Thursday – She likes it hard

[ninanevermore]

Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about my friend the Cajun Queen, and how music and sex are strongly linked in her mind. She likes hard rock and roll, and only hard rock and roll. She likes her music to throb, pulsate, and dominate. Music is not a soothing thing to her, and it's not a spiritual thing. It is simply a phallic thing.

She was complaining about having to ride in the car with her friend, Peggy, that past weekend, and having to listen to Peggy's music.

"She was playing Sarah McLachlan," the Queen said with a look that I, myself, would have reserved for someone listening to Barry Manilow. "She was playing it loud, with the windows down. I bet everyone who passed by thought we were a couple of lesbians."

"Why would they think that? I bet a lot of people who aren't lesbians like Sarah McLachlan. Some of her stuff is okay. It's mellow, but it's okay."

The Queen raised her eyebrow at me. "Do you listen to Sarah McLachlan?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It depends. Sometimes. I listen to a lot of different things, though. I don't just listen to one kind of music."

"Uh-huh. I bet you have a couple of Indigo Girls CDs, too, don't you?"

My silence when I hesitated to answer told her enough. I do happen to have some Indigo Girls in my music collection. Even more damning, I have some Melissa Etheridge.

"That's okay," said the Queen, throwing up her hands, "Whatever floats your boat. I'm as open-minded as the next person. Hey, I live in the Montrose,* remember?"

"I like different music for different moods," I tried to explain. "My mother was always singing to me when I was little, so I like female vocalists that I can sing along to. Music is maternal for me."

"My mother sang to me all the time, too," the Queen said, "But I still don't like Sarah McLachlan."

"Yeah, but I liked my mother," I pointed out, "Whereas you and your mother get on each others nerves. Of course you don't like anything that reminds you of your mom. It's different for me."

The Queen has a very expressive face, and whatever emotion she is feeling moves across it like the words on a marquee sign. She was feeling the kind of disgust I feel when someone tells me that they like to eat pickled hog feet or head cheese.

"Music is audio sex for you," I told her, "You want it hard, and masculine, and loud, and kind of rough."

"What's your point? That's just the kind of music I like."

"And the kind of sex you like."

"Maybe."

"Admit it, I'm right. Name one woman artist that you listen to."

"None. I don't like women artists."

"That's fine. It doesn't mean that women who do like female artists are lesbians, though."

"I bet most of them are."

"Not true. For most people, music and sexuality are completely different issues. I bet there are a lot of gay men who like Sarah McLachlan, too, but that doesn't mean that they want to have sex with women. It just means that they like Sarah McLachlan."

The Queen looked skeptical.

"I like a lot of different music," I repeated, "I like hard rock, too, just not all the time."

"It's okay, I'm not judging you."

"Yes, you are."

The Queen shrugged her shoulders and put in her earphones, and I rolled my eyes at her before I walked back across the room to my own desk. I could see her on her side of the room, bobbing her head to the music. There she sat, fully dressed, hands on her keyboard, and all alone, looking like she wasn't up to anything besides work. Only I knew the truth; that when The Queen is listening to music, she is getting the kind of prurient pleasure in public that most of get behind closed doors. Music is her lover, and she doesn't like her lovers to be gentle - not ever.


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* The Montrose area is to Houston is what The Village is to New York city: artsy, avant-garde, and boasting a large gay population.

Comments

not judging you

[regatomic.livejournal.com]

funny how that's always said,..;)

Re: not judging you

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

It's a polite way of saying, "I am so judging you."

The Montrose

[noblwish.livejournal.com]

Correction... Montrose WAS to Houston what The Village is to NYC. It is quickly becoming something... trendy, mundane, banal. :'(

Re: The Montrose

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

There's still a lot of the old Montrose there. The Yuppie scum may have invaded, but they will not overthrow. That many tattoo parlors, adult novelty shops, gay bars and funky art venues can not all be run out of town. The traffic would be like the Hurricane Rita Exodus.

[tribal-woman.livejournal.com]

I appreciated this thought - I have friends with similar inclinations as your friend. I'm more diverse in my own musical tastes and like you choose more for mood or mood inducing.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

It's funny how we tend to assume that the way we experience something (be it food, music, sex, etc.) is the only way it can be experienced.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

The Montrose is definately the most fun and intersting part of the city.

[welfy.livejournal.com]

My mom sang to me a lot when I was little, and I prefer male vocalists. :^P There's a couple women singers I like, but they're far and few between. I have no idea why.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Different strokes for different folks. There are a lot of male vocalists I like, too.

[l-l-u-w-d.livejournal.com]

On the note you mentioned about hog's head cheese, I have to concur with you, face making is an absolute must when it is mentioned. Especially when one has been roped into helping to make the nasty stuff. I posted about it, here, http://l-l-u-w-d.livejournal.com/44196.html. In case you are so inclined to actually read an account as to just why someone else thinks it's so nasty. LOL, but, yeah, musical tastes are so varied, from person to person, and sometimes moment to moment, in each individual. I know that I listen to a wide variety of genres, depending on my mood and situation. But, I don't think I have ever met anyone who was restricted to listening to only one genre of music.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God. That was awful. I'm grossed out enough seeing the stuff in the grocery store (and wondering just who the hell buys it). The idea of people making it from scratch is too much. It's got brains in it, people. Brains! Arrrghhhh! o_O

[hermes-wade.livejournal.com]

The Cajun Queen sounds like a Drama Queen. ;)

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

As a cajun, she is naturally dramatic, and everything that she feels, she feels with intense passion. It's part of her cultural heritage. But she doesn't go out of her way to create drama for other people, if that's what you mean. In fact, she looks down at her nose at people who do that. A true drama queen would have made a public scene to the friend listening to Sarah McLachlan in the first place. What the CQ did was kvetch about it to a neutral party, and this is the conversation that ensued. She is a Cajun Queen; she doesn't have to create drama, it just resonates from her naturally.

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

Weird how people judge others based on their music. I like Sarah McLachlan a lot, but I'm not a lesbian. I also like grunge and some pop and some hiphop. *shrugs* But I will NEVER like country music. It's for hicks. ^.~ Like my mom...LOL

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

My mom listened to C&W, too. Now that I'm older, I've learned to appreciate some of it, but only the old stuff I remember from my childhood. I can't stand the modern country.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Funny, I had that song in my head this morning and I couldn't figure out why. Then I get to work and read you comment.

You icon looks like my duck does after a hard night of drinking: technically still alive, but feeling awfully dead. :D

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I think because I like to sing, I gravitate toward songs that will go well with my own voice as I belt out tunes in the shower.