In keeping with the theme of Saint Patrick's Day for today's Amoeblog, I invited my good old friend, fellow Irishman and longtime fan of hip-hop and electronic music Paul Tarpey to be a guest Amoeblogger. For this post Paul, who is a Limerick-based DJ, photographer, & writer from that Irish city's Cheebah crew (who throw amazing parties and run the Cheebah and All That website), has sketched out a history of the Irish dance music club scene. Nowadays dance / electronic music and clubs are an integral part of the Irish music landscape. But it wasn't always that way; on the contrary. Long resistant to both hip-hop and electronic dance music, the homeland of U2 and countless other rock bands was for the longest time supportive of rock to the point of being discriminatory against disco and later dance/beat driven genres, something the guest Amoeblogger calls "rockist."

Tarpey said he felt compelled to research and write this piece when he "realised that the period before 1993 was overshadowed by the rockist history of the Irish music scene and that these early days merit some sort of record before memories fade and we forget about that scene’s pioneering activities." Here is what the Irish hip-hop/electronic music historian had to say:

Assemble any metropolitan club history, from the Paradise Garage in New York to The Hacienda in Manchester, and the same details are arrived at: innovative DJs within a specialised environment create their own rules to soundtrack a communal experience while being spurred on by a dedicated crowd. These classic night spots build slowly and peak after a few influential years, leaving behind them reputations and energy flashed memories. The Irish files to be dusted off from this period contain sections marked Flikkers and Sides. In remembering the history of these Dublin dance clubs, we consider the roots of an Irish dance movement that is as important in its own place as those overseas mythical dance palaces with their own associated cultural legacies.

On the surface it seems totally contradictory that within the span of the very same week GLAAD announced visibility of gays is at an all time high for the new 2010 / 2011 television season, that news of some of the most heinous attacks on the LGBT community also surfaced. These include the cyber attack on 18 year old Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after being humiliated by his roommate taping/streaming him online having sex with another man. They also include the gay bashing of three men in Chelsea, NY's predominantly gay neighborhood, over the weekend, and the even more shocking brutal gay-bashing attack on 34 year old Benjamin Carver on Sunday night inside the bathroom of Greenwich Village, NY bar The Stonewall Inn (yes the Stonewall, as in the birthplace of the gay rights movement) by two violent homophobic Staten Island men. Add to this list numerous other hate attacks on gays across the nation (whether violent, verbal, or cyber) in recent weeks and months and you begin to wonder if we are regressing or progressing as a society.

If the LGBT community is more visible than ever (and hence supposedly more accepted), why the seeming increase in hate crimes? Is there possibly a backlash to this increased exposure, seen as overexposure by some, of gays in the media? Do such things as the billboards in every New York City subway station and other major metropolitan TV markets advertising Logo TV's new gay reality show The A List trigger repressed hatred in some? Earlier today via email I asked noted author/journalist/TV personality and longtime La Dolce Musto columnist Michael Musto (described by the NY Times as a journalist "who has chronicled the lives of drag queens, club kids, and an array of freaks and celebrities for The Village Voice for 25 years") if he thought there was a direct correlation between the results of this study and the recent attacks on gays. "I feel that every time there is forward motion on the part of the gay community, there's some backlash from the haters," replied Musto. "They get extra panicky and desperately try to seize control back. So it's quite possible that the upsurge in gay characters on TV (and gay visibility everywhere) has had something to do with the recent incidents."

In many ways, it seems like a bad idea for someone who is a fashion designer to make a film, doesn't it? It seems so egotistical, so over the top, for someone with great success in one highly visible industry to attempt it in another. Sure, occasionally it works out, but for the most part, we've seen enough celebrities try their hands at creative endeavors in genres other than the one they've become popular in to great failure. Bruce Willis, anyone? Mariah Carey? Russell Crowe? Ethan Hawke?

But Tom Ford has, against the odds, done it well. A Single Man, his first feature film, is out now and it is fantastic.


See, for all the reasons that making a film when you are a highly accomplished fashion designer sounds like a potential disaster, there are other reasons that make sense if (big if) it is done right; after all, both film and fashion are visual mediums. And Tom Ford proves yet again that he has a gifted eye by beautifully and movingly capturing the anguish and lasting sorrow of an English professor living in Los Angeles in 1962. After about a year, George Falconer (played by Colin Firth) still can't get over the sudden death of his long term lover. Ford brings precision and artistry to the film, taking the viewer directly into the George's world, showing us how slowly time ticks by, how he feels like he is drowning, his total isolation and all-consuming grief. His world has literally faded to grey and we see its colors through his eyes. There are moments of brightness, but mostly it is dulled.

