Dance All Night
The Second Saturday party at Circuit Night Club is undergoing a major format change this month. While Miss Foozie and her band of merry makers will continue to guide the first half of the night's festivities, DJ Teri Bristol's signature brand of house music will be replaced during the after-hours. Clubhouse Productions takes over the 1am-5am time slot with music weighed heavily toward hip-hop. This new party, called UBU ("You Be You"), will complement the highly successful Urbano party that's held the last Friday of each month.
You Really Are Gay
Katy Perry has already gained a loyal following in the past year with her wildly popular single "Ur So Gay," and so it will come as no surprise to me if her recently released debut album, ONE OF THE BOYS (Capitol), leads to her becoming one of the year's breakout music stars. The 23-year-old Californian has a big, strong voice that delivers marvelously on this well-produced album that will have her name mentioned in the same sentence as Natasha, Leona, Gwen, and Avril.
Jonny McGovern already knows that he's so gay and his KEEP IT FAGGITY: THE GAY PIMP REMIX PROJECT is absolutely fantastic! It includes brand new remixes of his most popular gay hits: "Don't Fall In Love With A Homo," "Soccer Practice," and "Girl, I F#*ked Your Boyfriend." While there's a strong Junior Vasquez remix of "Run To The Dancefloor," (and I definitely loves me some Junior), my favorite track is the Booty House Mix of "Bossy Bottom." It's a straight up old-school Chicago house "tracky" track, a la Green Velvet, that brought back fond memories of many a night spent at long-since closed nightclubs Coconuts, Medusa's and Club LaRay. McGovern is so gay and this album is so good.
The Darker Side Of The Kingdom --
A part of the annual Gay Days gathering and celebration in Orlando every June is the circuit party subset that attends the One Mighty Weekend events and parties. The official CD, a 2-disc set called ONE MIGHTY WEEKEND 2008, is being produced by Masterbeat and is set to be released on July 8. While label honcho DJ Brett Henrichsen delivers his typical solid effort on CD1, Miami-based DJ Alyson Calagna does a masterful job with CD2, a "cheese-less" textured progressive tribal mix that demonstrates ably why her DJing star is rising so rapidly here in the U.S. and internationally. Her mix is a spectacular effort that is sure to earn repeated plays on your CD player.
R&B Goodies
There are two new releases on the R&B front that deserve your attention. The sexy U.K. star Craig David is back with a funk-laden long-player called TRUST ME (Warner Bros) and it is simply a fantastic album. From beginning to end, this CD is loaded with strong song after strong song. And while many seem pre-occupied with Danity Kane, the all-girl R&B group banner is being better held aloft by Cherish, the quartet that just released their sophomore effort THE TRUTH (Capitol). Not quite ready to be placed on the same level as TLC or Destiny's Child, this new album shows that Cherish's present is good and that their future is indeed bright.