Imbolc defined
by Wikipedia:
Imbolc is one of
the four principal festivals of the Irish
calendar, celebrated
among Gaelic
peoples and some
other Celtic
cultures either
at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of
Spring.
Most commonly it is celebrated on February 2, commonly called
Groundhog's Day, as this is the cross-quarter
day on the solar
calendar, halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring
Equinox. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid,
in the Christian
period it was
adopted as St Brigid's
Day. In
Scotland
the
festival is also known as Là Fhèill
Brìghde, in
Ireland
as
Lá Fhéile
Bríde, and in
Wales
as
Gwyl
Ffraed.
Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather
prognostication,
and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers
came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to the
North
American Groundhog
Day. A
Scottish
Gaelic proverb about
the day is:
Thig an
nathair as an toll
La
donn Bride,
Ged
robh tri traighean dh’ an
t-sneachd
Air
leachd an lair.
"The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bride,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground."
Fire and
purification are an important aspect of this festival.
Brigid (also known as
Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the goddess of poetry,
healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also
associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The
lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and
the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months
I would like to give a heartfelt hello and Happy Imbolc greetings
to my pagan friends out there...
Denver, Evert, Craig, Leslie, Alissa/Alicia/Alliza and all other
pagans out in cyberspace.
O.K...you
need to go way back in the day if you remember this
one.
Blancmange
- That's Love That It Is
Blancmange was one of my favorite groups back in the mid
1980's.
This video (in all of its 1980's fabulousness) was played in so
many gay video bars.
Ahhhhh seeing this video brings me back.
One thing...what's with that sweater he is wearing?
Check out the
latest episode of Queerspresso
with
Rainbow Podsquad
cofounder,
AJ from CuppaTea.us
AJ's guest this week is the fabulous PizzaBabe,
founding Mama of The Freak Network
This is a great show
Check out the
newest show of the Unsane
Cast with PizzaBabe
& Christiaan Huygens of
SaturnCast
Yours truly, Tigger was the guest host this week
Go give it a listen. It was a great
show
Christiaan
Huygens...evidently, there are more
people out there who remembered this
Devil's Johnson -
Ethyl Meatplow
Hailing from Los
Angeles...trippy wacky and strange rock group..Ethyl Meatplow was
on top of the alternative dance charts in the early 1990's. A few
of their songs got a lot of play at Los Angeles gay clubs during
that time.
Devil's Johnson
will always remind
me of going to a gay club called Rage in West Hollywood, CA. It was
early summer 1993 and Tigger had just scored a sheet of blotter
paper (you figure out the rest)--100 hits.
Every Monday night I would always go to alternative night at Rage.
And every Monday before I went in.....I would take two little hits.
It was fabulous, decadent, and oooohhhh the colors.
I had many happy Mondays that summer. I will never forget
them.
That's what this song reminded me of.....
Let me know if anyone out there has even heard of this band? They
were very short lived.
This is a
hillarious spoof of our own ZillaFag (a.k.a. Nilla-Wafer-Fag)
brought to you by Tim from A Shanty No Lemon. Great job, Tim.
I don't think Zilla could have done it any better
This is too funny. I laughed so hard when I watched
this.
Click Here To View Video
Sad but true, White Boy was
eliminated on the latest episode... I Love New York - Getting Hot In The
Desert.
-
Reason for White Boy's elimination given by New York..."I just
don't know that much about you".
- Suspected reason why White Boy got the boot......New York found
out that White Boy left a 5 yr. relationship only two months before
meeting her.
Alas....we still have the much expected...I Love New York Reunion
show.
And get this.....White Boy's real name is Joshua. Did not expect
that. Sounds very Old Testament.
Speaking of trying to squeeze as much out of The Flavor of Love
....I am not lying about this.
I just saw a VH1 advertisement for Flavor of Love Girls : Charm School with
Monique.
Ugh....I didn't think it could get any worse. Bean, this show is
going to be one hell of a train wreck.
