That Guy That Really Likes Queen

Something I wrote last night

2012-01-26T18:18:00.000-05:00

My girlfriend is British, but she's only just really taken an interest in the band Queen. She thinks my adoration over Freddie Mercury is adorable. Every time she says it, I keep warning her that she really has no clue how serious I am as a fan. I haven't even shown her the part of my collection that's kept in my closet until I can get a proper shelf for it!

We watched the video to Bohemian Rhapsody on Youtube, and afterward she exclaimed, "Oh! That explains that poster you have hung up next to your kitchen door!"

My head reeled for a moment. Maybe it's because that song and video were such huge staples in my childhood, but I assumed the image of the band - their faces peaking out of a black background in a diamond pattern, based on a photo of Marlene Dietrich and taken by Mick Rock - was common knowledge and probably talked about in grade schools right next to basic arithmetic.

We're in the process of teaching each other about the things we love. She's introducing me to Doctor Who and food that isn't prepared simply by microwaving it. I'm introducing her to the greatest band on the planet.

Q&A on Tumblr

2012-01-16T13:12:00.000-05:00

Q: "what is your favorite freddie era and WHYYYY!" - my counterpart

A: Ooh, good one!

Probably the early 80’s? I want to say it seems like he had a better handle on his shit in terms of stage presence. Like sometimes I’ll look at his performances from the 70’s and I think he looked like he was being too careful and reserved - either out of self-consciousness, a need to show the critics that he was serious, or because of the high heeled boots. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m just glad he switched from heels and ballet flats to practical footwear with a bit more tread :-P

--

Q: "What's your favorite Queen album, and why? :)" - mothermercuryy

A: Queen II is my absolute favorite. For me, a fun thing to do is listen to it all the way through on an obnoxiously high volume because it’s just so full and big and amazing.

--

Q: "Hi, i love you url! Can you tell me what first song that makes you REALLY like queen? :)" - freddiebulsara

A: The first song that popped in my head without thinking about it was Don’t Stop Me Now. I know it’s not really cool to be a hardcore fan and love a track that couldn’t be called obscure by comparison, but I think it captures everything I really like about Queen. It’s a catchy melody, the harmonies are spot on, the guitar solo is SO AMAZING! It’s just dfklgjsdelgjs;dlfjgsdf;ljgdslsd;l…. I’m sorry, what were we talking about?

--

Q: "You said you wanted to talk so... Let's talk! What year(s) do you think Silver Salmon is *really* from?" - queenruinedmylife

A: Oh hot damn! You are an angel!

It sounds like it’s from the Queen I recording sessions to me. It most definitely has an early 70’s sound, and Queen I does represent what the band sounded like for the first three years… so yeah.

Now a bigger question that will probably never be answered: Why the fuck didn’t they do a studio recording of Hangman?!?!

--

Q: "Dragon Attack or Death on Two Legs???" - the12thdrbetterbeginger912

A: I honestly have no idea. Both are really raw and intense in their own ways - literally and metaphorically. I love Freddie’s ferocity and righteous anger in Death On Two Legs, and how he doesn’t apologize for it in the least.

Dragon Attack has a very wonderful, raw sound to it. At this point I might say I prefer this song just for the instrumental track. The drums are very clear and sharp, Brian wrote and recorded the guitar solo while drunk (see Mark Blake’s book), John’s bass playing here is almost as amazing as it is on A Day At The Races in terms of style and flair… Like, he’s always amazing. But he’s just in the background doing his “I’m just going to play the notes to blend in with the rhythm guitar section” thing, but then he plucks a few different notes, and even if they’re ridiculously simple, it’s still a definitive moment in the song for me. So yeah. I guess I’m in favor of Dragon Attack :-)

--

Q: "I think that Queen II is Queen's most amazing album. Which song do you like the best on that album and why? I think that the March of the Black Queen is the best song but White Queen and Ogre Battle are incredible as well." - belladonicbreeze

A: Queen II is my favorite album! I don’t know if I can pick just one song from it… Uh… at random I just thought of The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke.

---

If you have a question for me, you can email me, or ask me on Tumblr.

Tumblr burnout

2012-01-12T23:13:00.000-05:00

I try to follow as many Queen blogs on Tumblr as possible - especially if they follow me first. I'm very flattered and excited that so many people seem to like what I have to say. But right now I feel like I'm the only one really saying anything.

I keep seeing GIFs and pictures and Youtube clips posted and re-posted, and sometimes it's really awesome and I enjoy it (the first time. But seeing it a billion more times in my dashboard gets really old really fast), but the scope of the conversation never goes beyond how "hot" or "perfect" the band members are.

The thing is, I'm not a teenaged fangirl. As an adult, I realize my perspective on, well, everything, is drastically different from where it was when I was 13-19. But fangirls confuse and annoy me as much today as they did when I was a teenager - except this time we have similar tastes in music.

I miss talking about Queen. I miss talking to other people about the music. This was part of the reason I started this blog in the first place. This is why I get REALLY excited when I do get the odd comment. I want to engage in real conversations with you! You can agree with me about everything, or argue, or tell me I'm full of shit - but for fuck sake, let's talk! (thank G-d for my counterpart, because she's awesome in general and so good for that whole discussion thing)

Maybe in a very small way I understand why Roger wrote Fight From The Inside when the tracks he wrote before it seemed to have him missing his teen years. I listened to it earlier and realized as I nodded in agreement that I'm pretty much that old man telling the kids to get off my damn lawn... and I'm only 25! Only my yells would be something along the lines of, "will you just shut up about being born in the wrong decade?!" Not to mention that when I do post something where Queen can be brought up with my political beliefs, I feel like I'm talking down or yelling at everyone when I'm really just trying to offer my opinion.

I think I need to take a break from my "All Things Queen" Tumblr before I snap and leave it altogether. It was hard enough stepping away from Queenzone even though it was clearly the right thing to do. But I don't like having to walk away from parts of this community even if it does frustrate the shit out of me.

The Amazon gift card that keeps on giving

2012-01-07T15:20:00.000-05:00

I'm still spending away on that gift card my grandmother sent me. I've used it to buy 40 Years Of Queen, a Queen pin, and a copy of As It Began by Jacky Gunn (now Smith) and Jim Jenkins. I've looked through it real quick and it looks like there might be interesting tidbits and things. It was published in 1992, so I'm honestly not sure if I'll learn anything new, but still! This isn't the kind of thing I could find in a book store or record shop today, so definitely worth it.

I still have money left on my gift card, too. I keep spending it on this kind of stuff because I know my grandmother would be pissed if I used it on anything absolutely necessary (I don't think my electric company or landlord take Amazon gift cards anyway).

That Guy's girlfriend rocks

2012-01-05T01:18:00.001-05:00

My girlfriend (yeah, I'm surprised too) went on holiday to Manchester and London, England to visit family and sight-see from the end of December and just got back yesterday. When planning her trip, she asked me if I wanted anything. I told her that if she could find me a Sixpence, that would be really awesome, but no pressure. I felt stupid explaining to her why I would want something like that (Brian May used to use one as a guitar pick), but she told me she'd see what she could do. Sure enough, we're meeting a friend of hers for drinks and she presents us with souvenirs. I pull out a T-shirt with a distressed Underground logo and it's actually pretty cool! So I thank her and she said to look in the bag again. It looked like a laminated card from the back, and I turn it over to see that it's a Sixpence from 1963!!!

You guys. Omg, you don't even know! Well, if you're a Queen fan, I guess you do know. It's so bizarre for me to have romantic and casual partners who are not annoyed or threatened by my love of Queen (I've taken to telling people that I'm in a polyamorous and asexual relationship with their music). Even more bizarre, my girlfriend hails from England but doesn't have a trace of Queen on her iPod. I told her she was betraying her country.

My then-partner bought me the 18" Freddie Mercury action figure for Christmas 2006, and that was pretty awesome. Until he got annoyed that I was playing with it and ignoring him... and then his dad accidentally knocked it over and broke the microphone... And then I ended up having to leave it behind when I was unceremoniously thrown out of my then-apartment by a roommate whose name wasn't even on the damn lease (LONG story).

I miss the fuck out of that action figure, but I'm sure I will be able to buy another one someday. My ex has done things that I'm not ready to forgive, but it means the world to me that he bought it for me. But I'm much more appreciative of this Sixpence. Until I get a proper shelf to display all my Queen stuff, I'm going to keep it in the box that houses my mini Red Special. It seems very appropriate for the time being.

Slut

2012-01-02T00:32:00.000-05:00

Throughout society, it's both socially acceptable and morally righteous to look down upon sluts. For some reason, monogamy is where it's at and g-d fucking help you if you're not planning to end up with only one romantic/sexual partner for the rest of your life. And that's including the "sowing wild oats" thing that's typically granted straight men assigned male at birth. "You're 18? Hell yeah! Go out and get laid. Fuck as many women as you can before it's too late and you settle down with The One." Whereas straight women assigned female at birth are typically told that any inkling of sexual desire that they have is wrong and they should be pure virgins because "men all want nice girls."

(I realize the above is heterosexist, but I strongly doubt society will progress to a point in my lifetime where queer men are encouraged to get laid, since even monogamous queer couples still have to bust their asses to justify their relationships to the hetero population)

Monogamy is not at all a bad thing. To want only one person to be everything you need and want in a partner is totally awesome and that also happens to be the default. If that doesn't appeal to you, you're either afraid of commitment, not ready to settle down, or - if you're a woman - you're a slut.

I used to make jokes about it. I used to use terms like "whore" and "slut" as insults. But then I got older, moved to the east coast, and met people of all sorts of genders and sexual orientations with all sorts of dynamics that veered a hard left from the norm. Queer, polyamorous, kinky, trans, gender variant, slutty people. People who live their lives and have the kind of sex they want with who they want (consensually and responsibly, with very rare exception) without shame or apology.

There's nothing wrong with having sex with multiple people. There's nothing wrong with one-night stands if that's your thing. There's nothing wrong with committed relationships involving more than two people. Hell, you can even fuck people without condoms or barriers if all involved test negative for all STIs and agree that that's an okay thing to do. If everyone's having a good time, communicating, and respecting each other, that's all that matters.

This goes especially for my followers on Tumblr: If you have a problem with sluts - that is, you make jokes or look down upon someone, or use it as a term intended to degrade someone - then you have a problem with Freddie Mercury. If you can't handle that, fine. But it's a fucking insult to callously toss the word "whore" at someone but then rave about Freddie's "perfection". Freddie was a slut, and in hindsight we can all agree that he and a good number of his sexual partners were pretty irresponsible about it by not using protection every time. But I guess he's not like those other whores, the ones who dress skimpy, do drugs, and throw themselves at everyone. No, Freddie was different because he was a cis man who made music (that's called patriarchy, kids, and is a really shitty thing). I'm not sure who decides which celebrities are the worst pieces of shit on the planet for acting however they want and who deserves utmost respect for acting however they want, but I can freely and comfortably admit that my biggest hero in life had faults. Freddie Mercury was, first and foremost, a human being. A human being who drank a lot, had a cocaine addiction, and probably had more going on than any of us will ever know. But at his core he was a generous, charismatic, nice, and very genuine person. I'm not cool with the drug use and the lack of condoms, but enjoying sex with as many people who are legally able and enthusiastically consent as desired is absolutely not a bad thing. And despite living in a culture that's quick to blame rape survivors for getting attacked by male rapists, everyone should have the right to wear whatever clothing they want without being judged.

Happy new year

2011-12-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

Tenementdrowser wrote down my title and I thought it was too awesome not to share.

I hope everyone has a fantastic 2012!

My only living treasure on this earth

2011-12-28T19:47:00.000-05:00

Well, okay, it's not living but oh how I treasure it!!

My 40 Years Of Queen book came in! I am not ashamed to say that looking through it made me squee with delight. When I first heard of it, I had assumed it was basically the same thing as Mark Blake's book, so I wasn't terribly excited. But then Brian pimped the shit out of it and I found myself sobbing at my bank account "BUT I WAAAANT IT!!!" Yay for Christmas and Amazon giftcards!

There are posters and stickers and really cool shit in this book, and I'm tempted to buy a second copy just so I can have everything out and on my walls without feeling guilty. I can't wait to read it! I can't wait to ~~flip the fuck out~~ discuss it with my counterpart!

... Yeah. Next month I may have to get another copy :-P

Christmas shenanigans

2011-12-26T01:35:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone's winter holidays were fantastic.

My grandmother sent me a $50 Amazon giftcard, so I spent some of it on 40 Years Of Queen by Harry Doherty. Its estimated delivery date is either December 30 or 31. It will be a fantastic way to ring in the new year! Cannot wait! While looking through the DVD section to find stuff to add to my general wish list, I came across this:

I've looked at this image at least a dozen times now and it still makes me do a double-take. I wonder if it's actually any good... I also put the Days Of Our Lives documentary on my wishlist. It will be the first blu-ray disc I've ever owned, and all because I want the super extra bonus stuff apparently not on the DVD. I'm such a slut for bonus features. (note to self: buy blu-ray player)

I meant to post earlier this month that I went to a friend's corporate Christmas party hosted by her boss. He had a fabulous home (read: awesome McMansion) that had me and my friends in absolute awe. I even drank some champagne. Not that I drink all that much, but sometimes it's fun for me to remember that I'm above the legal drinking age in the US and I should take advantage - especially if the party host is financially loaded! Lightweight that I am, I got halfway through my glass before I started to feel buzzed (after having eaten a full meal that included REALLY DELICIOUS salmon minutes before). I set the glass down and later went to the bar to get some soda, when what did I find but the brand of champagne being served to all the guests:

Moet et Chandon! I was beside myself with glee and had to take a picture. I have no idea what it cost in the UK in the '70's, but currently in the US, it's about $40.00 a bottle. And I'm sure the more experienced alcohol-drinking guests blew through what I'm guessing had to be something like 20-30 bottles (a very, very conservative estimate). I used to always dream about someday being an adult and buying a bottle to celebrate Freddie's birthday... It doesn't cost anything to dream, thankfully!

