Peter Schilling - "The Different Story (World of Lust & Crime)"

One of my favorite songs from the 80's (under the wire, it came out in Summer 1989). Most people, if they remember Peter Schilling at all, only know of "Major Tom (Coming Home)". I really don't care much for that song, but this one has always been a favorite. It was produced by Michael Cretu, the man behind Enigma.

Also, Peter Schilling is still making new music.

"The Different Story" - Peter Schilling

I'm so lonely on my way,
Waiting for a better day.
Only one thing left behind:
A world of lust and crime.

There's no place for me to hide.
I don't know what's wrong or right.
Pain and sorrow in my mind;
A world of lust and crime.

See the wise man in the graveyard;
Scream and cry the different story.
Lonely people in his old park
Know the answer just for everything.

Love turns a friendly card.
With a different story it'll open your heart.
Forever love is a dangerous game.
You don't have to worry 'cause it's easy to play.

There's a chance for me and you,
Making all our dreams come true.
Trust enough and you won't find
A world of lust and crime.

See the wise man in the graveyard;
Scream and cry the different story.
Lonely people in his old park
Know the answer just for everything.

Love turns a friendly card.
With a different story it'll open your heart.
Forever love is a dangerous game.
You don't have to worry 'cause it's easy to play.

See the wise man in the graveyard;
Scream and cry the different story.
Lonely people in his old park
Know the light of hope and glory.

5th Anniversary Print

This May marks the 5th anniversary of when I began creating and selling prints of my works. I had been posting my originals for sale on eBay for one or two years when I got an email from artist Tom Jones. He was also using eBay to sell his works. He was also doing his own prints. He liked my work and thought prints would be a great next step for me. He was nice enough to tell me how to go about it because I had no clue. If you have a copy of my book, you'll notice that Tom Jones is listed on my 'thank you' page, that is why.

It was May of 2002 when I first created and sold prints of "Cotton". He started a string of similar works which became a collection of gorgeous men in just underwear and jocks. To celebrate that, I am offering a limited edition print of "Men in Briefs". This 24 x 8 print features the 9 men in the series together. Only 25 prints have been produced at $95 each, $270 framed.

Listen While I Work: My Top 10 - April 27th

1. "She's Madonna" - Robbie Williams & Pet Shop Boys
2. "Who Knew (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit)" - Pink (video)
   
3. "You Know I'm No Good" - Amy Winehouse
   
4. "Downtown (Dance Mix)" - Cast of "Shout!"
5. "All Out of Love" - Jenna Drey
6. "Talisman" - Étienne Daho
7. "Breathe" - Madison Park
8. "Alive (French Version)"** - Kate Ryan
9. "What Else Is There?" - Röyksopp
10. "I Could Fall In Love With You" - Erasure

Green denotes new entry.
Song links will take you to the listing in the iTunes store if you have iTunes installed.
**No longer available on iTunes USA

"Strength"

Admittedly the butt is one of my favorite attributes of the male physique. A man’s well developed glutes and legs indicate power and strength to me even more than bulging biceps or big pecs. Starting with that premise the piece developed around ‘Strength’ as a physical attribute but also an emotional one as well. I like the exotic nature of placing the figure, who is of African ancestry against an Asian setting. It highlights the strength required from within when you are an outsider, one of the 'different ones' in a society.

The world would be a much better place if more of us embraced what is different and foreign as exotic instead of shun it as abnormal and alien.

The "Strength" original and prints are now available from my website.

Selling and "Buying The War"

How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported?

These are questions Bill Moyers explores in "Buying The War" as he delves into the failure of US mainstream media to question the half-truths, fabrications, and deceptions spoon fed to the them by the Bush marketing campaign bent on selling the invasion of Iraq. It points out how the Bush administration would leak stories to the NY Times then quote them to support the case for war. It also shows how the frenzy of patriotism and fear of being branded 'anti-American' by right wing pundits and puppets like Bill O'Rielly (who has already started a smear campaign against Moyers, SURPIRSE!) and their legions of followers, stifled journalists and buried news reports that pointed out the holes and contradictions in the trumped up war cry from the White House.

The show, "Buying The War", is a fascinating and disturbing account on how the media failed and continues to fail the country by opting to be a megaphone for politicians rather than uncovering, exposing, and reporting truths and facts; how they pick from a list of 'experts' rather than do research themselves. It even tells how some TV execs required talk shows to have on 2 pro-war guests for every war opponent, though they could have as many conservatives on without inviting an opposing viewpoint.

It's an engaging report. I am sure it will be replayed on PBS, check your listings.

