Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Confused

Melissa Ferrick When we went to the Ani DiFranco concert a few weeks ago, I knew going in that Ani has a large following among lesbians. The audience confirmed this. We were one of the few opposite-sexed couples (Prejean and her NOM shitheads are back on my punch list by the way. ) in the house. You do not have to be gay to enjoy Ani DiFranco and you are certainly not gay if you do. My wife and I thought it was a tremendous show.

My musical tastes are somewhat diverse. Country, rock, alternative (whatever the hell that means), folk, soul, oldies, bluegrass, rap, hip-hop, reggae, ska are all represented on my iPod. So being an Ani DiFranceo fan certainly isn't any more of an indication of who I am no more than grooving on Wyclef Jean makes me Haitian. Right?

There may be more to this. Itunes always alerts me when gay pride play lists are released. I'm cool with my manly-man demeanor and raging heterosexuality. I clicked through.

Melisa Ferrick, Mary Gauthier, Tracy Chapman, Tegan and Sara, Dusty Springfield, Chris Pureka, The Gossip, Catie Curtis, Annie Lennox! ... The list of my favorite artists goes on and on. Maybe there's something to this. Even a Rachel Maddow app. was available and I never miss her show.

So I check the list for gay men. Meh. Only the Scissor Sisters and a couple of old Elton John tunes are in my music library. As I suspected, not my style.

It appears that I'm profiled as a 35-year old lesbian. Well, I apparently embrace the culture, if there is such a thing. Is the GLBT community's taste in music a myth and a stereotype? Do most older gay men like show tunes, for example? I see many senior citizens driving big silver Buicks. I suspect that dudes that who wear mullets like classic rock. There are hardly any people of color at NASCAR races. Should people be offended that iTunes tries to define us because of the music we enjoy?

ITunes can keep sending me these suggestions. I've found some terrific music this way. Maybe I'm a lesbian trapped inside a man's body. Maybe I just happen to like edgy tunes by female vocalists. Whatever, the case, I'm going with it. You feelin' me, my sisters?

P.S. Project Runway is one of my favorite TV shows.

1 comment:

TMC said...

It all sounds alright to me! No confusion here.