TA Inskeep (they/them)

YouTube video by Television Academy Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series: 77th Emmy Awards

If you'd like to see something that will -- or should -- bring you happy tears today, watch this. I don't care about the Emmys, but I definitely care about Jeff Hiller and SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE, which will eventually be considered a classic.

FIGARO/FAGGOTS - Baryshnikov Arts Based on the Novel Faggots and Other Literary Works by Larry Kramer. Inspired by the Opera Le Nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte

Oh, my god. THIS is the kind of queer art we need now. My kingdom to see this performed.

I was listening to an old Casey Kasem American Top 40 (I find this soothing these days) from 1985 where he told the story of Wendy Carlos, who scored The Shining and Tron, and her journey to becoming trans. Casey got all the pronouns right and it was presented as a slice of life, feel good story

#CDFriday thanks to Wall of Sound in Seattle. $1! This was the first place I — and I suspect many Americans — first heard “Unfinished Sympathy.”

Pop Top 40: Hot 100, week ending 9/1/84 The good stuff is great, but the bad stuff...

Oh no, let's go: the charts of the summer of '84 were a *time*.

We don't need to be rallying behind Dems because they'll "protect" our democracy, we need to be pressuring Dems to RESTORE our democracy.

They're not going to do it if we don't push them, and if you want my help in pushing them, then you better believe I'm also going to push them on trans issues.

Can I help somehow? I’m so excited to finally meet in person next week!

They're openly calling to lock up every trans person by force. We need every ally to speak out forcefully against this because trans folks cannot do this on our own.

Thank you, John.

Pop Top 40: Top Soul LPs+, week ending 8/30/80 Let’s do something different.

Joy and pain, as Frankie Beverly and Maze sang, are like sunshine and rain. And the R&B top 10 albums this week back in 1980 were mostly on the bright side. (Also: the *other* #1 albums of the week.)

Todd Haynes’ Previously Shuttered Gay Romance ‘De Noche’ Being Revived With Pedro Pascal Circling – The Dish Todd Haynes' gay romance De Noche, which shut down about a year ago, is being revived, with Pedro Pascal circling.

I'd MUCH rather see Pedro Pascal starring in a gay romance from Todd Haynes than Joaquin Phoenix, so this is thrilling news.

1985: The Miracle Year Hüsker Dü. Live. 1985. Need we say more? Witness the transcendent Minneapolis punk trio tearing into the most incendiary year of its existence, captured live on stage at First Avenue in perhaps the hi...

How fucking good does this look, wow.

Why Transgender People Are Not Feeling Gavin Newsom We have seen this song and dance before.

I voted for Newsom for Mayor when I lived in SF. I voted for him for Lt Gov, twice. I voted for him for Gov of California. But I WILL NOT and CANNOT vote for him again, as he's completely gone off the anti-trans deep end. And cis/het folks, you shouldn't either, if you call yourselves allies.

Radio Romance: WGCI, Power 107.5 Chicago, late August 1986 Are we jammin' the box or what?

WGCI, August 1986: hotter than ever. Airchecks and a playlist included in my latest "Radio Romance" column.

Pop Top 40: Hot 100, week ending 8/27/83 Peak "greatest year in pop" ever

Summer '83 on the charts was absolutely golden, and this proves it.

Madonna: Confessions on a Dance Floor / The Confessions Tour, 2005 / 2007 Her last truly great album and its ensuing tour document, also great

In 2005, Madonna released her last best album, which I reviewed for STYLUS, doing the same for its corresponding live album in '07. Because it's her birthday tomorrow, here are both reviews, newly republished.

AND ME TOO

Cardi B – “Imaginary Playerz” It’s been seven years and a whole lot of hits since Cardi B released her debut album Invasion Of Privacy, and album number two is finally coming out in about a month. Cardi’s sophomore LP Am I The Dra...

And @tombreihan.bsky.social gets it so right at Stereogum today: "It’s just a real New York rap song."

YouTube video by Cardi B Cardi B - Imaginary Playerz [Official Music Video]

Cardi B's new Jay-Z-interpolating single is killing me today. So so good. So ready for her new album next month, FINALLY.

Remixing it up SPECIAL: Madonna: Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones, 2022 Celebrating a record-setting tenure on the dance charts

Tomorrow's the birthday of pop's queen of the past 45 years, Madonna -- and even more than pop, she's been the real queen of the dancefloor. An appreciation, with some caveats.

you did NOT

This is a very important piece worth your time, which clearly enumerates some of my own thoughts this week.

But also, c'mon, how could it NOT make me think of this? (@sotoalfred.bsky.social I'm looking directly at you.)

Rod's greatest single, full stop.

Well, I sure am glad I didn’t renew this year. No Richard Lawson or David Canfield? WTF.

Craig Mack ft. Busta Rhymes, L.L. Cool J, Notorious B.I.G. and Rampage, "Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)," 1994 The whole being greater than the sum of its parts

Here comes the brand new flava in ya ear, in the form of the epic remix of a classic '90s hip-hop jam.

Read this and believe it. The Republican party is genuinely attempting to legislate trans people out of existence.

🎹 Groove and Innovation: How "Just Be Good To Me" and the S.O.S. Band Helped Shape Synth-Funk The Twelve Inch 177 : Just Be Good To Me (S.O.S. Band)

I ride HARD for the S.O.S. Band, and especially for the brilliant collaborative work they did with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. So does @thetwelveinch.bsky.social, and I heartily recommend their latest column on "Just the Way You Like," the legacy of S.O.S., and '80s synth funk.

Luther Vandross with Gregory Hines: "There's Nothing Better Than Love," 1987 Light as a feather

What's better than love? Luther Vandross and Gregory Hines had some thoughts, on the first single from Hines's sole album.

There can only be one.

Shoop, shoop, shoop, shoo-be-doop: the best of Whitney Houston One of the greatest singers of our time

Happy birthday to one of THE definitive divas. A true singer’s singer.