What I'm Adding to My iPod Today

I'm feeling nostalgic, thanks to my buddy Earthbound Misfit who posted "Hair" by the Cowsills on her Blog "Earthbound Misfit," listed to the right.
I started thinking about songs of that era, and how as a junior lesbian I had no idea the women whose music I loved so much at the time were either gay or bisexual.

Here's the mother of all fabulous rock singers, Janis Joplin, who brought down the house every time she belted out this song. I saw her perform live in the 70's, and my boyfriend Tony actually ran up on stage and danced with her while she sang this song. I was too stoned and shy to join him, but man, was I impressed with his moxie. Joplin and Tony have both since died, so I send this one out to him.




Forget her mega-hit "It's My Party," Leslie Gore wrote this anthem to my attempts at straight dating back in my teens and 20's. I was really hot for Leslie Gore back then, and I blame her from my continued attraction to Jewish women, especially from New York. Of the four women listed here, she's the only one still alive. Like me, she's a Taurus. We live forever.
In a semi-interesting sidenote, I had this song on a CD collection of girl songs playing in my car back when I was seeing a woman I called Eclair. She took a curious interest in the song, requesting I play it again and again. We broke up shortly thereafter. Own her? Please, I didn't even want to rent her!



A true lesbian Diva, Dusty Springfield inspired me to love denim shirts when I saw her wearing one on one of her album covers back when I was about 14. I own at least seven of the damn things to this day.
Her gritty, soulful voice and her high femme visage made me crazy with confused, early hormonal lust.
And this video is such a great example of 60's era girl singers.



Laura Nyro was one of my very first musical obsessions. Her sensitive lyrics, her innate introversion and her amazing voice always made me happy I had ears, not to mention feelings. Best known for allowing the crappy 5th Dimension to record songs she wrote like, "Stone Soul Picnic" and "Wedding Bell Blues," had she not been so shy about performing, she could have been a mega-star. Her best album IMO was, "It's Gonna Take a Miracle," where she teamed up with a very young Patti Labelle and her band Labelle as backup singers. Listen carefully and you can hear Patti do a little solo midway through the song.
Once again, I was drawn to a swarthy NY babe, and when Laura Nyro died not too long ago, I was sad for a long, long time.