Pride 2011 Promo

It's now a week in advance of Memorial Day, which, to me, is the time of year to hand out my annual GLBT Pride cds. This year, it's all about anthems, anthems, anthems! It was a real pleasure and delight for me to mix, into the instrumental intro, some of Edith Massey's lines from the classic John Waters movie, "Female Trouble," the thrust of which is hilariously heterophobic. ("The world of heterosexuals is a sick and boring life!")

For me, finding new gems and, hopefully, future gay classics like "Love Is the Answer" (not the Lonnie Gordon/Taka Boom club fave of the same name) by Mya (whose vocals can sound disarmingly like Dolly Parton's at times) and "Make a Friend" by Michele McCain, a diva whose voice sounds like what you'd get if you gene-spliced the voices of the late Loleatta Holloway with the late Izora Whitehead (of The Weather Girls and Two Tons of Fun), was a great joy.

And Ricky Martin is back with a fantastic Ralphi Rosario remix of a song off his recent album. "Freak of Nature" (known as "Mas" on the album) is a celebration of walking on the wild side with a lyrics structure paying homage to that Lou Reed song. A previous remix (by Smoke Jumpers) of the same album's "The Best Thing About Me Is You" was tepid, to be kind. Nice title, though. "Freak of Nature", however, signals that Ricky's back big-time, and it will have you on your feet to its Latin beat and strong, sexy vocals that I predict will lift it to the top of the Billboard Dance/Club chart. (The song has yet to even enter the chart but I have an advance promo, so it may take a few weeks -- maybe peaking just in time for Pride on June 26.) Shake your gay money-maker, Ricky!

Remixes I love of the popular and powerful "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele and Lady Gaga's "Judas" (Oliver Watts & JBH club mix and the bootleg Stop Me Sinner club mix, respectively) are also part of this year's promo along with the surprise club hit, the campy "San Francisco Is My Disco" by Laura LaRue (not a drag queen). That song is Gay with a capital G and will be played at every Pride event internationally this summer, I'm sure. I liked the Wideboys remix but went with the even better Chus and Abel club version on my Pride mix.

Kelly Rowland does it again, in time for NYC Pride with "What a Feeling" (not the "Flashdance" number), her song with Alex Gaudino, and I was lucky to receive a special mix by Dj Lorri (Summer Splash mix) which I think is the most energetic.

This had to be the closing showstopper, one I could only follow with a blast from the past, "Souvenirs," a classic disco club swirler, to end the 12-track set.

So, more than a month in advance, wishing you a Happy LGBT Pride in New York and everywhere in the world. May its music lift you up!