Jessie J: The Girl You Need to Know!!

Recently there has been a surge of faux bisexual girls. The sexy girls that claimed to be bi to promote their movies, albums, TV shows. But as of late there hasn’t been a true women loving bi chick out there in the in the music industry. (No, not Lady Gaga either. She only does it in her head, remember.)

Until now: step forward lovely Jessie J.
Open about her sexuality from the day she stated out, Jessie's girlfriend even starred in her first music video: “Do it like a Dude”. Jessie believes in total honesty and speaks her mind about everything.
She is a breath of fresh air in an industry filled with fake and secrets.
The British singer states: 'I’m not afraid to say I’m very comfortable with who I am and I love who I love.'

Here is some of her material and interviews:

“L.O.V.E” about falling in love with her first girlfriend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0q8WRjACCs

Her honest and funny interview with Alan Carr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SQEmlFC8Ko

Jessie talking about her sexuality and singing L.O.V.E. onstage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABwFB2Ru6PA

Jessie telling it like it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPuJBkk_1jw

Do it like a Dude HOT video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOf3kYtwASo&ob=av2e

Do it like a Dude acoustic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAd3ogzmnl4

Tonight!! Uh Huh Her in Costa Mesa, CA with Maniac and We Are / She Is

Comprised of members Leisha Hailey, most known for her role as Alice in The L Word, and Camila Grey of the lo-fi indie group Mellowdrone, Uh Huh Her prepares to bring the hype to the Orange County music scene at the the small yet popular venue, Detroit Bar. The indie/synth/rock duo is on their second tour since their release of their brand new second EP, Black and Blue, and is currently writing and recording for their second album due next spring, NOCTURES. They have just finished a residency in Las Vegas, NV and are ready to hit up a couple California coast shows before returning to their hometown, Los Angeles. 

On tour and sharing the stage with UHH is Maniac, a vibrant, indie/pop group native from Australia. Since their formation in September 2010, Maniac has done several US and Australia tours and have made about a dozen self-produced music videos for their fans. Opening this highly anticipated night is the energetic, OC local alternative/dance duo We Are / She Is. Formed in August 2010, We Are / She Is have since recently had their single "Barlights" featured on The Real L Word along with successfully wrapping up their first west coast tour. 

Uh Huh Her, Maniac and We Are/She Is will be at Detroit Bar on July 31, 2011. Show starts at 9pm. You can buy tickets at: http://tktwb.tw/j9oeK9

Uh Huh Her: http://www.uhhuhher.com
Maniac: http://maniacmania.com
We Are / She Is: http://www.wearesheis.com

Music Spotlight: Creamy GOODness, Lesbian Rapper

Creamy GOODness is a white lesbian rapper hailing from the mean streets of New Hampshire - it don't get much realer than that bitch! Born in the wealthy seaside village of Rye, NH (Live Free or Die Mother F*ckers!) CG's preference for all things Money Green and Gold began at an early age. With her 14 karat gold-plated rattle, she began whipping up beats at the freakishly young age of 6 months. Her first word was 'cash-money.'

In an effort to clean up their daughter's early vocabulary, Creamy was subjected to watching hours upon hours of PBS and classic movies. While she became extremely intelligent during this period, a different obsession grew like the seed of a sapling deep in her belly. Inspired by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, and Julie Andrews to name just a few, CG's fondness for the fairer sex invaded her mind and her rhymes. Parents: zero; lesbians: one!

While years of a New England private school education heightened Creamy's ability to master rhymes, mix beats and arrange a bomb-ass score, it did nothing to quell her desire to pimp a classic Caddy trimmed in Gold (obviously) and Gucci monograms.

For the past 5 years, the rapper has called Los Angeles home. Some of her most recent credits include producing/engineering soulful singer Briana Nadeau’s sophomore album, ARMOR, working with NYC rapper Mr. Complex on his soon to be released single ‘King Kong Love,’ engineering FANTA’s ‘Vision’ commercial for their latest national ad campaign along with a host of film work including sound design for the upcoming gay themed musical, ‘I Was A Teenage Werebear,’ directed by Tim Sullivan (Detroit Rock City, VH1’s Scream Queen’s)

Creamy GOODness is the latest, greatest addition to the Lesbiatopia team. She will be bringing you all the hottest music and film news and anything good in the LA scene. 

When she is not jetting to Tortola, Europe or the East Coast, you can find Creamy GOODness hoeing it up in her apartment in LA or mixin it up in the clubs with only the finest dykes. After all, yellow's just a color, gold is a lifestyle.

Love all things Creamy GOODness? Lez-be-friendz on Facebook! Click the link for CG's Fan Page! and to hear CG dropping some serious beats. Word.

LT Music Feature: Listen Up: Florence + the Machine

One of the best shows I saw in 2009 was Florence and the Machine. London born, Florence Welch, presented her album "Lungs" with astonishing vocals and dynamic melodies that left me in awe. Similar to Cat Power, Adele or even Feist bringing the beauty of raw singer/songwriter heart to the table, she has tricks up her sleeve that will make you sway back and forth one minute and jump up and down the next. It's not everyday you get the opportunity to absorb such superlative and authentic talent such as hers weather it's live or through your speakers. I highly recommend "Lungs" by Florence and the Machine.

Adam Lambert on the Road to Stardom

This was cross-posted on my personal blog too, reneeganonn.com.

The first time I met Adam Lambert, I knew he was destined for stardom. I had the pleasure of watching Adam perform months before thoughts of American Idol were floating through everyone’s head. Adam was part of an amazing LA-based cabaret group produced and hosted by Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel called Upright Cabaret. Upright Cabaret has featured cast members from over 75 Broadway shows as well as stars from Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, How I Met Your Mother, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, House, Nip/Tuck and countless other film and television productions.

Come to My... Wedding: Melissa Etheridge to Marry!

- Renee Gannon
Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge and her actress girlfriend, Tammy Lynn Michaels, are going to the chapel. And they're, gonna get maaaaaaaaaarried!

The lesbian couple has confirmed plans to wed in the near future, now that same-sex marriage is legal in California.

According to SFGate.com, Etheridge says, "We have four children and we're trying to find the right time (to wed)."

DeGeneres and DeRossi became the first high-profile lesbian couple to exchange vows when they wed in August.

Same-sex marriage was declared legal in California in May, but critics of the new legislation are attempting to overturn it with a statewide vote in November. If you are from California, preserve same-sex marriage and VOTE NO ON PROP 8!!

