Almanac for June 26th

Erin O'Riordan's Almanac for June 26th: https://ko-fi.com/post/June-26-Hieroglyphs-R6R81HQ7DQ

Bummer June 26th

June 26, 2015: Although apparently not coordinated, a series of terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait, Somalia, Syria, and Tunisia kill approximately 750 people. The Syrian Kurdish town of Kobanî is hardest hit, with more than 220 civilians killed by the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIL). 

Happy Birthday, Tina Turner

Happy birthday, Tina Turner. I hope you've been reincarnated as someone happy.

I found out in August that the Swedish band Ghost, in addition to covering Shakespears Sister's iconic "Stay," also covered "We Don't Need Another Hero."

Tina Turner Compilation Album Debuts on Spotify

Good Hearted Woman, 2025 Remaster

CD, $18 at Tina's official site. Not an affiliate link. https://thetinaturner.us/products/good-hearted-woman-2025-remaster-cd

According to Tina's official site, Good Hearted Woman was "the album started Tina’s solo career in 1974, predating the recording of Tina Turns The Country On!"

This one's an affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4qOWNEb

My Goodreads 2024 Reading Challenge

I read 40 books so far in 2024.

An Elegy for Old Terrors by Zoë Orfanos was recommended to me by the poet's parents, who live here in Indianapolis. 

Most of these were library books I borrowed using the Libby app. I own An Elegy for Old Terrors, Bury Your Gays, Happiness Becomes You, Heathcliff Redux, How To Be Invisible, and Life's Too Short. Nightbooks is my brother's.

I Remember That 'Dorothy Surrenders' Exists

Speaking of internet things that are still around, I recently realized that the woman-focused LGBTQ+ blog Dorothy Surrenders is still updated. I dedicated a post to Dorothy Surrenders in 2010. Holy cats, that was 14 years ago!! That's an even longer time than I've been on Tumblr!!!

In my 2010 post, I linked to the pages of some ladies I was digging at the time: Josephine Baker, Rihanna, Scarlett Johannson, Queen Latifah, Eva Mendes, Shakira, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, and Uma Thurman. Since then, the blogger known as Dorothy has lent her spotlight to so many more amazing women.

My previous post was all about the fictional men. Dorothy is all about the ladies. This time, only Harley Quinn is a fictional character.

It's so hard to choose from all the amazing and talented women who've been featured on Dorothy Surrenders over the years, but I'll try. These are some of the women relevant to my interests (they'll take you to the tag on Dorothy Surrenders):

poet Amanda Gorman

musician Amy Winehouse

poet Audre Lorde

musician Billie Holiday

musician Chappell Roan (Chappell Roan song I'm currently obsessed with: "Pink Pony Club")

actor Emily Blunt

actor Florence Pugh (my favorite movie Amy March)

animated character Harley Quinn 

actor/novelist Krysten Ritter

musician Lady Gaga (soon to play Harley Quinn on the big screen!)

actor/director Maggie Gyllenhaal

actor Tessa Thompson (like Krysten Ritter, another Veronica Mars alum who grew up to become a Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero!)

musician Tina Turner

And many more! Come browse with me. We have so many women to catch up on!

Andre Braugher: May His Memory Be a Blessing

All right, 2023 and I are officially fighting now. First it had the audacity to take away Tina Turner. Now I find out the sublime actor Andre Braugher of Homicide: Life on the Street and Brooklyn Nine Nine has passed away at the too-young age of 61. He had lung cancer.

March 14, 1998: Therese and I went to Scotsdale Mall [in South Bend, Indiana]...went to the Hacienda restaurant, ate fried ice cream, then went to the movie theater, where we saw The Man in the Iron Mask. Set in the 1660s and based on Alexandre Dumas’s 1850 novel, this is a good, old-fashioned story. Great ending, beautifully filmed, good score. My one complaint was that I had to see Gerard Depardieu’s bare ass. 

One of the movie trailers I saw was for a movie with Nicholas Cage and Andre Braugher. It looked like an American version of Faraway, So Close. [Wikipedia calls City of Angels a “loose remake” of Wim Wenders’s film Wings of Desire, of which Faraway, So Close is the sequel.]