That Guy's origin story

2011-12-24T00:04:00.001-05:00

One of my earliest memories - not the earliest, but pretty early - was watching MTV with one of my much older cousins. The video for Another One Bites The Dust came on (at one time, MTV was not the cesspit that it currently is, and was pretty exclusively all about music), and this was probably 1989/90. This memory is patchy but I distinctly remember seeing Freddie on TV.

Then in 1992, I saw the movie Wayne's World, and my life was changed for the better. Seriously, if Mike Myers or Dana Carvey ever read this: thank you for helping create what's probably the most significant moment of my life. It was unapologetic love at first listen! I'm sure at one point my family found it endearing, their youngest child listening so attentively when those words poured in from my mother's stereo speakers before finally singing all the wrong words with unbridled passion.

Having been brought up on classic rock and heavy metal, I wasn't too aware of what music was actually trendy when I counted my age in the single digits. My musical diet ranged at that point from Metallica to Elton John to what grunge came on the radio to Counting Crows, Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, and Alanis Morrisette. Queen came on the radio, and my parents wouldn't ever switch the station, but until I took notice of them, they were just background noise.

By age 11, it was apparently really uncool to listen to classic rock. My friends had all been getting into the Spice Girls, Selena, and whoever the hell else by the time I'd finally gotten a cassette tape player of my own (these things that came before CDs and MP3s) and got to pick from my parents older tapes. I picked Appetite For Destruction by Guns N Roses, Jailbreak by Thin Lizzy, and Queen's Greatest Hits. I almost skipped over that because I'd never heard the name before, but then I saw that they were the ones who had done We Will Rock You and Another One Bites The Dust, so I absently put it in the pile. Then my mom told me that that tape had what I called "The Wayne's World Song" on it. For some reason, though, she didn't know the name of it (it was written on the tape) so it was up to me to play the whole tape through until I found it.

This was the US cassette release, so it had Keep Yourself Alive and Under Pressure on it as well. Anyway! Bohemian Rhapsody played immediately after the last note in Another One Bites The Dust and I was beside myself with joy. Very soon after that, I decided that Queen was my favorite band ever. Even if that wasn't cool.

Sadly, the tape suffered a tragic and painful death many months later by getting so horribly eaten that the only way to get it out was to rip the film apart. It was hard to cope with the loss until on my tenth birthday that a friend gave me Classic and News Of The World on CD. She was also a Queen fan, but not so much as me. But we bonded anyway as we learned who each band member was and who wrote which songs.

In September 1998 on a Sunday, a former family friend drove me and my mother two hours away to try to meet Brian May at a Guitar Center and get his autograph. That same former friend had also given me his old Queen polo shirt (official fan club merch, folks!!!). Sadly, I did not get Brian's autograph, but I did get to see him in person, and that was pretty fantastic!

Also in 1998, I met my counterpart online. I entered the QFC chatroom and we immediately bonded over Freddie. Finally I had someone on my level! You have to understand that the internet then wasn't what it is today. This was back when dial-up was the norm and DSL was becoming a thing. It's not like today where you can find Queen fans everywhere. You used to have to go to Queen-specific sites and hope that that person's email address was valid and that someone in your house didn't accidentally pick up the phone because that would kill your internet connection. ... That year I also learned that numbers like 10-10-220 dialed before a phone number didn't actually do shit to lessen the long distance phone bill... Kids, be glad Skype and text messaging exist!!

Since then, my collection and knowledge has continued to expand, and I've settled down a little bit. Unless I'm talking to Audrey, in which case I feel like we're both 12 again and being super excited for the premiere of VH1 Legends Presents: Queen (because Youtube and the like didn't exist) - only now we're losing our shit in anticipation of the Days Of Our Lives documentary coming to DVD and blu-ray.

I felt compelled to write this because Audrey got her story published in Bohemian Rhapsodies (click here for her story in all it's fabulous and unedited glory) and I missed the submission deadline.

Emerging from the shadows

2011-12-22T02:36:00.000-05:00

Wow. So I guess I haven't updated this in a while, eh? Whoops.

Not a lot has been going on that I felt was worth commenting on. "Oh, Queen got another award! Brian was asked about Freddie! Woohoo." But hey - belated hooray for those picked to be in Queen Extravaganza! That's pretty exciting! And this video of Brian holding this hedgehog has totally melted my heart. I've heard he's also no longer using leather guitar straps (can't remember the source). I think it's awesome that he's passionate and concentrates his animal rights activism in ways that aren't just an obnoxious, offensive, and otherwise all out clusterfuck.

I'm also thinking of changing the banner on this blog, and I'd like your opinions if you've got them. Currently it's this:

It's not terrible, but I feel it's a bit too simple. Plus, I feel silly having a blogspot URL on there when I'm also on Tumblr (which links back to blogspot, but still). So I spent some time looking through all my photos and came up with a cheesy collage:

I'm not at all a graphic designer, but you know what? I had fun making it, dammit! And happy fucking holidays to you all!

20 years

2011-11-24T13:53:00.000-05:00

Seems like just yesterday we were all amazed that it had been 10 years since Freddie went.

I'm not really sure what else I can say right now, which seems to be the case every year.

Adam Lambert and Queen at the 2011 EMA's

2011-11-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

My lovely, wonderful, amazing, hardcore counterpart Audrey asked me to voice my opinion on Adam Lambert singing with Queen at the 2011 EMA's... so that's what I'm doing.

I've probably listened to the whole performance five times now, and I think I have a very solid and fully processed thought on it. But if I had just three words to pick from: It was boring.

Adam Lambert did a good job. Queen did a good job. But it was pretty much watching Adam Lambert do some pretty unnecessary vocal acrobatics and Brian, Roger and Spike Edney just happen to be there with some bass player - who the cameras don't even focus on for more than a second. I mean, even if that guy is merely just a piece of furniture, the bass player's important - especially the really fucking bad segue into We Will Rock You by using the riff from Under Pressure.

I'm not entirely sure how much rehearsal time each performing act got, but it either wasn't enough, or an off-performance, or the lack of cohesion between these artists is just so fucking obvious (my money's on all of the above). I mean, even Queen + Paul Rodgers weren't very tight during Live In Ukraine, but at least there was chemistry. With Adam Lambert, there doesn't seem to be any at all. And that's not a bad thing, some people just don't work, y'know? I'm not ripping on Adam as a performer or person. But it's a bit insulting that Queen are essentially treated as just a backing band in this performance. It reminded me of Brian performing at the VMAs and it seemed like almost everyone in the audience didn't seem to know who the hell he was and why he's so important.

Don't get me wrong, Freddie was probably more engaging than Brian, Roger and John back in the day and had the spotlight 95% of the time, but at least they'd interact with each other on stage. It's like Adam's just kinda doing his thing and then, "Wait, Brian's trying to share the catwalk with me? Oh. Okay then. I guess that's cool."

So yeah. I was bored and underwhelmed. And that sucks because you'd think Adam Lambert working with Brian and Roger would make total sense.

Shame

2011-11-06T11:29:00.001-05:00

Being a Freddie fan, there is very little that annoys me more than when someone misspells Freddie's name. No joke, you can start to type Freddie's name and Google will fucking spell the rest out for you.

Seriously. If I could get away with it, I'd Cone of Shame everybody who ever spells Freddie's name as "Freddy."

If you're going to audition for Queen Extravaganza, it's one thing if you suck. At least there's the reassurance that you at least want Roger to know how much his band has meant to you. But it's a very different kettle of fish if the description of your audition video misspells Freddie's name. That's just... I don't even know. I'm insulted and I'm just a fan!

Having said that, her audition wasn't the worst I've ever heard.

Who's the superior songwriter?

2011-10-27T14:46:00.000-04:00

I was looking through my iPod, as I very often do, and so far, the majority of my Queen cover versions are all originally written by Brian May. It's making me wonder who, out of Freddie, Brian, Roger and John, is the better songwriter?

Forgetting for two seconds that my favorite band member is Freddie, I'll have to really think about it. My answer will probably change depending on my mood, but I think right now I'd have to say John is my favorite - and not just because he deserves to be recognized for his talents and contributions to the band. I think what seals the deal is Spread Your Wings. Yes, Brian has Leaving Home Ain't Easy, but Spread Your Wings seemed to capture how I felt growing up and feeling trapped in the Midwest.

I wonder who your favorite writer is and why? Wait, before you answer, I want to level the playing field a little and completely remove Bohemian Rhapsody from the list of reasons you might pick Freddie. Freddie may have written most of the hits, but that doesn't necessarily make him the better songwriter. Maybe the most commercially successful... but that doesn't really hold much weight in the world of pop music. [Note: I'm not one of those, "Bieber must die!" people. I just find his music insufferable.]

Aaaaaand go!

David Martel and other stuff

2011-10-23T18:24:00.000-04:00

So I was asked to write a post about David Martel's Queen Extravaganza audition (hi, Jonathan!). I'm really not sure what to say other than I think I prefer Marc's voice over David's. I mean, he's talented and all, but that's not where my preference is.

Honestly, I've not been paying that much attention to Queen stuff in the last couple weeks, so this post is short. I mean, yeah, Queen have won yet another award and Freddie's Asian heritage is coming to light (seriously, great article). That's all great, but there's not much there for me to comment on.

Marc Martel on Ellen

2011-10-04T16:00:00.000-04:00

video platform video management video solutions video player

For reals. Marc is pretty amazing!

More pictures from Queen For A Day

2011-09-30T15:56:00.000-04:00

OMG YOU GUYS!! Gunpowder Gelatine are mentioned on the FFAD site! AND!! There are pictures of me in the gallery!

My heart is so broken that I can't make their next gig on the 29th (both because I don't have a car and can't get to Worcester and I have plans that have nothing to do with Queen). But! I should get in touch with them the next time they want to do a Freddie tribute to see if I can be involved in some way that wouldn't be just answering the shit out of trivia questions :-P

Saturday Night Live

2011-09-25T13:03:00.000-04:00

Today in 1982, Queen performed on Saturday Night Live. As far as I know, this particular episode is not freely available on the internet, but the ever-amazing Gregsynthbootlegs has posted both Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Under Pressure! Yay!

Queen Extravaganza Auditions

2011-09-22T19:17:00.000-04:00

I was super stoked to see that auditions are being posted on the Queen Extravaganza site! And then I watched some of the auditions. So far I'm ~~not terribly impressed~~ beyond disgusted and horrified (I go Simon Cowell on everyone's ass when it comes to Queen covers). But!!!

*swoon*

I mean, some of what Roger's said in this article has left a bitter taste in my mouth*, but I'm choosing to be cautiously optimistic and hang in there for as long as I can.

As stated in the comments on my last post (all two of them!), tribute bands are formed out of love. And yeah, in accordance with the rules of music, some bands suck more than others. But it seems really micromanaging to me for Roger to rip a tribute band apart just because they're trying and then say, "Fuck it! I'm picking people for the next tribute band!"

--
*Queen drummer Roger Taylor was recently in his hometown when he saw a poster that caught his attention. "It said, 'Queen on stage,'" Taylor tells Rolling Stone. "I saw in the very hall where we used to play and there's just the quite bad picture of a band. There are so many of these tribute bands and then there are like orchestral concerts going on featuring music. A lot of these things are not up to scratch and so we want to do it properly."

"...but there are an awful lot of tribute bands, some of them good, some of them not good... It's a big hurdle, [but] this is a way of keeping our music alive and doing it to our standards."

"So we'd like really great looking guys to be in this band." (I'm hoping this has been said in general and he's enthusiastic about auditions from people who don't identify as guys)

Queen Extravaganza!

2011-09-15T22:06:00.000-04:00

OMG OMG OMG!!!!

Okay, got enough of my excitement out of my system to post this gem from Queenpedia's Facebook page:

Apparently this is official, even though the site now only pulls up a blank page. Queenonline has said "Lots more to come on this...".

http://www.queenextravaganza.com/

Also from the site earlier today "The highly anticipated Live Final, held in Los Angeles, will be judged by the official Queen Extravaganza panel, fronted by Roger Taylor. The 10 final contestants, and possible 'wild-cards', will perform LIVE as part of the band in front of Roger and the panel"

Mark Blake's book

2011-09-12T17:37:00.000-04:00

With a giant sigh of relief, I have finally finished Is This The Real Life? And just in time for 40 Years Of Queen!

I really enjoyed Mark's book, but it was sobering to read that someone the author referred to was quoted as saying that John Deacon looked like he had become a rock star by accident, and that he probably wanted to be done with music since The Works. On one hand, I'm thinking "How on earth could anyone not want to be one quarter of Queen??" On the other, I can totally see that. The music business is indeed, a right pain in the ass. And to badly quote Elton John in an interview from The Magic Years: "You are more or less public property." I wouldn't be able to handle that either.

So John, if you happen across this by accident: Thanks for sticking with it. Your contributions to music have not been lost on me - particularly Spread Your Wings.

My only complaints about the book are that my copy had some typos and small things the proofreaders missed. Apart from that, I really loved how thorough it was and that it didn't focus too much on Freddie, as books about Queen do too often. It wasn't something I used to pay attention to all that much before since I'm such a huge Freddie fan, but as I was reading about how Brian, Roger and John became interested in music and their childhoods in general, it occurred to me that I really have no fucking clue who those guys are and where they came from. I should see about changing that...