Interview: Madalyn Sklar of GoGirls Music

GoGirlsMusic.com is a unique organization that focuses on advancing the careers of independent female artists. It was founded in early 1996 by lesbian musician Madalyn Sklar. GoGirls works tirelessly to help artists through education, networking, and events. Artists who become involved with GoGirls have the opportunity to perform, have their work reviewed, and get involved with a hardworking group of women who "get things done" in the music scene.

Madalyn is also a music business coach & consultant, blogger, social networks expert and author. She has spent 12 years working with a wide range of independent musicians, helping them get focused and energized.

Lesbiatopia's special projects editor, Sinnerviewer, spoke with Madalyn about her role in founding GoGirls and about how GoGirls helps to promote women in music:

Shannon: You founded Go Girls Music almost 13 years ago. Tell me about that.


Madalyn: It started out of frustration of going to the local guitar shop and getting ignored. I started wondering if it was because I’m a female. The stores are all run by guys. I wasn’t sure if it was because I live in the south (Texas) or did other women get treated the same way in other parts of the country. At the time, the Internet was still very new. I was really big on the internet back then and saw the potential of what the Internet could do to bring people together.
I thought it would be really cool to set up a website for women in music to come together in a forum and talk about issues relevant to us. I didn’t really know exactly how it was going to come together. It was just an idea – kind of like a hobby. I had a job at the time in the financial business but was also learning web design and HTML. As a side business, I started a web design company. I figured GoGirls would be my website that I would play with to try out the new tips and tricks that I was learning.

That was kind of how it started. It has evolved over the years into something huge. We are literally an international organization promoting women and music. That’s why we say we are the oldest and largest organization promoting independent women in music.

Shannon: In the course of speaking with the Atlanta Chapter of Go Girls leader, Anne Marie, it occurred to me that women can sometimes be competitive and sometimes catty. Is it a particular challenge for you to get GoGirls members to support each other and not feel that sense of competition?

Madalyn: I think I do a really great job at this and it’s because I was born to be a leader. When it comes to the cliques and the cattiness, it all has to do with leadership. I don’t allow for it. This is not high school. It’s not a place to go start cliques. There was another ‘women in music’ organization that started a few years after us and I can remember some of my musician friends telling me about how it was very cliqueish. It was very frustrating for them because they just could not get into the “club”. I was just astounded. We’re grown-ups! There’s no need for that. My thing from day one is our mission statement: To promote, support & empower women in music.” If you’re going to do those things, there’s no room for it here. No favoritism, no cliques.

Not many people know this but when GoGirls was still pretty young, I had a singer/songwriter girlfriend. I made it very clear to her that just because she was with me, it doesn’t mean that you get to go play everything and do everything and get special treatment. That’s not how I operate.

Shannon: You could have really undermined your membership by doing something like that. That was very insightful of you.

Madalyn: I saw all of these other organizations trying to copy me and do what I was doing but I can’t even name one that did not show blatant favoritism. This music business on the Indie side is not very big. There’s a lot of obvious “I’ll help you and you help me” that goes on that they don’t even try to hide.

Shannon: I’m glad that you brought up the terminology of “Indie Music” because I don’t think a lot of people know what that means. Could you define that for Lesbiatopia readers?

Madalyn: Absolutely. When we think about main stream music, it’s what we hear on the radio. It’s what we’re stuck with, like it or not. And there is a lot of crap. Britney Spears – who cares! And yes, we all love Madonna but I’m so tired of all this music that these major labels support.

What independent (“indie”) is – it’s what you don’t get to hear on the radio. Its people doing their own thing: DIY – Do It Yourself. That’s a term that you hear a lot associated with independent music. Most of what these people are doing is their own thing. All of those women that you met (at the Atlanta Go Girls Chapter meeting) are out there doing it on their own or starting their own labels. You won’t always hear them on the radio and they won’t always be playing the big venues in town. It’s usually smaller venues and maybe internet radio or community radio. That’s where you typically find the indie artists.



Shannon: In your opinion, which I am really interested in your answer to this, which women artist do you think have kind of paved the way for the rest of them to be more accepted as female musicians. I know there must be a lot, but who really stands out to you as pioneers/trailblazers?

Madalyn: You mean in rock?

Shannon: I would like for you to interpret that question for yourself.

Madalyn: When I think about who paved the way for women in music in general, I think of Heart, Pat Benatar, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) – all of that old school rock. When I was in high school, I wanted to be the next Joan Jett. I was this rocker guitar chick. Those girls were my role models. It kind of dates me – I’m a lot older than I look.

(Laughs)

Shannon: Ahhh, I love Joan Jett, too. She is my absolute favorite!

Madalyn: Oh! I went to the True Colors concert here in Houston a few months ago. I had not seen Joan play since I was in high school. I was completely blown away. I mean, she still gets out there and rocks the house! I was just wowed by that. It was great to see the longevity.

I went to House of Blues in New Orleans a few weeks ago to see Heart. I was amazed to see them play in this intimate, small venue. I also got to see Melissa Ethridge here in Houston and she played for 2 ½ hours. I was like, “Oh my God! These women are amazing!” To me, those are the women who paved the way and have inspired so many of the people that I know through Go Girls.

Now, for the indie movement, one of the biggest influences for the past decade or more has been Amy Ray (Indigo Girls) who started her own record label which is there in Atlanta, I think. Ani DiFranco has also been amazing. She’s truly shown that you can do this. You can put out your own music on your own label and have a music career.

Shannon: Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records was the first independent label owned by a woman.

Madalyn: You are right.

Shannon: She did it first because none of the major labels would sign her. Then she hit with I Love Rock-n-Roll and they all wanted her. But it excites me that she is bringing all of these other bands like the Dollyrots & Girl in a Coma onto her label and helping them get their music out. She isn’t intimidated by these younger women, she empowers them and they all adore her. I love that about her.

Madalyn: I think that says a lot about how these women can help each other. I don’t know if the women from back in the day see how they can help the new ones coming along but they can!

Shannon: When I started looking into Go Girls, I realized very quickly that you really help your members out with social networking and internet marketing like nobody’s business! You must have understood the importance of that before most people in the music business. How did you come to realize that social networking would be a necessary tool and then become an expert on it?

Madalyn: Well, here’s what’s interesting. All we keep hearing about is social networking – especially for musicians. From time to time, I will send out e-mails to our Go Girls Elite members. Recently, I asked them which social networking site was their favorite. One of them replied GoGirlsMusic.com. I hadn’t really thought about it but that is really what we are all about. It’s a place to bring female musicians together.

You went to the Atlanta Chapter of Go Girls Meet-Up. All of those women getting together to help each other and all these women came together just because I started a website years ago. Through that, they do showcases together, tour together, take turns opening for each other at their shows, networking, motivating each other. It’s all social networking, but it goes beyond the website… beyond the Internet.