From this point on, beware of spoilers for Homicide: Life on the Street.

April 26, 1998: I was looking at the listings from the Sunday paper and I saw this on the Friday listing for NBC: 

"Homicide: 'Fallen Heroes:' A suspect in a judge's death sprays the squad-room with gunfire (part 1 of 2)"

I heard that Andre Braugher is leaving the show, and I wonder if [Frank] Pembleton is going to be killed of. I seriously hope not. What would Bayliss be without Pembleton? Just a tall, sad queer guy.

May 1, 1998: "The Day We Prayed Would Never Come." I'll get right to the point. Ballard and Gherety got shot; they're off the show. Gang war with Georgia Rae Mahoney. Next week, part two: [Tim] Bayliss gets shot! That's not a guess; there were previews. Bayliss will get shot next week. He'll probably die too; they said something about "the final farewell." I hate season finales, I swear to God. When Kyle Secor gets written off Homicide, I'll cry as if someone I know died. No matter what happens next week, I'll cry. I'll especially cry if I have to wait until August to find out if he's dead.

I tell you, Homicide can hardly go on without the Pembleton-Bayliss partnership.

May 2, 1998: I went to my [parents'] house for awhile. I ate dinner and read next week's TV Guide. I've surmised this: next Friday [on the Homicide season finale], Kellerman will be fired, Pembleton will resign (thus removing Andre Braugher from the show, as I mentioned on the 26th) and Bayliss, though shot, will survive. It'll probably be like when Pembleton had a stroke--after three or four episodes, he'll be like new again. Now I just hope Ballard won't have to quit. She could be Bayliss's partner. They would have good conversations.

May 8, 1998: The event I've been waiting a week for: The 100th episode/season 6 finale of Homicide. As predicted, in the search for Georgia Rae Mahoney (high-ranking gang member), a Georgia Rae associate takes a shot at Frank, but Tim takes the bullet for him. G wants Frank to find someone to blame, so he chooses Kellerman (who shot Georgia Rae's brother/fellow gang member Luther Mahoney, but Lewis and other detective witnessed this and have said nothing). Kellerman gets fired but takes all the blame. 

Kellerman asks Pembleton, "If it were Bayliss, wouldn't you do that same?" Which leads Pembleton to wonder if he did the right thing by Kellerman, and then to resign. 

Meanwhile, Bayliss will live, and Ballard will be all right too. The last shot of the episode tracked from Tim's mom to the faces of all the detectives to Mary Pembleton*, who put her arms around Frank, who leaned forward and picked up Tim's hand [while Tim Bayliss was unconscious in the hospital]. The final frame of Pembleton's hand on Bayliss's looked like the ads from Jungle Fever. 

Friday, November 27, 1998, South Bend: ...I watched the PBS show Anatomy of a Homicide, about the filming of an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street with Vincent D’Onofrio as the guest star. D’Onofrio plays a man who’s been pushed off a subway platform and suffered the kind of horrible compression injury that means he’ll die as soon as paramedics try to move him. Andre Braugher, as Detective Frank Pembleton, stays with the dying man while his colleagues attempt (unsuccessfully) to find the man’s girlfriend so she can say goodbye while he’s still conscious. I hadn’t seen the episode, which aired in December 1997, but it looked intense.

*Mary Pembleton was played by Amy Brabson, who married Andre Braugher in real life. They have three sons.

Tina Turner Tribute

During a random check of Twitter on Wednesday, May 24th, I learned the sad news that musical icon Tina Turner had died at the age of 83. She was said to have passed away from an illness, which I assume was either a recurrence of cancer or her kidney disease for which she'd had an organ transplant. As a longtime fan, I create this blog post as my small tribute to her memory.

November 26, 1938: Tina Turner is born. Kurt Loder writes in I, Tina: My Life Story by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder, “The woman who would one day be Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock at the tail end of another age. By 1939, tensions in the world, long building, were yielding to turmoil...

