Pat Benatar has a Valentine's gift planned for the soap opera–viewing masses. On Feb. 14 and 15, she will guest star on Y&R (otherwise know as The Young and the Restless.)

Not only will she (and husband, guitarist Neil Giraldo) perform the song “Every Time I Fall Back,” but she'll also help Nia Peeples' character conquer her stage fright and wow the crowd at the Y&R nightclub. I'm glad to know that Pat Benatar has such a generous spirit, but I cannot imagine Nia Peeples having trouble singing — or dancing — in front of a crowd. She was Nicole on Fame, after all!

If there's anything intelligent to say about Y&R, I am not the one to say it. My daytime soap–watching history is very limited. In 1987, my brother introduced me to the Buchanans of One Life to Live, when he was mesmerized by the evil deeds of Mitch Lawrence — who turned out to be the actual devil! I revisited the show five years later when Ryan Phillippe joined as a gay teenager. (I was working at GLAAD at the time, so watching was really just a job requirement. I kept watching for a year or so after I left GLAAD, because I was just that dedicated.) But that one blip — plus a couple of episodes of Days of Our Lives when a friend was on — was it, as I'm really not a soap lover.

But I have loved Pat Benatar since I was young and restless. In 1981, I had no idea who she was when I received her album Crimes of Passion as a birthday gift at my roller-skating birthday party. … continue reading

When it comes to videos, I'm old. I remember the premiere of Friday Night Videos, and even before that (and even before MTV), I watched something called FM-TV (later Teletunes) on a local public access channel. It was such a thrill to stay up late and enter that strange new world. My sister even figured out how to hook up our clunky TV to the stereo so we could enjoy bizarre bands like Les Rita Mitsouko in high fidelity.

And just as the age of music video was dawning, so was my baby dykedom. Here are some '80s videos that helped me explore my newfound appreciation for the fairer sex. (Note to the PMRC types: I'm not really saying these videos made me gay; just that these women are totally worth going gay for, if that were possible.)

1. The Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (1983) … continue reading

Ever since Malinda told us about SpotDJ over the summer, I've been spending far too much time making mix tapes. I think part of the appeal is that when I was of mix-tape age, the technology was not friendly to such an endeavor. Making any kind of compilation required finding a stereo that had both a turntable and cassette recorder, then painstakingly finding songs on records and recording them to cassette. You young'uns have it so easy. And yes, I did have to walk to school in the snow.

Anyway, what better reason to make a mix tape than Halloween? I started with the intention of doing an all-female mix. For reasons I don't care to explore, the first song I thought of was "The End" by Nico. And Pat Benatar's "Hell Is for Children." When did Benatar start looking like this?

Bjork is always kind of scary, and "Ancestors" is a great Halloween song. And nothing says horror like "Rawhead and Bloody Bones" by Siouxsie & the Banshees.

But when I went to make the mix, I hit a snag. Most of the songs I wanted weren't available via SpotDJ. And honestly, could you imagine a Halloween mix without "Thriller?" So, I decided to fill in with songs loved by a woman, namely me. … continue reading