But yeah, apart from the typos I highly recommend this book! Depending on the textual content of this 40 Years Of Queen book, Mark Blake's might be worth buying if you haven't already. And even if this upcoming thing completely upstages it, there's no harm in adding it to your collection for the sake of having a bigger collection if it's financially feasible ;-)

Probably my favorite 70's picture of Freddie

2011-09-08T16:29:00.000-04:00

I scanned it from my copy of The New Visual Documentary by Ken Dean. Hated his writing style, but there's tons of great pictures in there!

Also: Free Queen podcast from Absolute Radio!! You should subscribe!

Happy birthday, Freddie!!!

2011-09-05T12:39:00.000-04:00

Freddie's 65 today and there's OHMYFUCKINGGOD so much to post!!

First of all, Brian wrote an especially beautiful guest post on the Official Google Blog, everyone and their mom has been sending me the link to the Freddie Mercury Google Doodle, there's an upcoming auction where all proceeds will go to the MPT, and there's even a site where you can write a birthday message for Freddie!

Seriously, I fucking ~~worship~~ adore this man!

You can see more birthday tribute videos here!

And it's Freddie For A Day! As promised...

I hope Freddie knows how much he's loved and how much we all miss him!

Queen For A Day recap

2011-09-03T12:40:00.001-04:00

So last night I went with a friend to Queen For A Day at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain.

Opening was the Ukelele Union of Boston with renditions of Fat Bottomed Girls and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Sadly they weren't totally together on their sound, but they more than made up for it because they were clearly just having fun. Overall I was pretty happy. My friend that came with whispered in my ear after their set that they had no idea that those were Queen songs, and seemed amazed that I knew all the words. This would not be the first time I'd hear that.

I think this was where the MC asked us all trivia questions, and I got all but one of them right. Every time I got one, the MC would look at me bewildered and say, "Jesus! You really like Queen!"

Following that was Miss Madison West dancing with a blow-up doll to Body Language. It ended with her pointing her strap-on at the audience and shooting a can of silly string at us.

Then came Aquanette Jones (sorry, no link) dancing to I Want To Break Free. I didn't enjoy that one nearly as much, which is pretty sad. I think it might be because I've seen something similar done by Johnny Blazes.

Next, Alhena (again, no link) did a phenomenal belly dance to Mustapha! There were no words, only pure enjoyment!

Miss Madison West came back on stage to dance to Fat Bottomed Girls while wearing a prosthetic ass. When she had finished, she came up to me and apologized for "eye-fucking" me during her first number. But it wasn't often that she saw someone in the audience who would sing along to every single word. I'm about half-sure she was cruising me.

Someone in the audience was dressed as Freddie in the I Want To Break Free video came up to me and we shot the shit over the recorded music. She asked if I'd seen Queen + Paul Rodgers play in Worcester a while back and I told her that I hadn't. She then proceeded to tell me that I simply must go to London someday and check out all the Queen stuff there! It really bugs me when it doesn't occur to people that other people may not be able to afford that kind of trip.

Finally, Gunpowder Gelatine came on! While they set up, the bass player, Allison, claimed to know everything about Queen, but then the band looked down at me and were like, "Well, obviously not as much as this guy!" They then rocked so fucking hard that I was beside myself! During Now I'm Here, Bethany held the mic out to me so I could sing "Down in the dungeon just Peaches and me." I probably sounded terrible, but it was one of many kickass moments.

My friend decided to leave after their first set and come get me later. I had to crash at their place for the night because public transportation in Boston stops running by 12:30 and that's when the night would be over.

I think my absolute favorite moment was when Bethany came off the stage to dance with me during the ending of Spread Your Wings. I really hope to G-d somebody got a picture of that, because I sure as hell didn't!

It wasn't even that the singer's pretty and gave me the time of day, but Spread Your Wings is one of my all-time favorite Queen songs and for years my enthusiasm and excitement for Freddie and Queen has been amusing at best to people I've interacted with over the years. I've not been to any North American conventions (yet) or seen any other tribute bands (yet), so to be surrounded by people who Get It and to have this moment during what happens to be one of my favorite tracks was so fucking huge for me.

This is probably one of the most fun nights of my life. There was great music, fantastic performances, cupcakes. I hope Freddie felt the love. And The Mercury Phoenix Trust got a good chunk of money!

Gunpowder Gelatine are:

Bethany Hanley - vocals
Julie Perron - guitar
Allison Sigrist - bass
Nancy Galluzzo - drums
Kate Dobroth - keys

*ETA: photos of me taken by Amanda Johnston*

Exciting stuff going on!

2011-08-30T17:44:00.000-04:00

First of all, here's Brian May performing with My Chemical Romance at the 2011 Reading Festival! I'm pretty stoked that my dream to hear Brian play Welcome To The Black Parade has been realized! Say what you will, but I like My Chemical Romance, okay??

And in news that's local to me: an all-female tribute band will be playing and hosting Queen For A Day in Jamaica Plain, Boston on September 2nd!

The hour-long trek on the bus and subway system (we call it the T) is going to be so fucking worth it!

Brian performs with Lady Gaga/Jo Calderone at the 2011 VMAs

2011-08-29T01:10:00.000-04:00

I fell out of love with Lady Gaga around the release of her single Born This Way (basically it's a hollow, condescending gesture, much like Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project, with racist undertones), but I still respect her just a bit musically.

In the interest of this blog, I tuned in to the MTV VMA awards show because I heard Brian would be appearing as a special guest. I have to admit I was pretty pleasantly surprised. Lady Gaga's character Jo Calderone is fucking HOT (and very likely under the influence of some sort of substance. Don't judge, Freddie's been drunk and high on stage LOADS of times)! And like every good gender-bending performance, he (Jo) made some people (Justin Bieber) uncomfortable, was entertaining and engaging, and... yeah, REALLY HOT!

It's a bit ridiculous how attracted I am to him!

For those just tuning in, I'm queer. Both in every sense of the word and ways you might not expect. But I digress.

Brian rocked his solo (there's a video in that link. And I'm fucking pissed with that completely disrespectful "he/she" pronoun when referring to Jo). Sadly, I don't think the younger members of the audience knew who Brian was. Dave Grohl was the only one who cheered his ass off at the introduction of one of the greatest guitar players ever. But there's hope for the future!

Killer Queen documentary

2011-08-23T16:25:00.000-04:00

I just finished listening to the final part of the Killer Queen documentary on Absolute Radio (mentioned here). It's the kind of thing, while listening, I imagined every single person I've ever encountered who never understood why I loved this band, and could easily picture myself telling them to listen to that program if they really want to know what the big deal is.

The music alone should be enough, but it doesn't always make for a strong case. I often tell people that there are no words to explain my love for Queen or Freddie. I'm beginning to think that maybe I just haven't tried hard enough.

I don't think I'm quite ready to put what words I can grasp here yet, but I will work on it.

Something that bothers me

2011-08-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

(... because I'm a queer-identified feminist)

I don't mean to pick on Brian, but after a while I've decided I don't feel comfortable not addressing this. I've touched upon it here, but I need to expand on this.

Brian's been quoted as saying he dislikes that the track Don't Stop Me Now implies a separatism because the late 70's was probably the peak of Freddie's homo-tastic sexual adventures. So the song is very much Freddie going, "I'm a dude and I like sleeping with dudes, and it's a lot of fun!" and Brian has expressed discomfort.

On this same track of thought, Brian's said he prefers songs with romantic content to be universal and apply to everyone of every sexual orientation (as demonstrated in songs that avoid pronouns or other cues which may imply gender... "gender" being used very loosely here). That's beautiful and great, but... Brian, dude, your straight privilege is showing.

If I pick up a magazine, watch TV, or play music, I can be certain my sexual orientation will be represented.

In (just about?) every culture in the world, heterosexuality is considered the default, or the norm. So even if some of Queen's love songs (or songs by any other artists for that matter) don't blatantly illustrate a hetero dynamic, it's universally implied that they are anyway. And while Don't Stop Me Now isn't literally screaming "I'M A BIG 'MO!" casual listeners probably wouldn't consider it more than just a song meant to boost the mood and get people amped up. But Brian was uncomfortable anyway because he knew where Freddie was actually coming from.

The idea of Brian wanting songs to be relevant to all sexual orientations by not always hinting at pronouns/stereotypical gender cues sounds great in theory. Same as folks who proclaim that people are people and things like race, gender and sexual orientation shouldn't matter, so let's just never talk about it!

To quote this article, "Being queer is one aspect of my identity and while I don’t need you to focus solely on it, I do need you to recognize that it is an aspect of my identity which is oppressed, and thus it does matter."

And to further illustrate my point, one of my favorite comic strips which translates the "we're all just people" mentality:

It's like saying, "my heart is in the right place, but fuck I'm stupid."

Does this make Brian homophobic? I'd say he would benefit from taking the time from his schedule to examine his views a little more closely. And I'm confident that he's open enough to learn from it if someone chooses to directly call him on it.

And I should clarify, because I can see this reaction coming from miles away, that calling someone out on their shit is NOT the same as telling them that they're a horrible person. Brian May is a wonderful and decent human being and musician and I am in no way implying otherwise.

Happy birthday, John!

2011-08-19T12:56:00.000-04:00

Holy crap, it's Deaky's 60th birthday!

I hope he's having a good one!

Queen Season on Absolute Radio

2011-08-13T16:56:00.000-04:00

Woot.

Part one of the upcoming documentary, Killer Queen, will air on Absolute Classic Rock on August 22 at 8pm GMT, which is 3pm EST. Part two will air the next day at the same time. There's a whole lot of shit going on, but since I don't live in the UK, I'm probably not eligible to win £500 ($816). Damn. Or tickets to the Freddie For A Day birthday party. Even more damn!

All branching out and shit

2011-08-12T15:14:00.001-04:00

I was worried that someone would steal this blog name and use it on Tumblr, so I beat them to the punch!

Yes! I made a Tumblr account that will lure people here. Hubris, yo! Fuckin' hubris!

There can be only one! Also... fuck Adrian Paul!

And HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY COUNTERPART AND MERCURY GURU NUMERO UNO!

Here, have a Freddie!

He's like, "Yeah, yeah. Happy birthday, dear. Is it time for cake yet??"

Okay, that's actually me.

Life goes on and on and on

2011-08-11T11:08:00.000-04:00

I meant to do a post on the 9th about Queen's last concert performance with Freddie 25 years ago, but so much shit has been going on for me and the only thing I've managed to keep on top of is listening to Adele (who is amazing and gorgeous and OM fucking G!! Yay for hot musicians who don't weigh less than 100 pounds!) and angsting out on Livejournal. Sorry about that.

Anyway. I've also been on the hunt for the perfect birthday card for my counterpart because her birthday is TOMORROW!! and she's turning 25 TOMORROW!! (we met when we were 12) and Hallmark doesn't fucking make cards for Queen soulmates! She once told me that I should sing Happy Birthday to her Freddie-style. She got so spoiled from that one time Gregory Finsley sang to her and I cannot compete with that!

So Audrey, if you're reading: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You are wonderful and I'm super grateful to have you in the world and obsess over Queen with me!

Cheers!

Random

2011-08-07T14:01:00.000-04:00

I very recently upgraded to a smartphone. If that wasn't enough, I made my ringtone the chorus from Brighton Rock, and this is my wallpaper:

It feels a bit like an overload, but I don't really care right now. I'm way too excited about this.

Brian and Roger are going to dress as Freddie

2011-07-30T13:19:00.000-04:00

This makes me way too happy. Can you imagine just how fucking epic and amazing this is going to be??

I'm a bit underwhelmed by the yellow jacket look, though. Freddie had some really amazing costumes outside of the Magic Tour. Like

and

and

... Just a few examples.

Freddie For A Day is around the corner and I cannot wait. I will dress as best as I'm able. There will be pictures. Oh yes, there will be pictures.

Happy birthday Roger!

2011-07-26T11:50:00.000-04:00

I saw that picture in this article and thought it would be well worth linking to!

These days I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Scrabble. But if Brian, Roger or John wanted to play a game with me, I wouldn't say no. I used to like playing, but my then-Scrabble buddy was way too into it, and it became the only thing we'd do together, and I had to back away. (three games in a row would be more than enough for most people, but this guy could probably play for 24 hours straight)

It's too bad Queen didn't play Monopoly - although maybe they did and things got way out of control. I wouldn't be surprised if that game caused many romantic partners to break up, so maybe if Queen played, we would have missed out on a lot of what's currently available to the public (bootlegs included)... But I'm always looking for an excuse to use this picture:

But I digress! I went a bit out of my way to find a more recent picture of Roger in my Google Image search. Don't get me wrong, Roger wasn't bad looking in the 70's, 80's or 90's... but I honestly think he looks way cuter now than he did back then. ANYWAY! Congrats on the Big 6-2, Roger! I promise I'm not stalking you!

What happens when I click #Freddie Mercury on Tumblr

2011-07-21T22:42:00.000-04:00

I used to think I was a huge Freddie fan, but I think Tumblr has proven me wrong. Upon seeing these posts, my response has ranged from, "meh" to "Jesus fucking balls! This person really likes Freddie!"

This post was a bit disturbing...

Someone on this person's Facebook wall listed a song they didn't like by Justin Bieber titled 'Somebody To Love' because (at least call it something else so your[sic] not tarnishing the great name of Freddie Mercury and Queen) This person on Tumblr responded: WHAT IS THIS SOMEBODY TO LOVE BUSINESS. DID HE. DID HE REALLY. I WILL SKIN HIM. AND THEN POUR SALT ON WHATS[sic] LEFT OF HIS BODY. HOW DARE HE DISRESPECT FREDDIE. How DARE he!!

