This time in Out.

Several items of note:

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1. Gawker says she hates the cover, but gives no further explanation.

2. The Gossip’s new album, which I told you about a while back features production from Rick Rubin and James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco), is due out in August and to be called “Music for Men,” according to the cover story.

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3. Most of the story is devoted to Arkansas-related questions. There’s definitely a “tells us about the backwoods” vibe to a lot of the Qs.

 Here’s the best bit:

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Was George Michael a meaningful artist to you? You do such a beautiful version of his “Careless Whisper.”

Thanks! Yeah. When I was a kid in the early ’80s, MTV was outlawed in our town. They removed it from our cable option.

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For being too obscene?

Yes, for being too obscene and too empowering, really. This Christian college in our town ran everything, still runs everything. When I lived there you had to ask for the gay magazines behind the counter, you couldn’t just grab them off the shelf. I’m almost positive they don’t even carry gay magazines today.

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You mean they can’t read this interview in your hometown.

Right. I’m almost positive they won’t be able to read this.

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So they’d be surprised to see you on the cover of Out?

The local newspaper ran a story that said I didn’t believe in God. That caused a bit of a ruckus. Other than that, no one is ever surprised. I think I’m exactly what they thought I would be.

Yes! Love the shout-outs to culture stifling in White County. Eat it Harding. Though, to be fair, I think the gazillion Baptist congregations in the county probably share some of the blame.

Sometime in the late 90s or early 2000s, in what I’m sure was seen as a herald of the end times, the local cable company finally added MTV.

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She’s right that you can’t by Out in Searcy (I called), and I’m sure she’s right that you won’t find any other gay-themed pubs. When I was in high school, a local church organized a boycott of the local Books-A-Million for carrying suggestive material. My friend worked there, and he got all sorts of indignant women bringing Cosmos and Esquires to the front counter and decrying them as filth. Books-A-Million closed not long after. But I think that was more about no one reading.

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