June 18th: Bella Thorne
Date of Birth: October 8th, 1997
Genre: Pop
What she identifies as: Pansexual
Where is she from: Pembroke Pines, FL
Star of the now-off-the-air Disney Channel show “Shake It Up,” Bella Thorne is a redheaded youth famous for looking up to previous Disney Channel star Miley Cyrus and being part-Hispanic but not looking it. Her music career has been very stop-and-go, with minor EPs and singles released here and there, with some being good like “Jersey,” and others not so good, like “B*TCH I’M BELLA THORNE” in which the only lyrics are the title phrase repeated over and over. Bella came out as Bisexual over Twitter in 2014, to Miley’s support, however in 2019 she adjusted her identification to pansexual.
Recommended Songs: Jersey, Paperweight, Burn So Bright, Call it Whatever
June 19th: Billie Joe Armstrong/Green Day
Date of Birth: February 17th, 1972
Genre: Alternative Rock
What he identifies as: Bisexual
Where is he from: Oakland, CA
Billie Joe Armstrong is the guitarist and lead singer of one of the most famous Alternative Rock Bands, Green Day. Their first claim to fame was the song “Time of Your Life (Good Riddance),” which was used in the clip show before the series finale of Seinfeld for the final montage. Green Day was an outspoken critic of the George W. Bush administration, possibly due to Armstrong’s orientation, creating the album “American Idiot” and asking for the removal of Bush and his cabinet from office. Post the Bush administration, Green Day released “21 Guns,” a pacifist anthem used in the film “Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen.” (He was also born on the same day of the year as the director of that film, just seven years later than Michael Bay) Billie Joe’s name inspired the name of a character in Pokémon Black and White, Billie Jo, the guitarist to punk rock bass player and Poison gym leader Roxie. Armstrong was one of several musicians interviewed for the Joan Jett; Bad Reputation documentary released in 2018 and released the anti-Trump anthem “Father of all…” (Mother$@#%ers) in early 2020.
Recommended songs: Time of Your Life (Good Riddance), Basket Case, 21 Guns, Fire, Ready, Aim, I Think We’re Alone Now (Tiffany Cover, Billie Joe Armstrong solo), Dreaming (Blondie cover)
June 20th: George Michael
Date of Birth: June 25th, 1963
Date of Death: December 25th, 2016
Genre: Pop
What he identified as: Gay
Where was he from: London, UK
George Michael was one of the bigger Pop Stars of the late 80s, with his song “One More Try” making his album “Faith” multi-platinum. He had already found success with his group Wham! Earlier in the decade, them being the originators of the songs “Last Christmas” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Michael appeared at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert, singing “Somebody To Love” with the remaining members of Queen. During the early days of his solo career, he came out, frustrated with the “identity” he had created to hide himself during his days with Wham! To this point, he set fire to a leather jacket during one of his music videos. George Michael influenced later LGBTQ+ singers, namely Tegan and Sara, who mourned him upon his death towards the end of 2016. Cause was officially listed as dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and fatty liver.
Recommended Songs: Careless Whisper (with Wham!), Last Christmas (with Wham!), Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (Live, With Elton John), One More Try, Somebody To Love (Live, With Queen)
June 21st: Sinead O’Connor
Date of Birth: December 8th, 1966
Genre: Folk/Alternative Rock
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Ireland
With her shaved head, Sinead O’Connor is one of the most instantly-recognizable musicians on this list. Never afraid to speak her mind, Sinead O’Connor has written a number of protest songs and covered artists such as Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Nirvana. Devoutly Protestant, she’s covered Dylan’s “Property of Jesus” and tore apart a picture of the then-current Pope on a Saturday Night Live appearance I believe in the 1980s. This drew backlash from Madonna, though most commented this was the only time Madonna showed off her Catholic roots in the public sphere. O’Connor also criticized Miley Cyrus after Cyrus claimed inspiration for the “Wrecking Ball” music video came from Sinead O’Connor. O’Connor’s cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” influenced Chris Cornell to cover the same song in the same style, leading to his daughter to do the same in tribute to Cornell in the aftermath of him taking his own life in 2017. Sinead O’Connor is tough as nails, yet has a good heart behind it all, often pointing towards greater equality and understanding. She contributed to a song against Police Brutality recently, but the song has been removed from Spotify, possibly because the title was "Kill Black Boys."