From Wikipedia:

"Somebody to Love" (Queen song)
"Somebody to Love" (Jefferson Airplane song)
"Somebody to Love" (Leighton Meester song)
"Somebody to Love" (Justin Bieber song)
Somebody to Love (Big Bang song)
Somebody to Love, a 1994 film starring Rosie Perez
"Somebody to Love" (That '70s Show episode), an episode of That '70s Show
"Somebody to Love" (30 Rock), an episode of 30 Rock
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", a song by Solomon Burke
"Somebody to Love", a bonus track on Nelly Furtado's album Loose

... Yeah. I don't get people sometimes... I'm not a whiz at copyright law, but I'm pretty sure song titles can't be copyrighted.

"A title cannot be protected under copyright law, and there are many songs with the same or very similar titles. Titles can occasionally be protected by trademark law when the title can be proven to be directly identified with a product or organization." - PD Info

But yeah. Tumblr is a pretty amazing thing.

Happy 64th, Brian!

2011-07-19T17:47:00.000-04:00

Hope he's having a good one!

Dear Mr Murdoch 2011

2011-07-15T16:55:00.000-04:00

I listen to the Japanese promo version a lot (from Roger Taylor's 1994 release, Happiness), but I like this 2011 version a lot as well. I pretty much like anything where Roger's overall message is an eloquent, perfectly-stated fuck you.

Click here for the lyrics.

This band changed my life

2011-07-13T10:41:00.000-04:00

I'm copying this from my counterpart's Tumblr because it's FUCKING AWESOME!

REBLOG IF THIS BAND CHANGED YOUR LIFE!

25 years

2011-07-12T16:51:00.001-04:00

... since the first night of Queen's infamous Wembley gig.

I can't imagine how amazing it must have been to be there. Especially during this part:

Fucking amazing!

Fun fact

2011-07-02T16:40:00.001-04:00

Forty years ago today, on July 2nd 1971, Queen played their first concert with John Deacon on bass.

More follow-up

2011-06-29T10:19:00.000-04:00

In the Days Of Our Lives documentary, Brian had said in the 70's that people of all sexes were their audience.

All sexes. Not "both." I can't say whether this was a slip or totally intentional, but as someone who's aware that there are more than two sexes, it means the world to me that he said it.

Follow-up

2011-06-27T23:33:00.001-04:00

I finished watching the US premiere of the Days Of Our Lives documentary. I'm awfully glad I caught it on Youtube because the BBC Two version seems less censored (for reals. They fuzzed out the single cover for Fat Bottomed Girls. SHE HAD PAINTED-ON PANTIES, FOR FUCK SAKE!). Also, the US Biography channel doesn't seem to have a sensible rhythm for their commercial breaks.

Still, it's a pretty amazing thing to watch. I tried "pre-gaming" and watched my copy of The Making Of A Night At The Opera, and got through less than ten minutes of the special the A&E channel ran on Freddie in 2009 (thank you, Youtube!) and got bored and annoyed. I've always believed that Queen fans should always be consulted on these things. The narrator mentioned Freddie's father and instead of showing that grainy picture of Freddie sitting with his dad in the 70's, they had a picture of Roger Cooke, Freddie's brother-in-law! Christ! It's one thing to get a date wrong, but holy fucking hell!

Jer Bulsara, Freddie, Bomi Bulsara

Roger Cooke, his and Kash's son, Jer Bulsara, Kashmira Cooke

Note how un-Freddie-like Roger looks! Good god...

Haiku

2011-06-27T14:41:00.000-04:00

Freddie Mercury,
The greatest singer ever.
What more can be said?

-

Red Special guitar
Screeches like a symphony
It used to house fire

-

Drummer from Cornwall,
Roger Taylor, can make a
Snare puncture ear drums

-

He doesn't say much
But lurking beneath the bass
Are some epic songs

-

Now I'm curious to see how many of you write any sort of poetry!

Days Of Our Lives

2011-06-20T19:11:00.000-04:00

I got word that Days Of Our Lives will be premiering in the US on June 27, 8pm (20:00) EST. I'm really excited to tune in but I'm also impatient, so I caught both parts on Youtube (the poster was extraordinarily gracious).

Being a Freddie fan, I actually really like that it wasn't essentially The Freddie Mercury Show. But I would have liked to see more archived interviews with John (by the way, the dust jacket on the book by Mark Blake doesn't even fucking mention him. WTF, Mark??!!). Although I'm willing to bet that he didn't really do a lot of interviews. Sad. I won't spoil anything, but there was a small part where a bunch of fans were singing Killer Queen and it reminded me that Queen fans were my first community... or at least a sense of not being totally alone (a mixture of pre-teen angst and being queer and growing up in the Midwest). Granted, I don't like a lot of them and as a result, I come off as a sanctimonious prick, but the first ones I met on OIQFC still make me smile, even if I haven't talked to many of them in years. Good times!

What was really strange, after I finished the last part of the documentary, I turned on my favorite radio station just in time for A Kind Of Magic to start playing! It was weird and awesome!

Peter "Ratty" Hince has a book publishing in October this year. I'm not sure if I'll buy it (right away), but it's pretty exciting. Also, I caught Thomas Crane's performance of Radio Ga Ga a couple days ago, and I laughed so hard when one of the judges was surprised that Thomas was doing "something phallic" with the mic. Because Freddie Mercury would NEVER have done such a thing!

Maybe those are all just coincidences...

Oh shit (00:14).

Jimi Hendrix, he was good

2011-06-12T21:58:00.000-04:00

I've been listening to a lot of Jimi Hendrix lately, and it's really fun to think about listening to the hero of my hero. But not in a "OMG FREDDIE AND I ARE LIKE SOULMATES!" sort of way. That's just stupid and creepy.

I'm still reading the book by Mark Blake and I really enjoy reading about when my music heroes were nothing more than enthusiasts gushing over Hendrix. Every time I hear Castles Made Of Sand I can't help but picture Freddie sitting on a floor in front of a record player and annoying his flat mates going, "Listen to this! Just - just listen! Are you hearing this??"

That must have been awesome!

Also, Thomas Crane has talent! I wasn't expecting him to be that good! I mean, wow! In my opinion it's a really high contrast to the Queen medley performed by the judges on the US show The Voice. I love me some judges to various extents when they perform their own shit, but this medley is poorly arranged and sounds like something that would be done on American Idol. And to be very clear: That is not a compliment.

Lady Gaga... and a small tangent brought on by Justin Bieber

2011-05-30T17:03:00.000-04:00

I have to give credit where credit is due. I proudly own Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster, but I'm not really in a rush to get Born This Way (click that link to see why). Still, I have tons of respect for her music, particularly the bits where she's clearly influenced by Queen.

... And I rock out to Telephone more than I care to admit.

Anyway. Yeah. Problematic as some of the things she's said and done may be, I still have respect (this may be my privilege talking). The entertainment industry is vicious and the public is even more so. Fucking Christ. Justin Bieber can't even cover Bohemian Rhapsody without Brian getting pestered about it. I don't like Justin Bieber, but I choose to avoid him. I don't get all fucking dramatic over a fucking song cover (Robbie Williams notwithstanding) and wish he'd die a slow and painful death.

The film crews for Lifetime will be knocking down Roger's door any minute

2011-05-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

... Because there is clearly nothing more tragic than Roger Taylor having hearing loss! Oh noes!

Being d/Deaf isn't a problem. And Roger has access to the best hearing aides money can buy, he can still write and perform music, so I'm not seeing how this qualifies as a "dark secret" or suffering. A dark secret would be if Roger had eaten babies and kept the inedible parts in a storage facility. To be disabled (feel free to substitute that word for whatever works for you) in any way is not suffering. I can imagine that it's a bit of an adjustment on his part, but he isn't writhing in pain or crying himself to sleep every night so... the fuck?

Able-bodied privilege breaks my heart. Roger's "suffering" from being d/Deaf, people in wheelchairs are "confined" to them, and there are billions of other conditions that would take the rest of my life to list, and in Western society we are taught to pity and fear people who cannot do certain things, or have to do them differently, or whatever. And yeah, some people really do see whatever they've got going on as this Horrible Thing, but I just can't. The guy's been playing ridiculously loud drums at ridiculously loud concerts for most of his life, this cannot be filed under "I just don't know how this could have happened!"

I won't lie, I have days where I pretty much say "fuck cerebral palsy! This fucking sucks!" But I'm really just blowing off steam. It's fucking exhausting being treated a little less than just because I use forearm crutches (which, by the way, I've tried to see if I could use one of them as a Freddie mic, but it just doesn't work). At the end of the day, it's never really my CP that makes me angry, it's how I'm treated by everyone else as a result of having CP.

So Rog, congrats on making your deafness public. And wow! I had no idea how different American Sign Language and British Sign Language alphabets are!

Great King Rat

2011-05-18T01:22:00.000-04:00

I've got so much going on this week that I will not be able to post on the 21st, so I wanted to acknowledge Great King Rat early rather than late.

I probably first heard this song when I was about 13, and I remember being in complete shock that I heard Freddie sing the word "whore." Not that I hadn't heard swears before. Cursing runs in my family, but there was a point where I had it in my head that the band were somehow above using such language (some used to argue that swearing meant low intellect - which is fucking horse shit). I was also convinced that Queen didn't do drugs of any sort.

Those are the collective glossy eyes of sobriety!

I think it's not too far from the truth to say that Freddie's not completely fucked up during this performance, but isn't it pretty fantastic? Admittedly it gets weird in the middle.

And Freddie's totally not coked out of his skull in the Las Palabras De Amor video. Nope. No sir. And Roger was just tired. Yep, that's right. Just tired. Yes, kids - Freddie was a fan of cocaine, though I cannot say to what extent. And Roger... I'm not totally sure about him. But hanging out with Steven Tyler can only weaken the case.

Anyway, happy birthday and RIP to Great King Rat!

Do not underestimate the awesome of kids

2011-05-09T16:08:00.000-04:00

When it comes to music, some people (of all ages) suck. I include myself in that. But then you do a random search on Youtube for a live version of Brighton Rock and you come across something pretty damn impressive. And yeah, I'm aware that this performance is not perfect, and before you may decide to tear each kid apart for whatever they may be doing wrong, ask yourself this: what have you done lately that's so fucking special?

It's cool, I'll wait.

... That's what I thought. Anyway, this particular group is the Paul Green School Of Rock. Y'know, sort of like the movie.

I so would have hung out with this kid when I was their age! I don't care, that kid's badass. ... And just because I can.

And speaking of badass... But I should end this on a Queen video.

Uh... huh...

2011-04-29T15:07:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you browse through the CD section of a store, and you notice things. I took pictures with my cell phone, but they came out crappy, so I had to consult the internet.

This shows how much I pay attention to other band's CDs, but the cover for the Kings Of Leon album, Aha Shake Heartbreak...

Looks an awful lot like...

A Night At The Opera. At the very least, it uses a similar font.

Although the cover for Escape The Fate's self-titled album...

Intentionally looks like...

Queen II.

In this interview, Max Green of ETF says "I wanted something that was bold and made a statement, but didn't want anything too flashy. I didn't want something that said "We are selling out, we signed to a major label," so this is what I came up with."

So... he went with the concept for Queen II (which, by the way... ~~Wikipedia~~ Mick Rock's just sayin'). I guess it was either that or Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove cover...

I tend to look down upon this shit because it, to me, shows a lack of creativity or effort. Not that I'm the most creative person on the planet, but I'd like to think I'm above taking iconic concepts from relatively recent popular culture and making them my own. But really, I guess I shouldn't expect too much from Escape The Fate. I haven't even heard of them until yesterday, but their lyrics are worse than the shit I used to write in school.

I've tried finding out more about the Kings Of Leon cover, but Google failed me.

Yay links!

2011-04-25T15:40:00.000-04:00

I got asked to check out Queen Poland, which is a pretty excellent site from what I've seen so far. Check it out if you have the time. If nothing else, look at all the fantastic pictures!

If you would like me to check out and mention a Queen/Freddie-related site or blog here, or whatever - I would love and prefer an email (zander8605 at gmail dot com), rather than see the same comment on multiple posts. That's spam, kids. But I want you to get in touch with me! I don't have much going on so I will respond to you!

One for the kids

2011-04-24T17:35:00.000-04:00

I suppose since Queen's music appeals to all ages I should make at least one child-friendly post.

Fun fact time! The voice of Mr Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants is none other than Clancy Brown who played The Kurgan in the film Highlander.

So the guy who voices a cartoon crab that sings this cute little ditty and has an unhealthy obsession with money...

Has also done this Oscar-worthy scene.

By the way, the priest at the end of that clip was played by a Rabbi. Anyway! Now when you're watching Spongebob and your friends giggle over how silly that Mr Krabs is with his frugal ways and breaking US labor laws, you can think of the film Highlander and how the voice of that crab is a fucking murderer/violent rapist... and then soften the blow of that harsh reality by thinking about the stellar use of Queen's music throughout that film. I'm pretty sure it would have failed really hard had Russell Mulcahy not recruited Queen to write some tracks.

Happy Easter, kids! I'm sure I'll be getting angry emails from your parents very soon!

19th anniversary of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert

2011-04-20T09:58:00.000-04:00

19 years ago today there was what may arguably be one of the greatest concerts in history. And nine years ago, that greatness was commemorated with a poorly edited DVD with a great deal of footage taken out for what I can only assume are arbitrary reasons. Seriously, who honestly thought that people would only want the performances directly involving Queen?! I have to go on fucking Youtube if I want to see Extreme's Queen medley! It should be on the DVD with the rest of the concert, but no. Fuckers.

