Saturday, June 23, 2007

My Weekend Crush

CLICK to get Closer to FineIn honor of Pride (theme, people, I’ve got a theme!), I thought I’d pick an out Crush for this weekend. I mentally clicked through the usual suspects: Ellen, Rosie, Melissa, k.d., Martina. But I kept coming back to the girls, the Indigo Girls. Yes, I know, listening to the Indigo Girls is as cliché as flannel and Birkenstocks. But, you know what, I used to wear a lot of flannel. And Birkenstocks. Clichés are clichés for a reason. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers were some of the first artists I adored who I consciously knew were lesbians. Still it wasn’t their sexuality that spoke to my high school heart, but their harmonies. So pure, so simple, so true. I think I wore “Rites of Passage” down to a nub. Their songs about love, loss and longing articulated emotions I had yet to really feel. But thanks to them, I at least had a glimpse of what laid ahead.

While their albums don’t get the same play they used to in my regular rotation, every now and then I put one on let the music waft over me like honeysuckle-scented nostalgia. And then suddenly I’m alone again in my old bedroom on a humid Midwestern night with firelies putting on a light show outside my window, listening to Amy and Emily tell me about that place in Minnesota where you can walk across the Mississippi with only five steps down. Damn, where did I put all those flannel shirts anyway? They were comfy. Happy Pride and weekend, all.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just want to say that it is a pleasure to read your blog everyday. The format of your site is professional and attractive. Your writing is intelligent, thoughtful, clever, snarky and literate. A rare combination when surfing the 'net. Your blog is a definite highlight of my day and I love your "Weekend Crush" perspective. Keep on. And I love JB in TLW as well.

Anonymous said...

Touch'e in2thesun! I could not have put it better myself.
For some reason this post reminds me of Bobby Gentry...mmmmmbobby gentry

Anonymous said...

Dorothy, I love you so much. And I love the Indigo Girls. Their lyrics helped me learn the deepest meanings of love, that had eluded me for so many years until I met my first true love of the female persuasion. She introduced me to the Girls and I was smitten. I knew then the true belief of who I was and who I was made to love. Dorothy, if we happen to meet tonight, in the Castro, I'm going to show you some good old fashioned girl love!!!

cantdance said...

Amen. Sometimes I think of them as a security blanket.

Anonymous said...

Have you caught them on their latest tour with Brandi Carlile opening? I didn't think it was possible but she adds a third part harmony that makes them sound even better. She is also a great artist in her own right, maybe your crush next weekend?

Anonymous said...

Indigo Girls are so not cool anymore and still, what is a road trip without Power of Two ("got a cooler and a two day suitcase...") wafting through the airwaves? I'm glad I discovered your blog. It's my guilty pleasure at work today while I eat french fries for lunch.

Anonymous said...

i absolutely love them too, but only Emily is gay.

ArtfulArtsyAmy said...

I just listened to that song this morning, and it was all honeysuckles. so true.

Anonymous said...

EXCUSE ME??? Amy Ray is the gayest of gay! And I love them too!!