Exclusive Q&A with Dr Frank Spinelli, Author of Pee-Shy

Exclusive Q&A with Dr Frank Spinelli, Author of Pee-Shy

Frank Spinelli, M.D.'s  Pee-Shy appeared in bookstores and became available on the internet at the start of the new year. I more or less previewed the book when I copy edited the initial draft before it ever went to the publisher (Kensington Books). (If nothing else, we both learned how to properly spell Barcalounger.) Pee-Shy is infused with drama, humor, wit and even suspense, and I think most readers will find it hard to put down. This is a powerfully and frankly (yes, pun intended) told memoir and the ramifications of childhood sexual abuse that last a lifetime. Highly recommended and I wish Dr. Spinelli every success with it.
 
Dj Buddy Beaverhausen: Dr Spinelli, thank you so much for doing this Q&A with us at Leave It to Beaverhausen and Queens NYC Our City Internet Radio. I was so impressed by Pee-Shy and I have to tell you there is so much in it that I can relate to. The personal insecurities, the misguided (even emotionally masochistic) romantic involvements and -- at the heart of your memoir -- being molested at age 11. What compelled you to write this story in the first place? 
Dr Frank Spinelli: I had always wanted to tell my story, but the subject of child molestation has been told many times before. I didn’t think I had anything new to add. Then, in 2008, I discovered my former child molester had adopted a boy 25 years earlier, wrote a book and was awarded Father of the Year. That’s when I knew I had to tell my story. Little did I know that was only the tip of the iceberg.

DBB: Your memoir is very, very candid and, when I read your first draft, my immediate but, at the time, unexpressed concern was whether the public at large was ready for this. However, it is obviously a critical success and very well received and embraced by its readers (five out of five stars on Amazon's customer reviews). Were you surprised by the praise and the reception this has received?  
DFS: Yes, surprised and thankful. The literary reviews have been wonderful, but to read reviews by readers is so humbling. Of course, you hope people buy your book, but when someone actually takes the time to write a good review... there’s nothing better than that.
 
DBB: I know your manuscript went through various drafts, rewrites and perhaps more than one editor. Would you tell us a little about the process of getting Pee-Shy from first draft to final copy? 
DFS: I wrote a first draft and my agent read it. Then we had several conversations about what Pee-Shy was actually about. Once we derived that it was about a family in which one of its members suffered a traumatic experience, I went back and focused on that particular part. It’s not just about a boy who was molested. It’s more about how a childhood trauma affects someone well into adulthood, and how that person navigates his life so that the trauma doesn’t define him. I’m very adamant about referring to myself as a survivor and not a victim of child sexual abuse.

DBB: Wasn't there one point where an editor had a problem with the title of the book and suggested you change it? 
DFS: My previous agent said, “No publisher will go for that title,” and so for a time, I called it Gone the Son. Then I switched agents. The first thing my current agent, David Forrer, said was, "You need to change the title because it's dreary." I explained that I originally wanted Pee-Shy. He loved it. Fortunately, the publisher did too. Most authors don't have final say in choosing the title or the cover art. I was very, very lucky Kensington shared my vision. Pee-Shy sets the tone of the book. Yes, it’s a serious subject but there is humor in it.
 
DBB: Gone the Son would be an awful title! Pshaw, thank God it's Pee-Shy! So happy the published book is titled that and it ends the same way you originally wrote it. I think it's the perfect ending and even a touch poetic. Since your first draft, the man who sexually abused you as a child (William Fox, your Scoutmaster) died in prison in 2013. You address that in the book in a single, factual sentence. But how did you actually feel when you received this news? 
DFS: I was numb for weeks. My therapist said I was grieving. I remember thinking, grieve my molester? No way. Actually, I was grieving the loss of a part of childhood. Bill Fox’s death didn’t bring me "closure." It simply gave me peace in knowing that he was never going to touch another boy again.

