She's Baaack! Dana International Headed To Eurovision 2011

The multinational Eurovision song contest is the world's most watched non sporting television event, averaging over 120 million viewers annually.    It launched the careers of ABBA (1974), Celine Dion (who competed for Switzerland in 1988), Katrina and the Waves (1997), several eastern European music stars and a transsexual singer from Israel named Sharon Cohen.

She's better known by her stage name of Dana International.   When she won the Israeli K'dam Eurovision selection contest after finishing second in 1995, drama was stirred up by Israel's Orthodox Jewish community and Israeli conservatives who had a problem with a transperson representing the nation at Eurovision 1998.    They attempted to strip her of the title but failed. 


She got the last laugh on her transphobic Israeli critics when her song 'Diva' won, subsequently sold over 400,000 copies and hit the Top Ten on the music charts of five European countries. .

She also slammed her critics back home with her 'Message of Reconciliation' in the wake of her 1998 Eurovision win. "My victory proves God is on my side. I want to send my critics a message of forgiveness and say to them: try to accept me and the kind of life I lead. I am what I am and this does not mean I don't believe in God, and I am part of the Jewish Nation." 


Now Dana International is headed back to the Eurovision event not as a former champion or guest, but as a repeat contestant. She won Israel's K'dam 2011 selection contest and is headed to Düsseldorf  with one called 'Ding Dong'.

Seriously, that's the name of the song.




We'll also have to see not only what Jean Paul Gauthier gown she pulls out for this Eurovision event this May, can she make Eurovision history by being the first person ever to win it twice?.

Peeps Throwing Transphobic Shade At Black Women Is Nothing New

I've got a few posts here about the too frequent outbreaks of transphobic shade that are aimed at Black women such as Wendy Williams and Ciara for instance.

But sadly it isn't a new phenomenon.    Check out this rap song that was recorded during the height of the Roxanne Wars in 1984-1985 in which Ralph Rolle went there and slammed one of the early female rappers in Roxanne Shante

.

It was not only a diss to either Roxanne Shante, The Real Roxanne or both, it was full of disinformation about trans people in the first place.   You don't become trans after being sodomized in prison and laser hair removal and electrolysis do wonders for eliminating the scourge of razor bumps...  

But the Real Roxanne was targeted because of her androgynous looks, and Roxanne Shante because she dared to step up in what was considered the 'man's world' of rap and excel in it.

These ladies paved the way for the later success of Salt and Pepa, Queen Latifah,  Monie Love, and MC Lyte .

As we know too painfully well, if you don't meet the arbitrary markers of the ideal woman in terms of looks and deportment, you get the 'that's a man' tag thrown at you by 'the menz'.

And as I have to consistently point out to the transphobic, you get half your genetic material from mommy and half from daddy.
We are all blends of traits from both.  

But one thing that needs to cease and desist is the aiming of transphobic shade at Black women.   We already get enough 'unwoman' crap thrown at us from society.    We don't need to hear it from our own men, too

Guess What Willow Smith's Next Single May Be

Now that 10 year old Willow Smith has proven herself to be a chip of her father's musical block with her 'Whip My Hair' single that's blown up all over the place.

 


The music world is anxiously awaiting her next single and there are interesting rumblings as to what direction the pint sized musician is going to take.   It's going to be a remake I can tell you that much.   And here's a hint.



Yep, the rumors are flying fast and furiously that Willow is going to remake her dad's 1988 rap classic 'Parents Just Don't Understand'

Y'all remember that one?  It's the song that made Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff the first rappers to win a Grammy Award.    If she does do it, it's going to be interesting to see what kind of updated spin she puts on it considering who her parents are.   But if she does, more power to her and looking forward to seeing how it turns out.