Hey gang, we just put up some pics from last night's show on the Hippodrome, the shuttle bus for the Downtown Art Walk.  We played a short, "unplugged" set including the songs Luscious Mag, Mondo di Corpo, The Collection, Mustache Rides 5 Cents, 19th and Lexington, and Slut Buffet; all with just a battery-powered keyboard and one battery-powered amp! 

We had a great time and will be doing it again next month.  Big thanks to The Ukulady for inviting us to perform on the bus; she also played which was brilliant as usual, in addition to our favorite boy band, Reigel and Blatt.
Check out The Hippodrome! here.

Well a lot has been going on but we were not really able to figure out how to update this here website and blog - now we’ve got that taken care of, hopefully we will be more forthcoming with updates and news.
We’ve been doing our club night, hot pursuit, for a few months now and having a great time doing so.  The first night was in february at the palms in west hollywood and featured us, the ukulady, alaska thunderfuck, and dj myles matisse.  In march, we featured that’s what she said, slowmo erotic, daddy wild, alaska thunderfuck, dj eddie tyclus, and of course us.  After that we decided to move the club around from place to place, truly being in hot pursuit, so the next night will be may 7th at mr. t’s bowl in highland park.  the bands playing will be us, ask alice, and slowmo erotic, plus dj eddie tyclus, alaska thunderfuck and coco ono.  we have some more shows coming up too so come be part of the fun.
we have been working a lot on the new album, “Open for business”, which we hope to finally release this summer.  it has really been a “long strange trip” but we think it has been worth it, and we really think you’ll dig it.  we hope to put “19th & Lexington” out soon as a single and video.
meanwhile, we’ve really been getting into the groove with our new live band, which includes matt hermstad from slowmo erotic (ever so graciously loaned to us by his boyfriend, kevin) on guitar and alejandra arellano on drums.  We are writing some new songs together that we plan to record soon, so that the follow up to “Open for business” will come out soon afterwards (not 3 1/2 years later!).

We started going through the vast archives of Shitting Glitter video tapes (we have a large percentage of our past shows on film) and seeing what was there. 
We will be putting select clips on YouTube for posterity and so we can watch them again and again with the touch of a button.  Maybe people besides us will watch them too, who knows.

First, here is "Mondo di Corpo" from our 100th Show, at Rockotitlan in Hollywood, Nov. 12 2005.  Rockotitlan, on the corner of Fountain and Wilton, serves as the coffee shop where Sarah Silverman and her friends hang out on The Sarah Silverman Program. 


Secondly, going further back in time, here's our cover of Missing Persons "Words" performed at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood on Jan. 24, 2004.  This is when the band included Eddie Tyclus of Swivel on drums.

Thanks so much to Annie of the band Ask Alice for inviting us to be part of the first annual Cut & Paste Rock & Roll night at DiPiazza's in Long Beach.  It was a great night full of queer music and art! 
We had a special guest guitarist, our friend Matt from the band Slowmo Erotic, who also played a kickass set that night!  And of course we had our drummer Alejandra and our go-go squad, Coco Ono and Alaska Thunderfuck!  It was quite a night.

We're very happy with the response we have been getting from the first suite of "Open For Business." If you haven't already heard the songs, they are available to purchase from our Music Freedom site.
Also, you can watch the video for "I'm A Vampire" over on YouTube and a montage of photos featuring the song "Legalese" is here. And you can check out live versions of "The Collection" from C.U.N.T. TV and "Socially Activist" at Bakersfield Gay Pride.
Last night, I went out to Malibu to work on the remaining songs and choose the next four songs. It seems that the next four songs will be: "Hopeless Romantic", "19th & Lexington", "Now Unthinkable" and "Treasure Good Things." Those four songs are similar in the way that they are are fairly dark and serious, a little more sophisticated that what we have done before. They are more "wintery" songs if you will.
That would leave four songs for the final installment, but you'll hear about those later.
We do have a couple shows coming up in the meantime, so definitely come check us out if you get a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2DiqRXR0zI

Here is another new song! This one is "Legalese" and it's one we've been playing live for quite awhile now, so we're ecstatic to finally let you hear the recorded version. This song features guest vocalists on the Chorus including Dylan "Coco Ono" Tucker, Paulieplastic from Mass., and Jessica Lawless, as well as live drums by Alexa.