Recommended Songs: Why Don’t You Do Right, All Apologies, Property of Jesus, Nothing Compares 2 U, How About I Be Me
June 22nd: Rina Sawayama
Date of Birth: August 16th, 1990
Genre: Pop
What she identifies as: Bisexual and Pansexual
Where is she from: Born in Niigata, Japan, raised in London, UK
A relative newcomer to the music scene, Rina Sawayama’s first full-length album was released this last April. Sawayama presents a kick-butt Alpha female style of Pop wherein she takes little to no crap, blending Pop with Hard Rock. This is due to taking inspiration from modern acts like Lady Gaga and JoJo, while growing up listening to bands like Evanescence. Sawayama came out in a magazine interview in between her first EP in 2017 and her first album in 2020, saying she often writes love songs about women. Her parents divorced when she was young and she was raised by her single mother in London, where her side projects enabled her to go to college and get her music career started. She has mentioned she faced discrimination in college, not just for orientation reasons, but also for her race. One of her songs is also called “Comme des garcons (Like the boys)” in which she says “Comme des garcons, (like the boys, like the boys) I’m so confident,” expressing her desire to have “swagger like a gay man.”
Recommended songs: STFU, Comme des Garcons (Like the boys), Love Me 4 Me, Tokyo Love Hotel, Who’s Gonna Save U Now?
Thursday, June 18, 2020
6/19/2020 releases and reflections on last week's surprise releases
Last week gave me the surprise of a well-timed release of
Bettye LaVette’s cover of “Strange Fruit” and an also-well-timed release of
Natalie Grant’s cover of “Praise You In This Storm,” originally by Casting
Crowns. Both of their albums are
ironically scheduled to be released on August 28th. There was also the discovery of a Live EP by
Blondie recorded in Dallas in 1979 which was nice to hear, Debbie Harry is a
great rock/pop singer. There was also a
beautifully poignant song called “Dear Mr. President” by Kiana Lede that
captures what I and a lot of other people are thinking right now and I feel
everyone who feels that the promise of Freedom should apply to all Americans
should check this song out. Today is
also Sir Paul McCartney’s birthday and tomorrow is the birthday of one of his
biggest fans, Ann Wilson of Heart. There
are 5 releases on Spotify I have my eye on right now.
Phoebe Bridgers-Punisher: No, that’s not a misspelling. Phoebe Bridgers is a lesbian
singer-songwriter who didn’t get picked for the 30 bios of Pride Month
Musicians, but does have a connection to one, as she, Julien Baker and another
woman named Lucy Dacus made a trio called boygenius during this last
decade. Phoebe and Julien are probably
still reasonably close, one of Julien’s songs last year was called Tokyo, and a
single for this album is called Kyoto, which was the original capital of
Japan. Bridgers, like Baker, is
releasing some soothing acoustic music, only accompanied with keyboards and
possibly a horn arrangement, and I look forward to hearing it.
Whitesnake-The Rock Album: On the other side from soothing
and acoustic comes a collection of Remixed Hits from Whitesnake and a new song
just for this release, “Always the Same,” which was recorded during the “Flesh
and Blood” sessions (that being the album they released last year). The other singles show they’ve increased the
bass volume on “Still of the Night” and this album also features such hits as
“Judgment Day.” It’s always nice to hear
David Coverdale and the roaring guitars of Whitesnake, so this should be good.
Shirley King-Blues for a King: B.B. King’s daughter is
teaming up with various blues/blues-rock musicians, such as Joe Louis Walker
and Pat Travers, for what looks like her first full-length album. Shirley certainly has the blues pedigree and
Joe Louis Walker’s track should be good, he does good arrangements that fit the
blues well, I recall that I bought six of the ten tracks on his album. Pat Travers is another big name I recognize,
I heard of him on Spotify and found that in addition to originals like “Boom
Boom (Out Go The Lights)” and “Snortin’ Whiskey” (Drinking Cocaine), he covered
a lot of 70s Rock Bands like Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cactus and Aerosmith
(in fact, he’s one of the few artists to release his covers of both Zeppelin
and Skynyrd). This looks to be a good
album and I’d like to buy some tracks from it after I get paid again.
