News: Meghan McCain, India, Alan Cumming, Joe Solmonese, Boyzone

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese suggests that the time frame in his 2017 letter can be seen as a "narrow window" in the scope of the gay rights movement.

Straight Italian couple sues cruise company after showing up for their vacation to discover they were departing on Italy's first gay cruise: "My clients were also left embarrassed because among the passengers were people they knew and had no idea that were gay, which was uncomfortable for all parties."

Gay Al is feeling tender.

Iowa NAACP President announces support for anti-gay gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats.

Report: Iran hanged a man last week for gay sodomy.

Gay activists plan kiss-in at Fort Worth Stockyards: "The kissing booth will be on Exchange Street, right in the heart of the Stockyards and its bound to stir up controversy. In fact, one old cowboy has been quoted as warning gays that if they are not careful, they might be in for a whuppin'."

Dan Savage has never slept with Janet Napolitano.

A Spice Girls musical?

Gus van Sant and Bret Easton Ellis collaborating on film adaptation of Vanity Fair article "The Golden Suicides".

Gujarat state in India becomes home to the country's first elderly home for gay men: "The brainchild of Manvendra Singh Gohil, popularly known as India's gay prince, the project will be ready to accommodate elderly homosexuals by the end of the year. Manvendra Singh Gohil says, 'We will offer food, drinks and medical facilities for the people staying here, it will be their home.' The Rs 25-crore project will be home to 50 elderly gay men to start with. Requests for accommodation have already started trickling in."

Alan Cumming in new photo shoot from David LaChapelle.

Gecko madness!

Boyzone to hold Stephen Gately vigil on night before the funeral: "Grieving Boyzone bandmates plan to stay in the church with Stephen Gately's body the night before his funeral. Ronan Keating, 32, Mikey Graham, 37, Shane Lynch, 33, and Keith Duffy, 35, have taken the decision because Gately 'would not want to be there on his own', a source close to the group revealed."

No! Mia Michaels quits So You Think You Can Dance.

Passerby mistakenly frees female killer of London gay man: "Police are looking for three young people including two blonde teenagers who were caught on CCTV arguing with Baynham and his 30-year-old companion. The victim's friend grabbed one of the girls, receiving cuts and bruises in the process, but the girl was freed by members of the public who wrongly thought she was being assaulted, said Detective Chief Inspector Clive Heys, who is leading the inquiry."

Britney Spears shoots video for new single "3".

Meghan McCain creates Twitter furor with cleavage photo.

Muslim football team kicked out of league for refusing to play gay team.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler: Repeal DOMA now.

Lesbian says she was the victim of a hate crime at the National Equality March.

Bishop Gene Robinson will be appearing tonight at an event in Portland, Maine: "Join us for an evening of edification and education as we gather to worship God and to hear the words of the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Sponsored by the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Maine, Rev. Ann Fowler, the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, the Equity Fund of the Maine Community Foundation, and Integrity Maine"

MUSIC NEWS: Noisettes, Free Downloads from Alan Cumming, The Big Pink and Mika, Plus a Rufus Wainwright CD/DVD Contest

MODERN TONIC

The editors of Modern Tonic present a weekly music update here on Towleroad. The rest of the week, they scan the pop culture landscape for movie, TV, book and Web recommendations in their daily email.

TODAY'S NEW RELEASES AND FREE DOWNLOADS:

The U.K. trio Noisettes roared onto the scene in 2007 with a rough alt-rock sound and a weapon of mass destruction: front-woman Shingai Shoniwa, who paces a stage like the bastard love child of PJ Harvey and Karen O. Now, the raw and punky blues of their debut What’s the Time Mr. Wolf? has been replaced on their second album, Wild Young Hearts, with radio-ready hooks and opulent production, but the uncompromising attitude remains. The title track — like Blondie overdosing on emo — refuses to nurse a broken heart. “Don’t Upset the Rhythm” is erotic disco in which Shoniwa warns her partner not to break the rush towards her oncoming orgasm. And “Never Forget You” is Winehouse Motown with less retro and extra booze — the vocal a sexy slur of post-coital bliss. 