"Freddie Mercury was an incredibly innovative singer and frontman for the band. He was a very good friend of mine and it was my privelege to have known him for some of his life. He was very funny, extremely outrageous, very kind and he was a great musician, one of the great frontmen of rock'n'roll bands... Quite simply, he was one of the most important figures in rock'n'roll in the last twenty years. I will miss him, we will all miss him, for his music, his humanity...We will remember that Freddie Mercury was something special." - Elton John

"If I didn't have Freddie Mercury's words and lyrics to hold onto as a kid, I don't know where I'd be...I never really had a bigger teacher in my whole life." - Axl Rose

"We will all miss him a lot. Together with his band he made a great contribution to popular music." - David Bowie

"When we lost Freddie, we not only lost a great personality, a man with a great sense of humour, a true showman, but we lost probably the best. The best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it." - Roger Daltrey

"Every band should study Queen at Live Aid. If you really feel like that barrier is gone, you become Freddie Mercury. I consider him the greatest frontman of all time. Like, it's funny? you'd imagine that Freddie was more than human, but ... You know how he controlled Wembley Stadium at Live Aid in 1985? He stood up there and did his vocal warm ups with the audience. Something that intimate, where they realize, 'Oh yeah, he's just a fucking dude'." - Dave Grohl

Further proof that American Idol sucks

2011-04-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

So I was doin' my thing, searching for Queen covers on Youtube, and suddenly here's this clip from Idol (Sweden) of this guy rocking the shit out of The Show Must Go On!

Maybe it's because I hate Ryan Seacrest, and it could very well also be how fucking creepy Steven Tyler is, but typically when a contestant on the American version of the show attempts a Queen song, I get super disappointed. Except by Adam Lambert. I love him. By the way, Kris Allen won that year (only because Fox(?) took issue with Adam making out with guys) but I haven't heard from him since then. And Adam Lambert is a big, flaming, perverted success! Fuck yeah!

Dear America, GET OVER IT! This is precisely why Queen lost their popularity in the US with I Want To Break Free and why conservatives today are losing their shit over a boy with painted pink toenails in a J Crew ad!

Anyway, I decided to see how Erik Grönwall's performance of The Show Must Go On compared to Carly Smithson's. Yeah, I like the Swedish guy a hell of a lot more. Jag bugar inför dig, o svenska kungar! (I originally typed in "Swedish Overlords," but Google translated that to "Swedish Gentlemen," so I switched it to "kings")

Traniwrock

2011-04-14T21:56:00.000-04:00

In the Boston area there's a cabaret/burlesque show called Traniwreck. I've only been once, but it was a pretty good time. Since its inception, the word "tranny" is no longer acceptable as it's derogatory, even (especially) in trans-friendly spaces. But while I'm queer and really involved in my local LGBTQQIA et all communities, trans politics don't have much to do with Queen.

Anyway, there's a show tonight that I didn't have the energy for, but the promotional poster made me giggle with delight. I found it while walking with a friend in Somerville.

As an added bonus, here's a video of a performance by Johnny Blazes (who's a regular performer at Traniwreck) and M Hanora on September 4, 2008.

Indecision

2011-04-12T22:09:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure how I feel about Electric 6's cover of Radio Ga Ga. I'm not sure I've ever felt purely ambivalent about a Queen cover before. You know that thing, "if a tree falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound" and how that's supposed to clear your head, or blow your mind or some shit? That's what this cover is doing to me right now.

I think I should mull it over by listening to Gay Bar for a while. Or Dance Commander. Or the Live Aid version of Radio Ga Ga.

Ah, that's better.

This is probably one of those things where I just need to take a couple days before I officially decide how I feel.

Poetry and art and stuff

2011-04-10T14:22:00.000-04:00

I got an email this morning from Eminor Publishing telling me about a collection of poems and art called Thomas Kent - An Art Book by Eliza Witte. It's dedicated to Freddie, which I'm assuming is the reason it was emailed to me, and the cover of the book is the door to the gate of Garden Lodge. From what few pieces I've seen on Amazon, it looks pretty fantastic.

Although I must say that my favorite poet is Rachel K Zall. For real. Check her out. When she's not being a kickass poet, she's being a kickass advocate for the Boston trans community. And she also got me into The Mountain Goats!

Support the (good) arts! If you don't, you get shit like:

and this fucking awful mess!

I very strongly encourage folks to email me anything they think I'd be interested in (it's a really wide range, try me!) or if you might want to discuss stuff one-on-one, etc. Despite how I may come across, I'm really nice and enjoy interacting with people - especially other Queen fans!

Bands these days have it easy

2011-04-07T21:42:00.000-04:00

I caught the video for ET by Katy Perry, featuring Kanye West and it got me thinking. First of all, I don't have a totally solid opinion about Katy Perry, but I fucking hate Kanye (I realize this article I've linked to is from 2008, but still. Also, I don't condone the use of the word "douchebag"). Anyway, my brain immediately went to the video for Under Pressure because it was said at the time that Queen and David Bowie were too busy to make a "proper" video for the track. I'm not saying anything bad about Katy Perry and Kanye West having time to do shit, I'm just noticing that it's probably really bad form if they didn't make a video.

This also got me thinking about when I first heard Evanescence in high school and I was super pissed and resentful toward them because I have my own Bastard Queen Fan moments and I was a moody teenager at the time. It seemed like their debut album got tons of attention and promotion, and their first music video got attention and a big budget. Keep Yourself Alive had fucking stock footage! It felt like musicians (I'm going to keep it simple and not split hairs) of my generation seemed to get a pretty hefty leg-up right away (seriously, who the fuck decided to sign Ke$ha?!) whereas Queen had to bust their asses off for four years before they even started making money and becoming successful.

And you know, I wasn't there at the start of Queen's career, so maybe there was tireless promotion from the start, and maybe they were noticed right away. I'm probably talking out of my ass. Except those parts about Ke$ha and Kanye West. Although there's another point that I've always wanted to make, but I could never find the words, and then Cracked.com beat me to it. See #1 on this link which conveniently sums up my thoughts precisely. Only the writers of Cracked do a lot of research, where I just do a quick search on Google and have my head up my ass.

Believe me, life goes on and on and...

2011-04-05T12:51:00.001-04:00

I just read today that News Of The World, Jazz, The Game, Flash Gordon and Hot Space are being re-released in the UK and Europe on June 13th this year. My guess is they'll be re-released in North America sometime in August.

For the past three days I've been listening to In The Lap Of The Gods... Revisited on repeat. I'm not sure what that's about but I seem to be noticing the instrumental parts for the first time, particularly the guitar bits.

If you can read tabs, you can see that it's pretty simple to play (unless, like me, you have coordination issues). It just goes to show, being a brilliant musician doesn't mean you have to always make shit painfully complicated. But yes, I enjoy rediscovering songs I already loved!

Moral of the story: Don't piss off Roger Taylor

2011-04-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

--

"Queen On 'Rolling Stone'
Stunned, shocked, amazed and asleep upon perusal of your "in-depth" story of Queen in South America ("Queen Holds Court in South America," RS 345). I am a member of said group and extremely fucking proud of its music (not all) and its achievements. I don't even write to my mother, since the written word seems worth less in this day of the telephone and publications such as yours and the National Enquirer.
Your peculiar 1970-time-warp attitude, coupled with an innate, congenital miscomprehension of rock & roll, continues to fascinate and annoy. Thank you, oh thank you, for the pseudopolitical slant and personal dishonesty that you continue to peddle in your outdated, opinionated, down-home rag.
Thanks also for the finely tuned musical assessment of my group from our sound check! Grow up. You invented the bitterness. I pity you. You suck. You are boring and you try to infect us.
Awaiting your charming review of my current album in about eight months!

Roger Taylor
London, England

This letter was written on an airline motion-sickness bag. - Ed.

--

I read this a long time ago, but it's still one of my favorite things in the whole world.

Is This The Real Life? and Freddie Vs. Michael Jackson

2011-03-30T13:46:00.001-04:00

That book by Mark Blake got a fairly decent review. I've still not gotten very far, but I'm loving what I've read so far!

I think my favorite part of the review:

Is This The Real Life is recommended for serious Queen fans, people interested in the machinations of the music industry at the highest level, and anyone discovering the band's music for the first time.If you happen to be one of THOSE daring souls, you're in for an amazing, gripping, rude and sometimes ridiculous journey.

Queen is dead.
Long live Queen.

So which one is it? Do you want Queen to live, or should they officially disband because Freddie died? Well? WELL?!

I'm pretty sure if Brian and Roger did call it quits after the release of No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young), people would be whining that they've not done anything when they very easily could. "They could get a bass player and lead vocalist! I'd love to see them on stage again!" etc.

And yeah, Queen + Paul Rodgers was different. Different, however, doesn't necessarily mean worse.

Speaking of, there's a thread on Queenzone pitting Freddie against Michael Jackson.

As I clarified in my response, I'm not what anyone would consider a Michael Jackson fan, but I appreciate his music and the influence he's had on his fans. I love Freddie dearly, but I don't think Freddie's made a crowd lose their shit just by snapping his fingers.

And as it turns out, the News section of the site where I had replied didn't show that the thread was started with a link so my comment, while I still stand by it, was grossly misdirected.

Ummm...

2011-03-29T17:49:00.000-04:00

A search on Youtube made me aware of a Glee version of Fat Bottomed Girls just now and I'm not totally sure how to feel about it.

I used to love the show when it first started, but I've since broken up with it for a multitude of reasons (the one that stands out the most for me is ableism, but there's more of a mess than I can currently list)

But yeah. The cover itself is... I'm not sure. There's some bits of the vocal work that I like, but at the same time it sounds like Puck doesn't really give a shit. "Yeah, okay. Here's where I sing 'get on your bikes and ride!'... did the check for this clear yet?" And if I'm not mistaken, the background vocals are auto-tuned, which is totally my issue, but it doesn't sound right to me.

That said, one of my favorite covers of this song is by a fucking amazing band called Coyote Grace. Check them out. I hope you won't be disappointed.

But to keep perspective, there are worse covers out there (only because I hate Kid Rock).

A rant about Freddie

2011-03-27T17:46:00.001-04:00

I touched on this here but I felt compelled to go deeper and get a bit personal. Bear with me, I wrote this at a writing workshop last week.

It's been recently suggested that Freddie Mercury might be alive today if he had lived to see the year 1992 where I guess there was this sudden boom in effective AIDS treatments and medications. Part of me does think that it would be pretty awesome if he were around today, but only just because he wouldn't be dead.

Freddie Mercury is my hero and probably my biggest influence in life, but you know what? A lot of people died just before effective medication was readily available. And to think "Oh, if only they'd held in there, they might be fine!" is an insult. AIDS is a painful, agonizing virus. And the meds that are available in 2011 don't typically have you feeling so great, so I can only imagine the shit being given to patients in the 80's and early 90's were all sorts of fucked up. And let's see, by the time Freddie died, he was blind, couldn't do anything for himself, couldn't breathe, his friends and family watched him deteriorate and they were forced not to tell their loved ones what was going on, and he was in constant pain. But yes, He was a fucking dick for making the decision to leave.

If only that prick had kept putting himself and the people around him through hell, he might eventually get better so he could do it all over again at a later date. Because, let me tell you, it's so much fucking fun to see someone you love and care about go up and down with their health and wonder if maybe this time they're going to die!

When I started dating my ex (who is alive and healthy, I might add), one of the first things I had to get used to was that the shit that a body with a healthy immune system fights off every day can hurt and weaken and possibly kill someone if their T-cell count is low enough. So yeah, let's all keep resenting Freddie for not pushing through. Nevermind what he was dealing with emotionally and physically for years, he's pissed off many a fan for choosing to die quietly and that's just so much worse than anything any other human being has done, isn't it?!

"Hey, Freddie. I know you're clearly on your way out, but could you maybe hang around until medicine advances so you can keep entertaining us?" - Queen fans who clearly have no idea how much it sucks to have AIDS.

headdesk

2011-03-25T18:13:00.003-04:00

I'm convinced that every other member of Queenzone is a troll.

A thread I've contributed to this week about casting for the Freddie Mercury biopic has this... uh, lovely exchange:

Person A said:
I don't like Baron Cohen, he's too tall to play Freddie.

I responded saying that that's like saying they don't want Jamie Foxx to play Ray Charles just because he's sighted. Person A responded thusly:

But you wouldn't cast Brad Pitt as Ray Charles (or as Freddie). It's a physique du role thing.

(See? It's like Freddie was in the middle of rocking out when suddenly...)

Just to be clear...

Ray Charles

Brad Pitt

... The fuck?? I mean... just... the fuck?? If you'll excuse me, I need to go find my faith in humanity. Funny how I lose it when I become active on Queenzone.

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-23T10:47:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth Taylor passed away today at the age of 79. She was one of Freddie Mercury's favorite movie stars.

She was a rockstar for AIDS awareness as well. Not just for Freddie's sake, but for the whole HIV-positive population. And just a reminder for folks who may be too young to remember/do not have this perspective in mind: It was a huge fucking deal to be an advocate in the late 80's and early 90's because not much was known and there wasn't much in the way of medication. According to Phoebe's book, Freddie was essentially a guinea pig up until the end. And it's recently been suggested that Freddie could have lived longer if he made it to see 1992 (but let's be real: I'm pretty sure if he did live to see better meds and treatments become available, they probably wouldn't have done a whole lot if you consider his state in November 1991).

But getting back to Elizabeth Taylor. I fail as a queer man in the pop culture category because I haven't really seen her movies. But the important thing is I recognize her as an icon. And beyond that I recognize that she was a hell of a movie star in general. Surely that counts for something?

Impulse buy

2011-03-21T18:14:00.001-04:00

Just got the second edition of Queen Live: A Concert Documentary by Greg Brooks. I'm surprised by how tiny it is, since the first edition is about the size of a magazine.