“Such events still seemed safely remote to most Americans, however, and the U.S. remained politically neutral amid the bad news from abroad. There were, after all, more effervescent diversions. This was the year Garbo laughed in Ninotchka, the year of Gone With the Wind and Gunga Din, of Buck Rogers, The Wizard of Oz, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame...On the AM dial, Americans contented themselves with Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America,’ and hummed just as happily through ‘Over the Rainbow’ or ‘In the Mood’ (it was Glen Miller’s big year) or perhaps ‘South of the Border,’ the latest hit by Gene Autry, the ‘Yodeling Cowboy’ of the silver screen.” 

In short, Tina Turner was born squarely in the Jazz Age, grew up alongside rock n’ roll, and became its queen. 

“These days, I'm very much a child when it comes to my birthday. I get excited as November 26th approaches because I look forward to being with Erwin [her husband] and receiving greetings from all over the world. I love reading the cards, which I display throughout the house. I love picking out the cake from my favorite bakery in Kusnaut. There's nothing I love more than a birthday party, even if it's a small dinner with close friends. One thing I've learned is that the older you get, the more important it is to include young people in the festivities, because everything gets a little bit louder and light-hearted when they're at the table.

“I cherish these celebrations, probably because it wasn't always that way. There were no cakes when I was growing up, no candles, no presents.” - Tina Turner, Tina...That's My Life

January 1, 1970: Tina Turner appears on the cover of German music magazine Bravo.

January 8, 1971: Ike & Tina Turner release their single “Proud Mary,” written by John Fogarty. Its highest-charting position will be #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, which it reaches on March 27th. The B-side, “Funkier Than a Mosquito’s Tweeter,” was written by Tina’s sister Alline Bullock (December 1, 1936 – September 4, 2010) and later covered by Nina Simone. 

March 29, 1978: Ike and Tina Turner’s divorce is finalized.

January 2, 1984: Tina Turner releases her cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” as a single.

March 10, 1984: Tina Turner’s single “Let’s Stay Together” hits #1 on the Billboard Club Play chart.

August 28, 1986: Tina Turner gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

January 16, 1988: On Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 8th birthday, George Harrison has the #1 song in the U.S., “Got My Mind Set On You.” The same day, Tina Turner sets a concert attendance record when crowd of 180,000 shows up to her show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

August 1, 1993, South Bend: I went to the Forum and saw What’s Love Got to Do With It, starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner. While a good movie, it was also hard to watch because of the violence.

December 28, 1993: My mother, brother, and I went to Chicago with our family friends Stephanie and Mark. We went mainly for after-Christmas discount shopping at Marshall Field’s, but we also had lunch at the Hard Rock Café. I ate a turkey burger at the table near Tina Turner’s leather miniskirt from her “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” music video and Andy Taylor of Duran Duran’s guitar.

March 5, 1994, South Bend: I went, all by myself, to the bookshop at North Village Mall. I bought two books: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I’ll eventually have to read for American Literature class, and I, Tina: My Life Story by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder.

Monday, October 10, 1994, South Bend: After school I picked up Mom from work. She and I went to a college fair at the Century Center. Then she took me to McDonald’s for supper. The restaurant had a cardboard cutout of Tina Turner, and four guys in kilts were there. 

November 3, 1994, South Bend: After school and supper I went to the Main Library and checked out a book and the Ike and Tina Turner CD with the Ikettes song "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)." It’s the song Salt-N-Pepa is sampling in “Shoop.”

March 1, 1995: After school I went to Tracks and treated myself to the Tina Turner boxed set, Tina Turner: The Collected Recordings Sixties to Nineties (Capitol Records). It comes with a book with tons of pictures, including the covers of most of her records, old and new, plus some quotes and a little info. 

The first CD is the most interesting; it’s all Ike & Tina Turner songs. I had some of them on CD or on tape (copied from library CDs), but six songs were new to me. The second CD has some duets, covers, B-sides, etc. The really good stuff includes the version of “Acid Queen” from the Tommy soundtrack, the cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love,” and the cover of Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love.” The third CD has a lot of material from Private Dancer, plus “The Best” and “Steamy Windows.” 

December 2, 1995, St. Mary’s: I read Jon Pareles’s review on Melissa Etheridge’s album Your Little Secret in today’s newspaper. He described Etheridge as being influenced by Tina Turner. Now, this guy knows what’s he’s talking about.

