Strong Voices
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public
I was driving in my Volvo today... (we used to have a Chevy Suburban. Hub-Man loved the huge size. I hated it. I'm 5'3". It felt like I was driving a school bus, and it cost a million dollars to fill the tank. Sure we have 50 kids, but smaller cars can still fit 6 people and not require a second mortgage to drive.) I love my Volvo. I call it My Vulva. Yes, I'm a sick pup.
As I was driving on the highway, getting annoyed at truckers who DO NOT cover their faltbeds with tarps (with rocks and debris flying off, risking me and my windshield, thus putting my life and limbs in danger as I trot to Toy-for-Us for a birthday present for a special birthday girl's party this weekend...), I was listening to my favorite CD's. I hate listening to the radio because it's more talk and commercials than music. If I want conversation, I'll listen to my kids and hub-man. In that case, given the choice, I prefer listening to music.
I usually listen to my kids CD's. That's how it works when you have kids: all things get replaced by your kid's needs. For women, that happens the moment you learn you are pregnant. Felling good gets replaced by feeling sick. Thinness gets replaced with fatness. Boobs get replaced with Moo-Moo mountains, that leak. It just goes on and on, until the man catches on 10 months later, the baby cries and daddy soon realizes, clean clothes get replaced by dirty diapers, and the smell of fresh food turns to sour milk and empty dishes.
Yes, it's the circle of life called Family Bliss.
Where was I? Yes, driving in the car, listening to my children's music.
I hafta tell ya, my kids have GREAT taste in music. They should. Hub-man and I are great passive musicians. We always loved to listen to music. the louder the better, and back in our early days of dating, (back in the 90's) the colder the beer, the happier we got. Yes, that's when we liked each other very very much! We liked the same music, for different reasons, but that was ok... I was 21, he was in his mid-thirties. I was out of the house, he owned his own. What wasn't to like? We sat outside, drank beer, listened to Bruce, The Fixx, INXS, The Beatles, Don Hendley, Meatloaf... all sorts of good stuff. I'd dance, and he'd laugh. I'd tell him about my Grateful Dead days, and love for Metallica and the one-hit wonder song from the Sugar Hill Gang. He'd laugh some more, because looking at me, it's clear I was born in the wrong generation, wrong era, wrong EVERYTHING.
What always moved me about music and musicians was the soul of the singer's voice. It has to move me. I can't explain it really, but some artists have it, others don't. I can appreciate an artist's contribution to the music world, like Elvis... he inspired many other artists, and many loved him dearly. I personally never felt moved by his voice. Can't explain it. I can respect the body of work, but I can't like his version of his own songs!
Maybe I just don't like how he treated his wife... who knows. I'm quirky that way.
There are some female voices I find most powerful, and very enjoyable to listen to, as a result. Strangely enough, they all have male sounds to their names. I find this most interesting, because I have a strange loyalty to men, and fear of women. I expect both to betray me, of course, but at least a man's betrayal is natural... (or at the very least, socially accepted.) Who makes my list of easy-listening? Pat Benatar, of course. Stevie Nicks. Janis Joplin. Carly Simon. My new favorite is the chick from Evanescence. I've been listening to The Open Door CD for almost a year now.... WOW. What makes me think is how a voice like hers isn't more popular in America?
Why is that?