Erin O'Riordan writes smart, whimsical erotica. Her erotic romance novel trilogy, Pagan Spirits, is now available. With her husband, she also writes crime novels. Visit her home page at ko-fi.com.
You may recall from yesterday's post that I was eagerly, not-so-patiently awaiting the Hamilton performance on last night's Grammys telecast, as well as Lady Gaga's tribute to the recently deceased David Bowie. I wasn't disappointed by either of those musical moments! Here are some of my other favorites.
'Hamilton' genius creator/performer Lin-Manuel Miranda
Creative Commons image by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Taylor Swift started off the program with a performance of her "Out of the Woods," the latest single from her 1989 album. Meh. Personally I think the singles peaked at "Blank Space" and have been getting steadily less interesting ever since. "Style?" Pretty good song. I like the reference to James Dean and that Vampire Academy hottie Dominic Sherwood appears in the video. "Bad Blood?" Frankly, I think the song's a little cheesy. The "Band-Aids don't fix bullet holes" line is my favorite thing about the lyrics. "Out of the Woods" - I can barely even think of any of the lyrics other than:
Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods yet?
Are we out of the woods yet?...
...You get the idea. Swift looked AMAZING, though, both in her daring two-piece red carpet ballgown and in the starlit bodysuit she performed in. (It did remind me a little of Beyonce's dark blue bodysuit on an awards show of several years ago.)
A performance I liked a lot better was Little Big Town's haunting live rendition of "Girl Crush." The song itself won 2 Grammys.
One thing I wasn't expecting to see during the Grammys was the trailer for the third Divergent Series movie, Allegiant. I found myself unexpectedly choked up by the sight of Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior.
Commercials give me feelings. I also choked up just a little bit when I saw the trailer for Tim Burton's Through the Looking Glass. Alice was following a blue butterfly, and when the butterfly spoke, it was in the voice of Alan Rickman, also recently deceased. The movie actually looks interesting - even though I don't love Johnny Depp's over-the-top Mad Hatter performance - but it's always bittersweet to see a beloved, late actor in one of their last roles. (See Also: Robin Williams in the surprisingly-good Night at the Museum 3.)
Shortly after the Through the Looking Glass spot, the Hamilton cast performed, and it was an exquisite pleasure. Equally moving, though? When the Hamilton cast recording won its Grammy, Lin-Manuel Miranda whipped out his acceptance speech and proceeded to perform it as a rap. This guy's a bona fide musical genius - to live at this moment is like being alive when George Gershwin put out Rhapsody in Blue.
Then, after I got Tit Elingtin hooked up on his dialysis machine, we could relax and enjoy Lady Gaga's David Bowie tribute. Which was amazing. The only thing I wished she'd have done differently was spend a little more time on "Rebel Rebel."
The part I really didn't think I would like, but that I ended up liking, was the tribute to Lionel Ritchie. Ritchie's music reminds me of my childhood- '80s kid here - but I can't exactly say I'm a fan. And, when I was a kid, "Hello" used to make me cry. It's not even a sad song, per say--more about longing than actual sadness. But I have some funny brain chemistry and slow-paced songs will sometimes affect me with mood contagion in a way that doesn't feel too good.
And yet! When Demi Lovato performed a fragment of "Hello," I genuinely enjoyed it.
But then, I like Demi Lovato. Maybe because she's a feminist. Maybe because she sang "Cool For the Summer," in which the heterosexual performer sounded decidedly heteroflexible for another girl*. Great, very catchy song, and she looks incredibly sexy in the video.
My girl crush on Demi Lovato is not platonic.
Some parts of the Grammys show I really didn't care for. I didn't like the song Adele performed, which she co-wrote with Bruno Mars. I haven't been enjoying Adele's latest album much at all. None of the singles have been upbeat rockers like "Rolling in the Deep." But even if she hadn't had technical difficulties with the microphone on the piano, I still wouldn't have enjoyed the overly-sentimental song with lyrics that didn't make much sense.
I also didn't like the duet between Tori Kelly and James Bay much. (Both of them lost Best New Artist to Meghan Trainor, who was adorably flustered and tearful when she won.) Kelly's half of the performance was good, but Bay seemed like he was whispering, tentative, or not trying as hard as Kelly. He may be very talented, but I wouldn't have known it based on the Grammys.
We turned off the TV and went to sleep during the Vampires of Hollywood performance. Overall, it was a Grammys telecast well worth watching.
*At that time, Lovato publicly identified as a woman. This was prior to their coming out as nonbinary.
