine. rob turns to me and says wouldn't it be great if she did eventually? well what did cyndi do? she did eventually!!! rob and i were screaming like crazy and cyndi gave the cutest smirk. she also mentioned that that album will see the light of day (it has only been released in japan other than the ep that was released here in the US). one of the best moments of the night was her rendition of true colors. i've heard her sing it before and the story behind it being dedicated to her friend who passed away from aids in 1985. but something about the way she told the story last night just brought me to tears. i looked over at rob and just thought how lucky i was to have him. she conitinued to talk about her gay sibling and how she believes in civil rights for everyone. she sang the song beautifully while draped in a gay pride flag. last night's performance once again cemented my love for cyndi. she got several standing ovations. what an artist she is.

our night out w/ my cousin was a blast. we picked her up around 7ish. we then headed on over to our destination for the evening, café ibérico. how did we not even touch our glasses of water? instead we drank 2 pitchers of sangría and ate lots of tapas. janeth enjoyed it. we were all a bit tipsy and then headed over to berlin. was rather dead so we then went to spin. my cousin's first gay club. she loved it. the music. there was even a tacky shower contest. so then back to berlin. some weird performance artist who thought he was the male peaches (no one can touch ms. peaches) was on stage. i think his name was bernard houston. anyhoo it was rather interesting. from there we went to a straight club in logan square. it was hot but we had fun. we danced reggaeton, merengue and salsa. we got home around 4ish. so needless to say we slept in.

in other news we finally went cd shopping yesterday! we had been depriving ourselves do to our budgets. so i found the new ely guerra import sweet & sour, hot y spicy (i haven't listened to it properly yet...but it's ely my biach!!), a new compilation of lucero's old musart (her first label; mind u this stuff has never seen the light of day on CD) material from the early 80's when she was still lucerito as well as best ofs by lola beltrán and olga guillot. anyhoo we're off to go back and get some cd's i put on hold. til later. ciao ciao.

(we want) the same thing

i knew there was a reason why i loved belinda carlisle. i just read an interview she recently did in the UK. when asked what she thought about ever moving back to the states (she's lived in france for the past 11 years) she replied:

I have no desire to live in the States again. I'm embarrassed by America and some of its policies over the last few years with Iraq. Living in Europe you get a real global sense of the world, but when you're in America you have no idea what is going on in the real world. I'm glad to be away from there. I feel much more European and I'm glad my son can grow up to speak French, Spanish and English. We're very lucky.

amen sister! not only do i agree w/ what she's said about the war, but the whole fact that americans are so self-absorbed. god forbid someone speak more than one language. if i won the lottery tomorrow i'd move me and the hubby to europe (preferably spain) and forgot all about this so called country i live in. god bless the go-go's indeed.

pam et ben

so i rented ma vie en rose so rob could finally see it. i love this movie. if you don't know what it's about here's a brief synopsis. ludovic is a young boy whose one wish in life is to be a girl. he thinks god made a mistake. one of his y chromosomes was lost. as a little boy i often felt like i should have been a girl. i even went as far as to say that one half of me was boy and the other girl. and people wonder why i turned out gay? lol. anyhoo, this movie is just wondeful. i identified w/ him so much. i have not seen this movie in about 5 years so it was great to discover this gem all over again. i especially loved ludo's obsession w/ the doll pam. when he watches her show and does all the dance moves and sings along...i saw myself as an 8 year old singing and dancing along to (not only madonna) but jem and the holograms.

tomorrow is the cyndi lauper concert @ the rosemont theater. woo hoo! this will be my fourth time seeing ms. lauper and my third in less than a year. if you have never seen her, i highly advise you do. she simply is one of the most amazing live performers i've ever seen. at 50 she has so much energy and spunk. and that voice! my god that voice! anyhoo we have 4th row!! gotta love ebay.

work has been driving me crazy. i've been here late so many nights this week. today i came in at 7:30am. ok i am usually just getting up at that hour. so i'm leaving @ 3. don't care what anyone says. i have to go home and freshen up for our sangría throwdown tonight. my poor cousin doesn't know what she's in for. aside from all the chaos at work, i think i found a job i really want! i applied for it. don't want to give too much away as i don't want to jinx myself. but i think i'm perfect for it! cross your fingers everyone!

all right. we need a song of the day. hmmm. since i am on a holly valance kick i'll go w/ her. holly is a gorgeous australian pop singer who came from the same soap, neighbors, that spawned kylie minogue and natalie imbruglia. her sophmore release state of mind is an electro-pop wet dream. drenched in 80's beats and holly's purring vocals: it's hot! it's a shame it's flopped. so my pick for today is what was to be the second single, desire.

