Nothing can lick Chicago!

TIRED OLD

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MOVIES

Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche light up the sky along with the great Chicago fire in Darryl F. Zanuck’s spectacular In Old Chicago (1937).

Directed by Zanuck’s favorite in house director; Henry King, this was 20th Century Fox’s disaster film entry following the huge success of MGM’s San Francisco. The all star cast features includes Brian Donlevy, Andy Devine and Alice Brady in an Oscar winning role as Mrs. O’Leary, whose cow kicked over a lantern and started it all. Gorgeously shot it’s a huge and fabulous example of Fox at it’s best.   Steve Hayes

True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air

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Pelicandy

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London band Pelicandy think there's more mileage in the disco sound. What do you think? It's Animals...

KWAYE

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This is the absolutely stunning video for KWAYE's (equally stunning) Little Ones. The Zimbabwe-born, London-based artist (Noisey calls him "one of the greatest artists you haven’t heard of yet"), he was apparently discovered in the back of an Uber. Noisey talks about Prince, Sade and Blood Orange, but this track reminds me most of the much-missed Ephraim Lewis. Get it.

One fire burns out another's burning, One pain is lessen'd by another's anguish

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Fly Young Red

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Fly Young Red wants you to know about Lorraine: "This year has been a real difficult year for trans violence... I wanted to do something about it. Growing up in the LGBT community, we meet all different kinds of trans women. I wanted to tell the story of 4 different girls that I knew. I wanted to give that girl a name Lorraine. I feel like if we can humanize the transgender woman instead of sexualizing her, I feel like people will start to care more."

Eugene Diamond League 2017

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IF IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS OR LOSES, THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP SCORE?

The Prefontaine Classic - the third leg of the 2017 Diamond League series - took place in Eugene, Oregon over the weekend, and it was electrifying: Omar McLeod's thrilling victory, Christian Taylor's incredible jump, Mo Farah's triumph... incredible athletics.

The only downside? Bae (aka Pascal Martinot-Lagarde) wasn't there. He's out for the season, injured.

Full results here. Watch now:

I would I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none

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Bipolar Sunshine

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Manchester-native (and KAOS favourite) Bipolar Sunshine's latest, Tears, comes in the wake of last week's atrocity: "I wrote this for Manchester, my home town after hearing the news," he wrote. "RIP to everyone who has lost life in this conflict, prayers and blessings to everyone in the city. We will overcome this together, don't let them divide us."

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey

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Great City Games Manchester 2017

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IF IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS OR LOSES, THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP SCORE?

The 2017 Great City Games took place yesterday in Manchester, a city still recovering from last week's horror. What better antidote to terror than the nobility and purity of athletics? Here's four key races:

Khoi Zan

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Khoi Zan ("Southside Jamaica Queens. NYC. Haitian Creole roots. Proud") - the artist formally known as Ken Dahl, of the insanely catchy Ching Ching fame - is back at long last with gorgeous Coup De Grâce. Get it.

Prince Airick

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Go Awf! is the electrifying new video from Prince Airick. Featuring model Joshua Trusty, it's a sizzling celebration of ball culture. There's an interview with Prince Airick here. Get it.

Martin Garrix & Troye Sivan

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Sweet meat twink Troye Sivan (and out gay artist) is back, collaborating with producer Martin Garrix. Here's the video.

I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was

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I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains

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Yo Trane

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Yo Trane is a French artist who taught himself English by listening to the US artists he loved (like Kanye West). How'd he do? Listen to Night Calls and find out.

Love is merely a madness

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This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine

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Karnage

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Karnage is the gay grime artist you didn't know you were waiting for. “My goal is to be up there with Stormzy, with Nadia Rose, with Lady Leshurr. To achieve that, I can’t be spitting soft. I’ve got to be spitting hardcore,” the 19-year-old Tottenham boy says. You can read an interview with Karnage here. Get it.

Nsolo

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Get into Nsolo's deep, dark R&B number, Hush. Get it.