70. "Simply the Best (from Schitt's Creek)" Noah Reid - Reid's newer album is great, but this super-romantic Patrick x David track from the tv show is irresistible. I like to imagine that by this point in their marriage, David has totally given in to Patrick's wish to have children and they currently have 3 or 4.
68. "Why Can't I?" Liz Phair - I may have been inspired to listen to Liz Phair after hearing this back episode of Chelsea Devantez's books podcast
67. "The Diva Dance - Remix by SWO" - Eric Serra, Inva Mula, SWO - on the Reading playlist
66. "SMOKE HOUR" Beyoncé, Willie Nelson - another short, spoken word track that frequently made its way into the rotation while I was enjoying Cowboy Carter
65. "Hard To Be the Bard" Christian Borle
64. "Starman" David Bowie - I made a meme.
63. "Radioactive - GROUPLOVE & Captain Cuts Remix" Imagine Dragons. Ages ago, this song was used in the advertising for the film based on Stephenie Meyer's The Host. I like this remix because it sounds like it's playing while I'm riding the merry-go-round.
As you'll surely recall from Part 1, I've had a tremendous amount to say about Ernest Hemingway and Bob Dylan. Same deal with the Beatles, so they get their own post.
A 1964 photo of Harrison, McCartney, and Lennon in the Netherlands. Public domain.
Almanac Entries:
January 9 January 9, 1968: Look Magazine publishes Richard Avedon’s photographs of The Beatles.
January 12 January 12, 1963: The Beatles release their second single, “Please Please Me,” which goes on to be their first #1 single in the U.K. My Baby Boomer parents are each 10 years old on this date.
January 19 January 19, 1971: During Charles Manson’s murder trial, Manson’s defense attorneys introduce the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter” into evidence. According to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, one of Manson’s delusion beliefs was that the song, written by Paul McCartney, referred to a coming race war. In reality, the lyrics refer to the literal meaning of a helter skelter, an English amusement ride consisting of a tower with a slide curling around it.
January 21 Friday, January 21, 1966: George Harrison and Pattie Boyd get married.
January 30 January 30, 1969: The Beatles perform a 42-minute concert on the roof of their Apple Corporation record company building in London, as documented in the concert film Let It Be. It will be their last public performance together.
January 31 January 31, 1967: On Johnny Rotten’s 11th birthday, John Lennon is shopping at an antiques store in Sevenoaks in the English county of Kent. He finds and purchases a vintage circus poster, the text of which becomes the basis for the Beatles song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.”
February 1 February 1, 1964: The #1 single in the U.S. is The Beatles’s “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
February 9 February 9, 1964: The Beatles play five songs on The Ed Sullivan Show.
February 12 February 12, 1964: The Beatles perform a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall.
“I saw nothing was permanent. You don’t want to possess anything that is dear to you because you might lose it.” - Yoko Ono
February 18, 1971: For her 38th birthday, John Lennon Ono gifts his wife a snow-white Steinway piano.
February 20 February 20, 1994, South Bend: My brother and I went to the Main Library. I checked out some books I needed for a research project, and also some Beatles CDs.
February 26 Sunday, February 26, 1995, South Bend: I went to the Morris Performing Arts Center and saw 1964: The Tribute, a Beatles tribute band. I recognized three people in the audience: a pair of sisters who went to the same grade school as me, and Mr. Thomas Gerencher.
February 26, 1997: At the 39th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden, The Beatles won a Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Grammy for “Free As a Bird.” Other winners included Tony Bennett, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, the Dave Matthews Band, and The Smashing Pumpkins.
February 29 February 29, 1968: At the 10th annual Grammy Awards, the Beatles win Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The Beatles are not in attendance in Los Angeles that evening, as they are in India learning at the feet of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, along with Mia Farrow, her sister Prudence, Scottish folk singer Donovan Leitch, and Mike Love of The Beach Boys.
March 5 March 5, 1963: The Beatles record “From Me to You” at Abbey Road.
Sunday, March 5, 1995, South Bend: Having read The Plague, I turned to a library book titled The Worst Rock and Roll Records Ever Made: A Fan's Guide to the Stuff You Love to Hate by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O’Donnell [ISBN 0806512318 9780806512310].
