It's a little bit slow this week as many artists are gearing up releases for the fall. Nonetheless, there's still lots of music to be heard, especially if you're looking for something classic and familiar.

Heart — The Essential Heart 3.0 (Epic/Legacy)

Essential is right: if you don't own any of the Wilson sisters' work, this might be a good place to start (though for your own good, you should some day invest in Dreamboat Annie).

Janis Joplin — The Essential Janis Joplin 3.0(Columbia/Legacy)

Speaking of must-own, the original queen of rock vocals is another one to have on hand. They just don't make 'em like they used to. … continue reading

Sisters kind of live up to the old adage "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." Or maybe that's just me because my sister is currently sleeping on my couch until she moves into her own apartment this weekend. She's two years younger than me, so we've always had a little too much in common and a little too many differences.

Like myself, some sisters know how to share, and they share the stage, the recording studio, and the songwriting credits. From the track record of these ladies who keep it all in the family, I'd say it's the best way to start making music.

Heart

Ann and Nancy Wilson are a duo that were born to perform together. The match perfected big hair and pop-rock in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, and they are still playing together today.

The Breeders

Kim Deal is best known as the bassist for the Pixies, but when she announced that she would be reforming the Breeders with sister Kelley and their male band mates last year, fans were elated. Their '90s indie rock hit "Cannonball" is impossible to get out of your head, and their new album showed the sisters had some more music like it left in them. My thanks goes out to the Deal parents! … continue reading

Sometimes a website comes along that reminds me what the internet is for. That happened this week when a friend sent me a link to Sleeveface.com. The site defines Sleeveface as "one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s), causing an illusion."

They should have said "causing an illusion and awesomeness." Because it's so, so good. Here are some of my favorites so far (there are still so many I haven't seen!):

Janis Joplin, by MathiasSchweppes

Peaches, by sophiekingo

Tina Turner (Private Dancer), by See Gee

  … continue reading

When it comes to videos, I'm old. I remember the premiere of Friday Night Videos, and even before that (and even before MTV), I watched something called FM-TV (later Teletunes) on a local public access channel. It was such a thrill to stay up late and enter that strange new world. My sister even figured out how to hook up our clunky TV to the stereo so we could enjoy bizarre bands like Les Rita Mitsouko in high fidelity.

And just as the age of music video was dawning, so was my baby dykedom. Here are some '80s videos that helped me explore my newfound appreciation for the fairer sex. (Note to the PMRC types: I'm not really saying these videos made me gay; just that these women are totally worth going gay for, if that were possible.)

1. The Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (1983) … continue reading

I've been singing Ann Wilson's praises for about 25 years now. It usually goes something like this:

Other person: Wow, this music is awesome. Who is it?
Me: Heart.
Other person: Who?
Me: Heart. 1970s superstars featuring sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson on vocals and guitar. You know, Heart.
Other person: Ann and ... Nancy Wilson? The '60s blues and cabaret singer?
Me: No. The other Nancy Wilson. Heart!!
Other person: Huh. Never heard of 'em.
Me: Get out. Take your stupid Hungry Hungry Hippos game and your giant box of Kix and just go.

Uh, I think I just conflated that with an incident with a neighbor kid when I was seven. Anyway. The point is, Ann has been getting some attention lately — finally.

Heart recently stole the show at the VH1 Rock Honors, and on Sunday, Sept. 9, Ann will host VH1 Classic's afternoon programming. At 3:00 p.m. ET, the Rock Honors show will be rebroadcast. At 5:00, Ann previews her new album Hope & Glory on Inside Track. And at 5:30, she counts down Women Who Rock — including herself, if VH1 Classic doesn't want me to kick it out. (Yessss! Inadvertent Heart song reference!)

Ann's new solo album, which comes out Sept. 11, is an eclectic collection of tunes. Wilson notes, "Each of these songs holds a special place in my soul ... such songs as these carry me through my life." … continue reading

I just came across this photo of Tina Turner and Janis Joplin performing at Madison Square Garden in 1969. It's Tina. And Janis. Together!

The photo is by Amalie R. Rothschild and is currently part of the Music and Fashion 1965–1975 exhibit at the Staley-Wise Gallery. Rothschild has taken some stunning shots of rock stars, many of which are included in her book Live at the Fillmore East: A Photographic Memoir.

I really can't fathom the idea of Janis and Tina on a stage together. Who needs caffeine (or whatever the crowd was on) with that kind of raw genius nearby? The idea of two talents and a microphone made me imagine some other rock duos (or folk duos or whatever-else duos) I'd like to see. Here are a few ideas. They may not really make much sense, but that's why I'm calling them fantasy duos.

Stevie Nicks and Amy Winehouse
"Rhiannon" meets "Rehab" — how great would that be? But Stevie might have flashbacks when confronted by Winehouse's in-your-face hedonism. She would make her cry, make her break down!

… continue reading

I spend most of my time hiding my iPod from Sarah since she tends to "borrow" it for my '70s, '80s and 90s music. But she recently found where I'd hidden it and teased me about one of my playlists, "Hot Rocker Chicks." What can I say, the women rockers in this playlist are hot!

Since I can't find a way to talk about hot rocker women on our video blog "She Made Me Watch This" (we only discuss TV shows and movies), I thought I'd share my Hot Rocker Chicks playlist here. As a pre-emptive disclaimer, I don't consider these guilty pleasure songs, but if that keeps me from looking too shallow, then they are!

"Kiss Me Deadly" by Lita Ford

Sarah and I were in Palm Springs with scribegrrrl when scribegrrrl posted "These '80s sisters are twisted" and added "Kiss Me Deadly." Sarah had to listen to scribegrrrl and me go on and on about how hot Lita Ford was in the video.

I'm not a fan of Sarah's guilty pleasure song, "Close My Eyes Forever" by Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne — the only Lita Ford song I play and watch is "Kiss Me Deadly." Have you seen Lita slink around at the beginning of the video? She's in black. Has long, blond hair. And she's hot! I'm a sucker for blondes with long hair dressed in black (that's how Sarah got me).

Here's the video: … continue reading

In honor of gay pride week, music magazine Blender (it's basically Maxim with occasional ads for cds and guitar strings) has released it's list of the gayest moments in music.

Naturally the list is comprised mostly of men--Elton John, George Michael, Lou Reed, Lance Bass--but there are a smattering of women included. And they're mostly the usual suspects.

1.) t.A.T.u. leading an underwear-clad, back-flipping teen "lesbian" revolution at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.

2.) "Groom" Madonna kissing her devoted virginal "brides" Britney Spears and Xtina Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.

The brief appearance of Missy Elliott added some additional butchy flavor to the number, and how cute is Queer Eye's Carson Kressley freaking out like a teenage baby dyke over all of the girl-on-girl action?

2003 was a good year for pseudo-lesbianism. … continue reading

Tonight on VH1 (9/8c), the Rock Honors might actually rock. I'm not talking about Ozzy Osbourne or ZZ Top (that has to be the most Z's ever in a list of honorees) or Genesis — definitely not Genesis. I'm talking about Heart.

Ann and Nancy Wilson have been rocking my world for as long as I can remember. One summer, when I was about 9, I checked out all the Heart LPs from the public library and lovingly made tapes of them, doing my best to reproduce the album lettering as well as the sound.

Yeah, fine: I'm old. But if you haven't given Heart a listen, you really should. You might have seen them on The L Word, when they performed "Crazy On You" in season 2. Isn't it weird when two of your favorite things collide like that? Jenny was entranced, and so was I. … continue reading