Cover
story A
fair mix of spirituality, music
By ROBIN TAYLOR
Editors note: In part because of the Lilith Fair, a
travelling pop music festival with an all-female lineup, an entire generation
is growing up listening to the songs of strong, intelligent, successful women.
As the leading vehicle for those women to gain exposure, the events
social impact may be incalculable.
Theres also an undeniable spiritual streak to the Lilith
experience. Many young seekers see the concerts, both the music and the people
who are drawn to hear it, as a place to explore spiritual questions outside
traditional denominational settings. For young Catholics, the fair may have
special meaning (see accompanying article, page 16). It likewise offers
left-wing organizers a receptive young audience. NCR pop music
critic Robin Taylor caught the Lilith Fair in Salt Lake City, Utah.
By ROBIN TAYLOR
When I was in junior high, I longed to be beautiful. My parents
did their best to reassure me that I was fine, but I never quite believed them.
I searched out beauty tips in teen magazines at the library in secret, since my
mother didnt approve of them. What could I do to make my hair behave? My
cheeks rosy? My nails elegant?
There were girls around me who were pretty. I saw them every day
at school. They had boyfriends. They had clothes from the mall, instead of
home-sewn ones like I had. They had the guts to try out for cheerleader and
they flaunted their tiny skirts all day long on game days. They had something
that I didnt, a secret they wouldnt share.
It was a long time before I recovered from that junior high school
angst. I wish that Lilith Fair would have been around then, because I think it
would have helped. Billed as a celebration of women in music, it is
also a celebration of girlhood, of a powerful femininity that honors itself and
embraces others, too.
Lilith Fair founder and star Sarah McLachlan had her share of
troubles in junior high, too. She tells her audiences she knows its hard
to be a teen and encourages them to look inside for a place where they can be
strong and at peace. She took her message and her music to more than 50
different concert venues all across the United States and Canada this
summer.
McLachlan was not alone for this second annual all-womens
Lilith Fair tour, a traveling music festival. Over the course of the tour,
McLachlan was joined by some of todays most popular female performers,
including Natalie Merchant, Paula Cole, Shawn Colvin, the Indigo Girls, Sinead
OConnor, Bonnie Raitt, Liz Phair, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Emmylou
Harris.
In late August, McLachlan, Cole, Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb and the
Cowboy Junkies took the stage in Park City, Utah, a ski town, not far from Salt
Lake City, thats also home to the Sundance Film Festival. It was a day of
strange, changing weather -- bursts of sunshine, followed by clouds, pounding
showers, clear skies and rain again hours later as the concert drew to a
close.
At the news conference before the show, a sleepy looking Paula
Cole sat on one side of McLachlan, Margo Timmins from the Cowboy Junkies on the
other. Dar Williams and Blair Tefkin from the band Lucie Gamelon rounded out
the crew, while Utah artist Stacy Lee joined them near the end of the
conference. Osborne never did make it.
Suddenly so close
It was unnerving to suddenly be so close to women that Id
long admired, successful artists who were making a living doing what they love
who inspired me to follow my own heart as well. Id spent hours singing
along to McLachlans melodies while driving, scrubbing the sink, cutting
onions, writing. Id discovered Cole more recently after hearing her songs
on the radio. I loved their musics vulnerability and wondered how they
were able to read my heart.
Suddenly they were a few feet from me, ready to answer questions
-- even a question of mine if I had the guts to ask it. Id taken the seat
closest to the microphone. Even so, I doubted that Id have the
courage.
Early on, it was clear there was basis to my fears. McLachlan had
been through more than 50 news conferences this summer and no longer felt the
need to spare reporters feelings. In the first few minutes, she attacked
the lazy journalism she said was behind much of the criticism of
the Lilith Fair this summer. She also charged that some notable women musicians
quoted as opposing the idea of an all-womens music festival actually had
their remarks taken out of context. Among these was Tori Amos, the gutsy,
piano-playing singer who, with her millions of albums sold and a recent release
called from the choirgirl hotel, seemed like a perfect Lilith
candidate.
Ive spoken to Tori Amos, McLachlan said.
She had ultimate respect [for Lilith Fair], but she was getting asked
every single day, Why arent you on Lilith Fair? Why arent you
part of this? and Im sure that in itself was getting frustrating to
her, like whats wrong with me wanting to do my own thing? And absolutely,
I agree, theres nothing wrong with it. Wed love to have her here,
but I have respect for her wish to do her own thing, too. Were not like
the Borg. We dont assimilate.
Earlier, another reporter implied that Coles meteoric
success this past year, including her Grammy for Best New Artist
was partly due to McLachlan and last summers Lilith Fair. McLachlan said,
Her success had to do with herself. Not Lilith Fair.
Cole continued, a bit more gently, I do feel that everything
is meant to be. I dont believe in luck. And I believe that Sarah and I,
somehow our paths were meant to collide in our lifetime. I think somehow
its been mutually beneficial.
Absolutely, McLachlan added.
Perhaps McLachlans acid tongue was due in part to just being
tired. She had performed her first Lilith Fair show more than two months
earlier in Portland, Ore. Since then, shed traveled from California to
New Mexico, Ohio to New York, Maryland to Texas and numerous towns in between.