The beauty of Tony Award®-winning actor Alan Cumming’s debut I Bought a Blue Car Today is he acknowledges his roots in the theater with some choice musical selections and he keeps his pop moves on the dramatic end of the spectrum. The musical standouts here are the Scot’s melodramatic Hedwig and the Angry Inch medley “Wig in a Box/Wicked Little Town” and the marvelous weltschmerz of Cabaret’s “Mein Herr.” As for pop, there’s a music hall take on Dolly Parton’s “Here You Come Again” and a dirty little balled called “Beautiful” that might light up a quiet night at your local piano bar. Sample lyric: “f**king beautiful, f**king wonderful, f**king paradise.” We can hear the amateur tenors now! Here's a FREE DOWNLOAD of Cumming's cover of one of Frank Sinatra's signature songs, "That's Life."

The London duo The Big Pink have nothing to do with their seeming namesake, The Band’s Music from Big Pink. (We’re betting “the big pink” is a lot more, um, genital for these boys.) On their debut A Brief History of Love, Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell layer swaths of “shoegaze” guitar over minor-key drones for the children of the rave culture. “Tonight” features hip-hop rhythms while guitars rage in the background. “Dominos” (FREE DOWNLOAD HERE) — which might be one of the year's best singles — is like a great lost “Madchester” classic (Chapterhouse’s “Pearl,” anyone?). And “Love in Vain” is the Gothic ballad The Cure have been trying to write since ‘89. The songs take time to sort out, because the m.o. is dense, echo-y soundscapes with lyrics buried in the mix. But give it three plays and it will unfold more than its share of sonic charms.

Another live album from Rufus Wainwright? The Judy drag is gone for Milwaukee at Last!!! featuring the gay messiah doling out concert favorites of his own material, including a swinging “Release the Stars.” Also on DVD, and in a CD/DVD combo pack. WE HAVE FIVE DELUXE COMBO PACKS TO GIVE AWAY TO TOWLEROAD READERS, JUST CLICK HERE TO ENTER.

Old Wobbly Head is back! (Hey, that’s what the UK press call him.) David Gray releases Draw the Line, his eighth album of soulful new folk.

Michael Holbrook Penniman — Mika to you — follows up Life in Cartoon Motion with more big pop hooks from Planet Freddie Mercury on The Boy Who Knew Too Much. FREE DOWNLOAD HERE: Mika's brand new single “Blame It On The Girls.”

Also released: La Roux — La Roux and Basement Jaxx — Scars (both digitally only this week); Harry Connick, Jr. — Your Songs; Various Artists — NOW! That’s What I Call Club Hits; Brand New — Daisy; Spiral Beach — The Only Really Thing; Lisa Germano — Magic Neighbor; Various Artists — Hotel Costes, Volume 12 (Import); Monsters of Folk — Monsters of Folk; Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band — Between My Head and the Sky; Richard Hawley — True Love’s Gutter; plus singles from Alicia Keys ("Doesn't Mean Anything") and Carrie Underwood ("Cowboy Casanova").

 MUSIC NEWS:

A candid feature interview with Madonna in her London mansion. So detailed you can practically smell the Christian Dior scented candles.

Sony Pictures is planning more than 25 premieres around the world for Michael Jackson's "This Is It" with most to be held on October 27, the night before the film opens internationally. Also, on the night of the 27th, "advance screenings" will be held in about 2,000 U.S. theaters. Earlier this week documentary footage of Jackson singing "Human Nature" just days before his death was released.

With the news that the last founding member of Britain's ever-evolving pop act Sugababes has left, fans wonder if a band with no original members is still the same band it always was. Here's a look at other acts with revolving doors.

The real people behind some iconic album cover images.

 MUSIC VIDEOS:

Jamie T: “Chaka Demus” (Lyrics NSFW)
From his sophomore album Kings & Queens, this snappy rap-ska tune shows the Wimbledon songwriter Jamie T chased by car through the English countryside by Arabs, Ninjas and — most frighteningly — mimes. 

