“Me and My Gin” by Bessie Smith Writing a Gay News Roundup usually puts me in touch with my blues.  And every time I think blues, I think Bessie Smith’s “Me and My Gin.”  Crackling soundtrack, low trumpet, heavy voice, silly enough to keep me from going nuts.  Check! This one goes out to Justin [...]

Reclaim the Dream Fight fire with fire.  As many of you may know, Glenn Beck held a “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, D.C. Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which was held at the same spot.  And while I can’t imagine anything more [...]

“Breakfast in NYC” by Oppenheimer Today, we go to the actually really good “Gossip Girl” soundtrack from the actually really good show “Gossip Girl.”  A light-hearted, dance-y but not obnoxious collection of indie struts, the highlight is “Breakfast in NYC.” I chose it because I just had a fabulous weekend brunch in a fabulously metropolitan [...]

“Oh, What a Pear!” Martini A while back I featured a drink called “Maxwell’s Plum,” a martini at the fabled, now shut Tavern on the Green in New York.  The drink I feature today is a specialty order Tavern on the Green used to arrange for couples. When someone was going to propose at the [...]

Bienvenue, hipsters!  Today we set sail down SanMonBul to the magical nonsense world of the Far East (of Hollywood that is): Silver Lake.  A land of both caring and not caring, of quaintness and calamity, of treasure and trash, of paying a dollar for 30 cents. I threw on my t-shirt with a band on [...]

“Tower of Strength” by Gene McDaniels Expanding one’s music library is an art form of sorts.  It is not a blind amassing.  It involves a lot of tasting, keeping your ears open and being open to unfamiliarity.  This last one is particularly difficult, especially as one gets older. With the rise of music sharing sites [...]

If you own an iPhone, odds are that you are well on your way to being into this idea.  A very hipster idea.  It’s an app called Hipstamatic.  Get it.  Get it now.  No one I know has been sorry they paid the two bucks. When you buy the app, pictures you film with it [...]

“The VERTIGO Soundtrack” by Bernard Hermann What a driving companion!  If you have a dramatic or whimsical bone in your body, you’ll want to take a drive with the “Vertigo” soundtrack. I’m not saying it has to be PCH (although that would be nice), but Bernard Hermann’s untouchable score is so dramatic and filled with [...]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World This movie is a true original.  So, therefore, by the rules of the universe, it had to make 15 cents at the box office. I’m gonna talk a little bit about box office for a sec.  ”Scott Pilgrim” came in 5th this weekend.  It was beat by “Expendables,” “Eat Pray [...]

“When the Love Light Starts Shining Thru His Eyes” by Dusty Springfield I have a great love of Mowtown, and the mighty 50′s/60′s era of the Supremes and the like.  Dusty Springfield, a white brit, walked several fine musical lines throughout the 60′s.  A frequent collaborator with the always fabulous Burt Bacharach, Springfield also had [...]

“THE RUBY” What’s In It, Adam? 2 oz. gin, 3/4 oz. Laird’s Applejack (apple brandy), 3/4 oz. Grenadine.  Shake with ice, pour over tumbler glass with ice. Where’d You Find It? My Mixologist iPhone app!  It has a function called “liquor cabinet” where you input what you got in your stock, and it cooks up [...]

“Did You Get My Message” by Jason Mraz Pop track today, kiddies, because I’m out and about!  I gotta clean this dump up, wash my dog, buy a flea collar, get quarters, buy detergent, wash the sheets, wash the clothes, write this article, post a vlog, drive to the market, buy some jam and fall-scented [...]

Summer is almost over.  Well, the movies are.  Thoughts turn to Oscar predictions and fall favorites.  The last movie you were excited to see this summer has come, wowed, and gone (the fabulous “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”).  But what an underwhelming season. Come to think of it, there hasn’t been a really slam-bang, week-after-week [...]

“I Can Stand a Little Rain” by Esther Phillips I move today away from high energy jazz/funk into mellowed blues/funk.  Esther Phillips had her big heyday in the 70′s with today’s featured tune “I Can Stand a Little Rain,” as well as a discoed up cover of “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.” Y’know, I’ve [...]

It is important to reach outside your comfort zone to find new things. And no place wholly exemplifies “out of my comfort zone” like Downtown Los Angeles.  It’s far, lousy with impenetrable one-way streets, and only reachable by the dreaded freeway (or it’s possible to take the Metro– but one comfort zone breach at a [...]