May 15, 2007

Cathy.

I’ve mentioned before that I am a huge Cathy Dennis fan. Originally with the group D-mob in the late 1980s, Cathy embarked on a solo career in 1990 with top hits such as “Just Another Dream”, “Touch Me (All Night Long)” and “Too Many Walls”. After a couple of albums, Cathy found contentment in writing and producing, working with artists such as the Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue (she wrote “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head”) and others. Cathy also had a hand in the theme from Pop Idol/American Idol and wrote singles for many of the winners. She sings the famous “Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh” on the American Idol theme song.

As a former club DJ it excites me in many ways when I discover ‘lost’ versions of singles. While browsing YouTube, I found the video for the original version of “Just Another Dream”. The instrumentation is considerably different from what became popular in late 1990, and, there’s an extra verse in there. And despite urban legend, that is not Rick Astley singing the male vocals on the track, it’s actually Dancin’ Danny D from D-mob.

Here’s the video for the original version of “Just Another Dream” courtesy of YouTube. I would *love* a copy of this version on MP3 if anyone has it to share.

Find it here

Space.

Mark’s blog entry from today got me thinking about MySpace and all it’s fellow wannabes. I must say that I don’t understand what the attraction of that site is.

I once registered for the site and then found myself completely stumped, frustrated and angered by the navigational tools they provide. It has the worst software interface known to man. I don’t know how people can deal with the flashing boxes, the hideous color schemes and the blaring music from nowhere. Boxes dance, mock LEDs jump up and down to rhythm from some banal track blaring from my speakers against my will and backgrounds clash with text in all sorts of hideous manner. I was once talking (in real-life) with a guy who mentioned that he was a blogger. Always eager to chat with other bloggers (even though I recognize that I’m not a *serious* blogger by any means), I asked him what software he used. He said his blog was on MySpace.

Uh, no. That’s not a blog. That’s a travesty.

For the few days that I was registered on the site I was nearly buried in requests from women wanting to be my “friend”. Some sent pictures which included lots of boobage. While I’m somewhat flattered by this, I can’t help but wonder if they were reading my profile which included the fact that I’m a gay bear that enjoys all that gay bears usually enjoy. Gay bears usually don’t enjoy boobage.

I also have a problem with the fact that MySpace is owned by Fox Interactive Media, which in turn is owned by News Corp. The folks at News Corp. are a little too Patriot Act happy; I wonder if they would feel obligated to take anything I posted on MySpace and promptly turn it over to the government. “Put him on the way gay list.” Granted, you can find anything on MySpace by a simple Google search, but I want Bush Lite to have to work for my information.

I’ve talked with other people face to face regarding MySpace (in a certain place, sorry I felt the need to go for the third rhyme) and have discovered that people are either really excited about the site or they dislike it immensely (like me). I have real-time friends that have made lots of friends and connections on MySpace and are often going crazy with text messaging and IMming the folks in their circle. Some awake in the middle of the night to a “New Message” alert on their cell phone. My friend Shirley often commented that it’s a sad reflection of our society that people feel they need to get electronically involved, instead of going outside and enjoying what the real-world has to offer. “Get some sunshine!”

I agree with her (he says as he’s typing on his computer in the dining room).

I think the final thing that put the nail in the MySpace coffin for me is the fact that Anita Bryant has a MySpace page. Somehow I find this extremely wrong (one reason being that I thought she was dead.) I wonder how many lesbians are hitting Anita up for some fun and showing her some boobage.