Switchfoot-Covers EP: I must confess, I don’t know who
Switchfoot’s covering on this release.
Whoever these guys are, they stayed out of my music window for 31 years,
or at least, these releases of theirs have.
But, Switchfoot is one of my favorite bands for a reason, and they take
these unheard songs and make them comforting and relaxing. Believe me when I say, if things go further south
in the rest of this year, find a Switchfoot album, you’ll be able to feel loved
no matter who you are.
Chubby Checker-Dancing Party: This is a compilation album of
Chubby Checker’s best-known releases from 1960-1966. This means this is a new way to get classics
like “The Twist” and its sequel, “Let’s Twist Again.” These were fun songs to listen and dance to
when I was a kid and I enjoy that I get a new chance to collect these old songs
and revisit my youth.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
New Black Lives Matter Playlist
I tried multiple things to feel better during this time of racial injustice, I emailed one of my African-American friends, asking how he was doing, I've been reading statements from baseball players like Andrew McCutchen, who has some good ideas on how to get racism out of the police force, like you're fired if you say the "N" word, and I've bought MP3s from African-American artists and LGBTQ+ artists to the point I went overbudget and now have almost nothing. None of it was a permanent solution. So last night, I made a playlist on Spotify of several African-American musicians that have made an impression on me through my life. Slash is on here, I don't know if some people will "count" him because of his interracial parents, but I do.
1.)
Fire-Jimi Hendrix
2.)
Purple Haze-Jimi Hendrix
3.)
Foxy Lady-Jimi Hendrix
4.)
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)-Jimi Hendrix
5.)
Little Wing-Jimi Hendrix
6.)
Day Tripper-Jimi Hendrix
7.)
Sunshine of Your Love-Jimi Hendrix
8.)
Watch This-Slash, Duff McKagan, Dave Grohl
9.)
Promise-Slash, Chris Cornell
10.)
Crucify the Dead-Slash, Ozzy Osbourne
11.)
Anastasia-Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
12.)
Sweet Child O’ Mine-Guns N Roses
13.)
Rocket Queen (Live)-Guns N Roses
14.)
Slither-Velvet Revolver
15.)
Steep Climb-Eric Gales, Zakk Wylde
16.)
With A Little Help From My Friends-Eric Gales, Beth Hart
17.)
Boogie Man-Eric Gales, Gary Clark Jr.
18.)
This Land-Gary Clark Jr.
19.)
Low Down Rolling Stone-Gary Clark Jr.
20.)
Gotta Get Into Something-Gary Clark Jr.
21.)
Come Together-Gary Clark Jr.
22.)
Strange Fruit-Bettye LaVette
23.)
Put A Woman In Charge-Keb’ Mo’, Rosanne Cash
24.)
Red House-Jimi Hendrix
25.)
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)-Eric Gales Band
26.)
Sunshine of Your Love-Pinnick Gales Pridgen
27.)
Taxman-Doug Pinnick, Steve Lukather, Tony Levin
28.)
Going Down-Freddie King
29.)
Shake-Gary Clark Jr.
30.)
Whatcha Gon’ Do-Eric Gales
31.)
I Just Want To Make Love To You-Muddy Waters
32.)
Call It Stormy Monday-T-Bone Walker
33.)
Three O’clock Blues-B.B. King
34.)
Hey Jude-Wilson Pickett
35.)
Thus Is My Home-Keb’ Mo’
36.)
Sweet Little Angel (Live)-B.B. King
37.)
How Blue Can You Get?-B.B. King
38.)
Blues Coming On-Joe Louis Walker, Eric Gales, Dion
39.)
The Thang-Joe Louis Walker, Jesse Johnson
40.)
Key To The Highway-B.B. King, Eric Clapton
41.)
Seven More Steps-Joe Louis Walker, Albert Lee
42.)
The Thrill Is Gone-B.B. King
43.)
Southern State of Mind-Darius Rucker
44.)
It Won’t Be Like This For Long-Darius Rucker
45.)
Life’s Too Short-Darius Rucker
46.)
Diamonds-Megan Thee Stallion, Normani
47.)
