Posts tagged with Alix Dobkin

Alix Dobkin – Living With Lesbians (1976)

  • Posted on July 12, 2010 at 1:03 am
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I just about soiled myself when I saw this record at a garage sale back in May.  It certainly was one of the odder sales that I’ve been to this year.  In addition to this gem and a couple other 1970′s lesbian albums, the old guy who was hosting the sale also had a grocery bag full of lesbian porn for sale.  I’m sure there was a good story there but I couldn’t figure out a way to inquire about his music and video tastes without appearing like a total perv myself.  So I forked over seventy-five cents for the aforementioned vinyl gems and went on my merry way.  It’s now six weeks later and I’m still trying to unravel the mystery of why a guy, well into his 70′s, would have such an appetite for all things lesbian.

Let me start off by saying that I have friends, both male and female, who are gay.  I’ve always prided myself in being able to make friends with people regardless of their race, nationality or sexual preference.  If I only hung out with fat, old, white people like myself, life would suck.  I also have some friends who are pretty religious and feel that being gay is immoral.  Personally, I don’t get it.  Why are religious people generally the most intolerant of others?  Isn’t religion suppose to teach tolerance and compassion?  I could drone on for hours but by now, you either agree with me or you’re dying to tell me to shut my pie hole so I’ll just leave it there.

It’s not really a big deal to be a lesbian artist today.  Heck, they’re everywhere.  Melissa Etheridge, Ani Difranco, the Indigo Girls, k.d. Lang, just to name a few.  But think about being out there 34 years ago.  I was in 8th grade when this album was released and I’m pretty sure that I had no idea what a lesbian was.  So I give Alix a lot of credit.  It was pretty brave to be out of the closet in a time when gays where openly discriminated against on a regular basis.  Not that the world is perfect now but I have to believe that it’s a easier life today than it was in the 70′s.

Alix Dobkin was a part of the Greenwich Village scene of the early 1960′s that included Bob Dylan and you can clearly here the influences on some of the tracks here.  She sings well and for the most part, this is a pretty good collection of folk songs.  Granted some of the subject matter is certainly not aimed at middle-aged men like me.  Nonetheless, I can respect an artist singing about topics that are important to themselves.  One selection that I would have omitted, however, is the fourth song on side one, “Legnala”.  I defy you to listen to the wailing on the first half of the song without cringing.  It scared the crap out of both my dog and cat. They seemed to think there was a wounded animal in the house.  I’m not making that up.  The dog was utterly confused as to how she should react to the painful sounds being emitted by my speakers.  Song four on side two isn’t much better.  Apparently it’s a Bulgarian folk song but I find it difficult to believe that any Bulgarian would recognize it.

Here’s a pretty cool video of Alix rapping back in 1986. The woman really is a trailblazer. Heck, I think she even lifted some of my “white boy” dance moves.

So sit back.  Free your mind.  Venture a little bit outside of your comfort zone.  Perhaps even channel your inner lesbian. If you’re open-minded enough, you’ll find that there’s nothing wrong with people having different beliefs and values than you do. If you’re lucky enough, you might even discover that they actually make life a whole lot more interesting. For my friends who are a little more on the conservative side, I’ll post something a little more to your liking next week. In the mean time, please put away your Sarah Palin action figures and get back to work.

Tracks:

Side One

Side Two

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