DBB: Pee-Shy has a rather kaleidoscopic narrative of vivid memories and characters. It's poignant, sad but also with flashes of humor. When you sat down to write this book initially, how did things flow from your memory onto the page? Structuring this into a cohesive whole had to have been difficult I imagine. 
DFS: Growing up, I read Stephen King novels. He had such a way with writing scenes and dialogue involving children. So I fashioned Pee-Shy like an early Stephen King novel: beginning in the present, flashing back to the past and then returning to the present. For many people who experience a traumatizing event, the memories remain so vivid because the trauma leaves an imprint. I had no problem recalling the events of those two years I was being molested. Conversely, there are individuals who block out the memories of a trauma and, in Pee-Shy, that is made painfully clear in the character of Johnathan.

DBB: Fox's home comes across as a very dark, foreboding place in the book. I know you're a big Hitchcock fan and, what with the bedridden mother, it has a touch of Norman Bates/Psycho to it, doesn't it? In fact, when you first saw Psycho, did it by any chance summon up thoughts of Bill Fox and his house?  
DFS: That’s so funny you mentioned Hitchcock and Psycho.... Bill Fox’s home reminded me of Norman Bates’ house, complete with the old woman in the corner. As a child, it was a unsettling place to visit. I never knew what to expect when I climbed up the stairs to his room. I can still see the guns on his desk, the Farrah Fawcett poster over his bed and the drab wood paneling on the walls. That rooms still haunts my dreams.

DBB: Two adjectives that come to mind about this book are "brave" and "bold." Did you sense you were being either (or both) while you were writing your memoir?  
DFS: The words that came to mind while I was writing were “obsessed” and “driven.” I was living in a tunnel of focus, completely oblivious to my surroundings because all I wanted to do was write this book. As you know, my husband became ill while I was writing. I incorporated that into the story because I wanted to show how life goes on even though I was working with the police to apprehend Bill. Despite whatever notions I had of being Nancy Drew, I had to stop solving my mystery to be with my family. 

DBB: You previously had a success with your wellness manual, The Advocate Guide to Gay Men's Health (available, along with Pee-Shy, at Amazon.com). I seem to remember you once saying that Dr Ruth inspired you to write this. Am I right about this or did I just dream this up? 

DFS: You have a very good memory. I owe everything to Dr. Ruth's radio show. She was my sexual myth buster. As a young gay boy growing up with staunch Italian Catholic immigrant parents, I didn’t learn about the birds and bees. I had no idea where babies came from. So you can imagine how naïve I was about gay sex. Listening to Dr. Ruth in the back seat of my parents’ Cadillac as we drove home from my grandfather’s house over the Verazzano Bridge from Brooklyn to Staten Island, I clutched my Culture Club pin, praying my mother wouldn’t turn the channel because I was desperate to hear what Dr. Ruth had to say. After I wrote the Advocate Guide, I met Dr. Ruth. We had lunch and I kissed her on the cheek as a thank you.

DBB: Great story! You're donating a portion of your earnings from Pee-Shy to the Gay Men's Health Crisis. Can you tell us a little about your involvement with GMHC? 
DFS: I’m proud to be on the board of the first and oldest HIV service organization. Children who were abused are more likely to engage in unprotected sex. The fastest rising rates of HIV infection are among African American men who have sex with men ages 13-24. I've been treating men and women with HIV my entire career. Being a member of GMHC has been a wonderful experience, and so supporting them with the proceeds from Pee-Shy felt like the right thing to do. 

DBB: Thank you, Dr. Spinelli. My best wishes for you and this brilliant, new memoir and to Chad, your whole family and, of course, to Hoffman. Now, are you ready to hit the talk show circuit? And, when they make a film version of Pee-Shy, who should direct and who should portray the adult Frank Spinelli? 
DFS: Well, it goes without saying that it would have to be an Italian director like Martin Scorsese to capture the family dynamic and who better to play me in a movie than … I don’t know…. James Franco? I mean, if you’re going to make a movie about your life, the guy playing you should be handsome. Otherwise, why bother.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Bob Esty Blabs It Exclusively to Beaverhausen About Barbra & CHER

Bob Esty Blabs It to Beaverhausen about Barbra & Cher ~ Part One

It was a true pleasure for me to have the joy of interviewing Bob Esty again. I love hearing his "backstage" stories because they're always full of good humor and he's so vivid and forthcoming. The legendary producer has talked with me before http://blabittobeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/09/links-to-parts-1-through-4-of-my.html, but that four-part interview went on quite long and we had to postpone focusing on his work with Barbra Streisand and Cher because that would require further, serious Q&A. Can we talk? Well, now, eight months later we can, and it was worth the wait! The original interview took place before the holiday season settled in on us. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed conducting the interview with this iconic dance-music producer. Bob lives in L.A. and is still very active as a songwriter/producer/arranger.

