#Red Hot Organization

[erasure-picnic]

This post examines Erasure's involvement in the Red, Hot & Blue project.

In 1989, Leigh Blake and John Carlin, two figures in the New York creative scene, were finding themselves affected by the AIDS crisis, which was having a devastating impact on so many talented artists, intellectuals and friends. Frustrated by the government’s persistent inaction, they looked to their community to enact change. They had an idea. What if they could put out an album of songs by Cole Porter, covered by some of the hottest musical acts, with the proceeds going to AIDS organizations? And what if they paired those songs with music videos directed by great filmmakers?

Early on, the organizers asked Erasure to take part, and the band agreed–they’d always done AIDS benefits and felt that it was more important than ever to raise awareness about the disease. They contributed a steamy, electrified cover of “Too Darn Hot”, along with a powerful music video, directed by Adelle Lutz and Sandy McLeod. Bell and Clarke play weather forecasters reporting on the crisis, with the “heat” of the song used as a metaphor for the effects of the epidemic. It’s the project’s most political video, blending the “weather” concept with footage of AIDS protests and facts about HIV. The film clip was so incisive that when the Red, Hot + Blue TV special was aired on ABC, some of its more pointed messages were altered or removed by the network. Thankfully, a year later, the uncensored version was played on Bravo, and it was seen in 30 countries around the world.

Bell also did a front-page feature for Record Mirror in 1990 on the initiative. In the article, he explains why he was determined to contribute, shares more facts about AIDS, and poses in Red, Hot + Blue merchandise. His frankness, conviction and optimism make it a bracing, worthwhile read.

In spite of funding struggles and censorship, Red, Hot + Blue was a success, selling over a million copies worldwide and raising millions of dollars for AIDS charities like ACT UP and AmFAR. Its success helped establish the Red Hot nonprofit, which would go on to release over 15 collaboration albums, numerous TV specials and media events. And it’s still going on today: follow the Red Hot Organization on social media to learn more.

Sources:

General information: the official website of Red Hot Organization; newspaper clippings; books from Internet Archive Magazine cover: Lansure's Music Paraphernalia and Michael Kane (Record Mirror, Oct. 20, 1990) Screen captures of music video: Internet Archive

[burlveneer-music]

VA - Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War - A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 1 - takes on  “Nuclear War” by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Angel Bat Dawid, and Irreversible Entanglements!

01. Georgia Anne Muldrow - Nuke’s Blues (Feat. Josef Leimberg) (written by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Josef Leimberg & Sun Ra) Georgia Anne Muldrow - Vocals / Track / Synth Josef Leimberg - Trumpet / Piano Taso Anastasios - OP1 keyboard / engineer 02.-04. Angel Bat Dawid - Nuclear War: A Cosmic Myth Science Trilogy (Written by Angel Bat Dawid & Sun Ra) The Cosmic Ensemble Angel Bat Dawid - Piano, Clarinet, Vocals, Synths Jaden Berkman (Jaytheziah) - Bass, Guitar, Flute, Saxophone Alejandro Salazar - Percussion The Cosmic Children Rayna Golding, Mahari Ajani Collier The Cosmic Choir Monique Golding, Phillip Armstrong, Camila Isabel, Tramaine Parker, Erica Nwachukwu Arranged & Mixed by Angel Bat Dawid Inspired by Sun Ra’s Nuclear War 05. Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o - We're Not Buying It (Feat. Grandmaster CAP) (written by Fani Malcolm Jiyane, Nhlanhla Masondo & Sun Ra ) Ayanda Zalekile - Electric Bass & Vocals Gontse Makhene - Percussion & Backing Vocals Grandmaster CAP - MC Lungile Kunene - Drums & Backing Vocals Malcolm Jiyane - Piano, Keyboards & Backing Vocals Tubatsi Moloi - Electric Guitar, Flute & Backing Vocals 06. Irreversible Entanglements - Nuclear War (Written by Sun Ra) Keir Neuringer - Saxophone Tcheser Holmes - Drums Aquiles Navarro - Trumpet Luke Stewart - Bass Camae Ayewa - Vocals

[thesobsister]

The first two volumes of the Red Hot & Ra series are highly recommended. I hadn't followed the Red Hot Organization's releases in a little while, so this was a great reintroduction to their approach. Taking songs and songbooks—here, Sun Ra's—and bringing other sensibilities—by geography (here, Brazil), style, generation, juxtaposition—to their interpretation.

