Everybody's Talking About Tom MacRae

Tom MacRae, well known as the creator of the television series “Threesome,” is getting even more attention as the book author and lyricist of the hit West End, Olivier Award-nominated stage musical EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, (which will debut as a feature film on Amazon Prime on September 17)written for the screen by MacRae. The film and stage play is about a teenaged Jamie (Max Harwood) who wants to be a drag queen. Richard E. Grant and Sarah Lancashire costar. Original writers Tom MacRae and Dan Gillespie Sells adapted the stage hit, which was inspired by a BBC TV documentary. The stage play will also be making its North American debut at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre as part of Center Theatre Group's upcoming 2022 season.

MacRae is entirely self-taught in screenwriting, playwrighting, and scripting for television. MacRae was nominated for a BAFTA early in his career for writing the TV movie Off Limits: School's Out. From there, he’s worked consistently, notably as a writer on the cult hit TV series “Doctor Who,” and he then created and wrote “Threesome,” Comedy Central UK’s first original scripted comedy since the channel was renamed in 2009, which got him noticed in the United States. He also scripted Sky 1’s “Fungus The Bogeyman” which he developed from Raymond Briggs’ classic story.

Tom is also a children’s author and has had three picture books published, including the award-winning “The Opposite,” which has gone into paperback and been published in several languages. His second book for children, Baby Pie, also received a paperback edition. MacRae also wrote the short stories, "Once Upon a Time" and "Cats and Dogs", published in Doctor Who Storybook 2007 and DoctoWho Storyook 2008, respectively 

Up next, MacRae has joined Buccaneer Media for Nevision's live-action/CGI adaptation of MG Leonard’s Beetle Boy children’s books, which he will pen for the screen.

Pentatonix Talks to Delilah on Love Someone Podcast

10 years after their big win on The Sing-Off, Pentatonix is at the top of their game and on top of the world! The members of this iconic a cappella music group join Delilah today for a delightful chat on her popular podcast, Love Someone: A Podcast with Delilah.

 

Delilah says: "What did we talk about? Oh, how the group was formed, some of the obstacles they've overcome, the importance of leaning on and learning from each other, and just what make them, "The Lucky Ones." Oh, And if you're looking for some advice on how to write that elusive second verse in a song, you won't want to miss what they have to say! Join us, you don't want to miss this!"

 

Log onto www.delilah.com/podcast to listen to the podcast.

CDC follows data with new guidance on masking against COVID-19

Statement by APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin:

“The American Public Health Association supports today’s new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommends everyone wear masks indoors in areas with high COVID-19 transmission rates.

For many Americans, this advice is a dramatic reversal of where we were just months ago, when we seemed to be turning a corner against COVID-19. But science has shown increasing rates of infections, leaving CDC with no choice but to change its recommendation, which we applaud.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, continues to evolve and mutate. The delta variant is now the predominant strain in the U.S. While we know that COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at reducing serious illness and death, vaccinated people could carry higher levels of the virus than previously understood and potentially transmit it to others.

We are seeing increasing rates of infections, especially in certain areas of the country where people have resisted vaccinations. The number of breakthrough cases in people who have been vaccinated is rising at a frightening rate. We are going backward in our response to a pandemic that we have every available tool to address.

CDC’s new evidence-based recommendation on masks must be acknowledged as more than a wake-up call. This is sound public health advice that, along with vaccination, can help stop the spread of the virus and get us back on track to protecting our families, our communities and our nation.”

The Nowhere Inn

 

From real-life friends Annie Clark (a.k.a. GRAMMY award-winning recording and touring artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney, the best-selling Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl) comes the metafictional account of two creative forces banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life, and on-stage persona. But they quickly discover unpredictable forces lurking within the subject and filmmaker that threaten to derail the friendship, the project, and the duo’s creative lives. From first-time filmmaker Bill Benz (Portlandia, At Home With Amy Sedaris) comes a densely woven, laugh-out-loud funny and increasingly fractured commentary on reality, identity, and authenticity. A story of two close friends who attempt to wrestle the truth out of a complex subject before the hall of mirrors that is their artistic lives devours them completely.

