Summer
Breeze
OutSmart
talks to k.d. lang about the nature of being gay, blue
skies and hurricanes, and the calm in the eye of the
storm
By Sandy Stutz
At
a local radio station a live audience eagerly anticipated
the arrival of Grammy-winning diva k.d. lang, who was
here to help Houston promote our Pride Parade, as well
as promote her new very positive CD Invincible
Summer (see also GrooveOut).
Radio DJs bantered back and forth with phrases like,
“Her limo has arrived,” “She’s in
the building,” and “Oh my gosh, she’s
just been whisked into the elevators!” as men and
(mostly) women whispered to one another, some squeezing
k.d. lang CDs or other memorabilia in their hands. Our
eyes moved from one another and back to the door of
the conference room. A couple of young women sat beaming.
“Look at my hands,” one of them said. “I’m
sweating!”
And then it happened, k.d. lang bounded in looking like
sunshine, all smiles, to the center of the room. She
wore a loose-fitting, sky-blue tunic with a hood, a
pair of mustard-yellow jeans, and flip-flops. Some of
us press and “lucky listeners” applauded and
some of us cheered as she entered. She took her mike,
and within minutes had kicked off her shoes and perched
herself on a counter, at ease with herself and those
around her. Casually tossing her dark brown hair out
of her eyes as she spoke, you had the impression that
this was a star with nothing to prove. Most noticeably,
this was a person who was sincerely happy. Between
commercial breaks, she graciously signed autographs
and posed for photos with fans. She was light, easygoing
and clever. She owned us. She held us spellbound and
often had us howling with laughter as she told the story
of the famous-among-lang-fans photo shoot with Cindy
Crawford, the interview with Barbara Walters, the nude
scene in her movie Salmonberries, and so on. She told
us she loves swimming, playing with her dog, riding
her motorcycle, napping in the sun. Then, her staff
closed in around her and the “lucky listeners”
got the songstress all to themselves in another room.
The press was the last in line on this little excursion
through the 104 KRBE offices. K.d. appeared at once
ordinary, beautiful, luminous, and peaceful, reporting
that after years on the road, she took time off and
“had a life,” which allowed her to fall in
love with music, again. The title for her CD came from
a quote by Albert Camus: “In the depths of winter,
I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible
summer.” Answering our questions patiently and
being not quite as animated as earlier that morning,
k.d. lang gave the impression of a yogi rather than
a superstar. I asked, where did she feel she was headed?
She answered that to her it was about a natural evolution,
“not intellectually making a path, but going with
my gut.” While at one time she had believed that
music was her life, now she had an understanding that
life was art. She made Invincible Summer
for the listeners. “After 37 years,” she said
softly, “I finally got…that music is a beautiful
way to communicate with people.” And so the rest
of the interview went.
OutSmart: I’ve noticed that
you have a real comfort level onstage—you just
seem so casual and comfortable. Is there something that
you do before you go onstage or has it always been natural
for you?
K.d. lang: I was watching this program on hurricanes
last night. Did you see that one? And they were explaining
that there’s this wall that’s a column shape,
right? And when it passes, you pass through this wall,
and when you’re in the middle of the hurricane,
you can look straight up and it’s blue skies. It’s
kind of like being on the road. When you’re onstage
it’s blue skies all the way, and the rest is completely
crazy. When you get onstage it’s the gravity, it’s
the center, it’s the vortex of my life! [She leans
forward emphatically.] It’s what everything’s
about, even making records. It’s about getting
on that stage. To me that’s quintessential.
[When asked about getting the
city pumped up on the Pride Parade, k.d. spoke about
being proud of who you are whoeveryou are, whether
Christian and/or lesbian. She called for tolerance and
compassion toward other people outside our community
and their lifestyles.]
There’s this whole issue
of choice or not a choice…
You mean about being gay?
Yeah. It kind of looks like we’re
reacting to the far right. Do you think it’s an
important issue to discuss?
Yeah, I think it’s important to answer all the
questions, because I think that gay culture is so diverse.
[She gets more intense and starts using her hands.]
There are some people that make the choice. I [also]
think it is genetic. I think…it is reactionary.
I think it is transitional. I think it’s everything.
I think that’s what we have to expose! It’s
a living, breathing, evolving culture that isn’t
represented by one group of people or one or two mindsets.
There are Christian gay people. There are atheists.
There are rabbis. There are Buddhists. There’s
everything within the gay culture. I think it’s
a matter of everyone communicating and discussing it
and not being defensive and not feeling it’s a
losing battle….
I want to get back to the 15 years
on the road.... Are we talking about literally without
a stop, without contact with anyone that wasn’t
in show business?
Well…[she pauses] Pretty much. You know…I
put eight records out in 15 years and each record takes
about two years, so it was pretty hard going. [Leaning
back, she takes a deep breath and sighs.] And…I
think that I wanted to establish myself as an artist.
When you’re not relying on a trend, you know, it’s
pretty much about work…
Is it hard on your relationship
with your family?
No, not my family. My family’s very supportive,
but I never had a real substantial relationship
in 15 years. [Smiles] Had lots of girlfriends, but…
I understand! [We both laugh,
then others join in.] How long are you going to be in
town?
I’m leaving in about two hours! [The room breaks
out in laughter.]
A man with a beard and striped shirt steps forward and
announces, “That’s about it,” and we
all stand to leave. I thank k.d. for spending time with
us. As we leave, her “people” gather around
her, as before, and hurry her away. K.d. lang is an
artist with a long, successful career. A person many
in the community and outside of it look up to. She’s
learning to balance. She’s learning to separate
from her work when the day is over. Most importantly,
she seems to have found joy and the calm summer within.
Photo
of k.d. lang by Susan Henry
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