Stockholm To Host Eurovision 2016

Eurovision reports:

This morning, SVT revealed Stockholm as the Host City for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. The capital city's Globe Arena will stage the contest for the second time in its history. The Semi-Finals will be held on 10 and 12 May, the Grand Final on 14 May 2016. Information about ticket sales is expected later this year. The process of finding a Host City for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest began directly after Måns Zelmerlöw’s victory in Vienna just over a month ago. "Stockholm has delivered a thorough offer which guarantees that the event once again is taken to the next level, says Martin Österdahl, Executive Producer for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of SVT. Österdahl also lead the production of the 2013 contest in Malmö, Sweden.

Eurovision is attended annually by thousands of gay men and travel companies typically offer packages from major European cities. Start planning now because every hotel for miles usually sells out. (Tipped by JMG reader Luis)

RUSSIA: Anti-Gay Pol Calls Eurovision Star "Traitor To The Motherland" For Daring To Hug And Defend Conchita Wurst

Last month Russia's Polina Gagarina took second place at Eurovision 2015, earning the highest score in her nation's history, including when they won in 2008. But according to notorious anti-gay nutjob Vitaly Milonov, she is a "traitor to the motherland" for hugging Conchita Wurst at the contest and then defending Conchita against critics. Here is Milonov's rant:

Who gave her the right to represent Russia? She represents only the private media structure, where Christian values are not on the first place. The results are always falsified, the winner of Eurovision has no relation to talent. When Russia proclaimed its Christian values and went against the propoganda of sodomy, a bearded pervert in women’s clothes went on to win Eurovision. Why did Gagarina, a married woman, kiss another man? What is so precious in hugging a mentally sick pervert? It was on purpose, because this is a condition of the contest to push a country as deep as possible, excuse me, into Euro-shit, using crude ways to affect the teenagers. I criticised Gagarina’s kiss with this pervert, which she was doing with the name of Russia, but she immediately started arguing with us. Gagarina became part of the propaganda and she is a traitor of the Motherland – she betrayed Russia for some carpets, medals or something else … so she could become a propagander of Western sodomic values.

Milonov is the author of Russia's ban on "homosexual propaganda" and it's possible that he could bring charges against Gagarina. He and his army of goons from the Russian Orthodox Church regularly crash LGBT events and violence has resulted on some occasions.

(Tipped by JMG reader Luis)

Tooji - Father

Via Olso Pride:

Tooji is a Norwegian artist. As a one year old boy, he came to Norway together with his mother, who fled from the authoritarian regime in Iran. Tooji became known in Norway when he won the national Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 and represented Norway in the international final of ESC in Azerbaijan with the song "Stay". In the autumn 2013 Tooji cut all ties to the Norwegian music industry and moved to Stockholm, Sweden. Toojis new song "Father" is Oslo Pride's official pride anthem for 2015. Tooji will perform at Oslo Pride's official opening show in Pride Park in Spikersuppa, Wednesday 24 June, at Gaysirs annual summer party, Thursday 25 June, and at Oslo Pride's annual parade show, Saturday 27 June.

(Tipped by JMG reader Trude)

Watch Conchita Wurst Fly At Eurovision

Yesterday's Eurovision 2015 final opened with last year's winner Conchita Wurst making a dramatic entrance from below the audience and then flying over their heads to the main stage. At the end of the night, the early voting lead swung back and forth between Russia and Sweden, the latter of whom was declared the winner when their lead could not be overcome by the remaining countries yet to announce their votes. Sweden first won Eurovision in 1974 with ABBA's Waterloo and their second-most recent of five wins to date came in 2012 with Loreen's club stomper Euphoria. Eurovision 2016 will be held in Sweden, which has hosted the contest twice in Stockholm, once in Gothenburg, and in Malmo in 2012. Eurogays are now anxiously awaiting the 2016 host city announcement so they can make their travel plans. 

RELATED: JMG reader Str8 Grandmother directs us to this great Eurovision photo recap over on Buzzfeed, which notes that the audience booed very loudly every time points were awarded to Russia. Those reactions, inspired no doubt by Russia's anti-gay laws, prompted an onstage scolding from the show's presenters, something I'd not seen in all my years of watching Eurovision. Perhaps obviously, nobody in the largely gay audience wanted to attend Eurovision in Moscow next year.

LIVE VIDEO: Eurovision 2015 Finals UPDATE: Sweden Wins, Russia Takes Second, Italy Finishes Third

Hold on my tender kittens because Gay Christmas is not over yet! The Eurovision 2015 finals in Vienna begin at 3PM US east coast time. The favorites are Sweden and Russia, but I'm still partial to the UK, Latvia, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Israel - in that order. (I think.) Jump into the comments, follow along, and give us your favorites and reviews. Conchita Wurst, last year's winner, will be hosting the green room segments and it looks like the house is packed with our people, as always.

