How One Amazing Book Turned Me Into a "Hot Head"!

Greetings Frothy Friends! As Britney Spears once said, "It's been awhile, I know I shouldn't have kept you waiting!" I'm practically frothing at the mouth to extol the virtues of the amazing novel Hot Head by Damon Suede.

The book came up awhile ago as a recommendation from a friend. Only recently I got around to purchasing it and it totally blew me away! Suede creates a rich world for his main characters Griff and Dante, and I was mesmerized. Here is the official plot blurb:

Since 9/11, Brooklyn firefighter Griff Muir has wrestled with impossible feelings for his best friend and partner at Ladder 181, Dante Anastagio. Unfortunately, Dante is strictly a ladies’ man, and the FDNY isn’t exactly gay-friendly. For ten years, Griff has hidden his heart in a half-life of public heroics and private anguish.

Griff’s caution and Dante’s cockiness make them an unbeatable team. To protect his buddy, there’s nothing Griff wouldn’t do… until a nearly bankrupt Dante proposes the worst possible solution: HotHead.com, a gay porn website where uniformed hunks get down and dirty. And Dante wants them to appear there—together. Griff may have to guard his heart and live out his darkest fantasies on camera. Can he rescue the man he loves without wrecking their careers, their families, or their friendship?

I adored the characters in the novel, and Suede has a velvet touch when it comes to instilling passion into their respective journeys. I even cried during one of the later scenes in the book where some of the major plot points start coming together. Overall, the novel brings to life a vivid, heartfelt bond between Griff and Dante that really resonates.

I also give credit for the author's ability to capture that very intangible sense of when attraction and affection radiate between people with the smallest of indicators. It's a difficult feeling to translate, but as captured through Head, it's an electric jolt of yearning and desire weighed against potentially disastrous misunderstandings.

While some readers may scoff about the porn aspects of the book, the world of Griff and Dante is so fully realized that it flows pretty naturally with the story. It's also...er...handled in a way that scorches through the pages with heat! (The porn plot also made me wonder how raunchy it sounds to say that I loved plowing through the book and couldn't wait to finish it off...)

So what are you waiting for? Buy the book! If you're still not convinced, check out Damon Suede's page for reviews and an excerpt. You can purchase it through online retailers like Amazon or all e-book dealers. Here are a few links:

Kobo Books

Amazon (Canada)

Dreamspinner Press

There's also an amazing interview Suede did with Romancing The Book that illustrates how much research, time and effort were made to get the story right. (There are spoilers, so I recommend reading the interview after the book.)

What really surprised me is how much the book touched me, and brought out repressed waves of emotion regarding my own romantic misadventures. Hot Head is the first piece of art to move me this way in a very long time, and I'm very appreciative for that! Head even reKindled my interest in working on my own writing again. It's funny that a a novel about firefighters ended up sparking a flame inside of me that I thought had petered out!

Mashing Up Jem With Britta Phillips’ Career

It was around this time last year that I fell head over heels again for legendary 80’s cartoon Jem! (I loved the show as a kid growing up, fell back in love when the DVDs were released in 2004, then fell in love again in early 2009 when I discovered the “lost” Stingers episodes.) I then became interested in anything that was sung by Britta Phillips, who provided the singing voice of Jem.

This post is my attempt to mash up the fictional events of the Jem cartoon with Britta’s real life music career. (Or rather my own fictional take on the “later” Jem years using Britta’s music as an idea for what might have happened!) The overlapping similarities may surprise you! Pretend that Britta Phillips is the alter ego for Jem and this will all make more sense!

“Jem In The 1990s-2000s” as imagined by Garth Jensen

Picture it – New Year’s Eve 1989 at the Starlight mansion. Jem is emboldened by the new decade that’s just around the corner and wants to have a huge celebration. Just as she gets ready to open up a bottle of champagne with Rio, one of the Starlight girls rushes by and causes the bottle to fly out of her hands! As fate would have it, the champagne explodes all over Synergy and causes her to short circuit! (Not even Ally Sheedy can help at this point!) At once Rio sees Jem’s true identity exposed, and this leads to a nasty breakup with her.

In the days that follow, Aja can’t repair the supercomputer, and the girls freak out on Jem for potentially destroying their meal ticket with the champagne incident. The group suddenly faces the risk of a very real breakup!

