LOUD & PROUD
April showers bring May flowers. May flowers bring June gay pride festivals – doesn't have quite the same ring to it but boy do we know how to party in June! I'm on a flight from St. Louis, MO back home after a very proud month of GLBTQA Pride Festivals. I was honored to be invited to perform this year at Buffalo Pride (Buffalo, NY), Ketuckiana Pride (Louisville,KY), Michigan Pride (Lansing, MI) and St. Louis Pride (St. Louis, MO). Everyone was warm and welcoming, especially the drag queens in St. Louis who insisted that the "password" for exiting the performers trailer was for me to show a little skin... A word of advice to all the boys out there – never enter a trailer full of drag queens unless you have backup ; )

Some other festive highlights included my first experience in a pride parade – that's right, I was a parade virgin until Kentucky popped my processional cherry. I was on the roof of my very own convertible equipped with a middle-aged bull-dyke driver while waiving up a storm to folks on the streets that were wondering who on earth I was. I had the opportunity to share the stage with some old friends as well as some new friends so here are a few photos that are screaming "wish you were here"...


Gregory Douglass tuning up in his hotel


"It's Raining MMM... Martha Wash!" Martha Wash & Gregory Douglass


Man on man dueling diva action... Gregory Douglass & Eric Himan


She (from God-des & She) & Gregory Douglass – I told her I would withhold myself from any motor boating until after the photo...


God-des, Eric Himan & Gregory Douglass – We were all BFF by after a few shots of Tequila ; )


Gregory Douglass @ St. Louis Pride... A little a capella Alicia Keys to please the crowd?

Meanwhile, we're still going strong in the studio and things are sounding amazing if I do say so myself! Syd and I focused on laying down the rhythm section over coarse of the first few weeks, which consisted on all the drums (Matt Bogdanow) and bass (Dylan Allen) parts for the album. We rehearsed at A9 Studios in Burlington, VT for a week and a half and then recorded everything in four days at Charles Eller Studios in Charlotte, VT with the amazing Lane Gibson Sr. (Chief Engineer at Charles Eller Studios). The past two weeks leading up to the grand finale weekend of pride events, Dylan Allen stayed on for electric guitar parts. We were able to record everything on electric guitar from my home studio in Burlington so that made the process a bit more flexible and a whole lot cheaper by the hour : ) Therefore, instead of creating and arranging the parts before recording them, we were able to focus on one song at a time until it was completely laid down. It's been quite the recording marathon the past few weeks as we've been cooped up in my little studio every day from about 10am to 11pm... Here's the visual proof:


Charles Eller Studios


Studio view from Charles Eller Studios


Lane Gibson Sr. Chief Engineer at Charles Ellert Studios


"Dylan Allen, Syd & Matt Bogdanow


Syd striking his Producer pose


Matt Bogdanow hard at work...


Matt Bogdanow's kit


Lunch break w/Dylan Allen & Syd @ Gregory Douglass' home studio


Syd manning the board @ Gregory Douglass' home studio

Lots of man-love to my homies Syd, Matt Bogdanow & Dylan Allen for bringing such killer, innovative parts to the creation of this album, I'm thrilled with the direction of things thus far! Stay tuned for more updates on the making of album number seven and look out for some new video blogs as well... We're collecting lots of footage, just slacking a bit in the editing department : )
Cheers!
Gregory

RETRO ACTIVE : VOLUME 2 IS NOW AVAILABLE ON iTUNES!
I've finally finished up Volume 2 of the Retro Active series and it's now officially available on iTunes! "Retro Active : Volume 2" is a collection of b-side songs recorded between 2006-2007, including a few cover songs. Each volume of this "Official Bootleg Series" will contain live recordings of past shows and/or b-sides from previously unreleased recordings. "Retro Active : Volume 1" (August, 2007) is a live recording from Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA. The entire "Retro Active" series is a digital bootleg series and will be available exclusively online from places like iTunes (not available in print). You can expect to see more volumes released fairly regularly so please check back often!



"Retro Active : Volume 2" Songlist:
1. Come Here Boy (by Imogen Heap)
2. Forthright
3. Compel
4. Together
5. Sail The Sea (covered by Syd)

Click here for the entire"Retro Active" Official Bootleg Series is available on iTunes!

GREGORY DOUGLASS VIDEO BLOG:



Check out the complete Video Blog Series along with other Gregory videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/gdouglass15

NEW GREGORY DOUGLASS MERCHANDISE...
Check out my new line of Gregory Douglass merchandise... I mean, haven't you always wanted a neck tie with me on it? ; )