Artwork courtesy of Dj Jandry

Dj Buddy Beaverhausen: Bob, so good to talk to you again. Happy holidays!
Bob Esty: Thank you. To you, too!

DBB: Let's start with a hypothetical question. Barbra and Cher each call you to produce their next album. Due to conflicting time constraints, you can only do one and both are offering the same money. Whom would you work with?
BE: I think Barbra. I know her better because I worked with her at least three or four other times after "Main Event." And I really haven't seen Cher in years. You know, she's autographed things for me. [We both laugh.] If she wants to do the type of music she does, I could be a producer, though Barbra is doing the types of things I'm producing now. I've been doing non-disco music for many years. But I love both of them.

DBB: Have you heard Cher's new album?
BE: I haven't yet. I saw her on BBC America's Graham Norton Show. She did a ballad and, of course, brought the house down. And I've heard her new dance single, "It's a Woman's World" and I thought it was great. And I never saw the Barbra Brooklyn concert. Even though people say she doesn't have the same kind of energy, obviously....
DBB: Who does?
BE: Right. And not the same kind of attitude. I loved Motown growing up, and I loved Bette Midler more than Barbra at the time. I mean, I liked [Barbra's] singing but I wasn't that into it.
DBB: From my point of view, I think Barbra has the better voice by a traditional standard but Bette's gritty; Bette's real.
BE: I almost produced her.
DBB: Aww, Bob! Aww!
BE: Yeah. Ah, well...!

DBB: Have you heard the Donna Summer remix album they recently released?
BE: I didn't like what I heard of it. "Last Dance" did not have the energy of the original production I did for Paul [Jabara]. It was sort of a Donna Summer watered-down energy. And Universal didn't have the tapes. They couldn't do anything else! Universal LOST the tapes; they can't find the tapes!
DBB: That is really amazing.
BE: Yeah!

