A Harps supermarket in Mountain View, Arkansas has placed a “family shield” over the Us Weekly cover of Elton John with his partner David Furnish and their new baby, to protect innocent children.
Like so:
BUT! Here is the thing! They put the shield up after a few wingnuts complained, but took it back down after normal people called them outraged. Victory! The following statement now appears on their website:
This is why it’s always worth it, when these things happen, to follow up and communicate with the people involved in the situation. There, you have the COO of Harps Food Stores agreeing with the good guys and saying, “Y’all are right. That was a stupid decision. Fixed now!”
Music time! Starting with a couple from Ryan Adams, just because. “Come Pick Me Up” and “La Cienega Just Smiled.” And then at the bottom, I’m putting Tori Amos’s “Hey Jupiter.” Just listen. More videos after the jump!
“What Sarah Said” is the one of the most painfully beautiful, poignant songs I have ever heard, so don’t miss that one. And the live version of Tori’s “Iieee” below is delightfully weird and wonderful, especially with the story at the beginning.
You can now add “father” to Sir Elton John’s jam-packed resume.
He and his partner, David Furnish, became the parents of a 7-pound, 15-ounce baby boy named Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish[-John, according to other sources], born to an anonymous surrogate. Furnish is older than most new dads at 48, but at 62, John is entering fatherhood at an age when others are approaching grandfatherhood.
By the time their son hits 18, John will be 80 years old.
I quote from that piece, because that’s the first thought that came to my mind: DANG, he’s doing the fatherhood thing late in life. Anyway, best of luck!
Music time! Another one of those weeks where I had the song I wanted to start with all planned and ready, but then I started listening to Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” last night and found it so newly poignant that I had to use it. But I’m going to use the other one too, because I’ve been listening to a lot of wintry/holiday music, and I ran across this incredible thing by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson called “Winter Song,” and it’s too beautiful not to post. So “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Winter Song,” hit shuffle on the iTunes Jukebox Machine, see where we are ten songs later, and then I have an art opening to go to, so see ya. More videos after the jump:
1. Brandi Carlile – “Dying Day”
2. Ferraby Lionheart – “A Bell And Tumble”
3. Deer Tick – “Baltimore Blues No. 1″
4. The Posies [ft. Kay Hanley] – “The Glitter Prize”
5. Patty Griffin – “Poor Man’s House”
6. Katie Herzig – “I Want To Belong To You”
7. The Corin Tucker Band – “Doubt”
8. Tori Amos – “Flavor”
9. Cale Parks – “Every Week Ends”
10. Leonard Bernstein – Suite from the opera A Quiet Place: Postlude to Act I
That Brandi Carlile song comes up all the time, but that’s fine. It can come up as much as it wants, as far as I’m concerned. Don’t miss the Katie Herzig song under any circumstances.
Poltico has a good background story on how Elton John ended up crooning at Limbaugh’s 100th wedding.
John’s other project — crooning with rapper Eminem may have paid off, after all. In a New York Times interview, he expresses his support for marriage equality.
You’ve been accused of writing gay-bashing lyrics in the past. Would you like to see gay marriage approved in Michigan, where you live?
I think if two people love each other, then what the hell? I think that everyone should have the chance to be equally miserable, if they want.
So, maybe John will have the same magical effect on Rush? If he does, we should have him take over the LGBT movement and just have him tour anti-gay events, winning over one homophobe at a time. Before you know it, they will all be singing (or rapping) our tune.
Yesterday it was learned that the wedding of Rush Limbaugh was officiated by rabid homophobe Pastor Ken Hutcherson. Among Hutcherson’s many anti-gay activities: Leading a walkout of public schools in opposition to the Day Of Silence, attempting a Microsoft shareholder revolt to overturn the company’s protections of gay employees, fighting the Matthew Shepard Act, supporting the “ex-gay movement, and campaigning against Washington state’s Referendum 71.
Hutcherson is one of the most clearly insane figures on the right, and he’s tied in snugly with Scott Lively, through the SPLC-certified hate group Watchmen on the Walls. When it was reported that Elton John sang and played at the wedding for a million dollar paycheck, I remarked that Elton John has obviously decided that principles are highly overrated, but I wasn’t all that surprised by the news that Rush had hired him. My read on Rush Limbaugh (and figures like him) tends to be that they really only believe about 30% of what they say, but that they’ve found an extremely profitable business model in fanning the flames of rage among the dumbest, most fearful people in American society. I still do largely believe that. But to associate with someone like Ken Hutcherson, who’s essentially persona non grata in all but the most fringe quarters of the Christian church, sinks Rush Limbaugh to a new low.
Of course, that report says that Elton John is being paid over a million dollars to perform, and since he doesn’t need the money, I could think of a bunch of great LGBT charities and organizations which could put that money to good use.
David Badash compiled a helpful list a while back of the most homophobic things Rush Limbaugh has ever said to the early bird buffet gluttons who listen to him every day, in case you’ve been living on Mars and need to be reminded what a bigot he is.
