Sinead was just a badass.

I agree with this statement from Moz. He is 100% correct. The music industry and the media treated Sinead like absolute dogshit, and then one day she's gone and immediately we are waist-deep in sniveling, insincere, bullshit "tributes" from the same people and corporate entities that mocked, degraded, and dismissed her while she was alive. 

So I won't go there. I'll just say that Sinead O'Connor was a true artist and a genuine feminist, and how fortunate everyone--particularly Gen Xers who grew up with her music and her no-fucks-given, THIS-is-how-you-stage-a-fucking-protest badassery--was to have her around, unapologetically pissing off the mainstream, and doing her thing on her own terms.

I remember the Bob Dylan tribute concert in 1992, taped shortly after Sinead's infamous appearance on SNL. The show was an all-star event featuring (among others) Tom Petty, Eddie Vedder, John Mellencamp, Tracy Chapman, Willie Nelson, June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Chrissie Hynde, Sinead O'Connor, and of course Dylan himself. It was a concert to celebrate Dylan's 30 years in the music industry (which is funny to think of; while it's certainly a milestone, 30 years doesn't seem as long now as it did back then). 

My Mom taped the concert when it aired on PBS and we watched it together. It was generally a good show, but the thing that everyone remembers today is Sinead getting booed by the audience when she took the stage for her performance. Mom and I were appalled. We both had the same reaction: WHY THE HELL is an audience at a FUCKING BOB DYLAN SHOW booing an artist for staging a protest? Had they ever heard "Masters Of War," "Chimes of Freedom," "The Times They Are A-Changing".....literally ANYTHING Dylan has ever recorded or performed? Or perhaps they got lost on their way to an Anita Bryant concert? 

Seriously, FUCK that audience, every single one of them. 

   Kris Kristofferson has my undying respect for standing up for her.

But enough about that. Sinead was an amazing artist and deserves to be celebrated for her work, too. 

It's kind of a bummer that "Nothing Compares 2 U" is considered her signature song, when (in my opinion) it's so inferior to everything else she recorded. Take "Mandinka" for instance, which still sounds as fresh and innovative as the first time I saw the video on 120 Minutes back in the late '80s.

"I'm dancing the seven veils, want you to pick up my scarf...."

And this one, from the summer of 1991.
Gorgeous, devastating.
(The video features her firstborn son, Jake.)

But the quintessential Sinead O'Connor song in my mind will always be "Emperor's New Clothes." It was my favorite then, and still my favorite today. It just says it all really, encapsulating her whole career and so many other aspects of her life.

"Everyone can see what's going on.
They laugh 'cause they know they're untouchable,
not because what I said was wrong.
Whatever it may bring,
I will live by my own policies,
I will sleep with a clear conscience,
I will sleep in peace."

***Mic drop.***

WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE COMPLACENT 

All images above from The New Yorker, except for this one right here:  

(I was messing around with the Photo Editor app last night.) 

This Good Friday Support Planned Parenthood!

Misty, me, and Katy at the the 2011 rally in St. Paul

Aww, I had so much fun at the Planned Parenthood Good Friday support rallies! This is the first time in four years that I haven't gone and I'm really missing it. It's become something of a tradition, as Good Friday is the designated day for religious fanatics to line up outside Planned Parenthood locations around the country to wave anti-choice signs, so Planned Parenthood set up "support" teams to counter the holy rollers. Planned Parenthood didn't let people on their side bring their own placards because they wanted to keep a positive, upbeat atmosphere, but they did provide signs for us supporters to hold (see above).

At the first rally I attended (with Katy in 2010) this old dude walked up carrying a "SAVE THE SPERM" sign complete with squiggly little sperm-creatures inked in around the letters. Everyone was a little freaked, and a bit confused, as it wasn't clear a.) what the hell message the guy was trying to convey with that (was he being funny? was he serious?) and b.) was he with us, or with the holy rollers on the other side? It turned out that he was, in fact, a pro-choice supporter and his pro-sperm sign was a misguided attempt at humor. The PP organizers respectfully asked him to discard his sperm sign, and gave him a more tasteful one to carry. It was memorable, anyway.  

The awesome thing about this photo? I found it on a Google image search of "Planned Parenthood Good Friday rally" and it's from the exact same day we were there (you can see Misty's jacket and sign to the left of the woman above). We are EVERYWHERE baby!