free gloria already!

when i was 15 a singer from mexico took my teen years by storm. her name gloria trevi. she was loud, obnoxious, in-your-face, bold, you name it. funny thing is behind all the image there was a killer voice. many people wrote her off as a, oh i don't know, mexican cyndi lauper. someone w/ real talent, whose image unfortunately overshadowed it no matter how great it was. anyhoo she got involved in that scandal w/ her manager, blah blah. i won't bore u all w/ the details. i just wanna know when the hell are they gonna let gloria out of jail?

anyhoo....i am still learning about blogs and the special html they require. granted i am a graphic designer by trade, i just don't really deal w/ web design...so my skills are limited. i know what i want it to look like, i just need someone to do it for me. one of these days. for the mean time i have to use these preformatted templateds blogspot provides us. before i forget, a special thanks to high camp for helping me figure out how the hell to add links, etc. to my sidebar.

in other news i got a hold of my cousin janeth who is visiting from durango (mexico). we are gonna head on down to my favorite tapas bar café ibérico friday night for a sangría overdose! what fun!

belinda. candy. outrageous!

i am gonna sound like a major dork, but i just thought i'd share with you all that today is singer belinda carlisle's bday. happy 46th babe! belinda's been on of my divas for years, so i feel she deserves a shoutout on my blog today.

so earlier this year rhino released season 1 and 2 on DVD of the jem series. as a proud future fag of america i watched this show w/ glee day in and day out upon it's original airing. so of course i got this DVD set when it came out. watched it over and over. scared by boyfriend because i knew all the words to all the songs (even though i hadn't seen/heard some of them in years!). so guess what? they are releasing season 3!!! woo hoo! preorder your copy now @ amazon.com. it's release date is august 31st. i can't wait. someone pass me the bounty!

in other ramblings, i've become addicted to strangers with candy. i think i was too busy in college or didn't have cable upon it's initial airing. we had stayed w/ some friends in milwaukee not too long ago they were watching it and let's just say it left me wanting more. so since then i've watched all of season 1 and half of season 2. gotta love netflix. i can't get enough of it's un-pc humor! it's sick, and i love it! so me. i also found out that season 3 is coming out on dvd as well. anyhoo the above photo i borrowed this wonderful fan site located @ jerriblank.com.

song of the day: today's choice is screaming in my pillow by ssq. many of u know stacey q for her infamous 80s claim to fame two of hearts. but there is so much more to her than this one hit. in my eyes she's no one hit wonder and i love all her work. especially great is her early synth days fronting Q, who later became SSQ and ultimately Stacey Q. anyhoo i've picked this synth dittie. check it out (if u can track down the video u won't regret it!).

cream puffs.

yesterday my boyfriend rob and i celebrated our 1 year anniversary. a whole year? i've already told him how i felt, so i'll spare you all the sappy details. january's almost here boo boo! so, friday was the infamous alejandra guzmán concert. i had a blast. rob. well he said he enjoyed it, but she isn't really exactly his cup of tea. see what you do for love? lol. anyhoo i thought she was great. she looked hot, totally buff. she did a lot of older songs that she hasn't done in a while. verano peligroso, la plaga, pasa la vida, toda la mitad, etc. she also did the english version of lipstick. what fun that night was!

so i was talking w/ my cousin mari this weekend and she mentioned that the wisconsin state fair was going on. hence the title of this entry, cream puffs. i remember as a kid we had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn so we could be at the fair grounds (in west allis, the armpit of milwaukee) by 6am. how i miss those cream puffs. that followed by pancakes w/ grandpa, corn on the cob, animal villages, mexican puppets, infomercial crap my mother would buy, and just being w/ family. it was fun. the last time i went was around 1998. i went w/ my friend from grade school gloria. we went to see culture club, human league and howard jones. who would have thought boy george would be playing a state fair? let alone wisconsin!

anyhoo, i must call my friend bertha as it's her bday today. so everyone, wish bertha a happy birthday! but before i do. time for song of the day. today's choice is the über trash funk fest that is if a girl answers (don't hang up) by vanity 6. this song features vanity infamous call to a hilarious prince pretending to be the girl on the other line. it's basically the two attacking one another until white trash queen brenda gets on the phone to tell her (prince) off! loves it!

dos horas demoré en maquillarme así...

tonight is the alejandra guzmán!!! i'm so excited. i know i've seen her a bunch of times before, but it's been awhile. plus my boo-boo is an ale virgin. he's not entirely thrilled about going, but too bad i say! ale is the sh*t! plus she's so much fun live. i can't wait. in her honor i'm gonna recommend a song for today. so let's go retro ale today (so it's not entirely like yesterday). so why not un grito en la noche from her debut album. ale was so cute when she first came out w/ her big poofy miniskirts. anyhoo this is a great song from her early days. here's hoping she does some of these classics. would probably wet myself if she did bye mamá.