December 6, 1995, St. Mary’s: In between classes, my mother came to the dorm and gave me candy for St. Nicholas Day. After classes, some of the other girls from my floor and I watched The Year Without a Santa Claus. After that I watched a bit of the Billboard Music Awards and saw Tina Turner singing her James Bond theme song, “Goldeneye.”

Sunday, March 10, 1996, South Bend: I woke up and read the paper. It said Tina Turner would be starring in Hanes ads this fall. My mom said she also has a new album coming out.

December 7, 1996, St. Mary’s: I saw a tape of last night’s pay-per-view Tina Turner concert, Tina Turner’s Wildest Dreams. She did “Proud Mary,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and a few others from the concert I saw on TV a few winter breaks ago, plus her new songs, including “Goldeneye” and “Missing You.” And she did “River Deep, Mountain High;” that was pretty cool.

Saturday, February 22, 1997, St. Mary’s: My family took me to Yesterday’s, a restaurant in Granger. We had a good time. I ate Asian plum chicken and got a slice of key lime pie to go. Later I could be found watching Tina Turner on Saturday Night Live.

March 10, 1997: After dinner, my mom, brother, and I went to Barnes and Noble, where Mom bought me The American Women’s Almanac by Louise Bernikow. This book is fascinating. It has a picture of Janis Joplin and Tina Turner singing together.

March 27, 2021: Tina, a documentary about Tina Turner, premieres on HBO Max.

May your memory be a blessing, queen.

Tina Turner's My Love Story

My Love Story by Tina Turner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have I read anything else from this author? Yes, I read I, Tina.

Was this book better than this author's other book? They're both pleasantly hopeful and inspiring. Tina is a mentally strong person who has overcome so much in her life. However, while I, Tina ended on a happy note with Tina reclaiming her life from her ex-husband Ike, this one ends on a sad note.

Was this book enjoyable? Very. Since my husband had a kidney transplant earlier this year and was on dialysis for five years, I found her chapters about her health struggles relatable. I was also glad she has such a rewarding relationship with her husband. He seems great.

Did I learn anything new from this book? I learned that Tina is still the lovely person we met in I, Tina. I also learned she struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia as a child; I don't recall that being mentioned in her previous book. Now I'm extra proud of her that she loves to read and returns to favorite books again and again.

Where did I get this book? I borrowed this ebook from my local library using the Libby app.

Do I recommend this book to other readers? Yes, I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in celebrity memoirs. The one thing to be aware of is that Tina doesn't narrate the audiobook. It's read by a voice actress.

How to Play a Lovegame in 5 Gaga Steps

As I sit impatiently waiting for the Grammy Awards show with Lady Gaga's tribute to David Bowie (plus a musical number from the cast of Lin Manuel Miranda's brilliant show Hamilton), please enjoy this essay originally published at the now-defunct Oysters and Chocolate erotica website. 

Ever since the days of Sappho, poets and songwriters have been perfecting the art of the playful, uniquely worded verbal flirtation. It didn’t begin with Lady Gaga, but the pop superstar has both blatant sexuality and a way with memorable turns of a phrase. Pluck a few lines from her songs and you’ll find an intriguing roadmap for an erotic encounter with someone special. Go forth and have a wild, fashionable time in the name of Gaga.

Eyeliner and Cigarettes 

It starts with a look. Biologists will tell you the first stage of the human mating ritual is eye contact. Wide eyes signal interest; in fact, when we meet someone we’re really interested in, our pupils dilate. Eyeliner is an artificial way of making our eyes look bigger, a sort of cosmetic flirt. The effect can be especially striking on guys, for whom wearing make-up is a rebellious sign of going against society’s grain. Eyeliner instantly makes a guy look like a rock star, or like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. Either could be a very hot look.

A night of passion doesn’t have to begin with eyeliner, though. Whatever kind of flair makes you feel like a sexier, flirtier version of yourself will work. The cigarettes, likewise, don’t have to be literal. Cigarettes, like eyeliner on a man, could be anything rebellious. They could also represent what relaxes you, whether it’s a dirty martini, an aromatherapy bath, or a mellow iTunes playlist. Of course, all you phlegms fatale are welcome to light up if it’s what floats your boat. Indulge yourself in a moment of relaxation and a little flair before the big night to boost your confidence.