Shannon: I noticed that you have several sites like IndieMusicCoach.com and SocialNetworkingForMusicians.com.

Madalyn: Oh, I do a lot of stuff. That coaching is my consulting business. It came about because for years, I was leading Go Girls and talking to them as a group. But many of them needed one-on-one support. It just made sense that it was a natural progression.

Shannon: I want to transition a little more into your personal life.

Madalyn: How personal?

(Laughs)

Shannon: Besides being a lesbian, the founder of this big music venture, personal coaching and owning your own label – you are also the mother of a son. Do you find a way to balance it all and if so, how do you make that work?

Madalyn: You know, that’s a great question. I do have a balance in my life but it’s not easy. A lot of people don’t realize that I have a child. They’re completely blown away when they find out because they know how much work I do and how much I travel. It just blows them away.

Having a child keeps me very grounded. That’s where I think the balance comes in. I love my work and I would not trade it for anything in the world. I will sometimes be on my computer for 14 hours, easily. But there is always time for my son. He’s 12 now, almost 13. He’s at that age where he likes to get on his own computer or play video games or whatever – it’s much easier now than when he was younger. We still have a great mother/son relationship though.

He was just recently my intern over the summer. It was awesome. We are very close. I adopted him from an orphanage when he was 19 months old. He was attached to me at the hip from day 1. It was an incredible experience. We had this great relationship already, but then we got to spend the summer together with him sitting next to me at my desk and working with me. It was really great. I’m actually bummed that he’s back in school now.

Shannon: You have my dream job. I wish you lived here in Atlanta because I would fight your son for that internship. Who cares that I’m 39? I’d pull my chair up to your desk and we’d kill 14 hours. I hope he knows how lucky he is to have had that opportunity.

(Laughs)

Madalyn: I think he got a really good understanding of what I do, where as before, he knew what Go Girls was but not really the stuff I do. I hope it was a good life lesson for him.

Shannon: It had to be. I have one last question. Don’t be shy. Who do you have a girl crush on?

Madalyn: Well, first of all, let me say that I am single. I’m getting tired of it – it’s been about a year. My work keeps me so busy that I don’t really go out much. Gosh, who do I have a girl crush on?

Shannon: I asked Kelly Ogden of The Dollyrots. I barely finished the question before she was shouting out “Drew Barrymore!” – There wasn’t even a pause for reflection on the question for her.

(Laughs)

Madalyn: That’s something that I have to really think about because I’m so into work and so busy. There are some members of GoGirls that I find very cute that I would consider my girl crushes but I could not divulge any of those names, that’s for sure!

Shannon: Give me a celebrity girl crush.

Madalyn: I don’t know…

Shannon: C’mon! You could at least give the standard lesbian answer of Angelina Jolie.

Madalyn: I like Angelina Jolie. The thing is, all my friends don’t and they’d be pissed at me if I said that. Then again, I don’t really care. We’ll say Angelina Jolie. I think she’s hot. Yeah, she’s my girl crush.

Happy 50th Joan Jett!

Joan Marie Larkin was born 50 years ago today! Joan's parents gave her a guitar for Christmas when she was 13 and by 15 years old, she started The Runaways, one of the first all girl teenage rock bands. The Runaways also featured Lita Ford who went on to enjoy her own success in hard rock in the 80's.


Besides rockin' for the last 37 years, Joan has also been involved in many charities including animal rescue, GLBT issues and a fund to help find the rapist/murder of Gits lead singer, Mia Zapata. Joan has also been very involved with the USO and entertaining troops before entertaining troops was cool.



The ladies at Lesbiatopia, especially ME, would like to salute a beautiful, rockin' grrl on her 50th birthday. Hope it's fantastic!

Barracuda- The Wilson Sisters Taking the Bite Out of Sarah Palin

By Lesbiatopia Feature Writer Sei

On my rack of music CD’s, you will find a very long section beginning with a simple black edged CD and ending with a more rainbow colored one. It takes up about a quarter of my three foot tall CD rack. This is the section dedicated to the band Heart. In there, you will find three pink edged CD’s. They are all special editions, and the top one is Little Queen. The first song from that album is "Barracuda." I have been a fan of the Wilson sisters and their group Heart since I was ten. Twenty-four years later, I am still a huge fan of their work, and I’ll cop to having a major crush on Ann Wilson growing up. I still have my poster from their album Bad Animals.

So, like many of the legions of Heart fans out there, I was appalled and angered by the GOP’s lifting of their signature song "Barracuda" to be used as a backdrop to Sarah Palin. Palin, who earned the nickname Barracuda while playing basketball, was certainly not of the caliber of these two women who suffered greatly to bring us music for more than three decades. When Heart first burst onto the scene in the 1970's, they were attacked by various agents of the music industry. Rumors abounded that the sisters were lesbians, and that they were having an incestuous affair. These rumors were all aimed at ruining what really was one of the first strong, popular women led rock bands. Their response to this, the writing of a single song- Barracuda. The song has become synonymous with the soulless, predatory, and inhumane appearing in movies from Shrek the Third to Wag the Dog, and video games as diverse as Guitar Hero III and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (not all of the versions are by Heart, but rather other artists). Their song "No Other Love" from their 2004 release Jupiter’s Darling appears in the L Word season two.



The use of their song did not go unnoticed by the Wilson sisters. "The sisterly duo known as Heart sent a cease-and-desist notice to the McCain-Palin campaign Thursday afternoon after their hit "Barracuda" was used- twice- without permission as the official rallying cry for the vice presidential candidate after her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention," according to Gina Serpe of E! Online. "‘We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music,’ the Heart duo said in a statement. ‘We hope our wishes will be honored.’" Unfortunately they were not. McCain and Palin appeared on stage after his acceptance speech to the strains of that familiar song. While it is possible the slow, inefficient campaign structure of McCain-Palin simply had not had time to digest the ‘request’. "‘I think it’s completely unfair to be so misrepresented,’ Nancy Wilson told [Entertainment Weekly] Thursday night. ‘I feel completely f–ked over’" A follow up email was sent to EW- "Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late ‘70's as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women (the ‘barracuda’ represents the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC there’s irony in Republican strategits’ choice to make use of it there." This is not the first time the RNC or even the DNC have courted controversy with their choices of theme music. The McCain campaign has already been warned by Boston, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne over the use of their music. However, Brooks and Dunn have not had any similar reaction to Senator Obama’s use of their song "Only in America".

