PRIDE ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES

Q: Make three statements that will tell the reader 3 important things about how you see the world, and your role in it.
     1. I think music is a great healer so I want my music to help heal the world--sounds corny, I know! But I believe it!
     2. I do believe that "Love Will Take Over" in the end
     3. I've also learned that "Love Wasn't Built In A Day" and that sometimes it takes little steps to accomplish big important goals.

Q: What has been the greatest challenge in your life or career? Learning that nobody is going to care as much as I do about the things I care about and that nobody else is going to do the things I want to do for me. It is up to me to make it happen.

Q: Every entertainer has people behind them who influence their career journey, for good or bad. Who were your major career influences and how did they influence you? My oldest brother Steven was a very positive influence on me in how I listened to and appreciated music when I was younger and my Dad definitely gave me the love of music cause he always sang around the house and played music from his favorite musicals. I don't wanna name names but there were a bunch of music industry professionals and record label people that told me I should go in the closet to be successful and they influenced me cause they gave me something to prove!

Q. Describe the most satisfying experience? (What keeps you in the business?) The two things that keep me in the business is the joy that comes out of the creative process....there's nothing like it really. And the response I get from the fans. The emails I get make me cry real man tears sometimes. They say the absolute most amazing things to me and it always seems to come when I need to hear it.

Q: If you weren’t an entertainer, what would you be? Maybe an academic professor ... I think beneath the entertainer in me is a writer so I could be doing some other kind of writing other than songwriting.

Q: When writing a song, what qualities/messages do you ideally want to impart through the song and how does your sexuality and your experiences as a gay man colour your material? I try to be as specific and direct in the songs I write. Sometimes I enjoy the realm of metaphor, but I seem to be more drawn to write things that are pretty direct and clear. My experience as a gay man is reflected in every song I write, whether it’s implicit or explicit.

Q An entertainer I spoke with once stated that “Music is my life. Every defining moment of my life is reflected in my music” Which of the songs you’ve penned (either for this album, or previously) reflect (a) defining moment(s) from your life? Oh god! All of them!! Ride To Heaven came out of all the time I spend in Los Angeles not knowing how to drive and relying on the kindness of strangers! Where the Music Takes You is like the past 5 years of my life just going where the music took me and staying true to myself. “I Can Forgive You” I wrote after the break up of a five year relationship.

Q. Which do you generally write first; the music or the lyrics? Its always different. Sometimes music first lyrics second and vice versa. Often times they come at the same time.

Q: You’ve said that working on “Transport Systems” was, to say the least, “difficult” and “Challenging”. What were the challenges of this record? Creatively it wasn't difficult at all...it was such a joy and it all came pouring out of me. The difficult part was having to really make this album myself without much outside help. Making a pop album can be an expensive endeavor, even with home studios and everything so there were times when I just didn't know how I was going to finish it. And I experienced some rejection when I sought out support for my album from places I didn't expect to be rejected by so that was emotionally difficult at times. But now, looking back, I'm so happy the way things turned out and that I was able to do it on my own and in the way I wanted to and I realized that I didn't need the help as much as I thought I did.

Q. The lead single “Where The Music Takes You” is definitely made for radio (My roommate seems to think the song was written by or for a boyband, though I read the writing credits and think I know differently) What are your plans to promote this single and is it heading to radio any time soon? I know! It needs to get on mainstream radio! It was written by and for the one man boy band that is me! LOL! My favorite part is that it has a black girl hollering the line “There is no place like home”--does it get any gayer then that?

Q: When I mentioned to someone that I know on MySpace that I may be interviewing you, she said I should ask you why Politics seems to be a favorite subject of yours ... as it seems that many of your songs on your albums seem to be about them in some form or another. Well I believe as the feminist movement taught us, that the personal is political. So just being gay and wanting to make art that is autobiographical is automatically political based on the times that we live in and that gay people are still fighting for some of their basic human rights? I also happen to think that art can be a very powerful tool so why not use it to make a positive change in the world. But that doesn't mean you can’t have fun and dance and have sex while your doing it either.