Meet the Queens of “Drag Race Holland” Season 2, Coming to WOW Presents Plus

Start your engines! Drag Race Holland will return for a second season on Friday, August 6th, exclusively on WOW Presents Plus in the US, day-and-date with its local airing on Videoland in the Netherlands.

The ten queens competing to be crowned the Next Dutch Drag Race Superstar are Ivy-Elyse, Juicy Kutoure, Keta Minaj, Love Masisi, My Little Puny, Reggy B, Tabitha, The Countess, Vanessa van Cartier, and Vivaldi. 

Drag Race Holland showcases ten dazzling drag queens of the Netherlands as they compete each week to be crowned the Next Dutch Drag Race Superstar. They are put to the test through a variety of challenges and runway lewks, and based on their performance in the challenges and their creations on the runway, the judges will select a winner and the bottom two will have tulip sync for their lives before the eliminated queen is asked to sashay away.

Wear a OneCO Tank to show your Pride!

There's still time this summer to show off your One Colorado support with a limited-edition tank top and official member pin. Make a minimum recurring monthly donation of $10 to become an official One Colorado member and get your tank top and member pin!

Your contribution supports One Colorado's work to elect pro-equality champions to the state legislature. Those elected allies were essential this year in passing historic legislation to declare gender identity and gender expression as protected classes under the state's anti-discrimination act! One Colorado also saw victories helping reform the foster care system, preventing discrimination against LGBTQ parents, and requiring inclusivity trainings which help prospective parents to provide supportive and affirming homes for LGBTQ young people.

Despite passing multiple bills to advance equality in Colorado, we continue to see anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. Help ensure positive momentum continues into 2022 by becoming a monthly donor in solidarity with LGBTQ Coloradans and their families. Your donation can make the difference!

Everybody's Talking About Jamie Comes to Amazon Prime

Amazon Studios will release EVERYBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE globally on Prime Video September 17.

Inspired by true events, Everybody's Talking About Jamie follows Jamie New (Harwood), a teenager from Sheffield, who dreams of life on stage. While his classmates plan their livelihoods after they leave school, Jamie contemplates revealing his secret career ambition to become a fierce and proud drag queen. His best friend Pritti (Patel) and his loving mum (Lancashire) shower him with endless support, while local drag legend Miss Loco Chanelle (Grant) mentors him toward his debut stage performance. But Jamie also has to contend with an unsupportive father (Ineson), an uninspired careers advisor (Horgan), and some ignorant school kids who attempt to rain on his sensational parade. In rousing and colourful musical numbers, Jamie and his community inspire one another to overcome prejudice, be more accepting, and to step out of the darkness into the spotlight.

"The Magnificent Meyersons," in theaters in August

 

The Magnificent Meyersons follows an ordinary but complicated New York City family as they discover on one extraordinary day that although life—and family—can sometimes shock you … it can also lead to miraculous new places.

It’s a day in New York City just like any other, as the Meyersons deal with the ordinary concerns and petty annoyances that preoccupy all families. Matriarch Terri (Kate Mulgrew) is an oncologist, whose husband (Richard Kind) abandoned the family years earlier, leaving her to raise overachiever Roland (Ian Kahn); Daphne (Jackie Burns), who struggles with her own marriage; Daniel (Daniel Eric Gold), now a reluctant rabbinical student; and Susie (Shoshannah Stern), an ambitious young real estate agent in a lesbian relationship with Tammy (Lauren Ridloff).

But the Meyersons’ lives are suddenly upended by dramatic revelations both personal and universal. Conversations about faith, fate and the meaning of it all that come to a head at a family dinner with an unexpected guest. As memories of their complicated past collide with a new and uncertain future, the Meyersons must navigate lingering heartbreak and shifting alliances as they are forced to reevaluate everything that they thought was true.

Premiering in New York City August 20 at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan; and Los Angeles August 27 at the Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino, the film is also available virtually on the websites of all locations. 

HHS Announces New National Challenge to Reduce HIV-Related Stigma and Disparities

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the launch of The HIV Challenge, a national competition to engage communities to reduce HIV-related stigma and increase prevention and treatment among racial and ethnic minority people. The HIV Challenge is part of a new partnership between the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH).