The Wilson sisters are currently on the last leg of their summer tour. Their next stops are in Cincinnati, Ohio and Clarkson, Michigan, and they will be wrapping things up in Hollywood, California the end of this month. Heart also supports the anti-poverty and anti-AIDS charity ONE. Ann Wilson’s album Hope and Glory is in the stores and contains many great covers as well as the very gentle, somber anti-war ballad "Little Problems, Little Lies" sung from the perspective of a dying solder. Heart is one of the few artists to release an album in each of the four decades that they have been recording. Others in that tiny alum are Aerosmith and Meat Loaf.

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b27431_Republicans_Take_Heart__Heart_Takes_It_Back.html
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/09/heart-responds.html
http://www.heart-music.com/news/news.asp?item=112960

ASK ALICE- the lesbian rock band of my dreams

WARNING!!!
SHAMELESS PLUG BELOW!!!

I would like to introduce my band.

Ask Alice.
We're Here.
We're Queer.
We Drink Beer.
Original. Vaginal. Rock.

My whole life I've wanted a band. But not just any band, a rock band.
But not just any rock band, an ALL GIRL ROCK BAND.


In high school all of the musicians I knew were guys that had no interest in having a girl play in their band. That left me with the solo acoustic option. I wrote songs by candle light about my teenage angst and breaking heart. Needless to say, that got really depressing really fast. I wanted fun and excitement. I wanted to inspire girls to throw their panties at me, to the keep the music going despite the bar brawls that with broken beer bottles. I started looking for other musicians to have this wild adventure with and while I posted adds, wrote emails, posted on bulletin boards, bathroom walls, I still couldn't seem to find a match.

This ideal has proven to be quite difficult over the years. I don't think of myself as a music snob but really, I don't have any interest in choreography and I'm certainly not going to wear a skirt. It seemed I was never a good match for any band I came across.

Searching for a good female musician is like going to a bad dive bar with all of the typical patrons. Here are the female musicians types that I've personally come into contact with in my search...

- The Ani DiFranco acoustic type. Possibly a lesbian? Probably works at the coffee shop that shes singing at tonight. Thanks a-latte... for nothing!!

- The electronic type. Attempts to make strange buzzing noises pass as a love song about her latest keyboard obsession. Bjork gone horribly, horribly wrong.

- The Spice Girl type. Always looking for an agent, producer, back up singers and band. This means she has absolutely zero talent, a boob job and a GREAT ass.

My search was long. After about 5 years I was pretty over the idea of having a girl band when I started getting responses back from chicks I had already jammed with and "lost their number" last year.

However, Mama didn't raise a quitter and I kept up my search knowing full well it was likely my dreams would never come true. Maybe I'm a masochist.
After searching for so long I finally struck gold. TWICE!

The first was a guitar player who had just moved to LA from Minnesota.
I found her via craigslist. It was ridiculous how much we had in common.
The second was a drummer from Orange County CA. I found her through a complete stranger who we have yet to meet or thank. It was fate
I found these 2 girls after almost 9 years of searching.
They have another thing coming to them if they think I will ever let either of them go. Alyssa and Laura. My musical family. We write songs together. Sweat in the garage during practice together. Cry over girls together. Party together. Laugh together and hopefully one day we will get famous together. It's like having sisters and brothers all at once. I feel so lucky and proud that we have found each other and things are really working for us.

So, as you can tell ASK ALICE is not the typical band.
- Everyone one of us is proudly and openly gay
- We can seriously rock the socks right off your feet
- We write and play our own songs... unless a sexy lady makes a request
- We don't kiss any one's ass, we don't apologize and we always have a blast where ever we go.

I realize this blog really isn't about much other than my ramblings about how much I love my band. I found a rock band. A girl band and best of all a QUEER BAND. Proud and really really loud.

Hopefully you can come check us out sometime....its always a party.
Our myspace page has all the fun details.
www.myspace.com/askalicexo

Love,
Mr. Leigh
Vocals. Guitar.
ASK ALICE




Technorati Tags: music,, rock, band,, lesbian, rock,, live, music

Top Gun: The LESBIAN Musical

I stumbled across this video on JD's blog, The Smoking Cocktail.

I thought it was pretty funny.

We all know Top Gun is pretty damn gay, but this rendition of Top Gun definitely takes gay to the next level. You really have to appreciate a couple of adorable soft butch ladies with dog tags, camo shorts and aviators, singing and dancing like a cast member straight of "Miss Saigon" (off broadway, of course).

Tom Cruise, eat your heart out....

Songs About My Wife

And you can tell everybody this is your song.... It may be quite simple but now that its done... I hope you don't mind that I put down in words... How wonderful life is while you're in the world
~ Bernie Taupin

 
One of the things that my wife and I have in common is our love of music.

We have used music to communicate with each other throughout our relationship, and whether the person singing the song is a male or a female, we seem to be able to extend our voice to each other through different song lyrics. Through the years there have been many songs that make me think about my wife, or that we have ‘dedicated’ to each other for one reason or another. Now that we have been together through some thick and thin times, there is a whole collection of songs that we call ‘our song’. *smile* I thought it would be fun to put together a playlist of ‘songs about my wife’ and so I headed over to my favorite site for music playlists which is Project Playlist.

It was a really interesting experience to put together this particular playlist, because there aren’t many songs out there by women that are to or about women.

The songs that I did add to my playlist are by men and women who seem to be singing to or about the opposite sex. I guess this doesn’t bother me too much, because being a lesbian gives me a bit of a male perspective to accompany my female perspective. I do prefer to listen to love songs that are by women who are singing to or about no particular gender, such as Floetry, but I do find that I identify a lot with men singing to women, such as Earth Wind and Fire. In any case, you can find the playlist I made with Songs About My Wife on my blog here.

It really took me down memory lane to put this playlist together, and wifey too!

I hope you enjoy the songs and get a kick out of some of the songs that I consider to be ‘our song’. Maybe you will find a new favorite! I plan to add new songs to the playlist as our relationship continues to grow, and we get old together, so feel free to bookmark it for your lesbian listening needs. *smile* Take care and thanks for reading!

Anibody out there?

Ok lesbians, stay with me. I know we have oodles of gay icons within mainstream media these days. I know we have straight girls singing chart toppers about kissing girls. And while having lesbianism validated as an acceptable and fun way of cheating on your boyfriend is really empowering for us all, I think its very important we remember where our lesbian entertainment came from.

A long time ago, before Ellen even, the little folk singer from Buffalo became the face of the "lesbian" music genre. It was the early 90's and Ani Difranco was playing her way to lesbian superstardom in colleges and bars across america, with songs like "The Whole Night" and "She Says". Women's studies dykes from Syracuse to Berkeley where beside themselves with pronoun delight. With her very own independent music label, Righteous Babe Records, Ani was the perfect symbol of female empowerment. And let's not forget that she can fucking play.