Q. Speaking of ‘social issue’ songs – “Feeding the Fire” is a cautionary tale about Crystal Meth use; “Mr Mistress” is about love on the down low; “Transport Me” about gender identity; most if not all, songs on the album is about something that can be taken in a political, if not controversial light by mainstream audiences. Does being openly gay, make it easier to explore for your audience these rather controversial subjects and do you think that being gay colours the themes? Perhaps if I was an artist who had the pressure to sell millions of copies of their album, I may be scared to tackle these topics, but it’s more important to me to speak the truth about what I see around me then it is to be commercial. Although I happen to think my music is actually very accessible and something that many people can relate to...cause you can listen to it without even realizing what I'm saying and just get into the groove. It’s only when you start paying attention do you realize what the songs are about. But the topics I write about don't only affect gay people. I mean the down low is a topic on Oprah all the time! But of course being gay colors the themes, cause Mr. Mistress is actually written from the perspective of a gay man who finds out the man he's having an affair with is married with children. It’s an empowerment song, really cause who needs to mess up a family like that? Not me. I deserve better then that. And I song like “Where The Music Takes You” its about “to thine own self be true”--this is an age old adage that dates back to Shakespeare, so I think my message is quite universal.

Q. You are paired with heterosexual rapper Mr Man on this new album in a remake of the Human League’s Human. What attracted you to remake this rarely remade track and how were you inspired to have MR Man to guest? It’s always been a favorite song of mine and it was written by two of my all time favorite songwriters and producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song was originally about a guy apologizing for cheating on his girlfriend, but I thought the core of the message in the chorus could be even more powerful then that as a human rights anthem. So I reworked it a bit and invited my friend Mr. Man to rap on it. He came up with the rap in the studio and basically read my mind of what I wanted to say. It was a spiritual thing. And I think its super cool that a hetero hip hopper could get such a queer artist like myself!

Q: On “Love Wasn’t Built In A Day” you are joined by Jazz saxophonist Dave Koz. What brought you together for this track and what was it like to work with this legend? He is a legend! He's been signed to Capitol Records for over 20 years! After I had read his coming out interview on the cover of the Advocate I said to myself I had to have him play on my next record. I loved how unabashed he was in the love of the music he played even though critics often bash it ... I mean you can’t come for the musicianship that people like Dave Koz have...and Anita Baker and Sade, they are all smooth jazz artists and they are some of my favorites. So I happened to meet him after I read the article and we emailed back and forth for practically a year with me trying to get him to play on my song with his crazy tour schedule. At one point he said to me that he didn't think it was going to happen, but I didn't give up and one day we were both in LA and he brought his saxophone to the studio and we made some beautiful music! He told me after that he was really glad I was such a pushy Jew (he's Jewish too so he can say that!) I cried real man tears at the end, ‘cause its not every day that you get to have a vision realized.

Q. There is a belief that music speaks louder than words. In what ways does music speak to you? Music is my savior....there's nothing that can move you like music.

In this section we are going to discuss your fan base and how you relate to them. We are also going to discuss some very emotional subjects that should be very important to the GLTB community ... Coming Out, Homophobia and AIDS.
Q. When did you first realize that gay people were discriminated against? Well I certainly remember being told that the things I liked to do were not appropriate for boys at a very early age. And I was called names in school.

Q. How did the death of Matthew Sheppard affect you? Upon hearing of his death what thoughts came into your mind? Anger of course. But what makes me even more angry then the clearly disturbed people who would do such a thing, is the politicians, public officials, and religious leaders who continue to condone this type of violence by not allowing us the same legal rights as everybody else.

Q. When did you first realize you were gay? How did you deal with that realization? When I pranced around my house singing, "(The Sun Will Come Out) Tomorrow," "Over the Rainbow," and "Hopelessly Devoted To You” Of course when I realized what that meant I knew it was something I had to keep a secret from everybody!

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