Sam Geunjin Kang – Red Light – Official Music Video – Wong Fu Productions
This is the first time Sam Geunjin Kang has been featured on Idea Girl Consulting Entertainment Site.
You will notice I’m changing my signature to Idea Girl Consulting E site, I should come up with a short form for it?
Got any ideas for me?
Linda Randall
Idea Girl Consulting
Published in Diva magazine, May 2008
INTERVIEW Sandra Bernhard, the Michigan motormouth, is revving her rage for a one-off Manchester revival. Words Kim Renfrew
Sandra Bernhard has a reputation. The all-round artist and entertainer is known for being tough, intimidating and no mincer of words. In the past, targets such as Mother Theresa and the Bush children have all fallen foul of her acid tongue.
So it’s a bit of a surprise when the Bernhard I talk to over the phone in New York is charming, discreet and even a little cautious, naming no names and skilfully batting away queries about the Kabbalah (the Jewish esoteric practice to which she is rumoured to have introduced Madonna and Demi Moore). Could it be that the Michigan motormouth has mellowed in her middle years? ‘That’s the last thing I’d have done! You can’t live in this life and be mellow. Day to day, I’m mellow: I love my family, I love my life, my girlfriend [Vanity Fair exec Sara Switzer], my daughter… but when I look outside my window and I see the crap going on, you’d better believe it gets my back up.’
No, that razor edge hasn’t been blunted, and it’s clear that Bernhard still rages at the many inadequacies of the world. And boy, can she talk. She leads me through a passionate tirade against the wars in Vietnam (bloodshed, which ultimately, she says, just enabled us to buy underwear stitched together in the Far East) and Iraq, the current futility of American politics and — the hot topic on the day we speak — the presidential race. ‘We’ve had the same sort of patriarchy running this country from the beginning: white men with a narrow view of the world and all their fears and desires to serve the master, the corporate structure. In theory, I would love the idea of a woman president, but I don’t think Hillary Clinton represents the change we need right now.’
In fact, Everything Bad & Beautiful, the album of her current show, is shot through with politics of every kind. Traditional politics is there, in the imagined meeting between US Secretary of Stare Condoleeza Rice and Rosa Parks, the woman who sparked the American civil rights movement in the 50s after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus. There’s a guitar-driven femi¬nist rant against the bland – though dan¬gerous – conformism of fashion in Undressed, And there’s also tender, yet impassioned, material like The Flame, addressed to her daughter Cicely, now nearly ten. Motherhood has changed Bernhard’s worldview: ‘Certainly I’m looking to the future,’ she says. ‘The world I want to create for my daughter, and the world I want her to live in.’ And it’s seems that some of Mom’s idealism has already rubbed off: ‘She wants to be a hippy, she wants peace, she wants love, she loves John Lennon…’
Everything Bad & Beautiful is Bernhard’s eleventh record, and her umpteenth show in a career that spans 30 years. There’s something very old-fash¬ioned about the honest, hardworking route to fame that Bernhard followed, playing the clubs, plugging away at a bit of this and a bit of that, climbing through the ranks. The opposite, in fact, of the shallow promises of instant fame and for¬tune promoted by the likes of Pop Idol and its multitude of copyists, a concept that, unsurprisingly, she has little time for: ‘It’s part and parcel of what I’ve been talk¬ing about, this sort of immediacy. You don’t have to work for anything, we’ll just hand it to you and – guess what? – it all comes back to bite you on the ass in the end, because every five minutes there’s somebody new.’ It’s troopers like herself that she really admires. ‘Chrissie Hynde, Marianne Faithfull, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Dusty Springfield, the great voices of the past who were destined to be great singers and artists.’
Destiny, though, also involves a hell of a lot of hard graft, and Bernhard is no shirker. After touring Everything Bad… around the UK last autumn, she’s back at Manchester’s Queerupnorth festival on May 9th, something she’s relishing: ‘I love place and the people. You Brits are just a whole other breed.’
And, thrillingly, she’s reprising her legendary 1988 work, Without You I’m Nothing. Why? Because she can: ‘The show really put me on the map, and we just thought it would be great to bring out a classic for a new generation. There’s really nothing to say, other than it’s a great show and it touched on a lot of things that are still relevant.’
And for this performer, lesbian and gay audiences have changed immeasurably in the time since Without You… debuted. After all, back in the day, when Bernhard played her all-nighter at The Scala in London, she bemoaned onstage the fact that lesbian promoters were perhaps a little on the stingy side, expecting her to do something for nothing. But now ‘the whole gay experience is completely different. People feel much more comfortable and I think that acceptance in general society has changed people.’
As well as looking back, Bernhard is still being carried forward by her compulsion to create. She’s just started writing a new book, she’s touring, doing some music and TV work, and she clearly adores it all: ‘I love being a performer and an artist. It’s really the most fulfilling thing in the world.’ So, is she ever going to stop, or will she still be at it when she’s 90, held together with ostrich feathers and safety pins, like Marlene Dietrich? ‘Why not?’ she says. ‘But I hope I won’t fall off the stage.’