In 1998, Ani solidified her status as gay royalty with the songs "Two Little Girls" and "Little Plastic Castles". It was all over. From here on out, you could be sure to run into each and every one of your ex girlfriends at an Ani show, you were lucky if you could even see the stage over all the huge masses of dreadlocks pilled on top of vegan heads, and you wouldn't dare show up without your Feminist Majority or Food not Bombs T-shirt on. Ani became synonymous with all things lesbian culture. Oh sure, straight girls were listening too. But it was always a clear indicator that you had at least a six pack lesbo on your hands if you could get them to name their top 3 favorite Ani songs.

Here we are 10 years later and I wanna know, where have all the gays gone? Last Saturday I made the slow crawl down the 5 freeway to see Ani at the House of Blues in Anaheim or "Aniheim" as we referred to it for a month prior. Now when I was a young eager Ani fan, we used to have to sleep on the concrete outside the concert venue in order to win our front row spot during general admission shows. If you didn't make it into the line by 8 am, forget it, you were seeing the show from the back with the straight people, in the "reluctant boyfriend holding pen" as Ani herself coined it.

But here it is 2008 and apparently one doesn't need to show up until mid afternoon to get the coveted spot front row, left of center. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the fact that dining at the House of Blues restaurant allows one to wait in the early entry line. We showed up at 3 for a late lunch, then took turns standing in line and ducking back into the bar for martini's until we were let into the venue at 7. And then to make my Ani dreams come true, the stage was surrounded by a bar on either side that served throughout the show. I used to be the really excited bouncy girl in the front row, now I'm the drunk excited bouncy girl in the front row. Oops.

But my enabled drinking habits aside, what stuck out during this show is that the dreadlocks and the dedication are long gone. Sure the show drew more lesbians than the House of Blues in Anaheim sees on any day but some fortysomething year old Orange County dykes dressed up in their best Polo shirts does not an Ani crowd make. Where are the squealing baby dykes? Where are college girls? Yes, maybe we have all grown up and grown out our hair but has lesbian culture really become that assimilated by heteronormative culture?

I'm just concerned that the more we see LGBT representations on prime time, on Mtv and at the Oscars, the lazier we get about remembering our roots. It is so important to have those images in those places but let's not forget that the mainstream is just that, the mainstream. Queerness is still "the other" within popular media. Tila Tequila is making a mockery out of lesbian and bisexuality for the sake of her own bank account and Katy Perry's pimping night life bi-curiosity on behalf of industry behemoth Capitol Records. LGBT youth today don't have to look far to have their lifestyle's recognized anymore, but is this kind of recognition really that positive and empowering? Furthermore, is it's immediacy disenfranchising queer youth from finding the good stuff?

I Kissed a Girl... And I liked It!

And so did Katy Perry. But, she wasn't always singing about kissing girls. First she sang about God. Then she kissed a girl — and she liked it (as it goes with most Christian girls. Just watch "Loving Annabelle"). Such is the contrast between Katy Hudson, Christian singer, and Katy Perry, chart-topper. Same girl, two stage names, two vastly different personas. And fans who loved the Katy who billed herself as the God-loving daughter of two pastors aren't pleased with her new image: Hip-shaking, lingerie-wearing, pseudo-lesbian pop star. But that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, WE like it!

Born Kathryn Hudson, the now name-settled Katy Perry scored the dance song of the summer with "I Kissed a Girl" — not to be confused with Jill Souble's 1995 hit of the same name — currently at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Perry's debut album with Capitol Records, "One of the Boys," dropped June 17 to similar success.

But this isn't her first foray into music. Back in 2001, at the tender age of 16, she released "Katy Hudson" with the now-defunct Christian music label Red Hill Records. Russ Breimeier, who reviewed the album for Christian Music Today, thought she showed promise.

Instead of sticking with Him (Jesus Christ, Superstar) on the road to righteousness, the newly minted Katy Perry, 23, hopped on the highway to pop stardom (and who can blame her?). First, she took on a new stage name to avoid confusion with the other Kate Hudson of the silver screen.

Then, after picking up on mainstream music she recorded with production team The Matrix and released on her MySpace page, Blender magazine named Perry "the next big thing" in October 2004. In her interview with Blender, Perry confessed she wasn't "a typical Christian" and revealed she had done "lots of bad things" as a teenager. Finally, a Christian girl that's actually admitting to their bad-girl side. Maybe more Christians will follow suit and come out of the closet with tales of naughtiness.

And perhaps those bad things provided the inspiration for "I Kissed a Girl," which she released in April 2008 after signing with Capitol Records in early 2007. Now Katy sings:

No, I don't even know your name

It doesn't matter

You're my experimental game

Just human nature

It's not what good girls do

Not how they should behave

My head gets so confused

Hard to obey

I kissed a girl and I liked it

Perry's Christian fans aren't sure what to think.

According to ABC News:

"I just think it's interesting that seven years ago she had a Christian album and what she's doing now is clearly not Christian," said Joanne Brokaw, who blogs about Christian music for Beliefnet.com. "I get the sense that maybe she was engaged in rebellious behavior back then. I just wonder what the decision was — did people not really know or were they looking the other way?"

"It seems like ever since the name change, she's gotten this rep as a party girl," Breimeier added. "You can still hear some of the talent that was there before, but it just sounds like she's doing whatever she can to get noticed," he said. "And that's unfortunate. I feel bad for her folks."

Katy's publicist declined ABCNEWS.com's repeated requests for comment.

Of course, it's not unusual for musicians to start out in the Christian circuit and later flee for mainstream success. Alternative-rockers Evanescence did it; so did the band Lifehouse and, perhaps most famously, '90s pop princess Amy Grant.

But while all of them maintained a straight-laced image in the music industry — at least compared to their counterparts who didn't cut their teeth in the Christian circle — Perry seems to be jumping at the chance to be a sexpot pop star, the next Britney Spears or Cristina Aguilera.

"The thing about her is that she decided to leave that scene behind," said Joe Levy, editor in chief of Blender magazine. "I don't think she fits in with other Christian music artists who transition to pop success. She didn't transition — she stopped dead, reinvented herself, became an artist who has nothing to do with Christian music. It's a footnote in her career. It looks like who she is now is who she wants to be, slightly outrageous and very cute. And right now that's working." (ABC News)

Whatever the motivation is for her transformation, she's obviously doing something right. I like the song and plan on downloading more from her new album. Plus, just watch the music video. It's hot. Even if Katy Perry is just experimenting, or even if she never comes out, she's one piece of eye-candy that I will be savoring down to the very last drop. Enjoy girls!