DBB: Let me ask you what brought you to produce Barbra Streisand's "The Main Event" and do you recall your first encounter with her and what it was like?
BE: Yes! Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts wrote this song, though Barbra initially was against it because she didn't want to sing a song in this movie. But Jason [Gould, Barbra's son] liked "Last Dance" and "Take Me Home" and talked her into doing the song with me and Paul.
DBB: How old was Jason at the time?
BE: Fourteen, I think. But, basically, at first, I didn't want to do this because I just finished producing disco songs for Andy Williams and the Beach Boys and I didn't feel "Main Event" lent itself to a disco arrangement. But I worked with Paul in his apartment and came up with ideas and the format of the song. I worked on it on piano and did the chord changes and everything else. And Paul really wanted to work with Barbra because that was his goal in life! He wrote a Broadway musical about her: Rachael Lily Rosenblum. That's when Paul and I met because of Ellen Green, who starred after Bette Midler turned the part down. I went to the audition with Ellen because we had the same manager in New York. Robert Stigwood produced the show and ~ oh, God! ~ it was overblown to the nth degree. I felt it would have done better off-Broadway....
DBB: You're right! Your instincts were right. I think if it was produced off-Broadway, it could have been a smash.
BE: So that's where I met Paul who moved to California, where I was living since January 1975. Anyhow, "The Main Event"! We met Barbra on the hottest day of August at her Malibu ranch, dripping wet with sweat. Paul, Bruce Roberts and I in a convertible. So, I was the Baltimore boy with sunburn while the other guys were tanned. I really didn't want to go. For another thing, I had worked with Lesley Ann Warren, who had been married to Jon Peters, and he was going to be there with Barbra. I was arranging a song for Lesley on The Tonight Show where I saw her shaking, crying and just not being her usual self. Later, in the parking lot, she was scolded by Jon Peters for not wearing the right dress. And now I was meeting him with Barbra.
The first thing I saw when we got to the ranch was Barbra in a schmatta and no make-up. But looking great and so friendly and gracious! And Jon Peters was there, standing off to the side and not saying anything. Anyhow, Barbra wanted to show me the art deco house she had built with art deco motifs. So she took me through this and it was quite, you know, a display. I loved it but I didn't know she was so into this. The other thing: I noticed the garden and it was full of corn. And she said: "I planted that!" And I thought, "With those nails?!"
DBB: Maybe she dug the holes for the seeds with her fingers.
BE: [laughs] Well, she served corn later! And I remember the house was painted yellow. It had a grand piano inside. And Jason was there, so I met him. And Bruce Roberts sat behind me when I was asked to play the piano. Paul Jabara was drinking, slouching and leaning on the piano. Barbra was also standing at the piano as I played the arrangement [for "Main Event"]. She loved it, except, she said to me, "There's nothing about 'fight'." "Uh-oh-oh," I thought and Paul looked at me like "Ooo!" But he reminded me of a song we wrote for The Village People with sort of a corny hook:"Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! For what you want!"
DBB: Did that ever get released?
BE: No. I figured out the bass line of that unreleased song and I played and sang it to Barbra. "That's it!" she cried out. But then she said, "But I'm not doing 'The Main Event.'" I thought Bruce Roberts would be mad and I talked her into doing it as a medley of "The Main Event/Fight." Barbra said "I don't like "Main Event' and I don't like that 'Extra! Extra!' It sounds like a newspaper song." I said, "No, no, you have to sing it like this [demonstrates what Barbra was later to record], then she said, "Oh. I'll try that." I sang the guide vocal for her later and I sang the whole fucking song and she was flabbergasted, sitting on a couch there, looking at me cross-eyed.
At the recording session, Bruce played piano of my arrangement and I conducted the strings. Barbra sang it live and when it came through the headphones, it just sounded brilliant and thrilling. But Paul Jabara hated it because the arrangement was too simple for him. When we eventually did the vocal session, Barbra really appreciated being directed. She appreciated whatever I did for her, really.

DBB: Well, that's a producer's job, right?
BE: Yeah, of course. But, Cher, on the other hand, when we did "Take Me Home," didn't want me at the first vocal session.

[Stay tuned for Part 2]

2014 Hot Remixes for Massive Ego

Sound of the Download: 2014 Remixes

Now you can hear Marc Massive and Empire State Human/Massive Ego's freshly remodeled "Sound of the Download" to kick off the new year in dance music, straight from Sobel Promotions.

I was fortunate to have conducted an exclusive Q&A with Marc last September http://blabittobeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/09/massive-egomania-q-with-massive-egos.html and it's always a pleasure to hear him and Massive Ego back with something new. Or, well, sort of new, that is. Re-gifted, maybe.

"Sound Of The Download" was previously released on a very limited basis, mostly in the UK, but now it is about to go international with an exclusive remix package featuring work by Matt Pop, Julian Marsh, Joe Gillan, Mike Jolly, Mr.Sharman, Huffnpoof, Part of the Art, Karrades and Paul Rayner.

Matt Pop's and Mike Jolly's pure hiNRG and Julian Marsh's (http://djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/08/my-exclusive-q-with-remixer-producer-dj.html) and Joe Gillan's upbeat house approaches are brilliant and all the remixers bring their individual talents and re-conceptualizations on this particular pop tune into play for an especially nice reinvention for dancefloors around the world at the top of this new year.

So, thanks to Marc Massive, Massive Ego, Empire State Human, Barbara Sobel and Sobel Promotions and all the above, very talented remixers for their efforts in getting us to celebrate with joy and something uplifting at the start of 2014!

LaLa Brooks Blabs It to Beaverhausen!

Here's the link to my Exclusive Q&A with LaLa Brooks at Leave It to Beaverhausen. LaLa was the lead singer of Phil Spector's classic '60s girl group, The Crystals, and she just released a new solo album. This interview will also appear at Queens Our City Radio!