Through this challenge, HHS is seeking innovative and effective approaches to increase the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people who are at increased risk for HIV or are people with HIV. The HIV Challenge is open to the public, and HHS will award a total of $760,000 to 15 winners over three phases. Phase 1 submissions are open from July 16, 2021, through September 23, 2021.

"HIV-related stigma is one of the reasons why prevention and treatment options, such as PrEP and ART, are underutilized,” said Assistant Secretary for Health, Rachel L. Levine, M.D. “The latest science shows that people living with HIV who take the proper medicine as prescribed and get and keep their HIV at an undetectable level do not transmit HIV to others.

Reducing HIV-related stigma remains a priority across federal agencies. This includes the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which announced this week that PrEP must be covered by insurance plans and issuers without requiring the patient to pay out-of-pocket for a service or treatment.

“The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force already recommends that clinicians offer PrEP to people who may be at high risk for HIV,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “By clarifying that this recommendation extends to their health coverage, we’re making it clear that prevention is a priority—one that can better help us see patients as people, not the sum-total of their health conditions or concerns.”

HIV can affect anyone regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, age, or where they live. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, but an estimated 14 percent (1 in 7) do not know it. HIV testing, early diagnosis and treatment prevents HIV and delays disease progression. The CDC recommends that everyone ages 13 to 64 years be tested for HIV.

Despite advances in HIV prevention and treatment tools, not everyone is benefiting equally. HIV disproportionately impacts men who have sex with men and African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations.

"The HIV Challenge will support efforts of local communities to develop and test approaches to reduce HIV-related stigma and increase the use of prevention and treatment options to decrease HIV disparities and health inequities among racial and ethnic minority populations nationally," said RADM Felicia Collins, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and OMH Director.

The HIV Challenge will have three phases, each of which will be evaluated separately. Prizes will be awarded for each of the three phases. Challenge participants will compete for cash prizes for the design of a concept, development of an approach, and small-scale testing of their approach.

“In alignment with the National HIV Testing Day and 40th anniversary of the first CDC reporting of HIV and its themes to reenergize and reengage, The HIV Challenge will create an opportunity for on-the-ground voices to participate in developing novel innovative approaches,” said OIDP Acting Director, Kaye Hayes. “The approaches will address HIV-related stigma in ways that can be successfully implemented within their local communities and replicated in the future.”

For more information about The HIV Challenge submission requirements, deadlines, judging criteria, competition rules, prize amounts, and how to submit a proposal, visit www.challenge.gov/challenge/reduce-HIV-related-stigma

RugbyTown Documentary Series to Air on ESPN

Spring Media has secured a deal with Disney for its Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Island markets to air the documentary series centered around the Colorado XOs professional rugby player development program.
 
‘Rugby Town’ is a docuseries shot and produced by Rugby Factory – an international sports media agency – around the Colorado XOs rugby team in Glendale, Colorado. The XOs are a team composed of high-level crossover athletes from professional leagues and college football, basketball, wrestling, and track & field programs. The XO program is designed to help train elite athletes to be professional rugby players and to ultimately help the United States win the Rugby World Cup.
 
After just one season of competition in Spring 2021, the XO program has successfully helped six players – Kaleb Geiger, Max Dacey, Shawn Clark, Gelen Robinson, David Still, and Ma’ake Muti – ink deals with Major League Rugby teams while several other players drew significant interest. Scrum-half and team captain Michael Bandy signed a training camp deal with the Los Angeles Chargers after spending the spring with the XOs.
 
The 10-episode first season of ‘Rugby Town’ is available now and season two will be ready for distribution by the end of 2021.

Five Amazing Students Win Denver Woman’s Press Club Scholarships

Denver Woman’s Press Club is pleased to introduce its 2021 scholarship winners: Former Kampala “street kid” Jesca Gilbert, Russian immigrant Kristina Ten, Ophir-native Madeline Herman, Broomfield Poet Annie Cao, and engineer-turned-journalist Rachel Lorenz.

 

After a short career in engineering and a long stretch as a stay-at-home parent, Rachel Lorenz enrolled in Metropolitan State University of Denver to study journalism. Her stories have appeared in the The Colorado Independent, Colorado Politics, The Metropolitan, Albuquerque Journal, Su Casa Magazine, and the Denver Gazette.  “Journalism has the power to connect people with issues that matter and with the ways they can effect change,” says Lorenz. “I’m honored to participate in such work.” 