Here’s a list of some of the songs and bands Guterman and O’Donnell love to hate: 1. “Dancing in the Street” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie 2. “Eve of Destruction” 3. “American Pie” 4. The Doors 5. Mick Jagger’s brother Chris 6. The U2 album The Unforgettable Fire (which includes “Pride (In the Name of Love);” see April 4) 7. Ringo Starr’s albums Stop and Smell the Roses and Old Wave 8. Really anything done by Ringo Starr and (especially) Paul McCartney after the Beatles 9. The 1981 live Rolling Stones album Still Life 10. Duran Duran
March 11 March 11, 1997: Paul McCartney becomes Sir Paul McCartney when he is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
March 13 March 13, 1965: “Eight Days A Week” by The Beatles hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
March 20 March 20, 1969: As chronicled in “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married in the then-British territory of Gibraltar, near Spain.
March 29 March 29, 1994, South Bend: I drove my neighbors Jay and Ryan to school this morning. We heard Aerosmith’s “Come Together” on the radio. They knew the Beatles original but had never heard the Aerosmith cover before.
March 30 March 30, 1967: The Beatles photograph the album cover photo of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Artists Jann Haworth and Peter Blake have designed the image, which portrays the group in colorful pseudo-military uniforms, surrounded by wax sculptures of themselves and numerous cardboard cutouts of famous people. Among those depicted by the cutouts are Lenny Bruce, William S. Burroughs, Lewis Carroll, Stephen Crane, Bob Dylan, Aldous Huxley, James Joyce, Carl Jung, Marilyn Monroe, Edgar Allan Poe, Dylan Thomas, H.G. Wells, Mae West, and Oscar Wilde.
April 2 April 2, 1974: Barbra Streisand wins an Oscar for her song “The Way We Were,” beating out Paul McCartney’s James Bond theme “Live and Let Die.”
April 8 April 8, 1963: John and Cynthia Lennon’s son John Charles Julian Lennon is born in Liverpool, U.K.
April 9 April 9, 1965: The Beatles release “Ticket to Ride” as a single.
April 9, 1969: Bob Dylan releases his Nashville Skyline album, featuring Johnny Cash on “Girl From the North Country.” On the same day, Bruce McBroom photographs the Beatles in their second-to-last photo shoot as a group.
April 11 April 11, 1964: The Beatles have 14 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart hits, including “Can’t Buy Me Love” at #1 and “Twist & Shout” at #2.
April 14 April 14, 1963: The Beatles and the Rolling Stones meet for the first time. The Beatles are in Richmond, England, to film a TV appearance. The Rolling Stones are performing at a Richmond club; the two groups meet backstage.
April 16 April 16, 1971: Ringo Starr releases his single “It Don’t Come Easy.”
April 16, 1973: ABC broadcasts the tv special James Paul McCartney, on which McCartney debuts “Live and Let Die.”
April 19 April 19, 1998, South Bend: Mom, Stephanie, and I saw City of Angels at University Park Mall. I liked it because it was a celebration of why it’s good to be human. Afterward we went to Denny’s and had pie and coffee. Later, sitting in my room reading a People magazine with Tammy Wynette on the cover, I heard on the radio that Linda McCartney had died. She and Paul had been together for the past 30 years.
April 26 Sunday, April 26, 1998, St. Mary’s College: I spent most of the day writing papers and working on a Sculpture project. In the evening I saw the 200th Simpsons episode, “Trash of the Titans” (production code 5F09). Bart and Homer crashed a U2 concert; best guest voices ever. The episode was dedicated to another previous guest voice, Linda McCartney.
May 9 May 9, 1964: Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly” becomes the #1 song on the U.S. popular music charts, ending the Beatles’ 14-week streak of having the #1 single. Three Beatles songs (“Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “She Loves You”) contributed to the streak.
May 13 May 13, 1970: The Beatles documentary Let It Be, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, premieres in New York.
May 14 May 14, 1968: John Lennon and Paul McCartney appear on The Tonight Show to talk about the newly-formed Apple business venture. While Johnny Carson is on vacation, the show is co-hosted by Tallulah Bankhead and pro baseball catcher-turned-tv personality Joe Garagiola. (Neat guy, Joe Garagiola. He was an honorary member of the Akimel O’otham tribal community because he helped bring badly-needed resources to the deeply impoverished Gila River Indian Reservation.)
May 22 May 22, 1965: The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” hits #1 on the singles chart.
May 27 May 27, 1967: Tit Elingtin is born in Pontiac, Michigan, one day after the Beatles had released their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (in the U.K.; its U.S. release date was June 2nd).
June 4 June 4, 1969: The Beatles release “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in the U.S. In the U.K. it came out on May 30th.
June 16, 2001, South Bend: Once upon a time, South Bend had a summer festival called the Ethnic Festival. Tit and I, living in a downtown apartment near where the festival took place, visited it both yesterday and today. On this day we ate lunch while listening to a reggae band named Indika.