Click image to see more pics of White Boy, Sister Patterson and New
York's brother!
Hey all you White Boy fans
(AJ,
Tigger, The Bean,
Jesse)...I found this controversial pic by accident. It appears
that (maybe) White Boy is the victor on VH1's
I Love New York. All I am saying....Why would White Boy be with
Sister Patterson in a picture?...Go Sister Patterson. I would love
to be where you're at right now.
Unless, this is a great publicity stunt....the pics look pretty
authentic.
What do you think?
Click image to
learn more about the show
I am looking very forward to the
BBC America series premiere of Clatterford.
Jennifer Saunders, Dawn
French and
Joanna
Lumley (yes, that's Patsy
Stone from AB FAB) are all reunited again in this new comedy
series.
Being a huge French & Saunders fan...as well as AB FAB, of
course...I am more than a little excited to see this new
series.
Clatterford premiers tonight, March 9th 9:00 PM ET/PT on
BBC America. Don't miss it.
John Inman (1935 -
2007)
I was saddened to learn yesterday
that John
Inman, well known as the
lovable Mr. Humphries from the classic britcom Are You Being Served, passed away on March 8, 2007. I have had so
many hours of enjoyment watching John Inman on Are You Being Served. I really am sorry to see him go.
I am going to miss you, Mr. Humphries.
Hey everybody, I wanted to let you
know that I was a guest host on the very fabulous
CuppaTea w/AJ -166 this past weekend.
AJ, my internet husband, and I sit down and gab about a variety
topics and current news of the day. But, we share our mutual man
lust for White Boy on I Love New York on VH1. We both be a luvin us some White
Boy.
In addition to hearing our love of White Boy, we talked about a
variety of subjects. Here some to name a few:
* Tigger joins AJ as today’s guest co
host
* The
TiggerCast
* The Freak Network
* Tigger plays a Little “Which One is More Fabulous”
game with AJ
* Iran News
* China News
* Little Discussion about Islam
* Verizon launches a new mobile TV
service
* Rat Scandal in NYC
* BritBrit Goes REALLY CRAZY
NOW!
* Reality TV-What do the
Wonder Twins really watch?
* I Love New York (or should we
say "We Love White Boy")
* Did we mention we love WHITE BOY!
We even play a new game.
So guys...get on over to CupaTea.us and listen to a great show.
AJ, you did a great job with that opening I Love New York monolog. It sounded excellent.
This is a rarely
seen New
Order music
video for the song, Fine
Time, from New
Order's 1989 album, Technique
I loved New Order's music videos, epecially this one...very surreal
and dark imagery, a little freaky
New Order is my all time favorite electronic group still to this
day
AJ, I
know you remember this classic progressive house New Order track
called
Fine
Time It was an
afterhour club favorite here in L.A. baby back in the day
Ah...the memories
As a kid, I laughed so hard
when saw this SNL spoof.
I believe, it tickled my little gay boy inside. Campy 70's
fabulousness
I miss Gilda so much
My sister would only wear Jordache or Gloria Vanderbilt jeans
On occasion she would wear Dittos
"Did you
have the Jordache look?"
OK...call me a geek as
much as you want for what I am about to tell you.
I just found out that Star Trek Voyager is now back on
cable..Spike
TV, two shows
daily. It has not been on air for over 7 years. And with the DVD
being $99 a season, I am glad I get to see it again for free.
I loved Star Trek Voyager! It was my favorite Star Trek
series.
Why...because it was a very organic
Star Trek. Very mental.
Very Unimatrix Zero
Favorite
Character : Seven
of Nine (a gay
man's dream, fierce and fabulous), with a close second being the
holographic Doctor.
Least
Favorite Character :
one word...Nelix! Ugghhh.... Kess is a close second. I
was glad when she left. (but she did return as "evil" Kess
later)
Favorite
Guest Character :
Hands down .. The Borg Queen..followed by Q.