LIVE VIDEO: Eurovision Semi-Finals 2

The finals are Saturday. Competing right now in the second semi-finals round are 17 nations:  Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Iceland, Israel, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland.

(Tipped by JMG reader Luis)

UPDATE: Finalists chosen in this round: Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Montenegro, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Israel.

Twitter Launches Hashflags For Eurovision

VIENNA: City Readies For Gay Christmas

The Eurovision Song Contest is often referred to as "Gay Christmas" and Vienna is getting ready to host the finals in two weeks. Via Reuters:

Gay-themed traffic lights are getting Vienna into the mood for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, one of the world's most popular kitsch cultural events which this year is being hosted by the Austrian capital. Dozens of traffic lights in central Vienna have been programmed to show male or female gay couples with hearts -- in red for stop and green for go -- replacing the usual single, gender-neutral figure. The campaign is intended to present Vienna as an open-minded city and also to improve traffic safety as the unusual symbols attract the attention of drivers and pedestrians, a spokeswoman for Vienna's city lighting department said. The city of Vienna will then collate data to see whether the campaign has indeed helped traffic safety, she added. The Eurovision Song Contest, now in its 60th year, has long been a fixture on the international gay calendar.

Last year's winner, Austrian pop star Conchita Wurst, will host the green room portion of the contest. Bookmakers are pegging Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw as this year's favorite.

Dana International - Diva

This weekend the BBC aired a 60th anniversary Eurovision celebration concert where previous champions performed their winning entries. Transgender pop star Dana International sang her 1998 winner, Diva. You'll note that audience appears to be overwhelmingly male. Ahem. The full show is here, but may not last long.

RELATED:  There was a minor gay rights skirmish during the show when host Graham Norton had to reintroduce Russia's 2008 winner due to strong booing from the crowd.

The jeers from the crowd were aimed at Russia’s encroaching anti-gay laws rather than Dima Bilan, who has voiced his opposition to legislation and previously signed an open letter condemning the government’s actions. “There was indeed a lot of booing from the crowd when Graham and Petra initially introduced the Russian act Dima Bilan,” a BBC spokesperson told Pink News. The spokesperson explained that Graham had talked directly to the audience and told them the concert was “not a competition” and said “we are here to support all the acts, so be nice”. “Once Graham had addressed the crowd the introduction was re-shot, Dima was cheered and welcomed to the stage, got a great reception and put in a top performance which was broadcast [on the] night.” The Independent’s music critic, who was also at the concert, noted that Graham told the audience, “You can boo in Vienna [this year's host city], you can boo at home, but not here.”

The BBC edited out the first introduction.

Eurovision 2015: All 40 Entries

All 40 entries in Eurovision 2015 have finally been named and snippets of all the songs are in the clip below in alphabetic order. Only seven of this year's entries are not in English. I might change my mind during the semi-finals, but thus far my favorites are Belgium, Denmark, Georgia, Greece, Israel, and the United Kingdom, the last of which has been growing on me. Eurovision 2015 begins on May 19th in Vienna, where hometown hero and last year's winner Conchita Wurst will perform hosting duties.

Viral Video Of The Day

700K views for the sign language interpreter at Sweden's Eurovision contest. The winning entry is here.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daddy Ray)

Eurovision 2015: Israel's Entry

Israel's 2015 entry was named last month after he won the reality show Rising Star and the production video for his song was launched today. Paris-born Nadav Guedj is only 16 years old and his is the first Israeli entry that is sung entirely in English. Israel has won Eurovision three times, most recently in 1998 when transgender pop star Dana International took the top prize with her dance hit Diva.

Eurovision 2015: Britain's Entry

Many are not crazy about the selection made by the BBC:

The duo behind the UK's Eurovision entry have welcomed criticism of their song, Still In Love With You. The Guardian called the track "nightmarish", while The Independent branded it "instantly forgettable". But singer Alex Larke told the BBC: "I like the fact it divides opinion. It's better than everyone having apathy for it." Bianca Nicholas, who shares the vocals, added: "There's a lot of ballads this year, so our song will stand out." Larke described it as a "Marmite song", while Nicholas pointed out that "a party song" was "really fitting" as Eurovision celebrates its 60th anniversary. The duo, who go by the name of Electro Velvet, did not exist before Eurovision, although Larke said he had been "looking to write some songs with Bianca". The song was written by David Mindel, a jingle writer whose previous credits include the theme tunes for National Lottery Live and Jim'll Fix It. It was chosen through an open selection process which saw hundreds of entries from both professional and amateur songwriters.