We went home for a while, but came back out after dinner to have a funnel cake and listen to a Beatles tribute band. They wore the full Beatles suits and wigs even in the heat. They played many lesser-known songs such as “Boys” and “Taxman.” For a free concert on a beautiful night in the park, it was great. We watched the fireworks afterward.
June 17 June 17, 1974: John Lennon is in a New York recording studio working on his album Walls and Bridges when Elton John pays him a visit. Elton John hears the potential in the track “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night” and agrees to play piano on the song.
June 18 June 18, 1942: Paul McCartney and Roger Ebert are born.
June 18, 1973: John Lennon-Ono and Yoko Ono-Lennon attend the Watergate court hearings and hear John Dean testify. They sit beside Nixon adviser Elvin Bell in the second row, behind Dean’s wife Maureen.
July 1 July 1, 1968: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s collaborative art exhibit You Are Here (To Yoko from John Lennon, With Love) opens in London.
July 18 July 18, 1995, South Bend: I dropped Mom off at work. When I came home, I turned on the tv to see Yoko Ono and beautiful, 19-year-old Sean Lennon on the Today show.
I had stuffed crust pizza for supper. Ringo Starr stars in those commercials. He says, “I’d do it in a second. The fans will dig it. They’ve been waiting long enough. I think I can convince them. I’ll say, ‘Lads, the time has come...to eat our pizza crust-first!” And then The Monkees show up and Ringo says, “Wrong lads.”
August 15 August 15, 1965: The Beatles perform at Shea Stadium, home field of the New York Mets, in front of a crowd of 56,000.
August 26 August 26, 1968: The Beatles release their single “Hey Jude” in the United States. The B-side track is “Revolution.” Between September and November 1968, it will be the #1 single in the U.S. for nine straight weeks.
August 29 August 29, 1966: The Beatles play their last public performance together at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
August 30 August 30, 1968: The Beatles single with “Hey Jude” on one side and “Revolution” on the reverse is released in the U.K.
September 9 September 9, 1971: John Lennon releases the single “Imagine” in the U.S.
September 20 September 20, 1974: David Bowie and John Lennon meet for the first time at Dean Martin’s 21st birthday party for Martin’s son Ricci. Ringo Starr, Elton John, and Elizabeth Taylor are also there.
September 24 September 24, 1941: Linda McCartney is born, as Linda Eastman, in Scarsdale, New York. Her Jewish family’s name is Epstein before her father Anglicizes it to Eastman, but she’s not related to Beatles manager Brian Epstein. It’s entirely coincidental that the eventual Sir Paul marries this beautiful, talented photographer who happens to be an Epstein. She was the first woman to shoot the cover photograph for Rolling Stone magazine.
September 26 September 26, 1969: The Beatles release Abbey Road.
September 27 September 27, 1967: George Martin oversees the recording of the orchestral score of The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus.” The Mike Sammes Singers record their backing vocals for the track.
October 9 October 9, 1940: John Winston Lennon is born in Liverpool, England, U.K. at Liverpool Maternity Hospital.
October 9, 1971: On her husband’s 31st birthday, Yoko Ono Lennon’s solo art exhibition This Is Not Here opens in New York City. Among the guests who attend opening night is Allen Ginsberg.
October 24 October 24, 1975: Apple Records releases Shaved Fish, a compilation album by John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Band, in the U.S.
October 31 October 31, 1994, South Bend: I went to school dressed all in black. In the hall before classes, Kristen gave me a lemon Pez from a witch Pez dispenser. In Media we began learning about the Beatles. After school, I watched a lot of TV, including the Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” episode (7F04), with “The Raven” read by James Earl Jones.
November 1 November 1, 1968: George Harrison releases Wonderwall Music, the first solo album by any of the Beatles.
November 2 November 2, 1994, South Bend: In our continuing exploration of the Beatles in Media, I learned that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” is not about LSD at all, but rather about a drawing that Julian Lennon drew when he was quite small.
November 2, 1973: John Lennon releases his fourth solo album, Mind Games, and Ringo Starr releases (in the U.S.) his third solo album, Ringo. Ringo features songs written with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. Studio musicians on Ringo include Marc Bolan and Billy Preston.
November 2, 1987: George Harrison releases his final album, Cloud Nine.
November 16 November 16, 1974: The #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart is “Whatever Gets You Through the Night” from John Lennon’s fifth solo album, Walls and Bridges.
November 17, 1980: Yoko Ono and John Lennon Ono release their Double Fantasy album, the second album ever released on Geffen Records.
