News: Wicked, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mars, Mamma Mia, Ron Paul

The NYT on the potential repeal of the 1913 Massachusetts marriage law.

The Martian landscape revealed...

Cristiano Ronaldo hits L.A. on crutches and doesn't waste any time snubbing Paris Hilton.

Ron Paul's openly gay campaign chair dies of pneumonia at 49, without health insurance: "Snyder, who served as Paul’s campaign chair, died of pneumonia on June 26 after being hospitalized for about two months and after running up medical bills exceeding $400,000, according to friends and family members, who said he did not have health insurance."

A Mamma-Mia cheat sheet.

Moscow authorities ban gay picket of Iranian embassy set for July 19: "About 30 people were due to take part, Moscow gay pride parade organizer Nikolay Alexeyev told the Interfax-Religion. He said the application was submitted last Friday in strict compliance with Russian laws, but the prefecture retorted it could not guarantee the security of those taking part in the picket. 'This is a flagrant violation of the Russian constitution and laws on public actions,' Alexeyev said."

Will the knowledge that Banksy may be bourgeois make his works less valuable?

The L.A. Times profiles Paul Colichman and his growing "gay media empire": "Five years ago, Colichman and his business partner launched Here, television's only premium gay cable network. Now, with an eye toward building their empire, they recently made a $6.5-million deal to buy the popular news magazine the Advocate, style monthly Out and other sister publications. Colichman, who also owns the gay entertainment Internet portal GayWired.com, plans to expand the online presence of his new publications once the acquisition closes. 'People say, 'Why would you buy a print publication when you're really in the television business?'' said Colichman. 'But our point of view is that everything is cross-platformed now -- we are in the content business, and to generate profit you need to be everywhere.'"

Tyson shows off his tatts.

Broadway's Wicked coming to the big screen.

Chris Evans to answer questions at San Diego's Comic-Con.

First openly gay leader of a national labor union elected: "New York based United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has been elected to succeed Edward McElroy as President of the American Federation of Teachers...Weingarten served for 10 years as UFT head and under her tenure she negotiated a 43 percent increase in educator salaries and helped organize 28,000 home childcare workers."

Andy Dick in sex and drugs arrest.

North Carolina Family Policy Council supports bullying of LGBT kids in schools...

Pew Poll: 28% say gay marriage will affect their vote. "As it did in October 2004, gay marriage ranks lowest in importance among 16 campaign issues for the average U.S. voter; overall, 28% say gay marriage will be very important to their vote, down slightly from 32% in 2004. Far more Republicans than Democrats (19 points) rate gay marriage as very important. White evangelical Protestants (49%) place the most importance on the issue. Currently, 49% of the public opposes allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, while 38% support gay marriage."

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News: Kucinich, Friedkin, Naugle, Gyllenhaal, Lieberman, McAvoy

A second gay candidate joins race for Mayor Naugle's seat in Fort Lauderdale: "Political newcomer Earl Rynerson, owner of a tile store, joins former City Commissioner Dean Trantalis as an openly gay mayoral hopeful. Rynerson said he wants to polish the city's image, which he said was tarnished by Naugle. Naugle last summer uttered a quote that was heard across gay America: 'I use the word homosexual. Most of them aren't gay; they're unhappy.'"

Jake Gyllenhaal stumbles out in London.

Nigerian bisexual woman faces deportation from Canada, fears persecution: "She fears for her life. If she goes back with her children, she has no one there. Her family has shunned her because she is bisexual. She doesn't have any money and nowhere to go. If she's arrested [her children] will be without a mother. They'll already face extreme discrimination because they were both born out of wedlock, and in fact, Samuel has already endured a lot of harassment while growing up there."

ABBA come together for Mamma Mia premiere in Stockholm for first time in 22 years.

AUSIELLO: Producers on The New Adventures of Old Christine plan to marry off Julia Louis Dreyfus to Wanda Sykes!

The windows to Amy Winehouse's soul.

William Friedkin's The Boys in the Band to get DVD release on November 11.

Planning on picking up an iPhone 3G on Friday? Here's a map of AT&T's 3G coverage in the U.S. According to a Digg commenter, here's the code: BLUE = Full Coverage, RED/ORANGE = Decent Coverage, ORANGE = Meh Coverage, LIGHT ORANGE = Enjoy EDGE.

Church of Ireland may hold gay unions if homosexuality proven to be biologically determined: "If such comes to be shown, it will be necessary to acknowledge the full implications of that new aspect of the truth."