Alphabeat: “The Spell”
A performance clip of the title track of their forthcoming album is more happy pop from a gang of photogenic Danes that can barely contain their joy. You won’t be able to, either.

Muse: “Uprising”
This slammy glammy slice of Muse muscle from The Resistance is set in a post-apocalyptic world populated by strange dolls and evil bears on fire. Oh, and stuff blows up real good.

The Sounds: “Come On Bring That Beatbox Back”
Swedish new wavers pay homage to the art of beatboxing by splitting the frame in quarters and letting the mouth-music rip.

News: Caster Semenya, Asbury Park, Alan Cumming, Tyra Banks

NY Sex offender who beat gay man to death gets 20 years for manslaughter.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition winners announced.

If looks could kill: Cynthia McFadden is not afraid to go there with Tyra Banks.

REPORT: South African runner Caster Semenya has no womb or ovaries. "Tests conducted during the world athletics championships in Berlin last month, where Semenya's gender became the subject of heated debate following her victory in the 800m, revealed evidence [of] both male and female sexual characteristics."

The NYT visits a revived Asbury Park, NJ: "As is often the case in a town in a process of renewal, gay men and lesbians have a significant presence and deserve considerable credit for the current reawakening."

Madonna to introduce Janet at VMA's?

Federal regulators side with gay adoptive father in Florida over subsidy to foster parents.

WATCH: Whitney Houston's video for "I Look to You".

Alan Cumming to release album: "The album title comes from the naturalization test I took to become a citizen of the U S of A. In the test, there is a bit where the man says a sentence and you have to write it down to prove your prowess in English. My sentence was ‘I bought a blue car today,’ which initially I thought was really sweet and childlike, but on closer examination I realized that it’s all about consumerism and gas guzzling, which rather brilliantly encapsulates America’s financial and energy crises in one fell swoop. [The album is] made up of songs and stories about my ten years living in the states culminating in my becoming a citizen."

Interview with Sacramento man who is trying to get a voter's initiative on the ballot in California that would ban divorce.
 

Vampire gives blood.

Sotomayor questions "corporate personhood".

Actor Michael Fassbender covers fall issue of NYT T Men's Fashion mag.

Kids grow up so fast.

Guilt-free download of Mika's new song "Blame It On The Girls".

Fort Worth gay bar Stampede heavily damaged in fire: "Then, just before 2 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 10, a fire broke out in a storage area at Stampede and quickly spread to the rest of the building, causing $60,000 worth of damage. The cause of the fire was believed to be electrical, and authorities don’t suspect any foul play."

Ian McKellen to receive lifetime achievement award at San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

Barry Manilow and Phil Spector: separated at birth?

ACLU wants Survivor winner Richard Hatch freed from jail: "Lawyers for the ACLU of Massachusetts on Wednesday sought the “Survivor” winner’s release from the Barnstable County jail in Bourne. Hatch was taken into custody Aug. 18 at his sister’s Newport home after giving TV interviews that the federal Bureau of Prisons said it had not approved. He was serving home confinement for failing to pay income taxes on his $1 million prize for winning the first season of the show. He was convicted in Providence in 2006...The ACLU said Hatch has a right to criticize the government."

News: Lafayette, Bruce Willis, Peregrine Falcons, Eric Balfour

Alan Cumming appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen.

Bruce Willis gets naked for W.

Palatial Gay Fantasia: Where Simon Doonan lives. "Doonan’s picaresque journey from ration books in Reading, England, to palatial gay fantasia is the subject of the British television show 'Beautiful People,' which was about to make its American début, on the Logo network. The show is adapted from Doonan’s memoir 'Nasty: My Family and Other Glamorous Varmints.' 'When the book was optioned, everyone thought I’d start flying to work in a mink-lined helicopter,' Doonan said. In reality, his compensation was a bit more modest; he wouldn’t say how much he was paid, but allowed that it was 'better than a poke in the eye with a dirty stick.'"

John Mayer's bros can't hold their liquor.

Dolly Parton surprises Girl Scouts with patch made in her honor.

True Blood: Lafayette speaks.