This message regarding last night's debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin from Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom To Marry, the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide, was published on www.towleroad.com:

As I've noted to some colleagues and reporters, analyzing last night's exchange on same-sex couples and marriage:

The good news is that Senator Biden expressed his belief that gay and non-gay couples should be treated equally under the law, and committed to support for the incidents of marriage, the legal protections and responsibilities that come with marriage. The bad news is that he stopped short of supporting actual equality through the freedom to marry itself, the only way to provide the full security, clarity, and protections that marriage alone brings, and failed (as did the moderator) to point out the inconsistencies and falsehoods in Governor Palin's answer. His comments garbled the distinction between religious rites of marriage, properly left to religions to decide, and the legal right to marry, regulated by the government, which should not discriminate. Supporters of gay equality should not be using the anti-gay forces' false talking-point (introduced by Governor Palin) that ending gay couples' exclusion from marriage is "redefining" marriage; marriage is not "defined" by who is denied it.

The good news in Governor Palin's answer was that she felt obliged to go out of her way to proclaim herself "tolerant of adults in America choosing their partners, choosing relationships that they deem best for themselves," a position that, if true, raises the question of why the law should then discriminate against those Americans, whether in marriage or other legal mechanisms such as domestic partnership (which she opposed in Alaska and tried to overturn by constitutional amendment).

Her assertion of non-judgmental "tolerance" is inconsistent with her chuch's hosting an anti-gay "change through prayer" program that she has refused to repudiate. And her claim that "not in a McCain-Palin administration, to do anything to prohibit, say, visitations in a hospital or contracts being signed, negotiated between parties" is at odds with Senator McCain's support for anti-gay constitutional amendments such as the one in Arizona that would have impeded legal acknowledgment of gay couples and denied the range of protections, from marriage down to specific legal measures such as partnership recognition, to unmarried couples, gay and non-gay.

McCain's and Palin's actions -- nearly always rejecting pro-gay steps and measures, nearly always supporting anti-gay positions -- is the worst news.

Overall, then, the bad news is that while one party's positions are immensely better than the others, both candidates failed to support full equality for America's gay families (despite Governor Palin's invocation of "equal rights" as an American value in her closing); the worse news is that the real and immense difference between their actual positions -- one supporting actual movement toward equality and fairness, the other offering bland assurances belied by actual policy positions deepening discrimination -- may have gotten lost.

And, to end on a positive, it is good news that yet again we see that the discussion around marriage equality is moving politicians, sincerely or otherwise, to greater acknowledgment of gay families and the wrongness of discrimination against them. That one presidential ticket is indeed committed to specific legal measures to reduce discrimination and, indeed, tacit support for marriage equality, even if they won't yet embrace or explain it, is perhaps best of all.

— Evan Wolfson, FreedomtoMarry.org

So we are taking some time out from recording to play a couple of important gigs this month.
First, we'll be making our LAS VEGAS DEBUT on Oct. 11 as part of the National Coming Out Day street festival taking place in the fruit loop. We'll be joined by the hot, sexy, rhythm team of Barry and Alexa on bass and drums, which will really make this show PUMP!
Then the next weekend we'll be performing at Bakersfield Gay Pride on Oct. 18, which will also feature our great friends Three Chord Whore, who you may remember helped us out by joining us for some of our summer Pride shows earlier this year.
A little update on the recording - we are changing plans yet again. Rather than releasing a double A side of "Socially Activist" + "The Collection" and b-sides, we are going to go ahead and release those two songs plus TWO MORE songs from the forthcoming album, as downloads. We are considering releasing songs in sets of 4 online until all the songs are released - then compiling them as an album. We are wanting to do something different and take advantage of modern technology. We're also considering offering some sort of magazine and exclusive bonus tracks to those who want some physical product. More on that as it develops.
Lastly, here is a cool video made by www.reallesbiankiss.com which includes some footage they filmed of us performing "Slut Buffet" at LA Pride, and some real lesbians kissing. It's hot!!!

Devin here.

For the past month or so, I've been active in volunteering not only for my usual cause of helping the homeless, but also for No On 8, The Equality For All Campaign.
This marks the first time in my life I have been an active participant in a political campaign. The reason I have chosen to become involved is because this is a cause that is more near and dear to my heart than perhaps any other.
Proposition 8 has been placed on the ballot by members of the religious right who seek to overturn the California Supreme Court's May 2008 ruling "that the California legislative and initiative measures limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violate the state constitutional rights of same-sex couples and may not be used to preclude same-sex couples from marrying."

Since this is my blog, I'd like to take a moment to tell my personal story. I knew from a very early age that I was gay, despite the constant awareness that, from my perspective, the whole world seemed to be anti-gay. Growing up in conservative rural Kansas, I had no gay role models, heard nothing positive about homosexuals, and constantly heard derogatory jokes and comments about gay people. Despite this, and my desperate desire to "fit in" and be accepted, I knew in my heart that I was not a heterosexual. I was not born a heterosexual. Nothing traumatic or scandalous happened in my childhood that made me into a homosexual, I simply knew from the first time that I was aware of attraction to anyone, that I was attracted to males. This did not change as I was growing up, as I so often wished it would. Going through junior high, puberty, high school, nothing changed. I dated girls and tried my hardest to ignore my inner thoughts but that only created feelings of inferiority and insecurity. There came a point in my high school years where I realized that I was just going to have to hide my true feelings until I went away to college, where I could move to a different town, make new friends, and experience the anonymity I had never known having grown up in small towns.