She performed 25 shows in July alone.
Thats a lot of miles to log on a bus, a lot of nights
sleeping on the road. At every stop, shed had a news conference. At every
stop, shed answered questions that probably started to sound annoyingly
similar. The Utah show was their 53rd (But whos counting? a
Lilith Fair staff member said).
How radio changed
Eventually, the questions moved to areas more to the artists
liking. They talked about how last summers festival helped change the
nature of U.S. and Canadian radio and how those changes could help lead to
improvement in other womens issues as well.
Williams said, Before Lilith, I would hear one woman per
hour on the radio, and now its half and half. I hear women played back to
back, which used to be a real faux pas. It was thought to be bad marketing. So
something erupted out of one summers festival, and I think theres a
lot that women can learn about asserting themselves, how successful that can
be.
The Lilith fair presence in Utah was especially encouraging to
women there, one reporter said. A writer for an alternative paper and an expert
in Mormon feminism, she told the panel that their music inspired many Utah
women and helped them remember their value in the midst of a culture entrenched
in polygamy and misogynist attitudes.
It isnt only women who suffer. A stunned McLachlan learned
of a Utah legislative decision that banned all extracurricular clubs in schools
after students at one school started a gay and lesbian support group. She said,
How could they do that?
This is Utah, the reporter replied.
McLachlan said, Ive heard rumors that Utah is
definitely a little further back in some ways, certainly in its treatment
toward women. I can only speak for myself and say that I believe in equality.
We all should have respect for each other as human beings that surpasses gender
or race. Without getting too political, I hope that Lilith Fair does help in
sending a positive message to women and to men as well that its OK to
celebrate women, its OK to celebrate the uniqueness and diversity that
everybody has. In the same way I think its important for men to celebrate
their uniqueness and diversity. I just wish that people wouldnt be
threatened by that.
The toughest question
At last, a break. I stepped to the mike before I could change my
mind and asked the question I had been writing and rewriting in my
reporters notebook. How does their spirituality, which is such an
integral part of their music, affect their day-to-day lives on the road and
their performances?
Silence. Then giggles. Then calls for Tefkin from Lucy Gamelon to
respond, since shed been quiet for most of the conference.
Well give you the toughest question of all, McLachlan said.
After more laughter, Tefkin said, I just want to remember
the words to the songs, and then Ill be saying my thank yous at my
prayers tonight. One day at a time. Thats my spirituality right
there.
Exactly. Thats a good mantra, McLachlan said.
One day at a time.
The giggles subsided. Just when I thought that was it, that I had
asked a profoundly inappropriate question, Williams began to speak. I could
have hugged her. I know that when Im on the road I try to make it
meaningful. The first year that I toured, it was a big adventure. It was really
all-exciting. And then the next year, I felt like there was some conspiracy.
Bad sound, bad presentation. I watched my blood pressure go up, which was very
strange. ...
I had to take control of turning the road into as meaningful
an experience as home is, and I think that getting a real sense of the
diversity of landscapes in this country has really informed my performances and
my writing. I feel like theres so much to be preserved in this country.
It takes on a political and spiritual bent to see how much we have to
save.
Cole followed Williams. Asking about our spirituality is a
very deep question, so its hard to be eloquent and concise about it. I
have to say that originally I didnt want to be a touring performer. I
wanted to be at home, in the safety of my home. But that has changed. In being
a road warrior, Ive come to love it, and Ive found that its
probably as close to nomadism as you can get. And to me that is a very
spiritual lifestyle.
You have to live out of one bag for months at a time.
Its lonely, and you have to be stoic and strong if youre in a
long-distance relationship. Being vegetarian or maintaining a vegan diet is
very difficult. I feel like I have to forage for food in every city. So it
requires inner strength to do what I do.
Timmins from the Cowboy Junkies added, I think that
everything that Paula was saying is really true. I think that being on the road
is really, really difficult. For me, the only reason I leave my home and the
things I love most to come out on the road is to sing, and when Im
singing, thats spiritual. I feel great, and it doesnt matter that I
sat in a stinky hotel room all day. Im going to get to sing today, and
theres nothing better than that.
Its the connectedness
McLachlan said, I think the spirit of connectedness, the
feeling that you get when you play live, when I play live, is the closest thing
to my idea of heaven and euphoria and complement and fulfillment -- which is
rather frightening when you think that Im going to be chasing that high
all the time. She laughed, and said, But no, Ive been able to
find that in a lot of other aspects of my life now, which I think is really
important.
I find one of the most important things about defining
spirituality is defining your own boundaries, and defining your own sense of
balance and defining your sense of self. Thats been a big struggle for
me. But one of the best things for me is the fact that I have had music as an
outlet and as a form of expression, and its certainly nurtured my sense
of spirituality and my feeling of connectedness to the world and to the
energies.
That spirit of connection permeated the makeshift village
surrounding the concert site, where some of McLachlans favorite nonprofit
groups had booths. Thousands of concertgoers passed through. They signed
petitions, picked up literature, put their names on mailing lists. Amnesty
International had a booth. So did RAINN (the Rape, Abuse and Incest National
Network), and the Sierra Club, with a box full of signed postcards against
Utahs proposed Legacy Highway that would cut a swath through the
internationally significant wetlands of the Great Salt Lake.
