July 5, 2002
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
9
It's not your mothyr's music festival
A new generation has made the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival their own
by Holly Pruett
I told a new acquaintance that I was planning to attend a women's music festival this
summer.
"You mean Lilith Fair?" she asked. "I thought they'd gone out of business."
No, I explained. I'm headed to the grandmother of all women's music festivals: the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.
"Oh, you mean women's music, like from the '70s? That crunchy-granola-Birkenstock stuff?"
As if! For every pair of Birkenstocks at today's Michigan festival, there's a campground full of Doc Martens, platforms, motorcycle boots, and stilettos. Stilettos? In the woods? Welcome to the 21st-century
Holly Near
women's music festival, where the music is as diverse as the women who attend.
Each August, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival attracts over 6,000 women of all ages, colors, shapes and
attitudes to the woods of northern Michigan. This year's performance line-up demonstrates that women's music defies categorization. It includes soul, rhythm and blues, punk, world beat, bluegrass, jazz, gospel, rap, and pop. The range of artistic expression includes comedy, circus arts, dance, spoken word, and performance art.
The weeklong extravaganza, August 13 to 18 this year, kicks off with two days of intensive workshops. Highlights include presentations by the ACLU on civil liberties and the rights of teenagers, Making Art: From Trash to Treasure, and the creation of biodiesel fuel, which will be used to power a festival vehicle.
The Big O Project will create roving installations chronicling women's relationship to orgasm. Other offerings run the gamut from health and wellness to arts and culture to spirituality and relationships. Perennial favorites include a weeklong series of dance lessons, gospel choir practice, and drumming workshops.
The intimate Acoustic Stage opens on Tuesday evening with nationally acclaimed slam poetry champ Alix Olson, back for her second Michigan appearance. The Dance Brigade, long a festival favorite, will perform an interpretation of "Cave Women" that speaks directly to the global experience following September 11.
The festival kicks into high gear on Wednesday night with the opening celebration on the Night Stage. Headlined by comedian Elvira Kurt and punk rockers the
Butchies
Butchies, this will settle any lingering doubts about the appeal of the festival to audiences from seventeen to seventy.
"When we started the festival twentyseven years ago, we had no idea we would still be at it in the year 2002," says festival producer Lisa Vogel. "But the need for a community-based event like Michigan hasn't lessened over time. A whole new generation of artists and attendees have adopted the festival and made it their own."
The Butchies, riot grrls Le Tigre, genderbending rap-punk performers Bitch and Animal, and Canada's hip-hop troubadour Kinnie Starr are among the artists on today's cutting edge who count this pilgrimage to the Michigan woods among their touring highlights.
Vogel mixes their sets up with longtime festie favorites Holly Near, Toshi Reagon, and Mary Watkins. Every year brings new artists to the festival, up-and-coming acts as well as performers with well-established careers whose fans look forward to seeing them at Michigan.
This year the Acoustic Stage will debut a new performance format: the Singer Songwriter Spotlight, featuring six solo sets in a wide range of vocal styles.
"We anticipate this showcase of new talent will be very popular," says Vogel, who expects the format to become part of the annual program.
The ferns surrounding the picturesque Acoustic Stage will be rocking to the riveting
Georgia Ragsdale
percussion of Edwina Lee Tyler and the reggae roots of JUCA. The wildly popular circus arts and dance troupe Lava returns to perform "Glimmer," which just premièred in New York City.
New to Michigan is the French cabaret act The Hobo Kings, whose combination of physical comedy, musical vignettes, and drag artistry is expected to blow the audience away. The Ann Arbor eco-feminist dance company
Le Tigre
Hundredth Monkey performs "Animal Lovers' Project," an exploration of the effect animals have on the planet.
High-energy musical action takes place Thursday through Saturday at the Day Stage. The Be Good Tanyas, described as "the Canadian feminist answer to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" combine heartfelt vocals with guitar, mandolin, violin and banjo. Ibu Ayan's AfroBrazilian blend, the multi-cultural spice of Páprika, and the Australian pop rock of The Bluehouse represent music from around the world. Popular singer songwriter Kris Delmhorst makes her first solo appearance on the Day Stage. And Alexis Suter, who nearly stole the show last year with her sexy bass-alto vocal stylings, will return with her own disco/ gospel mix.
Then there is the Night Stage. As the sun sets fire to the tree-fringed horizon and the northern sky fills with stars, women spanning eight decades gather in this unmatched performance venue. Created by sound and light technicians, carpenters, electricians, stage managers, and hundreds of other women from around the world working for weeks in advance, the Night Stage epitomizes the wide range of female talent and ability that defines the Michigan festival.
Country folk star Cheryl Wheeler, introspective pop artist Patty Larkin, and Laura Love's Afro-Celtic fusion are among the headliners bringing their original works to the Night Stage. Orquesta D'Soul will present eclectic Latin funk-soul that veers east to incorporate Japanese rap lyrics.
Saturday night will culminate with "Funky Up in Here: A Tribute to Soul, Rhythm & Blues," featuring Vicki Randle, Evelyn Harris, Toshi Reagon, Judith Casselberry, Aleah Long and Alexis Suter showing a little "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" to the women at the roots of this powerful genre.
Sunday afternoon, back by popular demand, comedy returns to the Day Stage. Marga Gomez anchors this full afternoon, also featuring Georgia Ragsdale, Carlease and Lisa Koch (formerly of Dos Fallopia). Their irreverent sets will ease the pain of packing up and bidding farewell to new friends and longtime family.
There is enough packed into this one week to last everyone the rest of the year. Children's programs, delicious vegetarian meals, hot showers, disability access and a range of community services complete this temporary community that has recreated itself now for 27 years. Twenty-seven years? My friend wondered where she'd been all this time. I assured her that it's never too late to discover the best party on the planet. Each year hundreds of "festie virgins" feel for the first time the magnetic pull of the Michigan woods.
The price for a full week of camping, meals, and all programming and services is $295-$350 (sliding scale) if purchased before July 20. More information can be obtained at www.michfest.com, or by calling 231-757-4766.