Ari Answers Your Questions:

QUESTION FROM KEVIN:

Loved your Palm Springs concert. My question, Do you have one town/city/venue that you performed in during your career that really stands out in your mind when asked this question, if so where?

ARI'S ANSWER:

Thanks Kevin! Palm Springs was so beautiful and I really felt the love from the people.

I do remember a gig I had in Rochester, NY a few years back. The gig itself wasnt my favorite, but the people there were so cool and nice and we all went out afterward and they told me that their signature food was something called a "garbage plate" which they said in their cute Rochester accent. And so I ordered one which is basically a burger with cheese and fries and bacon just everything on top of each other. It was both disgusting and delicious!

I also have an affinity for Chicago--performing at the Gay Games for 30,000 people was amazing and Chicago always gives me such love. I had a great time there for Market Days as well. They really appreicate music in that city!

Of course I will always love performing in my native New York, cause theres nothing like a New York audience--especially cause so many of my friends and family get to come from so many walks of my life.

Thanks for your question, Kevin!

QUESTION FROM DJ JOHNNY BLAZE:

Hi, Ari I have to say your latest work of art is a MASTERPIECE, congratulations. I have two questions actually, sorry. The first is what inspired you to write this beautiful poetic song " Play It Back " and the second is if you were the President of the United States what would be your top three things would you like to change?

ARI'S ANSWER:

Thank you Johnny Blaze! First Question: “Play It Back” was inspired by feeling like I wasn’t moving forward in my life and I was replaying events from my past, particularly my childhood, over and over in my mind like a broken record. Its about wanting to let go and stop holding on to past hurts, disappointments and pain. I think by writing the song, I was really able to let it go in even a bigger way then I was in therapy which I had been in for a long time. Hopefully it will have some of that same healing power that it gave me, when people listen to it.

Second question: If I were president..whew, that’s a big question. Well I am an artist and not a politician for a reason, but I guess the three things that come to mind right now are: 1. Free Health Care for all citizens of this country—I’m sure this is easier said than done, but if other countries can make it work I’m sure we can figure out a way—especially considering how much money is being spent on things that don’t seem nearly as important. And lets get stem cell research happening in this country people! It saves lives!! 2. Get our troops out of Iraq—I’m sure with the money we are spending on this war we could be taking care of our own in much better ways. 3. Give Gay, Lesbian and Transgender people equal rights and protection under the constitution of the United States which means the right to marry, the right to serve in the army, and protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender.

QUESTION FROM BRYAN/USA:
Tell us about your experience working with Desmond Child on the tune Review My Kisses. Tell us about your experience working with Billy Porter on Transport. Did Culture Club's Kissing To Be Clever have an influence on you? -bryan/usa

When Desmond got the gig to produce a song for two-step/garage UK stars DJ Luck and MC Neat he immediately thought that I would be right to write and sing the hook in a similar way to how Craig David was singing hooks on two-step records. Desmond had his home and a few of his own studios in Miami at the time (he basically owned like 2 blocks worth!) so he invited me into his office and said he had a song for me and he sang and played “Review My Kisses.” Desmond actually has a great singing voice and I just loved the song immediately. There was something about the melody that felt like it was something I could have written myself and it was just such a heartfelt emotional song. So he taught it to me and I started singing it all over New York at places like Fez and Joe’s Pub. It became almost a signature song for me and it was a real crowd pleaser. Desmond actually accompanied me one time and I have to say, nobody plays it as well as he does. I was a bit surprised when I stumbled across Leann Rimes CD at a local CD store and saw that he had given her the song. But iI guess it wasn’t my song to begin with and Leanne’s version is very pretty. I still do think that there’s something more powerful about the song when a man sings it and sings the line, “I feel like a childless mother, wanting to hold her baby.” I did record my own version that I put as a bonus mp3 on the enhanced version of my sophomore album Space Under Sun. But nothing compares to singing the song live. I hope to capture that song live and a live album is something that I look forward to doing, so maybe it will happen!

Its no secret that Billy Porter and I were lovers for a couple of years and in the process of making my album Billy could not have been more supportive. I constantly bounced ideas off of him (as he did with me in the creation of his brilliant one man show, Ghetto Superstar). Just having that voice (!) around me and listening to some great gospel music with him, it was impossible for all that not to rub off. Billy also introduced me to Lofey who created the tracks for "Play It Back," "Mr. Mistress" and "Feeding The Fire" which I mixed and arranged with my longtime collaborator, Steve Skinner. Then Billy and I worked on "Soul Killer" together with Gary Haase. And he recorded some backgrounds for the original demo which we kept on the final version I did with Steve. Billy always encouraged me to speak my truth even if it was very personal and even sometimes embarrassing. I thought it was only appropriate to give him co-executive producer credit considering was an important force he was in the creation of this album.

While I was a huge fan of Culture Club and Boy George, I cant say that the song "Kissing To Be Clever" was a particular inspiration. I had to go searching my old Culture Club records to remember which song that was!

Thanks so much for your questions, Bryan!