Jay Brannan Will Probably Not Be So Far From Where You Live This Summer

It's been over a year since we've written anything about Jay Brannan. Over a year and a half! Too long. Wednesday Jay is kicking off a national tour, starting in Boston. Here's the schedule for the summer:

July 18 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
July 19 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
July 20 Philadelphia, PA @ World Café Live
July 21 Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
July 23 Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
July 24 Columbus, OH @ Basement
July 26 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
July 27 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
July 28 Kansas City, MO @ Czar Bar
July 30 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
July 31 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Aug 2 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Aug 3 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
Aug 4 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
Aug 7 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
Aug 8 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Aug 10 Phoenix, AZ @ Hard Rock Café
Aug 11 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Aug 13 Dallas, TX @ Sons of Herman Hall
Aug 14 Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Jr.
Aug 15 Houston, TX @ Fitz Downstairs
Aug 17 Charlotte, NC @ Visulite
Aug 18 Atlanta, GA @ Eddie’s Attic
Aug 19 Atlanta, GA @ Eddie’s Attic
Aug 20 Birmingham, AL @ Workplay
Aug 21 Nashville, TN @ The End
Aug 23 Orlando, FL @ The Social
Aug 25 New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
Sep 16 Provincetown, MA @ Crown & Anchor (Afterglow Festival)

Above is the new video, just out, for "Rob Me Blind," the eponymous third single from his latest album. Eradicating homophobia isn't going to happen overnight but something tells me that artists like Jay and songs like "Rob Me Blind" will speed up the process even more than anything that gets done in Congress.

Happy Anniversary Corporate Takeover Of America! Let's Celebrate With Some Music By Jay Brannan

Truthout does just that; they get the truth out every day. Yesterday they sent me a request for some money to help them keep doing it. Their pitch made me think of the state of the music business... how the Industry has fallen into the deepest depths of the fieriest abyss-- a giant, repulsive, soul-killing advertising scheme for... the rest of the giant, repulsive, soul-killing corporatocracy. At least music-- unlike so many other moving parts of our economic superstructure-- doesn't usually kill anyone. And there are, for whatever reason, still independents. Truthout:

A year ago, an activist Supreme Court granted superhuman powers to corporations under the law. Since then, the corporatocracy has grown even stronger and more ubiquitous, winding its tentacles around all spheres of society-- including the media.

The tentacles of the corporatocracy run very deep.

4 years ago you might have had an excuse to have not heard of indie artist Jay Brannan. Or even two years ago. Now he's 29 and you don't. Jay was born into a family of Texas religious fanatics who cast him out when it was discovered he was g-a-y. He moved to the West Coast and then the East Coast, to work as an actor and singer/songwriter and that's where he lives now. He's an independent-- i.e., non-corporate-- YouTube sensation and he supports himself by playing live shows to the people who see him on YouTube or hear him on the rare radio station that hasn't been sucked up by the corporatocracy.



Ever been to the DWT Books and Music shop? We just got Jay's CD, Goddamned in today. You can buy it and spit in the eye of the corporatocracy. That reminds me... Friday was the one year anniversary of the most outrageous act by the Supreme Court since they stole the 2000 presidential election for George Bush. Citizens United v. FEC, left unchallenged, will be the ultimate nail in the coffin of whatever is left of America's experiment with some kind of democracy. But, as People For the American Way reminded me, there are concerned citizens-- real ones, not corporate creations-- protesting the decision that lifted restrictions on corporate influence in elections and to calling for a constitutional amendment to reverse it.

“Poll after poll has shown that Americans—regardless of political affiliation, race, gender, or geography-- want corporations to have less influence in elections, and strongly disagree with the Supreme Court’s precedent-shattering decision to give them more,” said Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way.

“The Citizens United decision wasn’t just legally dubious. By allowing corporations to spend freely and without accountability, Citizens United helped to make the 2010 elections some of the most expensive, dishonest, and secretive in American history. The American people are fed up with elections where money matters more than ideas, and where the size of your bank account determines the scope of your power. A constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United will be a powerful way for Americans to reclaim our stakes in our democracy.”

And one last YouTube clip; important... albeit not as cute and well put together as Jay: