'Manta Ray' by J.Ralph featuring Anohni (fka Antony)

When I first heard the album "I Am A Bird Now" by Anthony and the Johnsons, I felt like someone had reached deep inside me to the part of me that is weary and tear-stained, and lifted its face to the sky and shown me that I'm not alone in my sorrow - the mournfulness, hope, and vulnerability embodied in the music was so very necessary for me to connect to a part of myself that most of the time I would rather pretend didn't exist.

This new song Manta Ray was written for a documentary called "Racing Extinction" with the composer J.Ralph and it's very beautiful and bright and sad. The song has been nominated for Best Original Song at this year's Academy Award which is totally deserved and really cool - what's not cool is that Anohni wasn't invited to perform at the Awards Ceremony.

Like, REALLY NOT COOL GUYS. One of the things I had always liked about the Oscars was that all of the nominees for Best Original Song would perform over the course of the night - a nice break from Billy Crystal lollygagging about, and a chance for gems like this to occur.

Well, not this year. I recommend reading this piece that Anohni wrote about her decision not to attend this year's Oscars. Made me sad and furious.