Vive La Streisand!

[B_Stronzo]

My second post states that I do like Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, Ute Lemper also has a beautiful voice. Perhaps I just dislike the overly sentimental and schlockish quality of American singers.

Piaf and Dietrich were stylists. Piaf was superb for me. Dietrich was a trend-setter but a bit campy for me in her masculinity.

To me it's apples and oranges.. and again a matter of taste. I like them both too each in her way.

I have no agenda nor anger, just a long standing question why so many gay men feel the need to idolize certain females.

And (as you'll note in my post to NineInchCock - who never bothered to respond to my lenghty explanation ) I've explained that phenomenon to you.

The idolization of certain female singers/actors is not universal amongst gay men as you seem to think it is.

I never suggested it was. But you appear to fear it will be perceived as such somehow making you guilty by association?:33:

Is it not allowed to disagree with your assertion ...

Disagree to your heart's content. I'd just ask you to allow me my (as initially referenced) 'my guilty pleasure'. K? But I think to scathingly disallow some gay men their divas is a bit telling on your part.

What's up with that?

It seems to me that your assertion is one of a minority of gay men, or perhaps a majority of gay men whose lives are centered around Hollywood, Broadway or music in general.

I don't know since I've never taken a poll. Additionally I can assure you my life's not 'centered around Hollywood or Broadway' - but I'll ASSURE you much of it is centered around music... mostly classical.

I have absolutely no issue with people who devote their lives to the arts but I do have an issue with people who attempt to paint all gay men with the same brush.

Where did I do that exactly? :33:

 

[hypolimnas]

I like Dolly well enough but she seems "dragish" to me.

You made me laugh! What a great way to wake up! I was expecting a spanking. I suspect you may be right!:smile:


And as for her singing voice? I find it lightweight and without any real power. She does however have an endearing quality to her person that makes up for what I consider a decided lack in singing ability.

Yes perhaps, I feel is a great musician (composer/ entertainer etc etc).

I know very little about any of this really.

Perhaps we can conclude that people are passionate about their music.

Well that, and that personal taste is just that.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Gladly oblige with that spanking hyp.. but no need.

I agree with your last two sentences 100%

 

[Nelly Gay]

Can it be that it was all so simple then?

The Way We Were is my favorite song of hers.

Much better than Gladys Knight's version ...
Her cover versions of Gordon Lightfoot's "If I Could Read Your Mind" are on a par with Janis Joplin's and better than Lightfoot's own recording
. Her recording of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End" is very superb !

 

[Lordpendragon]

Don't know her politics, but I think I heard that she is a highly erotic and sexed woman. Always been a fan of Ms. Streisand, she is definitely beautiful, but not in the Barbie sense of course.

 

[B_Stronzo]

Yes- Streisand will readily admit to having a high sex drive herself.

You can easily read from watching her too.

Your point about "not in the Barbie" sense is my feeling too LPD.

The late Sir Cecil Beaton said that "from some angles she's the loveliest creature I've ever seen".

Ryan O'Neal said when dating her "if you look at her when she's not paying attention to how she looks she can be either the prettiest woman you've ever seen or the ugliest depending on the angle".

I guess that's one of the things I find most engaging about the nuance of her facial features.

Streisand by Cecil Beaton

Rumor has it that Prince Charles had a fling with her in days gone by yes?

 

[coolwind]

My two cents, I am a musician, totally straight, and like some of her work. I also think she is hot, now, then. My lesbian close friend was obsessed with her for several years while in her teens. The thing about her music for me that is least appealing is the tendency to flatten rhythm, you almost always hear her stretching phrases and seldom hitting any kind of interesting rhytmic figure. That's why Billie Holiday would be more likely to be on my CD player, but it's a matter of taste I guess

 

[Spoogesicle]

That's why Billie Holiday would be more likely to be on my CD player, but it's a matter of taste I guess

Okay, now that you mention her, I think that Lady Day definitely merits inclusion on the list. Sign her up.

 

[joyboytoy79]

Someone needs to revoke my gay card.

I personally dislike Babs. I think she over-does it.

 

[B_Stronzo]

My two cents, I am a musician, totally straight, and like some of her work. I also think she is hot, now, then. The thing about her music for me that is least appealing is the tendency to flatten rhythm, you almost always hear her stretching phrases and seldom hitting any kind of interesting rhytmic figure. That's why Billie Holiday would be more likely to be on my CD player, but it's a matter of taste I guess

Super observation coolwind.

I agree depending on which style is her style of the moment. I find it unfortunate that she attempted too often to follow the trend of the day rather than hold with the genre which suits her best.

It'd be like Whitney wasting her voice on Hip Hop or Rap.

Pity Streisand aborted her innate talent at interpretation of torch song-esque things all through the seventies and well into the eighties.. But she's back now.

She's not rhythmic by inclination. Nor is she a jazz singer. She's a vocalist whose suggestion of and inclination toward pitch perfection (when singing music that suits her best) remains without compare to me. Therein stands her unique talent along with her ability to "melt" a note into the orchestration.

In the last clip of hers I've posted she actually appears in a trance-like state as she weaves her voice around the music. It may well be a taste thing but for my musical ear it's the "stuff" of the angels.

(I like Billy Holiday too but there's a overtly nasal whine that grates after a point with her...)

 

[scanjock8]

while techincal skills are important, performance style and emotional expression are qualities that often make a singer truly unique and appealing. it's a package deal that comes in all sorts of varieties.

whatever babs may lack technically, i think she more than makes up for in the visceral emotion she can evoke from her listeners and her flirty style. judy garland would miss notes with a laugh as if she were improvising, but i think few would dispute no other performer connected with audiences like she did. if you've seen her carnegie hall performance you'll know what i'm talking about--she was an emotional wreck and technically inconsistent but truly captivating in song (arguably one of the greatest performers of all time).

a few others i'm especially fond of not mentioned so far:

karen carpenter. hauntingly delicate, whenever i hear her my heart goes pitter-patter.

astrud gilberto. so innocent and dreamy.

bette. ella. and i'm in agreement with others, whitney has a big, gorgeous voice regardless of material--her record sales were well deserved.

 

[pierre bleue]

Why do gay men like Barbara Streisand so much? I don't get it.

I am gay but cannot bear that soppy and greedy "Barbra"

I prefer the europeans

Mina queen of the italian song

YouTube - Mina-Caruso

or the


Barbara queen of the female songwriters

YouTube - Barbara - Ma Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour

or

Patty Pravo queen of italian drugs

YouTube - Patty Pravo - E dimmi che non vuoi morire