Fragile Tough Girl

Something so cool happened today. I had just arrived back at the shop and was ringing up a sale. The customer handed me her credit card and as always, I studied the name to recall whether or not she was a regular shopper here (I have a freakish ability to recall first and last names--with exact, idiosyncratic spellings--that I have seen written out only one time, however, I struggle with faces). It was a business credit card and the business name rang extremely familiar to me--familiar because it was the name of a song I have loved for years (and even included in a presentation on teenage female identity formation while in grad school) and just last night cooled down to on the treadmill while listening to my iPod. I looked at her and said, "Fragile Tough Girl. Isn't that a song?" She looked at me and said, "Yes. How do you know that song?" I looked at her name again, put two and two together, and said, "Are you THE Jo Davidson?" She said yes and I hooted and said, "I just have to hug you!" Turns out her parents live in the area and she's in town visiting them.

Several years ago when I was in grad school, I discovered Jo Davidson's music on my daily hour and a half round trip commute to campus. I fell in love with her song "Kiss Me There" on my first listen and downloaded it to my Napster immediately. Then I discovered "Fragile Tough Girl" and "I Don't Dance" (which we have in our mix at the shop). I was hooked. After all these years, those songs remain in my iTunes list, even through periodic clean-outs of songs I'm sick of. There's just something about her voice and her lyrics, especially, that speak to me. Today, she's the host of Zentertainment Talk Radio. Check it out!

Photo copyright 2003 Marni Angel, courtesy of zentertainment.org.