Recently the charts have been dominated by Lady Gaga. Such has been her success that many have dubbed her as the new Madonna.
The two have several things in common, the flamboyant dress sense, a penchant for the extra ordinary as well as the ability to churn out ridiculously catchy pop numbers. Whilst there is no arguing with the fact that Madonna is the more experienced of the two. Gaga has been making waves since she burst onto the scene at the beginning of the year.
Gaga already has two number one hits with Poker face and Just Dance. The New Yorker also reached the top ten with Paparazzi. She has also achieved relative success with other songs from her critically acclaimed album The Fame. Which includes collaborations with producers such as Timbaland (who has coincidentally also worked with Madge in the past).
But now Lady Gaga finds herself up against the current incumbent of the princess of pop throne, the ageless Madonna. Who returns with a new album called celebration. Celebration is very much a greatest hits album featuring classics such as Like a prayer and Frozen.
But the album does feature a new single also named Celebration, which reached number 3 in the UK singles chart. The single was co-written by Paul Oakenfold, does enough to show that Madge isn’t quiet ready to give up her crown yet. As she delivers another catchy dance floor beat, but at the same time provides her assured vocals, opposed to Gaga’s rather flimsy delivery.
But whilst these two acts are undoubtedly talented we don’t have to look far to see potential princesses of pop. In fact the British contingent of pop songstresses is greater than ever. La Roux, Florence and the Machine and Little Boots to name a few all bring there own unique sound to the party and mustn’t be overlooked.
Early last year, Lady GaGa announced her interest in designing her own clothing line, which would promote her unique style and would cater mostly to the teen audience. She expressed genuine enthusiasm in the project, saying she couldn’t wait to do her own line within the next year. Well, it is now “next year” and we are all wondering what has become of her little fashion project.
Many are of the opinion that it is a definite possibility that Lady GaGa will launch her own fashion line. She already has a large degree of creative license in her own personal and performance clothing style. The fact that she continues to design her own clothing and accessories means that she has an immense drive to create and express herself, not only through music, but also through what she wears. Whether or not she is as enthusiastic at sharing her style with others now as she was last year remains to be seen.
There is also the question as to whether or not Lady GaGa’s fashion will fly among today’s trend-savvy teens. After two extremely successful album releases, we are confident about Lady GaGa’s influence in the music industry. Some say the release of her clothing line will rock the very foundations of modern fashion. Others say her fashion sense is simply too eccentric to be developed into a mainstream fashion line. Even some fans of Lady GaGa admit that — as much as they love her music and admire her bold sense of style — they are not quite sure whether they can wear clothes the way Lady GaGa does.
But we’re not asking about the Lady GaGa’s line’s potential for success. We are asking how soon it will be released.
Currently, 72% of the Predicto community has voted yes, we just might be seeing a “House of GaGa” sometime soon, whereas 28% disagree.
What do think? Join the Predicto Community and cast your vote! It’s incredibly easy. Visit Predicto to find out how.
-Like what you like.
-Do what you do.
-Accept that your art is not for everyone.
-Conversely, don’t freak out if no one gives a shit for the things you “like.”
-Don’t be a cocksucker about things that others like, especially if others are intelligent.
-Something something fingerbang (because that’s my new favorite word)!
-You probably don’t know shit about shit. Teach when you can, but more importantly, be ready to shut up and learn.
-Make art when you can. Life is hard, it’s true, and it’s rough. It’s so rough. But it’s also temporary. It flies right by. But, before you go, put something on your walls, on your bookshelves, on your shrine of self or whatever, okay?
That’s Amanda Palmer, formerly of The Dresden Dolls, writing a song, a “blogsong,” if you will (in lieu of writing a blog post) about things like Lady GaGa and pop music entitled “Gaga, Palmer, Madonna.” I like this because, I like Amanda Palmer, it’s relevant to something I wanted to talk about, and Palmer has a thematically connective tissue to something like GaGa, to me, but is certainly at the other end of the popularity spectrum (unfortunately), right?
Food for thought while you’re thinking about being artistic, yeah?
We figured it’s time to post another Madonna guitar sheet and start having some fun now that 2010 is just about to begin! And what could be more fun than to play another great song by the Madge-sty, which is also a very simple one to learn as well? Plug in your electric guitars and get the “Candy Perfume Girl” sheet from the Guitar Tabs & Chords page!
Monte Pittman & Madonna strumming some high notes (click to see the video)
Madonna first performed CPG in the “Drowned World Tour” (2001) and it was first song in which we saw her playing an electric guitar! (a Gibson Les Paul Classic) And she even played a solo towards the end! Needless to say that Miss Fitz and I would LOVE to see her nailing the guitar like that again in her next tour!!
Madonna might want to pop in for a Botox treatment once she sees the aged image forsenic artist Joe Mullins has created of her and other A-list celebrities, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The Washington-based artist factored in the stars’ lifestyles as he manipulated their photos to determine what they will look like a decade later, according to the paper.
Hey, Hollywood. We’ve seen the future…and it ain’t that pretty.
CONTINUE…
