Music Monday: Closer to Monday

Honestly, if I had the opportunity to sing “Closer to Fine” with Brandi Carlile I too would absolutely take it. I would also, of course, since it with Amy Poehler. And, not to be undone, naturally Amy and Emily have an open invite to collab as well. I might even tell them in which key. (Don’t worry, I totally would, especially now for Emily.) Big lesbian singalong in 3-2-1… Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Always Our Girls

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I am, for the moment, at a loss for many words. Of course, anyone who has seen the Indigo Girls in the last few years knows Emily's voice has not been the same. But to have them confirm that it is not just normal aging, but two incurable medical disorders that will continue affecting Emily’s voice, well, yeah. I cried. I am so thankful that at almost every opportunity possible I have gone to see the extraordinary harmony of heart and head that have been Emily Sailer and Amy Ray as the Indigo Girls for the last thirty-plus years. That they asked for grace as they navigate performing to the best of their abilities together on this new tour, well, I cried some more. I hope they know we, their listeners who love them, are just so grateful for everything they’ve given us show after show, year after year, decade after decade. I sure hope we’ll have many more years to come. But so thankful for all they’ve already given us. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Back to Lilith

I’m still basking in that late 90s Lilith glow. Did you get a chance to watch the Lilith Fair documentary over the weekend? I’ve decided to just revel in the nostalgia a little longer. I can’t tell is this vintage encore performance makes me feel young again or incredibly old. Maybe a little of both. And, honestly, that’s just fine. Happy Monday, kittens.

My Weekend Crush

Sometimes you just need a little nostalgic hopecore to get you through the day. So by all means go wrap yourself in the warm embrace of the late 90s optimism of the female singer-songwriter era. The new Hulu documentary “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery” is exactly that hopecore. Besides the welcome faces of so many heroes from that time, from the Indigo Girls and Erykah Badu to Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan herself, the film also reminds us of the still revolutionary nature of it all. An all-women music festival? In this economy? Taylor Swift and her opener is one thing. But a whole bill? Now hold on, little ladies. Will it also make you feel a little old and remind you how our cultural history is lost if not specifically passed down to new generations? What do you mean kids today don’t know what Lilith Fair was? Teach the children! Open the schools! Happy weekend, all.

Music Monday: Melissa & The Girls

Just about a week ago this was me. I was here. The Melissa Etheridge/Indigo Girls Yes I Am Tour was a shot of pure queer nostalgia right to the heart. I and the thousands of other middle-aged lesbians in the crowd sang ourselves hoarse and couldn’t have left happier. Granted, even at a Melissa Etheridge/Indigo Girls concert there will always be some big-headed dude in the way for some reason. But, you know, we make our own joy despite the incursions. (But, seriously, stop bringing your husbands to these shows or at the very list make sure they stay seated.) So please enjoy this deep cut lesbionic duet, and ignore the enormous man. It’s kind of the best way to go through life, don’t you think? Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Raise Your Hand for Public Broadcasters

At the end of this week, I will be seeing our Girls again. I have truly lost count how many times I’ve seen Amy and Emily perform live. I must be closing in on an even dozen at this point. And each time is like a warm hug. These are the songs I sang to myself as I was figuring out who and what I was. The Indigo Girls were gay and political and right about it all from the very start They have never wavered in their activism. As much as their music is a rite of passage (see what I did there?) for burgeoning queer women, it’s also a clarion call. In this moment, when so much progress is being destroyed, it’s important to remember who we want to be – as a country. Are we a place where public broadcasting like NPR and PBS flourishes and keeps every community no matter how remote informed, where scientists are hard at work trying to solve our worst diseases and hardest problems at places we fund for the public good like the NIH and EPA and FDA and NOAA. Or are we just going to be a country that just spends its money on punishment and so-called protection, like ICE and Border Patrol and the rest of our overstuffed and overfunded military industrial complex. I know what that Orange Turd and his minions want and are doing. What will we do in response? One of the easiest things you can do is support your local NPR and PBS station. Make a donation, become a member. Listen, learn, fight back. Happy Monday, kittens.