Bay Area Reporter Review

Daring to over-toot my own horn, I just wanted to share another nice write up about my book and my work in the latest issue of the Bay Area Reporter, the GLBT paper of San Francisco since 1971.

The article was written by John F. Karr. Though everyone says you're not supposed to put too much emphasis on a review (good or bad) it is nice to read positive comments from people whom I don't know and who are not the publisher.

Occupational Hazzards

This weekend I was hit with a bad cold. Of course this was also the first really nice weekend in New England. I wanted to get out and enjoy it, as well as finish my latest piece, neither happened. I saturated myself with the store brand of "Airborne" (the cold fighter/preventer) and it seemed to really help. Never have I felt so miserable on a Saturday and then sooooo much better come Tuesday.

Anyway as someone who suffered from asthma as a child and works around so much dust, I decided to finally invest in an air filter. I like to think that I am a fit healthy guy, perhaps that's why I waited so long. I know it's something I should have done quite a while ago. This weekends cold knocked the wind out of me so it got me to take action. The pastel dust did not cause my cold, but it is certainly not good for me. Though I could not bring myself to fork out over $1000 for an air filter designed especially for pastel artists I did find this one by Austin, from an art supply company along with a few good write ups about. So hopefully it arrives soon and makes a noticeable difference.

Listen While I Work: My top 10, April 20th

1. "You Know I'm No Good" - Amy Winehouse
2. "Downtown (Dance Mix)" - Cast of "Shout!"
3. "All Out of Love" - Jenna Drey
4. "She's Madonna" - Robbie Williams & Pet Shop Boys (Video)
5. "Breathe" - Madison Park
6. "Alive (French Version)" ** - Kate Ryan [PLAY] [BUY]
7. "Who Knew (Bimbo Jones Radio Edit)" - Pink
8. "Talisman" - Étienne Daho
9. "What Else Is There?" - Röyksopp
10. "Save a Place on the Dancefloor for Me" - Dawn Tallman

Green denotes new entry.
Song links will take you to the listing in the iTunes store if you have iTunes installed.
**No longer available on iTunes USA.

On The Drawing Board: Big in Japan

I've been very productive the last couple of days. The figure is nearly done, leaving the background, and then the finishing touches. I gave the figure green eyes which made him look exotic and very sexy so I've decided to take that further. I've added a kanji symbol tattoo (anyone know what it is?). I like the contrast of the green eyed black man in an Asian setting. It's that atypical pairing that makes something exotic. After all an exotic local isn't exotic to those that live there.

Altered Images - "Don't Talk To Me About Love"

As I was working on my latest piece I was listening to my library of music and this song came on. It is one of my favorite early 80's songs. Ah, reminds me of my youth! I used to wish I lived in England because the music was so much better there.

On The Drawing Board: Something Bootylicious

I can really get behind a sexy derriere. Since it is one of my favorite aspects of the male physique, I am surprised that I don't have more rear-centric works. This new piece I've started is definitely driven by my lust for glorious glutes.

Article by Alan in 'EDGE'

I am happy to announce that Alan Ilagan, who I posted about recently and who wrote the forward for my book, just got an article published about me in in 'Edge'. EDGE publishes the country's leading Gay/Lesbian online local news & entertainment magazines with editions in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, Fort Lauderdale, & Miami.

Alan is a freelance writer and a couple months ago interviewed me for the piece. He recently sent it out to several of the places he is often published in to coincide with the release of "Summer Moved On". He did a wonderful job. ::Hugs to Alan::

P.S. He also did a nice write up on his website about an amazing friend of his, Chris Vaeth, who will be riding in AIDS/LifeCycle in San Francisco. It's a 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles from June 3-9, 2007, that aims to help those living with HIV and AIDS. He's hoping to raise $2500.

Terrorism: From Virginia to Iraq?

I don't often use this forum for political topics. I am sure most of you don't read my blog to hear my opinions. You all have opinions of your own and think your's are the best. But once in while I just have get stuff off my chest.

The shooting at VA Tech is horrific and tragic, and my sympathies go out to all the lives it has touched.

What I can't help thinking about is the ease at which this was able to happen.

If we are fighting a 'war on terror', this is the kind of event that we should be protecting ourselves from. It doesn't matter if it's a disturbed student or a religious fundamentalist. This is the type of thing that terrorists do. This illustrates that they don't need to spend years coming up with elaborate plans to hijack planes and crash them into buildings. They strap a bomb to themselves and take out a half dozen folks at a marketplace. How easy would it be to get a a few AK47's and head down to the nearest university, mall, or public lobby? It would easily succeed if their objective is terrorizing the country.

