When comparing a spider web to the career of pianist, keyboardist, singer and composer Dudu Tsuda, it is difficult to say weather he would be the spider, the web or the insects caught in the odds of São Paulo’s music scene.

Though better known for his previous work with neo tropicalista band Cérebro Eletrônico (which he left a couple of years ago), he is also known for his career as a keyboard player for Trash Pour 4 (ended in 2010). With jazzy versions in french for Brazilian romantic songs, he has finally released his first compilation of solo works – the magical Le Son Par Lui Même (2012).

In an piece from music journalist Marcus Preto published in 2008, Dudu was connected to at least 10 different bands along the year: (1) Jumbo Elektro, (2) Cérebro Eletrônico, (3) Trash Pour 4, (4) Cabaret Duar Tsu & Tie Bireaux, (5) Zero Um, Freak Plazma, (6) Eletrons Medievais, (7) Pato Fu as well as a keyboardist for (8) Fernanda Takai, (9) Junio Barreto, (10) Thiago Pethit, (11) Tulipa Ruiz, (12) Juliana Kehl and (13) Pericles Cavalcanti projects.

Maybe as a result of so much exposure from other people works and his own demons, at least four instrumental tracks of Le Son Par Lui Même have received formalist names such as “Sinfonia para espaços abertos opus nº08-1º movimento” up to “nº8-4º movimento.” He is also influenced by the works if Beck, Sonic Youth, Neu, Ennio Morricone and the Radiohead.

In “Music to Fade Away”, with versions in English and Japanese, Tsuda stresses the point of how much more diverse and surprising Brazilian music still can be. How is your japanese?

Other tracks such as “Nothing Like Feelings and Colors to Make One Alive” and “Le Grande Ville” seems to be in the frontline of post-rock, electronic and Brazilian Popular Music. Have a sip below.

Attention fashionistas, bargain shoppers, and people seeking undeniable swag:

H&M is launching their fifth Fashion Against AIDS (FAA) clothes line to raise money and spread awareness about HIV/AIDS among today's youth culture. Starting April 26th, 2012, it can now be found in 300 H&M stores in various countries. Super trendy and extremely vibrant, the collection brings together ethnic influences from different continents. "25% of all sales will go directly to a variety of international youth HIV/AIDS awareness projects. So far, H&M has raised around 45 million SEK from previous FAA projects."

Head over to the campaign web site to check it out!

Upload a picture of you +someone lucky making out here - $1 is donated to AIDS prevention for every entry.  (wink)

Look rad and save lives.

Yesterday, April 25th, ACT UP & Occupy Wall Street held a massive demonstration and march on Wall Street.  The march called for a tax on speculative financial trading (FST or “Robin Hood Tax“) that would create $530 billion in revenue and generate the funds necessary to end the global AIDS crisis. The march began at City Hall at 11am and snaked its way through the financial districted ending at Wall Street around 2pm. Along the way, protesters shouted new takes on the classic ACT UP chants “How many people have to die? Act Up, fight back, and Occupy!”

Yesterday’s march marked the 25th anniversary of ACT UP.  ”AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power” was effectively formed in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York as an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS and the AIDS pandemic.  On March 24th, 1987 ACT UP held their first protests at City Hall in New York City. Protesters marched on Wall Street, crying out against the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies at the expense of human life. Seventeen people were arrested.  The demonstration effectively pressured the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to announces it would shorten its drug approval process by two years.

Visit the Red Hot Facebook page to view photos from yesterday’s march (including one of Larry Kramer who showed up to kick off the march!).

Can’t get enough of civil disobedience? Watch these ACT UP protesters braving arrest for the fight against AIDS:

Daughter of Martinho da Vila, one of the greatest samba composers in Brazil, Mart’nália, was born and raised in a samba dynasty. Her delicate, small voice and singing style often reminds us of her father. However, there is only a slight resemblance in her new album.

On “Não Tente Compreender” (don’t try to figure out) she lends her voice to pop songs. Well, not quite the kind of pop songs non Brazilians are used to, but a mix among the styles that coined Brazilian popular music such as rock, bossa nova, and samba.

“I have no commitment to samba whatsoever,” she told me in an exclusive interview. “I am much more free in this album. Free to try new things and to listen to other people´s opinions.”

To accomplish this, she counted on a collaboration with the album’s producer, Djavan. Djavan, a post-tropicalist singer composer, truly excelled the concept of metaphor within Brazilian songwriting. In addition, Ney Matogrosso, the ex-lead singer of Secos & Molhados, is her light designer and Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, authors of “Demorou” and “Eu Te Ofereço” are among the best known composers in her generous 14 track release.

Watch a version of “Entretanto” below.

A few weeks ago, Harvard University joined a group of colleges including Brown, Northeastern and Washington University in doing a program called ‘Sex Week.’

Sex Week is a student, week long program in which a series of lectures and panel discussions talk about safe sex, rape prevention, and STDs in addition to topics such as talking to your doctor about sexual health and how to talk to your partner about sexual issues.

The program first started at Yale University as Kosher Sex Week, by Yale Hillet. However, as more clubs and faculty became involved, they to make it a Campus – Wide Sex Week. As it gained even more popularity, other colleges started to join and adopted their own Sex Week as well.

So if your school has a program like Sex Week, you should check it out! But if your school doesn’t, then try start one.

Cick here for the original New York Times article  and here for more info.

