Sophie B. Hawkins's "Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover" was still lingering on the radio, and I found in it a song that spoke to my budding tween feelings! Yeah, I think that people could sense my queerness even then. A middle school classmate (who closeted in his own finding LGBTQ identity) asked me if I was attracted to males. After I told him that I wasn't, he so eloquently blurted out "So, you're a d/ke?". Selena and Sophie were the tip of the iceberg for me. Through Artie "the One Man Party", Skip Kelly, "Kid" David Kelly, and "Uncle" Dale Dorman, helped introduce me to Jewel, Sheryl Crow, Vonda Shepard, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Melissa Etheridge, the Indigo Girls, Tracy Chapman, and too many more to count. Late at night, I would hear songs start testing in Boston's radio market. Carson Daly's syndicated weeknight countdown would give me an idea of what was remaining in top of the charts, but it was Casey Kasem who revealed whether songs were trending toward popularity or trailing off into obscurity like Rebekah's "Sin So Well". On that note, I'm including a link to Rebekah's single, because I thought that the song and the artist deserved much more airplay. It wasn't just a great song through musical merit, but also a feminist statement about owning sexuality. Billy Joel got a hit single in '77 about trying to seduce a Catholic woman aptly named "Virginia". On the other hand, Rebekah was singing about the spiritual and cultural hangups over her sexual desires.
It was in my freshman year at Syracuse that I got my first live show experience from this Lilith era. Liz Phair was playing a show at the university's Goldstein Auditorium one snowy Valentine's Day. With that context, imagine the ambience when she performed the very graphic song titled "Flower". During the following years I would dive deeper into that moment. CD's by Jewel and Meredith Brooks. Me performing some Heart ballad on open mic nights. Sunlight pouring in over a tapestry of an Irish triple goddess figure. Deeply immersive meditation while listening to Fiona Apple's "Tidal" album on loop. Nights learning about Martina McBride and Eva Cassidy on Delilah Rene's syndicated radio show. I even spent Saturday mornings working on studio course assignments while enjoying a cup of cafeteria, cappuccino Norah Jone's "Come Away with Me" album, and the sun coming up over campus.
While my musical tastes have begun to vary in different directions, there's still a soothing sonic home that I find in this style of music. It was in listening to a Sara McLachlan-focused Pandora station that I was inspired to write my first music blog. With the wider reaches of streaming, I was able to learn of the Wailin Jennys, Odessa Jorgenson, the Waifs, Thundermother, and Warlock's Doro Pesch (who I believe is the rightful queen of metal). It's how I learned that Joan Osborne's built a career on more than just "One of Us". From the hedonism of "Let's Just Get Naked", to folk, to jazz and blues. Even an album celebrating Bob Dylan's songwriting.
That was the buildup to seeing Joan Osborne perform at the City Winery in Boston. For me, it was an opportunity to experience where she had developed to (as a live act) since the days of Lilith Fair. After 13 studio albums and all. I brought brush pens and a sketchbook in case the venue wasn't permitting photography or video that night. There was a restriction on flash photography, and since many people weren't pulling out their phones for a snapshot, I decided to draw the performance and sip my tea. Joan was mainly performing on an acoustic guitar with Jack Petruzzelli on an electric one. Keith Cotton played a keyboard and grand piano. In bettering my art skills, I jumped at the opportunity to draw musicians performing with these instruments. One of the most interesting experiences in creating the visual art for this blog entry was when focusing on the piano playing. Sweeping across the visual field, I start with the gestural drawing of the musician's playing style and posture. In almost an M. C. Escher style transition, the art gets geometric and more simplified as the focus pans across the image. The setlist included some covers of Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters. Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" reminded me to consider how my writing can benefit musicians, present and future fans, and those who will benefit from a queer writer's perspective. Of Joan Osborne's original work, the show was mainly a combination of songs from her debut album "Relish" and 2023's "Nobody Owns You". Without necessarily rebooting the classics, distinctions can be heard from the 1995 album, and that can reflect how the artist in the present reflects on their older work. Different cues, or timing, or subtle changes of lyrics which score big praise with the changing times. Suggesting a female pope somewhere in space & time, is in some ways more impactful to a word change in Alanis Morissette's "Ironic". The more recent songs such as "Woman's Work" continue that feminism that was burning bright in the Joan of Osborne of previous decades. It's now applied to guiding her daughter's generation. That guidance balances with a song like "I Should Have Danced More". This song is an outlet through which Joan reflects on what she regrets not having done in the past (or at least not having appreciated and enjoyed enough). Toward the end, there is hope that's introspective (and inspiring to anyone who relates to the song). That in recognizing these missed opportunities, we may be able to live our lives better from this point on. Personally, this resonance even hits on how I connect with music. There are multiple facets of life that can relate to the song's message, but seeing these icons live, and being present in the performance of these songs is something that I wasn't that capable of as an 11 year-old just learning radio autonomy.
At the end of the show, I was able to meet Joan Osborne in person. I had purchased a copy of "Nobody Owns You"on vinyl, and she signed itfor me! I explained how I'm trans and wasn't able to see her perform back during the original Lilith Fair tours. While we (Joan, the music, and myself) continue through our different paths into the future, I look forward to the next point that they converge in another live concert. I let that happiness shine on as I rode the MBTA Orange Line shuttle that night.
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