Dear Santa… my kind of seasonal song…
31 Days of Brannan – Day 19
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Today’s Playlist – Dear Santa (The Reindeer Jaymes Live Version)
Author’s Note: Lest you think that I am off my rocker for posting a Christmas song, here’s this gentle reminder – Christmas is literally just a little over 5 months away – YIKES!
Okay, so here’s the whole reason Jay’s a family thing at my house. And I mean that sincerely – from the hubby through our daughter and down to our granddaughter (yeah, I have one of those). In fact, depending on the day, it’s a battle to sort out who is the biggest Jay fan in the house – Keely (the granddaughter) or me. We vie for the title all the time. It’s sort of a thing we do.
The hubby got me the Deluxe Package from Jay’s site for my b-day. Keely was a little jelly over it so guess what, I’m getting her a T-Shirt and probably some other Jay items just so she doesn’t feel left out. This is sort of a big thing (not just because we’re sort of celebrating my B-day) but because it is officially Keely’s first real concert. She’s over the moon on it. We both are, really (see what I mean about the going back and forth on who is the bigger fan?).
So, Dear Santa, yeah, that was what sealed it for Keely. She’s sort of a darkly imbued soul – very Tim Burtonesque if you know what I mean. When she was little her imaginary friends were Dean the Monster and Ben the Werewolf. No typical child, she.
We once watched Frank Langella’s Dracula on AppleTV and she sat through the whole thing – she was four – and at the end there wasn’t any freak out over the horror elements in the story. No, she just thought it a very sad story. In her words, “He (Drac) just wanted someone to love him and they would let that lady do it.”
Yeah, that was her takeaway from Gothic Horror – it’s a sad romance thing. So, Keely and Jay’s work – match made in the darkest parts of heaven. As a pre-teen (or tween) she is already cultivating that whole teen angst thing about no one understanding her (though she thinks I do). She already has it on her list that she MUST find a gay boy on campus when she gets to high school because her high school experience won’t be complete unless she has a GBFF. I’m good with that. She knows very well that gay boys have to be good at staying alive in a hostile world. She intends to garner some of that gaydar for herself. Way she figures it, if I made it through my high school with jocks and cheerbitches and the like, then this whole gay boy warning radar system might just work for her too. Besides, she can chat about boys with him and go out shopping. What more could a girl ask for?
But yeah, as with most tweens/teens, Keely is already going through that separation phase in her life. She’s keen to keep grandpa close though. Probably because I have accurately informed her and prophetically predicted events in her life before they happened. It wasn’t too hard. Her problems just aren’t that complex at this stage in life. When boys officially enter the picture, well, that will definitely up the ante a bit. I have an eye out for that point in time.
So, Dear Santa – Keely loves this song. It is number two on her fave Jay songs – nothing has usurped the number one spot (Death Waltz) though. That is the ultimate song on her playlist. The first one she memorized of Jay’s songs. Followed by Dear Santa. Whenever we’re in the car driving around, and Jay’s invariably on the stereo, I get Rob Me Blind and Denmark and she immediately hits up Death Waltz and Dear Santa – those are always the first four songs on the stereo whenever she and I hit the road. Sometimes her selections are first, sometimes mine. La La La is usually the follow-up just because we both love the change up in the musical interpretations in that song. When we can’t decide who gets to play their fave Jay songs first – then La La La wins by default.
I’m good with that – it’s a thing we do.
Here is yet another reason why I am indebted to Jay and his work. It’s helped keep me rooted to my granddaughter as she starts to enter her formative years. Years that I know won’t be easy. I’ve already been having the ‘talks’ about boys and what we go through in those wildly hormonally charged days. She already knows boys are nuts. I’ve convinced her of that. She can’t take them at their word when all their thinking about is sex. She isn’t ready to have that ‘talk’ yet. But she knows that boys go there. She gets that part of it. Way I figure it, between me and said GBFF in her not too distant future, I think we’ll get her through to the other side and her adulthood just fine.
So my Dear Santa wish list? I just want her on the other side of her tumultuous teen years, safe and sound and hopefully happy. But she’s a dark one – a darkling as I call her. So if not entirely happy, then at the very least – safe and sound.
