More Than Most

Bright Light Bright Light talks to Polari as he embarks on a tour of America’s west coast with Elton John, ahead of the release of his new single ‘An Open Heart’

“Nobody really wants to hear a tunnel vision perspective and I don’t really want to give one – love or relationships are not particularly tied to sexuality or age or gender or race or location.”

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120 min • Roundhouse, London • June 5, 2014

Prince wows in his London show, where he performed two concerts in one night. Nothing compares to his Purple Highness.

“As the indigo light covers the stage, it’s time to send us off singing into the night with a show-stealing performance of the timeless classic ‘Purple Rain’, which has every member of the audience holding hands and singing along like a faithful choir.”

Who Needs Love (Like That)?

Ryan MacGrath writes about his experience of growing up gay and becoming an artist. And twirling in his sister’s prom dress.

“As soon as this happened, I immediately knew what I had been missing with the girls I’d been kissing. I wasn’t sure exactly how to come out, but I knew that I needed to start the process.”

For The Roses.

On Joni Mitchell’s 70th birthday, Michael Langan takes a look at what it is about Joni that makes her one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

“Like the greatest art, her music evolves and changes as you yourself evolve and change. I’ve filled myself with it in ways that sustain in every way – feeding, lifting, teaching supporting, holding.”

Michael Langan Writes His Coming Out Story.

Polari Magazine series where its readers and writers tell their coming out stories.

“It’s easier to be gay when you’re a pop star than when you’re a person, and it’s on the level of the person that telling our coming out stories still has significance.”

What’s your favourite seasonal song?

‘Tis the season, and so the editor asked Polari’s writers for their favourite song.

Yes, I called it Christmas in the title. I was brought up as an atheist – which made two old women from the local church look at me with pity and sadness when they came to my door to talk about the Lord – but I like the word.

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Released on March 1, 2010

Unique, unpredictable and impressive, Joanna Newson’s Have One On Me is a vituoso peformance.

Have One On Me is issued as a triple album. Dividing it into three CDs was an astute move, even when it would have fit comfortably onto two. Newsom has said that it is divided “in terms of morning, noon and night, although that wasn’t the concept when the album was written but the way that the narrative progresses”.

Extra material from the interview with Patrick Wolf.

Patrick Wolf talks collaborations, and what it means to be a performer.

When I changed my name to Wolf I was sixteen. In my early interviews I said I was a werewolf and I was born in a lighthouse on an island.

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Released on November 23rd, 1976

Joni Mitchell at her finest in a road-story album that transcends the era in which it was written.

It is with Hejira, her ninth album, that Mitchell had reached a maturity in which her imagination and talent burst the banks of traditional song-writing.