Gay benefit CD Utopia to be released July 17

The gay-owned and gay-operated label Centaur Entertainment will release the benefit album Utopia on Tuesday, July 17. The collection consists of two discs, subtitled “Heart” and “Body,” and includes the work of such artists as Rufus Wainwright, Melissa Etheridge, Hal Ketchum, Lea DeLaria, and Aretha Franklin. Proceeds from the album, which will be on sale in record stores nationwide, will benefit the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and various gay and lesbian centers across the country. Centaur founder Nick De Baise says, “I hope it touches people, changes minds, and reminds us all of the best that we can be.”