Another layer of Tigger's geekiness is revealed.
Something,
Hyacinth Bucket ("It's...
Bouquet', the accent is on
the second syllable"), would never want
anyone to see
This is equally funny as it
is disturbing...
It belongs on The Freak
Network or ZillaCast...
Click Image to View
Gallery
Over the Thanksgiving
holiday I traveled to Northern California to the
City of
Tracy. I stayed
at my best friend's parents home. It's a yearly ritual.
During my holiday weekend, I attended an outing at the
California State
Railroad Museum,
located in the California's state capital city, Sacramento.
If I liked trains, I might have enjoyed the museum. Unfortunately,
I could care less about trains, and became bored after about 30
minutes.
I took pictures to stay awake!
Please listen to my next podcast (sometime this week) for all the
gory details of my Thanksgiving holiday.
You won't want
to miss it!
enter the ..... Spektrum.
Just another great find while cruising through iTunes Music Store. Spektrum is definitely different.
Spektrum's style and sound is combination of techno, funk and experimental beats. There is a hint of house music and a little bit of hip hop in some of Spektrum's tracks. I love bands that incorporate many different styles of electronic music.
.
..................Videos.................
Spektrum hails from the London, United Kingdom. Members are Gabriel Olegavich, Issac Tucker, Teia Williams and Lola Loafasoye.
Gabriel Olegavich grew up in East London, where he started to play in a band at the very young age of 10. At University, Gabriel studied electroacoustics (wow, that is a mouthful) and later developed an interest in manipulating sound and contemporary music.
Issac Tucker grew up in New Zealand in a secluded "hippy commune" that used alternative methods of education. From this "out of the ordinary" childhood, Issac showed many talents in music and enjoyed playing with his musician father. With a great interest in music, Issac can play a wide arrange of music styles from orchestra to punk. He has even studied African and Brazilian percussion.
Another New Zealander, Teia Williams, was born into a Maori family where music was a great part of their family history and tradition. Teia showed early talent in bass, and soon began his musical career playing in a country music band. The early 1990's attracted Teia to rock music and the newly emerging grunge scene. Teia Williams soon met Issac Tucker where they worked together as a rhythm section.
Lead vocalist, Lola Loafasoye, was born in north London. From early age, Lola was determined to be a singer. She gained early employment as a dancer in acid jazz club, Club Bluenote, located in Hoxton Square in London. Lola has a very unique voice that has been likened to Bette Davis, Grace Jones and Nina Hagen. Known for speaking her mind, Lola lyrics are often uninhibited, and very raw. She has a very interesting voice.
Spektrum can be found on the iTunes Music Store.
Top singles include Don't Be Shy (get the original version), Horny Pony, May Day and Kinda New.
PizzaBabe, I think you will really love Spektrum's Don't Be Shy video. I thought of you right away when I viewed it for the first time. Reminds me a little of Marpesia.
We're Gonna Turn
It On, We're Gonna Bring You The Power
I have to
admit that when I saw this video on You Tube, my whole childhood
flashed in front of my eyes. Very surreal. It has been years, I
mean years, since I saw The Electric Company opening, but as soon as
saw the first 3 seconds, I completely remembered it. Gave me a
little chill. It was like I was six years old again, sitting in
front of the TV eating a Pop-Tart.
OK, now with my adult eyes...a couple of things caught my
attention. Why were those kids (which were us!...my fellow
Gen
X'ers) all wearing the same
shirt? Take a look, it's that gray monstrosity in the beginning of
the clip. And a very ugly shirt, I might add. How BIG did the
pockets need to be? They were HUGE!
And what's with the characters changing of clothes? Was that
suppose to remind us that they were teachers? I don't know.....
What about Rita
Moreno's two piece number? I
thought that was a little risque for kids TV. But it was the
1970's. I forgot that Morgan
Freeman was in the show.
Oh well....It was a nice little look at childhood lost.
Did you watch The Electric Company?
