GMA aired the second part of their George Michael interview this morning. Part one here. Michael talked about living in Texas, his boyfriend Kenny Goss, and the future of his music. He also talked about his female fan base:
"What is it about me that women seem to ignore the fact that I'm gay? I think women really get the feeling that I understand them. And I grew up with two sisters. I went out with women when I was younger. I do understand them, unfortunately. And I write from the heart. I write from the place where most straight men are really a little too — there's a little too much pride going on to write. And then it's a pride that's built into us as men."
And the possibility of having kids with the boyfriend who "saved his life," Kenny Goss:
"I've lived such a ridiculously free life. I think I'd be a responsible but miserable parent. I think once I decided to have a child it would have to be the most important thing in my life, and it would make me very miserable at this stage because I'm 45, and I'm very spoiled. I do look at the future and think — because I don't have nieces and nephews, because that's when parents get their reward - that's what keeps them going, that's what keeps them alive."
George Michael talks about losing his partner to AIDS, the death of his mother, getting caught cruising in a bathroom in a park in Beverly Hills, and his drug arrests.
Said the singer: "I lost my partner to HIV then it took about three years to grieve; then after that I lost my mother. I felt almost like I was cursed. The only thing that got me through it was my music. It survived. I wrote very, very little, but the little I wrote did well and kept my head above water...It was depression and shock which just went on for years."
He also says he's come to realize his arrest for public sex was something he did deliberately.
Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called Chart Rigger.
Jay-Z headlined England's famed Glastonbury festival on Saturday, a controversial move given the rock-heavy bill the event usually touts. Perhaps no one was more vocal about their disdain for Hova as headliner than Noel Gallagher of Oasis: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you start to break it then people aren't going to go. I'm sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance."
In turn, the rapper and music mogul clearly wowed the crowd with his opening song choice: a cover of "Wonderwall."
On a bit more tame note -- well, lately, at least -- George Michael brought his 25 Live tour to The Forum in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It was the first time he's played L.A. since 1988.
Just before the final encore, in which he performed "Freedom '90," Michael was surprised by Bo Derek, who walked on stage to give him a birthday cake as his band played "Happy Birthday." The London-born singer is 45.
Word on the street has it that Norwegian pop blondie Annie, of "Chewing Gum" fame, has got a new EP out. Towleroad vehemently looks down upon illegal filesharing, but something tells me that if you typed in "Annie" and "EP" into a search engine, you might be taking the first step to finding out more information on this bit of noise.
This Delicate Film We've Made, a live concert DVD containing the last night of Darren Hayes' 2007 tour, will be released from his own Powdered Sugar Productions on July 22.
Creole Lady Marmalade! All three original members of seminal '70s funk-glam trio LaBelle are set to reunite for their first album together since 1976. The group will also perform this Saturday during the Essence Festival -- where else -- down in ol' New Orleans.
London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum will unveil a statue of Amy Winehouse later this year: "We are really pleased to be creating Amy; she is a real icon in mondern British music, a continual award winner and an internationally recognized star widely requested by our guests.
So imagine if a bunch of Alanis Morissette fans got together online and did karaoke to try to win free concert tickets...
Did you know you can now purchase Converse sneakers from Nordstrom with writing from Kurt Cobain's journals on them? This seems like something to get up in arms over, but if Courtney Love says it's ok, then... Oh, well. Whatever. Nevermind.
Aerosmith's Steven Tyler finally admits he checked into rehab to recover from more than just foot surgery: "I don't know about (guitarist) Joe (Perry) but I was off and running and I didn't like the me that was me. This was a month ago, so I just put the brakes on and checked into detox and just pulled the plug on all of it."
TODAY'S NEW RELEASES:
Where The Light Is, a live CD/DVD from John Mayer recorded at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater.
High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens' second solo effort, Identified.
R.E.M.'s iTunes-only set, Live: From London.
Love To Make Music To, from L.A.-based electronica producer Daedelus.
New singles from The Faint ("The Geeks Were Right"), LL Cool J ("Baby") and Lee Ann Womack ("Last Call").
Guilt, a new EP from Sheffield indie band The Long Blondes.
George Michael, who just began his multi-city U.S. tour at the San Diego sports arena, talked to AP via USA Today about same-sex marriage: "It's way overdue. It's something that happened ... almost without a whisper in England, but it was basically because we weren't that concerned about the word 'marriage.' ...because this is a much more religious society, there are a huge number of people who want (their) unions to be part of something that they can place in their religion, so (marriage is) much more important here. I think that's why it's so long in arriving here, but I think it's fantastic, obviously."
