Hercules' Epic Disco Battle

Hercules’ Epic Disco Battle
By Raven Usher

So… You thought disco was dead, did you? Well not so fast! It seems that disco is seeing a resurgence at the dance clubs and on the air waves. In the front pew of this resurrection is a band named Hercules and Love Affair.

With their self-titled debut album Andy Butler, Antony Hegarty and Nomi set out to fuel the fire of the disco revolution using some fast beats and lively rhythms. It is not the pure disco of circa 1975, however. Hercules and Love Affair takes the basic disco philosophy of the unwavering dance beat and use twenty-first century techno sound to bring on a hybrid that certainly can keep a dance floor moving.

Usually when I review music I like to get some background on the band. Unfortunately information is woefully missing from Hercules and Love Affair’s web page, myspace page and face book page. All three of these pages have been dedicated to the sole purpose of selling the album and not in promoting the band or the band members. I finally had to dig up interviews from more than a year ago just to find the full names of the band members. I still did not find a last name for Nomi, so I assume she is making a go for Cher’s path to fame.

Despite the single moniker Nomi definitely has the best voice of the group and the three songs she takes the lead vocal on are the best tracks on the album. “You Belong”, the new single, which came out on July 7, has the strength to catch and keep the listener’s attention. If disco could make the charts, it would be a top-notch contender. “True False” and “Iris” top out the top three tracks of the album. “True False” is the best dance mix on the album with the most sustainable beat and “Iris” is a softer heart strings plucker that is reminiscent of a late 60’s protest song. A for all three songs.

The disco/techno marriage peaks with “Hercules’ Theme.” This song should be the rallying cry for the whole disco revolutionary movement. It has the best representation of the good old-school disco format. The innovation comes in when that old sound is remade in the light of the new techno spirit. B+.

There is only a couple of low points in the whole album. First is the song “Blind.” Although it has a good beat and is performed well, it has an eerie, creepy feel that conjures images of Jayme Gumm’s basement in Silence of the Lambs. All it is missing is a six foot tall nut job asking me if I would f*** him. It probably deserves a better grade but I could only bring myself to give it a C-.

The bottom of the well is the song “Time Will.” The percussion line is SO techno that it sounds 200% synthetic and it does not mix at all with and of the other music. Who ever mixed the track was either high or drunk or both as is evident in the choppy mismatching of all the components of the song. To top it off the vocals for the piece are a Hollywood cliché of the swaggering vocal lilt of flaming drag queen. This song barely squeaks by passing grade at D-. Some tight harmonies are the only thing that saves this song from getting an F.

Overall Hercules and Love Affair’s debut album earns a solid B. It is good dance music that is an easy feet mover. It is strong enough to be entertaining and yet smooth enough at to not intimidate less experienced dancers.

You can hear sample tracks and see videos on their web page, http://herculesandloveaffair.com/us/. There are also links there to where you can purchase the album or download individual tracks.
Blessed Be

Tension in Memphis

Tension in Memphis
By Raven Usher

An incident in Memphis, TN involving a police officer beating a trans-woman was recently brought to my attention. Here are the facts. Duanna Johnson was arrested on a prostitution charge. She was in the booking area waiting to be processed into jail. That is where officer Bridges McRae struck her several times. The incident was caught on video by the police surveillance cameras.

According to Johnson, what started the incident was McRae calling her "faggot" and "he/she" when he asked her to stand up and be fingerprinted. She told him that that was not what her mother named her and that she would not respond to him until he called her by her name. That was when McRae initially came over and began to beat Johnson according to her.

The video clearly shows that Johnson is NOT a defenseless victim during the incident. She did not curl up into a ball and endure a beating. She fought back while in a seated position, even kicking at McRae’s knee. She then stands up and attacks McRae after he backs off. Also, refusing to stand and be finger printed regardless of how she was addressed is a serious offence. That alone is enough to make a police officer use physical force to make a suspect do as told.

Over the last decade since I came out as transgendered I have seen a lot of trannies do a lot of stupid things. I have seen them put themselves in harms way; by getting intimate with men who do not know they are TG. By exposing themselves to people or groups they know to be hostile towards TG’s. And by attracting unnecessary attention from law enforcement agencies and risking their very lives by facing prison time by breaking the law.

Transgendered people have an extra responsibility to their personal safety that average people do not have. We know that we face extra danger just because we are indeed transgendered. It is OUR job to protect ourselves. Anything that puts an average person at risk of violence puts transgendered people at five times that risk. That includes things like breaking the law and getting into confrontations with cops. 99.99% of cops will go out of their way and even risk their lives to help transgendered people the same as they would for anyone else. That .01% idiot should not be used to influence your trust in the police. Unless you are a criminal.

The prostitution charges have been dropped since the incident made the news. Johnson’s lawyers claim that there was no just cause for the arrest to begin with and say that is why the charges were dropped. Johnson also states that since she is African-American and towering at a height of 6’5” that she was “profiled” not only as a prostitute but also a potential threat. It seems more likely however that the charges were dropped so that the police department could partially defuse an already ugly incident. This specially seems likely as Johnson’s legal team avoids the subject of Johnson working as a sex worker.

There is no way of knowing conclusively at this point if the incident between McRae and Johnson was or was not hate-inspired since there is no audio evidence to support Johnson‘s claim of name calling on McRae‘s part. Johnson surely should not have been struck for anything less striking out first. (Although, using physical force to move her to the finger printing counter would be acceptable.) A police officer, specially one who works in booking, should be above being moved to violence by even the most offensive verbal borage from someone they have in custody.

That would not excuse Johnson from some responsibility in the incident. It is way beyond stupid to mouth off to or cop an attitude with the police. An insult or a purposely misused pronoun from an officer is not justification to refuse to obey police commands. Following that up with physically resisting when the officer tries to move you is a very bad thing.

Seeing the full length video, not the edited-for-hype-and-ratings version that was initially aired, it does appear that Johnson did in fact resist McRae when he attempted to physically move her. You can clearly see her pushing his hands away when he tried to take her by the upper arm. This would be comparable to resisting arrest and the officer would then be justified in striking the suspect. Johnson’s behavior was totally unjustified as a response to an insult.

I am sure of one thing after my own look into the ordeal. In my opinion this was not a hate crime against a trans-person. It was a common conflict between a cop and a suspected criminal. The suspect was being combative and the cop overstepped his bounds. There were bad judgment calls and wrong actions on both of their parts. Yes, officer McRae went to far in hitting Johnson as many times as he did. But Johnson did provoke the incident by resisting the officer and refusing to obey commands.

As on-lookers we need to remember that transgendered people do stupid and illegal things just like everyone else. Just because this suspect is black and/or transgendered we should not be too quick to use those details as an excuse to claim wrong doing before we have the proof. Most importantly, let us not over react and scream “hatred” and “prejudice” when there is no due. Keep your wits about you. Be real and truthful. And for the sake of the gods do not add to the hype.

Blessed Be

See this and previous issues of “Raven’s World” at www.ravenusher.blogspot.com.