//djbuddybeaverhausen.blogspot.com/2013/12/exclusive-q-with-la-la-brooks-of.html

Talk to the Rohan: Exclusive Q&A with Producer Rohan Tarry

It was my pleasure to have the opportunity ~ arranged via Barbara Sobel ~ to interview dance music producer (and English gentleman) Rohan Tarry. In a world that may, sometimes, seem full of "cookie cutter" music producers, Mr Tarry is a discriminating, individualistic and sometimes eclectic, frequently brilliant independent figure in the business. Ten years ago, Rohan Tarry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he speaks frankly about it here and its impact on his musicianship. This is a remarkable interview I hope you will read and share. 

Dj Buddy Beaverhausen: Hello, Rohan and happy holidays to you and your family. Do you have any special plans for celebrating this time of year?  

Rohan Tarry: Thanks, and season's greetings to you and yours. Some quiet local family time in Bristol is the order on Xmas day. Between Xmas and New Year, it'll be catching up with some friends, then a trip to my mum's magical place on Dartmoor for some Devon family time deep in the tranquil English countryside. Oh, and Xmas coffee aplenty. Coffee where the milk and sugar is replaced with Baileys Irish Cream. Mmmm..... 

DBB: Sounds good to me. You're a life-long resident of Bristol, UK. What were your musical influences growing up there? 

RT: I grew up in Exeter (a small provincial city in SW England) but the Bristol music scene has been hugely important to me since I first lived here back in '89. The emergence of the "Bristol sound" at the turn of the '90's taking on influences from early dance music, hip-hop and reggae (i.e., Portishead + Massive Attack) ticked all the boxes for me and opened my ears to different ways of making music. 

DBB:  When did you know you wanted to work in the music industry? 

RT: I was fascinated by it at school but they steered me towards a scientific career. It wasn't till I was working as a medical biochemist in a hospital lab in the early 90's that I really thought I could give it a go. Started by playing flute with house DJ's, something I did throughout the 90's with some of the biggest names in British clubland. Doing an evening course in music tech in about '92 introduced me to using computers to make music. Back then it was an Atari ST and Cubase v.2 but I was hooked by the idea. I started my first studio kind of by accident. I found somewhere to put my home studio which happened to be in a building which included some rehearsal rooms. Before I knew it I was running a commercial studio! 

DBB: Pretty amazing! Tell us about RexKwondo and what you have on your professional plate right now that we can look forward to. 

RT: RexKwondo is a project with my long-term finest friend and hugely talented musician, Tony 'T-Bone' Psarelis. It started with us just hanging out in the studio, sharing our love of electronic influenced music from the 80's forward. Before long, we both realized that we had a lot in common musically and started writing together. It was never our intention to sound like anyone else except perhaps in touches of our influences. A particular shared love of Tears For Fears and their use of synths and more traditional instruments to craft ace songs undoubtedly had an impact. The way we write is, I think, somewhat unique in our approach to sound sources, whether it's a synth, guitar, vocals, samples (from the thousands of random records in the studio), strings or woodwind and brass. If it feels right to us we use it or play it. Okay, so it means we've never quite fitted with whatever the musical zeitgeist is but hey, being like everyone else is overrated. We've had to scale things back as MS has impacted more heavily on me which means our, at best times slow, work-rate has diminished somewhat. As a result this year we plan to release some stuff, like Kamikaze Love, that we feel got overlooked in the past but also have a number of new songs we're working on which will get an airing in '14. 

DBB: I understand that Sobel Nation recently remixed a charity record you did. Could you talk to us about that? 

RT: MS has had an increasingly detrimental effect on me in the 10 years since diagnosis. The studio is my refuge from it. Music is the finest therapy I know. When locked in and making music, the troubles of the outside world, and largely my failing health, disappear. The worst thing is that as MS has gotten hold of me, my ability to play instruments and put in the hours required to keep it running have been impaired to the point where I can no longer afford it. This came up in conversation with the charming Barbara Sobel to which she said "..I can do something about that...'" The idea to do a charity record to help support me came straight from her beautiful, caring mind. The response, and it's swiftness, frankly bowled me over! To have such great people as Coco Star (providing an ace vocal), Guru Josh Proiect and Mike Jolly onboard from the getgo is rather humbling. Tony and I have been working on a RexKwondo mix too so it should be a fabulous package

DBB: What do you think about the state of dance music today?

