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Submitted by Ari on Wed, 05/28/2008 - 15:12.
Hey fan-tastic fans,
I want to thank everyone for coming out to my Soulforce benefit @ Touch Night club in NYC. The organization raised thousands of dollars that night and I felt so much love from the crowd. Thanks to Bopa King, Kelly King, Jason Walker, Adam Joseph and Kendra Ross for singing and playing with me. Also, big thanks to Jack Mackenroth, Judy Gold and Anthony Rapp for lending their support. It was a truly special night.
Another special night was when I recently got invited to LOGO's first annual NewNowNextAwards. I was up for "Because You Deserve An Award" award,which I thought was pretty cool, cause even if I didn't win it still means that I deserve one! Of course I was still nervous, as this was the first televised award I was ever nominated for and I knew if I won I wanted to make sure I thanked all the right people and didn't forget anything. That really is the best part of winning an award for me--getting to thank all the people in your life that support you and that you know it means something to them for you to win. I also wanted to thank Oprah, cause you know how everyone thanks Jesus? Well, Oprah is my Jesus. (Those free podcast classes she co-teaches with Eckhard Tolle are awesome).
There were like 3 different press rooms before we sat down for the award ceremony where my photo was taken in sort of a red carpet situation without the carpet.Then there were some on-camera interviews. I felt pretty fab in my Marc Jacobs suit even if I didn’t have nearly as many creative red carpet poses as Lady Ga-Ga (thanks to Casey and Matt for helping me pick out the suit at the Marc Jacobs store in soho). I was sandwiched between Laura Bell Bundy from Legally Blond the musical and Michelle Williams from Destiny's Child. I think I accidentally cut Laura in line (it was all pretty crazy), but she's got a Tony nomination under her belt so hopefully she will forgive me—if the gays cant cut the straights at the gay awards show then we’re in trouble, right? I was pretty thrilled to get my photo taken with Michelle Williams as I have been a HUGE Destiny's Child fan since the first album (granted Michelle wasn't part of the group then, but hey, I even own her solo gospel album!).
I finally sat down in the seat that had my name on it. Candis Cayne and Coleman Damingo were hosting and they were funny and charming. I just saw Coleman that week in Passing Strange which was probably the best musical I've ever seen in my life--a transformative and transcendental experience. Coleman plays a few different characters brilliantly (for one of them he was channeling Kevin Aviance at Arena circa 1997). Candis and I have known each other since the old east village Crowbar days (I was 12) and we were both recently in RuPaul’s drag/blaxpliotation/porn extravangaza. Seeing Candis co-host the show, brought back a memory of going to the GLAMMA’s (the Gay and Lesbian Music Awards which no longer exists)when Candis was the trophy girl, handing out trophy’s to the winners. I was so happy to see that Candis was no longer relegated to being just a pretty face and how our community has stepped up and given a voice to such a talented performer who deserves to be seen and heard. Candis even got choked up at one point and it brought tears to my eyes. It was an authentic moment in anotherwise funny and irreverent show. Love her.
At this point, I’m feeling emotional and vulnerable only to finally hear Cyndi Lauper tell us that she is announcing the last award of the evening. What happened with my category you may ask? It turns out they will be announcing some of the categories on June 7th when the show airs on LOGO. Nobody told me that though cause had I known I would not have sat there with shpilkis the whole time practicing my speech in case I actually won! Well, that’s show-biz folks! The good news is that I found out the next day when I bumped into Matt at Beige that Marc Jacobs didn’t want his suit back. My Mom will be quite pleased I have a nice suit for Shabbos. Maybe I'll put my suit back on when I watch the awards on LOGO from home on June 7th.
See you all on tour!
Much Love,
Ari
Submitted by Ari on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 14:34.
Hey fan-tastic ones,
Sorry I haven't written in a while. March was a busy traveling month, but now I am back in New York and I am so excited for my benefit concert for Soulforce! Anthony Rapp from RENT, Jack Mackenroth from Project Runway and the brilliant and hilareous Judy Gold will be there! I also have my two favorite out male artists singing with me--Adam Joseph and Jason Walker. Kelly King who just got off tour opening for Babyface will be guesting and other surprise guests--so I'm quite excited. Soulforce is such a cool organization so make sure to check them out at www.soulforce.org.
I'd love to answer any questions you may have that you want answers to so keep em coming. Here's a new one from Raul:
I've been a huge fan for quite awhile and finally got to meet you @the lgbt expo on Sat. I was the guy who hunted you down a second time because my friend didn't save the pic on the phone. Just wanted to ask you a quick question. What was your inspiration in writing Mr Mistress? Continued success in all of your endeavors!!!!
