#jenniesjukebox

[jenniewoodanddid]

Nothing gets me through trying times like music. Nothing heals like music. Nothing comforts like music. It's so much more than a gift. When friends can't be there, when no one else quite gets it, when your heart is broken from any kind of rejection...music soothes and heals like nothing else.

[jenniewoodanddid]

30 Days of Flutter: #18 Flutter’s vol. 1 title Hell Can Wait is after a song by another all-time favorite band of mine, The Arrivals. I still can't see them play live without jumping in the mosh pit.

For more about Flutter, Volume 1: Hell Can Wait, my new graphic novel (with Jeff McComsey), go here.

[jenniewoodanddid]

Last night I was driving around Boston, this song came on and without even thinking, I turned it up, smiled and thought of a certain hot actress running around in a nun's habit. But the first time I heard this song, similar thoughts of women didn't come so naturally to me.

I wish I could find the words to describe what it meant back then to hear Tori Amos sing (with Trent Reznor on backing vocals): "Past the mission, behind the prison tower, past the mission, I once knew a hot girl." I was still in the process of coming out and those lyrics were a final nudge I needed at the time. LGBT pop culture references weren't as numerous then as they are now and those lyrics were a needed push. They said, yes, go ahead, it's okay, love who you want. The fact that it was Ms. Amos singing those lyrics meant so much. Before hearing that song, I'd met her backstage at a show. When I told her I was from North Carolina, too, she gave me the tightest, loving hug - the kind a mother should give, the kind of hug I never got.

That hug, that meeting made this song and those lyrics have even more of an impact. Just an example of how an artist - through their work and their actions - can make a difference in someone's life.