Music Mondays: Bisexual Danish Folk Rock

This song means a lot to me. The first time I heard it, it stole my breath away. I was in Denmark, taking part in a community where I wasn't comfortable being out (though the community was amazing in many ways--sometimes, it's hard to tell if that sort of shit is just in my head or what). Anyway, I heard this song and, not only did it sound incredible, I instantly knew it was about a woman's first time desiring another woman. I've talked to some people who think the song's message is subtle, but to me it was blindingly clear, maybe because I needed so badly to hear it.

The band is from the 70s, and was called Shit og Chanel (Shit and Chanel), a badass punk name if I ever heard one. At some point, Chanel made them stop going by that name. The singer, Anne Linnet, is one of the greats of Danish music.

I'll post a rough translation after the video.



Rough translation of the lyrics:

Jeg gik ind til byen for at kigge efter dig
I went into the city to look for you

Pludselig stod du der i mængden
Og smilede til mig
Suddenly you stood there in the crowd, smiling at me

Ja alle folk ka' se det straks
Everyone can see it right away

Du er så smuk og dejlig
You are so beautiful and lovely

Dine øjne skinner
Your eyes shine

Du må hellere passe på
You'd better take care

Jeg pas på at ilden i mig ikke bliver tændt
I'm careful not to let the fire in me light up

Vi kunne begge to meget let blive forbrændt
We could both easily get burnt

Men det er ikke let
But it's not easy

For du er så smuk og dejlig
Because you're so beautiful and lovely

Dine øjne skinner
Your eyes shine

Ta' og kig den anden vej
Go and look the other way

Du er lidt forvirret
You're a little confused

Siger du og ler
You say, laughing

Smiler lidt vemodigt
You smile wistfully

Når du spør mig hva er det der sker
When you ask me, what is happening here?

Men jeg ved det heller ikke
But I don't know either

Du er så smuk og dejlig
You're so beautiful and lovely

Dine øjne skinner
Your eyes shine

Stærkere end nogen sol
Stronger than any sun

(And then various parts get repeated for the rest of the song)

Music Mondays: "Know Your Name" by Mary Lambert

Know Your Name (Official Video) by Mary Lambert on VEVO.

OK, first, I want to find out where they are in this video and go hang out there.

Second, how do I get in on this Street Fighter tournament?

Third, why is everyone in this video so cool? How does Mary Lambert find such awesome friends? (Probably by being super awesome herself...)

Fourth, I like the song, too!

Music Mondays: "Needed Me" by Rihanna

Warning: This video contains graphic scenes of violence and exploitation

This song is so beautiful, and the video for it is so ugly, but I think these things match and go together. The beauty of the song very much exists in the context of ugliness, and that's what the video is showing. To me, this expresses the power and soothing beauty that can come in the aftermath of horror, and it's something that's felt healing to me lately.

Rihanna is very sexy in this, but she's sexy in that way that isn't for anyone but herself, in my opinion. She feels turned very inward here, and I appreciate that, and I like it when I feel that way, too.

Music Mondays: Dhivara from Baahubali: The Beginning

If you follow me on Twitter, you may be aware that at least 50% of what is fueling my body and soul right now is this amazing movie, Baahubali. It's a grand, hero's journey style epic with a sense of joyfulness at its core that's exactly what I need right now.

The video above is from one of the key scenes in the first movie, Baahubali: The Beginning. Not only do I love the scene, the music perfectly matches the mountain-climbing task. I've been listening to this song or watching this video pretty much anytime something feels hard, and it makes me feel like I can get through. Thought I'd share.

Oh, and bonus: the people in this video are very beautiful.

Music Mondays: Right Now by Haim

Haim where have you been why did it take you so long to bring your glorious hair back into my life how do you play the drums so well when will you let me buy your new album I have so many questions.

But in any case, you're right, "That's how you fucking do it."

Welcome back!

Music Mondays: Venus Fly by Grimes ft. Janelle Monae

I miss doing these Music Mondays posts, so I thought I'd revive them.

First, I wish SO MUCH that the video above was actually a trailer for an f/f science fiction romance about two ridiculously hot warrior witches conquering the universe.

Second, they're both so unbearably cool in this video. I feel like the planning conversation for this video went something like this:

Grimes: Would you like to come hang out with me while I hold fire?

Janelle Monae: Do I get to wield a flaming sword?

Grimes: Not only that, I will let you put a spinal cord on the front of your body.

Janelle Monae: If I also get the coolest goggles ever, I'm in.

Grimes: Can I be the one to wear the coolest nails, though?

Janelle Monae: Of course. I'm not selfish. I'm just awesome.

