by Maria Dilorenzo

Created on: November 03, 2009

Dinosaurs, Divas and the "Men" that Label them.....

I walked to work one morning listening to my best of Blondie CD; yes I said CD. It is bad enough that the era of the vinyl record is over, not to mention the thrill of actually going to a record store to buy your favorite artists music along with pretty packaging, artwork and their predictable thank you notes inside.

Now I had to conform to the iPod?! It actually is an amazing gadget- just less magical.

What about Blondie, I thought? What a pioneer, what a performer; is she listening to an iPod?

Were there any women still out there rocking hard, singing live and tearing up the stage anymore? Or were they extinct? Yes, okay Madonna is still going strong but she doesn't count because I don't even think she is human!

Where are the Billy Holidays, the Janis Joplins, the ones with a few lines under their eyes and maybe some meat on their bones?

Why is it okay for EVERY woman to be expected to lie about their age, holding steady at 25 and weigh 95 pounds?

I mean clearly some of these girls are over 35 but what is wrong with that?

Why does every female being signed have to be a cookie cut out of the one before her.

What is this teaching the pre-teen of today?

I tried to think of one new female artist that moved me. As the names turned over in my mind, all they moved me to do was never listen to the radio again.

I mean where was the new Nina Simone or Carole King; distinct original voices? YES, I thought that will be the topic of my next piece- Dinosaurs or Divas?

As someone who had just turned thirty, in a land where you are considered dried up at 23, was I now a dinosaur? Was I out of style and outdated? Should I just be put out to pasture?

Why does wanting to hear music that shakes your core instead of wanting to shake your ass and pop bottles make me old?

No, I will find a beautiful intelligent muse who is sexy and witty singing her songand is over 30!

She will be the icing on the cake for this month's feature.

I very enthusiastically skipped into my editor's office and laid my idea in his lap. In turn he very unenthusiastically dumped all over what I thought to be a brilliant story.

He proceeded to tell me that I was out of touch. No one cared about old lady singers. It is all the about the young hot female. That like it or not, it is a world that idolizes youth and beauty.

Easy for him to say; although he was an overweight and balding middle aged man, he could probably get a record deal before a beautiful singer/songwriter

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