I still maintain that this was an impulse buy, but I'm hopeful that eventually I'll be glad to have it. Aside from the difference in size, there's a foreword by Brian. And for the record, the picture on the cover may be my favorite, not because you can see Freddie's ass and obvious underwear line (come to think of it, why was that not a problem when he wore his tights in the 70's?!), but because it's a different angle than what we usually see All. The. Time.

The seller left the price tag, and I just pulled up my confirmation email from Amazon. I purchased this book used at $14.83 plus $3.99 shipping, bringing the total to $18.82. The price sticker on the book is £7.95, which converts to $15.35. I'm not entirely sure why I felt the need to point that out, except maybe to remind myself that buying shit from the UK has its downside when you live in the USA.

Dude...

2011-03-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

I'd like to think I'm very open-minded about Queen covers, despite being a bit of a snob. I poked around on Brian's Soapbox because, well, yeah. He posted a really interesting link to Secret Sessions where this week(?) people are taking Queen songs and making them their own. I haven't heard them all yet, but I'm listening to I Am A Camera's take on White Queen for the second time because I'm in love.

For real, I am swooning here. And at the same time I'm really sad. No doubt this will hit Queenzone and some of the members will be frothing with rage for no real reason. There are some really awesome cover versions out there (and some that are not so much. ... YMMV) and as long as the singer sounds nothing like Freddie, or the guitar sounds nothing like the Red Special, or - G-d for-fucking-bid - it sounds different in some other way, it's going to get brushed off because it's WRONG! Doesn't matter if it's actually good, it's just fucking WRONG!

I've posted about this before, as it's obviously something that gets under my skin, but I think as long as this whole, "Queen is the only band allowed to do Queen!" bullshit is still going, I'm allowed to complain.

In other news, I'm currently reading Is This The Real Life? The Untold Story Of Queen by Mark Blake, and I'm pretty impressed so far. Kids, support your local, independent book stores!

I also ordered a copy of the second edition of Queen Live: A Concert Documentary by Greg Brooks. At this point I'm not entirely sure why. I have the first edition, which is full of errors, but it's in fairly okay condition (the tears on the cover caused by my brother notwithstanding). Who knows? Maybe some day (one day. DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!?!) I'll be glad to have both editions.

And finally, since Japan is in dire need, consider donating any money you can spare. Japan was where Queen got their jump-start in 1974, and it's always been one of Freddie's favorite places in the world. So there!

Daily Telegraph interview by Niel McCormick

2011-03-10T22:26:00.000-05:00

A really nice interview with Brian talking about Freddie despite himself.

"If I am asked once more, 'What was it like working with Freddie?’, I will spew." - Brian May

Dave Grohl stole Brian May's undies

2011-03-10T17:30:00.000-05:00

No, really. Here's the article!

I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to Have A Cigar without being both amused and disturbed ever again.

I Want It All/We Will Rock You mash-up

2011-03-03T11:36:00.003-05:00

I just listened to a bit of the soundtrack for the film, Sucker Punch and... wow.

I thought I was going to hate it because the last time I'd heard any rap artist sample Queen, it made me want to tear my eyes out (Eminem sampling Reaching Out doesn't count since that's not technically by Queen, but damn, that's a good song). I searched all over Google and checked Queenzone's archives and couldn't find it, but I swear Nelly [ETA: It was actually 50 Cent. My bad, Nelly] had sampled the entirety of Greatest Hits '92 about six years ago and it was the biggest piece of self-indulgent shit I had ever come across (I dare say worse than anything Kanye West has ever done). I remember the front cover looked like Greatest Hits, but it was made to look like someone smashed the CD case in, and on the back was a picture of Nelly [50 Cent. Again, my bad] with Freddie's mustache photoshopped on his face. I listened to 30 seconds of it where the opening piano riff to Good Old-fashioned Lover Boy was on a very badly done loop. Somehow Queen was not ruined for me forever.

But this mash-up had me very pleasantly surprised. I think the first thought to pop in my head while listening was: "This is hot!"

However, I think sticking a verse of We Will Rock You in there seemed forced and didn't fit at all with the track. What may have worked better for me would probably be the stomp-stomp-clap during the chorus. But still, this was really amazing. I think I have to go see this movie.

Mini Red Special

2011-03-02T23:21:00.000-05:00

I purchased a miniature Red Special statue on Amazon for just over $30! I'm really excited about it, but it's really fragile (or I'm just paranoid) so I don't think it'll come out it's wrapping and box until I have a proper shelf dedicated to my Queen stuff. But I took some pictures to show how awesome it is!

The box and wrapping

Brian's autograph

The statue on its display stand, next to my cell phone so you can see how small it is

What's pretty fun is the whammy bar can move, and the strings are bits of nylon. But again, I'm not going to mess with it too much. I wanted to order this Red Special wall plaque but I didn't want to deal with shipping overseas.

I'm pretty happy with this purchase :-)

Intelligent people write intelligent music. Duh.

2011-02-23T15:58:00.000-05:00

I happened across this article and thought I should share it with you. I don't say it often enough but I've always enjoyed Roger's wit and words, from his sense of humor to his... uh, everything else he says! And Brian as well, but I think I have a preference for Roger in this category because he's similar to my genuine writing style (you are aware that this blog is sort of a front, right?). But here are the quotes that really jumped out at me in the best ways:

"Respect is a funny thing, if you look for it, you'll be forever disappointed." - Brian May.

“Oh God, we’ve always got stick for everything. People say, ‘You’re mistreating the legacy’, and I think, well, thanks for your concern, but it’s my [fucking] legacy.” - Roger Taylor. Can this please be considered one of the best quotes of all time??

In other news, why do I have the feeling that a musical based on the life of Freddie is going to suck really hard? I mean, I'll definitely see it if the opportunity presents itself, but I'm very jaded and cynical. The promotional poster I've linked to seems to be completely lacking in imagination and doesn't convey just how fucking amazing Freddie was, especially on stage. Not to mention they got to fucking jacket color wrong.

Also, I'm getting really tired of him being considered "The Great Pretender." Yes, he did a fantastic cover version. Yes, Freddie has referred to himself as a great pretender. But frankly, I'm really over it. Although I'm glad he isn't referred much as a gay icon these days. He wasn't necessarily in or out of the closet, but he sure as shit shouldn't be recognized as a gay icon because as far as I know, that's not what he wanted to be known for. Also, he got ripped apart by the critics back in the day. When he was alive, he was considered a talentless, fruitcake hack, but then he died and he was suddenly a fucking genius and a gay icon.

And while I'm at it, when are the journalists going to stop sensationalizing his death? When will Brian and Roger be able to make it in the news without the news mentioning Freddie or asking them questions about him? These guys have been busting their asses for 20 years without Freddie, can they get some fucking accolades without being reminded that their colleague and arguably most interesting co-worker kicked the bucket in 1991? Can't we be happy for what's been accomplished in the last 20 years (even if we cannot agree if those are good things) by the remaining, active members of the band? Shit, there's a fucking musical, they've toured, released albums and songs, etc. all without Freddie and I think that's to be commended. Especially when you consider that most bands can't keep going once key members drop out or die.

Stormtroopers In Stilettos trailer

2011-02-08T10:12:00.000-05:00

Holy fuck! This is a billion times better than the Rockband 3 trailer and that makes me super happy! Rockband is probably one of the best games I've ever played, but, as the joke goes, they definitely phoned that one in.

But yeah. Omg, you guys! If you're in London or have a way to get there, go to Stormtroopers In Stilettos for me! Admission is free! I'm only plugging this because I'm hoping someone awesome will go and take as many pictures as possible (I imagine something like this allows for photography) and send them my way! I will be jealous, but I will also be stoked for anyone who has the opportunity to go, and I like to share in people's joy :-)

Silly Facebook

2011-02-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

I saw this ad on from djtees.com on Facebook just now:

Celebrate Freddie with this original t-shirt design from 1976. Ships from UK

The design is Freddie wearing his black-and-white diamond leotard. Y'know, the one he seemingly only wore in 1977. ... I'm just sayin'!

You can tell the year by checking Freddie's hairstyle.

1976:

1977:

Sunglasses

2011-01-31T12:04:00.002-05:00

Omg you guys!!!

Check out what I got in the mail today :-D

I spent less than $10 on Amazon! I don't care that they don't look good on me. I just wanted to be able to do this:

Websites

2011-01-29T22:39:00.002-05:00

I regularly refer to The Good Ol' Days of dial-up internet and the OIQFC chat room, but I haven't really mentioned the other websites. If you were born in the 90's, there's a good chance that you probably don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Back in the day, when Geocities was the place to build a website, aside from Dream Weaver, there were Queen websites all over! And they had really cool shit like menus, flash animations, and embedded MIDIs that played automatically and on a loop and the site builder set it up so people visiting couldn't stop the song or lower the volume without unplugging their speakers!

Since Geocities no longer exists, a lot of sites have disappeared for what's probably forever. One of my favorites was called 'Freddie Mercury - Music? Not Only!' as it contained what was at the time really obscure information and pictures (that fucking MIDI of Nevermore still rings in my ears to this day). I did a Google search and managed to find You Take My Breath Away which, to my delight, hasn't changed all that much in 10+ years. I can't remember anything specific, but another defunct site that comes to my mind was called 'Queen Heaven.' Queen - The Complete Words is still up, which is awesome because sometimes I need to school people on lyrics and I trust that source not to make me more wrong than the people I'm saying are wrong.

Andy's Queen Page was the very first I ever visited. Seeing the Queen crest had me flipping out and I instantly became convinced that the internet was the best thing ever.

I think the site I miss the most is 'Jayme's Queeniac Zone.' And as I recall, Jayme was a really awesome person.

Anyway, this morning I thought that general fan sites were long gone and old hat. But I found some that are really awesome and active! Mercury - and - Queen! And two blogs, run by the same person, Fuck Yeah Queen and Fuck Yeah Freddie Mercury. I like that there are some really fucking amazing pictures, but I wish both blogs would be more visually accessible. Sometimes keeping it simple is perfectly fine. Highlighting text so I can read it is annoying.

But anyway... Yay for nostalgia and pimping out sites that helped get me where I am today!

Random stuff

2011-01-26T10:46:00.000-05:00

Queen will be re-releasing their first five albums on March 14th!!! I cannot wait! And starting in February, I'll be repurchasing my CDs and DVDs anyway so it's really excellent timing.

Also, the Stormtroopers In Stilettos site is finally launched! If you're going to be in London's East End on February 25th, go check this out for me! It's free!

I also found out through Queenzone that the Official Queen Fanclub launched their new site. I think this makes four designs and layouts that I've witnessed now. Maybe five? Anyway, it looks great so far. It's strange to think about what it used to look like back in the days when the coolest thing you could have online was a Flash animation that took ages to load on dial-up. AOL 4.0 still haunts my dreams...

And filming is going to begin on that Freddie Mercury biopic later this year. I'm not so excited about the We Will Rock You film adaption, though. The musical never really wowed me to begin with, and I haven't seen it, but musicals adapted for the film very rarely turn out well. We'll just have to wait and see how that pans out, won't we? But I'm very excited about the Freddie Mercury movie while still being aware that it could crash and burn horribly. If it does, it will not be Sacha Baron Cohen's fault!

I wish I could smack people over the internet

2010-12-29T14:03:00.000-05:00

Ah, Youtube! A haven for some of the dumbest shit you're ever likely to see or read. And that's just the comments!

I was looking around for cover versions of Queen songs when I stumbled on this version of Don't Stop Me Now by Salcuk Sami Cingi and one particular comment made me crack up:

lol nice tried, NO EFFENCE though but WOo! stop there, you're not even close to freddy's voice! i understand its a fun fun movie (to put it in your words) but common the beginning was ok then it all goes wrong,

There is only ONE man who can sing this song right... thats FREDDY FOREVER! - raydendj

Yes, I posted their Youtube user name, but not so anyone can go and start a flame war. I just wanted to shame that person.

First of all, it isn't a perfect cover, but it's also not terrible. Cut the guy some damn slack. Have you ever tried singing this? It's not as easy as Freddie makes it seem! Secondly, 90% of people who post disparaging remarks on the internet are fucking morons (and 67% of all statistics are made up). And third, how the hell is anyone supposed to take that comment seriously when the person can't be fucking bothered to spell Freddie's name correctly?! The spelling errors also irk me, but I'm chalking that up to the possibility that English is not their first language.

And for fuck sake! I get it! Freddie's the greatest singer in the world and anyone who so much as sings Queen in the shower should be shot on sight! Does anyone stop to consider that people who do covers don't try to be the next Queen or Freddie (except Robbie Williams)?

But as I said, this version isn't perfect. Not in a "he sounds nothing like Freddie" way, but in a "I think he could have done a little better" way. For one, I think he should work on the "Mr Fahrenheit" notes. And then there's the changing of the lyric so he doesn't have to sing "super sonic man out of you." If your sexual orientation is threatened by a lyric, then maybe you shouldn't sing the song at all. In Los Lobos' cover of Sleeping On The Sidewalk (which is pretty terrible), the line, "And I was sleeping like a princess" was changed to "And I was sleeping like a king." It's understandable, since singing certain song lyrics can determine and change one's gender or sexual orientation... oh wait, NO IT CAN'T!

There are other Queen songs, y'know...

2010-12-16T15:47:00.000-05:00

(My brother used to tell me this on a daily basis when we were growing up)

I finally read that article in Mojo. I didn't think I'd learn anything, but I did! I've known for a while how Freddie got Ibex to change their name to Wreckage, but that's probably not my favorite gem anymore. Freddie used to annoy the shit out of his housemates by strumming Pinball Wizard on an acoustic over and over.

