Night of a Thousand Gowns 2015

Buddy Beaverhausen attended Night of a Thousand Gowns for the first time last night. The annual event, now in its 29th year, is a very formal affair that's black tie and fabulous frocks. Why, it puts the ball in Disney's Cinderella to shame! I was comped in as press to the pricey event, the only way I could afford to go. I arrived in a tie, sweater and black slacks and was seated in a nosebleed section for us press and bloggers. Paying for a ticket on top of whipping up an outfit could be like putting the money together for a downpayment on a condo.

All for a good cause though as the event is a benefit for New York City's LGBT Center and the Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

I arose from the plebian subway and entered the glamor and grandiosity of the Marriott Hotel in Times Square! It was here that the cross-dressing Imperial Court of New York strutted its stuff. But, oh, what a soulful strut!

Jody Watley has lost none of her star power. She was one of the evening's entertainers and she elecrified. Another standout was '90s diva Rockell.

The evening added more star power with the year's co-chairs Dionne Warwick and transgender superstar Candis Cayne. Deborah Harry was on hand as was reality-tv darling, Big Ang among other luminaries.

Johnny Dynell did a fabulous job dj-ing the evening as well.

It was pointless to try to get any pictures from my vantage point last evening. But if it's names, names, names or regal outfits you crave, you can't do better than Night of a Thousand Gowns. Because elegance has a place in our lives and it's good to be reminded of that. Such is Buddy B's philosophy.

I slunk out near the end, into the late night, feeling like I arrived like Cinderella  at the ball in her glad rags after the clock struck 12.  I got into my coach (the subway) back to Brooklyn and sat at my computer, on the Internet, too jazzed up for sleep. When I finally went to bed, my mind raced with thoughts of how even more fabulous the Imperial Court's 30th Anniversary could be. And about renting a tux. And paying my own way. And enjoying it all to the fullest. Because, of all things, Night of a Thousand Gowns is an affirmation of life in the material world.

The Week in Dance Divas

Scary Spice Mel B is all the way up at # 2 on the Billboard dance/club songs chart that ends February 22 with "For Once in My Life," the only diva news that interests me off that particular Top 25 list this week. There are a series of hot remixes for this tune, including those by Dave Aude and Dark Intensity, though my personal fave is Sobel Promotions' Dj Pornstar remix. Looking at #1 next week.

Debbie Harry and Blondie seem to be all over the news these days as they continue their tour and are about to release a new album. Apparently, they are the latest international pop stars to say nyet to the Sochi winter Olympics. At last week’s Amnesty International concert at Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, Blondie, along with Madonna, Elton John and a roster of other artists spoke -- and sang -- out against Russia’s current persecution of the LGBT community.

Debbie Harry spoke with Huffington Post:

Blondie passed on the opportunity to perform a 45-minute set in Sochi during the Winter Olympics, citing concerns over civil rights abuses in Russia as their rationale for rejecting the big gig.

“Blondie has always been a part of the downtown community in NYC, with many, many friends who represent alternative lifestyles," frontwoman Debbie Harry said in a statement sent to The Huffington Post. "We feel very strongly about these friendships and associations, and don’t feel good about participating in a situation where biases and prejudices are paramount."

Meanwhile, on my turntables this week, Kylie Minogue generates some winter heat with her new "Into the Blue." Love Club Tribe mix very nice as is Brian Cua's big room treatment. Talking about Aussie divas, 7th Heaven does a wonderful job of bringing Tina Arena's "Reset All" to life as an upbeat dancefloor number. The Max Sanna/Steve Pitron mix will also get crowds to their feet as will the Country Club Martini Crew mix. Tina Arena is such an underrated diva in this country. Her pipes are strong, vibrant, brilliant and shine through these mixes.

The fabulous Beverley Knight's back, courtesy of Nervo & Ivan Gough. True diva drama with "Not Taking This No More," a hot electro-houser from the indie Spinnin' Records. The extended original mix (at just over 5 1/2 minutes) is best. Ms Knight drives it!