SATURNdiary
I have
discovered a little gem of a podcast called SATURNcast.
SATURNcast
is hosted
by Christiaan Huygens.
Broadcasting from New York, Christiaan, hosts the SATURNcast about
twice a week. SATURNcasts are full of intelligent conversation and
observations with cutting edge sarcastic wit from the humble
host.
I love your sarcasm, Christiaan.
It reminds me of my own family. And how could I forget
to mention...Christiaan loves Nine
Inch Nails and Halloween III - Season of the
Witch, just like me! Cool
people always find each other.
If you want to hear some great conversation hosted by an
intelligent and funny guy, then SATURNcast is for you.
Christiaan has a pretty sexy voice as well....You
do, Christiaan.
And remember.....SATURNcast is just another great podcast on
The Freak
Network.
Go
Visit The Freak Network ..... and
Freakify Your Feed!
Hey
AJ!.......Hey ZillaFag!
As a Democrat Residing In The
Biggest Blue State of All, I
Welcome You
Back To Reality.
We Love
Ohio!
In one of my many late night online
cruises through the iTunes Music Store, I happened to stumble upon
an electronic artist duo, known as The Presets.
The Presets are from Sydney,
Australia (Tory, from Idiot Box
Radio should be glad
hearing that). Members of The Presets include Julian Hamilton and
Kim Moyes.
In 2005, The Presets released their debut Album,
Beams which
contained super hit single, Girl And The Sea.
The Presets music style is a blend
simple techno drum beats with a melancholic lead male vocalist. The
Presets sound is a bit on the dark ambient side, with some
experimental soundscapes thrown in the mix. The Presets remind me a
little bit of The
Smiths. That haunting
sound that only Morrissey could
produce. Maybe, The Presets are The Smiths of the future. Great
rhythm and harmony blended with strange sounds and a penetrating
bass line, might be one further way one could describe The Presets
sound. There's a strong degree of funkiness in many of The Presets
tracks. And don't let them fool you, they can sound very much like
hard rock, almost punk at times.
You can find all The Presets tracks in the iTunes Music
Store.
Girl And The
Sea -
The Presets
I really liked this video. It remined
me a lot of somethig Bjork would
produce.
Keep watching....
Keep watching....
Bugs, Snakes and Lizards, Oh My!
Happy.....Halloween.....Everybody!
(SaturnCast - I was thinking of you when I posted this)
Boo! .:. Tigger!
Around Halloween time, one
childhood fictional character that sticks out in my mind
is....Witchiepoo. You
remember, Witchiepoo. She was the lovable, always frustrated, crazy
and hyperactive witch in the HR-Puff-n-Stuff show.
If you are a Gen-Xer. you
probably remember HR Puff-n-Stuff and the other shows from
Sid & Marty Krofft. Can you remember, every Saturday morning,
staying glued to the TV from 7:00 to 11:00 AM, watching shows,
like Land of The Lost, Wonderbug, Lost
Saucer,
Dr.
Shrinker, and one of my
all time favorites, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl. That show use to crack me up as a kid. It was
"cheesy" at the most extreme. The only thing I liked about the
show, was their costumes (of course, I'm gay and those costumes
were fabulous), and how every moment when Electrawoman and Dyna
Girl spoke to one other, they always referenced their words to
something "electric" or "atomic". "That's Dyna-Riffic
Electrawoman!" "Holy Power Watts, Dyna Girl!" "Ultra-Power Outage
Bummer Time, Electrawoman!"
Watch The Original TV
Intro!
Gurrll...you gotta love those
outfits?