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
- Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com
A Little JB @ the Soda Shop
31 Days of Brannan – Day 18
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Today’s Playlist – Soda Shop
First off, I’ll take Jay’s video posts regardless of his level of dress or even undress. To my way of thinking: Jay can do whatever the hell he wants. No matter what it is. At the very least, I can be guaranteed that it’ll be entertaining in some way, shape or form. He hasn’t let me down yet.
I particularly like this entry because it’s a song that was hard to come by (he’s since corrected that by posting it to iTunes and the like). Also, I love the Toilet Studio rendition. The acoustics are perfect to allow him to resonate beautifully for this song. Even down to the additional “orchestration” at the end. Brilliant fun, that.
It’s another story song – I am sure you’re beginning to see what the appeal is for Brannan’s work. But hey, I am good with that. He does story songs so beautifully. They’re melodic, hummable, toe-tapping (in this case) and emotive. But then again, Jay’s never been anything if not emotive. And i don’t mean that to be harsh. Everything he does is fairly slathered with it. But that’s a good thing (I think so, anyway).
Soda Shop is from the movie he also appeared in called Short Bus. I really liked the film and Brannan in it. As for the music posting I have in today’s blog, I like his little rant before he plays the song. I love it when an artist has some real conviction and, I dunno, -verve? -oomph? ah, no, cajones. Yeah, that’s what that swagga is. I sorta love how he pushes back a little at his critics of his youtube postings. I like that he rails a bit against how the movie that he is quite literally proud of – and he has every right to be – was sidelined by IMDB because it didn’t fit into the norms of standard (mainstream) filmmaking.
Anyway, Jay’s already on the tour and living a life out of suitcases. I hope his houses are packed each night and that it proves to be a very lucrative (both monetarily and emotively) for him. From one artist to another – I wish him success with it all.
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
- Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com
A gift that keeps on giving… thoughts on writing
31 Days of Brannan – Day 17
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Today’s Playlist – Desert Rose (work in progress)
I think I am fond of this entry for two reasons.
1) It’s a work in progress – writing my own series of novels I get this. I get the desire to put it out there. You want some sort of acknowledgment for your efforts. It’s the battle between creation and acceptance.
2) It’s creation – nothing is more stirring to me than an artist creating.
So I am half-way through my oeuvre, my collective thoughts and gratitude for Brannan’s work as a muse through my own writing experience. His work has fed my own. He never knew it, was never his intention. I don’t think it would be even if he knew he had inspired someone else. He’s simply too busy creating his own worlds, his own emotive and captivating spells with which to cast upon we poor hungry souls. Okay, maybe I am taking it a bit over the top.
Maybe…
But part of me doesn’t think so. Here’s the skinny on why that is.
Art is meant to inspire. Art, when done right, should evoke a response. Jay’s work has done that for me.
Angels of Mercy is a series that I am deeply engrossed in. I am “all in” with my own creative process but I would be remiss if I didn’t say thank you to Jay for giving me a well to pull from. Sure, my characters don’t have anything directly related to his work (other than my protagonist happens to be a fan of his work). But that part I did intentionally – it was my nod to say thank you to Jay for giving me something to work from. His art inspired my own. I feel a kindred spirit in that he does everything on his own. No big record company, no big shot promoter, no real corporate support of any kind. Just an out gay artist hitting the pavement, the airwaves and the net in any way he can to get his stuff out there. I am deeply inspired by that journey of his.
That’s why I am doing this.
That’s why I feel a deep sense of gratitude to him. An indebtedness that I will never be able to repay. His work gave me the momentum to reach for my own. For Angels, he is my muse. He never asked for it, isn’t a part of it directly in any way. But that’s okay. I’m good with that. He’s a busy guy. He’s got a life to lead. I’ll continue to admire from afar and be further inspired by his crafty and brilliant prose. One writer breathing life into another’s work. What greater compliment can one give to another?
I see your work. It gives me the desire to seek my own. It’s truly as simple as that.
So thank you, Jay. It’s a bright and brilliant thing you’ve got going on there. I am bang over the moon that my 50th will be celebrated with close friends and family that night at Bottom of the Hill here in San Francisco. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to do that. My writing muse – simply doing what he does best: spin tales, craft worlds, elicit emotive provocation from those of us who are fortunate to be there – sharing in your journey in a small but vital way to keep you going as you strive for being the best at what you do.
