Barrier-Breaking Broadcaster Thomas Roberts To Toast Best Current Affairs At The Dorians TV Toast 2020
Thomas Roberts, host of Gay Good News on Facebook Live as well as show on Daily Mail TV is going to drop in to the virtual pub from his terrace in NYC!
Roberts is an openly-gay award-winning journalist who anchored MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts on MSNBC. Roberts also served as a fill-in host on NBC’s TODAY, and was formerly the host of MSNBC’s Way Too Early and a contributor on Morning Joe. Roberts was made an official member of MSNBC’s dayside team in December 2010, after having served as a freelance anchor for several months.
Prior to his addition to msnbc’s team, Roberts served as a correspondent for CBS News. He also contributed to several entertainment shows including “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider.” Prior to that, Roberts was a news anchor for CNN Headline News.
Roberts is an award-winning journalist, having received a 2002 Emmy nomination and a Virginia Associated Press award for his work on the documentary, Parvo Puppies. He also received an Edward R. Murrow award in 2001 for a documentary that he produced titled, When Parents Don’t Pay. In 2014 his report on “Gay Rights at Work” was honored with a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism Segment.
Roberts has also been honored for his work as an advocate in the LGBT community, and is the recipient of the prestigious Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign in October 2011. He was also honored by the Stonewall Community Foundation, Marriage Equality USA and The National Crime Victim Bar Association.
In the fall of 2012, Roberts married his longtime partner, Patrick Abner in New York City. The service was officiated by Gavin Newsom the Lieutenant Governor of California.
Roberts is a graduate of McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College). He resides in New York City with his husband and their two dogs.
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Meet The Redesigned Dorian Prize at the “Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry”
Las Vegas, NV Aug. 23, 2020—There’s a new (old) honor in Hollywood, and soon, everybody is going to want one!
The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics is happy to introduce the new and improved Dorian Award as part of the Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry. The prize was designed by Karel (Charles Karel Bouley) and artist Jason Young for Pearl Image in Palm Springs, Ca.
Jason Young working on the new Dorians
“We were sending out Cue Cards that were printed with the award on it as an homage to Hollywood of old,” GALECA Founder/President John Griffiths stated. “But when Karel came to me with this new idea, I knew we had to run with it.”
“Well, I love that the awards are named after the only novel written by Oscar Wilde, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’” Karel began. “So I thought we should play on that theme. I immediately called Jason (Young) and asked if he would do computer portraits on canvas of each winner. He and I talked about using computer imagery versus traditional painting. We felt Dorian would move in to the computer age full steam (punk) ahead.”The result is an 8” x 8” portrait of the winner printed on Canvas, placed on a black wooden easel and covered in a velvet cloak with the Dorian Logo in gold metallic on the front.
“We tell the recipients to make sure nothing happens to their award, lest Dorian’s fate befall them should the image get damaged,” he laughed. “In all realness, however, I am so proud of the work Jason did, the great inspiration with had from Oscar Wilde and the work John has put in to the awards to have something to take to the next level,” he concluded.“The response has already been overwhelming positive,” Griffiths added. “A few people have already gotten them as of this writing, and they truly are finding them unique and a keepsake, which is what we wanted,” he added.To see who won the new prizes tune in to The Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry at Revry.tv or @revry -
Dave Koz to Honor Best Unsung Show
Legendary Jazz Saxophonist Dave Koz Presents Best Unsung at the Dorians TV Toast 2020 on Revry
A new Day
DAVE KOZ
A New Day
Throughout his decades long, multi-faceted career as one of contemporary jazz’s premiere showmen, recording artists, cruise hosts and all-around entrepreneurs, Dave Koz has adhered to a mantra of rarely looking back and always navigating forward towards fresh horizons. Once he wrapped his 22nd annual Dave Koz and Friends Christmas tour at the end of last year, the nine-time Grammy nominated saxophonist knew 2020 was going to be a pivotal year of reflection and celebration, marking an incredible three decades since the release of his genre-defining self-titled debut album.
