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From Odd Girl Out to a White House appearance

by Michelle Tomko

Cleveland-Folks who have been following the queer music scene in northeastern Ohio for the past eleven years are familiar with Odd Girl Out. The girl group has enjoyed great success playing in numerous

Anne E. DeChant

clubs and college venues. They have also opened for such well-known headliners as Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, and Paula Poundstone.

In 1997, one of the founding members of the band went solo with her debut CD, Effort of the Spin. Since then, singer-songwriter Anne E. DeChant has enjoyed local critical awards and acclaim, receiving Cleveland's

Free Times Best Vocalist and Folk Americana Act 1999 and Scene's Best Regional Vocalist.

On April 1, DeChant will be releasing her latest CD, Something of the Soul. The release party and concert will be taking place at the Phantasy Theatre that evening with live per-

formances by the Excentrics form Washington D.C., the Mike Farley Band, and DeChant and her band, which includes Victoria Fliegel, formerly of Odd Girl Out.

"There's a lot more to do when you go solo." said DeChant. "In terms of performing, it's the same."

When asked about her connection to the lesbian community, DeChant said, "Well, I

have a girlfriend at the moment."

"Our best audience was the gay community," she added, referring to Odd Girl Out. "But we were far reaching." Although an inclusive performer, DeChant definitely is not a conformist. "I don't bother to mix pronouns."

DeChant includes a wide range of artists among her influences, from pop stars to talk show hosts.

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"Olivia Newton John, Partridge Family, John Denver," she listed among her influences. "Growing up, I went to church twice a week sometimes. I heard a lot of classical music, that's really a lot of the shaping. I studied voice. I like Counting Crows, John Mellencamp, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Cheryl Crowe, Sarah [McLachlan], Sean Colvin, the Goo Goo Dolls."

The best way to describe the sound on her new release is "traveling music." It would probably be best played in a convertible on a road trip. The sound is reminiscent of the artists who inspired her, as well as having a real Indigo Girls influence. Don't expect to find anything new under the sun here. It's girl acoustic all the way!

But DeChant did receive news of a new gig recently. She will be one of the performers at the White House Easter celebration. But she won't be filling the youngsters with feminist folk music. She will summon up her theatre training from Miami University of Ohio, and read a story.

DeChant was in the right place at the right time when the planner of the biggest children's event in the world saw a tape of her narrating a children's video.

What will the carefree singer do if she meets the president?

"I'm going to give him my CD," she said with a smile.

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Re-inventing the wheel

Randy Rollison, as Mr. Antrobus, shows off his new invention-the wheel-in gay playwright Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. Rollison, Cleveland Public Theatre's openly gay producing director, makes his Cleveland acting debut in the role. The play, which opens tonight and runs through April 22, centers on the Antrobus family as they travel through time visiting the ice age, as well as struggling through adultery. "He has a thorough appreciation of the human journey," said Rollison about Thornton Wilder. "His worldview is so extraordinary in terms of history and the human spirit. Rediscovering this play has been incredible" When asked what it's like being a gay man playing an Adam-like character, Rollison simply said, "It's me as a man. It's been interesting. I'm me. I just happen to have this wife and kids." Rollison does admit, however, that as an acting tool he and another male character have a subtext that they are having an affair offstage. -Michelle Tomko

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