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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2001)
3611— — jnmiufy ri, IISIC V First Congregational United Church of Christ a real stereo store for real music lovers You go, girl Two strong women put out new CDs by L ynn T hom as S ONiA of Disappear Fear has another hit on her hands. ... because music matters. 1126 SW PARK AVENUE 228-7219 Portland Lesbian Choir Guest Choir 2627 N.E. Broadw ay/Portland/ 280-0910 www.stereotypesaudio.com Winter's Here!! Is your nest ready^ January 21, 2001 10:25 a.m. Sunday Service Celebrating the church’s 9th Anniversary Open and Affirming An open, affirming church where everyone is welcome — including .straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Portland 503.335.0758 1916 NE Broadway 10-7:30 Mon-Sat 6t 12-5 sun Beaverton 503.626.0400 12300 NE Broadway 10-6:00 Mon-Sat & 12-5 sun www.cotton-cloud.com I TAlIAN STYl I I TAl I AN I O D D l U N C H • D I N N E R • l ATI N Kill T Her latest CD, Me, Too, is a great combination of style and substance. She maintains her political edge and still manages the poignancy without losing the passion. The title song, “Me, Too,” encompasses this concept beautiful ly. When she falls in love with the girl next door and sits down to teil her father, a Vietnam vet, “He says, everybody has a war...its not about oil and it’s not about guns, it’s not about rainbows it’s about daughters and sons.” These lyrics ring true, as does most of her work. One of my favorites is a quirky little tune called “Bumblebee.” It’s about a relationship that just shouldn’t work, like a bumblebee whose IxxJy is just too heavy for its wings to hold up. It defies science every time it flies. She’s got a bit of a zydeco thing happening with “My Baby,” which is a rousing, feel-good kind of song that rocks and makes you just want to get up and dance. O f course, SONiA man ages to take you on the road to ruin as well. The songs “She Lied” and “Postcard from Texas” will tug at the heart of anyone who ever has loved and lost. But then, she picks you up and dusts you off with “Good Morning, This Is God,” a song that is receiving a lot of airplay these days. This one celebrates just learning to appreciate living. She grabs you again with the Latin rhythms and dance fire of “Shake It,” and once more you forget why you were ever sad in the first place. I highly recommend this CD. SO NiA is a native of Baltimore, where she produced this opus, the latest of her seven CDs. As with her previous work, she wrote almost all the music and lyrics. During the past several years she has been touring throughout the world, including per forming at the Gay Games in Amsterdam as well as many queer festivals and a recent tour of Australia. Her benefit concerts and human rights-oriented political events are too numerous to name, but she is a woman who puts her money where her mouth is. For instance, $1 from every concert ticket is donated to the U .S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. You can buy Me, Too, at your favorite online or bricks and mortar music store. It’s also available from www.soniadf.com. R & B fans from the ’70s will remember Millie Jackson. She’s the irreverent mistress of campy music who has been described as “Gladys Knight’s nastier little sister." Her distinctive style—dubbed “bedroom rap”— created a cult follow ing. The newly released CD Sex and Soul is a com pilation of some of her saltiest and sexiest hits, including an 11-minute version of “If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Right” from her gold album Caught Up. Ms. Jackson says she developed her patented rap style because she thought she couldn’t sing. Because she never had vocal training, she felt more comfortable talking than singing. So she started to banter with the audience, and they loved it. Never one to mince words, Jackson has been telling it like it is for some 30 years now. She never hesitated to say what was on her mind and consequently ended up saying lots of things that managed to get her banned from many radio stations. It’s almost ironic when you hear her music. She was just a strong woman ahead of her time— not necessarily a feminist politically, but Jackson knew what she wanted and knew how to ask for it. She is the stuff that legends are made of. Most of the music on this C D is about sex. Titles like “If That Don’t Turn You O n,” “G o Out and Get Some (Get It Out’cha System)” and “Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night” are classics that need no explanation. It’s Jackson’s unabashed rap in the midst of these classics that gets your attention. Her style isn’t what currently would be called rap but is more a bit of storytelling in the middle of a song rather than the essence of the song itself. She calls it her “sense of humor.” According to the liner notes, “The rap became an end in itself, and Millie became a disco age Moms Mabley in spandex.” This C D is a companion piece to another Jackson release called Between the Sheets. Both of them are available at www. buddharecords .com. in