Graduation from High School came and went, and I just wasn't ready to leave my family and home. I ended up enrolling at Fort Hays State University, just across town from my parents' house and my high school. However, I eventually came out of the closet with the help of accepting friends and family. I had a few relationships and made friends with some other gay guys at college, but soon it became apparent that I would never attain the lifestyle I wanted living in Hays, Kansas. So I set my sights on Los Angeles, CA, after reading about the gay enclave known as West Hollywood on the Internet.

I now call West Hollywood home, along with my partner of six years, Dylan. While I always secretly harbored dreams of one day getting married, despite the fact that it was only legal in one out of the fifty states and I had no plans on moving to Massachusetts. My parents had been married since before I was born and despite the ups and downs common to any long term relationship, remain happily married after 25 years. Dylan's parents, however, were never married to each other and growing up in California, had a less rosy perspective of marriage than I did, having seen many people struggle through dysfunctional unions and nasty divorces. So, it was an issue that I never pressed, just being happy to appreciate each passing day, month, and year that Dylan and I spent together.

Then, as I said before, in May of 2008, the California State Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny the right of marriage to anyone based on sexual orientation. The gay "summer of love" was born, as committed gay couples across the state celebrated their relationships by having them officially recognized by the state, many of them having been together for decades already. At every gay pride festival I went to that summer (and my band played at five of them!) the excitement was palpable as newly wed couples, soon-t0-be-married couples, and even hopeful bachelors and bachelorettes celebrated our newly granted rights.

Of course it wasn't long before those who oppose equal rights paid people to gather enough signatures to put Proposition 8 on this November's ballot, ostensibly to "protect marriage". Obviously people have their own opinions but I fail to see how preventing people who love each other to marry will "protect marriage." I've spent some time today looking at websites like iprotectmarriage.com and protectmarriage.com and it seems like the thing those people are most afraid of is that children will be taught in school that marriages between two members of the same sex are equal to marriage of members of the opposite sex. Frankly, I would hope that if gays and lesbians are allowed to marry their partners, that children would be taught to treat these marriages equally. Because if I am allowed to get married, and Dylan and I decide to do so, I would love to one day adopt children and I would hate to think that they would be taught in school that their parents marriage is any less valid than anyone else's parents.

I grew up with conservative people, in a conservative atmosphere, and I still fail to understand just what it is about gay marriage that threatens so many people. I've heard their reasons - "it will undermine traditional marriage" - "marriage is between a man and a woman" - "God views homosexuals as an abomination" - but they just don't hold water for me. First of all, as much as I respect and honor tradition, there comes a time when people have to admit to themselves that the world in fact changes and progresses naturally, all on it's own. Human attempts to stop change from happening are never successful. More and more humans are coming out and saying that they are gay, but we are still clearly in the minority. The worst complaints that I always hear about homosexuals ALL stem from the fact that we have NOT had positive role models, we have not felt acceptance or encouragement from society, and we have not been ALLOWED to have our relationships validated by the government in the same way our straight counterparts have. Can you imagine what gay people would be like if they knew that they could grow up to have happy, "normal" lives? As much as I hate the word "normal", it's what many people want - gay or straight, and really, there's nothing wrong with that. Some people are revolutionaries, some are activists, but many are just people who want to be able to go about their lives and their individual pursuits of love and happiness without being discriminated against. That is what every civil rights movement has been about, being treated equal and finding acceptance.

I urge anyone reading this blog to consider my point of view and try to understand that what I and the rest of us who are fighting Prop 8 are asking for - just to be treated equal. To be given a chance. Many of my gay friends do not want to get married, they view marriage as an archaic and outdated institution that sets people up to fail, and I can appreciate that point of view. I am not without my own reservations and doubts about marriage. But I would hate to think that, in 2008, there are still more people in the state of California and the rest of the nation that are so biased against gay people that they would actually want the government to remove and EXISTING right and discriminate against one group of people.

Please, if you are a registered voter in California, please vote NO ON PROP 8. If you do not live in California, please consider donating to the Equality for All Campaign at www.noonprop8.com and tell anyone you know out here in the golden state to vote against this unfair and discriminatory proposition.

Please protect marriage by allowing gays and lesbians the same rights that everyone else has, and by showing future generations that the ONLY requirement needed to be married is that two people love and are committed to each other. That, and that alone, will strengthen the institution of marriage.