Motivation-Normani
48.)
Blackbird-Billy Preston
49.)
Get Back-Billy Preston
50.)
Eight Days A Week-Billy Preston
51.)
We Can Work It Out-Stevie Wonder
52.)
Eleanor Rigby-Aretha Franklin
53.)
Keep A Knockin’-Little Richard
54.)
Good Golly Miss Molly-Little Richard
55.)
I Saw Her Standing There-Little Richard
56.)
Lucille-Little Richard
57.)
Day Tripper-Booker T & the MGs
58.)
Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window-Booker T
& the MGs
59.)
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End/Here Comes The Sun/Come
Together-Booker T & the MGs
60.)
I’ve Got A Feeling-Billy Preston
61.)
A Hard Day’s Night-Dionne Warwick
62.)
Hope Is Just Ahead-Dionne Warwick, Billy Ray Cyrus
63.)
I Say a Little Prayer-Dionne Warwick
64.)
What the World Needs Now (Is Love)-Dionne Warwick
65.)
Heart of Gold-Bettye LaVette
66.)
Johnny B. Goode-Chuck Berry
67.)
You Never Can Tell-Chuck Berry
68.)
Carol-Chuck Berry
69.)
Hey Ya!-Outkast
70.)
Can You Get To That-Funkadelic
71.)
Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Of The Sucker)-Parliament Funkadelic
72.)
We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)-Tina Turner
73.)
Boss Bitch-Doja Cat
74.)
Fall Down-will.i.am, Miley Cyrus
75.)
Old Town Road-Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus
76.) I Ain't Drunk-Albert Collins
This was the first thing I did that actually felt like I did something about what's been going on, and I hope it leads to a better future for everyone in this country.
76.) I Ain't Drunk-Albert Collins
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Pride Month Musicians 3: 13th to 17th
June 13th: Carrie Brownstein/Sleater-Kinney:
Date of Birth: September 27th, 1974
Genre: Alternative Rock
What she identifies as: Bisexual
Where is she from: Seattle, WA
Carrie Brownstein, along with Soundgarden’s first bassist, Japanese-American Hiro Yamamoto, are two musicians in the history of Washington State alternative rock to attend Western Washington University who are not Death Cab For Cutie. Brownstein became actively involved in Olympia’s “Riot Grrl” scene, which also produced the band Bikini Kill, creating the band Sleater-Kinney, named after a location in Washington State’s capitol city. They initially signed to SubPop records, like Nirvana and Soundgarden also had, though the band split in the 2000s so the members could focus on other projects. Brownstein got a role on the TV show Portlandia and reformed Sleater-Kinney after making a few supergroups in the 2010s. The second post-reformation album was released last year and the group seems alive, well and capable of thriving in the 21st Century. The band has a potent alternative rock sound, partially grunge, but slightly more commercially viable than what Nirvana was doing and with a heavy dose of women empowerment.
Recommended Songs: Dig Me Out, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, Hurry On Home, Bad Dance, LOVE, Words and Guitar
June 14th: Tegan and Sara
Date of Birth: September 19th, 1980
Genre: Pop/Alternative Rock
What they identify as: Lesbians/Queer
Where are they from: Alberta, Canada
Tegan and Sara Quin are a pair of twin sisters who’ve been making music for most of this millennium, but first entered my radar in 2014 when they played at the Tacoma Dome and opened for Pop Superstar Katy Perry. They present a friendly, everyday sister sort of mood on stage and have beautiful music, their 2016 album “Love You To Death” was one of the best things to happen that year. That album and the previous, 2013's Heartthrob, had shown the two more in a Pop genre, as opposed to their earlier alternative rock leanings, which continued to their next releases, though since it was based on their writings in High School, when they were learning of their orientation in a time when it was more common to reject people who were LGBTQ+ than accept them, it was more downcast. Each song on the Love You To Death album had a music video, from “Dying To Know” featuring puppets/dolls based on the twins riding in a toy car and doing some dancing (fans actually even requested the puppets/dolls as merchandise they could purchase, which slightly confused one of the twins on Twitter: “Is this what people want to buy, Puppets?”), “Faint of Heart” featuring the two watching performances by various LGBTQ+ youths dressed as influential musicians, such as the recently departed David Bowie and Prince and the still-around Madonna (there are more, but I have difficulty identifying them, one could be either Elvis or Michael Jackson, he was a great dancer), “U-Turn,” featuring the two on a cartoon roller coaster (one makes a hilarious face near the end) and “BWU” in which one of them walks around a city and park with a ring box, ultimately finding love with an ice cream girl who may have been her real-life girlfriend/wife (I don’t know if either Tegan or Sara are married). The duo currently splits time between Vancouver, BC and Los Angeles, CA and are strongly outspoken politically, creating the Tegan and Sara Foundation to empower LGBTQ+ people. They, Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus were the musicians leading the charge in my Facebook feed about George Floyd at the start of this month, which makes sense, each is on fire with the desire to carry out justice, whether it be racial or orientation-based. In 2017, their album “The Con” was covered by several other LGBTQ+ artists and allies, one such ally being Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, in celebration of its 10th anniversary.