 

Madeline Herman (pictured) hails from tiny Ophir, Colorado, population 300, graduated from Telluride High School, and is attending Colorado College. Her winning entry, “Among the Cherry Blossoms,” explores mother-daughter relationships and LGBTQ sexuality. “I have always had the desire to create worlds and create realities different from my own,” says Herman. “I guess it's a form of escapism and a way I get to explore my imagination.”

 

Born in Moscow, Kristina Ten, an MFA candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder, writes about experiences of home, belonging, and borders—between people, between places, and between the realms of the fantastical and the real. Ten’s stories have appeared in Lightspeed, Split Lip, Weird Horror, and Diabolical Plots.

  

Born into extreme poverty in Kampala, Uganda, Jesca Gilbert and her mom begged on the street until she was orphaned and went to live in a home for street kids founded by a Colorado documentary film maker. Gilbert moved to Indonesia, became a gymnast, and ultimately enrolled at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, where she was elected Sophomore Class President and won Poetry Out Loud, a competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. She is attending Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. 

Poet Annie Cao from Prospect Ridge High School in Broomfield has been published in literary journals such as The Kenyon Review, Diode Poetry Journal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Hunger Mountain, and The Apprentice Writer. Cao frequently shines light on the experiences of women and discusses the themes of identity and challenge that surround girlhood. She will be attending Princeton University in the fall. 

Founded in 1898, Denver Woman’s Press Club supports professional communicators in journalism, public relations, internet communications, nonfiction, and creative writing. The club awards scholarships every year to support and encourage aspiring young communicators.

JESSIE J & BILLY PORTER RELEASE “I WANT LOVE (twocolors REMIX)”

GRAMMY Award-nominated multi-platinum pop superstar JESSIE J joins forces with GRAMMY, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning BILLY PORTER to release "I Want Love (twocolors Remix)" via LAVA/Republic Records.

“I Want Love” sets the stage for Jessie J’s anxiously awaited fifth full-length album, coming later this year, co-written with and executive produced by GRAMMY Award-winning producer Ryan Tedder.

Sophie and the Giants: If I Don’t Break Your Heart I’ll Break Mine

Sophie and the Giants return with their powerful new song ‘If I Don’t Break Your Heart I’ll Break Mine’, out now via Republic Records.

Built on taut percussion, staccato guitar and melodic synth flourishes, the track finds the band at their most immediate. Sophie’s unmistakable voice weaves a tale of painful self-discovery in the hope of showing others the way, and the driving, evocative song seems destined to become an anthem.

“If I Don’t Break Your Heart I’ll Break Mine” is about knowing when you need to be by yourself” Sophie explains. “I wrote it when I was 19 and overwhelmed with anxiety and low self-esteem. I was still relying on others to make me happy and I had no idea who I wanted to be. The only way I could find out was if I took myself away from others to get to know myself better. So I did that, hoping the people who loved me would understand. It’s crazy to finally release it and be able to see where it’s taken me.”

Celebrate 40 Years of Caring with The Alexander Foundation

The Alexander Foundation's Summer Soiree in honor of The Alexander Foundation's 40th anniversary is right around the corner! Join them on August 27 to celebrate 40 years of caring for Colorado's LGBTQ+ community!

Fire Music

Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and ‘70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers – brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane – are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America’s most innovative art form. FIRE MUSIC showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries and produced landmark albums like Coleman’s  Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane’s Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement’s key players.

Writer / Director Tom Surgal is known for directing a series of groundbreaking music videos for leading alternative bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement and The Blues Explosion. Tom was initially mentored in filmmaking by Brian De Palma and would go on to work in a wide range of film production jobs, including production design and casting. Tom is also a musician who has performed regularly with Nels Cline (Wilco), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Jim O'Rourke and Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges) and is co-leader of the improvisational ensemble White Out. He is also a curator who has programmed celebrated music series at various downtown New York venues, including an entire month of shows at John Zorn's hallowed performance space The Stone.