Kawasaki Golden Grand Prix 2017

A R E N A

IF IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS OR LOSES, THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP SCORE?

Yesterday saw the 2017 hosting of the Golden Grand Prix at the Todoroki Athletics Stadium in Kawasaki. Get the full results here. Watch four of the key races, plus an interview with Canada's Aaron Brown:

Paracosm

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Jamaica International Invitational 2017

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IF IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO WINS OR LOSES, THEN WHY DO THEY KEEP SCORE?

Yesterday saw the 2017 hosting of the Jamaica International Invitational IWC Meet at the Kingston National Stadium. Get the full results here. Watch four of the key races:

Xan Griffin

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Xan Griffin is just 16-years-old. Listen to his stunning new tune Gemini and you'll get why that's so amazing. Soaring and epic, it's like nothing I've heard in ages. Get it.

Charles Fauna

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This is Charles Fauna's Abandon. It's truly gorgeous. Get it.

Wasiu

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Here's MTLien from Montreal's Wasiu. It's a nice, introspective slice of jazzy hip-hop. Get it.

It provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance

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Love is merely a madness

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Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably

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O, brave new world that has such people in't!

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Ego Rodriguez

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Pansy Boys

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Montreal's Pansy Boys (21-year-old gay twins Joel and Kyle Curry) have released their first EP, In Days of Yore. It's really kind of gorgeous. Get it.

Yellow Shoots

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Here's Stormy Weather, the new EP from Brooklyn's Yellow Shoots. Get it.

Sakima

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"Gay people have sex — we fuck, so why isn’t that sung about?" London singer Sakima wants to know. With his new EP Facsimile, he addresses that very problem. Get it.

Jonas Rathsman

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Get carried away on the ethereal synth of Swede Jonas Rathsman's Within Borders EP. Feel it. Get it.

Speechless

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Speechless is a film that's sat on the shelf for a long time; that shelf that holds all the movies I've bought on a whim or a hunch, the ones I mean to watch... eventually. Movies with big reps (Some Like It Hot), and movies I saw long, long ago and plan to revisit (Araki's Totally F***ked Up).

I probably bought Speechless because it was in the 2012 London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (now BFI Flare, which I attend religiously every year), but didn't get to see it. Truth be told, I thought I'd seen it already. I confused it with Soundless Wind Chime.

Speechless is a little slow out of the blocks, and its Keystone Kops give the impression of directorial incompetence (convincing police seem to be the hardest thing to get right in film and television, and the easiest thing to get wrong). But persevere: Speechless is a diamond, a smart little picture with a narrative that takes unexpected detours, and a heart of gold. 

Speechless isn't the picture you think it's going to be, and then, when it is, it changes gear and becomes something else.

Don't be put off by the low budget video look: director Simon Chung shot his film in China, guerilla-style, because a film with this level of faggotry just wouldn't get permission.

Need a purely superficial reason to watch? The boys are hot. Jian Jiang is supermodel hot as Han Dong; Qilun Gao and Pierre-Matthieu Vital are adorable as, respectively, Xiao Jiang and Luke.

Speechless doesn't just boast hot boys. Girls, Yung Yung Yu is delicious as Ning; when she first appears, it's in a scene that recalls that iconic Joan Crawford piano tableau in Johnny Guitar.

How does it end? Not how you'd expect. Speechless, lives up to its name.

Sidewalk Chalk

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A Suite for Black Lives is the latest single from Chicago band Sidewalk Chalk's fourth album, An Orchid Is Born. Get it - and RESIST.

Love's stories written in love's richest books. To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes

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Bobby Saint

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Barbados boy Bobby Saint's Unholy EP is out 19th May 19. In the meantime, here's Sexy (it is).

Robert Miles

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Robert Miles, the Italian musician best remembered for his 1995 trance hit Children, is dead. He was 47.

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving

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The Devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape

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Perfume Genius

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Here's the hypnotic video for Die 4 You, the second single from Perfume Genius' new album No Shape. Get it.

For I have sworn thee fair, and thought thee bright, Who art as black as hell, as dark as night

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