Jem complains that it’s her voice that sells the group, not the holograms. In retaliation, Kimber remembers her one solo hit with Stormer and decides to go solo again! Fed up, Shana moves to Australia where K Mart has offered to stock a line of her clothing. Meanwhile, Aja is left tying up the loose ends of the Starlight house and devotes herself to saving children around the world. (Her commercials for Feed The Children air late at night during questionable programming blocks.) Raya is disappointed with all of them and goes home to her family.

Feeling depressed, Jem (Britta) cuts her famous locks short and dyes them black. “No more holograms for me, I should have done this years earlier!” she reportedly says at the time. She then moves out of the Starlight mansion into a New York apartment where she happens to meet a scruffy young man named Jody Porter. With Rio out of the picture, and Kimber’s control of the songwriting gone, Jem finally finds someone to help her express her feelings! Wanting no connection to her former Glamor, Glitter, Fashion and Fame, she calls her new group with Jody The Belltower.

Their album Popdropper arrives (named as such because Jem was dropping the pop she'd made famous with the Holograms.) Click here for a link to hear the album! If you listen carefully, there are definitely some bones to pick with former associates!

In One Dimensional, she relates the struggles of her dual identity and how she still loves Rio:

I got ahead of my time [you know, the hologram technology]
I had to take a day off of the calendar page [she was tired!]
Walked to the river bed
where I had daisy chains of laughter perfected,

protecting your point of view [Rio didn’t know for how long?]
I am one dimensional
after you
I'll be calling after you [she still wants Rio!]

In Outshine the Sun, Jem is clearly still bitter about her original group’s breakup:

It could have been the perfect day
Why did you come and take it all away
Landing like a dream [clever reference to Jem’s biggest hit]
everything I want to be
and everything I hate

Outshine the sun, everyone [her retort to their solo attempts]

As well, Plastic Man is the long awaited funk driven exercise against Eric Raymond:

Walking the long way back
Through pages of history [contracts and business shenanigans?]
caught in your hand made trap
That's no way to be

You got it all wrong
One look at you and you're plastic man [Eric was so sleazy!]
Yeah, You got it all wrong, Plastic man

Once you have had a taste [success with Misfits and Stingers]
You will be laid to waste…..

Let me shake your hand
Cause you're just like all the rest
And you think that you're the best [Jem’s done with Eric here!]

Jem saves the emotional whallop for the last track, when she tackles Everytime – another ode to her past with Rio, and his angry reactions to her dual identity:

Even if I had to confess
to tell you were right
Don't wanna speak in words
to confuse you, despite what I know

When you let me into your world
I break and burn
with every word you speak
spoken out of turn

The Belltower didn’t last too long, but it gave Jem the confidence to realize she could exist without the Holograms. Around this time, Kimber signed a deal and released a dance album entitled K Is For Kimber. While it did well on the club charts, it failed to propel Kimber to her former Jem-driven success. To top it off, legendary producer Shep Pettibone turned down Kimber’s request to oversee her second album, as he opted to work with another redhead – Cathy Dennis!

A few years later it was 1996 and the Spice Girls were the hottest thing to burst onto the scene. Shocked at what she saw as blatant capitalization on her former band’s glory, Jem joined up with a new group: Ultrababyfat! This time, to avoid media critiques of being a spotlight hog, she agreed to play bass and sing backup only.

But Jem made sure she had input on the group’s first video Twist, as Ultrababyfat donned wigs and colourful outfits in what appeared to be a wink at her 80’s heyday with the Holograms:

Jem changed directions again in the early 2000s, finding a musical and romantic soulmate in Dean Wareham. The pair created lovely 60s styled pop as Dean & Britta, but she couldn’t resist belting out the chorus of You Turned My Head Around in her old Hologram fashion:

Later in the decade Jem (Britta) decided to help the campaign for President Elect Obama. Now at peace with her musical journey, and wanting to show her support for Obama’s promise of “change”, Jem reunited with the Holograms to release “We Can Change It – Remix Feat. Akon.” The 20th anniversary remix also coincided with a release of Jem & The Holograms: Greatest Hits. A reunion tour quickly followed. Much like the Spice Girls reunion tour, each member of the Holograms had a “spotlight” to showcase their solo efforts in the middle of the show. Jem came out and sang You Turned My Head Around with special guest Dean Wareham. Kimber came out and sang I’m Ok with special guest Stormer from the Misfits. (Stormer was also promoting her autobiography After The Storm: My Life As A Misfit.) Shana didn’t even sing, she just strutted around to a pumped up remix of Roxette’s The Look and modeled some of her own fashion designs. Raya then came out and did a fab cover of Madonna’s La Isla Bonita. Meanwhile, Aja broke down several times during her cover of John Lennon’s Imagine, in which the video screens showcased her childrens charities and the many kids that she’s helped over the years.