November 24 November 24, 1993, South Bend: American Literature class began with one of classmates (Jessica or Nicole) asking Mr. Gerencher “Who is the other Beatle in this picture with John Lennon?” It was Yoko Ono. We then got around to discussing Edgar Allan Poe.
December 10, 1995, St. Mary’s: I read three stories from my soon-to-be-returned literature book: Ursula K. LeGuin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas,” Donald Barthelme’s “The Sandman,” and Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilých.”
At 8 p.m. I went to Lessons and Carols in the Church of Loretto. Sister Jean read “Christmas Calls a Community,” which was Lesson #8. I liked it, because the music was great and it had dancing. This is a Roman Catholic community, so we don’t usually have liturgical dancing.
After the service, I made hot chocolate and watched the classic ‘80s movie Space Camp with Charmaine and some of the other women from our floor. While we were watching it, Kara came by and asked me if I had the Beatles’ White Album, because she wanted to listen to “Rocky Raccoon,” but that’s not one I have.
December 20 December 20, 1980: Twelve days after the artist’s death, “(Just Like) Starting Over” by John Lennon becomes the first #1 hit for Lennon as a solo artist.
December 26 December 26, 1963: The first Beatles singles to be released in the U.S., “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” are...released...in the U.S. Sorry, I couldn’t think of a more clever way to word this clearly.
December 31 December 31, 2010: Tit and I celebrated the New Year at Tom and Melissa’s house again. We ate, drank some mixed drinks, and hung out, talking. Melissa’s brother Andrew and I played Beatles Rock Band together. After midnight, I switched to drinking soda so I could be our designated driver.
What - you've never heard of National Man Watcher's Day?! Jace Shoemaker-Galloway gives a clear description of it in her January 8th Examiner.com article.
Please, allow me to assist you in the fine art of man-watching. Let me take you back to Halloween week, when Pagan Spirits celebrated Werewolf Wednesday:
Back in June, I created one of my all-time favorite posts...but you knew that from my New Year's round-up of my favorite posts from 2012. It was 5 Jewish Dudes I'd Most Like to See Lewd, inspired by Anthony Weiner. This gives us the infamous Adam Levine (one of my Hanukkah Hotties) nude shot.
Men are fun to watch by themselves, and great when they come in pairs. The fictional should-be couple I keep obsessing about is Qhuinn-Blaylock, J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Conveniently, "Qhuinn and Blaylock should totally get together!" has been shortened to "Team Qhuay." Hotness results.
You can't tell from the above fanfic graphic, but Qhuinn has two different-colored eyes. Just like David Bowie, who turns 65 on this National Man Watcher's Day 2011. He was in the The Prestige, along with the one man you just knew I couldn't go without mentioning, and watching.
As I sit impatiently waiting for the Grammy Awards show with Lady Gaga's tribute to David Bowie (plus a musical number from the cast of Lin Manuel Miranda's brilliant show Hamilton), please enjoy this essay originally published at the now-defunct Oysters and Chocolate erotica website.
Ever since the days of Sappho, poets and songwriters have been perfecting the art of the playful, uniquely worded verbal flirtation. It didn’t begin with Lady Gaga, but the pop superstar has both blatant sexuality and a way with memorable turns of a phrase. Pluck a few lines from her songs and you’ll find an intriguing roadmap for an erotic encounter with someone special. Go forth and have a wild, fashionable time in the name of Gaga.
Eyeliner and Cigarettes
It starts with a look. Biologists will tell you the first stage of the human mating ritual is eye contact. Wide eyes signal interest; in fact, when we meet someone we’re really interested in, our pupils dilate. Eyeliner is an artificial way of making our eyes look bigger, a sort of cosmetic flirt. The effect can be especially striking on guys, for whom wearing make-up is a rebellious sign of going against society’s grain. Eyeliner instantly makes a guy look like a rock star, or like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. Either could be a very hot look.
A night of passion doesn’t have to begin with eyeliner, though. Whatever kind of flair makes you feel like a sexier, flirtier version of yourself will work. The cigarettes, likewise, don’t have to be literal. Cigarettes, like eyeliner on a man, could be anything rebellious. They could also represent what relaxes you, whether it’s a dirty martini, an aromatherapy bath, or a mellow iTunes playlist. Of course, all you phlegms fatale are welcome to light up if it’s what floats your boat. Indulge yourself in a moment of relaxation and a little flair before the big night to boost your confidence.
Got your relaxation on? Good. Do you look as good as you feel? Excellent. Now go where the night takes you--drinks, dinner, dancing, maybe even something that doesn’t start with D.