Raise your hands
Raise your hands high
Don't take a seat
Don't stand aside
This time don't assume anything
Just go go go

Donate PBS: https://www.pbs.org/about/about-pbs/support-pbs
Donate NPR: https://www.npr.org/donations/support

My Weekend Crush

Yes, I realize this will be my third time (one, two) writing about the same thing. But, they say it’s the charm. And if you’ve been waiting and waiting to watch the new Indigo Girls documentary “It’s Only Life After All,” then you will find this news quite charming. Because the doc is now streaming on Netflix. Yes, right this very moment. What are you still doing here? Oh, second screen. Got it, carry on. I plan to rewatch this this weekend, and make it a double feature with the new Cyndi Lauper documentary “Let the Canary Sing” which is also now streaming on Paramount+. But first, we Netflix and Closer to Fine. Yep, you’re charmed. Happy weekend, all.

My Weekend (Redux) Crush

You know a few weeks ago when I said how I couldn’t wait to see the new Indigo Girls documentary? Well, this past weekend I saw “It’s Only Life After All” in theaters and you should absolutely go see the Indigo Girls documentary in the theater if only to remember how great it feels to watch something everyone there loves in a dark room together. Like, if you can’t get to a concert or haven’t been to one of their shows in a while this will be a balm on your tired soul.

Not only does the film explore the community The Girls have built over the last nearly 37 years, but it also gives us more of a glimpse into their private lives and personal passions – not to mention their insecurities and evolution. We see (briefly, so briefly) their partners and kids. We see rare footage from their early days. For a longtime fan like myself, it’s a voyeuristic peek at what we never see once the curtain goes down. But you feel okay about the snooping because The Girls themselves have given the documentarian Alexandria Bombach full reign over the project and their video archives. Can you imagine watching nearly 40 years of Indigo Girls tour footage? If there’s a lesbian heaven, yeah, that’s at least once of the activity rooms.

In the end, the film is a reminder that the artists we idolize are, always, just people. And those people, like most people, have rich internal lives that the world almost never sees. So I sincerely thank Amy and Emily for allowing us a look at the women behind The Girls. We all know the magic that happens when they music together. But the alchemy of their lives together is something even more rare to behold. Happy weekend, all.

p.s. In case you missed them, they were on Late Night with Seth Meyers recently which is also worth a watch. Just like everything involving Indigo Girls is worth a watch. Period. p.p.s. Which song is did Emily changed the cringey lyrics? I don’t think I heard her give her little disclaimer at any of the shows I’ve seen recently. Seth, you need to ask these critical follow-up questions!

My Weekend (Girls) Crush

I have, quite honestly, lost count of how many times I’ve seen the Indigo Girls. I’m going on 30-plus years of fandom at this point, so hopefully you can forgive my forgetfulness. But I have to be closing in on close to a dozen times. More recently I have proven my allegiance by seeing them two consecutive prides in a row, because I’m simply that gay.

So, obviously, I’m thrilled that a new documentary will help to jog all of our collective memories about these wonder women. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have provided the soundtrack to so many significant parts of my life. They were out there, before Melissa and before Ellen before everyone who has subsequently stepped on stage as out and proud voices. And I will forever be grateful for their music, passion and queerness. So start the music, I’m about to singalong at the top of my lungs. Join me, won’t you. Happy weekend, all.

Music Monday: Closer to Barbie

Yes, I saw the Barbie movie. And, yes, I loved the Barbie movie. I basically haven’t stopped thinking about it. But, more on that later (like Friday, promise). But, before that, I think I need to send an important reminder to all the straight women who watched the movie this weekend. “Closer to Fine” is ours. Well, it’s ours and Weird Barbie’s. And don’t you ever forget it. You’re of course welcome to sing along. Of course. But, again, ours.

