Outing Riley

$24.95

Wolfe Video

Coming out is never easy, but for a regular Joe named Bobby Riley (Pete Jones, who also serves as the film’s writer and director) it takes on the added weight of no one believing him!

You see, Bobby likes his sporting events loud, his beer cold and his date for family functions is usually his lesbian friend, Carly. But, Pete really has a live-in boyfriend named Andy, and a history of practical joking.

So his family just thinks Pete is pulling their proverbial leg when he finally decides to disclose his true orientation, and he unwittingly starts a confessional chain reaction.

You may remember triple threat Jones as the winner of the first season of HBO’s “Project Greenlight.” Variety called his sophomore effort, Outing Riley, an “intelligent, nicely paced script [that] sports lots of crowd-pleasing zingers.”

Nine Lives

$24.95

Genius Products

This ensemble driven film provides a glimpse into how lives intertwine, with human connection being the glue that holds them together, and is based upon writer and star Michael Kearns’ play Complications.

Meet Ronnie (Kearns), an HIV-positive man caught up in the rapture of remembrances of loves that have come and gone. Then there is drug dealing Mikey (Dennis Christopher) who has become fascinated with a hustler named Bo (John Ganum). Daniel (Nick Salamone) and Corey (Steve Callahan) have a tempestuous relationship, which leads Corey into an affair with their pool boy, Carlos (Eric Turic), and an act of desperation against the domineering Daniel.

The movie has been praised for its frank depiction of graphic sexuality mixed with a gentle execution of the subject matter.

Show Business: The Road To

Broadway

$28.95

Liberation Entertainment

Featuring interviews with Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Tony Kushner, Liza Minelli, Idina Menzel and John Lithgow, this fascinating documentary, shows the ins and outs of what putting on a show really amounts to, as four Broadway-bound plays get the behind-the-scenes treatment on their creative origins.

See how Wicked became a box office phenomenon, while the Rosie O’Donnell and Boy George team effort of Taboo was deemed box office poison, and how a little known puppet show, Avenue Q, turned into a bona fide sleeper hit.

Since Halloween is almost upon us, I thought everyone was entitled to two very distinct types of scares in the form of gay vampires of The Lair and the camptastic Paul Lynde Halloween Special.

The Lair: Complete First Season

$29.95

Here!

A spin off of “Dante’s Cove,” this six-episode series deals with vampires infesting a small island town. When the corpses of young men with neck wounds begin turning up like bad pennies, intrepid journalist Thom (David Moretti) decides to bone up on his investigative skills. And he is led into The Lair, a private gentlemen’s club, which is a cover for the vampires’ evil doings.

With a tagline of “Welcome To The Fang Bang” and co-stars such as Peter Stickles (Shortbus) and Colton Ford (Naked Fame), there is more than a good chance to catch a glimpse of undead flesh that has never looked so good.

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special

$14.99

S’More Entertainment

What do you get when you take a snarky Center Square, group him with two witches (Margaret Hamilton in full Wicked Witch of the West regalia from The Wizard of Oz and Billie Hayes, TV’s Witchie Poo from “H.R. Pufnstuf”), toothsome siblings Donny and Marie Osmond and KISS?

Either you are having a mid 1970s equivalent to a “bad trip,” or you are watching “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special,” which also features the talents of Tim Conway and Billy Barty.

Exactly what was in the drinking water in the ’70s that made studio execs greenlight some of these misguided, albeit campy projects? Because when I think of kid friendly fare, my mind immediately focuses on Paul Lynde’s sarcastic wit!

You Can Run: Gay, Glam, and Gritty

Travels in South America

Jesse Archer

$19.95

Haworth Press

Author Jesse Archer takes readers on a real life adventure through South America. Along for the ride is Archer’s boyfriend, Zane, as the duo traverse the mean streets of the continent in a two-year excursion to seek out adventure and gaiety.

Pit stops on their journey include happening upon characters such as Patricia, the pink lady, The Wolfman of Borneo, evading both crocodiles and a Colombian bathroom bitch by doing an exotic dance routine and rain soaked transsexuals! Oh my!

Writer and director Q. Allan Brocka praised You Can Run as being “more than a funny, sexy and fiercely entertaining South American adventure, it’s an inspiring challenge to consume life and live yours to the fullest.”

Melissa Etheridge

The Awakening

$13.98

Island

For her ninth studio album, Etheridge draws upon her real life survival of breast cancer, her love life, the activist she embodies and the road that has brought her to stardom.

Songs like “God Is In The People” and “Map Of The Stars” peek into the nature of fame, while “Threesome,” a declaration of monogamy and “I’ve Loved You Before” focus on the singer’s happily partnered home life.

“What Happens Tomorrow” is an obvious ode to what it takes to be considered a survivor, whereas “Imagine That” taps into the activism that Etheridge is also known for. The lead single from the CD, Message to Myself, is vintage Etheridge and undeniably catchy.

Angie Stone

The Art of Love and War

$18.98

Stax

Soulful singer Stone delivers the goods on her latest album, The Art of Love and War, collaborating with soul and gospel legend, Betty Wright, on the first single, “Baby” and R & B crooner James Ingram on “My People.”

Stone illustrates both aspects of falling in and out of love, and those in-between stages, within the context of songs such as “Here We Go Again,” “Make It Last” and “Sometimes.”

Just Jack

Overtones

$15.98

TVT Records

The decidedly British group Just Jack hails from London but seems to draw from a wellspring of worldwide musical influences and genres on its sophomore effort, Overtones.

The tracks “Starz In Their Eyes” and “Writer’s Block” have an almost old school Madness vibe going for them. “Koolaid” is reminiscent of something The Beastie Boys would have recorded, while “Disco Friends” harkens the soothing lyrical strains of Jack Johnson. Just Jack even ventures Down Under for its collaboration with Kylie Minogue on “I Talk Too Much.”

Bee Gees

Bee Gees Greatest

$19.98

Reprise/Wea

Believe it or not, it has been 30 years since The Bee Gees ruled the airwaves with songs off of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack! Now, this out-of-print for five years two-disc compilation reminds us why we should be dancing to The Brothers Gibb!

If that listen down memory lane weren’t enough, there are even remixes of “You Should Be Dancing,” “If I Can’t Have You,” “Night Fever,” and ‘How Deep Is Your Love.”