Charlie David’s playlist

Charlie David gets off on touching people and he can’t help it.

The man’s reached millions. Whether it’s as a host for networks like E! Television, OUTtv and NBC, as a screenwriter, an actor or even by playing keys in a boy band (just to label a few of the many hats this guy’s worn), Charlie won’t stop with the contact.

Right now, this driven Canadian is trying to connect and enlighten the masses with his new documentary Positive Youth (view the trailer here).

The film pulls viewers into the lives of four very different twenty somethings either infected or affected by HIV.

Charlie’s point here is to replace some of the 30 year old fear and stigma with a new reality and change perceptions of youth living with HIV.

“Part of my mission is to create inspiring and conversation starting entertainment,” Charlie explains. “I want watching the films I direct and produce to be an interactive experience in that when the credits role, you as a viewer, have something you want to say, or feel moved to act or share the experience.”

And it’s Charlie’s experience growing up in the prairies of Saskatchewan that propels him to educate and specifically reach out to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“I felt like the only gay boy in the wheat fields. I had no reference points about what it meant to be gay,” Charlie says. “Not everything I produce will have a LGBT slant, but I’m certainly an activist at heart. I’m inspired to share stories that are relevant to our experience and hopefully result in some social change towards true acceptance and equality.”

Charlie checked in with a playlist inspired in part by Positive Youth.

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Change of Seasons – Sweet Thing

“Okay so basically I listen to a lot of my friends’ bands. Sometimes I shake my head in amazement at all the really cool artists I’ve come to know over the years. Morgan Waters and the guys from Sweet Thing provide the opening song for my documentary. It’s perfect because it’s upbeat and yet it acknowledges, ‘we don’t know where we’re going.’ And that’s exactly how I think a lot of young people feel.”

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All to Myself – Marianas Trench

“I used to work with Marianas Trench drummer Ian Casselman in Vancouver and go see the band play gigs around the city. Now they’ve blown up which is awesome. I’m using the song for a red-eye flight sequence with B&W stills from Phoenix to NYC where my club kid subject Austin Head is doing a show at a Kenny Kenny party. It’s a rockin’ song and again the lyrics are perfect acknowledging that being HIV+ was never on the game plan for these kids. ‘I’m under the gun, feel like the only one. I just can’t decide what I’m running from. This isn’t what  I wanted.’”

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Wasteland – Natalie Major

“Okay, if you don’t know this chick, check her on youtube!  She’s awesome and has a velvety sound like Adelle. She’s a recent transplant to LA from NY and is busy writing and singing. I’m using her song ‘Wasteland’ as my 18 year old subject Rakiya Larkin is on a boat from Vancouver to Victoria. It’s juxtaposition because anyone who has travelled through those gulf islands knows it’s fucking breathtaking. But with Natalie Major singing ‘I’m stuck in a wasteland’ against that beautiful backdrop, we understand the internal struggle of Rakiya, a girl whose mother has been living with HIV/AIDS for 21 years. They are both fearless and full of hope, but every day holds its struggles for them.”

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To Stand, Kneel  – ZWERG

“All Canadians have a pretty good rep of being sweet and friendly but Saskatchewanites and Maritimers are the real deal. Zwerg earns that rep and the boy can play and sing too. He’s got so many great songs but one of my faves is ‘To Stand, Kneel.’ Besides his musical stylings, the guy has some serious fashion sense. I wish I was that inventive and brave, but I usually stick to t-shirts.”

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Get My Money Back – Cazwell

“Love this guy and all the boys in his ‘Icecream Truck’ and ‘Get My Money Back’ videos. I mean come on, it’s seriously sexy.”

For more Charlie, you can connect on facebook. Positive Youth will air on Saturday, May 19 at 8 p.m. EST on LOGO TV and OUTtv.

Posted by Marc Andrew on May 2 2012. Filed under Celebrity Playlist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.