what a lovely day (outside). sigh.

it is probably 55º outside right now. i could not be happier. i hate summer. it's august 12th and it's so lovely out right now. normally it's like 80º + but for some freakish reason it's been so cold outside. ahh...i love it. can't it be fall all the time? sweaters forever!

my good friend la garrota emailed this to me today. blast from the past! i think this photo is probably from when i first moved to chicago. here i am w/ my good friends bertha (aka new mommy...congrats!!!!) and my partner in crime, martha (aka la garrota). check out my rockero threads! eyeliner and spikes galore! good times. i would like to publically take this moment to thank garrota for being such a good friend to me. our friendship pretty much blossomed over countless emails and now we are one another's confidants. if anything's happened to me (good or bad), la garrota knows about it. te quiero mucho. ¡besos!

alejandra guzmán is tomorrow! woo hoo! it's been awhile since i saw her. the last few times she came (or cancelled i should say) i was broke. so thanks to sr. jorgillo for funding our concert experience. can't wait. she's so much fun live. i wish my milwaukee sister could go so we can do our best lipstick rendition.

song of the day: si no te has ido, vete by alejandra guzmán. in honor of her show tomorrow i've picked my current fave ale song. this one is a great kiss-off song from her 1999 release algo natural. i just love the mellow vibe of the music, and her heartfelt vocals. it's just a wonderful song. it's an under appreciated gem if there ever was one. ¡viva ale!

se me olvidó...

i almost forgot to add a song of the day! today's song is entre tus piernas by miguel islas. miguel is the former lead singer for ragazzi and el círculo. i had no idea he was going solo. while in mexico city in may i picked up his solo debut. great album. in typical gay fashion, i am not really big on male singers. but i've always loved miguel's voice, especially during ragazzi (before they got all new members and went all teen pop). anyhoo his debut is really good and was produced by loris ceroni (natalia lafourcade, daniela romo, ov7). this song was the standout for me. the title alone won me over! it's very romantic and really showcases miguel's new sound. not sure if this album is getting a US release, if you can track down a mexican import, do so. it really is a good album w/ nice pop/rock music and great vocals courtesy of mr. islas.

5 years you say?

5 years ago this past monday i moved to chicago and started my first post-graduate job. 5 years later i am still here. love chicago. hate the job. can't have it all i guess, huh? so what have i learned in the past 5 years? a lot. moving to chicago was such an awakening for me. i guess i kinda lived a somewhat sheltered life in milwaukee. moving here to the big city was such an exciting experience for me. i was finally on my own. really on my own.

i love chicago. i'm glad i picked this crazy city to start my life in. i've met so many wonderful people since moving here. i could name you all but it would take too long. you know who you are (i.e. lifers, milwaukee sister, etc.)! i've done so many crazy things (mostly w/ the crazy people i met). i've lived on the north side. i've lived on the south side. i just feel like i've lived so much more than i ever did in milwaukee. but most importantly i met the love of my life. of all places, at a tiffany concert. rob i love u and i couldn't imagine being any happier than i am right now :)

now as for the job. well i must admit that working w/ the same client can be very monotonous, but the people are incredible. what's next you may ask? hopefully a new job and a "child" or two for rob and i. january will be here sooner than we think. then we can finally buy a dog (or two) :)

war war is stupid.

in the immortal words of boy george (he even did a cheesy spanish verision...la guerra es estupida!!!). i am not a political person but god this is getting ridiculous. i saw a report in rolling stone about the US soldiers torturing prisoners. it's disgusting, sick and makes me ashamed to even live in a country that is so hell bent on glorifying war. not all of us are stuck up bush's @#$. anyhoo don't want to get any madder. i would write more today, but i am actually busy at work. the job searching is still ongoing. i applied for 2 art director positions this week. wish me luck!

i have dd syndrome.

yes people. i have dd syndrome. drunk dialing syndrome. this saturday we went to our friend juan's bday party. needless to say i got sh*tfaced (10 jello shots, 4 mojitos and god knows how many glasses of wine later). around 3:39am i decided to start calling friends of mine at random. there were about 5 victims. i apologize profusely. good times.

song of the day: sister moon by transvision vamp. pop/rock pseudo punk darling wendy james is making a comeback this year after having fronted the pop/rock band transvision vamp in the late 80s/early 90s. i just recently discovered this band again and i can't get enough of wendy's in-your-face presence and vocals. this song has to be my fave. it's a wonderful pop dittie. check it out. groove on...