James Franco adapts homoerotic Anthony Hecht poem The Feast of Stephen for student film: "Franco pulls this together stylishly if graphically, with chests, thighs and asses pressed tight in various permutations, infusing the violence with the poem’s more visceral sense of ecstasy."

Fast education: Elementary school kids accidentally shown 'Camp Cock' instead of 'Camp Rock'.

Have a laugh. Or 27.

Remember me? Robert Pattinson starts new movie in New York.

Houston Chronicle: Immigration law divides gay couples. "But the bill is facing heated opposition by anti-immigration advocates, who say it could potentially lead to fraud. A strong voice in the pro-immigrant movement, the Catholic Church, also has taken a stand against the bill, based on the belief that marriage is strictly between a man and a woman, said Kevin Appleby, migration policy director for U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops."

Bloggers Desperately Seek Susan Seidelman.

Bodies suggest Air France Flight 447 broke up in mid-air.

Eric Balfour does some beach rasslin'.

Brody Jenner taunts sharks.

Homophobic bullying"widespread" in Ireland, says Minister for Children: "Speaking at the launch of a report on teenage mental health this morning, the Minister said young people should be educated about the serious dangers of homophobic bullying. And he said, it was particularly worrying to hear that some young people had experienced homophobic bullying by teachers."

Peregrine Falcon babies webcam.

'Gay panic' in Connecticut leads to brutal murder: "In a seven-page confession to police released Friday, O'Brien-Veader painted a disturbing picture of a savage killing that was preceded by a brutal beating all intended to make Olivera suffer. The catalyst for the slaying appears to be that O'Brien-Veader was enraged because he thought Olivera was a homosexual and had performed a sex act on him while the two had slept in the same bed in an abandoned factory at 835 South Main St."

Lobbying for Equality and Justice in New York - Reports and Videos

Chris Rovzar at New York magazine reports on yesterday's Equality and Justice Day in Albany, where a rally was held and legislators were lobbied by constituents urging them to pass marriage equality in New York:

"There was only one dissenter wandering the field in front of the State House in Albany today, as over 2,000 people rallied for LGBT civil rights for the Empire State Pride Agenda's Equality and Justice Day. The anti-protester, who intoned passages from the Bible as he railed against the "abominations" around him, was quickly chased off by a group of high-school kids wearing Goth makeup and rainbow tights."

Our post from yesterday with photos can be found here. (images via hrc twitter)

Below are speakers at the rally. The videos below feature Alan Cumming, Alan Lubin - New York State United Teachers, Bishop Prince Singh of the Diocese of Rochester, actress Anne Hathaway's mother Kate Hathaway, and Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan van Capelle.

Here also is a video by Elizabeth Benjamin of the New York Daily News. Benjamin reports that Paterson hasn't lobbied any legislators yet on marriage equality: "I haven't talked to any of the legislators about marriage equality yet. I've been talking to them mostly about the MTA over the past couple weeks. But I've been waiting to let the advocates have the advocacy day and let them do some of the research and try to make identifications (about) what would be the right direction. But I would be happy to talk to legislators. I do it all the time. Two of them, three of them are coming to see me today on different isues."

Paterson: One Person 'Can't Dictate' In Albany from Elizabeth Benjamin on Vimeo.

Alan Cumming: Obama Equipped to Lead, from Head to Toe

New York magazine asked a bunch of people at a party for celebrity photographer Russell James' new book who they'd like to see naked and among those who chose to tell them, was actor Alan Cumming.

Said Cumming: "I’d like to see Obama naked. I think great leaders, charismatic leaders and men who are so confident and who have achieved so much, usually have big penises. I think there’s a correlation between the level of confidence, the level of the way a man can hold a room and the way he conducts himself in life, with his penis size — with his comfort with his penis size. So much of male psyche is taken up with how big your cock is; it’s a huge deal in our lives, and so when you’re confident about your penis size, it shows. Well, just look at him. Just the way he’s so kind of elegant and very confident in his body and himself. Also, someone told me that they worked out with him in a gym in Chicago, and it was big."

Alan Cumming Says Barack Obama Has a Big Wang [ny mag]