I thank you.
My characters, imaginary though they may be, thank you.
My creative process as I work through Angels of Mercy thanks you. Rob Me Blind is being played to death in iTunes (along with your other work) when I wrote volume one of the work. I don’t mind. That album is the inner emotive core of Elliot Donahey, my out shy gay boy in a semi-hostile environment who suddenly finds himself dating the highest profile jock on campus. A mouse thrust into a very bright light in a room full of cats. It’s a dark work, an edgy work, it’s brooding (as only gay boys can be when danger lurks around every corner). I don’t pull any punches in their relationship. It’s all out there for everyone to see. It’s unapologetic, it’s in your face. But that’s just how these boys are. This is how they spoke to me (and I get how cray-cray that may sound). But as an author writing gay lit fic, your characters are all you have to work with. If they aren’t speaking to you, then you aren’t in the right frame of mind to create.
So thanks, Jay. A deeply profound thanks. This is why I am spending this month leading up to your concert in SF on your work. Because it gave me my own.
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
- Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com
Leaving on a jet plane…
31 Days of Brannan – Day 16
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Today’s Playlist – Leaving On A Jet Plane
As Jay embarks on his tour this week… I was drawn to this one more than any other from his youtube channel.
I never heard the version that Jay is riffing off of. Not to say that whatever version that Jay is using to put his own spin on it isn’t good. I like this rendition of this classic song – this evocative moment he calls upon. But my memory of this song is long reaching. As I approach the half-centennial mark in my life (yeah, you NEVER think you’ll write those words about yourself – EVER…), I have so many renditions of this song that play right along with Jay’s plaintive and emotive posting on his youtube channel.
Good songwriting never grows old or wears out it’s welcome. This song is definitely in that pantheon of classic tunes. Instantly memorable, even if you’ve never had the benefit of hearing it before.
I could expound upon the memories this song evokes for me, from the time I was a child and watched it being performed my Peter, Paul and Mary (though penned by John Denver back in ’66) on some TV variety show later on in that decade. I could talk about that. I could also remember how this song was one of my family’s traveling songs. Songs we played on an 8-track (yes, you read that right) tape player. Along with a classic Dionne Warwick tape of Valley of the Dolls (still one of my all time classic LPs of the era), Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, and the Fifth Dimension. This was a very classic era of pop song writing.
I know I could wax poetically about that era of writing. How very little writing of this era even remotely matches the hooks, the arrangements or the prose of that emotionally charged part of our past.
I could write about all of that…and quite a bit more.
But I won’t.
Why?
Simple: Jay does it all so beautifully in this posting. It’s plaintive, it’s emotive, it carries all the history and sentimentality for older guys like me. It’s the simplicity of it that grips the heart and dares you to let go.
So, I’ll just leave it at this. Do what you do so well, Mr. Brannan.
…and I’ll keep on remembering my days long past. Thank you for bringing them back, like faded photos in an album I keep in my head – that can only be opened with my heart.
Brilliant.
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
- Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com
Always, Then & Now – A Review
31 Days of Jay Brannan – The ALBUM RELEASE
Days 13 and 14 – hey, it took me a few to put this all together…
Always Then & Now Cover Art
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Today’s Playlist – ALWAYS, THEN & NOW (An Album Review)
Authors Note: There were no liner notes or booklet on offer with the iTunes version of this album. So unfortunately I can’t include credits (like the female vocalist on the final piece “Changed”) or any of the other instrumentalists on the work – as much as I’d like to. Also, I’ve pulled the various video uploads Jay has posted to his YouTube channel where possible. I will update with small snippets of the songs (much like iTunes or Amazon offer) to give you an example of those pieces where there were no videos online to include with this review. Oh yeah, this is a post after a couple of run throughs of the album. They are FIRST impressions.- S.A.