[protoslacker]

MC SOLAAR & RON CARTER - UN ANGE EN DANGER

M An gel

On Twitter--yes--I noticed a picture Ron Carter put up of standing with Herbie Hancock, “A friend stopped by the other day, and checked in to make certain I am sticking to my physical therapy.’ That prompted listening to some recordings. He has been rcorded on 2200 albums, “and counting,” he adds. 

It’s importan to remember accomplished people who’ve  responded positively to HIV/AIDS. They’ve saved a lot of lives, and counting.

Red Hot Organization

[rastronomicals]

March 13:

On this date in 1989, The Stone Roses released their perhaps overhyped self-titled debut.

For a while there, because it could be hard to glean truth from the late 80's/early 90's commercial rock radio, I thought it was The Stones Roses who did "The Only One I Know" but it was actually the Charlatans UK.

Love that other tune, which ain't here, but anyways, even though The Stone Roses debut is an accident in my collection, it's OK, really, it's just fine!

On the 13th of March, 1995, Half Japanese let fly unto the world that probably had better things to do Half Japanese Greatest Hits, their perhaps sarcastically-named compilation.

On this date in 2001, The Clever Motherfuckers Named Clutch released their fifth album, and only one for Atlantic, the one they called Pure Rock Fury.

On this date in 2001, a tribute album to Duke Ellington themishly entitled Red Hot + Indigo, was released.

Indigo was the 13th compilation/tribute album released by the Red Hot Organization in its quest to promote AIDS awareness

[crankydevon]

46 songs! Preorder the album at the link above or start here:

🥹❤️

[prosodi]

Previews of some of the supplementary work I did for the @daflowerzine Did I mention that this book is going to be nice? :') 💖💖💖💖

[king-spite]

so it seems the poppy war has become my absolute favorite series so ofc i'm losing my mind comparing every scene with my other favorite series (red queen) and making an unfathomable amount of headcanons

[tintinhachu]

"Walking in the woods alone today, little red?"

Yafex is the little red riding hood and Xigbar is the big bad wolf

[whatudottu]

Given how Random’s faceplate is unlike any Transformers’ we’ve seen in the TFA universe (which is in stark contrast to Icy and Hothead, who both have faces typically of their species), I have a feeling that Random might not see himself as a Cybertronian, or at the very least, not a full Cybertronian, especially given how non-human alters aren’t unheard of for people with DID or OSDD.

Seeing as how Transformers in the Animated Continuity are shown to believe in an afterlife, which implies that they have some form of religion, my personal headcanon is that he views himself as the Cybertronian equivalent of what humans might consider a demon (‘spawn of Unicron’, perhaps? There was a planned time travel episode taking place after the Unicron Wars, after all, meaning he would’ve been canon to the TFA continuity) confined within a Transformer’s body and as such can’t utilize the “full extent” of his power. 

Maybe in headspace, he uses the form of a Transformer as his “default” since it’s the most convenient and the one everyone else is used to but he's capable of taking on a wide variety of forms whenever he chooses (as a fun little reference to the original concept of Blitzwing’s character being a ‘super-Transformer’ who could shape-shift into the form of anything mechanical but couldn��t hold any form other than his vehicle mode for very long).

Demon/Unicron spawn Random is just a fascinating idea I am beaming this idea directly to my brain- probably took all that Autobot functionism and became what 'warframes are supposed to be' and is just having a fun time with it.

