Myth Rocks

You know, in the year and a half (wow!) that “Gay Geeks” has been running, I’ve discussed Star Trek fan films, queer science fiction writers, Albus Dumbledore’s big, gay coming out party, Eric Cartman’s bi-curiosity, lesbians and giant robots and heterosexist dictatorships. Notice anything missing? If you said, “yeah, none of those make music,” then you’re right. Perceptive to the point of creepy telepathy, but right nonetheless. So, let’s talk geeky musicians! 

And no, I’m not about to start singing “Never Set the Cat on Fire.” Fun project: break out into this infamous filk song at any convention and count how many limbs you have left when con security boots you from the building (no really, it is that over-sung and, thus, annoying). The musician I’m talking about today is not only cooler, but her lyrics don’t contain any sly references to feline abuse or interstellar wars. Her name is S.J. Tucker, and if you act right after finishing this column, you can possibly still get in to hear her perform as part of Magpie House Concerts, a popular (and excellent) intimate concert series at Salt Lake City resident Grant Hogarth’s house that frequently sells out faster than the next Star Wars installment before opening night. If not, well, you can always listen to her CDs, which are just as awesome.

I met S.J. (a.k.a. Sooj, pronounced just as it looks) at Lunacon, a long-running science fiction/fantasy/horror convention in upstate New York about which I wrote a column, in March 2007. Before then, I’d heard of her work through some mutual friends, but I hadn’t listened to her music. After listening to her perform live – and in a little nook at the con hotel, no less – I bought every CD I could. Maybe it was Sooj’s charming, pixie-like personality that made me say, “one of each, please!” when handing my credit card over to her boyfriend – and vendor – Kevin after the show.

But really, I’m pretty sure it was the songs about pixie that made me open up my wallet. And the goddess Inanna’s descent into the underworld. And satyrs that sail the oceans. And Medusa and Rapunzel duking it out for Prince Charming. Oh, and pirates. Everything is better with pirates, right? Especially when the pirates happen to be Peter Pan’s Wendy and a ship full of other lost girls tricking Captain Hook and working in the service of Oberon and Titania.

Oh, yeah. And when she’s not singing, you can typically find her spinning fire poi with Kevin or creating theatrical performances based around the fantastical worlds of author and collaborator Catherynne M. Valente, for which she has been known to dress up as the aforementioned satyr, who is actually a character from Valente’s magnificent sequence of original fairy tales, The Orphan’s Tales.

I told you her music would be geeky. When it comes to mixing fantasy, myth and folklore with punk, alt and, well, good old fashioned folk music, I can’t think of anyone who does it better than Sooj. And that’s what I love about her music: how it combines the rawness and energy of singers like Joni Mitchell, Ani DiFranco and Joan Baez with the passion and power of the stories that shape modern fantasy – or the modern fantasy those stories have shaped.

Just to show you how non-fluffy and non-“Puff the Magic Dragon”-y Sooj’s music is, take a look at these lyrics from “Mummy Medusa,” that gorgon vs. Rapunzel song I mentioned above (and which also happens to be my favorite of her songs):

she calls you from the shadows, never lets you win
you wander down to the gorgon, not knowing how to begin…
all you know, she’ll never let you go, stoneboy, no

mummy medusa will rock us all down
tendrils hang my head i hang my head down
rapunzel dripped her tendrils over
charming boy is left to wonder what the signal means
tendrils hang my head snakes kiss my head now

kiss from the snakebite awakens you there
curled up in shadow paralyzed but aware
no pain, no living, no sign of her
cold stone you’ve gone
the chisels pierce your fur, perfect your stare
and mummy medusa will rock us all down
yellow eyes animating you, cold scales a soft new home
stone eyes closed close to her breast
her heart is hissing, children, come …

Of course, fantasy isn’t really all that interesting if it can’t be applied to real lives in 2008. Which is why, at the heart of nearly every one of Sooj’s fantastical songs, whether they’re about pirates in Neverland or damsels with serpentine hair, there are very real and pressing observations about feminine power, love, loss and, quite frankly, learning how to love oneself. And her non-fantasy songs are just as dazzling and insightful – even if they lack pirates.

Sadly, Sooj will only be in town for one concert this year. But you can always visit her online at sjtucker.com or skinnywhitechick.com (note: this name isn’t meant to be offensive, it is simply how Sooj, a thin, young white woman, once described herself, and a description that stuck) . So go ahead. Log on and order some of her CDs. Your wallet won’t cry at $15 per recording, and you won’t cry either – unless, of course, you’re laughing like an idiot at the cute tango-inspired song “Alligator.”

Which, like all of her music, is gleefully free of burning cats.