AUGUST 15, 1997 GAY PEOPle's ChroNICLE 17
EVENINGS OUT
Great women artists, but they never heard of Michigan?
Headliner calls Lilith Fair 'first women's music festival,' is unaware of 20-year history
by Brynna Fish
Northampton Twp.-Not too long ago, concert promoters and record industry executives would have said that a summer concert lineup featuring all women artists would appeal to a very limited audience. Not many would have predicted it would be the hottest-selling event of the season.
The Lilith Fair and Festival, which came to Blossom Music Center between Cleveland and Akron on July 17, is a reflection of women's evolving role in popular music, and a way to call attention to the excellence in women's music by bringing together superstar acts and emerging talent.
Performers are showcased on three stages with over eight hours of live music. A slew of festival-style vendors selling a variety of merchandise give the event a sort of Michigan Womyn's Music Festival feel-without the tents and solar showers.
The Blossom date attracted over 6,100 folks, many of them dykes, to hear mainstage acts Tracy Bonham, Paula Cole, Fiona Apple, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the brains behind the event, Sarah McLachlan.
During a backstage press conference, McLachlan said that while the music industry is making headway acknowledging the talent represented on the Lilith tour, the mainstream media has missed the boat. She and the other artists assembled for the press conference commiserated that the media has misrepresented the Lilith Tour as a "Galapalooza."
McLachlan was especially miffed that she did two interviews with Time magazine for a recent issue (which featured artist Jewel on the cover), and not one thing she said about Lilith Fair made it into the article.
Insisting that "Lilith is not just a bunch of girls on the road," McLachlan said that its purpose was to assemble amazing musical talent-women's talent-that hasn't gotten the attention it deserves.
McLachlan went on to call the Lilith Fair tour the "first major North American women's festival of its kind," and one that has finally shown concert promoters that more that one woman on the same bill will sell tickets.
"Three years ago promoters were really scared to put two women on the same bill," McLachlan noted. "Now the climate has changes dramatically. We've proved it can be done."
McLachlan said the tour is a "huge step in the right direction for women's rights," but insisted that it isn't "a soapbox for extremist feminism."
"It isn't about dissing men. It's about
equality in every aspect of life between men and women-so that's part feminist, part humanist. I think everybody is equal," she said.
Having heard all of this, I finally had an opportunity to ask the question that had been nagging me since the publicity began about this major summer concert event.
My brain was saying: "What? A 'firsttime-ever' national women's music tour? Maybe none of them were born yet when Olivia Records celebrated its 15th anniversary, which ended up with a concert at Carnegie Hall!"
Standing at the mike I asked, "Could you comment on the role that women's musicand in particular women's music festivalshave had on the fabulous success of the Lilith Tour?"
"Which festivals?" McLachlan asks.
"Well," I went on to explain, “there are women's music festivals all over the country which sprang up 20 or so years ago with the likes of Holly Near, Cris Williamson and Meg Christian."
Although McLachlan and others were now shaking their heads in semi-recognition, I was asked if I could give one example.
"Okay," I answered, "Has anyone ever heard of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival?"
Like on cue from an invisible stage manager, they all shake their heads 'no.'
I forge ahead to the next question: "Can you then comment on the role which women's music, as I know it, has contributed to the success of your careers and the realization of this festival."
I pause and wait for an answer. Finally, McLachlan breaks the silence and declares that we can go back even further than that to the female minstrels of the 18th century who helped pave the way for "women's music."
I later explained this strained exchange to my friends, accompanied by a hand waving over the top of my head-the internationally-recognized gesture that means "clueless!"
Is it really conceivable that none of these gals had ever heard of a women's music festival? Or, is there some subtle fear of acknowledging lesbians, and their contributions to women's music, that even those on the tour who do know our culture didn't feel safe to say so?
Has so much time really passed that all the assembled superstars and emerging talent that have ridden in on the coat tails of the lesbian women's music movement don't even understand from whence this magic carpet has come?
Maybe I was directing my questions to the wrong constellation of Lilith stars. If Tracy Chapman would have been at the table, would she have reflected back on her appearance at the National Women's Music Festival in Bloomington, Indiana just before she hit the top? Would Dar Williams have shared her fabulous experience at Michigan last year and her reappearance this year on the Day Stage?
The differences between the Lilith Fair and
a festival like the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival seem to run as deep as the differences between Lilith and Eve. You see, according to an ancient legend, Lilith was created at the same time as Adam, and having also been created "of the earth," she and Adam were BRYNNA FISH
Sarah McLachlan
equal. When Lilith asserted her equality, she was banished from the garden of Eden. Eve was then created from Adam's rib, and we all know how that story turned out.
Michigan, and the scores of other women's events, are still in the garden, so to speak. It's not a garden of inequality, but rather, of our own self made haven from the rest of the world. There, we can gather in total women's space to celebrate women's energy, music and culture.
Lilith, on the other hand, has taken just a hint of this out into the mainstream. Men are welcome. Next year McLachlan says she hopes to do this again and include male headliners, and have major promoters and corporate sponsors. Like this year, a portion of the proceeds will go to charity. (McLachlan presented the Center for the Prevention of Domestic Violence a check for $5,200, representing a dollar for every advance ticket sold.)
To its credit, the Lilith Fair has captured the essence of celebrating women's music and has dared to share this vision with the mainstream. Lilith Fair has taken some pretty bold steps influencing the principles and values of the mainstream music industry and since the Lilith Fair is proving to be this summer's most successful national music tour, music biz powermongers are paying rapt attention.
Cleveland concert promoter Michael Belkin said in a May 29 press release that the tour was poised to be "one of the most successful packages of 1997, if not the most successful."
After promoting six Lilith dates, Melissa Miller commented, "We are thrilled with the ticket counts on all of our dates. They equal or exceed the counts of the summer's biggest tours. Now the public and the industry have shown their commitment to an all-female line-up."
As summer nears its end, Lilith Fair, with its 62 performers and 35 concert dates, is winding down. You can visit the Lilith Fair website at www.lilithfair.com. For those who missed it, a television special about Lilith Fair is in the works.
Brynna Fish owns Bluefish Productions, and has coordinated the Cleveland lesbiangay pride festival for three years.
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