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Kevin Barnes: Of Montreal and Of the Next Wave

This interview with Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal is too cool. Wow: queer straight guys are really starting to exist. It makes me so happy.

The void came in handy when the family moved to staid Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. His brain still smoldering, young Barnes disappeared into his music. When he wasn’t writing songs about his desperate lust for girls, he was fantasizing about being attracted to boys. “I was more feminine than the other straight guys, and I got picked on,” says Barnes, who speaks in a fey whisper, so this is easy to imagine. “I was like, if I’m going to get picked on, I might as well be gay. Then I would at least have a support group, and we could isolate ourselves and be in that world together.” Being gay also seemed more interesting. “I romanticize homosexuality. Most of the gay guys I met were smart and so many of the straight guys were dipshits, especially in South Florida. I wanted to be part of the more elegant caste.” But Barnes never found a serious boyfriend—making out has been the extent of his homosexuality, which is why he says he’s not gay. “I’ve never had a connection where I wanted to tear a guy’s clothes off. I’ve been open to it. Maybe I haven’t found the right guy.”

Wow. It’s been cool for women to admit to such things for a long while now, but for guys? Not so much. Ah, brave new world, you can’t get here fast enough.

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Bye for Now

This Leadbelly track came up in my shuffle just as I was finishing packing, so enjoy it while I’m driving west & away.

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Two Tune Tuesday: Sly & the Family Stone

After James Brown, their tracks have to be the most heavily sampled; some of you, I bet, will know snippets of melody from some other song. I’m regularly disappointed when I hear a Sly Stone riff and it turns out to be some song I’ve never heard and not the original.

“A pretty face / a pretty face / & oh what a gorgeous mind…”

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Happy Birthday Deborah Harry

Debbie Harry turns 65 today. This is her at 63:

May we all look so good – and point out bullshit as clearly – as we enter our 6th decade.

(h/t to Lena)

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Two Tune Tuesday: Inspired by Juneteenth

I went to a Juneteenth celebration – yes, here in Appleton, Wisconsin – and one band did a bunch of familiar R&B; I don’t know if it’s age or what, but I have really started to love the soul side of things. Philly soul next week!

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Classical Music (& Class)

Lawrence University, where Rachel & I work, has a Conservatory as well — which for me means tons of free, cool music. I go see a lot of things I never went to see in NYC; as I was explaining, in NYC, classical music often costs a lot, and when it doesn’t, it means sitting with a million people in Central Park to hear/see it. Ditto for opera, and often for jazz, too.

Here, I go a lot, although I’ve never known much about classical music, and along comes this cool series from Atlantic Monthly about how to listen to (& appreciate) classical music. I’ve had people give me CDs (the music medium, not the type of trans person) in the past, but for me – live is the thing. I prefer all of my music live & in person, pretty much, & now feel like I’ve been incredibly spoiled to have so much of it around so much of the time as a NYC resident. I went to see a Chinese classical performer, here, for instance, & couldn’t remember where I’d seen someone play that kind of instrument before, until I remembered: the W 4th Street subway. It’s one of the things I miss most, all the found music in NYC – guys playing plastic buckets, folk singers in Washington Square Park – but the Con makes up for a lot.