Grimes: I know! And I want you to be your full awesome self. We will both have wings!

Janelle Monae: Oooh. This will be so much fun.

Grimes: You know what, let's BOTH wear the coolest nails ever.

Then they had some similar conversation about the actual song...

Give and Take: 20th Anniversary Edition of Best Lesbian Erotica

BOOK GIVEAWAY

Comment on any of the posts on the tour for a chance to win a free copy of Best Lesbian Erotica 20th Anniversary Edition. The drawing will be held by February 28th and the winner announced by March 5th.

***

The first time I saw L, she was at a local open mic with her guitar player. I could hear her from down the street belting out Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy." It wasn't just the power of her voice that grabbed me, though. It was that she didn't bother to change the gender when she covered songs by men, and hearing her sing, "I love my baby, she's long and lean," did something to me down deep.

It's hard for me to explain how ignorant I was about lesbian desire when I was first feeling it. Everything felt so impossible that I couldn't even figure out what it was I wanted, what exactly I was thinking about. I only barely knew that women could be together, and it sort of seemed like at least one woman would need to have short hair and "be the man."

I wish I could say that this was how I thought when I was super-young and still virginal, but at this point I had already been sleeping with a particular girl, off and on, for years. The thing I couldn't understand was that these things could count, that this desire had real weight and shape and value, and that a woman could get up on stage and sing, loudly, "She's my sweetie little thing."

I followed L to all her shows, and I couldn't get enough of staring at her. Maybe I couldn't quite imagine making out with her, or being loved by her, but I did know that I wanted to be in her presence, as much as she would let me. And gradually she began to allow me to follow her to other places, to IHOP when she was tired after hours of singing, or to her best friend's house. I have since read early lesbian novels such as Olivia and Carol, and one of the major things they seem to describe is this feeling, of wanting to be in a particular fascinating woman's presence, even if one isn't quite sure of what one wants to happen next.

I remember this giant, gaping need. More than anything, I needed every minute I could get of her attention. Something about her permission to do anything at all with her gave me permission, in a deep way I couldn't articulate, to exist.

There was another side to it, though. She needed something from me, too, even if it wasn't love. She understood the nature of my attention, I think, the worshipfulness of it, and she needed that to exist as proof that she wasn't wasting her time with her music, that she was worth watching, that she herself was worthwhile. She enjoyed using her power over me. "You can ride with me," she would promise sometimes, and I'm sure she knew that I would agree to nearly anything in exchange.

My story in the 20th Anniversary Edition of Best Lesbian Erotica isn't about L. But it is about that mutual need, and I thought about L when I was writing it. I spun that situation around so I could write about it from several sides at once. There's a young musician and an older musician, and they both need and are needed.

Here's an excerpt:

The first time I kissed a rock star, I thought she would taste pampered and expensive. But musicians don't get lives of luxury. Violet's lips were rough. Her tongue carried hints of the flavors of roadside diners. Her muscles felt ropey when I gripped her upper arms.

She kissed me back with familiar desperation. I played with the edges of her T-shirt sleeves as I planned the things I wanted to do to her. When I let up on the kiss, Violet was looking at me like I had some kind of answer. Feeling bad because I knew I didn't, I shook my head at her. "Maybe you'll be sorry about this in the morning."

"I won't be."

"How do you know?"

She bit her lip and didn't say anything.

"Different venue every night," I said. "I get it." It was so stupid that this stung. If I knew one thing, it was this. Thirty hours, tops. A desperate exchange, and neither of us would realize what we'd given or received until much later.

"You…"

I kissed her again before she could fumble for a compliment she didn't quite mean. I carried Violet to my bed. I wanted to give her the orgasm of her life, something she'd be chasing for days or weeks to come. Even if she didn't remember my name later, I wanted to be sure she never forgot how I made her feel.

You can find the 20th Anniversary Edition of Best Lesbian Erotica at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, your favorite indie bookstore, and more.

You can see the other posts in the tour at the links below. :)

Feb 10
Sacchi Green-Introduction
http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb. 11
Rose de Fer-“Dust”
http://poisonthorns.blogspot.co.uk/

Feb. 12
Louise Blaydon-“Ascension”
https://louiseblaydon.wordpress.com/

Feb 13
MeganMc Ferren-“The Royalty Underground”
http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb. 14
Harper Bliss-“Reunion Tour”
http://wp.me/p2tvlj-Yn

Feb 15
D.L. King-“Hot Blood”
dlkingerotica.blogspot.com

Feb 16
Jean Roberta-“Tears from Heaven”
http://jean_roberta.livejournal.com

Feb 17
Sinclair Sexsmith-“Luscious and Wild”
http://www.sugarbutch.net

Feb 18
R.G. Emanuelle-“Smorgasbord”
http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb 19
Rose P. Lethe-“A Professional”
https://roseplethe.wordpress.com/2016/01/31/excerpt-the-professional/