Got your relaxation on? Good. Do you look as good as you feel? Excellent. Now go where the night takes you--drinks, dinner, dancing, maybe even something that doesn’t start with D.

French Kissed on a Subway Train 

You’ve gone out, showed off your look and done whatever it is you two crazy kids do for fun these days. You’ve decided on his/her place or yours--now you have to get back there. Driving offers privacy, but you can’t drive with a buzz on. If you’re lucky enough to live in a city with a subway, elevated train or trolley car system, train cars can be an ideal spot for foreplay.

It may help to know the laws in your area about sex acts in public and semi-public places to know how far you can push it. In the U.K., public nudity and sexual expression are covered by the Sexual Offences Act of 2003. Sexuality activity is permitted in any place a couple can reasonably expect to have privacy, and an otherwise-empty subway car may fit that definition. In the U.S., laws vary by state, but you may face a fine or even probation if cited for disturbing the peace or public indecency.

Don’t let the legal mumbo-jumbo scare you off, though. Kissing and light petting aren’t likely to raise a legal eyebrow, and a public encounter can provide an intoxicating rush of adrenaline. Actor Mary-Louise Parker recommends hotel hallways for hanky-panky and calls the risk of getting caught “worth it every time.”

Leather Studded Kiss in the Sand

Like eyeliner, black leather with metals studs In the ‘50s, leather and studs were for bikers, and they were decidedly bad company. Cultural relics like Vaughan Monroe’s record “Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots” helped cement that rebellious image, and rock stars have been rocking the leather look ever since. On one hand, leather has mainstreamed. Designers like Michael Kors and Donna Karan continually draw inspiration for couture creations from vintage leathers. On the other hand, leather is increasingly politically incorrect as animal rights gain momentum.

Leather is also a fashion--and function--staple of the BDSM scene. If you’re feeling a tiny bit adventurous, spice up your night look with a studded leather collar, belt, or bustier. If you’ve got a mate with a foot or leg fetish, a pair of studded boots might be just the ticket.

For vegans and those who choose not to use animal products, there are an ever-increasing variety of sexy leather alternatives. Some are made of latex or acrylic, and others are blended microfibers. If faux leather shoes make you think of Birkenstocks, think again. You can find stylish leather alternatives from Charlotte Russe, Kate Spade, Steve Madden, Fantasia Wear, Victoria’s Secret, and perennial lingerie favorite Frederick’s of Hollywood, among many others.

Tempting as it is to have the classic From Here to Eternity moment on a tide-swept beach, the sand doesn’t have to be literal either. It can represent your mental “happy place.” The happy place is about more than mere relaxation; it’s about actively fantasizing about everything that makes you happy. Your fantasies are safely confined inside your mind, so go wherever your deepest desires want to carry you.

Love You With My Hands Tied

You’ve flirted with the BDSM look; now you might choose to kick the kink up a notch. You could try leather restraints, leashes, a body harness, a straightjacket or another type of full-body restraint. Bondage and sex toy sites, whether on the Internet or in your neighborhood, offer intriguing adult playthings for all sexual tastes.

If you’d like to try restraint play for the first time (or the first time with a new partner), use common-sense safety and comfort measures. Establish some boundaries and agree on a safe word that stops all play, no questions asked. Keep an eye on a person who’s restrained, and never cover up both the nose and mouth, especially when using a gag. Play delicately around the joints, face, neck and other body parts that can easily be injured, and realize holding one position for a long time can cause fatigue and discomfort. If you choose handcuffs, look for the kind that don’t tighten under pressure. Beyond these practical matters, your comfort level and imagination are the only limits.

Take a Ride on Your Disco Stick 

One couldn’t be blamed for associating the stick with a dick, making this step rather self-evident. In the spirit of Gagaesque sexual adventure, you may want to mix it up a bit. While shopping for the leather-studded kiss in the sand, you might have come across a variety of vibrators and dildos. There seem to be as many varieties of faux dicks as flowers in the springtime. You may also have seen a strap-on harness or two; consider this permission to experiment with pegging, if you’ve ever wanted to. Make no apologies for your desires, ‘cause baby, you were born this way.