So if an act like this can be carried out so easily, and as George Bush has scared the country into believing that there are legions of fanatics out there (apparently all living in Iraq) wanting to do us harm, why haven't they? Is this threat of terrorism bogus? If these 'evil doers' were clever enough to carry out the 9/11 attack why can't they even get it together to blow up a truck in Times Square? One single troubled college kid just went out got a gun and has sent shockwaves of fear across the country. After all terrorism isn't about mass casualties or defeating the military; it's about random frightening attacks on civilians. The 9/11 hi-jackers didn't fly planes into naval or army bases did they?

Terrorism is not your typical enemy. You can't locate it on a map and attack. It isn't a nation that you battle with tanks and troops. It's something that you fight with police, FBI and CIA work. That's how the British and Canadians have foiled plots. Why would terrorists all congregate in Iraq, where the entire might of the US military is focused? It's not the military that the terrorists target.

What if the perpetrator of the VA Tech shooting had been an Iranian or simply visited Iran recently? Would Bush today be bombing Tehran? Just perhaps. It's the same reasoning he used for the war in Iraq, but even less logical since they were mostly from Saudi Arabia via Afghanistan. If terrorists really wanted to get to us, to shock and frighten us, they could easily do it. The VA Tech tragedy makes it more obvious that pouring more troops and money into Iraq will not prevent a group or an individual from carrying out a killing spree somewhere in this country.

Bush's war in Iraq is like blowing up a house to kill a mouse. Even if you get that mouse, the house is destroyed at a loss of thousands of dollars, and there are still other mice out there. Instead, for a few bucks you close up the holes, and set a few traps. You might even try to figure out what brought them inside in first place.

Listen While I Work: My top 10 this week - April 13

1. "All Out of Love" - Jenna Drey
2. "Alive (French Version)"** - Kate Ryan [PLAY] [BUY]
   
3. "You Know I'm No Good" - Amy Winehouse
4. "Downtown (Dance Mix)" - Cast of "Shout!"
5. "Breathe" - Madison Park
6. "All Around the World (Life is Good)" - SUNLOVERZ
7. "What Else Is There?" - Röyksopp
8. "Love Oneself" - Andy Bell
9. "Talisman" - Étienne Daho
10. "Save a Place on the Dancefloor for Me" - Dawn Tallman

Green denotes new entry.
Song links will take you to the listing in the iTunes store if you have iTunes installed.
**No longer available on iTunes USA.

"Rainstorm"

Appropriately it's been raining all day. So what better weather to have to unveil my latest piece, "Rainstorm".

It's much 'busier' than perhaps any of my other pieces to date, with the wet shirt and skin, rain drops, lights, puddles, reflections, cars, buildings etc. I was a bit apprehensive when I got the idea but am so glad I decided to do it anyway.

This evening I'll send out the newsletter to my subscribers and update my website, but for now you can see more images of "Rainstorm", as well as purchasing info by following this link.

Calendar Boys

I know I know, it's only April and I am bringing up next years calendar. That's because the publishers of my book, Bruno Gmünder Verlag, have proposed a "2008 Summer Moved On" calendar. I am really thrilled and I hope it means they are happy with how things are going. Above are pictured some of the 2007 calendars they produced, Giovanni's "Private Parts", Patrick Fillion's "Hot Chocolate", and Joe Phillips "Boys Will Be Boys".

As you may know, I put out 2006 and 2007 calendars of my work myself. I used publish-on-demand printers which allowed me to print up only as many as I was selling. This way I wasn't stuck losing money on calendars that I didn't sell. The drawback was it kept the individual cost of making each one high, and the profit low. I never really thought of them as a big money making venture anyway; they've been more of a promotional tool. Hopefully people hung them up or gave them as gifts introducing my work to more people.

Having Bruno Gmünder behind my calendar will certainly expose it to a broader audience as well as turnover the task and expense of printing and promoting.

Since the calendar will be based on the book it obviously means images in the book will be in the calendar. However I am working with them on the content to include some new works. I also will try to limit the number of works that appeared in the 2 previous calendars. Though (hopefully) the 2008 calendar will reach a lot more people than ever saw the previous ones, I still don't want it to be too repetitive for those that did buy them.

On The Drawing Board: City Building

Here's a nearly full view of the the latest work on my easel, to give a better idea of what the whole things looks like. Currently I am working on the back ground, the building and lights which is a little time consuming, but it's going rather smoothly. I will work a bit more on the right side then plan to focus on the taxis. I may squeeze in a moment to give the poor guy some hands. It's really bugging me. I also need to add more body hair under his wet shirt. It's not that visible in this picture, but I added some already on his left pec and like how it looks.