While flipping through, there's an interview with Cee Lo Green where he says, "Play Bohemian Rhapsody for these kids today. Show them the possibilities." and it got me thinking...

Bohemian Rhapsody annoys me a little bit, which is interesting since that was the song that got me started on Queen in the first place. But it's frustrating that this song is considered the be-all, end-all of music. I'm pretty sure some of you are thinking, "Zander, you weren't even alive in the 70's. You can't possibly know what you're talking about." but having been raised on classic rock I can certainly appreciate it's majesty and raising of the bar.

It's a great song, really, truly. But I think putting this song on a pedestal is ridiculous. For one thing, Queen have written hundreds of songs just between 1970 and 1991. In 20+ years and 15 studio albums it seems stupid to ignore the rest of the genius. What about The Prophet's Song? What about the entirety of Queen II? Innuendo? Queen are not one-hit-wonders so can we please as a culture get the hell over this single 5:55 track??

Second, no other band or musician seems to be allowed to write and record their own epic tracks without being accused of ripping off Queen. I've touched on this in previous posts, but to tear Green Day apart over Jesus Of Suburbia or My Chemical Romance for Welcome To The Black Parade is disgusting. Next, people will be freaking out over GF Handel's The Messiah for "trying to sound like Bohemian Rhapsody."

Queen in Mojo Magazine

2010-12-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

I was informed a couple days back, via Queen on Facebook, that Queen are kind of a big deal in the January 2011 issue of Mojo Magazine. Normally, I wouldn't go out of my way to get a magazine just because it mentions Queen. But tonight I was in Harvard Square waiting to meet a friend (yes, I have quite a few of those) for an unrelated adventure, but I decided to poke around Out Of Town News, which has magazines and newspapers from pretty much all over, to keep warm. Anyway, I found the magazine and decided to buy it ($11.99 seems ridiculous).

From late September to the date of my last post, I've re-read Peter Freestone's book and Jim Hutton's book in succession. I love Freddie, but that kind of feels like too much, especially as I was reading on November 24th and December 1st. Basically what I'm saying is I'm not sure when I'll be able to get myself to read this article as I need to recharge that battery. It could be tomorrow, next week, whatever. I've managed to look through the pictures, though, and they're quite fabulous!

And a bit of random hilarity: Today's post on Cake Wrecks showed a tragic cake with Freddie's face on it.

I feel so bad for whoever had to pay for that. This is why I'm hesitant to get a Queen tattoo.

Reality TV's got nothin' on Freddie Mercury

2010-12-07T17:23:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading Mercury And Me and my brain instantly started racing and wouldn't let up until about four in the morning.

When I first ventured onto Queenzone's forums, I remember hearing really horrible things about Jim's book and his overall character. Apparently, Jim Hutton was only after Freddie's money seeing as how Freddie left him 500,000GBP and "that still wasn't enough for him" because he wrote a book and made a bit of money. Then cut to years later where Phoebe Freestone, who also inherited 500,000GBP, also wrote a book. But not one of those Bastard Queen Fans attacked Phoebe and I have a theory about why that may be. It may not be very good seeing as how I thought of it in the early hours of the morning, but nonetheless...

Sorry to spoil it, but near the end of Jim's book, he claims that Mary Austin treated him, Phoebe and Joe Fanelli like shit after Freddie died. Phoebe ended his book at Freddie's funeral so there's nothing written from his perspective on this and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to talk about it at this point. A lot of Bastard Queen Fans immediately come to Mary's defense at the suggestion that she wasn't a nice person because she inherited the bulk of Freddie's estate as well as Garden Lodge. Legally speaking, she was within her rights to ask the three men to leave, since Freddie hadn't put it in writing that they could stay at the house for as long as they wanted. But if what Jim's written is true, her way of going about it was in really poor taste. And the BQFs further argue that Mary knew Freddie first before he was famous, and so obviously the love between her and Freddie was greater than what was between Freddie and Jim.

I'm going to derail for a second. The love between Freddie and Mary was real. The love between Freddie and Jim was real. Both loves were different and unique to each person. Neither was greater, less than, valid or invalid. Just different. To take a quote from one of my favorite articles on polyamory: "Don't think of the contents of your heart the way you think of the contents of your wallet; it doesn't work like that."

[I'm not suggesting Freddie was poly, I'm just trying to illustrate a point!]

And for the record, Jim stated in his book that Freddie didn't see any point to leaving him Garden Lodge since Jim was HIV-positive and that shit was pretty much still a death sentence, so what good is leaving someone an estate when they could be dead within a number or months or years? And according to Phoebe, Freddie had wanted Garden Lodge to be a family home. And since Mary had one child(?) at that point...

Now, my theory! Phoebe didn't rip on Mary, so his book is cool. Jim Hutton did, so his book is a crime against everything good and decent in this world. Since Mary was Freddie's girlfriend for six years at the very beginning of Queen, she apparently must be a saint who could do absolutely no wrong or some such bullshit. And since Jim Hutton didn't get Garden Lodge and he wrote a book where he made Mary out to look like a dick, BQFs retaliate by calling him a dick. Which is a very mature thing to do.

Further, it could be argued that Mary's less than pleasant attitude toward Jim was due to the fact that Freddie and Jim had a romance that she could never have with Freddie. Freddie was gay, and while he did love her, they didn't have that connection that Freddie would have with Jim or any of Freddie's other relationships. Freddie never wore a ring for Mary like he did Jim Hutton, he never referred to her as his wife in the company of friends as he referred to Jim as his husband. I'm pretty sure if they were both alive and well, they'd be legally married. If he'd married Mary, it would pretty much be a lie. So for all we know, Mary could have treated all of Freddie's male lovers and gay friends with disdain. They were together for, what? Six years? It has to really suck that in all that time, the man she loved deeply wasn't and couldn't be truly happy with her. And then for the next 16 years she got to watch from the sidelines while he came into his own, partied a lot, fucked a bunch of guys, and eventually settled into a monogamous domestic life while she occasionally assumed the role as his beard so the press didn't flip out over him shacking up with a man.

I can see where that would be like a slap in the face. But at the same time...

Unless Mary ever comes across this and decides to put the record straight, I'm going to chalk it up to sour grapes.

But overall, yeah. The book was nothing like I'd been lead to believe. I actually liked it quite a bit. Lots of BQFs made it sound like Jim would write, "And now I'll tell you all, in unrelenting detail, the freaky shit Freddie and I did in bed! By the time you're done reading this, you'll never look at the following household appliances the same way ever again!"

Oh, and I'm pretty sure if Jim hadn't written his book, a ton of BQFs would flood the forums whining, "Why didn't Jim ever talk about his life with Freddie? That would have been so cool to have further insight!" If you don't want to know a damn thing about Freddie outside of his career, don't read anything that delves into his personal life. And if you do read it, remember that you chose to go down that road. If you can't handle that Freddie did cocaine, or that he had anonymous sexual encounters with men, or that his kitchen cabinets were colored Oxblood, then don't fucking read the damn books by Phoebe or Jim!

World AIDS Day

2010-12-01T13:53:00.000-05:00

I know we all just grieved over Freddie, but HIV and AIDS still affects over a million people just in the US today, and 20% don't even know it. To date, people most at risk are men and trans women of color who have sex with men. Get tested. Know your status. For fuck sake, play safe!

If you're in the Boston, MA area, check out AIDS Action Committee and TransCEND!

Video for Say It's Not True

"I'm almost done.
The fountain's not flowing now, they turn it off in the winter, ice in the pipes. But in the summer it's a sight to see. I want to be around to see it. I plan to be. I hope to be.

This disease will be the end of many of us, but not nearly all, and the dead will be commemorated and will struggle on with the living, and we are not going away. We won't die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come.
Bye now.

You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.
And I bless you: More life.
The Great Work Begins."
- Prior from Tony Kushner's play, Angels In America

19 years

2010-11-24T12:47:00.000-05:00

Yep. 19 years ago today around 19:00 London time, we lost the greatest singer in the world. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said by millions of others since 1991, but I will say that Freddie Mercury is my hero and means everything to me.

And to you, dear reader, I impart this wisdom: If you engage in sexual activities or plan to in the future, PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR PARTNER(S)! I'm talking polyurethane/latex condoms, lubricant, barriers, dental dams, gloves, enthusiastic consent from all involved, make sure you and all parties are clear-headed, ensure that there are no cuts or abrasions on any part of your body which may become exposed to another person's junk or orifices, get tested regularly, know your status, disclose anything your partner(s) may need to know, etc! If you cannot afford safe sex supplies, go to your local clinic or doctor and they will at least give you condoms and lube! I realize this sounds like an awful lot, but you deserve to be around for as long as possible and if you're able to give a damn about yourself and other people, this is all well worth knowing and putting into practice!

Okay, back to Freddie. I like to think he made me a better person. He got me into singing, through his stage persona and what's known about his personal life, he told me it was okay to be a queer man before I even knew I was a queer man. And eventually, if one can endure the hell that is navigating childhood and adolescence while being not-straight, trans, and/or gender-nonconforming, you can make your life yours and fabulous. We won't all get to be musicians who could afford the finer things in life, but we can all be amazing and fuck everyone else if they don't like it!

Please, by all means, if there's another AIDS charity you'd rather give your hard-earned cash... But because this blog revolves around Queen, it would be really fucking awesome if you could keep The Mercury Phoenix Trust going strong by donating to them. Even if it's only a dollar/pence/whatever your currency, that's one closer to better education, research, medication and a cure than they were before!

Also, check out my counterpart's blog post over at Sugar N Thunder!

Mercury And Me

2010-11-15T16:48:00.001-05:00

I love when stuff I order arrives long before the estimated delivery date. According to Amazon, I was supposed to get Mercury And Me by Jim Hutton somewhere between December 6th and December 17th. So you can imagine my joy that it arrived today :-)

Obviously, I haven't read it yet, but there are three sets of photos. Even if some of them can also be found in Phoebe's book, but that isn't the point.

After Jim Hutton died, I had my reservations about ordering it. I think at one point, a used copy cost $60something plus shipping. So I waited until recently when it would be less than $30.

I love Queen and Freddie a lot, but as a man who doesn't make a whole lot of money (but is shockingly careful with what he has) it isn't often that I'll spend a huge amount on a used item.

Freddie Mercury will make you a soy latte that will rock your world

2010-11-11T16:02:00.002-05:00

I was on Facebook earlier and I saw a post from Diesel Cafe that the staff today were dressed as various rock stars, but the one that obviously caught my attention was that someone was apparently dressed as Freddie Mercury. So of course I had to venture out immediately to see if I could get a picture because I had no idea if the person's shift was ending or not... and y'know, I just wouldn't be a creepy stalker if I sat at home not doing anything.

So I got there and, as usual, it was pretty busy. And I immediately spotted a guy wearing a white A-frame shirt and thought, "That has to be the guy." After plucking up some courage, I approached him while he was making drinks and asked if he was dressed as Freddie just to be certain I had the right person. He smiled and said he was, and I asked if it was cool if I could take a picture of him for this blog. And then I proceeded to wait like a creepy stalker until he wasn't making drinks, killing time by texting a couple friends: "I'm at Diesel and there's a guy dressed as Freddie Mercury. And they're playing Mika. It's so awesome!!!"

Eventually he told me when his shift was ending and that I should give him the URL to this blog so that he could post it on Facebook at some point. I'm not going to lie, I also gave him my email address because I'm too much of a wuss to give cute people my phone number. But I digress...

I feel bad for not getting a decent picture of him, but Kyle (that's the guy's name) was a really awesome sport and since he had just ended his shift I didn't want to keep him from whatever else he had going on today.

So if you're reading: thank you again, Kyle for being a badass. And the hot chocolate you made for me was delicious!

*ETA* I didn't order a soy latte, but I thought putting that in the title would make it funnier*

Friends will be friends

2010-11-01T20:04:00.001-04:00

When I was 12 years old, my mother made the mistake of showing me the internet where I'd discover the Official International Queen Fanclub site. It doesn't exist anymore, but there used to be a chat room where I started making friends. It was my very first sense of community.

It was a place where you could be a kid and/or a new Queen fan and you were welcomed with open arms, as opposed to nowadays where one is typically greeted on forums like, "You posted in the wrong fucking thread, you dumbass!" or, "Why the hell would you ask such a dumb question?"

And yes, to this day I still miss the people from that room. But I've recently got back in touch with one of them! We clicked ridiculously well. We'd call frequently in the days before cell phones (can you say $70 phone bill??) and mostly sing together and pretend to put on concerts, write really terrible (my contributions, not hers) fan fiction, obsess over Freddie, etc. It was fucking sick.

We eventually started calling ourselves The Mercury Gurus because... well, I don't know. You can't spend hours talking about Queen and singing Queen and jacking up phone bills thanks to long-distance calls and dial-up internet without giving us a name.

And then for a while we lost touch. But being a fucking stalker, I Googled her name and found her contact info! And then we had an intense and wonderful conversation scarily similar to what I described above, where she eventually said something like, "By the way, it feels SO GOOD to talk to somebody else about Queen on this level!!!"

We both had friends in real life, but they weren't hardcore about Queen like we were ("WE'RE ELITE!" - her words) My counterpart is also super badass because she won the 2001 mime contest at Breakthru using a rolled up Back To The Light poster as a Freddie mic :-D

However, I'm really fucking jealous of her. She fucking met Brian May! (she's in the middle) And ever since then I can't see pictures or videos including Brian without uttering a good "Fuck you, counterpart!" ... But I say that with love. She knows that. Or at least she does now :-)

Oh, and she recommends this.

