Gays and Prog Rock

lucas wrote: ^ Well, as you may probably know this cheese owes its name to the area it comes from, mainly la Brie. Therefore, DT vocalist's last name has more in common with the area than with the cheese that is produced there.

Sorry, I know this is off-topic, and rather stupid, and I could google, but... Before my surname was Anglicised long ago, it had a "de" (of) in front of it, and the surname was an area in France, but what does le or la (I know it means "the") in front of a surname mean?  Does it commonly have the same regional connotations?  Looking up LaBrie, it seems to have a connection to the Marquis de Brie, so why LaBrie instead of de Brie (or DeBrie) if it does refer more to the region as I guess it would? Of course, to my understanding, having the in a French name often refers to a thing or profession.  la Brie, instead of le Brie, would have said "the feminine cheese" ;) to me, but that's my ignorance-speaking.

More related to the topic: Can anyone think of any gay Prog musicians who sing about gay issues?  An artist's sexuality (in and of itself) is not of particular interest to me, but it is interesting to look for queer text and subtext in the arts even though I am hetero (at least my masculine side is hetero -- my feminine side is lesbian).  It's interesting to me how that sexuality (and how it relates to one's politics/ ideology/ perspective...) affects the art (and not just in regards to lyrics).


Edited by Logan - May 31 2009 at 15:44

Interesting, I found a Yahoo group for gay prog fans:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gayprogfans/summary



Edited by jplanet - May 31 2009 at 16:58

LOL, leave it to PA to further the discussion of sexuality into an exploration of gender and how it's related to linguistics!

At least it's a relatively intelligently stimulating discussion, though! (Perhaps this confirms why prog and gay culture have not yet combined - yes, that is a barb at gay culture, but not to gay people)...

Logan wrote: [ More related to the topic: Can anyone think of any gay Prog musicians who sing about gay issues?  An artist's sexuality (in and of itself) is not of particular interest to me, but it is interesting to look for queer text and subtext in the arts even though I am hetero (at least my masculine side is hetero -- my feminine side is lesbian).  It's interesting to me how that sexuality (and how it relates to one's politics/ ideology/ perspective...) affects the art (and not just in regards to lyrics).

^ Maybe because they play black metal and praise Satan, which seem to be tthe antithesis of prog ?

Logan wrote: More related to the topic: Can anyone think of any gay Prog musicians who sing about gay issues?

I've got this ultrarare album by UK band Cirkus, and their selfproduced 1973 album is a (well meant and very naive, but the stringloaded, lush and melodic protoprogsound is very nice) conceptalbum about a two childhood friends and one of them a man borned with the mind of a  woman. I have never paid full attention to the lyrics, but I think he/she loves his friend.  In last track, the proggiest and longest Titletrack she finally gets her sex-change, I think. Check them out on myspace (the first five tracks are from that album).

I have nothing, per usual, of substance to say, but I just wish to thank those who responded to my queries.

Prog rock? GAY?

darksideof wrote: in the late 80's I heard from friends that RUSH members were gay! why? because they were still around and never dis-banded,. I truthfully believed that!

Big fan of Nash The Slash(original violinist/electric mandolin in Canadian band FM).  Nash is openly gay...plays at the Gay Pride festivities in Toronto here and there.