French Kissed on a Subway Train
You’ve gone out, showed off your look and done whatever it is you two crazy kids do for fun these days. You’ve decided on his/her place or yours--now you have to get back there. Driving offers privacy, but you can’t drive with a buzz on. If you’re lucky enough to live in a city with a subway, elevated train or trolley car system, train cars can be an ideal spot for foreplay.
It may help to know the laws in your area about sex acts in public and semi-public places to know how far you can push it. In the U.K., public nudity and sexual expression are covered by the Sexual Offences Act of 2003. Sexuality activity is permitted in any place a couple can reasonably expect to have privacy, and an otherwise-empty subway car may fit that definition. In the U.S., laws vary by state, but you may face a fine or even probation if cited for disturbing the peace or public indecency.
Don’t let the legal mumbo-jumbo scare you off, though. Kissing and light petting aren’t likely to raise a legal eyebrow, and a public encounter can provide an intoxicating rush of adrenaline. Actor Mary-Louise Parker recommends hotel hallways for hanky-panky and calls the risk of getting caught “worth it every time.”
Leather Studded Kiss in the Sand
Like eyeliner, black leather with metals studs In the ‘50s, leather and studs were for bikers, and they were decidedly bad company. Cultural relics like Vaughan Monroe’s record “Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots” helped cement that rebellious image, and rock stars have been rocking the leather look ever since. On one hand, leather has mainstreamed. Designers like Michael Kors and Donna Karan continually draw inspiration for couture creations from vintage leathers. On the other hand, leather is increasingly politically incorrect as animal rights gain momentum.
Leather is also a fashion--and function--staple of the BDSM scene. If you’re feeling a tiny bit adventurous, spice up your night look with a studded leather collar, belt, or bustier. If you’ve got a mate with a foot or leg fetish, a pair of studded boots might be just the ticket.
For vegans and those who choose not to use animal products, there are an ever-increasing variety of sexy leather alternatives. Some are made of latex or acrylic, and others are blended microfibers. If faux leather shoes make you think of Birkenstocks, think again. You can find stylish leather alternatives from Charlotte Russe, Kate Spade, Steve Madden, Fantasia Wear, Victoria’s Secret, and perennial lingerie favorite Frederick’s of Hollywood, among many others.
Tempting as it is to have the classic From Here to Eternity moment on a tide-swept beach, the sand doesn’t have to be literal either. It can represent your mental “happy place.” The happy place is about more than mere relaxation; it’s about actively fantasizing about everything that makes you happy. Your fantasies are safely confined inside your mind, so go wherever your deepest desires want to carry you.
Love You With My Hands Tied
You’ve flirted with the BDSM look; now you might choose to kick the kink up a notch. You could try leather restraints, leashes, a body harness, a straightjacket or another type of full-body restraint. Bondage and sex toy sites, whether on the Internet or in your neighborhood, offer intriguing adult playthings for all sexual tastes.
If you’d like to try restraint play for the first time (or the first time with a new partner), use common-sense safety and comfort measures. Establish some boundaries and agree on a safe word that stops all play, no questions asked. Keep an eye on a person who’s restrained, and never cover up both the nose and mouth, especially when using a gag. Play delicately around the joints, face, neck and other body parts that can easily be injured, and realize holding one position for a long time can cause fatigue and discomfort. If you choose handcuffs, look for the kind that don’t tighten under pressure. Beyond these practical matters, your comfort level and imagination are the only limits.
Take a Ride on Your Disco Stick
One couldn’t be blamed for associating the stick with a dick, making this step rather self-evident. In the spirit of Gagaesque sexual adventure, you may want to mix it up a bit. While shopping for the leather-studded kiss in the sand, you might have come across a variety of vibrators and dildos. There seem to be as many varieties of faux dicks as flowers in the springtime. You may also have seen a strap-on harness or two; consider this permission to experiment with pegging, if you’ve ever wanted to. Make no apologies for your desires, ‘cause baby, you were born this way.
If penetration isn’t your sexual cup of tea, feel free to focus less on the stick and more on the disco. Create an aural experience with music that puts you and your partner in the mood. If your LoveGame leads you toward female-dominated play, your soundtrack might include the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs,” Tina Turner’s feminist-reclamation cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb,” and…well, lots of Lady Gaga’s songs.
