Fagtastic Too Outta Bay Ridge, NYC

If John Waters thinks Baltimore is offbeat, he should visit Bay Ridge. And let me tell one and all, I'm thrilled to be living here in an apartment five or six times my Village digs in Manhattan. Windows, windows, windows; closets, closets, closets! I'm still stunned by the grandeur of it. An entire "dressing room?" You bet. (And you know I'm feeling all Crawfordy over it!)

But what would Mr Waters (who is doing a Christmas act at BB King NYC on Dec. 19 & 20) think about this area's being the home of the 99cent stores as well as home to the illegal u-turn and 3-point turn, which occur, indiscriminately, every minute it seems? Not to mention the huge, white turkeys stalking about in the florist window display directly across the street from me!

I went over to watch the nonchalant birds Sunday morning as a Brooklynite guidette mama (perfectly made up, coiffed and dressed in a belt-hugging minidress, for churchgoing) of two young ones purred a'la Fran Drescher on The Nanny, "Oooooh, my God, kids! Look! Turrrrkeees! Reeeel turrrkeys! Can ya fuckin' believe it!" (Why am I certain she received holy communion shortly thereafter?) She took a pic with her cell. How could I not fall in love with this burg?

This weekend was very productive. Kitchen bulletin board's up, as is rubber-ducky shower curtain & bath mat. Mainly, I hooked my audio system up and created my first promo cd since September.

April's Fagtastic promo still remains a popularly requested cd-r; so here comes Fagtastic Too in the same spirit. First up is the Betty White version of "I'm Still Hot" by Luciana, which hit #1 on Billboard's dance chart.

I followed that with a club mix of Adele's "Someone Like You," followed by a promo I have of Madonna's new number, "Give Me All Your Love" (Saint Ken mix), bound to reach your dancefloor and radio in December.

Then, another advance preview of Deborah Cox's latest outing,"If It Wasn't for Love."

Kathy Sledge, of Sister Sledge ("We Are Family") follows with her Billboard dance charter, "Give Yourself Up," preceding the unreleased Almighty 2010 remix of Cher's "Believe."

Other highlights include Erasure's "Be with You," already a dance smash in Europe; Selena Gomez's catchy "Love You Like a Love Song," and the divine, hi-nrg "Love SOS" by the stalwart Pepper Mashay.

Bay Ridge inspires me; more space assists my work; I expect the neighb influence will only make me more edgy and adventurous (though upbeat) on future cd-r promos.

I'll hate to see those turkeys go. Maybe they'll bring in elves for the next display. We'll see.

US Billboard & Diva Tweets

I love dancing. I think it's better to dance than to march through life. So tweeted Yoko Ono yesterday, and chances are, if you're reading Leave It to Beaverhausen, you love dancing too. So, let's see what's up on the Billboard club music top 25.

How Jennifer Lopez captured the numero uno dance/club spot this week is a mystery. I just don't get "Papi," a mediocre number with a hot title that had me expecting something more exciting. The remixes can only do so much and, number one or not, this JLo tune will not be on my turntables unless by gunpoint.

Selena Gomez' "Love You Like a Love Song" is so infectious that it's positively going viral. And why not? The pop tune has several keen dance mixes to choose from. My fave is the Dj Escape/Tony Collucio remix. "Love You" soared from #24 to #17 this week.

While Lady Gaga fell from grace as last week's #1 ("You & I"), she's at #5 after 7 strong weeks of charting. Taylor Dayne's "Floor on Fire" nudges up from #8 to #7, maybe running out of steam but certainly respectably nestled into the top ten.

The 22nd, 23rd and 24th positions this week are of interest. Kathy Sledge peaked at #20 with "Give Yourself Up", slid to #21 and now she's clawing on to #22. Tenacity! And a good dance number that deserved even better.

Beyonce's "Countdown" counts up from 35th position last week to #23 in a strong show for a solid song that oughtta keep dance floors packed at peak. And the divine Adele shimmies up to #24 from #29 with "Someone Like You," the remixes in the wake of the song's storming up the US pop chart.

By the way, Bette Midler's recent tweet? Justin Bieber has a scent? That's hilarious. It should be called "Someday I'm gonna Shave"....

And now I'm Following Ruth Buzzi! Till next time, keep dancing, keep loving, keep the peace & Occupy Wall Street.

Comeback, Little Divas

I was at the airport this afternoon, returning to New York on the very day my brother was picking up Mom's ashes from the funeral home. Our mother, whom we both love dearly and who loved us back unconditionally, may now be gone from our physical world, yet we sense her presence and serendipitously find messages from her in unlikely places.

Starting my first draft for this post as I waited for a connecting flight, I decided to look up Yoko Ono's age as it was my intent to post about diva comebacks currently on the US Billboard dance chart. Yoko recently went straight to number one on the "Club Play" list with "Talking to the Universe," and she is a prime example of an artist scoring a success in what's commonly thought to be a youth market.

It turns out that Yoko shares the same birthday as my mother! I was stunned by the improbable likelihood of this fact and by the timing of my discovery. Both were born on February 18, only three years apart. There are no coincidences, so I think the Universe is now talking to me!

But I want to move on to the diva comeback business. Let's start with Taylor Dayne, who has successfully recaptured Billboard's dance music chart, soaring from #21 to #16 this week with "Floor on Fire." I've mentioned this exciting, upbeat nouveux-disco tune before and it's got "international hit" written all over it. The one-time Leslie Wunderman from New York City is a vocal Wonderwoman who has topped the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart three times, lastly with the 2008 song "Beautiful." Best known for her dance-pop debut, "Tell It to My Heart" in 1987, 49-year-old Taylor last attempted to conquer the disco world with "Facing a Miracle", the official theme song to the 2010 Gay Games. Dayne performed that song to an audience of 50,000 fans on July 31, 2010 in Cologne, Germany. It failed to hit the top of the US club chart, however. But it's a new year, new song, new groove and welcome back, diva Dayne!

Gloria Estefan is this week's Billboard dance queen, sitting pretty with her newest single, "Wepa." Ralphi Rosario works it best in the remixing and it certainly is the best thing she's done in years, robust and moving, deserving of nailing that #1 spot.

And then there's Kathy Sledge of -- oh, yes! -- Sister Sledge. She is family, even without all her sisters with she! This is Kathy's big comeback, though her solo outings have fared well before with Billboard, especially "Take Me Back To Love Again," which hit #1 in 1992. Her new track is called "Give Yourself Up" on Universal, featuring Adam Barta, and produced by Mike Rizzo and Mr. Mig. It could be a big anthem for the fall, so keep your eyes (and ears) on it. Again, a sound poised for success, appealing to global tastes.

It's such a nice feeling to embrace old friends. Some voices we never tire of. We could dance to some of them forever, given the right material. But nothing is forever, unfortunately. Or is it?

Mom, I got your message today. Love you back.