Kerry wrote:
> I still have all my old albums and every once in a
> while, I go down to the basement to listen to Meg
> Christian or Cris Williamson. I'll never forget how
> cool it was to discover their music as I was coming
> out.
The gay women's music scene has been ridiculed for
years (How many lesbians does it take to change a
lightbulb? Four: one to hold the ladder, one to
change the bulb, and two to write a song about it!),
but in the 70s and 80s the music recorded by Cris,
Meg, Holly Near, Tret Fure, Lucie Blue Tremblay, and
others too numerous to list provided an oasis of
comfort and solidarity for emerging lesbians. I was
thrilled to find out that there was an entire world of
women like me, who were not afraid to sing and joke
about their experiences as women-loving women. Even
if you were stuck in some rural backwater without
another lesbian friend nearby, you could imagine
yourself as part of a community of women like you, who
understood your life and what you felt, confusing as
it often was.
These courageous performers paved the way for today's
lesbian singers to be able to come out publicly, even
though the music of Melissa and kd rarely, if ever, is
blatantly lesbian. I applaud them all.
Interestingly, Olivia Records -- once the largest
lesbian recording company -- seems to have morphed
completely from a music company into a travel company,
which, I guess, is in keeping with the upward mobility
of many lesbians (though it leaves behind many who
can't afford the luxury of a cruise).
One of the best concerts I ever attended was Cris,
Meg, Holly, and Tret performing in some little theatre
in Philly in 1983. I showed up at the box office an
hour before the show and somehow managed to snag 4th
row seats for myself and friends, and the place was
packed. To be able to revel and rejoice with four of
the icons of lesbian music in a roomful of dykes --
what a treat!
Enough blathering for now ...
Lori
in DC
NPIMH: "I Enjoy Being A Girl" by Phranc
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