Parker, Mary-Louise. March 26, 2009. “Why Having Sex in Public is Worth It (Every Time).” Retrieved from the Esquire website: http://www.esquire.com/features/Dilemmas/sex-in-public-0409
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (n.d.) “PETA’s Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing: Companies That Sell Leather and Fur Alternatives.” Retrieved from the PETA website: http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/
All In: 25 Erotic Storiesby Emily Cantore. $4.99 from Smashwords.com
25 erotic short stories from the hot and bothered mind of Emily Cantore! To buy individually would cost a bundle! More than 130,000 words of first-time lesbians, threesomes, girls experimenting, sex toys and much more. Guaranteed to warm you up and get your mind racing!
Today's Observation: Yom Kippur (begins at sundown)
Beatles Trivia September 20, 1974: David Bowie and John Lennon meet for the first time at Dean Martin’s 21st birthday party for Martin’s son Ricci. Ringo Starr, Elton John, and Elizabeth Taylor are also there.
September 20, 1973: Musician Jim Croce and five others die when their aircraft crashes into a tree shortly after takeoff from Natchitoches, Louisiana. Croce is 30 years old.
September 20, 1989: The last fluent speaker of the Kamassian language, Klavdiya Zakharovna Plotnikova-Andzhighatova, an approximately 105-year-old woman, dies. Kamassian is one of the Samoyed languages of the Ural Mountains. In fact, it was the last of the Samoyed languages to go extinct.
September 20, 1997: Musician Nick Traina, the son of author Danielle Steel, passes away from an overdose of the prescription medication lithium. He is 19 years old.
March 5, 1963: The Beatles record “From Me to You” at Abbey Road.
Sunday, March 5, 1995, South Bend: Having read The Plague, I turned to a library book titled The Worst Rock and Roll Records Ever Made: A Fan's Guide to the Stuff You Love to Hate by Jimmy Guterman and Owen O’Donnell [ISBN 0806512318 9780806512310].
Here’s a list of some of the songs and bands Guterman and O’Donnell love to hate: 1. “Dancing in the Street” by Mick Jagger and David Bowie 2. “Eve of Destruction” 3. “American Pie” 4. The Doors 5. Mick Jagger’s brother Chris 6. The U2 album The Unforgettable Fire (which includes “Pride (In the Name of Love);” see April 4) 7. Ringo Starr’s albums Stop and Smell the Roses and Old Wave 8. Really anything done by Ringo Starr and (especially) Paul McCartney after the Beatles 9. The 1981 live Rolling Stones album Still Life 10. Duran Duran
Bummer March 5th
March 5, 1963: Musicians Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins perish when their Piper PA-24 Comanche aircraft crashes in a forest in Tennessee during stormy weather. The pilot is also killed. Cline’s epitaph reads, “Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love.”
March 5, 1977: In an unfortunate accident at the South African Grand Prix, English driver Tom Pryce struck and killed 19-year-old race marshal Frederik "Frikkie" Jansen van Vuuren, whom he couldn’t have seen in time. Jansen van Vuuren had run across the track with a fire extinguisher to rescue Italian driver Renzo Zorzi. Zorzi was trapped in his burning car while trying to remove the oxygen pipe from his helmet.
The 40-pound fire extinguisher struck Pryce’s car and came through his windshield, striking Pryce in the head, forcing his helmet upward at a sharp angle, causing severe head and neck injuries that killed him instantly. Pryce’s car struck Jacques-Henri Laffite’s car and both vehicles struck the barrier and came to a stop.
Zorzi was not injured. The eventual winner of the 1977 South African Grand Prix was Austrian driver Niki Lauda, who had almost burned to death in the 1976 German Grand Prix.
March 5, 1982: Albanian-American comedian John Belushi dies of a drug overdose.
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May 1, 1866: Rioting breaks out in Memphis, Tennessee. The violence begins with a shoot-out between Black veterans of the Union Army and the all-white Memphis police. It escalates to mobs of white civilians, with the support and participation of the police, attacking Black neighborhoods. Over the next three days, 46 Black residents and two white residents of Memphis are killed and more than 91 buildings are burned, including all of the city’s Black churches and schools.
May 1, 1947: 23-year-old Evelyn McHale jumps to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. She lands on her back on top of the roof of a car, her shoes having fallen off her feet, one gloved hand grasping her pearl necklace. Photography student Robert C. Wiles takes a picture of her body where it lies. The photo is published in Time magazine, later reproduced as a print by Andy Warhol, and then recreated by David Bowie in his “Jump They Say” video.
May 1, 2003: A coach bus filled with trade union delegates travels toward QwaQwa, Free State, South Africa, for May Day celebrations. As the driver becomes disoriented in the dark shortly after passing the town of Bethlehem, he apparently turns down an unlit gravel road, unknowingly headed directly toward Sol Plaatje Dam and driving too fast. The bus drives directly into the water and overturns. By the time police arrive the next day, 51 people have drowned. Only 10 people are able to escape the overturned bus and get to safety.
