Musica: Yazoo reboots and tours the US!

In the UK they were known as Yazoo, in the US as Yaz, but for a young guy growing up in Syracuse enamored with all things New Romantic, Dave Clarke and Alison Moyet were just about the best out there (Dave Clarke who used to be in Depeche Mode now records as Erasure with Andy Bell and Alison Moyet continues to record as herself).

Call it cashing it in or not, but Yazoo is back with a re-mastered reissue of their two albums: Upstairs at Eric's from 1982 and You and Me Both from 1983 in a single package that is currently listed at (gulp!) $71.99 at Amazon.com (Ideal Copy has it for $64.99)

They also are touring the UK and, later, the United States on the following dates:

• Sun 06 July - Las Vegas, NV Pearl Concert Theatre
  
• Mon 07 July: Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre, [Ticketmaster]
• Tues 08 July - Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre
• Thu 10 July: Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre, [Ticketmaster]
• Fri 11 July: Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre, [Ticketmaster]
• Mon 14 July: Chicago, IL Chicago Theater, [Ticketmaster]
• Wed 16 July: New York, NY Terminal 5, [Ticketmaster]
• Thu 17 July: New York, NY Terminal 5, [Ticketmaster]
• Sat 19 July - New York, NY Beacon Theatre
• Sun 20 July - Washington, DC 9.30 Club
• Tues 22 July - Dallas, TX, Lakewood Theatre

Just got me some choice tickets for one of the New York shows!

At least Alison seems to have resolved those visa problems that kept her from touring the US back in 2005. If only she would do a solo tour sometime in the future!

If interested, for more info, go to Yazoo info, the Alison Moyet Forum or Erasure's official site.

Tracey Thorn on Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy"

You might remember that earlier this month I raved about Tracey Thorn's new CD, "Out of the Woods." Well, when I found out arjanwrites was requesting fan questions to pose to Ms. Thorn, I just had to sumbmit my a question of my own and, lo and behold, it's been asked! Better yet, it's been anwered!

From arjanwrites (my q in orange):

Questions from Andres, Brian and Gabriel: Even if "A-Z" does not necessarily have an overt gay theme, some of the lyrics do have some resonance in comparison to Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy." Did you see "A-Z" as mirroring that seminal '80's song? What was the inspiration for that song and what are your feelings about gay rights in general. How do you feel about the gay community embracing you?

Tracey Thorn: "A-Z" was inspired by, and is in part an act of homage to the great "Smalltown Boy" (as an interesting footnote to my answer above, when i first heard Jimmy Somerville, i thought he was a woman, so there you go). I read an article in the paper about bullying of gay teenagers in schools, and how prevalent it is, and how it is a leading cause of teenage suicide, which is sad and dispiriting. It makes me feel enormous sympathy and warmth towards anyone who has the misfortune to be any kind of outsider at school. Kids can be such lumpen idiots.

I've always been kind of embraced by the gay community and I am very proud to be so - I feel very welcomed and understood by gay fans, in a way that i sometimes don't feel understood by the more heterosexually-oriented-male-dominated rock community, for instance. It s a cliche in some ways, but it is about a basic and shared understanding that Dusty Springfield is more important than Bobby Gillespie.

For the full Q&A: Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Next up on Arjan's "Ask the Artist" series: Andy Bell of Erasure, ask your questions now.

By the way, congrats to arjanwrites on his profile in The Advocate.