The top-rated comment on YouTube: "How to destroy the Islamic State? I think the BBC has found the answer."  I don't think it's terrible. It certainly stands out from most of this year's treacle.

Eurovision 2015: Belgium's Entry

Belgium's Eurovision entry was selected by state media and today the track to be performed by 18 year-old Loïc Nottet was unveiled. There's a lot going on in this video, but I think it's supposed to be some statement about gender roles. Or maybe not. Nottet came in third in last year's Belgian version of The Voice and his label, Sony Music, says this: "Our first objective was to choose a song that definitely does not sound like a typical Eurovision Song Contest song. The world of Loïc Nottet is very far from the contest."

Conchita Wurst - You Are Unstoppable

Available today from the coming album.

Drama At Germany's Eurovision Contest

The BBC reports:

The winner of the search to find Germany's Eurovision Song Contest entrant turned down the chance to represent his country on live TV. Andreas Kummert initially thanked the public for selecting his song Heart Of Stone as Germany's entry. But, shortly afterwards, he took the microphone from presenter Barbara Schoneberger and said: "I'm really not in the right shape to accept this." Instead, he said, "I give my title to Ann Sophie", the 24-year-old runner-up. Ann Sophie looked visibly confused by the turn of events; while many in the studio audience booed. After being confirmed as the winner, the singer turned to the audience and asked them "do you even want this?" Finally accepting her fate, she launched into her song, Black Smoke.

Kummert's folksy entry is here. The first clip below is subtitled and the default winner's entry is after that.

Eurovision 2015: Greece's Entry

Via Eurovision:

In tonight's programme from the Enastron Music Hall in Athens. The hosts presented the five songs that were in contention for EuroSong 2015, a 50/50 mix of Jury and televoting determined that Maria-Eleni Kyriakou would represent Greece in the First Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday the 19th of May. Maria-Eleni Kyriakou is of Cypriot origin, and has had a very successful career in Greece and participated in The Voice of Greece. It has always been a dream of hers to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest. She describes One Last Breath, a song she has co-written, as a pop ballad.

The ending is very Conchita Wurst.

AUSTRALIA: Eurovision Entry Named

Well, it's not Kylie.  

Guy Sebastian has been named as Australia's entrant for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. At an event at the Sydney Opera House, the host broadcaster SBS announced Sebastian would be heading to Austria in May. Australia was offered a wildcard entry to compete in the prestigious competition, while Australians will also be able to vote for their favourite performances for the first time. Guy Sebastian said he was "pumped" to be performing at the competition. "It's Eurovision, it's huge and keeps growing here in Australia which is nice," he said. "It's not every day you get to perform in front of that sort of audience - 200 million - beats the local RSL." He said he was still unsure what song he would sing at the contest, but that he would consider singing a song off his newly-released album or write a new one.

Sebastian was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003 and has since scored eight multi-platinum singles there. Below is his biggest hit to date.

(Tipped by JMG reader Simon)

Eurovision 2015: Finland's Entry

Via BBC News:

A punk band made up of men with learning disabilities is to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest. The quartet, named PKN, was chosen by Finnish viewers on Saturday and has now been ranked by bookmakers as among the favourites for the contest. The group, whose members have Down's syndrome and autism, will perform their 85-second song Aina Mun Pitaa (I Always Have To) at the event in Vienna in May. "Every person with a disability ought to be braver," singer Kari Aalto said. "He or she should themselves say what they want and do not want," he told Finnish broadcaster YLE. The group - full name Pertti Kurikan Nimipaivat (Pertti Kurikka's Nameday) - will also become the first punk band to compete at Eurovision. They first got together during a charity workshop and appeared in an award-winning 2012 documentary called The Punk Syndrome.

Eurovision 2015: Ireland's Entry

Via the Irish Times:

Molly Sterling, a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Nenagh in Co Tipperary, has won Eurosong on the The Late Late Show and will represent Ireland at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna this May. The song, Playing with Numbers, co-written by Greg French, was announced the winner when it topped the scoreboard, which comprises a combination of public and jury vote. Molly is currently in 4th year in St Andrew’s in Booterstown, Dublin 18. She and songwriter Greg co-wrote Playing with Numbers as part of her upcoming album. She says the song is about the risks people take every day in love and in life, and the experiences of taking the road less traveled. This year’s Eurovision will be held in Vienna, Austria in May, with Ireland competing in the second semi-final. The Eurovision final takes place on Saturday, 23rd May.

Big improvement over Jedward. She sure doesn't seem 16.