Recommended Albums/Songs: Heartthrob, Everything Is Awesome (Song from The Lego Movie), Love You To Death, The Con 10th Anniversary Covers, Hey, I’m Just Like You
June 15th: Holly Miranda
Date of Birth: September 21st, 1982
Genre: Alternative Rock/Folk
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Detroit, MI
Holly Miranda is an artist I found out about from Spotify’s playlists of LGBTQ+ artists and was a great discovery. She makes folk music/alternative rock music with a very soothing tone as well as a soft voice and also hopes that people will like her music regardless of her orientation. In fact, her lyrics rarely to never explicitly state the gender of the person she’s interested in, possibly leading one to believe they’re about young men. After finding success in the Detroit area, she moved to New York City in search of greater success. I was very glad to find her music and hope to hear more from this artist in the future.
Recommended Songs: Everlasting, Desert Call, All I Want Is To Be Your Girl, Mt. Hood, Waves
June 16th: Julien Baker
Date of Birth: September 29th, 1995
Genre: Electric Folk/Alternative Folk
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Bartlett, TN
An emotional powerhouse, Julien Baker’s music mostly consists of her strumming on an electric guitar (apparently a Fender Telecaster, based on pictures of her), and singing, sometimes reaching an emotional extreme to the point she is wailing her lyrics. Sometimes her performance sounds fragile, like she’s been through a lot of pain, making her come across like someone's little sister roughed up at recess you want to protect. Julien Baker is an unusual woman in that she is a Christian Lesbian Socialist, however these things are far from exclusive, as I know two Lesbian Couples through my current Church and Wikipedia identified Martin Luther King Jr. as a Christian Socialist. I have not heard Socialist themes through her music, though, more concern for the poor and homeless, which is an issue we too often ignore because it doesn't affect us directly or we just think the person is a drug addict who is getting what they deserve. Julien has a praise song to express her Faith called “Rejoice” with the lyrics “I think there’s a God and He hears either way.” Julien Baker, like Holly Miranda, is an artist I first heard of through Spotify’s playlists of LGBTQ+ musicians and also like Holly, I’m glad I found her and look forward to hearing what she comes up with in the future.
Recommended Songs: Rejoice, Red Door, Conversation Piece
June 17th: Lzzy Hale/Halestorm
Date of Birth: October 10th, 1983
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
What She Identifies As: Bisexual
Where is She From: Pennsylvania, USA
Halestorm is one of the great current rock bands of modern era, along with Black Stone Cherry, BabyMetal, The Dead Daisies, Hell’s Belles, Zepparella, Operation Mindcrime and BPMD. Lzzy Hale is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist of Halestorm, which is named after her and her brother, who is the drummer in the band. Halestorm’s various covers EPs reveal they have taken inspiration from a wide variety of bands, such as The Beatles, Whitesnake, Guns N Roses, Dio, Metallica, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Judas Priest, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and even Lady Gaga. Hale came out as bisexual when she was seen behaving intimately with a woman in public after a breakup with a boyfriend. Hale has also done collaborations with many other artists, such as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, where she did a ballad more in line with Celine Dion than her usual heavy metal stylings, Eric Church (studio duet on second song on "Mistress for Christmas" single), The HU (studio collaboration on "Song of Women," available as a single now, to be released on Deluxe Edition of "The Gereg" album), Black Stone Cherry (live performance duet of "Peace Is Free") and In This Moment, where she sang a trio of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen. She is set to lend her voice to a track on the next album of country singer Cory Marks, due out in August. 2017 was a rough year for Hale for similar reasons it was to me, she was a huge fan of Chris Cornell (covering two of his songs on two of Halestorm’s Covers EPs) and Chester Bennington, to the point that I used her Twitter to verify if Cornell was dead the day he died. This was also where I first heard the name of his daughter, Toni.