May 1, 2017: One day after his 70th birthday, jam band pioneer Bruce Hampton gets on stage for a tribute concert called Hampton 70: A Celebration of Col. Bruce Hampton. Members of R.E.M., Widespread Panic, and other well-known bands participate. During the encore, Hampton collapses on stage, as he often does during his shows. The tribute band onstage continues to play for several minutes before anyone realizes anything is wrong. Hampton is then taken to a nearby hospital, where he dies of a massive heart attack.
It's not exactly a hot tub time machine, but Peter Joseph Swanson's Punk Minneapolis will take you back to 1989. (I was 12 then.) Forget everything you've seen on I Love the '80s. That's all about corporate yuppie mall stuff that would make Raven, Becky, Sandra, Tope, and Bunny Umber want to puke. They're punkers, and their purpose in life is to rock out, drink beer, steal pizza and other essentials, and offend the yuppie world. Technically, Raven is a darksider, but he hangs out with the punk rockers and shares their philosophy.
Life isn't all pepperonis and salad bars, though. Strange things are happening, things that seem to center on the crazy nun who stalks the uptown Minneapolis pizza parlor (formerly a hair salon) where Raven, Becky, and Sandra work. Is that really her face Raven sees in his second-floor window at night? What is the K-Mart ouija board trying to say? Are there really space aliens in the walls, as Tope says?
Several bizarre accidents and cosmic revelations later, we arrive at the '90s. Punk is dead, and so are some of the characters. Others have moved on to become what they once feared and loathed. Only Raven has remained somewhat true to his artistic ideals, wondering how he can make a novel of the beer-soaked, pizza-greased, Plasmatic chaos that was 1989.
The weirdest part of all is that Peter Joseph Swanson's literary ouija board seems to have channeled some images straight out of my head. He writes about Gothic, a movie about Lord Byron and Percy and Mary Shelley I couldn't get out of my head only days before I read this book. I had also just finished watching The Prestige, which features David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. In the book, Tesla is one of Tope's fixations, even though Tope keeps calling him "Tescula." Peter Joseph Swanson, stay out of my brain.
If the epilogue of Punk Minneapolis puts you in the mood for a peek into the lives of Midwesterners in the 1990s, then follow it up with I Made Out With a Teenage Communist!
60. "Buffy Theme" The Breeders - instrumental, on the Reading Playlist. My mom watched Buffy; I never did. But I know it had Anthony Head, the brother of Murray Head.
56. "Baby Daddy's Weekend" Elle King - fluffy summer party song about getting drunk and high
55. "Fictional Men" Peggy - is this the only song on the list that makes explicit mention of the COVID-19 quarantine? I hope so. I feel like I dug deep enough back into that trauma when I read Amanda Gorman
54. "Crush" Billianne - feels true. That IS what it feels like to have a crush
53. "No Ordinary Love" Deftones - Destiel playlist
51. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" - Shaboozey - interpolates "Tipsy" by J-Kwon, which reminds me of the years I worked at a child & adolescent mental health facility and alternative school. It came out in January 2004
22. "Material Girl" - Kris Bowers. From the Bridgerton soundtrack; I've neither read nor watched the Netflix Regency romance series, but I like these pop songs done in a chamber music style.
62. "Mo Money, Mo Problems," The Notorious B.I.G., Mase, Diddy
63. "What's Up?" - 4 Non Blondes
64. "Our Love Is Done" - Hannah Juanita
65. "Do What You Want" - Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera
66. "Glory of the 80s" - Tori Amos
67. "The River of Dreams" - Billy Joel
68. "No Myth" - Michael Penn
69. "How Will I Know?" - Whitney Houston - Tit and I also saw The Bodyguard, the musical, live on stage in 2023.
70. "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here" - Bob Dylan
71. "Sirius" - The Alan Parsons Project. Which I believe was some kind of hovercraft. (That's a Simpsons reference, but in real life, this is the song that traditionally introduces the starting lineup of the Chicago Bulls.)
72. "Bitch I'm Madonna" - Madonna with Nicki Minaj
94. "Rock Your Baby" - Wanda Jackson. Goddess bless Wanda Jackson. She is 86 years old and recently put out a cover of Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts" with Leilah Safka. (Leilah's mother Melanie Safka, who performed under the mononym Melanie, had such hits as "Brand New Key.")
All In: 25 Erotic Stories
