Michael Shinafelt's blog

Olivia Newton-John performs at this year's Los Angeles Gay Pride festivities (Image: Getty) 

Olivia Newton-John is one of the most loved and enduring performers in the world. She is also one of the biggest gay icons ever - who many of us had crushes on and still do.

Whether it is because of her beautiful singing voice, her turns in the beloved films Grease and Xanadu or her activism, there is no one quite like Olivia.

Being a cancer survivor has not slowed Olivia down from any of the above endeavors. She has just released and new album A Celebration in Song featuring duets with some of her talented friends including the hit single and video "Right Here With You" with Delta Goodrem. She also appears on Sordid Lives on Logo (AfterElton.com’s parent company).

AfterElton.com: Congratulations on your marriage.
Olivia Newton-John: Oh, thank you.

AE: I caught your performance at Gay Pride in Los Angeles, CA this year.
ONJ: Oh yeah? I had a really fun time.

AE: You were great, I loved the show! Gay Pride LA was your only U.S. concert date for 2008, why did you choose to do only the festival?
ONJ: They asked me and I wanted to do one thing only this year as I am not touring right now. It was perfect timing and it was so much fun.

AE: Do you remember when you first realized you were a gay icon?
ONJ: I really don’t know, I don’t think about being an icon really. The gay fans have always been very loyal, there are a really great audience and have always been there for me.

AE: On your 1988 album The Rumor you recorded the first safe sex song by a mainstream artist, "Love and Let Live." AIDS hysteria was rampant at the time, did you receive any backlash for recording the song?
ONJ: Not at all, I’ve only ever gotten encouragement. I have never received any backlash, why would anyone do that? That would be a horrible thing.

AE: It took a lot of courage for you to do that at a time when everyone was so afraid of something that unknown.
ONJ: That was the very reason to do the song.

AE: Good for you! Did you ever see the stage production of Xanadu?
ONJ: I was there opening night.

AE: What did you think?
ONJ: I loved it, I thought it was wonderful.

Out singer/songwriter Matt Zarley made a “conscious decision” to take a break from show business for three years. After making an album six years ago that was “creatively satisfying” but the many promises made by Universal, the record company behind it, did not happen.

This left Matt disheartened and burned out as he had put his soul into the album titled Debut. Well thank goodness he had a change of heart and is now back with the great new EP Here I Am.

Being the first openly gay man to be featured in People Magazine’s “Hottest Bachelors” issue one can see why the well balanced & grounded Zarley deserves your attention.

With lyrics from the heart and a passionate voice that resonates with an audience (I caught his performance at the release party for his CD at Upright Cabaret in Los Angeles recently, one word: Great!). Matt has a way of connecting with people and pulling at their emotions.

Title ballad "Here I Am," was submitted in the American Idol songwriting competition and made it into the Top 20. As Zarley enthuses, “They get over 20,000 submissions!” This very personal song is the emotional spine of his second effort. “It really encompasses where I am in my life right now, it is the first song I have ever written.”

Although Zarley has always been out the second time around he wanted to be really out. His approach is to be secure and open in his own skin without being overtly sexual. As is evident in the video for his moving song "Had I Known."

Matt wants to be someone who LGBT people and their straight parents can enjoy, by being himself and simply singing from his heart about every facet of life, gay or otherwise.

With many engagements that include many Pride Festivals, Rosie O’Donnell’s Family Cruise & Los Angeles’s Upright Cabaret Matt is glad to be back in the saddle. “Leaving show business for three years I realized what really makes me happy, my music.”

A show business veteran almost his whole life he danced with Tony the Tiger by age 12 and has a quite impressive list of Broadway and TV credits, Zarely’s return to music after a three year sabbatical is a welcome one indeed. Here I Am is a wonderful CD by one of the best singers this writer has ever heard.

After the break, check out a clip of Zarley from a recent edition of CBS News on Logo. 

Evan Cowden first made an impact on the gay music scene with his cover of Howard Jones’ “No One is to Blame” which became a favorite on Logo (AfterElton.com's parent company). Well, Evan is back with his original song “Label Whore” which recently laid claim to being the number one video on Logo. I recently chatted with ubiquitous Mr. Cowden about his music and what it is like to be on top.

AfterElton.com: In your video for “Label Whore” you come off like the pink haired bear version of Pete Burns (front man for Dead or Alive).
Evan Cowden: That’s funny because I do not know if a lot of people get that or not. The whole holding the “whore” belt buckle thing is totally a homage to Pete Burns. He did something similar years ago with the word “bitch.” It was purposeful. [laughs]

AE: How does it feel to be number one?
EC: It was a huge surprise to me actually. I am thrilled with the positive response to the video; it’s kind of scary to put yourself out there with pink hair and blush.

AE: As long as you don’t do anymore Howard Jones covers. [laughs]
EC: Yes, we know how much you don’t love Howard Jones.