Whether Random is serious about eating bots or is acting on his no filter self by spurting what 'warframe predisposed' ideas so heavily propagandised by the elite, being this Unicron spawn (as opposed to Primus like the others) Random is 'what the Autobot's asked for', not being all that much discouraged with that whole war thing happening lmao. I like to think that Random's 'default' appearance is the Blitzwing body mostly because no one else is using it (as representation of themselves rather than as a tool to host), but Mr Jack O'Lanturn here is just as transformer as the other bots in their headspace and transform he does into whatever the fuck he feels like-

[doctor-fancy-pants]

Wednesday Words

Good Things Can Come From Mistakes #1

Cell division is a glorious, microscopic ballet.

A dancer’s silhouette is revealed from an artful smoke machine; so too does our genetic material coalesce from the organised chaos of the nucleus into chromosomes.

Diligently, they twin themselves, then separate, pulled to opposite ends of the stage; and then the stage itself splits in two, and you don’t see that shit in Swan Lake.

But the most miraculous part of all this is how much it gets fucked up and you still end up with a human being at the end of it.

Only now you’ve got red hair. You’re welcome.

Good Things Can Come From Mistakes #2

A weed is any plant that grows where you don’t want it to grow. It’s a context-specific term. A mistake is to do something when you intended something else.

An error is a computer telling you to go fuck yourself, because you’re speaking gibberish (as far as the computer is concerned).

What do you get when you combine these things?

Well, I got a sarcastic cyborg plant person, and after 50 magical years of marriage, I don’t regret a single thing.

I have a Wednesday night writing group. We do prompts, and drabbles, and it's a good time. Everyone comes out with something so different! They're short snippets - the drabbles are only supposed to be 100 words (eventually I got there!), a warm-up for the later prompt. I've decided to post my favourites, because why not? This one was more recent, and I got two in the time limit that I liked.

[burlveneer-music]

VA - Red Hot & Ra - Nuclear War : The Remixes - the Red Hot Org's Sun Ra tribute album performed/remixed by Dennis Bovell, Kronos Quartet, & others

1. Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o (Feat. Grandmaster CAP) - We're Not Buying It (Dennis Bovell Dub) 2. Angel Bat Dawid - Nuclear War! (Oui Ennui Cosmic Off-Ramp Ouimix) 3. Sun Ra - Nuclear War (Moon Medicin x Sanford Biggers Remix) 4. Sun Ra - Nuclear War (Joel Tarman x Kronos Quartet Remix)

[dramatic-dolphin]

things people have been named in my dreams:

Ian

Aiki Mirasol

Sher-Shay

Egg

[batteryacidisedibleenough]

I'd recommend sweeping motions across the floor for looking for stuff, in my experience. Typically use it to look for tiny shards when a glass thing breaks, so I don't step on them and instead gently brush them into my awareness. I have mostly normal vision though, so I don't know if that kinda method would even work for blind folks.

[feelgoodinct]

nsfw, mdni.

simon becomes an absolute dog when he sees you in his shirt.

cw: possessive simon, sex on carpet (ouch), unprotected p in v, creampie, size kink (?).

simon is a good roommate. he’s organized, clean, pays rent on time, and minds his own space. the only thing is—roommate is hot. stupidly hot. you know he doesn’t have a girlfriend and he’s never once brought back a girl let alone mentioned one. you figured your little crush on him would pass like all the other (it does not). you start dropping hints that you find him attractive. like wearing your tightest tops, brushing your ass against him while reaching for a cup, even leaving one of your lacy thongs to mix in with his laundry. he never bites the bait. you start to think that maybe he just doesn’t find you attractive or even worse he finds you creepy. so you tuck your schoolgirl crush away into the cavity of your chest.

you close the washer with your hip, cradling your laundry basket back to your room. you hear the familiar turn of your front door lock letting you know simon is home from his morning gym session.

you pad into the living room to ask simon if he needed any clothes washed. simons back is turned from you when he begins to slip off his trainers, dropping his gym at the foot of the door.