The Holograms once again felt good playing together, and promised to reunite for a new project in the near future!

The End

And that, my Frothy friends, is your FICTIONAL tale of what might have happened to Jem & The Holograms in the 1990s-2000s, using the real life career of Britta Phillips to fill in the gaps!

This is Garth, signing off, one Frothy Pop Treat at a time!

Return Of The Froth: Garth in Detroit For JemCon!

Greetings Frothy Friends! It’s been long overdue, but I’m finally creating a new post for this blog after getting….ahem….slightly obsessed with TV this past year as documented in sister blog TV Garth. But I’m back to share the details of a recent trip to Detroit, MI for the Annual JemCon which is a convention for fans of the Truly Outrageous 80’s cartoon series and doll line! The road trip took place between Friday Sept. 25th and Sunday Sept. 27th, 2009!

We planned the adventure as a group of four (me, Mr. A, Chantal & Marsha.) The first day of the trip, though, it was only me, Mr. A and Chantal. (Marsha would join us via Greyhound the next morning.) So without further ado, this is my Frothy Pop Travelogue!

Friday Sept. 25, 2009!

Here we have Chantal & Mr. A during one of our pit stops near London, Ontario. (I picked up a newspaper, Pat Benatar CD, and saw a DVD of Madonna’s film Swept Away in the clearance bin!)

Entering Windsor and getting closer to our destination!

The impressive Ambassador Bridge!

We crossed the border and headed towards Romulus, MI which is where our hotel (The Metropolitan) and the JemCon were located!

Here we are getting settled into the hotel. Mr. A got into the spirit by wearing his Jem shirt, while Chantal got comfy on the couch!

The first night of the JemCon involved trivia contests using questions related to both the dolls and TV series! To my shock, the special guests were there participating and Mr. A sat next to Patricia Alice Albrecht without even realizing who she was! (She was the speaking voice of Pizzazz on the Jem series, and here she is sandwiched between Chantal and I during a break from the trivia!)

Since we were near Detroit, we figured we should go into town to check out their gay bars and looked up some locations. We went in search of liquor to pre-drink, and found ourselves at the fine establishment below! I was excited to see Hostess snack cakes and fruit pies, but then got the shock of my life when I turned to pay and saw the clerks behind a GIGANTIC sheet of bulletproof glass. Like, imagine throwing your cupcakes, chips and pies onto a glass lazy susan which spins towards the clerks for them to ring the stuff in. You then pay by slipping money under the tiny crack under another bullet proof window. I’d heard the jokes about wearing your bullet proof vest when visiting Detroit, but this was the first time in my life I’d experienced a convenience store with that kind of extreme protection. Everyone seemed to look weary and suspicious of us, and I even worried that saying “thank you” would “out” us as Canadians.

 

Below is the montage of my “bulletproof” snack purchases! The fruit pies were especially exciting, since they are RARE in Canada. In fact, I didn’t even see them during a trip to Buffalo, NY earlier this year. And orange cupcakes??? Orange ya glad I got to try them?

The first bar we visited was Adam’s Apple. The pic on the right illustrates the delicious beverage we downed in the parking lot before going in! Adam’s Apple was noisy, crowded and had a very mixed clientele, quite unlike the bars in Toronto. The Apple seemed to have a wide cross section of different men and women, while the strains of Beyonce's Halo (Dave Aude Mix) blared over the sound system. (Mr. A scowled, “What is this?” I replied, “It’s Beyonce!” Mr. A’s reply: “That’s why I can’t stand it.” Heh…)

 

Hitting the bars becomes a bit more literal in Detroit, as you can tell by the pic below, taken outside of Adam’s Apple.