We know that in preventing the spread of HIV, it is extremely important to get tested for STIs. But in remote villages in Africa, areas most at risk, getting test results from labs was difficult. The information would be sent by couriers and could take weeks…and this delay could be deadly for some people.

But fortunately, now, communications engineers from Britain’s have adapted technology  wireless and immediate communication from office printers and cell phones to relay test results. The new printers are being rolled out elsewhere in Africa after initial success in Mozambique, where the project has been running for a year.

The printer works because engineers have removed the workings of a standard printers, and replaced it with cell-phone technology. A computer at the lab can then relay results from multiple tests simultaneously to clinics using GPRS technology. Printers can be left on so results can be streamed and if the power fails, the results are stored until it comes back.

In the first six months that the program was running in Mozambique, 20,000 results were relayed through the printers. In the past, labs processing thousands of tests lack the staff to call clinics or send results by cell-phone message. Results stacked up until they could be sent in batches by courier.

Though Mozambique still struggles with a shortage of health workers and medicine, this new technology allows for fast results…and more results. With more people being able to receive test results,the more people who will get tested, and stop the spread of HIV. It is certainly a step in the direction towards ending AIDS.

Read more from the original Fox News article here.

Here at Red Hot, we strive to reach and inform today’s youth about sexual health and sex education through pop culture. Well, it doesn’t get any more popular culture than MTV.

Hosted by sex columnist Dan Savage, MTV’s new series, Savage U, is a straight forward, educational, yet entertaining and down-right good television show about sex and relationships amongst young people today. Visiting colleges and universities across the country, Savage interviews students and shells out top notch advice…holding nothing back. The show touches on sexual health topics such as contraception, masturbation and STIs, in addition to dating and relationship issues like gender stigmas, sexual preference, and confidence.

Episode 1, which aired last Tuesday, bounced between segments styles, one in which Savage answers those most puzzling or obvious student Qs, over the phone or in front of a group of students. The other, a face to face talk with a particular student about a specific issue. In one stand-out scene, Savage and sidekick Lauren, approach a male student who is sitting the university health clinic, waiting to get tested for STIs. After a brief chat, he reveals that he does not use condoms when having sex with his girlfriend. Within moments, Dan Savage gets girlfriend ‘Deb’ on the phone. He tells her, then and there on speaker phone, how she is the one most at risk when not using contraception during intercourse. Girls are more likely to contract STIs from guys, girls are the ones who will become physically pregnant, and most likely be left with the most responsibility if the child is born. In that instant, it is obvious that at least one young couple will no longer have unprotected sex.

Throughout the show, no question goes without a witty, yet factual, smile-provoking response. You are left with memorable one liners like: “Vaginas are amazing. They chew up semen and spit out humans.” and “Don’t raw dog a random.”

As a recent college graduate, I wish this show was on when I was in school. As a 22 year old, I will watch every episode. And as a safe sex advocate, I strongly suggest you all do the same.

Episode 2 of Savage U airs tonight, Tuesday 4/10 at 11pm.

Read more about MTV’s Savage U, host Ben Savage, and watch highlights here.

Watch the full Episode 1.

If you like to ride your bike and fundraise for AIDS, do both at the same time by doing the AIDS LifeCycle Ride to End AIDS.

It is a 7-day, 545 mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that raises money and awareness for the HIV and AIDS. The money raised goes to the services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. It is held during the week of June 3-9.

On the trail, you will be riding along the coast and will encounter many types of terrain, from artichoke and Strawberry fields to lush wood and rolling hills.

So grab your helmet and Bike and head to http://www.aidslifecycle.org/ for more information and to sign up.

Red Hot’s recent album, Red Hot + Rio 2, is a tribute album to the legendary Brazilian musical movement, Tropicália. Recently, a new documentary approach on Tropicália had its Brazilian première during the It’s All True Festival, which ended last weekend in São Paulo. The festival is the biggest international documentary film festival in Brazil, with branches in Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and Belo Horizonte.

“Tropicália, the movie” has been expected for almost one year, but production started far behind in 2006. Director Marcelo Machado did a fine job intertwining known and unknown footage material. He fortunately had access to long time missing tapes recorded in the late 1960´s and early 1970´s where Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, friends and family are shown in daily activities during their exile in London. Most if this material have never been shown before.

The full movie is well knit together by editor Oswald Santana, with songs from the pre Tropicalist-era to the gig performed at Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.  The experience of watching the movie  is a rich journey through the musical tunnel that changed Brazilian popular culture forever.

Watch the trailer on its official website here:

The big winner  of Its All True however, was “Mr. Sganzerla – Os Sinais da Luz” (Mr. Sganzerla – The Signs of Light) about the life of movie director Rogério Sganzerla, directed by Joel Pizzini. Sganzerla is the director of “O Bandido da Luz Vermelha” (1968). The movie is also considered a Tropicalia´s masterpiece for its metalinguistic awareness and for its lyrical view on the life of “The Red Light Maniac”, a famous and charming thief that drawn São Paulo´s society into panic in the late 1960´s.

This month, April, is National STD Awareness Month. So it is the perfect time to get aware. There are approximately 19 million new diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections in America each year. But by taking care of ourselves and educating each other, we can decrease that number.

Talk and get tested.

MTV’s ‘Its Your (Sex) Life’ shares the How, Where, When, & Why you should get tested for STDs: click.