If penetration isn’t your sexual cup of tea, feel free to focus less on the stick and more on the disco. Create an aural experience with music that puts you and your partner in the mood. If your LoveGame leads you toward female-dominated play, your soundtrack might include the Velvet Underground’s “Venus in Furs,” Tina Turner’s feminist-reclamation cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb,” and…well, lots of Lady Gaga’s songs.

References

Fisher, Helen E. March 31, 2010. “The Biology of Attraction.” Retrieved from the Psychology Today website: http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199303/the-biology-attraction

July 26, 2007. “What IS Vegan Leather, Anyway?” Retrieved from The Gloss website: http://thegloss.com/fashion/what-is-vegan-leather-anyway/

Parker, Mary-Louise. March 26, 2009. “Why Having Sex in Public is Worth It (Every Time).” Retrieved from the Esquire website: http://www.esquire.com/features/Dilemmas/sex-in-public-0409

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (n.d.) “PETA’s Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing: Companies That Sell Leather and Fur Alternatives.” Retrieved from the PETA website: http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/

Thompson, Holly. December 11, 2010. “Sex in Public.” Retrieved from TheSite.org: http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/law/yourrights/sexinpublic

Veaux, Franklin. March 7, 2011. “BDSM Safety and Common Sense.” Retrieved from the Xeromag website: http://www.xeromag.com/fvbdsafety.html

This is an affiliate link:

All In: 25 Erotic Stories by Emily Cantore. $4.99 from Smashwords.com
25 erotic short stories from the hot and bothered mind of Emily Cantore! To buy individually would cost a bundle! More than 130,000 words of first-time lesbians, threesomes, girls experimenting, sex toys and much more. Guaranteed to warm you up and get your mind racing!

A Few Awesome Women in Honor of Black History Month

Happy Wednesday! I've been really uninspired to blog this last week - it may have something to do with my work period being 13 days (February 16-28) instead of the usual 15-16 days. Time crunch? Yeah, just a little bit.

I still had time to finish reading Carrie's Story and interview Molly Weatherfield. As part of the book tour, I'll be sharing the interview and my review on April 4th.

This is just a small sample of the women of African descent I admire. I could keep going but the post would quickly get too long.

The poet Ntozake Shange, who wrote For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Even if you don't read poetry, you may remember it from its adaptation into a Tyler Perry movie with an ensemble cast including Thandie Newton, Janet Jackson and Kerry Washington.



Lucille Baldwin Brown is an everyday woman who blazed a trail (with an extraordinary sense of style!) - she was the first Black public librarian in Tallahassee, Florida.



Author Alice Walker.



Sojourner Truth. (It's a little hard to read here, buy easier to see on Pinterest.)



Josephine Baker - the singer/dancer/actor/civil rights activist was also an Allied spy during World War II!



Rosa Parks - there's so much more to her story than the time she refused to give up her seat on the bus. She was a lifelong civil rights activist who also worked to bring more attention to the issue of violence against women. When she passed away, she was the first woman to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda and only the second African-American. With Sojourner Truth, she's soon to be one of two African-American women honored with a statue in the Capitol.



Raina Lamont, age 3, wore her Captain America costume to the polling place during last year's election.



Music and style icons Grace Jones and Tina Turner hung out together in 1981.



Going back one more generation, here's Billie Holiday hanging out with Ella Fitzgerald.



Finally, our strong (and beautiful) First Lady of the United States, Ms. Michelle Obama. Whether you agree with her husband's politics or not, you must admit wherever she goes and represents American women, she makes a good impression.

Audiobook at Everand (Scribd): https://www.everand.com/audiobook/919398501/Josephine-Baker-in-Berlin

Audiobook at Kobo, Walmart: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/josephine-baker-in-berlin-1?sId=bbcce908-210e-4557-8179-79b7234cf528&ssId=frYh4xBx4uHpTEfoAAVY4&cPos=1

Go Mutants!, Cat Women and the Ikette ~ Sunday Randomness

I won't be adhering to the rules of SOC Sunday this morning, because I feel an untimed, unthemed ramble coming on. I need to collect my literary thoughts.