Feeling flush with a burst of creativity in the months before COVID-19 changed our lives, and realizing he had a lot more to say musically, he put aside all thoughts of releasing a nostalgic retrospective or another all-star Summer Horns or holiday project. Instead, working digitally and with social distance protocols in place, he embarked on A New Day, one of the most purposeful, empowering and exhilarating albums of his career.
Set to drop exactly 30 years and one day after the release of Dave Koz, it’s a deeply comforting yet forward-thinking 11-track collection (with one bonus track on the physical CD) that marks his 20th album overall – and first full set of original material in 10 years (since Hello Tomorrow in 2010). If it were written, produced and released in so called “normal times,” fans could focus solely on the extraordinary interactions between Dave and his incredible roster of guests, including Brian McKnight, Bob James, Marc Antoine, Rick Braun, Paul Jackson Jr., Jeff Lorber and several longtime “wish-listers” he had not previously recorded with – his all-time saxophone hero David Sanborn, legendary Earth, Wind & Fire percussionist Ralph Johnson, neo-soul great Meshell Ndegeocello, saxophone and flute player David Mann and R&B singer Antwaun Stanley (of funk band Vulfpeck).
Yet they’re not the biggest part of the story. From his gold-selling Lucky Man (1993) and The Dance (1999) to the Phil Ramone-helmed At the Movies (2007) and the two Summer Horns extravaganzas this past decade, Koz has mastered large-scale productions throughout his career. Yet to create such a bold, expansive project like A New Day while every participating musician and producer was essentially in quarantine, speaks powerfully to the musical and human spirit of all involved, and the sense of purpose each collaborator brought to the party. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc with our health, the economy, and our day to day lives – but as Koz and friends prove over and over again, it can’t stop the flow of determination and creativity, specifically as it’s meant to help us wade through this extremely intense period.
“When the pandemic hit, I was already in the space to be creative and it immediately pushed me into that zone where I found myself turning to music for comfort,” Dave says. “I instinctively thought, I’m in a position to do that for others. It boils down to this – we all just need a hug. I wanted to provide that hug of a musical kind to people who have looked to my music as a source of joy and a way to feel better. I wanted these new songs to convey the sense that we’re all in this together and it’s hard, but we are going to be okay.
“Even as we were making very universal thematic statements about this unusual moment in history,” he adds, “I realized that A New Day is also a very personal statement about where I am in my life. There’s a full-circle poeticism about looking back at a career I could never have expected when I recorded my first album. I’ve been doing this a long time but I still feel I have something meaningful to express and still feel extremely passionate about playing the saxophone. This led me to write songs that will hopefully help people through these difficult times and provide some inspiration. Whether we’re ready for it or not, this is a new day for human beings on this planet.”
Key tracks include the buoyant and bright, playfully grooving anthem “Summertime in NYC,” a tribute to the city and the resilience of its people featuring infectious vocals by Brian McKnight; the silky and romantic, mid-tempo and electronica-tinged tenor gem “The Closer We Get”; and the tight, percussive brass-heavy funk jam “Dr. Norm,” an ode to Dave’s late father, Dr. Norman Koz and the new cannabis-based apothecary cookie and edibles company (also called Dr. Norm’s) created by the saxophonist’s sister Roberta Koz Wilson, brother Jeff Koz and Dave to honor their dad and late mother Audrey, whose recipes they use. In addition, Koz and Ndegeocello team up for a dreamy and wistful alto version of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” – included as a reflection of the intense way life has changed during the pandemic, and a reminder that just yesterday, everything was very different.