I would say Mr. Mistress was written as an amalgamation of a bunch of different relationships I've had where I was not having being somebody's Mr. Mistress. A few of the details in the song are actually about a guy who was in a relationship with another man and then there's also the relationship with a guy who was with a woman. I took some creative licence with the song as well but I'm not gonna tell you exactly who the people are--one of them is pretty high profile! And he was trying to have a baby while he was seeing me and yet still complaining when he found out that I went on a date with someone else! He told me I could date other people as long as it wasn't in the city where he lived, which I thought was pretty crazy--as if he owned a city that I had been going to and had friends in since I was a child. Thats why I wanted to write that song, because its an empowerment song to tell us that we deserve better and that with all the hiding that we've had to go through coming out of the closet, why would we want to get into a relationship that we have to keep a secret? I understand that everyone has their own process of coming out of the closet, but especially when there are children and wives involved, they have to take responsibility for their lives and the people they are supposed to be caring for and the repurcussions their actions have. I didn't want to get involved in all that mess and didn't want to contribute to other people's hurt and pain.
So thats basically the inspiration for Mr. Mistress!
Thanks for your question Raul!
Submitted by Ari on Tue, 01/08/2008 - 13:46.
Happy New Year everybody!
I'm sure you all heard all the incredible news that happened around the holidays. I couldnt be more thrilled. There are lots of exciting things happening for 2008. Including some hot new remixes of "Where The Music Takes You" in conjunction with the song winning the Grand Prize of the USA Songwriting Competition. And theres lots more I cant tell you about yet! But stay tuned!
Here's a new question I got from a fan named Ronnie:
My question for you is, would you ever consider collaborating with Janet Jackson? I mean i think you too would make a hot track together that will burn down the walls of every dance club around the world. If you guys were to get a hot producer like Pharrell Williams or even Timbaland... that would be all she wrote... Anyway, would that ever be some'em that you would like to do?
I am a huge fan of Janet so I would love to do a callabo. Her long-time producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are probably my favorite producers of all time which is one of the reasons why I wanted to cover "Human" by the Human Leaugue on my album, which they wrote and produced. I also used elements of a Thelma Houston song they wrote called "You Used To Hold Me So Tight" for my song "Funk That Ship" on my Space Under Sun CD. But I do also love Pharrell and Timbaland. Loved the Neptunes work when I first heard Kelis first album and have been following Timbaland since his CD's with Magoo. They say if ytou put something out into th universe, the universe will answer so keep the vibes out for it, Ronnie! And Thanks for your question!
Submitted by Ari on Mon, 11/12/2007 - 15:38.
QUESTION FROM KEVIN:
Loved your Palm Springs concert. My question, Do you have one town/city/venue that you performed in during your career that really stands out in your mind when asked this question, if so where?
ARI'S ANSWER:
Thanks Kevin! Palm Springs was so beautiful and I really felt the love from the people.
I do remember a gig I had in Rochester, NY a few years back. The gig itself wasnt my favorite, but the people there were so cool and nice and we all went out afterward and they told me that their signature food was something called a "garbage plate" which they said in their cute Rochester accent. And so I ordered one which is basically a burger with cheese and fries and bacon just everything on top of each other. It was both disgusting and delicious!
I also have an affinity for Chicago--performing at the Gay Games for 30,000 people was amazing and Chicago always gives me such love. I had a great time there for Market Days as well. They really appreicate music in that city!
Of course I will always love performing in my native New York, cause theres nothing like a New York audience--especially cause so many of my friends and family get to come from so many walks of my life.
Thanks for your question, Kevin!
QUESTION FROM DJ JOHNNY BLAZE:
Hi, Ari I have to say your latest work of art is a MASTERPIECE, congratulations. I have two questions actually, sorry. The first is what inspired you to write this beautiful poetic song " Play It Back " and the second is if you were the President of the United States what would be your top three things would you like to change?
ARI'S ANSWER:
Thank you Johnny Blaze! First Question: “Play It Back” was inspired by feeling like I wasn’t moving forward in my life and I was replaying events from my past, particularly my childhood, over and over in my mind like a broken record. Its about wanting to let go and stop holding on to past hurts, disappointments and pain. I think by writing the song, I was really able to let it go in even a bigger way then I was in therapy which I had been in for a long time. Hopefully it will have some of that same healing power that it gave me, when people listen to it.
Second question: If I were president..whew, that’s a big question. Well I am an artist and not a politician for a reason, but I guess the three things that come to mind right now are: 1. Free Health Care for all citizens of this country—I’m sure this is easier said than done, but if other countries can make it work I’m sure we can figure out a way—especially considering how much money is being spent on things that don’t seem nearly as important. And lets get stem cell research happening in this country people! It saves lives!! 2. Get our troops out of Iraq—I’m sure with the money we are spending on this war we could be taking care of our own in much better ways. 3. Give Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people equal rights and protection under the constitution of the United States which means the right to marry, the right to serve in the army, and protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.