True Colors Tour 2008 Kicks Off in Boston and Really Shines

I was lucky to attend the opener to the True Colors Tour kick-off in Boston, MA on Saturday, May 31, 2008. It was at the beautiful Bank of America Pavilion in the historial waterfront section of Boston. Although the weather that day was rainy, the gods were on our side because the skies cleared up just in time for the 6pm start time. Read on for my full review and photo diary of the awesome event.


The show kicked off with Kat Deluna, although I was not personally familiar with her music, this bilingual pop diva gave a dazzling showcase for her unique talents, most notably her opera-trained voice, which bends and snaps with ease amid shiny club beats and tropical rhythms. You can sure bet that I was shakin' what my Momma gave me in the most bootilicious way possible. Teen pop-heads, Latin soulsters, anyone with a weakness for deliciously flirtatious beats will be sure to love this up-and-coming star.

After Kat, came The Cliks. I have recently become a Cliks fan, due in part to Lesbiatopia's own Sinnerviewer's intervew with Cliks drummer Morgan Doctor, which you can read here.
And what's not to love about Lucas Silveira? I love how there's just a touch of punked-out Elvis in Lucas, the trans female-to-male front man of this rockin' Toronto-based rock band. Silveira wears a studded belt, slung low on his hips—hips that glide along to the heavy-hitting guitar riffs and throbbing bass lines that The Cliks have become known for. You can see it (along with a smattering of Billy Idol) in Silveira's facial contortions when he sings. On stage, vulnerabilities are exposed through contagious chant-along choruses and bleeding verses that just make all the girls (and boys) go ga-ga for the edgy meets sexy rock group. They were both a pleasant and rockalicious experience for True Colors, continuing to prove that the line-up this year was fan-fucking-tastic.

Next to grace the stage, and one of my personal favorite female vocalists, was the indie singer/songwriter, Regina Spektor, who has an incredibly unique and whimsical vocal style that puts her in a class of her own. I was quite excited to see Regina perform live for the first time, and fully admit to swooning over this "sexy-ugly" talented Russian-American vocalist. There's a fearless, uninhibited confidence to Spektor's voice, and she delivered some of my favorites including Fidelity and Hotel Song from her latest album, Begin to Hope. She is sure to give artists like Tori Amos and Fiona Apple a run for their money.

Cyndi came out to introduce Rosie's stand-up act, with some inspirational words of her own about how the GLBT community needs to get out and VOTE! It is really, truly awesome to have someone like Cyndi Lauper in such strong support of gay, lesbians, transgendered and of basic human rights, in general. The of course there's Rosie, being, well Rosie. In all seriousness, she was fantastic; comedic, dramatic, and serious all at the same time. I just love the way Rosie tells a story, she may be out-spoken and over-the-top at times, but she is a really incredible person and a great performer and I am proud to have her batting for the all-girls team.

Then came Carson Kressley, the host and MC for the True Colors Tour. You probably remember Carson as the overly effiminate and hilarious famous diva from Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and who currently hosts Lifetime's newest makeover show, How to Look Good Naked. Caron did a bit of stand-up, which was actually really hilarious, to my surprise. He was so interactive with the audience, reaching down into the front row to shake some woman's hand, and even pulling a badly dressed guy out of his seat and onto the stage so he could give him a quick makeover/wardrobe change. It was all pretty entertaining and a great way to pass the time between set-changes for the bands.

The second to last band to grace the stage was the B-52's, which I was psyched to see perform live and if you have a chance to get out to the True Colors Tour, make this one of your #1 reasons. The B-52's sure are a party band that knows how to party. If you grew up loving "Roam" and "Love Shack", dancing your ass off and all that comes with glorified wild youth, than you would love to see these guys live. The feminine harmonies of Wilson and Pierson, could not compliment the sprechgesang male vocal counterpoint of Fred Schneider any better. You can't help but feel the wacky euphoria when those crazy B-52's step on stage and you know in a matter of seconds, you'll be shakin' your groove thing with the rest of the audience.

The final performer was Cyndi Lauper, herself, and boy did she shine. Being a child of the 80's, I have always had a great appreciation for 80's artists that can still rock your socks off, and did Cyndi ever! Her setlist included the following:

Change Of Heart
Good Enough
Rocking Chair (with Rosie)
Set Your Heart
When You Were Mine
She Bop
Into The Nightlife
I Drove All Night
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Rosie on drums)
Same Ol' Story (acapella)
Time After Time
Money Changes Everything (with Lucas Silveira from the Clicks)
Everyday People (entire cast)
True Colors (entire cast)

and to top that off, Cyndi even jumped out into the crowd during Set Your Heart and Into The Nightlife to rock out with the audience. Cyndi Lauper is an incredible performer, she has so much energy and exuberance that you can't help but love her, and damn, after almost 30 years she's STILL putting out kickass albums and rockin' the mic like no other. You go girl!!!

All in all, it was an incredible concert experience, which I was able to attend with one of my best friends (who I don't get to see nearly enough because I live in LA now). I had incredible seats and was able to access some great photos right at the front of the stage which I am very excited to share with you. Here is a collection of my favorite photos from the show, I hope you enjoy them, and if you get the chance to go to the True Colors Tour in your town, I HIGHLY recommend it!!!

My True Colors Tour Photo Blog

True Colors Tour at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, MA

Me and my BFF, Burkey, having a blast at True Colors Tour

Cyndi Lauper, giving an inspirational speech about the GLBT community

Rosie being Rosie

The B-52's rockin' out to the Love Shack

Carson Kressley pulls a "badly" dressed man out of the audience to give him a "makeover". This is the "before" picture

This is the after the "makeover" picture

Cyndi Lauper knows that girls just wanna have fun!

And of course I met Carson Kressley, who I just had to compliment for wearing those incredibly sexy pants

New Music: Duffy Has Landed

It seems like, over the past couple of years, the U.K. has been not-so-gently reminding the U.S. that we used to create great music but that we have lapsed. As the U.S. fell into the increasingly repetitive and unimaginative abyss of the looped drum machines and hoarse screaming of Southern crunk rap, the U.K. has imported gems like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, The Streets, Lady Sovereign, M.I.A., and Mika. Enter Duffy, the newest import from the U.K., who, even before she released her album yesterday in the U.S., has already been nominated for a LOGO NewNowNext Award.



Duffy has been touted as the second coming of Winehouse, except without the crack addiction. Last year, Amy Winehouse sang the memorable words "No, No, No!" in her breakout single "Rehab." But this year, Duffy's first words in her inaugural release "Mercy," which has been in constant rotation on VH1, were "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Perhaps she is the anti-Winehouse.