Creating an album under the current protocols was uncharted territory for Dave, whose projects always thrived on the live interaction of musicians feeding off each other in the studio. To ensure maximum efficiency, he had various producers on the case at the same time, creating foundational tracks, and compiling and overlaying submitted digital tracks in their different studios. These included longtime collaborators Evan Rogers & Carl Sturken (who co-produced with Dave “Summertime in NYC” and “Long Goodbyes”), Darren Rahn (“The Closer We Get,” “Still Got It”), Rick Braun (“Side By Side,” “Barcelona”) and Jeff Lorber (“Dr. Norm,” “All the Love in the World,” “High Wire”). Koz also collaborated with producers Matt Cusson (“Yesterday”) and David Mann (“A New Day”). The bonus track was also produced by Darren Rahn and features multiple Grammy nominee Chris “Big Dog” Davis.
Without the luxury of time for extensive overdubs, the other key was hiring top veteran studio musicians who could deliver without much extra coaching – including drummers John JR Robinson and Gary Novak, bassists Nathan East, Alex Al and Mel Brown, guitarists Michael Thompson, Paul Jackson Jr., Adam Hawley and keyboardist Philippe Saisse. In most cases, the instrumentation on the original rudimentary track was replaced by live playing, especially in the case of synth bass and drum machines being switched out for the trademark grooves of East, Al, Brown, Novak and Robinson.
“Ironically, recording an album during this time didn’t have the usual roadblocks,” Dave says. “Everything flowed and came into place very easily. Working to our advantage was the fact that because our touring has been sidelined this year, these musicians were all home looking for new projects to sink their teeth into. They not only had the time but brought all of their passion and unbridled energy to create something beyond what I could have envisioned. The pandemic forced us to find a different way to record, and the result is an intimate, personal album where you really feel a sense of warmth. “When he was mastering A New Day,” he adds, “the legendary engineer Bernie Grundman told me he felt with this album we’d created a special, sort of secret private place of comfort where the listener can be at one with the music as it washes over you. That struck me as the perfect musical antidote to dealing with the prolonged chaos and significant trials of 2020 – the opportunity to feel protected and nurtured – something that most, if not all of us need right now.”
With no guarantee or way of knowing how our lives will change or what the future holds, more than ever before we find ourselves looking to the people and things we trust, love and can make us feel better. Once again providing music that comforts and uplifts us during challenging times, Dave Koz meets our collective, anxiety-filled moment with a beautiful vision and the hopeful promise of A New Day.
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Dorians TV Toast 2020: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics TV Honorees Are….
The Good Fight, Schitt’s Creek, Mrs. America,
Watchmen, Normal People Stand Out in ‘Best TV’ Categories
Cate Blanchett, Regina King, Trevor Noah, Ramy Youssef Also Earn Nods
Tuesday, June 30, 2020 – Hollywood, CA – Capping Pride Month with a nod to the power of the “small” screen, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics today announced the nominees for its first separate Dorian TV Awards. The Pop network comedy Schitt’s Creek leads the pack with 7 nominations, while Hollywood — Netflix’s ambitious, star-studded reimagining of Tinseltown’s early days — says hooray to six nods. HBO’s fact-based TV movie Bad Education and daring miniseries Watchmen have four Dorian nominations each.
“With a global pandemic, severe economic strife, the gut-punches of racism and police brutality proverbially hitting us all—this might not seem like the right time for fluffy showbiz awards,” said GALECA President Diane Anderson-Minshall, CEO and Editorial Director of Pride Media (The Advocate, Out, Pride, Plus). “But it may be more important than ever now to embrace and champion quality stories and push the real Hollywood’s entitled writers, producers, executives and PR reps out of their bubble and into truly reflecting America’s diversity for a change. They have so much power, and entertainment journalism groups like GALECA can make them accountable.”
Added GALECA Executive Director John Griffiths, “Stereotypical, or worse, depictions of LGBTQs and People of Color have greatly contributed to the pain America is in right now. GALECA and its partner organization CGEM: Critics Groups for Equality in Media are determined to press media companies to take more responsibility and hire more underrepresented voices, voices that might say, ‘Hey, why, in 2020, is every single character on this show white, rich and straight except for the token Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and/or Queer baddie or comic foil?’”