We left Adam’s Apple fairly quickly, since it was too crowded, but we wanted to grab another pre-drink, so we headed to the Beer-Wine-Lotto store pictured below. At first I thought I saw a guy on his hands and knees throwing up in the parking lot. Upon closer inspection, he was one of the store’s employees checking on a hose that was being fed into the lot’s manhole. (Believe me, I’m not even trying for innuendo with that one.) When we went into the store we asked a larger sized guy in a tank top (again behind bulletproof glass) if they had any liquor. He replied they didn’t, so we thanked him and left. Mr. A & I were walking out first, but Chantal trailed us and got to hear two thugs enlightened young men call us “faggots” apparently not realizing that she was also with us. Upon hearing that, and seeing two more larger sized guys pop up wearing tank tops (or the more politically incorrect “wife beater” shirts) I was feeling like the area was sketchier than an artists’ convention. (My totally judgmental side was all “OMG……we’ve been called fags in a questionable area with Fat Tony and his two brothers holding the fort at Beer-Wine-Lotto!!!”) I suppose you could say I felt a-Lotto fear when we were in this neighbourhood.

We made our way to Diamond Jim’s Saloon, feeling much more eerie about the whole area (Chantal wanted to leave, I was feeling tense, but Mr. A was still feeling adventurous.) Diamond Jim’s Saloon, though, was a welcome atmosphere after our misadventures outside. (I may as well have heard Madonna sing “And I feel, like I just got home and I feeeeeel!”)

We arrived in time to enjoy “Boys, Bears, and Bitches” pictured on the left, while Chantal jokingly wanted to leave in the pic on the right.

 

Chantal settled in, though, with a Diet Coke (she was the Designated Diva….er…Driver that night!) Mr. A and I had some kind of delicious purple alcoholic slushies, as well as drunken jello shots! (During one round of jello shots I lit up with excitement hearing the Benny Benassi remix of Madonna’s latest song Celebration.)

Meeting this Diva was like wrapping ourselves in a warm blanket in contrast to the cold homophobia outside! She told us that she would be performing to Cher’s Real Love which is one of my favourite tracks from the Living Proof album!

 

A nice Detroit sign I captured inside Diamond Jim’s!

 

Below is the “cast shot” of the awesome folks from Diamond Jim’s.  I can’t stress enough how welcoming they were to us, making us feel totally comfortable and relaxed. They even made a big deal about us being there all the way from Toronto. (They also talked about their experiences coming down for our Gay Pride Parade, and mentioned local bars they’d visited in Toronto.) The drag performances were great to watch, and it was a total blast! (Plus Mr. A & I got to dance around to the Cahill remix of Mariah Carey’s Obsessed, which was cool!)

 

 

Saturday Sept. 26, 2009!

 

The next morning we were up bright and early to pick up Marsha from the Greyhound terminal in downtown Detroit. On our way, I captured the awesome Motor City sign during our car ride.

 

Marsha and Mr. A!

 

Me and Marsha!

I mapped out the location of Detroit’s NBC affiliate WDIV and they were a minute away from the Greyhound terminal, so I insisted on dragging Marsha & Mr. A there with me to take pics! (They are one of the few Detroit stations I’ve received at my home in Markham via antenna! And, as previously mentioned, I’m a bit of a TV freak!) Click here to read about the complete adventure with WDIV (including getting asked to leave their studios) plus other Detroit TV related events at my TV Garth blog!

 

Later on, back at JemCon in Romulus, they had an amazing dealer’s display with dolls set up to view and peruse! Below is the classic Jem/Jerrica doll, which I had when I was a kid, but then lost or gave away. (Recently I snagged one off of eBay, which was a lucky find!)

I was drawn to the Jem books that were on display, especially the ones below as the art was very reminiscent of 1970s/1980s Wonder Woman.

 

Marsha noticed a neat Jem “mini” book that told a story about Jerrica getting made over into a Misfit (apparently in order to go “undercover” to get her Jemstar earrings back!)

 

Undercover trickery worked as Jerrica gets the earrings!

The panels below are hilarious because Mr. A kept pointing out – to Marsha’s chagrin – how badly Kimber gets treated in the Jemverse, as she’s always in Jem’s shadow. It was Marsha who discovered and pointed out the Kimber slighting in the book panels below!

 

After touring the Jemorabilia, we were hungry and discovered a wonderful place called simply Beirut Restaurant. While my friends preferred the salads and other healthy options, I gravitated towards the fish and chips. They were great! The chips especially were good, as they were made from fresh potatoes and not over processed like fast food french fries.

Happily sipping my Diet Coke with Chantal!

Cheers to Mr. A (as Brandon) and Marsha.