Duffy released her album "Rockferry" in the U.S. on Tuesday, and it has already reached #3 on iTunes. She also sold out her show at NYC's Apollo Theater. Most of the tracks on the album are a bit more soulful and loungey than the danceable "Mercy," so this is definitely an album to unwind to after a long day. The vocals are powerful, and the production is retro-fabulous. I predict a Grammy nomination.

The Cliks: Everybody Wants Them

The Cliks, a 4 member band from Toronto, Canada is making some big damn waves in musical pools. Besides churning out the hits from their latest CD, Snakehouse, (the videos for “Oh Yeah” and “Complicated” were both at #1 on Logo), The Cliks were also hand-picked by Ian Astbury of The Cult to support them on their recent American and Canadian tours.



Another music icon, Cyndi Lauper, also took notice of them and added them last year as well as this year to the True Colors tour lineup. True Colors is produced in conjunction with HRC and presented by Logo. HRC and this year’s other non-profit partners – CenterLink (the nation’s LGBT community centers) and Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National - are joining with the tour to bring together Americans across the country to voice their solidarity for LGBT equality and raise public awareness about the issues that face the LGBT community. The tour kicks off in Boston, MA on May 31. “Part of my mission with the True Colors tour was to provide a platform for some new and exciting acts. A band like The Cliks are all that and more. They are a force to be reckoned with and I am really excited to be sharing the stage with them.” said tour producer and creator, Cyndi Lauper. Lesbiatopia’s special projects editor, Sinnerviewer, recently spoke with Morgan Doctor, drummer for The Cliks:

Shannon: You just finished doing the long Jaegermeister tour opening for one of my favorite bands, The Cult. I read that they hand-picked you to open for them because they loved your sound. I’d love to hear your thoughts about that tour and share any good stories that you have.

Morgan: We sort of did 2 tours with them. One in the states and then, we just got finished doing a Canadian tour. We started in Portland and went all the way across Canada. We went into some really remote places like Grand Prairie. There were some really off the chart places in Canada. It was nice to do the tour with them and then, we went off to do our own thing, and then came back to tour with them again. They are really great guys. We had an amazing time with them. I think what we loved the most was being able to tour with just another rock band whose audience is , well, most of them hadn’t seen us. They didn’t know who we were. To just get up on stage and be received well every night just for our music and our live show - it was really rewarding.

A story? Let’s see… this last tour, there was one. We were in Calgary. We were there for 3 or 4 days because of the Juno’s (awards). We played 2 shows there. The next stop was Edmonton, an 8 hour drive. We were fartin’ around Calgary trying to leave and we were a little bit lost. I got this text from the bass player from The Cult and it said, “Hey, How’s it going? Where are you guys? I’m still in Calgary.” And I was thinking, “Oh, it’s a really nice day to stay in Calgary.” So he calls me up and says, “I missed the bus. I need to get to Edmonton. Can you guys give me a ride?” So he drove with us in the van. The difference between a bus and a van is enormous. It was sort of funny to have this rock star in our van, crashed out and then hanging out with us for the whole day. It was totally fun.

Shannon: You probably won his respect and reminded him of what it used to be like.

Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. I think they all really admired us as players and they really loved the music. We each kind of bonded with one of them. I really got along with the other drummer, Johnny. He played with Helmet and all kinds of incredible bands and people. It was a real honor for me to hear him say “I love your playing”. It was a great experience overall.

Shannon: Cyndi Lauper, she also hand-picked you for her True Colors Tour this year. I thought that was interesting because it shows an obvious pattern here. How does it make you feel to know that you’ve won the respect of all these accomplished musicians?

Morgan: It feels great. It’s really rewarding and it feels like things are happening at the right time. We’re ready for it. What seemed to happen was that Cyndi’s management got a hold of our stuff and really liked it. They played it for her and she really liked it. We were only scheduled to play something like 4 dates on last year’s tour. She had this press time meet-n-greet during the time that we were supposed to play. She moved it to another time so that she could watch us play. She saw us play and that was it! They started changing their schedules and started to move people so that they could add us to more dates on the tour. We seem to really win people over with our live show.

Shannon: That’s pretty impressive to do that. And not just with one person, but with so many people. The True Colors Tour – it’s a special tour. I really see the value of this tour very clearly right now.

I went to see Bon Jovi last week in Atlanta. The thing that struck me was how the band adjusted their pricing structure to their fan base growing older. None of us are 16 year old kids anymore. Most of the audience was suburbian soccer mom-types. Everything from ticket prices to shirts to programs was out of the ballpark when it came to cost. It was disgusting to me how they went from being a Jersey-boy rock band to this huge, corporate entity… a machine. I have to confess, it rubbed me the wrong way.

When I was reading the press release about The True Colors Tour and it’s affiliation with HRC, I learned that the proceeds from the shows will get into the hands of the organizations that work for the rights of all GLBT people. It made me wonder if, besides just promoting your music and expanding your fan base, was there anything that you all hope to accomplish as an act on this tour in that regard?

Morgan: Yeah. Well, I think it’s an honor to be asked to do a tour with such great acts that are on the bill like Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s, Tegan & Sarah, Joan Jett. To be in that kind of company alone is an honor. I think it makes it even more special to be doing it for such a great cause. The last time we did the tour, it was a really powerful experience at the end of the show during the encore, everyone comes out and we sang “True Colors” together. It was just a very emotional moment when the song would stop and everyone would raise their fists on stage and then they’d shine the light on thousands of people in the audience. It was just this moment of, like, “Oh my God. We’re in this together. You guys are here and we are here on stage. We’re together in all of this.” It was so empowering. It makes it that much more rewarding and takes it out of the realm of being a job… to have a purpose that’s bigger than you.

Shannon: That’s a perfect way to phrase it. One thing that I do know about The Cliks and that is your reputation of having a huge rapport with your fans. You are known for, when your shows are over, to go out there and hang out with your fans. You guys also take an active role in maintaining your MySpace page. You always put up cute little home videos and sending out blog posts and bulletins. It got me wondering: why do you think so many other bands don’t bother to try to make and keep those connections with their fans?

Morgan: Hmmm… it is a lot of work, for one. It can be… when you’re out on the road. That’s pretty exhausting as it is. You’re with all of these other people in the band, you’re traveling all day and you haven’t eaten well. And then to put yourself out there where you have to be social and engaging with people – it can sometimes be a little too much. I don’t know why people don’t do it except for maybe it’s just a lot to manage. I think we’re lucky enough right now where we can sort of manage it. I can see maybe if things continue to grow, we might get to a place where we won’t really get to be out there with our fans as much as we’d like to. It just wouldn’t be possible, you know?