Michael also reportedly made the crowd at his first show go nuts when he referenced the weddings, saying: "I was watching TV yesterday and saw two women get married." He then sang the song "Amazing" and dedicated it to his longtime partner Kenny Goss.
Michael also talked about why it's been so long since he's toured here and why these concerts are likely to be his last: "The '90s were a bit of a disaster for me in so many ways. On a personal level, I don't think I could have toured. Also, I had some physical problems with my back that are now sorted and I just wasn't in the right state of mind. I have got other interests than just making music. I would like to follow those interests through. You never know, in five years I might be back here begging you all to forgive me. But I really think I can do much more constructive work as an artist if I step out of this again."
AFTER THE JUMP, Michael tells CNN that a wedding for he and Goss is currently "not in the cards..."
Jay Leno and Ryan Phillippe are still on good terms after the "gayest look" incident. Said Leno: "No, we talked about it before. We're friends. I mean, it's a talk show. That's what you do."
Same-sex weddings, civil unions, commitment ceremonies big business in New England: "Throughout the Northeast, competition has spiked among wedding sites, hotels, resorts and inns as the travel industry has realized that same-sex ceremonies can draw scores of guests, who turn these destinations weddings into weekend stays."
Red Cross in Thailand changes screening process for gay blood donors: "Gay-rights activists had complained that one question, which was meant to target people more likely to have diseases transmitted by sex and drugs, had effectively blocked all gay men from donating by only asking about same-sex relations. 'We didn't mean to hurt anyone,' said Soisaang Pikulsod, director of the Thai Red Cross National Blood Centre. 'It was just to ensure the highest possible safety of our patients.' The Red Cross will rework the form to include more questions about all types of sexual behaviour, gay or heterosexual, that could increase the risk of diseases such as AIDS, she said."
Gay-friendly college fairs a budding trend: "Students are coming out at a much younger age. That process isn't beginning in college or after college like we may have seen 10 or 20 years ago. So these high school students who are out come looking for a range of things that show a college will generally have students like them, and a university with an inclusive mission."
Judge tosses Florida lawsuit filed by high school student denied the right to form a gay-straight alliance: "The former student, Yasmin Gonzalez, has graduated, so she's no longer affected by the school's decision to ban the club, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said in a ruling Wednesday. Gonzalez's attorneys with the ACLU tried to maintain her stake in the case by seeking nominal monetary damages, but Moore ruled she isn't entitled to any money because she wasn't claiming violations of due process. 'We were surprised and disappointed by his interpretation,' said Rob Rosenwald, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. Rosenwald plans to ask the judge to reconsider. Attorneys for the school board declined to comment."
East Village Boys offer T-shirt that big shooters wear with pride.
TPM suggests "diva theory" behind Hillary's appeal: "Hillary is the diva, the fabulous woman who is fabulous just because she says so. She's the woman who is abused (by her husband), ridiculed (by the press), hated (by Republican mouth-breathers), yet she's still standing. She's like from some exploitation film where the heroine is beaten and barely raped before pulling a knife out of her sock and slicing the mean guy's balls off. Her supporters have stood by her and fought her battles with her - and sometimes for her - since the 1990s. The emotional connection runs too deep. R-e-s-p-e-c-t, she shakes her finger. Find out what it means to me. And the crowd eats it up." Can any shallower arguments be made?
Michigan's Aquinas College cancels speech by gay rights activist. President: "I'm not trying to keep people from seeing him. I'm trying to prevent the college from sponsoring an event that displays an attack on Catholic teaching values."
"Most people initially freak a little bit about Sebastian, then they stare and stare at it and they say, 'That's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," said Kenny Goss about Damien Hirst's "Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain" (above) which Goss and his partner George Michael purchased last summer and which is now on display in Dallas at a Hirst-curated show at the couple's gallery.
Goss and Michael are also giving back to the community: "The foundation will be awarding two $5,000 scholarships to students at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, one in Michael's name for music and one in Goss' name for art. There are also two more $5,000 scholarships offered, one for Dallas-Fort Worth area students, the other for students statewide."
Said Goss: "We want to expose the Dallas art community to work that they've quite potentially never seen if they weren't able to travel, these works that in some ways may be a little controversial for one thing, a little strong. But let's face it, art a lot of times is about sex, love, death, loss."
Robbie Daw presents a weekly pop music update here on Towleroad! Robbie runs his own site called 
Enough about Jay-Z...what were the reviews like for Sam Sparro's 
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