Final Analysis – This release takes a different tract from the seminal effort that was Rob Me Blind (still my personal favorite of his work). While it doesn’t quite reach the emotive impact of RMB, it is no less a worthy entry by Brannan, it is stellar in its own way. Like Brannan’s public persona, it is an amalgam of experiences that blend and turn back upon themselves, a vocal river of emotions and experiences. What this album does quite brilliantly is that it highlights the best instrument at Brannan’s disposal – his voice. That clear and sweetly lyrical quality that with age only seems to become finer and subtly textured – a mellowing warmth like a lovely cozy blanket or the hug of a dear friend that you haven’t seen in a long while. It’s like the fragrance of home – after a long trip. A vocal embrace that once it has you, you find you just don’t want to let go. A brilliant, brilliant effort and a worthy entry into his ever broadening and varied compositions. 5 Stars (though decidedly different stars than the five I had for RMB).
A full download PDF of the lyrics can be found from Jay’s site, here.
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Track 1 – Always, Then & Now
The first track give us our first glimpse on what we have in store for this album. It’s introspective (as much of Brannan’s work is) but in a way that threads a new tapestry for us to consider.
As if inspired by the recent change in popular opinion, a tidal wave that sees no signs of stopping, albeit slowing here and there – legal stall tactics that never really pan out, this song speaks to marriage equality (I refuse to term it GAY marriage – that puts it one down in my book. It already separates us from the masses). It’s a musical vow of love. It is a promise of a life together, facing whatever storms rage over the horizon. It’s defiant, like the simple statement of how I know I feel with regards to my husband. The trials, tribulations that life throws our way (complicated by the presence of children and grandchildren – not a complaint in any way) but this song says so much of how I feel about it all. A great opener to what is truly a great effort on Brannan’s part and a very welcome addition to his growing catalog.
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Track 2 – Blue-Haired Lady
I’ve expounded about this tune in another blog. This one is special for me in that I have a deep fondness for songs that relate a story – with a beginning, middle and end. Though this one works a bit in reverse in that we start at the old age and then reflects on a life that was and the irony that she never wanted to die alone but comes to the realization that dying is anything if not a lonely experience. One which we all must face at some point. It’s inevitable, as inconceivable as it must be at times for us. We try to push, we try to set it aside. Thought it never is far away. It’s ever present. It stalks us with each passing year. Each day, each moment. It’s always there, whether we want to discuss it or not. Brannan’s touch on this sentimental piece (that never crosses the line into being maudlin) is as lovely as it is thought provoking.
Track 3 – Elusive Knight
Elusive Knight is a lovely take on the shining Knight of fairy tale lore we all seem to want in our lives. The orchestration is minimal but effective. The lingering piano is dreamlike and subtle, weaving here and there and then supporting the verse with pronounced chords that never take over but give lift to the verse as it snakes its way to the chorus. The guitar work is hypnotic and supports the fairy tale-esque feel to the song. The balance between fantasy and the reality that pulls upon our heartstrings of a love that doesn’t quite measure up.
Track 4 – Take Off
This song is a folkish piece that niggles at your ear, pulling you in lyrically into the piece. The song is infectious, hummable and, as usual, evocative of that get up and go type of feeling – like you just can’t wait to get out there.
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Track 5 – Square One
This one is very infectious. The lyrics are rollicking and meander like the rush of a babbling brook. It bubbles along and the melody switches between punctuating staccato elements (highlighted by the plucking strings in the background) to lyrical lines within the verses that lead into the chorus. It’s about the resetting of one’s life after a breakup or hell, just a time out between two lovers. A cautionary tale of sorts – as if we all need reminding…but if we did, this is a helluva way to do it. Brilliant.
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Track 6 – Burn Into The Son
This piece harkens to the war protest songs of the 60’s – it is provocative in how it uses the lyrical imagery to provoke an emotive response (well, it did in me anyway). To my way of thinking, it is every bit as worthy of those war protest songs of our past. It’s brilliantly crafted and clever in how it extolls the after effects of war and bloodshed, and how as a culture we pass this onto other generations – never seeming to learn from our past mistakes. It’s an indictment of how feeble man is, giving into other things that are less than valuable when compared to compassion, and love to our fellow man. It’s a call to reevaluate what we do and how we find it easier to turn a blind eye to what we’ve done before and the legacy we leave never seems to evolve. Father to son, the aggression of man – a battle cry that by now we should’ve evolved beyond – yet, here we are, caught in the same hellish quagmire of our forefathers. The orchestration/arrangement is simply stated and carried by the pleading and emotive clear tones Brannan brings to the piece.