AE: “Label Whore” really showcases your creativity as an artist.
EC: It’s very stylized and aimed very specifically at a gay audience. I had a lot of fun with it, I loved that I did not have to edit myself because of that, like I would if I was doing something that was geared to have a broader appeal. For example “No One is to Blame” was played in stores like Ladies Footlocker; I can not imagine that families going there would take to well to seeing a pink haired drag queen holding up the word “whore.” [laughs]

AE: Is Evan a “Label Whore”?
EC: I used to be, I still like a shiny thing or two sometimes. My focus has switched, now I am into technology more, a “Techno Whore.”

AE: Have you ever asked anyone the question that opens the song “Be honest, do these jeans make my ass look huge”?
EC: That’s a loaded question [laughing] because Evan has a little junk in the trunk.

Check it, don’t wreck it with Evan Cowden. And check out the video for "Label Whore" after the jump!

Horror author Rick R. Reed has been thrilling gay fans of the genre for years, with his Twisted Tales of Obsession and Deadly Vision. Rick has hit every spine tingling nerve for gay men. His most recent efforts included the vampire yarn In the Blood and the serial killer spine tingler IM, which is about gay men being stalked in sex chat rooms. Let’s check in with Rick, if you dare…..

AfterElton.com: What first made you realize you were into horror?
Rick R. Reed: God is Dead. Roman Polanski used a shot of this TIME magazine cover in Rosemary's Baby and it's really a frightening thought. I think horror, boiled down to its purest essence, is all about death, which is unrivaled as a basic human fear. And horror is all about fear.

AE: Give us your thoughts on why you think gay guys like horror.
RRR: In every horror story, there are outsiders (whether they're victims, heroes, or protagonists) and I think, for a very long time, gay people in general can strongly identify with an outsider. Horror usually gives us more outsiders than other genres, so I can see this as one reason for the appeal to gay audiences. For example, in my book IM, which is about a serial killer preying on gay men via internet hookup sites, many readers have identified with the very basic terror of the book: which is the danger we expose ourselves to when we invite complete strangers into our homes, something many of us, myself included, have done. The internet has facilitated this behavior. Besides playing on the "outsider" theme in victims, hero, and villain, IM also explores the dark side of anonymous hook ups and gives the reader a chance to see the bad end some of us come to, and how some of us escape it.

AE: Speaking of which, IM really hits the horror genre close to home for gays.
RRR: Right, IM, almost inadvertently hit a very responsive chord with gay men, many of whom now find sexual and romantic partners via the internet, which is a very widespread--and very modern--way of meeting. But the real horror at the heart of the book is that a monster has gotten inside your house and maybe what makes that even more horrific is that this modern resource (the 'net) has allowed you to invite that monster in yourself.

AE: Chicago is the backdrop for most of your novels, why is Chi town spooky & gay?
RRR: I set a lot of my stories in Chicago because I lived there for a good part of my adult life (I just moved to Miami about a year and a half ago). It's a great city for horror stories because it has its own history of horror replete with hauntings, great crime tales, and the moody, ever changing backdrop that both the tough urban landscape and the lake provide. Why is Chicago gay? Need you ask? (laughs)

AE: Which known horror figure would you most like to have a fling with?
RRR: Well, certainly not Timothy Bright, from IM! The obvious choice to go with Anne Rice's Lestat. He's so dark, handsome, and romantic. You just know he'd be a very slow, deliberate lover.

Log on to find out more about “Scary Rick” at his Myspace page or official site.

The transition from porn to pop has never been an easy one; there have been many who have tried with varying degrees of success. Traci Lords for one did have some success with her singles “Fallen Angel” and “Control” as well as the full length CD named for the latter single.

Traci’s success is an exception to the rule; for the most part the transition never takes. Others like Jeff Stryker, Heather Hunter and Jeff Palmer and have failed to crossover. But it looks like the rules are about to be broken in a big way with the release of Colton Ford’s Tug of War.

What some may not know about Colton is that he only did porn for 10 months, but he has been singing since he was a child. He released his first single with John St. James in 1988. Shortly after a string of unlucky business deals put and end to his actively pursuing his music career.

Colton, tired of struggling in the corporate world, did something unexpected for a professional singer: he turned to porn as a means to an end. Porn was something that provided the financial stability that he needed in order to focus on his dream of making it big in the music industry, and put his name into the publics consciousness.

This career move is something most artists who have failed to make the transition to mainstream success have cited as a roadblock for them as an performer. Colton, however has managed to turn this “roadblock” into an asset.

Colton Ford in The Lair

In 2004 he collaborated with dance diva Pepper Mashay on a cover version of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” that scaled to number 9 on the Billboard Hot Club Play Chart.

His new album is getting a great deal of positive press for the former adult film star. Colton states that Tug of War “is the completion of a long journey for me, my collaboration with Quentin Harris covers a wide range musically, from House, Soul, R&B and goes all the way to pop.”

His video for the single “The Way That You Love Me” was voted one of Logo’s top ten sexiest videos, and there is also a steamier video version of the track (“The Blue Door Edit”) which, along with the original, can be viewed on YouTube.

With his starring role as Sheriff Trout on Here TV’s gay vampire series The Lair and the release of Tug of War, Colton is enjoying a very successful post-porn career. “The album has something for all of my fans to enjoy,” he says.

Those fans can pick up the album when it hits shelves today, and in the meantime here's the video for "The Way That You Love Me".