The MySpace is really the best tool to get out and connect to our fans as much as we can. To put up videos and stuff like that…that’s kind of what MySpace is all about – connecting with people. So I don’t know why other bands don’t do those things that help them connect (on a personal level) with their fans. Other than they just might be tired.

(Laughs)

Shannon: You all definitely use that tool well. I am fascinated by the fact that pretty much everybody I know who is a Cliks fan has at least one photo of them with the band.

Morgan: I think we’re also pretty humble people. We’re just down to earth. Maybe it’s just a Canadian thing. It’s just who we are as people. We’re not in it to boost our egos or to be some sort of stars or whatever and I think that when you get off stage and you walk down there and you’re selling your own merchandise, it’s just like, “Here we are. We’re just normal people, too.” I think that it’s just natural for us to engage with people that way.

Shannon: I gotta ask about the song.

Morgan: Okay.

Shannon: Nobody can stop talking about it: the SUV song.

Morgan: Right.

Shannon: I keep hearing about this song and it’s just creating a huge buzz. Can you tell me what’s going on with that?

Morgan: Well, this is a song that Lucas (Silveira, the lead vocalist for The Cliks) wrote for an album of a different incarnation of The Cliks years ago. It was self-titled and put out independently. That song was on there. We decided to just try to play the song again but we totally changed it. It’s a whole other song, basically. Lyrically, it’s the same. Musically, it’s totally new. I think that he wrote that in response to seeing a high-profile band that had done really well and they stopped playing for a while and then they came back to playing and they were riding around in L.A. with their big SUV’s . This is a “socially conscious” band. And he was like, "What's going on here?" - that's how it came about.

Shannon: That one is going to be on the next CD, you think?

Morgan: Yeah, hopefully.

Shannon: Speaking of that next CD (even though I know you all are currently promoting your latest CD, (Snakehouse), when can your fans expect that?

Morgan: Well, if all goes as planned, which often it doesn’t, I can tentatively say that we’re going to try to record it in the fall, which means that it would probably be out in the early spring like February or March.

Shannon: What’s in your iPod, Morgan?

Morgan: What’s in my iPod?

Shannon: Yeah. I always have to know because I’m so interested in what everybody is listening to.

Morgan: I’ve been listening a lot to the new Stars album. A band from Canada. I’m a big Death Cab for Cutie fan. I have some Dave Brubeck stuff… some jazz. The Cocteau Twins, The Pretenders. The Cure.

Shannon: I like The Cure but they’re kind of depressing. Not something you can listen to in the winter.

Morgan: (laughs) Yeah, you don’t want to. It’s dangerous.

Shannon: Tell me about how you got involved with The Canadian Council of Jury for Grants and what kind of work you did there?

Morgan: I was asked to be on the Jury for granting musicians who are professional musicians in the non-classical category. It’s a peer-assessment committee. I’ve gotten a few grants on my own when I went to study in California with my guru and I got another grant to compose my own work. I have a solo album out and it was to compose music for my second album which I am finishing up right now.

They ask people who have gotten grants to be the peers on the assessment committee. They flew me out to Ottawa and it was a great experience. There were just 3 of us and we juried a bunch of applicants who were trying to get some music either to compose or to do travel grants. A lot of them want to go to far away places like India or Mumbai to study more their art form. Usually, it’s in the World Music category so people are studying all kinds of instruments and things that are non-traditional and harder to learn about. You can’t just go to a university for it. I found it really rewarding. I’m also just amazed at the talent that there is in Canada. It’s just really incredible.

Shannon: So was that a one-time deal or do you get invited back later?

Morgan: It was a one-time deal so far but they may ask me to come back. But they try to pick different people for different juries.

Shannon: What a great way to handle that – to leave those decisions in the hands of other professionals who’ve received grants and not in the hands of bureaucrats. (Nice system, Canada.)

You are working on your solo album. What projects are the other members of The Cliks working on right now?

Morgan: I don’t think much, actually. We’ve been really busy focusing mainly on this band. We don’t have time to do much else. Jen plays in a folk band called “August”. Nina, the band that she was playing with, she basically had to drop that so she could play in The Cliks. We haven’t really been home for really a month or two at the longest period of time so it makes it really hard to get into something and then have to leave it. Sometimes, I’ll pick up gigs when I’m in town, but it’s tough to do much else.

Shannon: My girlfriend really wants to know if you and Jen are an item…

Morgan: (Laughs) No.

Shannon: She said, “Well, when I saw them, Jen was playing with Morgan’s hair.

Morgan: (laughs) Jen does that to everybody.

Shannon: Since our readers are mostly lesbians, I’ve got to ask… is there anybody who is single among you Cliks?

Morgan: Nina is single. The rest of us are in pretty long-term relationships.

(Hear that, ladies? Nina is single! Go buy your True Colors tour tickets and introduce yourself!)

Shannon: Who are the chicks that you find smokin’ hot?

Morgan: PJ Harvey & Jennifer Garner.

Shannon: I could not agree more with Jennifer Garner…very nice. The last burning, pressing question that I have for you is what is your favorite junk food?

Morgan: I’m a really healthy eater so even my junk food is sort of healthy.

Shannon: I watched the video on your MySpace page of you all going through your groceries and saw all of that healthy stuff. It is important for everyone who reads this to know what you consider junk food.

Morgan: I’m really into these wheat-free, dairy-free Oreo-type cookies by Newman’s Own. Those are great. I’d have to say that right now, those are my favorite.

Shannon: I shall have to try them. Thanks for your time, Morgan.

The Cliks have been nominated for Logo's New, Now, Next Awards in the "Brink of Fame: Music Artist" category. You can click HERE to cast your vote.

Enjoy Sinnerviewer's favorite Cliks video, Complicated:

Alanis Morissette Promotes "Flavors of Entanglement"

Could there be a cooler name for an album? And I’m not a giant Alanis fan… but damn! That’s creative. I don’t know what it means….but, damn! That’s creative. “Flavors of Entanglement” is the latest release from Alanis Morissette and is due out on June 10th.

We here at www.Lesbiatopia.com recognize that Alanis certainly has her lesbian fan base.

And with good reason - she’s a very talented vocalist. Let's face it: she isn't ugly, either.

For those of you out there who are absolutely pregnant with anticipation over her new tunes, we have made a handy guide to help keep you from missing any Alanis opportunity!



SET YOUR TiVo’s!

Alanis will make the following televised appearances:

May 20 – Ellen
May 23 - The Today Show
June 9 - The Today Show
June 10 - Late Show With David Letterman
June 12 - Howard Stern (radio)
July 18 - Jimmy Kimmel Live!
June 11 - The View