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Track 7 – No Ship
An a cappella piece that puts Brannan’s voice front and center to deliver the sarcastic and pointed prose. It’s a clever little ditty and a delightful respite from the rest of the work. An intermission of sorts – or an intermezzo.
Track 8 – After All This
“I know I am nothing special, I never been the best. But there are thoughts in my head, and thump in my chest.” In short, this is indicative of Brannan’s POV across many of his works. It’s something he extolls frequently. It’s self-depricating in a way that you shake your head and shrug and say, “Okay, if you think so. I happen to think you’re pretty damned cool, but okay. We’ll just see where you go with this.” This is Brannan at what he does extremely well, the end of a relationship song. The nudge to a past lover, so – after you left me, didja get what you wanted? Something we’ve all no doubt wanted to ask. Even myself. I told one of my exes, so now that it’s over, I want to make a date with you. When we’re seventy and living in a home somewhere or with our family – I want to sit on a porch somewhere and catch up and find out what happened to you. Tell me where you went after me. This song is along that same vein – with bit more bite than I intended in my own life, but I get the sentiment just the same.
Track 9 – My Last Day On Earth
Here is my favorite of the album. It’s Brannan bringing it home (well in my opinion). It has the plaintive string accompanying his soothing guitar work. It’s melodic, it’s evocative and it’s dark. It’s brooding and defiant. It’s everything that Brannan does best. It’s an anthem for life. It’s sweeps through you and shakes you up a bit before retreating and takes a different tract – rattling what you know to be true, questioning and provocative – it’s like a lashing of an iodine laced emotive whip that is immediately followed with harmonics that pecks at you like a murder of crows that is unrelenting only to slither away but never really out of reach. “If you try to sell me another day or two, I wouldn’t buy…” Yeah, it’s that kind of a song. Riveting and the best damned song on the album (to my way of thinking at any rate).
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Track 10 – My Love, My Love
This song got under my skin. It is beautifully crafted and hypnotic, both instrumentally as well as vocally. It’s introspective as it threads into your ear – wending its way into your heart. A lovely little piece.
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Track 11 – Uncle Auntie- Socialite
“…And we don’t need your sex-orcism.” Much like La, La, La of Rob Me Blind, this one is a lot like that piece. It’s all over the map thematically but it works as a patchwork, reflective of how varied our lives can be. It’s in your face in how it says plainly what it needs to. The orchestration/arrangement is solid without overbearing the message of the song. It gives it a french appeal that doesn’t give way to sentimentality (because that would work against the message of the song).
Track 12 – Changed
Melodically this song is like a lullaby for the soul. It’s haunting and lyrical (in ways that I don’t believe Brannan has explored before in his other projects). It’s a somber note to end the album on. But I found I was humming the plaintive melody of the chorus long after I’d stopped listening to it. Probably a testament to how sometimes the simplest statements can be the most lingering.
It’s decidedly a departure from Rob Me Blind. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a different take. It’s like a dream that you can sort of recall once you wake. It’s fuzzy at the edges, some of the imagery is muted but lingers – you can’t stop thinking about it. In that way, it’s a profound work. It’s bold in its simplicity, it’s audacious in its quietude. I find with just a few listenings – it’s already growing on me – and that’s a very good thing. While I loved the broad and well produced sound of Rob Me Blind, I think that Always, Then & Now will be a perennial favorite of mine. For me, right up there with such story infused classics as Carole King’s Tapestry, though in a quieter, though no less emotive way.
A brilliant effort, Mr. Brannan. I’ll be humming these while I wait in line at Bottom of the Hill in SF. I’ve got two weeks to memorize the songs (and without liner notes, I’ve got my work cut out for me).
The Always, Then & Now Tour…
Please check out his site with links for his upcoming shows. I am definitely a late comer to the Brannan bandwagon whenever he pulls through my city. But now that I am going this year, I am making it a goal never to miss when he swings through town. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity as well. Also be sure to check out his web store at the following link.
- Jay’s Website – jaybrannan.com