Just in case you were thinking of forgetting it, please enjoy Brandi Carlile and her wife Catherine Carlile singing THE lesbian classic for the Barbie soundtrack. Mini-Spoiler: The Indigo Girls version appears in the film, Brandi and Catherine’s rendition is on a bonus soundtrack. But hey, the more lesbian-sung Closer to Fines the better, I say. Happy Monday, kittens.

p.s. Here is them doing it live — as the now completely culturally irrelevant Bill O’Reilly used to say — and being super cute. And sounding great! Go see Barbie!

Music Monday: Girls Redux

Well, I felt bad about giving you that abbreviated “Closer to Fine” version, so here is the whole thing from a few weekends ago. It’s shaky and it’s far away — and so many random big-ass heads pass through — but it’s there complete with a “Happy Pride!” at the end. This is also a nice way to segue into another Girls related topic (Yes, they’ve been on my mind. I’m that gay.) I’m anxiously waiting to watch their new documentary “It’s Only Life After All,” which has screened at Sundance and SXSW and Tribeca and Franeline yet somehow still does not have a distributor. Hello, someone please pick up this movie so us queers can watch it please and thank you. I’ve so far only read fairly glowing reviews about the doc which tracks their nearly 40-year career together. Apparently it features a ton of archival footage shot by Amy and Emily. And it looks at the impact their music has had on their fans and people in the LGBTQ+ and other communities they have advocated for over the years. So, as I was saying, SOMEONE PICK UP THIS DOCUMENTARY. Clearly, it’s homophobic that it hasn’t been snapped up already. Clearly. (I am only sort of kidding about this. Sort of.) I mean, come on Hollywood, “Closer to Fine” is in the dang “Barbie” movie. Again, the BARBIE MOVIE. Please, someone, distribute this film. Happy Monday, kittens.

My Weekend Girls Crush

Despite what the Supreme Court did on its last day, I hope you were just the gayest possible all June. Like definitely too gay to function. And totally so gay it makes the homophobes and transphobes bust several blood vessels in their foreheads from all the frowning. Me? I just spent its last leisurely Sunday with my absolute favorite Girls unlocking the Extra Special Bonus Super Duper Gay Achievement Award of seeing the Indigo Girls two Pride Months in a row now. I am expecting my badge and plaque in the mail any day now. We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it SCOTUS. Happy weekend, all.

p.s. Yes, Emily’s voice has changed. But, like, who hasn’t changed with time? Change is a sign of a life well lived, for all of us lucky enough to get there. Though, one thing they should never change is those “Thanks, y’alls.” Never.

p.p.s. Yes, it cuts off during “Closer to Fine,” which is as we all know, a gay sin. T’was the best video I could find, alas.

What a Doll

Fine, OK. I had a Barbie. One. I had ONE Barbie. And one Ken – the kind eternally in the swim trunks. But I was always more of an action figure girlie and/or “tomboy” as they called us back then or future gay as I call my past self now. So, I didn’t really know what to expect from the Barbie movie. I knew I liked Greta Gerwig’s work. And I knew the cast was ridiculously stacked. And I knew it would be some kind of send-up.

But “Closer to Fine,” Crazy Seer Lesbian Barbie Kate McKinnon, and Birkenstocks? Yeah, more like, “Portrait of Plastic Lady on Fire” – >amirite? But, seriously, this looks all sorts of fun and funny and feminist (I mean, the bad guys are literally trying to keep a woman in a box! They’re practically Republican congressmen!) Come on, Barbie, let’s go to the movies.

Music Monday: Still Our Girls

If you’re looking for the best way to spend 22 minutes this Monday you can’t find a better endeavor than the Indigo Girls Tiny Desk Concert. I got to see our Girls last year during Pride Month, having not seen them since well before the pandemic. And recently, while going through boxes of shit containing remnants of my life, I found a ticket stub from 1995 for one of their shows (though not the first I saw, but sadly I think that ticket has been lost to time). So, yes, I’m a damn fan. I think one of my favorite things about following a band over the decades like this is to see, and especially hear, their progression. Yes, Emily and Amy’s voices have changed. But those changes are earned and it’s a privilege to witness time work its mysteries on your favorite artist. So enjoy. And singalong because we know you know the words. Happy Monday, kittens.

p.s. Plenty of Oscar talk coming later this week. Plenty.

p.s.s. Plenty of TLOU talk coming later this week too. More than plenty.

