Europeans Have No Taste

Yes, I realise that That Sounds Good To Me was an extremely derivative piece of work, but it had a decent melody and was so anodyne as to be widely accepted, and Josh perfomed it commendably, so I really don't understand how, at the end of a rather long evening, the song ended up last, behind corkers like the ones from Belarus and Russia as it really wasn't that bad, and at least made no references to "god of mercy" or other deities, so should have done better, and if it had, would not have made me as upset about the total lack of taste in the European continent (although I will add that I thought Lena was an okay winner, conrgats!).

Eurovision 2010: My Predictions

Well, the first semifinals are over and here are my predictions so far...

Number 1
The Paulo Nutini/ Jason Mraz soundalike Tom Dice from Belgium. Sweet introspective song with a great chorus.

Number 2
Iceland's Hera Björk who has a song which is entirely different from the Belgian entry, but still amazing.

Number 3
Not strictly speaking in the semifinals as Norway won it last year and is automatically in the finals. This year they are represented by the stupendously talented Didrik Solli-Tangen from Norway. Quite a traditional (i.e. dull) song, but with a big ending, and he really is very easy on the eyes which helps!

In The Pink(ies) on Vimeo

Have you checked out the In The Pink(ies) vimeo channel yet? It is a companion to the YouTube channel, but when I have high definition videos, that's where they tend to go. I've created a little credits video for it which I'll be tacking on to the end of my videos in the future.

Pinkies' Summer Concert 2010 Trailer

I love this video - it encapsulates all the things I love about the Pink Singers: the singing, the family, the fun, the pride, the travelling, the meeting new people and making new friends. Come to our next concert and experience it for yourself - details on our website! Check out the ad in Gay Times below too...

Breaking The Mold

I think it goes without saying that as a choir with the LGBT tag line we are indubitably proud of our lesbian, gay, bi and trans credentials. The dilemma is knowing how far our identity should be labelled as such when we are equally proud of our musical ability. When I was in college one of the freshers would introduce himself as, "My name is X and I am gay." Good on him, but at the same time the reality is that people do, inevitably, pigeonhole you which then means you are judged based on different criteria. The Pink Singers name does not lead to immediate conclusions about who we are necessarily, and I am much more an advocate of demonstrating how good you are before springing any categorization on outsiders.

So it was with our gig at the 7th Annual London Sangerstevne. I'm not sure how we were invited to the event, but it was a gathering of small, community choirs from around the U.K. and Europe. These types of festival are incredibly fun and the lack of a competitive element keeps things light and friendly. It helped that the whole event was organized in a laid back manner. "The Pink Singers" appeared in the programme without our tag-line: we opened with Gloria and Locus Iste, and I think we made a great initial impression with both. We then went on to sing April Is In My Mistress Face and our version of Sh-Boom. Part of the choreography in the latter involves Tom D and Chris Chi doing a sexy little dance duet, which is of course, a dead giveaway. Then Philip R gave a little introduction to us (and to flog our fab concert which is just a month away - get your tickets now by the way).

Interestingly, sitting in the audience there was a little tittering, partly because we were the only LGBT choir there, but this was then followed by incredible support, and by the time we came to the end of our performance of Does Your Mother Know the applause was thunderous. I still find the irony of "Does your mother know that you're out?" delicious! One guy was even waving his hoodie in the air, he was so enthusiastic. I do think it is events like this which help break down stereotypes.

Pink Singers News - On Your Phone!

It appears the Pink Singers are entering the mobile digital age. With all the possible sources of news coming out of the Pinkies' website, twitter and the Facebook fan page, haven't you often wished for a one stop hub, preferably on your phone, which would gather and present all that information to you? Well, the good news is that now you can... if you have a Nokia phone that is. Head on over to the Ovi Store for the Pink Singers news app. Loads of phone models are supported, including the Nokia 5230, 5235, 5530, 5800, N97 and N97 mini, X6 and the upcoming N8. Stay in the loop! Click on the pictures in this post to get a zoomed in look of what's available!

A Virtual Choir

I have suggested the Pinkies sing Lux Aurumque after hearing the St. Michael's Singers perform this in Coventry Cathedral one Easter, but the Pinkies have never done it, in part because it doesn't quite fit in with our no-sheet-music style. Had I known about the choir project, however, I would have jumped at the opportunity to do it on-line, as these people have done. Eric Whitacre, in what is a stroke of genius, has arranged for a variety of individuals from around the world to record their lines and compiled them all into one super virtual choir. There was an incentive: these people were all auditioning for a choral scholarship via YouTube. The individual audition tracks are here. The (somewhat engineered) product is above. Wonderful!

The next project is another of his famous songs: Sleep. Stay tuned because the Pink Insider will definitely be taking part!