Feb 20
Anna Watson-“Easy”
http://thetotalfemme.com

Feb 21
Valerie Alexander-“Grind House”
http://www.valeriealexander.org

Feb 22
Annabeth Leong-“Give and Take”
annabethleong.blogspot.com

Feb 23
Frankie Grayson-“Mirror Mirror”
http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb 24
Cheyenne Blue-“The Road to Hell”
www.cheyenneblue.com

Feb 25
Emily L. Byrne-“The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet”
http://writeremilylbyrne.blogspot.com

Feb 26
Sossity Chiricuzio-“Make them Shine”
http://sossitywrites.tumblr.com/

Feb 27
Teresa Noelle Roberts-“Tomato Bondage”
http://www.teresanoelleroberts.com/?p=2185

Music Mondays: "Lose Yourself to Dance" by Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams

"Here, take my shirt and just go 'head and wipe up all the sweat." -- Pharrell Williams



Why, yes, thank you, Pharrell, I will take that shirt off you, and I appreciate that you offered...

What I love most about this video is how he's obviously having so much fun.

"Untouched" by The Veronicas

"I can't forget you. Been going crazy from the moment I met you." — The Veronicas



Because, my darlings, I am finishing my edits on this book today.

Music Mondays: "Do I Wanna Know?" by Arctic Monkeys

"There's this tune I found that makes me think of you somehow and I play it on repeat until I fall asleep." -- Arctic Monkeys



Very clever lyrics to this one, and the sort of dirty blues sound that always works on me.

Music Mondays: "Atlas Air" by Massive Attack

"It took all the man in me to be the dog you wanted me to be." -- Massive Attack



I once heard the Massive Attack singer's voice as "wet-panty inducing," and I think of that every single time I listen to this song. Because it's true. Enjoy.

For Your Listening Pleasure

When I saw the call for submissions for Rachel Kramer Bussel's The Big Book of Orgasms, I thought immediately of her previous anthology Orgasmic, which I loved, and which was full of the broadest imaginable group of stories about orgasm. My favorite stories in that book were the ones about unusual ways to orgasm—there was a great horseback riding story and another called "Chemistry" about the effect of a favorite scent. I was intrigued by that, and wanted to write something along those lines.

As may be evident from my long history of music posts, I get turned on listening to music all the time. I used to go to bed every night and let The Only Time by Nine Inch Nails soothe me to sleep because there is this one gorgeous moment when Trent Reznor gets a catch in his voice and gives a little moan, and for many years that was the purest expression of sex to me.

I also remember nights of dancing when between the music and my partner my clit was throbbing in time to the beat. I remember the times I stood on stage with a bass guitar slung across my chest and I felt the sexual power flowing from me (no matter how meager the audience might have been). I remember the times I climbed into someone's tricked out pickup truck and the whole damn cab was vibrating, every bone in my body was vibrating, and the music was taking over every part of me and leaving me breathless.

It was the truck thing that made me wonder... I had a friend who had a tiny seat in the back of the cab that sat directly above an enormous subwoofer, and there were rumors about what that did to the girls who rode there.

I'd never tried to use bass notes to come, but most of the time when I'd had the opportunity, I was fighting the urge, not giving in to it. And so I came up with the idea for "All You Do Is Play," which appears in this anthology:

Sharon sighed, sinking onto the corner of her bass amp, stroking its black body and rubber insulated cords — one leading to the wall and the other to the red, pearlescent body of her bass guitar. Long hours of playing had made the habit strong. The bass was in her arms before she made a conscious decision to pick it up, her left hand sliding up its familiar neck and her right hand's stiffened first and middle fingers hovering over the strings.

This felt easier than anything, certainly easier than thinking about loneliness any more. She switched on the amp. It buzzed to life beneath her, humming and gently vibrating.

Sharon tuned the instrument and experimented with a few notes. They filled up the room, lingering in the air like smoke. She normally played standing, but her feet hurt after the hours in the club. Sitting on the amp, the notes came up into her feet through the vibration of the floor, and into her body from the movement of the amp beneath her ass. She grinned and played faster, lower notes.

The music settled between her legs and trembled there. Sharon's fingers sped over the instrument's thick strings, plucking them to keep the sensation going. She tilted her hips and squirmed, trying to guide the amp's stimulation more directly to her sex. She slipped, the corner of the amp pressing through her panties, rubbing the opening of her cunt.

