The Soundtrack Series

Trying to come out to your mom three times before it sticks. Losing a parent to AIDS. Hearing the heartbeat of the baby you’re giving a gay couple to adopt. Sharing a strange sexual encounter with a best friend. Getting punched in the face because you need to dance to Beyonce. Soundtrack Series celebrates Pride with seven of our favorite gay themed stories from over the years–and the best Pride playlist this side of Christopher Street.

Actor Brian Silliman (look for him on this season of Orange in the New Black) on how sports and musical theater do not mix — and the dent he has in his leg to prove it. Plus, Dana looks back on her high school graduation, and everything that went wrong during her rendition of the National Anthem.

Amber Drea is a writer and storyteller — look for her in McSweeney’s or on RISK! This is her heartbreaking story about living in motels with her mom when she was ten — where many times her only friend was a copy of Heart’s Bad Animals. Plus, Dana gets giddy about the guests coming up on the next live Soundtrack Series (Chemda, DJ Spooky, and Jeffrey Marsh) and tells the full story behind her double-autographed photo of David Letterman.

Amber Drea is a writer and storyteller — look for her in McSweeney’s or on RISK! This is her heartbreaking story about living in motels with her mom when she was ten — where many times her only friend was a copy of Heart’s Bad Animals. Plus, Dana gets giddy about the guests coming up on the next live Soundtrack Series (Chemda, DJ Spooky, and Jeffrey Marsh) and tells the full story behind her double-autographed photo of David Letterman.

Comic Christian Finnegan — whose new special The Fun Part is currently available on Netflix–tells his story of how Whitney Houston almost cost him a car on VH1’s Name That Video. Twice. Plus, Dana questions the theory that a revolution happened only three times in pop music history.

Actor, playwright and solo performer Matthew Trumbull (whose one man show The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children was critically acclaimed by both the New York and Minnesota Fringe Festivals) tells his personal memories of Mr. Jimmy, the crazy old man of his hometown who is rumored to be the Mr. Jimmy in the second verse of You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Plus, Dana hops in the way back machine and talks WKRP in Cincinnati — and the unforgivable sin of replacement music in the re-release of classic television.

In this special episode, Dana interviews Chi Chi Valenti — the Empress of NYC nightlife and creator of the legendary Stevie Nicks fan event Night of 1000 Stevies. Dana and Chi Chi talk CSI-level fandom, whether you should actually meet your idols, and how Stevie herself learned about this yearly event where thousands of people gather to pay tribute to her. And Stevie’s hair. Of course there’s discussion of Stevie’s hair.

Filmmaker Jason Jude Hill may not like the song Ring of Fire, but sometimes a song you hate can lead you to the person you love. Plus, what if Mad Men jumps ahead to 1976? Dana indulges in a little Mad Men musical fan fiction, and picks what music would appear in the show if these last episodes take place in the mid-seventies.

Artist and DJ Crystal Durant (DJ Crystal Clear) tells us why her mother told her that Kermit the Frog was singing about her when he sang it’s not easy bein’ green, and how her family struggled to be accepted in a closed minded, racially imbalanced Pennsylvania town in the 1960s. Plus, we learn something new every day–about Madonna. Dana delves into Madonna’s recent Howard Stern interview and highlights what she didn’t know about Madonna until this interview. Did you know she was fired from Dunkin Donuts for playing with the jelly squirt gun? You do now.

C.D. Hermelin–also known as NYC urban folk hero The Roving Typist–tells us how in high school, girls may come and go, but Weezer is forever. Plus, Dana’s look at the gimmick album–a usually unforgivable musical offering, but not when it came to Leonard Nimoy.