"Dude, look at your pants. Look at your bag. Obviously this is not your kind of place." Homophobic, or just edgy?

Details attempts to atone for past covers with James McAvoy's blue eyes.

MacBecks: Musical planned about David and Victoria Beckham...

Hagee YouTube suppression to rub off on Joe Lieberman?

East London couple turned away from wedding venue owned by Jehovah's Witness: "For the past 13 years I have been with my soul mate, I have never been discriminated against or been judged as they did to us."

Jaws: Australian town on alert after sighting of 22-foot Great White Shark in lake with outlet to the ocean.

Obama to give DNCC address at Invesco Field at Mile High. SF Chronicle on the rise of the Obamacon...

Killer of gay porn producer spilled details, sought legal advice from fellow inmate.

Honed down: Kucinich to bring single article of impeachment against George W. Bush. "Few in the House of Representatives have any intention of doing anything with the last 35 articles of impeachment Kucinich set before them last month, so the former presidential candidate appears to be lightening the load. Kucinich sent a letter to colleagues Tuesday asking them to support a single article of impeachment, to be introduced Thursday, which accuses President Bush of leading the country to war based on lies."

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News: HIV Spiking, Anthrax Ineptitude, Gay Gladiator, Impure Thoughts & Papa Mia

American Gladiators' first-ever gay contestant is to die for…now let’s hope he doesn’t get himself killed.

Paying Through The Nose: New "persons of interest" in the 2001 anthrax case—inept United States government officials. Retired FBI investigator Brad Garrett is spilling the beans on the botched case, which resulted in a nice fat check ($5,825,000) for original suspect Dr. Steven Hatfill.

New York City's trans fat ban goes straight to the hips today—"baked goods, frozen foods, cannoli and doughnuts" are now forbidden to contain the cholesterol-raisers. Packaged foods are still exempt. To find out how to make comfort food without trans fats, visit NoTransFatNYC.org.

That 25-year-old Homosexual can run like the wind!

In the Bag: EBay ordered to pay $60.8 million over its fake Louis Vuittons.

Just like Ivory soap, the Jonas Brothers are only 99-44/100% pure.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are going to war, with team captains Jack Nicholson and Tom Hanks, respectively. Oh, you know George Clooney isn't sitting this one out—he's actually calling on both unions to stop "pitting artist against artist." The results of a vote will be known July 8, which will tell the tale as to whether SAG has enough support for yet another actor's strike.

Forget about Mamma—who's your daddy?

It's not the end of the world! (Unless it is.)

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, about the controversial Japanese artist, is not big in Japan, but it’s out on DVD.

A spike in new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. is concentrated among younger men and men of color.

The White House wants Osama bin Laden captured or killed before Bush leaves office. But if he's taken out right before Bush departs, how many Americans would forever believe bin Laden was kept alive all these years as a way of keeping us in line?

Go East, Young Man: Barack Obama is planning a tour of Europe and the Middle East that would likely include a pop-in on Iraq. He last visited Iraq with a congressional delegation in January of 2006.

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Mamma Mia: Dominic Cooper

Entertainment Tonight recently ran a preview of this summer's forthcoming Mamma Mia film and even though it looks like it has the potential to be a trainwreck it's got a few things going for it right off the bat — ABBA, Meryl Streep singing, and the tasty Dominic Cooper (above).

Check out the preview, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #211

DON IMUS: Asks former syndicated radio host, "Why don't you like Huckabee, because you're gay, or what? Media Matters has the transcript.

HILLARY CLINTON: New spot featuring her mother Dorothy Rodham.

MAMMA MIA: Just released trailer for the film adaptation of the stage musical.

GOP DEBATE: Veracifier presents highlights (or lowlights perhaps) from yesterday's final Republican debate before the Iowa primary.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here

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Music News: The Feeling Hurt From The Bottom To The Top, Plus David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Goldfrapp, ABBA, Spice Girls, Elton John

Please welcome Robbie Daw, who will be penning weekly music posts for us here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own pop music site called Chart Rigger.

Brit act The Feeling's new single "I Thought It was Over" -- off sophomore album Join With Us, due out in February -- debuted on Jo Whiley's BBC Radio One show this past Friday, and is meeting with mixed reaction. Unfortunately, it appears as if music from a planned session with producer Trevor Horn didn't make it onto the record.

In the meantime, Audio from Jo Whiley's broadcast has made its way onto YouTube ahead of an official single release.