First, I read Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle this week. Doyle is a former writer for The Simpsons, so he gets my sense of humor. The blue-skinned, James Dean-esque alien on the cover is J!m. (Like P!nk. Only blue.) His mother is Miw, a cat woman. Brief mention is made of the mysterious death of Miw's sister Sakhmet.

Sakhmet, also spelled Sekhmet, is one of my favorite Egyptian goddess. A personification of the harsh and sometimes deadly rays of the sun, the death-goddess is depicted as a woman with a lion's head. In Beltane, Allie - a priestess dedicated to the fire goddesses of the world - is tattooed with the image of Sekhmet.

The B-movie convention of cat women from outer space was kept alive in the '90s by Shakespear's Sister. It was a theme of the album Hormonally Yours, which included a track called "Catwoman." I seem to remember hearing on the radio that the track, and some of the other visitor-from-another-world-themed songs on the album, were inspired by the old film Cat-Women of the Moon.

But the original cat woman, Sekhmet, was from ancient Egypt, and so (according to her belief in reincarnation) was Tina Turner. In her autobiography (co-written with MTV reporter Kurt Loder) I, Tina, Turner expressed the belief that she is a reincarnation of the Egyptian woman pharoah Hatshepsut.



I had to get I, Tina off the shelf when Anderson Cooper had as his talk show guest Robbie Montgomery. I recognized her name from the book - she was one of the original Ikettes. The story goes that in 1965, the Ikettes scored a string of pop hits independent of Ike & Tina. To capitalize on their newfound fame, Ike Turner sent out touring groups composed of three random female singers under the name "The Ikettes."

Screwed out of royalties (they were paid as band members, not recording artists) and not even getting to tour behind their accomplishments, Robbie Montgomery and the other two original Ikettes walked. Since Ike Turner owned the name, their attempt to make it on their own fizzled.

If you're a '90s girl and you knew exactly what I was talking about when I said Shakespear's Sister, you probably know the Salt N Pepa jam "Shoop." I have to share it just for the fashion alone, the very epitome of '90s style. (Well, this and X-Girl by Kim Gordon.)



You may or may not remember that it contained a sample of The Ikette's "I'm Blue," with Tina Turner as a backup singer.

According to Anderson, Robbie Montgomery, who was homeless for a time, now stars with her son on a restaurant reality show called Welcome to Sweetie Pie's on Oprah's OWN network. (I don't have cable, and I've never seen it.) It's never too late for a comeback. I wish her restaurant venture much success.

My Irish granny and I both like to watch Anderson. When I was a high school girl in the '90s, Anderson Cooper was a reporter for Channel One, the news program we watched in class at the start of every school day. (So was Lisa Ling, the reporter who has her own show on OWN.) Next week he has some more great guests: Janet Jackson on Monday, Madonna on Wednesday.

Random fact: Janet by Janet Jackson was the first CD that I ever bought.

Sometimes I also watch Dr. Phil. He had Eric Roberts last week. Eric Roberts is sexy, with his lazy Southern accent - even as the smarmy gangster in The Dark Knight. (Not sexier than Christian Bale, of course - or Cillian Murphy, my new fave since I saw him in In Time. I would never have guessed that he's from County Cork - his American accent is really good.) But Roberts is on my permanent shit list, not only because of his domestic violence conviction (he admits he shoved his wife into a wall) but because he's one of those really damaged addicts that it's so hard to love. I finally know how Julia Roberts feels - my brother is mean when he's drunk, too. I wish him much success - just away from women.

This is Cillian Murphy.

Nobody's Daughter and the Return of Courtney Love

I listened to the Hole album Nobody's Daughter for the first time today. I sort of vaguely remember hearing about this album a year ago, when it came out, but this is the first time I ever had the chance to hear it. It's absolutely brilliant.

Courtney Love is the only band member left over from the original Hole, yet the sound is essentially the same. The best songs on it are the title track, "Skinny Little Bitch" and "How Dirty Girls Get Clean." I liked them as much as I liked "Malibu." I'm always going to consider Live Through This as Hole's greatest album, and I also harbor a certain enthusiasm for the early Velvet Underground covers. I can easily see Nobody's Daughter fitting into my music rotation, though.