The Shakira vs Rihanna "Can't Remember to Forget Your Name" gives good diva energy. Especially loving the Miguel Vargas Club mix. On the other hand, not impressed by mixes of Beyonce's "Blow." Blowing that one off.

Lady Gaga's "Do What U Want" featuring Christine Aguilera is excellent (Gagaguilera), especially in the Ultimix redo. Clubland heat! Jennifer Hudson's "I Can't Describe" is also a fine, funky and upbeat diva affair especially as mixed by the Baggi Hand Bag House remix. Hudson sounds so much like Chaka on this one. Amazing.

Thanks to my readership. Without you I am nothing. Really. Thanks to the USA, you are my solid base! Germany, the Ukraine, the Uk, thank you for your strong support! France, Japan, Australia, Indonesia: I send you my love. Mexico, Algeria, Brazil, India, Canada, Russia, Poland, Spain, Norway: Dancefloor kisses!

Clubs should bring people together. No exclusionary policies. Get together on the dancefloors and make the world a better place, rainbow people. Peace, out. :)

Blondie to Receive NME's Godlike Genius Award

The BBC has reported: US band Blondie are to collect an award for their life's work at the NME Awards in London later this month.

The veteran group, who are celebrating their 40th year together, will receive the magazine's 'Godlike Genius' award at a ceremony on 26 February.

"It's out of proportion, but it's nice to be recognised," said lead singer Debbie Harry.

"I find it particularly interesting that there aren't many Americans who've been given this award before, so that's flattering," added Harry.

Blondie last charted a number one hit in 1999 with their single, "Maria" from the No Exit album. "Maria" failed to be a hit in the USA, unfortunately, peaking at # 82 on Billboard's Hot 100. The song has a devoted cult following, however, judging by audience requests shouted to the band at Blondie's 2013 Roseland concert.

New Musical Express ("NME") is a British  pop/rock magazine published since 1952. It turns 62 in March.

Blondie, the NYC-based musical group, is best known for their songs, "Heart of Glass," "Call Me," "Hanging on the Telephone," "Rapture," "Atomic," "The Tide Is High" among many others.

Mike Williams, editor at NME, stated that the band was chosen in their 40th anniversary year and stated, "They rewrote the rule book in the late '70s by dragging punk rock to the top of the charts."
Williams added that Harry, 68, is "the most iconic front-woman rock 'n' roll has ever produced."

In 2006, Blondie was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood as well.

According to Wikipedia regarding Blondie's latest double-album: "Ghosts of Download" will be released in a 2-disc package entitled "Blondie 4(0) Ever" which will celebrate the band's fortieth anniversary with the new album and a collection of Blondie's hit singles re-recorded and remixed in 2013. The band's official worldwide 40th anniversary tour will begin in February 2014 and span many countries, shows and continents.

Accepting NME's Godlike Genius Award, Blondie will also perform at the ceremony February 26th at O2 Academy in Brixton, south London.

Debbie Harry: Vanity Fair 2014 Fashion Idol

Debbie Harry photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair magazine 2014

Conde Nast publication, Vanity Fair, tips us off about its article in the new February issue: In honor of Blondie’s upcoming 40th-anniversary reunion tour, and Annie Leibovitz’s portrait of the singer in the February issue of Vanity Fair, we thought it high time to take a look back at the greatest fashion moments of one of rock ’n’ roll’s preeminent female icons. From punk tees and bodysuits to Stephen Sprouse vintage couture, a survey of four decades of Debbie Harry’s iconoclastic style.