Recommended Albums/Songs: Out Ta Get Me, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Hunger Strike, Dissident Aggressor, Straight Through The Heart, Love Bites (So Do I), Forget About the Blame (Moon Version) (with Trans-Siberian Orchestra), We Will Rock You (with In This Moment and Taylor Momsen), Reanimate 3.0, Vicious, Vicious (Stripped)
Date of Birth: September 27th, 1974
Genre: Alternative Rock
What she identifies as: Bisexual
Where is she from: Seattle, WA
Carrie Brownstein, along with Soundgarden’s first bassist, Japanese-American Hiro Yamamoto, are two musicians in the history of Washington State alternative rock to attend Western Washington University who are not Death Cab For Cutie. Brownstein became actively involved in Olympia’s “Riot Grrl” scene, which also produced the band Bikini Kill, creating the band Sleater-Kinney, named after a location in Washington State’s capitol city. They initially signed to SubPop records, like Nirvana and Soundgarden also had, though the band split in the 2000s so the members could focus on other projects. Brownstein got a role on the TV show Portlandia and reformed Sleater-Kinney after making a few supergroups in the 2010s. The second post-reformation album was released last year and the group seems alive, well and capable of thriving in the 21st Century. The band has a potent alternative rock sound, partially grunge, but slightly more commercially viable than what Nirvana was doing and with a heavy dose of women empowerment.
Recommended Songs: Dig Me Out, I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone, Hurry On Home, Bad Dance, LOVE, Words and Guitar
June 14th: Tegan and Sara
Date of Birth: September 19th, 1980
Genre: Pop/Alternative Rock
What they identify as: Lesbians/Queer
Where are they from: Alberta, Canada
Tegan and Sara Quin are a pair of twin sisters who’ve been making music for most of this millennium, but first entered my radar in 2014 when they played at the Tacoma Dome and opened for Pop Superstar Katy Perry. They present a friendly, everyday sister sort of mood on stage and have beautiful music, their 2016 album “Love You To Death” was one of the best things to happen that year. That album and the previous, 2013's Heartthrob, had shown the two more in a Pop genre, as opposed to their earlier alternative rock leanings, which continued to their next releases, though since it was based on their writings in High School, when they were learning of their orientation in a time when it was more common to reject people who were LGBTQ+ than accept them, it was more downcast. Each song on the Love You To Death album had a music video, from “Dying To Know” featuring puppets/dolls based on the twins riding in a toy car and doing some dancing (fans actually even requested the puppets/dolls as merchandise they could purchase, which slightly confused one of the twins on Twitter: “Is this what people want to buy, Puppets?”), “Faint of Heart” featuring the two watching performances by various LGBTQ+ youths dressed as influential musicians, such as the recently departed David Bowie and Prince and the still-around Madonna (there are more, but I have difficulty identifying them, one could be either Elvis or Michael Jackson, he was a great dancer), “U-Turn,” featuring the two on a cartoon roller coaster (one makes a hilarious face near the end) and “BWU” in which one of them walks around a city and park with a ring box, ultimately finding love with an ice cream girl who may have been her real-life girlfriend/wife (I don’t know if either Tegan or Sara are married). The duo currently splits time between Vancouver, BC and Los Angeles, CA and are strongly outspoken politically, creating the Tegan and Sara Foundation to empower LGBTQ+ people. They, Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus were the musicians leading the charge in my Facebook feed about George Floyd at the start of this month, which makes sense, each is on fire with the desire to carry out justice, whether it be racial or orientation-based. In 2017, their album “The Con” was covered by several other LGBTQ+ artists and allies, one such ally being Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, in celebration of its 10th anniversary.