We returned to JemCon in time for the panel discussion with Patricia Alice Albrecht (speaking voice of Pizzazz), Ellen Bernfeld (singing voice of Pizzazz) and Anne Bryant (songwriter for the Jem series)! They all offered great insights into the process of creating the show, and how it was brought to life.

 

Then came time to get prepared for that evening’s Masquerade, where JemCon attendees dress up in Jem-inspired costumes! I dressed up as Jem herself!

Pizzazz (played by Chantal) is always trying to harass Jem. I guess her songs are better, or something.

Meet our cast: Jem (Garth), unConventional Kimber (Mr. A), Shana (Marsha) and Pizzazz (Chantal).

Pizzazz is always trying to take Jem out (and I don’t mean on a date!)

Shana is not impressed with Pizzazz’s grandstanding!

Inside at the Masquerade, we met plenty of wonderful folks who were also dressed up as their favourite Jem characters! below is Rock N Curl Jem, along with Stormer and I.

Burlesque perfomer Miss Mitzy Cream did an Outrageous performance as Jem! She first came out in the classic pink outfit and changed into the Glitter And Gold outfit (pictured below) all the while dancing and performing to a medley of Jem tunes! To top it all off, she’s from Toronto!!! Check out the Miss Mitzy Cream website for more about her.

Marsha and I were geeking out over meeting and getting to pose with Anne Bryant and Ellen Bernfeld. (In fact, all of the JemCon special guests were incredibly down to earth and mixed and mingled with fans throughout the whole weekend!)

Miss Mitzy Cream changed from Jem into Minx and brought Riot and Rapture with her to represent the Stingers!

I saw Mr. A (as unConventional Kimber) having fun posing for a pic with Ellen Bernfeld. I love the fun energy of the shot below!

I also snagged a picture with the fabulous Ellen (who was not only the singing voice of Pizzazz, but disco artist Menage and she sang a dance version of Wind Beneath My Wings in the mid-1980s before Bette Midler’s take on it!)

Our divatastic group!

 

Another group shot, and this time note that unConventional Kimber is wearing a new outfit. (The things she does to stand out from Jem….sigh…)

 

Below is a montage of just some of the awesome people we met during the trip (there were many more great folks we met who don’t appear here, but trust me they were fab too!) In order of pics are Video (Fairy Dust), Shevona, Deb, Ter and the montage closes with unConventional Kimber in a new wig!

unConventional Kimber hung out with Patricia Alice Albrecht during the night’s festivities.

After an amazing night of dancing, karaoke-ing, and Jem costume wearing, it was time to say “Show’s over Synergy!”

Though, the night wouldn’t be complete without me taking a gratuitous picture of our hotel’s TV Channel Guide!

Sunday Sept. 27, 2009!

This was our last day at JemCon, and we attended a few panels before heading out. Mr. A had noticed a fan who was sporting a great Jem tattoo and asked for a pic. We got to chatting and found out she and her Mom were from Cleveland. I had to really hold back from going into a TV Garth rant and start rambling “OMG….I’ve picked up TV stations from Cleveland at my house all the way in Markham, Ontario!!!”

On our way out of Michigan, we stopped for gas and I picked up newspapers (including a Detroit Free Press with a TV magazine inside!) I picked up USA Today specifically because Mariah Carey was on the front and Mr. A is a HUGE fan. I read the article aloud as we drove, and got a big laugh when I read about Mariah and Elle Magazine teaming up to create a mini “magazine” for her new CD. I added:

When asked about the cross promotion, Mariah said “I thought to myself, What the Elle?”

 

We had a lot of fun, but were all pretty tire-d after our adventures.

“Ahhhhhhhhh” is what I said when we approached the Windsor border!

I forgot to add this pic to my TV Garth report about Detroit, but on our way back I caught this pic of CBET’s tower in Windsor (taken spontaneously through the back window as we drove through town.)

We needed to fuel up before the long ride back to Toronto, and McDonald’s was the place for us! (Plus we got to use the coupons that Chantal had brought with her!) Note the Bridge To USA right behind the Golden Arches.

And here we have the last montage! It’s all of us in the car during our drive home!

Thank you to everyone who made JemCon such an amazing success!!!

Click here to see Mr. A’s full Flickr gallery of pictures!

Click here to see Chantal’s videos and blog posts!

Click here for the official JemCon web site!

This is Garth, signing off, one Frothy Pop Treat at a time!