There will be a layout honoring Debbie as punk's fashion goddess. Plus the magazine will feature an exclusive photograph by Annie Leibovitz, an icon herself. (See above.) http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/10/happy-birthday-annie-leibovitz.html

I recently enjoyed Blondie's performance in NYC at Roseland, and one of the burning questions on the audience's collective tongue was: "Does anyone know what she's going to wear tonight?" Turned out a little black dress was the style for the evening, it suited her well and she knew how to work it. http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/10/debbie-harry-and-blondie-rule-roseland.html

Pretty Baby: Harry in 1970, 6 yrs before debut album w/ Blondie

Debbie Harry is a true diva and fashion plate; certainly punk's poster girl in the '70s, and a perennial rock/disco fashion icon for over forty years.

We look forward to getting our mitts on this Vanity Fair issue for this article alone. Congrats, Ms Harry, on getting the recognition you certainly deserve!

Debbie Harry and Blondie Rule Roseland

Blondie brought their international "No Principals" tour to Roseland last night in Manhattan with X, the '70s punk rock band (with Exene Cervenka) as their opening act.

Their set first brought the spectacle of Brooklyn-based multi-horn brass band, One Cheer, filling the stage physically and aurally before the pop-punk band entered as the brass faded and filed off.

Debbie Harry pranced onstage like the enduring diva she is, in a chic, black graduation gown-styled frock and dunce cap (No Principals), opening with the classic "One Way or Another" from Blondie's breakthrough album, Parallel Lines. Ms Harry's hair was a retro 'do of long blonde tresses. And our girl really knows how to use her head when it comes to working a mini fall! Behind the band was a plethora of non-stop video images as Ms Harry stepped lithely and lively, swirling across the stage. This is a vast improvement, performance-wise, from her heyday (when she was often, perhaps, a bit too stoned to grace us by breaking a move and was physically stiff, though who wasn't at the time).

What followed was a clever and canny set of hits and newer tunes. "Hangin' on the Telephone," "Union City Blues," "Atomic" and "Heart of Glass" were stirred in with the recent single, "A Rose Is Still a Rose" and catchy, energetic current numbers like "Take Me in the Night." (Ripe for remixes!)



Blondie returned for a five-song encore, going back to their first album, Blondie, and the second, Plastic Letters with songs like "X Offender." LGBT fans will qvell learning Miss H even brought legendary drag diva Miss Guy, onstage for a duet before wrapping up with "Call Me," "Dreaming" (a favorite of mine, from the Eat to the Beat album) and bringing the horns back for a "Tide Is High" blow-out. Viva Blondie!



Chris Stein and the band (enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) displayed an outstanding mastery, showing vast controlled and expert musicianship since Blondie's garage band days.  Some things get better with age and Blondie is one of them.

Roseland's sound system led my friends, people around us and I to believe the sound check may not have been sufficient pre-concert as it took a few songs into the set for proper adjustments to the mix to occur.

We hoped the group would perform their hit (outside the US, though it charted on club charts here), "Maria." I was also hoping for "Pretty Baby," "Sunday Girl," "Touched by Your Presence Dear" and so on and so forth but, honestly, how much of their vast catalog can they do in a single concert!

The night's set started off powerfully with no patter from the diva until after her third number when she doffed her gown (the cap was removed after song numero uno), revealing a fit figure in a low-cut little black dress. Very binky! 

The New Wave idol's voice is a treasure. Like, say, Cher or Ronnie Spector, Debbie is a shining example of the burnishing individualism of pop female voices from earlier eras before a bland conformity and autotuning (not to mention twirking) were deemed necessary to manufacture a hit.

It was a trans-generational audience with a fair share of aging CBGB/ The Mudd Club people. Nobody seemed disappointed.

Grooviest moment you may ask? Definitely "Rapture" followed by a ebullient cover of Beastie Boys' "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." That rap classic might be my mantra these days.

Madonna's First Album: Now 30 Years Old

Madonna has maintained her dominance in pop/dance music now for three decades! Which is an astounding success for any artist. She is, as I have pronounced previously, the Joan Crawford of Disco, reinventing herself for longevity in a youth-crazy culture.