2010-10-11T15:04:00.001-04:00

I got back from Illinois on September 29th and didn't have the motivation to post until now. But I did decide to make a purchase from good ol' Amazon as a reward for putting up with the excruciating, 24+ hour train rides and staying in the Midwest for two weeks.

By far, this is the most I've ever spent on anything Queen-related, let alone on something used. But this was extremely important.

Magic Years volumes 1-3 on DVD. I paid something close to $200 for them, but since we all know how readily available these are, I maintain that the price was worth it. The only criticism I have is that volumes 2 and 3 share a case. I mean, what the fuck is that all about? What I love the most about having these is that I can see the whole screen now. On my VHS tapes the picture hadn't been formatted and it always bugged me. What I love secondly is that the sound is a million times better. And third, I can watch these videos without worrying about them getting eaten in the VCR :-)

As you might be able to see in the background of that stunning picture, my 2003 Queen calendar is hanging up. I managed to take some of my collection with me back to Boston. Unfortunately, my poster got a tear in it, but it wasn't too bad. It now hangs next to the doorway to my kitchen. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my Queen polo shirt, though. I didn't post a picture in my shrine post because my brother, in his infinite wisdom, packed the shirt in a bag in the attic until I remembered that I even had it. I won't get into how I got it, but it's official Fan Club merchandise from the late '70's(?) so it's pretty special to me. ... And yes, it still fits. But I won't wear it since it's irreplaceable at this point.

At some point I think my father is going to ship the rest of my Queen stuff for me, but I'm not in a rush. Also not pictured in my shrine post were my DVD cases, because I'd left those at my mom's apartment for some reason, and she said she may have thrown them out. So I've decided that I will re-buy almost all of my CDs and DVDs starting in February 2011. Partly because it seems stupid to ask my dad to ship 30something empty CD cases, and partly because some of my CDs are over 10 years old and need replacing anyway. I anticipate that it will be a really fun project!

A few things

2010-09-25T13:01:00.000-04:00

First, September 18th marks the 34th anniversary of Queen's free concert in Hyde Park, London.

Here's a really pretty link to go along with that since I really don't think this post can do the date justice. Although I do believe that the seventh and ninth pictures in are from 1977... Anyway, that concert needs to be released on DVD or Bluray or something. I'd totally get a Bluray player for that!

And today marks the 28th anniversary of Queen playing on Saturday Night Live. It's too bad that Freddie's voice was worn out the night before (see Phoebe Freestone's book for details). But still, Queen on SNL!

Thanks a million to gregsynthbootlegs for posting these videos!

And! And! And! That biopic about Freddie! The one that was scrapped in 2007! It's back on and Sasha Baron Cohen is going to play Freddie! You can think what you want, but this guy is a brilliant actor in my opinion. According to this article the film will probably focus on 1975 to 1985.

My shrine

2010-09-15T16:54:00.001-04:00

I'm currently in my hometown in Illinois. I'm happy to say that my Queen shrine has been kept relatively intact, aside from my brother carelessly mixing some things up. So I took the liberty of cleaning and reorganizing it and taking pictures because, holy crap, my stuff is awesome. And they're thumbnails, so you can click to make them bigger.

Vinyl albums Sheer Heart Attack, A Night At The Opera, Jazz, three copies of News Of The World, and A Day At The Races. I already had one copy of NOTW and attached a newspaper clipping listing Queen as one of the 2001 inductees into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame. My grandmother recently began sorting through my late uncle's records and sent SHA, ANATO, Jazz, ADATR and the other two copies of NOTW to my dad's house for me.

VHS tapes. One taped copy of VH1 Legends, Magic Years volume 2, taped Magic Years volumes 1 and 3, Classic, Champions Of The World, Interview Sessions, Greatest Flix III, We Will Rock You, Greatest Hits, Live At Wembley '86.

My CD cases, part one.

My CD cases, part two. In Nuce, At The BBC, The Queen Symphony, The Queen Collection by The Royal Philharmonic, Live At The Bowl, Live At Wembley Stadium, In Vision, The Gold Collection, The Platinum Collection, The Freddie Mercury Solo Collection, Barcelona, unofficial interview CD.

Painted glass portrait of Freddie Mercury circa 1977. Made by my uncle Mike.

2003 calendar.

Queen necklace.

Painted glass portrait of Freddie Mercury circa 1982. Made by my uncle Mike.

Queen plaque.

Painted glass portraits of Queen on the cover of Hot Space. Made by my uncle Mike.

Poster advertising their April 16 1974 show.

The rest, as you might know by now, is safe and sound in my apartment in Boston. ... And yes, I'm trying to figure out how much shipping all that stuff will cost.

Would you still need me, would you still feed me...

2010-09-05T12:02:00.000-04:00

Today is Freddie Mercury's 64th birthday! I've had a lot of other stuff going on lately so I have nothing pretty or eloquent to say, except that I'm sure Freddie and Jim are celebrating together and having a blast. And I will probably do what I always do today: watch my videos. Nothing too elaborate or exciting, I know. But

Here's a link to the video, Living On My Own For those not in the know, Freddie recorded his 38th birthday party to use as a music video... and the guests weren't entirely aware (except David Wigg and Jo Dare). Did you spot Brian in the beginning walking in with his then-wife, Chrissie?

Also, a friend of mine, by pure coincidence (I think?), sent this to me on Facebook around midnight EST. For those who cannot read Freddie's handwriting, there's a transcript in the link.

... I just spent several minutes trying to find a picture of Freddie with his Rolls Royce birthday cake. Google has failed me. Oh well, maybe next year.

Reviewing my collection, part 4

2010-08-22T15:14:00.001-04:00

From grades 6-12, I was a choir geek, and there was an unspoken rivalry between choir and band/orchestra geeks. So my exposure to classical music has been almost nil. Not just because band geeks may as well have been a different species, but my attention span cannot handle listening to long, orchestral pieces no matter how beautifully done. There are a few exceptions (GF Handel's Messiah holds a special place in my heart), but I think it's safe to say that it just generally isn't my thing.

That having been said, I purchased The Queen Collection by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And really, it isn't bad, but I've maybe only listened to it twice.

The Queen Symphony by Tolga Kashif, however, is totally amazing! I mean, Brian and Roger just handed this guy the ENTIRE QUEEN CATALOGUE and let him do whatever he wanted! And he did fucking amazing things with it! Keep in mind I do not like classical music! But holy shit! My favorite part is in the third movement, the violin solo for Who Wants To Live Forever. It's just so beautifully done that I can't accurately describe it.

I also don't consider myself a fan of opera. But being a Freddie fan, I did add Barcelona to my collection (the first copy was a gift from a friend in KS, USA. The second came part of the Solo CD Collection I got for Christmas some years ago). But yes, this album is beautiful, too. Having read Peter Freestone's book, [SPOILER ALERT] knowing that Freddie was sure this would be his last musical contribution to the world helped make it the fucking brilliant album it is. And Montserrat Caballe` has a fantastic voice and I have much respect for her. But even so, I'm not an opera fan. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who's ever seen the movie Philadelphia and not cried while Tom Hanks cried over the opera he was listening to.

I think what makes Barcelona so accessible to me is not that Freddie thought he was going to kick the bucket sooner than he actually did, but that it's formatted like a pop album (read: The tracks aren't each 20 minutes long, or whatever). And also! Freddie managed to combine opera, pop and gospel! That's too badass for words! I mean that with all sincerity! The Golden Boy is my favorite track on the album!

And speaking of Freddie, if you can, I think it would rock if you could donate to The Mercury Phoenix Trust or participate in Freddie For A Day (September 3 this year). Since his birthday is coming up and all... But hey, no pressure.

I'm sure you already know about this, but...

2010-08-16T17:47:00.000-04:00

... it's my blog, I'll post what I want and you will LIKE IT! Or, you'll scroll past it. Either way.

I'm really into cracked.com lately, and this hilarious article on Freddie Mercury is just so fucking awesome. I think the best thing about it is a fake quote, "My mustache gets me all kinds of tail. And I don't even want it!"

Yeah, there's snark and satire and really dumb jokes, but there's love there! And the writers took the time to look up and point out really interesting shit that, in all actuality, is not shit. I just like to swear.

And for those of you raging and foaming at the mouth, you may as well chill out. Freddie picked on himself a lot ("If I still had the hair and fingernails, and wearing all those things I'd look ridiculous. I mean, I looked ridiculous then, but it worked!" - horribly paraphrased quote)

And considering there are pictures of him wearing red and white-striped hot pants with red suspenders, odds are he didn't really take himself too seriously.

See also his outfit for the It's A Hard Life video. The outfit doesn't bother me so much - although let's be real, the eyes are very disturbing - it's always that fucking wig that kills me.

But also, he's Freddie Mercury. Do you really think he'd give a fuck if some comedic website jokingly associated him with crabs? He'd probably just be surprised they didn't make fun of his teeth.

... blink

2010-08-15T12:03:00.000-04:00

Typically when I have nothing to write, but feel an intense need to post here, I look to the Queenzone forums for inspiration (which isn't a big secret). I may have found something good.

Someone posted asking for the names of Kashmira Cooke's (Freddie's sister) children. I know she has a son and daughter (did you see what I did there with the song title subtly placed in the sentence? DAMN I'M GOOD!), not that it's common knowledge, but it isn't hard to find out either.

Anyway, someone commented that Kashmira's son looks like Freddie, and another person responded in kind:

OH MY GOSH!!!!! HOW OLD IS HE? WHERE IS HE? IS HE SINGLE?????????????????????????? I MUST HAVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I call dibs on him! EVERYONE ELSE BACK OFF!!!!!!!!

sorry.

Uhhh... right. Because that's a totally reasonable reaction. Because Freddie's whole family looks like Freddie.

The woman in front on the left is Kashmira, the older woman on the right is Freddie's mother Jer Bulsara. The guy cut off in the corner was Freddie's personal assistant (1979-1991) Peter "Phoebe" Freestone. I don't know who the rest of the people are. I'm assuming they're just Queen fans.

And that forum thread I'm referencing just goes on like that. Here's another quote from a different person:

I think he is 20-25 or something.. So that means, that if he has long hair.. HE MIGHT LOOK LIKE FREDDIE AT ART SCHOOL!!
OMG, I HAVE to kidnap this guy :D

... Moving on, then!

Right, there was a point to this wasn't there? Oh yeah! Freddie is awesome. Stalking his family is not. Even if Freddie is the coolest person who's ever lived.

Knebworth '86

2010-08-09T14:54:00.001-04:00

24 years ago today, Queen performed their final concert. While the July shows at Wembley Stadium were fucking amazing, I kind of wish someone in charge had chosen to release Knebworth in its entirety instead of the pile of shit that is Live Magic.

Well, okay. I'm being mean. It isn't necessarily shit, but I feel a little insulted when I remember listening to it. I mean, they not only edited out several tracks, but they cut out the mid-section of Bohemian Rhapsody. I know it was only the recording, but still! Not cool!

Brian May on NPR

2010-08-04T14:53:00.000-04:00

I am unaware if there's a full transcript, but the page has highlights of the interview. He talks about the book he co-wrote A Village Lost And Found, physics, his music career, etc. I fail as a faux-New Englander in that I don't typically like NPR (except David Sedaris. He rocks), but this is surprisingly a really interesting interview.

Check it.

insert catchy title here

2010-08-02T13:06:00.001-04:00

I've got to say that my favorite impressionist ever is Stevie Riks. If you've never heard of him or seen his brilliant work, go on his Youtube page and check him out. Here's my favorite:

Here's the link to the page if the embedding doesn't fit your screen.

He has plenty more where that came from (if Youtube hasn't shut him down yet again for "copyright infringement." It hasn't seemed to occur to them that he's just a really damn good impressionist!) so you should check out his stuff and support him.

If it helps, he does killer impressions of The Beatles and David Bowie

Because there is nothing more important than this!

2010-07-22T15:51:00.001-04:00

As an American, I'm not too familiar with The Daily Mail... because I'm not British and The Daily Mail is... and I will avoid quoting Eddie Izzard, tempting as that is. Anyway! They posted an article of phenomenal importance! Domestic violence, patriarchal standards of beauty physically and emotionally damaging people each and every second of every day, racism, transphobia? THOSE CAN ALL WAIT! Or, THAT KIND OF SHIT CLEARLY DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE UK! Because BRIAN MAY'S GREY HAIR IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ANYONE CAN EVER WRITE ABOUT... EVER!

I mean, what the fuck? He's 63 years old! He's probably been dying his hair for the last 10 or 20 years for all I know. I mean, really? Did they think his hair was never going to change? Mad guitar skills != eternal youth!

And the caption beneath the photo? "The rocker's trademark curls seem finally to have succumbed to the ravages of time." Ummm... I'd say he isn't ravaged at all. Mick Jagger is ravaged. Marlon Brando was ravaged. Michael Jackson... well, nevermind. I'm not going to go there. Considering Brian has been in the rock business since the 70's, and has probably done more drugs than he'd care to admit (not to slander the guy, but I'm not stupid enough to think that he didn't party at any point in his career), he looks pretty good for his age. Hell, most rock stars probably look like that in their 40's once you take away the air brush! I also love that The Daily Mail makes a point of quoting Brian that he thinks people talking about his hair is stupid... and they're writing about it anyway...

... I wonder what's going to happen when someone besides me notices that Brian's hair is thinning.

Age isn't an insult. Especially in the rock business where a lot of musicians don't even make it to 50 (like a certain someone we all should know... That's right, Jimi Hendrix). I think it's good that Brian's letting the grey show. And if anyone wants to rip on him, keep this in mind: He's Brian May. He kicks way more ass than you can comprehend. And that's on his worst day. Cheers, Brian!