Well, back to Witchiepoo. I always
thought Witchiepoo was good at heart. She tried to act tough, but
deep down she was just a big softy. She had a very funny laugh,
HeeHeeHeeHhheeee! Witchiepoo wasn't too bright either. I mean, how
many times can Puff-n-Stuff, Jimmy and Freddie Flute escape from
her castle? She wasn't working with a full deck. I guess that is
why I love her so much. And why did she want Freddie Flute so
badly? He wasn't that much to write home about. Was she going to
sell him for the gold? I mean, Freddie Flute's biggest talent was
to sing very high notes to make dungeon bars shatter and crumble,
aiding in castle escape attempts made with his friends. Outside of
that, all Freddie Flute really could do, was sing. Oh, I almost
forgot, he does says, "Oh Jimmy!", about a million times during an
episode. I now wonder why Jimmy liked Freddie Flute so much? Maybe
the "magic flute" had some other valuable talents?
Before I go, I would like the reader to watch Witchiepoo competing
in a Halloween Witch Talent Show Contest, facing celebrity guest
star, Cass
Elliott, of the
California Dreaming Mamas & The Papas. And yes, I am a big fan of the Mamas & The
Papas. At the time of this filming, it was still the late 1960's.
Peace & Love, and all that stuff. Everything was psychedelic,
positive vibes, Free Love.
Turn on, Tune In & Drop Out kinda of times.
Enjoy Cass Elliot as she sings the 1960's feel good ballad,
Different.
When I was a kid, this movie scared the shit out of me!
I was convinced the Antichrist was
on his way.
Even today, I still get chills watching it.
(and yes, I like the original version better)
Another You Tube band tribute gallery.....this time we pay tribute to the ever talented, electronic music masters, New Order.
I was able to find quite a few videos. The videos range from New Order's first album, Movement to their latest 2005 album, Waiting for the Sirens Call. It is a very broad range of the many styles that New Order has developed over last 20+ years.
Well, here is a good video sampling of New Order doing what they do best, making great electronic music.
Don't forget to get your treats before you go.
(My favorite New Order video? ... Confusion. Great song. I love that classic, old school drum-beat machine sound,)
I completely
identify with Linus. He is the eternal underdog. He means so
well....but usually gets the bad end of the stick.
Well, Linus
Van Pelt, I
still believe in "The Great Pumpkin"!
The
Peanuts,
The Great Pumpkin special was such a much looked forward to October
treat. I watched it many times during my childhood. I always knew
that when I say The Great Pumpkin on TV, Halloween was not too far
away. I still watch it. It brings back such good memories of
Trick-or-Treating around my neighborhood. Hearing the same urban
legends each year, the razor-blades in the apples (I never got any
apples?), needles in popcorn balls, drugged candy...every year you
heard them, but did they ever really happen?
I guess my gay gene started early because I thought Halloween was
better than Christmas. And all of us know that Halloween is the
official gay holiday. I loved Halloween night! I remember coming
home and separating all my Halloween candy into neat little
groups...one chocolate bar pile, one hard candy pile, one pixie
stick pile, caramel candy pile, etc...and throwing out any candy
corn! Yuck..I hate candy corn!
The whole week after Halloween, you were totally amped out on
sugar. Did you ever take your Halloween candy to school and trade
with your classmates?
The
Shamen
Where have all the
Phorever People gone?
For those of you that don't know, I am a huge monster sized fan
of electronic music. Trance, techno, acid
house, psy
trance, industrial, ambient, experimental music, anything electronic, I love it.
It has become a mad obsession for me to collect as much available
electronic music that I can. My music library is now over 80 GB. I
had to buy a separate hard drive to store all those files.
Electronic music has been around since the 1970's. Early groups
such as Kraftwerk, The
Human League, Tangerine Dream, Joy
Division, The
Buggles all
paved the way for what we now know as electronic music. I started
my electronic music collection in the fifth grade and am still
adding to it currently.
One
particular period of electronic music I would like to zero in on,
is the early 1990's. The birth of electronic dance music.
The early 1990's was still basking in the rhythms of acid house and
your run of the mill diva house
music of
the late 1980's. Hip
Hop was in
its infancy. In 1991, I discovered a new electronic band,
interestingly named, The Shamen. I learned they were the artist of
the latest supersmash top ten single,