"Queen of Pop is a term that is thrown around loosely nowadays with this latest bumper crop of female singers. The artist who first inserted that honor into the music vernacular, Madonna, undoubtedly still wears that crown proudly," wrote the UK's Examiner. 

Released July 27, 1983, the self-titled "Madonna" album "debuted at No. 190 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Sept. 3, 1983, and eventually climbed all the way No. 8 the following year. The Sire/Warner Bros. Records release spent a staggering 168 weeks on the chart -- the longest run of any Madonna album," according to Billboard. "It spun off three top 20 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and four entries on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs tally."

"Everybody" was the first single that was released from this eight-track album, and it became an immediate sensation. "Holiday," "Burning Up," "Borderline," "Physical Attraction," "Lucky Star," the Madonna album launched many hits and turned the vocalist into a multi-media star who dominated MTV at one time, and into a savvy businesswoman and entrepreneur as well. She became an industry as well as a legend.

Madonna has also co-opted other female artists' images to suit own, most notably Debbie Harry and Cyndi Lauper. Said Ms Harry in an interview today with UK's The Sun: At one of my lowest points, Madonna started her career and everyone said she stepped into my shoes. I was kind of shocked and not very happy in the long run. But she has been complimentary over the years. That compensates."

Madonna's feuded publicly with many other divas, including Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Lady GaGa. Still, she was a major inspiration for many female pop artists and remains so today.

The Madonna album was produced by her then-lover at the time, Jellybean Benitez.  Asked by Dick Clark, on American Bandstand,  where she sang "Holiday" from the debut album, what she considered her goal to be, Madonna snapped: "To rule the world."

She's nearly succeeded.

Happy Birthday, Debbie Harry!

Deborah Harry turns 68 today. Amazing!

The lead singer and "face" of the punk/New Wave band Blondie, who has also sung solo, hails from Hawthorne, NJ, so close to where I grew up in Paterson. She reputedly dated my ex-sister-in-law's brother-in-law!

Harry was born in Miami, Florida but adopted by Catherine Harry and Richard Smith, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne. Harry later moved to New York City, worked as a secretary for BBC Radio, was a waitress at Max's Kansas City, a go-go dancer in Union City, NJ and a Playboy Bunny in NYC.

She first recorded, as a back-up girl, with a group called Wind in the Willows (on Capitol Records), then with the girl-group The Stilettos, before hooking up with Chris Stein and forming Blondie.

One of the iconic women of rock'n'roll, and a supporter of LGBT rights, we salute her with this fave solo number of mine, produced by Jellybean Benitez (early Madonna) below.

Happy Birthday, Debbie!

New Blondie Single!

The new Blondie gender-bending single, "A Rose by Any Name," is out, featuring Beth Ditto of Gossip. Very electro-pop and very cool. Plus, so LGBT Pride appropriate! Can dance remixes be on the way?

"Heart of Glass," Blondie Live on The Midnight Special

1979: Like it or lick it! [Debbie Harry]

1979, and Blondie goes disco with "Heart of Glass" from their Parallel Lines album.  Some felt the band had sold out; some felt they broke new ground, a punk/disco fusion. Nonetheless, the song went to #1 on the Top 100, while peaking at #7 on the Dance Chart, perhaps because it wasn't discofied enough!

1979. Blondie. So young, so beautiful. Look at Debbie Harry and how lovely she is. And how stoned she looks! Oh my God, and those clothes! Did she borrow them from Agnetha, of ABBA; the shoes, perhaps, from Daisy Duck? One piece, low-cut kulats with matching headband. Not to mention klutziest dance moves ever! You can't be straight (in the non-sexual sense of the word) and pull this together!

Hey, it was 1979!  Still, I luv huh (Debbie); love them (the band), and the song is part of both rock -- and dance music -- history.

I give you "Heart of Glass" as performed on tv's old Midnight Special, the poor man's (and stoner's -- not that I should know!) Bandstand.

Hey, I told you it was 1979!