Of course, I had to test this because I care about you, readers, and I wouldn't want to torture you with impossible notions. I quickly discovered that I could not give myself an orgasm with nothing but my bass guitar because, frankly, I do not have enough hands. It was way too hard to play the bass, move against the amp, and not fall over, all at the same time. This, however, was a surmountable issue, and simply called for further research. What I needed was someone else to hold the bass and play it.

Perhaps it will not be surprising that my partner eagerly agreed to serve this noble cause. I will not lie. It was tricky to pull this off. It took diligent effort and a bit of practice. In my story, I may have glossed over a bit of the trial and error. However, I can assure you that we were able to make this work.

I have seen some speculative reviews on Amazon, and I'm here to tell you that this approach to orgasm is kink-tested, partner-approved. :) That said, it did require some loud and somewhat unmelodious playing (I don't know, maybe some people enjoy rapid, jangly, bassy notes).

Bonus trivia:
The following line from the story was actually spoken by my partner during research: "You like the notes from this string the most!"

I've been excited to write this post for a while, because I think "All You Do Is Play" has the best behind the scenes info of anything I've written. While I believe in embracing the sexiness of writing erotica, that doesn't always call for such unusual pursuits (but just wait until I tell you about the testing I did for "Objects of Desire," forthcoming in another Cleis anthology—all I will say at the moment is that it involved a rolling pin).

If I've intrigued you and you'd like to read the rest of the story, you will also get 68 other fantastic stories for your money! This baby's got work from many of my favorite authors, including Cecilia Tan, Tenille Brown, Giselle Renarde, Xan West, Sinclair Sexsmith, Donna George Storey, Kay Jaybee, A.M. Hartnett... (Um, I guess I'll stop the list there, but I could keep going...).

Now, as Nelly says, "Somebody give me a bass line":



This is part of the official blog tour for The Big Book of Orgasms.

Music Mondays: "Miss You More" by DeVision

Won't you come alive and take me down the trail?
(I miss you more than home).
Hold me close before it's too late.
-- DeVision



This is becoming the theme song of my WIP, but I'm superstitious about talking about my WIPs, so that's all you get for now. :)

Music Mondays: "How Beautiful You Are" by The Cure

"I turned to look at you to read my thoughts upon your face, and gazed so deep into your eyes, so beautiful and strange, until you spoke and showed me understanding is a dream." -- The Cure



Somehow, I have allowed more than a year to go by without featuring a song by The Cure. I listen to them so much that I think I hold myself back from posting them because I don't want to overdo it. I'm correcting that right now.

This song was inspired by a Baudelaire poem, which makes it dark sexy, sad sexy, all that stuff. But you already knew that, since this is The Cure we're talking about.

Every time I hear this song, I get an ache in my chest.

Music Mondays: "Let's Dance" by David Bowie

"If you say run, I'll run with you." -- David Bowie



I'll be honest. A car commercial reminded me of this song's existence. Please don't judge me. However, good Lord, it's hot, and the line I quoted above ties in vaguely with my forthcoming book, Run for Your Love. Enjoy!

Bonus Music Post: "Taken for a Fool" by The Strokes

"Mama, don't you forget my number." -- Julian Casablancas



It's never the wrong time to take a moment for a little Strokes appreciation. Damn, this song makes me feel cool.

I'm writing up a storm and feeling good. Thanks, Julian!

Music Mondays: "Cruisin" by T.I.

"I wonder if they can see her playing in her purple panties, blue bikinis." -- T.I.



I've been listening to this pretty obsessively lately. It's a great car sex song.

I was also really amused by the way T.I. tells the story behind the song:

Music Mondays: "Instant Crush" by Daft Punk featuring Julian Casablancas

"I want to take you to that place in the Roche, but no one gives us any time anymore." -- Julian Casablancas



I've featured Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas separately in recent weeks, but this song is responsible for both previous posts. This is my real love off Random Access Memories. I have listened to it a sick amount of times, and I've written multiple stories with this thing cued up on infinite loop.

Music Mondays: "Came Back Haunted" by Nine Inch Nails

"I came back haunted." -- Nine Inch Nails



Trent Reznor really doesn't have to do much to be sexy. Really, just standing there is good, even if he insists on covering himself with mist and shadow every time he plays a show. That angry whisper of his has done it for me pretty much since the moment I hit puberty. I'm really glad he decided to revive Nine Inch Nails.

Music Mondays: "Reptilia" by The Strokes

"I said, 'Please don't slow me down if I'm going too fast.'" -- Julian Casablancas



God, this song makes me want to go too fast. With Julian Casablancas? Maybe... He's got a weird sort of appeal. In this video, he has a really pure rock star feeling, like he came from some rock planet that exists outside of time.