“need any clothes washed? i’m starting a load up right now.” you ask eyeing the movement of back muscle underneath his compression shirt.

he finally turns to you and starts to respond “nah don’t think-“ before he snaps his mouth shut when he sees what you’re wearing. “that mine?” his voice gruff, it’s his army issued shirt that is long enough to cover your shorts. a deep green color that frays at the hem and has his last name in bold at the back of it. you notice he’s staring at the worn fabric waiting for an answer.

you look down, “oh yeah. sorry was doing laundry found this in hamper. my clothes are in the wash. hope that’s okay?” you sound apologetic like you just did something unforgivable. jesus christ what were you thinking wearing his shirt without asking. you shift trying to ease your embarrassment.

he’s on you in three short strides. making a noise between a growl and snarl. you don’t know how or when you both ended up on the living room floor. frankly, it’s the last thing on your fucking mind now that you’re on your knees cheek pressing into the shag carpet. you can feel the heat of his stare between your legs. you get a glimpse of your shorts and panties strewn across the floor leaving you in his shirt. you wait with bated breath for him to touch you. you wiggle your hips in a silent plead to get him to do something, anything…everything.

he gives the flesh of your ass a heavy smack that has you clenching around nothing. “be good now.” is all you hear before the sting leaves an angry red mark that you know is gonna leave you wincing for the next week. simon smooths a hand over the back of your (his) shirt making a noise in the back of his throat.

you hear shuffling behind you before you feel the head of him catch on to your opening making your mouth gape like a fish out of water. he groans at the contact, kneading the fat of your hips, before he presses in painfully slow with a hiss. you whimper into the carpet, fists balling, feeling hot all over. your cunt pulses trying to make room for him inside your womb.

“i know. i know, pretty girl. almost there.” simon bites back a hiss when you clench at his words. you think you might die like this. laid out on ugly apartment carpet trying to take simon’s cock. you could cry with relief when you feel simon’s balls meet your clit letting you know he’s all the way in. simon lets out a guttural sound bordering on animalistic at the sight of you speared open on his cock, last name across your back, absolutely crying for it.

he fists the bottom of the shirt to keep you still and eases his hips back just to sink back in slowly. the pressure in your navel hurts so good it’s starting to make you dizzy. simon sets a pace that has you trying to cant your hips back to meet his thrusts. he lays a heavy palm in the middle of your back, just under the boldened ‘RILEY’, keeping you pinned giving you no choice but to take what he gives you.

“prettiest fuckin girl i ever seen. gonna give this cunt the proper treatment she deserves, yeah?” he bends his left leg, somehow sliding in deeper. there’s no doubt that you can feel him in your lungs. “s’deep simon.” you slur, reaching a hand back to weakly press against his stomach. he chuckles at the act taking both wrists into one of his hands pressing them at the small of your back, forcing you into a deeper arch. you sob at the change in angle. your nipples being rubbed raw by the friction of his thrusts.

“needed this real bad, huh? don’t worry baby. i’ll make sure you don’t go without it again. wearing those tiny tops think i didn’t notice.” his voice rough and deep behind you. “uh huh.” you reply without a second thought, you don’t even care that you’ve been drooling into the carpet or that you’ve been caught. simon gives a deep chuckle at how pliant you’ve become just from some good dick.

he knows your close by the increasing volume of your sounds. he never lets up his pace determined to give you his all. “where?” he asks in a quick breathe. you take a few seconds to register his words. “huh?” you manage to squeak out. “where do you want me, pretty thing?” he says in an almost pained voice. the gears turn in your head before you speak up “inside. want it inside. m’clean. pill.” resorting to short clipped words. you beg, as if you have to, simon thinks.

your orgasm comes hard and fast leaving you sobbing out garbled version of please and simon. simon is not far behind burying himself as deep as your bodies will allow and comes inside with a pinched “oh fuck.” he pulls out with a pop and watches his spend leak down your slit leaving a small puddle on the floor that he knows he’ll have to scrub out later.

simon pats your backside affectionately. “don’t think we’ll be doing any laundry today” he says with a grin that makes you giggle. “yeah, don’t think so.”