QUESTION FROM BRYAN/USA:
Tell us about your experience working with Desmond Child on the tune Review My Kisses. Tell us about your experience working with Billy Porter on Transport. Did Culture Club's Kissing To Be Clever have an influence on you? -bryan/usa
When Desmond got the gig to produce a song for two-step/garage UK stars DJ Luck and MC Neat he immediately thought that I would be right to write and sing the hook in a similar way to how Craig David was singing hooks on two-step records. Desmond had his home and a few of his own studios in Miami at the time (he basically owned like 2 blocks worth!) so he invited me into his office and said he had a song for me and he sang and played “Review My Kisses.” Desmond actually has a great singing voice and I just loved the song immediately. There was something about the melody that felt like it was something I could have written myself and it was just such a heartfelt emotional song. So he taught it to me and I started singing it all over New York at places like Fez and Joe’s Pub. It became almost a signature song for me and it was a real crowd pleaser. Desmond actually accompanied me one time and I have to say, nobody plays it as well as he does. I was a bit surprised when I stumbled across Leann Rimes CD at a local CD store and saw that he had given her the song. But iI guess it wasn’t my song to begin with and Leanne’s version is very pretty. I still do think that there’s something more powerful about the song when a man sings it and sings the line, “I feel like a childless mother, wanting to hold her baby.” I did record my own version that I put as a bonus mp3 on the enhanced version of my sophomore album Space Under Sun. But nothing compares to singing the song live. I hope to capture that song live and a live album is something that I look forward to doing, so maybe it will happen!
Its no secret that Billy Porter and I were lovers for a couple of years and in the process of making my album Billy could not have been more supportive. I constantly bounced ideas off of him (as he did with me in the creation of his brilliant one man show, Ghetto Superstar). Just having that voice (!) around me and listening to some great gospel music with him, it was impossible for all that not to rub off. Billy also introduced me to Lofey who created the tracks for "Play It Back," "Mr. Mistress" and "Feeding The Fire" which I mixed and arranged with my longtime collaborator, Steve Skinner. Then Billy and I worked on "Soul Killer" together with Gary Haase. And he recorded some backgrounds for the original demo which we kept on the final version I did with Steve. Billy always encouraged me to speak my truth even if it was very personal and even sometimes embarrassing. I thought it was only appropriate to give him co-executive producer credit considering was an important force he was in the creation of this album.
While I was a huge fan of Culture Club and Boy George, I cant say that the song "Kissing To Be Clever" was a particular inspiration. I had to go searching my old Culture Club records to remember which song that was!
Thanks so much for your questions, Bryan!
Submitted by Ari on Mon, 10/08/2007 - 23:25.
New Feature To www.AriGold.com
Submitted by Ari on Tue, 09/18/2007 - 15:02.
To all my fan-tastic fans,
Welcome to my new and improved website!! Aside from giving the site a whole new look to coincide with the release of my new album TRANSPORT SYSTEMS, we’ve also added lots of cool new stuff! There are brand new studio photos by Marco Caracari, Matteo Trisolini and Andre Robert Lee in the GALLERY plus some really cool new live shots. We will be updating the PRESS page with all the new press that’s been coming out for the new album. And I hope you like the new jukebox where you can hear three brand new tunes from my new album. Plus, there is a link to my brand new video for the first single, “Where The Music takes You” featuring Sasha Allen, directed by the incredible Joe Phillips. And of course there’s the new addition of this BLOG. I have always written personal updates to you guys, but I decided to officially call it a BLOG cause that’s what the kids are doing these days! Maybe it will inspire me to be even more candid and opinionated, who knows?
My new album drops October 2nd nationwide and I cannot wait for you to hear it! I have never been more proud of anything I’ve done in my whole life and I think when you listen to it you will understand why. The responses has been amazing so far (I even got the legendary Clive Davis to pay attention), but its you, the fans who I am most excited to get this music to. I say this in the liner notes of the album, but for anyone that may be downloading the album I will say it again: If not for you always cheering me on I honestly don’t know if I would have had it in me to make this album. Whenever I forgot why I do what I do, you were always there to remind me at exactly the right moments. This album is an expression of my gratitude to you all.
Keep checking this site and MYSPACE for all the latest news and info and upcoming tour dates. I cant wait to see you at a city near you and perform all this new music for you live.
And remember....go where the music takes you and...transport yourself!
Much Love,
Ari
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