Personally, I think this is just great pop, which is nothing more than this band ever claimed to produce. Between this and the two songs he contributed to Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Trip The Light Fantastic earlier this year, Feeling frontman Dan Gillespie Sells is rapidly establishing himself as a go-to songwriter for killer hooks.

David Bowie's The Hunger-era face (pictured right) is on sale for a mere $950!

As a tribute to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun, who passed away last December, Led Zeppelin reunites at a London gig "for which more than a million fans from around the world sought to book passage."

Goldfrapp's next album, The Seventh Tree, is due out February 26. In an interview with Billboard, Alison Goldfrapp acknowleges a change in sound for the band: "We did talk quite a lot about what kind of instruments would get that kind of warmth and that kind of sound we wanted. We'd never used acoustic guitars before. We wanted the sound to be delicate, but not weak." The music publication states the album is produced by Flood and that "there's a greater emphasis on ethereal, psychedelic pop in the vein of early Air." In other words, unhook the disco ball, kids.

Benny Andersson, Frida Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Björn Ulvaeus -- who comprised a band you possibly might have heard of at some point called ABBA -- are donating personal memorabilia from their career for a three-floor museum dedicated to the band.

The Spice Girls traipsed down the west coast last week, and blogger Dave White offers up a comical assessment for MSNBC on the spectacle that was the girl group's Friday show in Los Angeles (where I sat a few rows in front of Dave and his husband, Alonso). Meanwhile, if you aren't able to catch the tour, YouTuber TheSpiceGirlsExperience was planted firmly at both L.A. shows with what appears to be a pretty decent camera and sound equipment.

FLASHBACK: The top song on Billboard's Hot 100 chart this week 10 years ago was Elton John's "Candle In The Wind 1997/Something About The Way You Look Tonight." The double A-side, the first part of which was rapidly recorded as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, would go on to sell 33 million copies around the world. In the U.S. alone, the single sold 11 million copies and spent 14 weeks at #1. John only ever performed "Candle In The Wind 1997" one time, at Diana's funeral in London's Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, more commonly known as Westminster Abbey. The single was eventually knocked off the top of the Billboard chart in mid-January 1998 by Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply."

The best-selling album this week in 1997 was Metallica's ReLoad.

TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:

21-year-old R&B crooner Mario's Go, featuring 12 songs with a different producer for each, including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Timbaland and The Neptunes.

New singles from Ashlee Simpson ("Outta My Head"), Taylor Dayne ("Beautiful") and Katharine McPhee ("O Come All Ye Faithful"), as well as Maroon 5's cover of John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)."

The most-watched cable program ever, Disney's High School Musical 2, graduates to DVD in an "Extended Edition."

Radiohead's Limited Deluxe Edition Box Set, featuring the band's seven albums for label EMI that spanned from 1993 to 2003.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #209

HILLARY CLINTON: A new Iowa spot - "New Beginning".

TELECOM IMMUNITY: New Courage Campaign spot on upcoming FISA vote featuring Bradley Whitford.

CHIQUITITA: A bit of ABBA cheer for your holiday season.

RHYDIAN: His latest X-Factor performance, "Bridge Over Troubled Water".

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here

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News: Madonna, The God Gap, Wal-Mart, Pittparazzi

The average American with HIV now lives for 24 years at a health care cost of $600K.

Brad Pitt turning the tables on the paparazzi?

What's behind the narrowing of the "God gap" in the recent election? "Religious liberals contended that a concerted effort by Democrats since 2004 to appeal to people of faith had worked minor wonders, if not electoral miracles, in races across the country. Religious conservatives disagreed, arguing that the Republican Party lost religious voters rather than the Democrats winning them."

ABBA legends Agnetha Faltskog and Frida Lyngstad to record with Madonna on follow-up to Confessions on a Dancefloor?

Culture Club postpones its reunion tour after Boy George labels band's new frontman Sam Butcher "dreadful." Said drummer Jon Moss: "The only person George loves is George. He's like a nightmare ex-wife."

Gay escort and Ted Haggard exposer Mike Jones exposed himself in 1998. Boy Culture has the NSFW goods.

Conservative Christians urging Thanksgiving boycott of Wal-Mart over an "affiliate" link on a gay organization's website.

Lobby Congress to pass the Defense of Britney's Marriage Act: "One of the arguments opponents of gay marriage make is that every child needs exactly one mother and one father to grow up to be a healthy adult. Isn't it clear that Britney's and K-Fed's children also need a mother and a father?" Federline threatens release of Britney honeymoon sex vid...

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