Recommended Albums/Songs: Heartthrob, Everything Is Awesome (Song from The Lego Movie), Love You To Death, The Con 10th Anniversary Covers, Hey, I’m Just Like You
June 15th: Holly Miranda
Date of Birth: September 21st, 1982
Genre: Alternative Rock/Folk
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Detroit, MI
Holly Miranda is an artist I found out about from Spotify’s playlists of LGBTQ+ artists and was a great discovery. She makes folk music/alternative rock music with a very soothing tone as well as a soft voice and also hopes that people will like her music regardless of her orientation. In fact, her lyrics rarely to never explicitly state the gender of the person she’s interested in, possibly leading one to believe they’re about young men. After finding success in the Detroit area, she moved to New York City in search of greater success. I was very glad to find her music and hope to hear more from this artist in the future.
Recommended Songs: Everlasting, Desert Call, All I Want Is To Be Your Girl, Mt. Hood, Waves
June 16th: Julien Baker
Date of Birth: September 29th, 1995
Genre: Electric Folk/Alternative Folk
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Bartlett, TN
An emotional powerhouse, Julien Baker’s music mostly consists of her strumming on an electric guitar (apparently a Fender Telecaster, based on pictures of her), and singing, sometimes reaching an emotional extreme to the point she is wailing her lyrics. Sometimes her performance sounds fragile, like she’s been through a lot of pain, making her come across like someone's little sister roughed up at recess you want to protect. Julien Baker is an unusual woman in that she is a Christian Lesbian Socialist, however these things are far from exclusive, as I know two Lesbian Couples through my current Church and Wikipedia identified Martin Luther King Jr. as a Christian Socialist. I have not heard Socialist themes through her music, though, more concern for the poor and homeless, which is an issue we too often ignore because it doesn't affect us directly or we just think the person is a drug addict who is getting what they deserve. Julien has a praise song to express her Faith called “Rejoice” with the lyrics “I think there’s a God and He hears either way.” Julien Baker, like Holly Miranda, is an artist I first heard of through Spotify’s playlists of LGBTQ+ musicians and also like Holly, I’m glad I found her and look forward to hearing what she comes up with in the future.
Recommended Songs: Rejoice, Red Door, Conversation Piece
June 17th: Lzzy Hale/Halestorm
Date of Birth: October 10th, 1983
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
What She Identifies As: Bisexual
Where is She From: Pennsylvania, USA
Halestorm is one of the great current rock bands of modern era, along with Black Stone Cherry, BabyMetal, The Dead Daisies, Hell’s Belles, Zepparella, Operation Mindcrime and BPMD. Lzzy Hale is the lead singer/rhythm guitarist of Halestorm, which is named after her and her brother, who is the drummer in the band. Halestorm’s various covers EPs reveal they have taken inspiration from a wide variety of bands, such as The Beatles, Whitesnake, Guns N Roses, Dio, Metallica, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, Judas Priest, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and even Lady Gaga. Hale came out as bisexual when she was seen behaving intimately with a woman in public after a breakup with a boyfriend. Hale has also done collaborations with many other artists, such as the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, where she did a ballad more in line with Celine Dion than her usual heavy metal stylings, Eric Church (studio duet on second song on "Mistress for Christmas" single), The HU (studio collaboration on "Song of Women," available as a single now, to be released on Deluxe Edition of "The Gereg" album), Black Stone Cherry (live performance duet of "Peace Is Free") and In This Moment, where she sang a trio of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen. She is set to lend her voice to a track on the next album of country singer Cory Marks, due out in August. 2017 was a rough year for Hale for similar reasons it was to me, she was a huge fan of Chris Cornell (covering two of his songs on two of Halestorm’s Covers EPs) and Chester Bennington, to the point that I used her Twitter to verify if Cornell was dead the day he died. This was also where I first heard the name of his daughter, Toni.
Recommended Albums/Songs: Out Ta Get Me, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Hunger Strike, Dissident Aggressor, Straight Through The Heart, Love Bites (So Do I), Forget About the Blame (Moon Version) (with Trans-Siberian Orchestra), We Will Rock You (with In This Moment and Taylor Momsen), Reanimate 3.0, Vicious, Vicious (Stripped)
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