Ray of Hope

I’ve been an Indigo Girl gal since, well, since I was a girl. And I have the (quite literal) receipts to prove it. I’ve reveled in the harmonic miracle of the combined voices of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers for decades. But I’ve also appreciated them apart. So Amy Ray’s latest song “Subway,” with an assist from none other than Brandi Carlile, is truly a gay celebration. Amy has said the song recalls the freeing feeling she had as a small-town queer going to the Big City. It’s something I think is a universal dream for most queer youth, at some point or another. And in particular it’s a tribute to the late NY radio DJ legend Rita Houston, who championed queer artists like our Girls and Brandi and so many others. Ah, youth and all that endless feeling of possibility — isn’t it pretty to think so, once again.

Music Monday: Indigo Girls Forever

Let’s start this new year with some nostalgia and the closest thing we have to a true Lesbian Anthem. While “Closer to Fine” may be celebrating its 36th anniversary this year, it still remains as clarion call to find your own truth whatever your age. And, also, a reminder that it’s only life, after all. Happy Monday and 2023, kittens.

Music Matters: The Girls Edition

As a dutiful lesbian, I actually saw The Girls sing this at the Fillmore back in 2016. This isn’t the same night (they’re wearing different shirts). But each of the many (many) time I’ve seen them live I’ve reveled in the joy that is a room full of queer women (and their friends) singing the same songs at the top of their lungs. So get out your own map in these waning days of Pride and make the most of whatever comes your way. Happy Monday, kittens.

Music Monday: Rosie's Girls Edition

Well, now, here is an enormously gay blast from the past. Way back in 1997 – which, can I tell you, is the year all the new hires at my job were BORN – this aligning of the lesbian stars happened on daytime television. Well, at the time it was publically considered a partial aligning of lesbian stars as the Indigo Girls were out, but Rosie O’Donnell was not yet – not for another five years. So it’s quite something to see Rosie give our Girls the shorthand for family by singing all of their lyrics by heart. That’s the lyrical equivalent of the lesbian head nod while passing each other down an aisle at Lowes. Anyway, Rosie came out in 2002 – shortly before her daytime talk show ended. Then it would be another four years before she returned as host of “The View.” And correct me if I’m wrong but she may have had one of the very first celebrity Twitter beefs with Trump, before America made that stain on humanity the President of the United States. Anyway, that guy is unemployed now and Rosie is about to fulfill every lesbian’s dreams and guest star on “The L Word” – with lots of scenes involving Jennifer Beals apparently. So, you know, funny how the world changes. Right, enjoy the music, y’all.

Merry, Happy Weekend Crush

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate. And to all a good Indigo Girls song. We have almost made it through this infernal year, and may the best thing we find under our collective tree be a better, kinder, healthier 2021 ahead. Happy, merry, and all that loveliness weekend, all.

Music Monday: Our Girls Edition

Well, here is something super gay to soothe your soul this Monday. The Indigo Girl have been live-streaming on Facebook this month for our self-quarantine pleasure and to raise money for their Honor the Earth foundation, a nonprofit focused on indigenous environmental justice. Last week Amy and Emily performed the entire “Rites of Passage” album from start to finish. I don’t know about you, but that’s the album that started my love for Our Girls. It got me to buy their entire back catalogue and wear all my CDs to a nubs, in addition to seeing them so many times in concert.

Now, of course, a stream can’t beat a real live show. But it’s not bad either. Plus, you get to see that famous folks are just as bad at setting up live streams as the rest of us - so much so that the stream comes in two parts due to our inevitable friend technical difficulties showing up and causing problems. Celesbians, they’re just like us but with much better harmonies. Happy Monday, kittens.