RT: "Dance music" has become, over the last 20 years, such a fragmented genre that is seems somewhat incongruous to talk about it as one thing. Throughout this time, it has come to be a staple of the global music scene. There is so much variety of style that it's become a raft of genres in their own right. Across the board there is good and bad, as with any music. There is now so much out there that we really rely more than ever on good DJ's with decent quality filters to help discern which deserves our attention. 

DBB: I was listening to your work with Tara Busch and Maf Lewis as Dynamo Dresden (album available at iTunes). Very soothing, beautifully composed and dreamy. Fair to say, I don't think this was produced with big room peak hour in mind. What sound or genre were you working in; who do you think would be the ideal audience for Dynamo Dresden? I see the term "trip-hop" is used on the Soundcloud page (where one can hear these marvelous tracks). And are those dolphins I hear sampled in the mix on some tracks or is it all electronic?

RT: The Dynamo Dresden album, Remember, is something I'm really proud of. Working with such a towering vocal talent as Tara Busch and the inimitable force of nature that is Maf Lewis was, mostly, a true privilege. It was always very much a post-club sound we were going for. "Trip-hop" is just the genre that had the closest fit and people like to attach such labels . We were happy to let the DJ remixers do what they're best at and provide some proper dancefloor mixes although we often toughened the sound in live performance. The "dolphin" sounds are a mixture of synth and Tara playing a theremin. 

https://soundcloud.com/dynamo-dresden/sets/dynamo-dresden-remember

DBB: How did RexKwondo and Dynamo Dresden get their names?

RT: Deciding on band names is always something of a challenge. In the end, I've found the only way is to go for something that rolls off the tongue nicely. Dynamo Dresden were named after an East German soccer team that Maf was a fan of. RexKwondo came after a number of poor names which I won't afflict on you. It had become rather a sticking point but one night in the studio after a couple of glasses of wine and some combustible comestibles we watched the marvelous Napoleon Dynamite and there it was. 

DBB: What was the first song you ever produced?

RT: This is a tough question as I've been at it so long! I bought a cassette 4-track at 18 which would have been my first attempts. I think only my mum has copies of that stuff which is just one more reason, of many, to always be nice to my mum! Have worked with all kinds of people over the years from Motorhead to Kylie Minogue and everything in between. Probably the best known thing is a track I produced in about 2001for a DJ friend of mine, Jean Jacques Smoothie, called "2 People." 

DBB: Rohan, thank you for your time and effort in answering these questions. Is there anything you'd like to shout out to our readers around the world that perhaps I didn't cover? Wishing you a very happy New Year!

RT: Thanks for asking me. Very excited about the forthcoming charity single. Becoming part of the Sobel Family has helped me turn '14 from what looked rather bleak into a much more potentially chirpy and bright year. Tony and I have found a way of working remotely, me in the studio in Bristol and him in London, which should help ensure there's plenty RexKwondo to come. Happy New Year to you all and may '14 bring you love and happiness by the bucket load!

 

Queens Our City Radio Exclusive Q&A with the One & Only Martha Wash

Martha Wash is truly one of our legendary divas of dance music and, in my opinion, one of our finest female vocalists. In my exclusive Q&A with Ms Wash, she discusses her career, her new single ("It's My Time"), her latest album, Something Good (which is amazing) and much more.


Dj Buddy Beaverhausen: Hello, Ms Wash, and thank you for talking to me and everyone out here at Our City Radio. How was your Thanksgiving?

Martha Wash: Thank you very much for having me. My Thanksgiving was fine. I just relaxed the whole day. Texted my family and friends.

DBB: I mostly want to talk about your latest album, Something Good, which has been one of my faves of the year and is so inspirational. It's perfect music for the holiday season. But first, I've always been curious as to your work with Sylvester. Specifically, did you know Izora Rhodes beforehand or were you first put together as Two Tons of Fun?

MW: Izora and I used to sing in a gospel group called N.O.W. Singers (News of the World). We also sang in different community choirs that would have musicals together. I brought her in to audition for Sylvester when he wanted another large singer.

