As November 24, the 27th anniversary of the death of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, receives worldwide attention, it's important to remember the legacy he left, that of his music and his amazing performances.
While other, perhaps more 'important' deaths were commemorated ( John F. Kennedy, Harvey Milk and George Moscone), as I've been immersed in the band's music and Mercury's life while finishing my Queen-infused novel, Now I'm Here, I've taken a specific focus on loss.
Many articles have been published and shared about Mercury's life, as told by those close to him. Peter “Phoebe” Freestone (Freddie
Mercury’s personal assistant for over 10 years) talked about Freddie’s
last words and final moments on his “Ask Phoebe” blog.
"I remember Freddie’s last words to me," he wrote. "I was with him the whole of the
night on Friday 22nd November. There was someone with Freddie 24 hours a
day for the last week. I remember sitting on the bed holding his hand.
Freddie would doze, wake up, doze, so I held his hand so that he knew
someone was there. One of the times he was awake we had a short
conversation… about how things were downstairs and if everything was
clean and tidy. The very last thing he said to me was ‘thank you’. To
this day I’m not sure if it was for the night I was sitting there with
him, or for the 12 years we had been together. I suppose it is something
I will never know."
Why would an author like me produce a concert of acoustic Queen music in a beautiful Alamo Square Victorian with a rich LGBT history? Because I can! Also, I won a book award.
Yes, for months, shortly after the publication of my sixth novel, Now I'm Here, I decided to add live music to my reading events. Musicians Peter Fogel and Dudley Saunders offered their guitar and singing skills at my San Francisco and West Hollywood readings in September and October.
But I wanted more music, so when I shot the interior piano-playing scenes for my book trailer at The F'Inn, a lovely historic home run by Mike Finn, I realized that it would be a perfect setting for an intimate salon-style concert.
On Thursday, December 6, you can get a copy of my book, enjoy champagne and food, and hear new live versions of more than a dozen Queen songs performed by some luminary talents: Peter Fogel, Suzanne Ramsey, Diogo Zavadski, Coleton Schmitto, Adam Dragland and special guests Leigh Crow, Ruby Vixen and Jason Brock.