[thrasherella]

Needy Werewolf Husband is going into his rut and is really, reaallllyyyyy trying to get his wife's attention away from the household chores she's insisting on finishing before he can have his way with her...

...

He followed her all around the kitchen as she tidied up, wrapping his arms around her from behind and groping her tits as she cleaned the few dishes in the sink, pinching and teasing her nipples as she sighed and moaned, grinding his hard cock into her soft ass, his breath hot and voice desperate against her ear as he begged her to let him fuck her already.

"Please let me put it in..." he whined, nipping at the shell of her ear lightly in frustration as his swollen, red cock throbbed against her, begging for more attention, for more friction, for more anything; he felt like he was starting to lose his mind.

She had told him to keep humping her ass like a horny little puppy if he couldn't wait, and he really couldn't. He continued fondling her breasts, palming and squeezing them in his massive hands, and she whimpered and mewled, rolling her hips back against his.

"See, you want it too..."

She continued to deny him as she finished wiping and organizing the kitchen counters, his cock dribbling all over her backside as he pumped against her, unable to stop himself. He needed to pin her down, needed to stuff her full of his cock; he could smell her arousal mounting as she ground that perfect little ass back against him, her honeyed scent driving him absolutely wild.

"Just a little longer love, you're being such a good boy," she cooed, scratching him gently under his chin as he made puppy dog eyes at her, eliciting from him a low, humming moan.

He humped her legs while she vacuumed the living room, whimpering and growling as she did her best to ignore him, slowly and methodically making her way across the room as he ground into her, dragging and rubbing his cock against her, staining her clothes with his sticky precum, nipping at the back of her neck and ears, demanding her attention.

"Please, need to fuck you now baby, need to fill you; need to empty my cock into your perfect little pussy and give you a litter of pups..."

"Be a good boy and wait until I'm done cleaning the bedroom, okay?" she had purred, and he whimpered a weak agreement in response.

When they got to the bedroom however, she was helpless against him as he shoved her face first down onto the mattress, ripping apart those pesky little shorts and panties that had been blocking his aching cock, confirming what he already knew from her overwhelming scent that her cunt was already drenched and waiting for him to stretch and fill her.

"I lied," he huffed, mounting her from behind and lining up his dripping cockhead with her pussy, parting her nether lips slowly around him, loving how she moaned into her pillow as he did. "I don't wanna be a good boy; and you were a bad girl, it's not nice to tease a rutting wolf...now you be good, and take my knot," he hilted into her in one hard thrust, feeling her pussy clenching around him; a low, rumbling growling escaping his throat, and a deliciously muffled scream coming from her as he knotted her, forcing every inch of himself into her tight cunt.

He was already so overstimulated, biting down into her shoulder as he came, painting her insides white as he filled her with his thick load, and she cried out as her own orgasm crashed over her, hips bucking and rolling against him, squirting her climax all over his dick and pooling on the bedsheets.

"That's a good girl," his breath was hot against her ear, pushing her hips up slightly to get one clawed hand between her and the mattress, flittering and rubbing his fingers against her swollen clit, loving how she writhed and squirmed beneath him helplessly. "No more chores, no where for you to go, sweet thing stuffed and stuck on my knot...just be a good girl and turn off your brain, and squirt on my dick again, and again, and again while I make you my cum-dumpster..."

She couldn't deny this was exactly what she wanted...she knew her husband better than anyone and knew that denying him was a sure fire way to make sure he took extra time to "punish" her for the time she had wasted keeping him waiting.

Oh no, what a tragedy that would be...