One series that definitely breaks the mold is CBS All Access’ The Good Fight, the tense, socially relevant and increasingly inventive drama set at a Black-run law firm in Chicago. Fight is up for Best TV Drama (as well as Best Unsung TV Show) alongside Netflix’s ever-polished Brit royals opus The Crown and tricky-couple crime drama Ozark, and two other twisty morality tales, AMC networks’ Killing Eve and Better Call Saul.
In addition to Creek — a previous Dorian Award winner when GALECA combined its film and TV kudos in one package — the Best TV Comedy contenders include three past Dorian Award nominees: Insecure (HBO), Better Things (FX) and The Good Place (NBC). Competing against them are Netflix’s gallows-humored, female-powered mystery-comedy Dead to Me (stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini vie for Best TV Performance — Actress) and FX’s bloody-fun vampire comedy, What We Do in the Shadows (which counts two additional nods).
The Best TV Movie or Limited Series race is lively, with each nominee offering a bold, controversial approach to an ever-burning topic. HBO’s comic book fantasy Watchmen aggressively tackles themes of white supremacy and police brutality, the same network’s fact-based TV film Bad Education exposes greed and corruption (in public schools, no less), and FX’s ‘70s-set historical drama Mrs. America, produced by and starring double-nominee Cate Blanchett, shows how far we have not come, baby, in regards to advancing women’s rights. Also in the mix: Hulu shows Little Fires Everywhere (dealing with inherent racism) and Normal People (sex—lots of it).
Although the miniseries Hollywood, from bad boy producer Ryan Murphy, didn’t make that short list, it did nab four acting nominations as well as ones for LGBTQ Show of the Year and Visually Striking Show. Other cinematic eye-fillers in the latter race include the likes of Disney+’s The Mandalorian and HBO’s Westworld.
And no Dorian Awards list would be complete without GALECA’s trademark category, Campiest TV Show. Vying for that cheeky honor are Hulu’s royal romp The Great, perennial members favorite RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1), and Netflix hmmm-inducers AJ and the Queen, Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings and a certain expose of some exotic Oklahomans and Floridians, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.
“We’re again proud of our members’ eclectic choices,” said Executive Director Griffiths. But he noted that GALECA, with 20 percent of its membership female and about 16 percent Indigenous or People of Color, itself needs to bolster its diversity. “America is more than 50-percent women, and BIPOC unite to make up about 40 percent of the country, so we have some work to do,” said Griffiths, adding that the Society does include a “strong” 5 percent of transgender members. “Our Board has been discussing actionable-now steps to bolster representation of People of Color, women, trans, non-binary and genderqueer professional journalists in our ranks — for the vital big picture and to make our Dorian Awards as rich and reflective of the LGBTQ eye as possible.”
Added Griffiths, “GALECA is an all-volunteer group in a very rocky media landscape, exacerbated not just by the COVID fallout but by anti-freelancers legislation like California’s AB-5 bill. So we urge engaged entertainment writers to get in touch with us. Numbers are what raise a voice.”
Via its original banner Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, GALECA’s Dorian Awards have gone to the best of all of film and TV — not only LGBTQ-themed — since 2010. While this year marks the inaugural Dorian TV Awards, this is actually the 11th go-around for members voting on their best-loved TV programs and stars. Come first-quarter 2021, the Society will add to its choices for the finest in theatrical releases for the first separate Dorian Film Awards.
TV winners will be announced August 21, when the Society will also name the recipient of its first “You Deserve an Award!” Award, going to what the group deems “a uniquely talented TV icon (they) adore.”
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics’ Dorian Awards, started in 2009, go to both mainstream and LGBTQ-centric content, helping remind bullies, bigots and at-risk youth that the world has a history of looking to “the Q eye” for tips on what’s great across all of entertainment. After all, how would the world fare without knowing what’s campy? A nonprofit professional organization, GALECA consists of over 260 active critics and journalists who write for legitimate media outlets in the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. Visit GALECA.org for more info, and support us @DorianAwards on Twitter and Facebook and @Dorian_Awards on Instagram.