Meet Alan Ilagan

Alan Ilagan is adept at the art of prose and the art of the pose. For those of you out there that have received your copies of “Summer Moved On” (if you've purchased from me, yes - they are in the mail!) you may have actually flipped back to the beginning and read the forward by Alan. He is a freelance writer and critic whose work has been published in Instinct, xy, Q Northeast, Windy City Times, Boston Phoenix, Metroland, and numerous web sites including Out in America, EdgeBoston.com and EdgeNewYork.com.

I've known Alan for several years through the magic oracle know as the Internet. He’s a great writer and quite a good photographer as well as a very nice person. He’s very open, and has a great energy about him and the occasional moments of wild and outrageous behavior. If you weren't aware, he is also the subject of my piece titled “Alan in Blue”, see the image above. So, yeah he is sexy too.

He’s written a nice announcement about my book on his site, www.alanilagan.com. Please check it out as well as some of the many articles he’s written, and his extensive photo albums.

UPDATE: I have fixed the link to www.alanilagan.com, sorry about that.

Listen While I Work: My top 10 this week

1. "Alive (French Version)"** - Kate Ryan (www.kateryan.be)
   
2. "All Around the World (Life is Good)" - SUNLOVERZ
3. "All Out of Love" - Jenna Drey
4. "What Else Is There?" - Röyksopp
5. "Love Oneself" - Andy Bell
6. "Breathe" - Madison Park
7. "Horny Pony" - Spektrum
8. "Downtown (Dance Mix)" - Cast of 'Shout!'
9. "You Know I'm No Good" - Amy Winehouse (video spotlight)
   
10. "My Love (Paul Oakenfold Mix)" - Justin Timberlake & T.I.

Green denotes new entry.
Song links will take you to the listing in the iTunes store if you have iTunes installed.
**No longer available on iTunes USA.

On The Drawing Board: City Lights

Because of the lights and the rain effect on the background I am getting away with not being so meticulous regarding lines and details. Don't get me wrong what you see in the snapshot is not finished, there will be more refining and more detail. Though I admit it's often that degree of fine work that makes some backgrounds...well... a real bitch. Still a ways to go but I am happy, so far, with the way it's turning out. Of course it's raining today so that puts me in the mood.

Rosie, Free to Speak

I like Rosie O’Donnell. I think she's funny, real, outspoken and I even share many of her views, no surprise this is Left in the Dust after all. Of course some don't. She speaks her mind and I guess that upsets some people. On her show “The View” she gives her view and it quite often questions what the Bush administration presents as truth. Huh, go figure why should anyone doubt what falls out of George Bush’s mouth? "Weapons of Mass Destruction"," Mission Accomplished", "I want to work together with Democrats"?

For example last week Rosie, implied that the British/Iranian incident could be another Gulf of Tonkin, and brought up the anomalies surrounding the collapse of WTC 7 and the lack of an investigation, legitimate points. I think it's great that Rosie exercises her right to question and of free speech. I also love how it riles up all the anti-American Conservatives like Bill O'Rielly, Glenn Beck and their followers. Yes, I call them anti-Americans because they obviously don't think people have a right to speak out, disagree, or question the government. They lash out with name calling and personal attacks instead offering an intelligent debate on the issues and questions posed. Nothing is more American than the right to free speech. You can disagree, but criticizing someone for it, calling it treason (like Beck did), is ridiculous and un-American. Every Americans true allegiance should be first to their country not whoever happens to be in the White House or a certain political party.

So keep talking Rosie, I like hearing what you have to say.

Fresh Fruits, "Going For Baroque"

If you happen to be in Boston this week and need a laugh, try and catch the latest show by the Fresh Fruits, "Going for Baroque". A friend of a friend is a member of this off the wall 'drag' troupe. Edward, myself and some friends just caught the Sunday afternoon 'packed house' performance at Club Café, as we try to do every year. Each new show just gets better. This year they poked fun at Mitt Romney, hair loss, gang bangs, 'big black guys' and Asian drivers, no one is safe. For a taste of their humor checkout this video (may not be suitable for all audiences!).

Club Cafe, 209 Columbus Ave, Boston, from March 22 through April 7. Show times are 7:30 pm Thursday through Saturday, and 2:00 pm Sunday. Tickets are $20 for general seating and can be purchased at www.freshfruitproductions.com. Discounted tickets are available at Thursday and Sunday shows with a valid student ID. For group discounts or reservations, please call (617) 825-1887.