The film also portrays the suffocating feeling of being forced to stay closeted in the early 60s. Julianne Moore is perfection as Charley, George's desperate, gilded best (only?) friend. Aside from Charley, George is kept from connecting to the vast majority of the world even if he wanted to, simply by his status as a gay man in an unaccepting society. This, along with his unspeakable sorrow, causes him to feel disconnected from pretty much everything and everyone, but the events of the single day in which the film takes place try to show him otherwise.

Befitting a film made by someone who has spent his career in visual design, the film is awash in eye candy, from the sets to the clothing, of course. Being angsty, stereotype shattering and set in '62, of course it's Mad Men-esque, and Jon Hamm even has an appearance in the film, although it is just his recognizable voice over the phone.

Since I skipped October’s World Music bestseller chart last month, I decided to make a comprehensive chart that includes the best sellers for both October and November.

1. Poncho Sanchez - Psychedelic Blues
2. Shakira - She Wolf
3. Bomba Estereo – Blow Up
4. Rodrigo Y Gabriela –11:11
5. Bebel Gilberto – All In One
6. Gustavo Cerati – Fuerza Natural
7. Mercedes Sosa – Cantora
8. Aventura – Last
9. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou - Echos Hypnotiques Vol. 2
10. Buika - El Ultimo Trago

Both Poncho Sanchez and Bomba Estereo had recent successful instore performances at Amoeba Hollywood and their chart positions reflect that, with each of them coming in at number one and three respectfully. Shakira was a no-brainer at number two, as people have been waiting for She Wolf since rumors of its release over the summer. Her chart position is a cumulative number based on sales of the import version and the domestic release. Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Bebel Gilberto, Gustavo Cerati, Aventura and Mercedes Sosa continue to sell well into December. Wow, can you believe it is December already?

Here is a chart just for the month of November:

1. Bomba Estereo-Blow Up
2. Shakira-She Wolf
3. Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou-Echos Hypnotiques Vol. 2
4. V/A -Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-91
5. Buika–El Ultimo Trago
6. Rodrigo Y Gabriela –11:11
7. V/A - Panama! Vol.3
8. Poncho Sanchez -Psychedelic Blues
9. Bebel Gilberto –All In One
10. Eydie Gorme Y Los Panchos–Cantan En Español

More than any other popular musical form, hip-hop is perhaps the most consistently (and often apologetically) misogynistic and homophobic genre in all contemporary pop music. This is something that Lady Gaga speaks about in the video clip above, taken from an interview with host Touré from on On The Record, that will broadcast later tonight (Monday, Nov 23rd at 9pm) on Fuse TV.  Of course, this is not exactly breaking news to anyone who listens to popular rap, but it is nonetheless refreshing to hear a high profile person address homophobia in popular rap music. This is something that encompasses recurring anti-gay lyrics in songs and also the whole "No Homo" obsession, popular within hip-hop circles for several years now, whereby the words "NO HOMO" are instantly said aloud by a person right after they utter  something that might possibly be construed as "gay sounding." This two word statement absolves them from the ultimate crime (of being perceived as "homo"). This "No Homo" subcultural movement even spawned its own fashion line that includes the "No Homo" baseball cap (pictured).

In her interview, Lady Gaga, as always, is very supportive and defensive of her large gay following. When pressed by Toure as to which high profile homophobic hip-hopper she is referring to, she won't say. Truth is that it could be a great many rappers out there. But more than likely it is 50 Cent who she is referring to, since recently on the Angie Martinez radio show Fitty in a mocking derogatory tone referred to the scheduled Lady Gaga and Kanye West Fame Kills tour as the "gay tour." (the tour got cancelled due to Kayne's VMA outburst combined with lackluster advance ticket sales). This is the same rapper who in Spin magazine a few years back opined, "In hip-hop, there’s certain standards of things you can’t do. Being gay isn't cool -- it's not what the music is based on." Of course, many, including anyone within the so-called "homo-hop" subgenre of hip-hop, would argue that such a notion is nonsense. But, despite the growing numbers of queer rap artists, this hip-hop subgenre remains mostly a totally separate (and underground) world, and one that does not generally crossover into popular rap. Simply put, while most of the rest of popular culture has at least superficially embraced gays, it looks like it is still a ways off before popular hip-hop will accept its first openly gay rap star.