thelesbianlifestyle.com

Hot:

So many of our stories are told told through music. Everyone has a song that takes them back to a certain time and place in their life. Some of us even have songs that we listened to over and over again in attempts to get through the loss of our first love. This is where I commend Brian McKnight for penning the diddy, “One Last Cry.”

I am happy to announce that TLL now has an author who will be dedicated to exploring the world of lesbian music. Cerisa, did I mention she has a sweet name too, will hence forth be your guide to all things lesbian that involves music. Her first mission is to interview Nora Ricci, an out musician from Orlando, FL. Record reviews, discovering new lesbian artists, and more interviews will follow. Before you put your cowboy boots on and get to line dancing lets take a moment to get to know more about your musical lesbian tour guide. TLL Meet C.C.

In her own words…

I am a firm believer in the philosophic mantra “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As such, I think my obsession with music would be well-conveyed by the story of how I came upon one of the many records that changed my life.

I can vividly recall just one day that I walked into Normals used media store in my hometown of Baltimore. I had been looking for some non-fiction lit and turned to skim the records when by chance some Andy Warhol record cover caught my eye. Just as I had moved that single record forward to reveal a white field with a hand grasping a skull, I could feel that holy-shit-someone-is-behind-me-this-isn’t-cool-at-all-guess-I should-turn-and-look feeling that is pretty common in that area of town. Anyway, I turned around, and looking over my shoulder was a large dreadlocked gentleman wearing a KMFDM t-shirt. He was staring at the record with such love and conviction that I pulled it out and gestured it toward him; as a peace offering perhaps. He shook his head and told me that I HAD to buy the record. I looked back down at it and noticed the white sticky that read “10–”, which is top-shelf at Normals. I thought to myself, “Meh, you’d blow it on liquor anyway and who can argue with a KMFDM fan?” Unfortunately for me, there has been no other such serendipitous occurrence in my life. The record was DJ Shadow’s The Private Press. The first play was inspiration. The second was love. Every subsequent listen has taught me more about composing lush, intricate, urban music.

For those of you curious-type folks, some of my other favorite, life altering records include:

The Sonic Youth’s “Day Dream Nation”
Ani Difranco’s “Not A Pretty Girl”
PJ Harvey’s “Stories From the City, Stories from the Sea”
Aesop Rock’s “Labor Days”
Tom Wait’s “Rain Dogs”

And trust me, there are tons more! These were records that I found (or that found me, as it were) at curious points in my life. They became the soundtrack to my life at that time, or clarified it, or confused it in an interesting way.

My name is Cerisa, but everyone calls me C.C. so I’ve come to prefer it. I am a connoisseur of all kinds of music, much like many of the musicians that have inspired me. I, like most of you, am absolutely smitten with the fairer sex. My contribution to TLL will be to find, then review and interview, lesbian music and musicians, respectively. I know I’ll have fun doing it, and that is, of course, what she said.

–C.C.

P.S. You can check my music at www.myspace.com/steadfast410