Swag Tuesday

Courtesy of Fantasy Records, today's Swag Tuesday prize is a special pink double vinyl copy of Sylvester's Mighty Real: Greatest Dance Hits, which has been reissued nationwide today. Proceeds from this re-release benefit San Francisco's AIDS Emergency Fund and Project Open Hand, per Sylvester's will.  You can download the album on iTunes or purchase a physical CD copy at Amazon.

Twenty-five years after his untimely death, the iconic legacy of Sylvester, the “Queen of Disco,” will be resurrected with Mighty Real: Greatest Dance Hits, due out June 25th on Fantasy Records. This collection will celebrate the life and music of the artist who once danced his way into the hearts and minds of the disco and LGBT communities.

As a dear friend of Harvey Milk and an icon to the LGBT community, Sylvester has long held a special place in music and socio-political history. Sylvester was not only one of the first disco stars to stand openly gay, but bravely crossed beyond the boundaries of race, gender and sexuality to become a proud figure of the gay liberation movement.

“Sylvester James was an unlikely star: an androgynous, cross-dressing, openly gay, African American, falsetto-singing, unapologetically flaming man-diva influenced primarily by church women, black blues singers, drag queens, hippies and homos,” said liner notes writer Joshua Gamson. “Like very few before him, and quite a few after, Sylvester rode his marginality right into the mainstream.”

We have three copies of the pink vinyl version to give away. Enter to win by commenting on this post and please remember to include an email address. Entries close at midnight on Thursday, west coast time. Publicists: If you'd like to take part in Swag Tuesday on JMG, please email me.