DBB: How does it feel to be a true survivor? To have sung through decades of music (mostly dance) as a solo artist and the voice of The Weather Girls, C&C Music Factory, Black Box, etc.?

MW: I'm just thankful that I'm still here to be able to perform for people and that they still enjoy hearing me. I'm amazed that it's been so many years. Time goes by really quickly.

DBB: Isn't that the truth? Martha, I think most people reading the Our City internet network will agree you are one of the great, influential voices throughout our lives. Was there ever a low point for you that you felt you'd quit the business and maybe do something else?

MW: I thought about quitting a few times over the decades. When I thought about what I would do in its place, I couldn't really come up with anything, so here I am still singing!

DBB: Something Good is well titled. Whose idea was it to name the album?

MW: My manager (James Washington) and I were going back and forth between Something Good and It's My Time. I liked both titles. We decided on Something Good because it encompasses all the songs on the album. Each song is something good.

DBB:Yes, every tack! On this album, you do an amazing job covering Aerosmith's "Dream On," the penultimate track. Now, I wouldn't ordinarily think of you doing this song, yet you do a boffo job of it! How did this all come about for you?

MW: James said I needed to record a cover song. I didn't want to necessarily. He started looking into some classic songs and came up with "Dream On." I knew the song and had liked it so I said okay, let's try it. I think it came out pretty good. We wanted to remain true to the song, but put my twist to it. 


DBB: "Pretty good" is an understatement in my opinion. Is there any song on Something Good that was particularly personal for you? And why was that?

MW: No, there's no particular one. Within all of these songs, at different points in my life I've experienced the good, bad, hope, disillusion, faith, loss, love, acceptance. I'm sure a lot of people who listen to the album could identify.

DBB:"It's My Time" actually brings tears to my eyes because it's so edifying and close to my heart. Plus it has a dancefloor touch to it. Might we ever hear mixes of this one?

MW: We have released remixes of "It's My Time" produced by DJ's Papercha$ers. Great mixes that everyone should check out. Everybody wanted remixes of the songs, so we're doing them a little at a time. They'll be more in 2014.

DBB: Martha, what music influenced you growing up?

MW: I grew up listening to gospel music only. That was the only music allowed in my house. When I became a teenager, I had a small radio that I would put under my pillow and listen to rock groups and the Motown artists. Aretha Franklin was my #1 favorite. 

DBB: Any shout-outs to your LGBT fans at Queens Our City Radio and my Blab It to Beaverhausen blog?

MW: I'd just like to thank them all for supporting me over the years and that I love them all. It's great to know that we're all still here!

DBB: You probably won't remember this, but we shared an awkward moment after your performance at BB King's NYC. You agreed to a pic of my kissing you on the cheek but my friend had issues getting my cell to take the photos. Consequently, my lips were on your cheek uncomfortably long. You called out, very diva-like: "work it!" And he did! How do you put up with fans like us?

MW: [Laughs] It doesn't bother me. It's part of the job. I don't have a problem meeting my fans, I welcome it. As long as everyone is respectful of each other, I'm fine.

DBB: Ms Wash, we wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and much more music to come from one of the great singers of our times. We are so grateful to your doing this Q&A. Any last words you'd like to add?

MW: I'd just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous, loving, blessed New Year. I'm asking my fans to support me again with this album, Something Good, and the "It's My Time" Remixes by going to Amazon, ITunes and CdBaby. Indie Artists need all the support they can get. Hit me up on Facebook at www.themarthawash.com or @Martha_Wash on Twitter and let me know what you think.

Thanks so much again for this time.

Below, the official "It's My Time" video:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MZf928oAqZc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Australian Interview with Dj Buddy B (link)

This time I'm on the other side of a Q&amp;A and it was a refreshing change of pace to be the one answering the questions, humbly under my real name.

Crystal Kalyana Crawford is a writer, blogger and has Facebook Groups on Joan, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Stanwyck. She is currently working on a new biography on Joan Crawford. It is Joan who is the subject of our interview, as she is one of my preoccupations because, at a certain level, I identify with her legendary on-screen persona.

Here, then, is the link to our Q&amp;A:

http://crystalcrawfordblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/interview-with-joan-crawford-fan-charles-truenski/