2019-20 DORIAN TV AWARDS NOMINEES — FULL LIST*
BEST TV DRAMA
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Killing Eve (BBC America/AMC)
Ozark (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
BEST TV COMEDY
Better Things (FX)
Dead to Me (Netflix)
Insecure (HBO)
Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
The Good Place (NBC)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
BEST TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES
Bad Education (HBO)
Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
Mrs. America (FX/Hulu)
Normal People (Hulu)
Watchmen (HBO)
BEST TV PERFORMANCE – ACTRESS
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me (Netflix)
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America (FX/Hulu)
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me (Netflix)
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve (BBC America/AMC)
Regina King, Watchmen (HBO)
Laura Linney, Ozark (Netflix)
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
BEST TV PERFORMANCE – ACTOR
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education (HBO)
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
Paul Mescal, Normal People (Hulu)
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood (Netflix)
Ramy Youssef, Ramy (Hulu)
BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE – ACTRESS
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America (FX/Hulu)
Julia Garner, Ozark (Netflix)
Allison Janney, Bad Education (HBO)
Patti LuPone, Hollywood (Netflix)
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
Jean Smart, Watchmen (HBO)
BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE – ACTOR
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
Harvey Guillén, What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
Joe Mantello, Hollywood (Netflix)
Josh O’Connor, The Crown (Netflix)
Jim Parsons, Hollywood (Netflix)
BEST TV MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Cynthia Erivo, “Stand Up”, 92nd Academy Awards (ABC)
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Music, Music Everywhere!”, John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch (Netflix)
Jennifer Lopez & Shakira, Halftime Show, Super Bowl LIV (Fox)
Janelle Monáe & Billy Porter, Opening Number, 92nd Academy Awards (ABC)
Noah Reid, “Always Be My Baby”, Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
BEST LGBTQ TV SHOW
Bad Education (HBO)
Hollywood (Netflix)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
Vida (Starz)
We’re Here (HBO)
Work in Progress (Showtime)
BEST CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM
Cheer (Netflix)
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
Visible: Out on Television (Apple TV+)
BEST UNSUNG TV SHOW
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform)
Gentified (Netflix)
The Good Fight (CBS All Access)
Mrs. Fletcher (HBO)
One Day at a Time (Pop)
Vida (Starz)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Work in Progress (Showtime)
MOST VISUALLY STRIKING SHOW
Hollywood (Netflix)
The Crown (Netflix)
The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Watchmen (HBO)
Westworld (HBO)
CAMPIEST TV SHOW
AJ and the Queen (Netflix)
Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix)
The Great (Hulu)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness (Netflix)
WILDE WIT AWARD
(Honoring a performer, writer or commentator whose observations both challenge and amuse)
Dan Levy
Randy Rainbow
Hannah Gadsby
Cate Blanchett
Trevor Noah
SERIES AND NETWORK COUNTS
Programs with multiple nominations:
Schitt’s Creek – 7
Hollywood – 6
Bad Education – 4
Watchmen – 4
The Crown – 3
Dead to Me – 3
Mrs. America – 3
What We Do in the Shadows – 3
The Good Fight – 2
Killing Eve – 2
Normal People – 2
Ozark – 3
Ramy – 2
RuPaul’s Drag Race – 2
Vida – 2
Work in Progress — 2
Network with multiple nominations:
Netflix – 21
HBO – 13
Hulu, Pop – 8
FX – 7
AMC – 3
ABC, Apple TV+, BBC America, CBS All Access, Showtime, Starz, VH1 – 2
* GALECA members are asked to list their three favorite choices per category in order of preference, with three points going to their first choice, two to the second and one to the third. Programs and performances with the highest tallies earn nominations. More than five nominations in a category is the result of an actual or virtual tie (the latter being a difference of one point).
