Crazy Virgo: My current girl crush

I have had a lot of girl crushes. Tori Amos from about age 16 to 20. She inspired a 10 year run of red hair. Gwyneth Paltrow in "Sliding Doors" was exactly what I wanted my life to be life - sans the tragic ending of course (This crush continues even still). Amelie, aka Audrey Tatou, is possibly the most adorable French woman ever. How could one not crush her? Madonna is obviously the most sensuous woman in the world.I lust her. Elaine Bennes is the funniest character television has ever created. With a life full of witty men friends, she couldn't be bothered to have to many women friends that weren't at her level of wit and sarcasm. Probably like all 20-something ladies I tried smoking a cigar when I saw Elaine do it at Peterman's desk. Rachel Maddow appeared on "Countdown with Keith Olberman" as the most attractive, intelligent, funny power lesbian I'd seen in a while and I kind-of wanted to be her for a minute. Tina Fey - sigh. I want to go into her head, suck up all of her intelligence and humor and comedic timing, and then have cocktails with her. I love her.

But there's one special woman who lately has been taped to the inside of my locker. Neko Case.

Oh Neko. There's so much to crush on. That name, first of all. I don't know too many Nekos hanging around. And, it's not a stage name or short for anything. She's Canadienne. Swoon. Born in Vancouver - one of my favorite cities. She has a voice that just wrecks me. Totally destroyed. It's piercing and haunting. Reminscent of Patsy Cline, but at the same time in a class all it's own. It chills me every time I hear it. She has a classic beauty that's a dash Boticelli, a dash country, a dash modern, a dash gospel and a dash Seattle all stirred up together, baked and sitting beautifully on a kitchen window calling to you like a siren. Her voice is syrupy, pouring out of a perfect instrument. And her lyrics. Oh, her lyrics. I wish I wrote half as well as she does. "My true love drowned in a dirty old pan of oil that did run from the block of a Falcon sedan 1969." She's bewitching. Oh Neko, since we met in Seattle I have all but single-white-femaled you. What? Oh, I didn't mention that I met her? Well, let me tell you a story. My cousin happens to be an ex-member of The Screaming Trees, and was the drummer for Neko for a while. She was playing a show in Seattle and needed something to wear. This happened to be the 8 months I was doing time at Urban Outfitters in Seattle, circa 2002. My cousin, knowing that I liked Neko's music, brought her in to Urban to say hello. I was speechless. Me. CrazyVirgo. Speechless. She's stunning. And short, but that's beside the point. Her red hair flowing, she introduced herself and promptly invited me to her show. I stumbled over my response, mentioning that I really liked her music, would love to see a show, really liked her music, really liked her music, really liked her music.

(side note: This is the second celebrity encounter that I had working at Urban Outfitters where I said the wrong thing. I once saved Dave Matthews from a pack of over-zealous teens by asking him if he wanted to look at housewares. Upon thanking me for rescuing him, he asked me if I would be interested in tickets to an upcoming show. I, being a first-class idiot, said, "No, but maybe my friends would." Quite puzzled he thanked me and went about his shopping.)

Luckily, Neko was an angel and floated on into the sweater section of the store while I quietly followed her around, gawking and falling in love.

I recently re-ignited my girl crush because she has a new album out. It's heaven. Check out Middle Cyclone when you get a chance. These days I'm listening to her at my desk for a solid 6 hours, wondering what she's doing. When she'll come see me? Will she remember me (100% chance of that answering being, no)? I take her on drives with me, in a White 2009 VW Rabbit, not a '72 Ford Pick-up as I'm sure she'd like. But nevertheless, I let her know how I feel about her. I scribble her name when no one's looking. I imagine us sitting on a dirt road drinking PBR tall boys at sunset on a summer night. Sigh.

Enjoy this playlist of my favorite Neko songs.

Until my next girl crush....