Although Courtney Love considers herself a feminist, this book blogger finds it interesting to note that Love has publicly feuded with author Camille Paglia. In a 1997 Q+A for Salon.com, Paglia unfavorably compared Love to Madonna. In a November '97 interview in Rolling Stone, in which Love appears on the cover with Madonna and Tina Turner, Love said Paglia's criticism did not hurt her. "I'm a secret Camille Paglia fan," Love told the magazine. "Her criticism of me is probably the only criticism I ever actually paid attention to - if only to argue about it in my head. But in terms of rock & roll, she just got it wrong. She applies all her wacky feminist theories to tribal dance music, and she doesn't understand Led Zeppelin or where it comes from."

The 1997 RS interview also contains my favorite Love quote ever. Love was asked about the female role model who most influenced her. She answered, "It changes all the time. It's like the 12 signs of the zodiac. What mood are you in? Are you in a Bette Davis mood? Are you in a Stevie Nicks mood? They're like goddesses. You use archetypes from popular culture the way Greeks used gods and goddesses."

Love her music or hate it, you must admit Courtney Love has a fascinating perspective on pop culture. If she's going to make albums like Nobody's Daughter, I hope her pop culture star is once again on the rise.

A Post Blogged by an Idiot, Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

Melange Books has released The Smell of Gas, an erotic, pulp-style crime thriller by your humble author and her husband Tit Elingtin. It's available now in print and e-book formats. I don't want to blog about it here, though. I already blogged about it today on Breaking In Before Breaking Down. I would rather blog about...breakfast.

It was a fine, sunny morning in my home town this morning, so Tit Elingtin walked over to our usual breakfast spot, then went on a 3-mile walk along the river. I had the pancake special, chocolate chip pancakes. Delicious. Along with the chunks of candy in my breakfast, I was also treated to a hunk of eye candy, a guy at a table across from us who looked just like Sam Worthington. (I wish I had a Hunk du Jour photo to link to, but somehow HdJ has managed to miss the Aussie stunner.) Well, almost just like - this guy's hair was a little redder.

Many of you will remember Sam Worthington from Avatar. I like to remember him from Terminator: Salvation, because, well, I just like to think about Christian Bale.

I also like to remember Sam Worthington's interpretation of MacBeth. Those who love Claire and Leo in the contemporary telling of Romeo + Juliet (may Pete Postlethwaite rest in peace - best Friar Laurence ever!) will enjoy the 2006 version of MacBeth starring Worthington. I like the sexy, redheaded Scottish witches. They're like a trio of soothsaying Shirley Mansons.



This weekend I have rented, but have not yet watched, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead. Should be a good one, though. It has Hamlet, vampires and a score by Sean Lennon. So far, the best film take I've seen on the Hamlet story remains Royal Deceit, with Gabriel Byrne, Kate Beckinsale and Christian Bale. Not just Christian Bale, but a NAKED TEENAGE Christian Bale. Best Shakespearean version? I like Ethan Hawke's attempt. Julia Stiles is a particularly charming Ophelia.

Do not get me started on the Mel Gibson version of Hamlet. I will no longer watch films with that anti-Semitic, misogynistic douchebag. Except maybe Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome; Mel is canceled out by Tina Turner, feminist icon supreme and possible reincarnation of ancient Egyptian woman-pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Sooooo anyway, Sam Worthington's redder-haired doppelganger sat in the restaurant, eating sausages off a fork in a way that would make an erotica writer with an active imagination think impure thoughts. In stepped a cute woman with a ponytail, approximately Sam 2's age, and I thought they would make a good couple. They would have adorable babies. Because, you know, babies are what you're supposed to be thinking about when it's a warm spring day, you're surrounded by egg and bunny decorations and everybody's getting ready to celebrate Ostara.

I would like to have some brilliant post connecting the Pagan celebration of Ostara with Jewish Passover and Christian Easter, since Passover was this week and it is Easter weekend. I don't. I have this, a post blogged by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. (I promise you a worthy Beltane post on May 1.) Buy a copy of The Smell of Gas!

https://amzn.to/49Sd9SB