The National Organization of Women distributed bright pink and
white stickers that concertgoers wore on their shirts, stickers that read
We Demand: End Violence Against Women. They also had postcards
showing support for the expansion of the Violence Against Women Act. The Breast
Cancer Fund handed out leaflets. LIFEbeat: the Music Industry Fights AIDS had
prevention and informational materials.
With the village that we have out everyday, we have a lot of
nonprofit organizations that we -- myself and Lilith Fair -- believe in. But
its not something that we shove down peoples throats. The
information is there, and if people want to go get it and be made aware of
whats out there, then thats cool, McLachlan said.
The village was also a place to shop. Numerous artisans had booths
with names like The Dancing Goddess and Eclectic Earth that sold everything
from natural fiber clothing to incense, bath and body products to bumper
stickers. You could get a concert blanket for $40 and know that the profits
would benefit Girls Inc, a national organization devoted to empowering girls
and creating an equitable society. A Planned Parenthood key chain
would cost you $3, while a necklace or earrings designed by McLachlan herself
would set you back $25.
Sales from candles shaped like full-figured women benefited ANAD,
the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. One
artisans sign proclaimed: I can write your name in rice.
Bumper stickers declared, Eve was framed, and God favors no
group/Only religions do that. Starbucks, one of the fairs corporate
sponsors, had magnetic poetry boards outside their booth. How they
release the light through a broken shard of glass, one board said.
Hes a Lilith
head
Paul Reynolds is the kind of person one might find hanging around
the village. A self-described Lilith head, the fair was his eighth
of the summer. He planned to continue down the road with McLachlan and company,
hoping to catch the Boise fair the next day.
Its just great music, he said. Look at the
list. The Indigo Girls brought down the house when they played. Women are just
making a lot of the good music thats out there today. Guys are mostly
making crap, the same old stuff. Theyve had free reign. Now its the
womens turn.
As the temperature dropped, many in the crowd got up off their
blankets and out of their seats and began to dance. It was a great way to get
warm. Joan Osborne and her band, dressed in white cover-ups, played the hits
off her breakthrough album, Relish. St. Teresa and Spider
Web spun out into the darkness.
Osborne tweaked the words to One of Us, a song that
wonders what you would ask God if you had just one question.
Instead of Except for the pope maybe in Rome, she sang,
Except for the pope when shes in Rome, a change met by
laughter and wild whooping.
Paula Cole took the stage after Osborne. Gone was the sleepy, pale
woman from the news conference who talked about loneliness and the difficulties
of life on the road. In her place was a dynamic, energized artist who strutted,
danced, and played the piano with a breathtaking passion. An old, cushy chair
at the front of the stage held a picture of Bob Marley, perhaps a reminder for
Cole of one of her mentors.
The crowds fervor, which had grown steadily since Loeb took
the stage hours earlier, reached new peaks as Cole sang the hits from her last
album, This Fire. As she sang Me, Where Have All the Cowboys
Gone, and I Dont Want to Wait, the crowd moved, a
swaying mass that clapped, bounced and sang. Young girls danced in groups with
their friends, just girls. Young women did the same. Other young women
throughout the crowd raised their hands, closed their eyes and screamed with a
passion that was previously reserved for male heartthrobs like the Beatles,
Shaun Cassidy or New Kids on the Block.
Cole was gracious, kind, larger than life, a poised and generous
performer. She thanked the crowd profusely and said, Im feeling
kind of special tonight, so I hope youll go with me on this
journey, before launching into yet another song. The crowd was
smitten.
Singing in the rain
The only person who could top Paula Cole at this festival was the
woman who took the stage last: Sarah McLachlan. The festival was her
brainchild, her baby, and the crowd honored her for it. I love you,
Sarah, one man called out. Thats sweet, McLachlan
replied.
She thanked her audience for coming, for hanging on through the
grisly afternoon weather. Her voice was clear and strong from the first notes
of Sweet Surrender through her other hits, including Building
a Mystery and Adia. At one point, Cole joined McLachlan for a
duet and proved that she not only sings but also whistles like a champion.
Near the end of McLachlans set, the rain and heavy winds
began again in full force. McLachlan continued to sing, even though the Lilith
backdrop came off its hinges and the stage lights wobbled, and the rain blew
onto her, her band, her equipment. It was too much to hope that she would
continue through the storm; the grand finale, which was to have featured all
the days performers in a group sing-along of Marvin Gayes
Whats Going On, was canceled.
McLachlan has long said that there is no political agenda behind
Lilith Fair. Instead, the impetus for last summers fair was just to do
something fun. We had an amazing summer last time, she said.
It was incredibly rewarding for me on so many levels, and I guess I hoped
[this summer] would be more of the same, and its exceeded those
expectations.
The fact remains, however, that Lilith Fair is more than just a
good time. Its an event that has raised more than a million dollars for
charity over the past two years, while earning more than $16 million last year.
McLachlan and the other performers are role models for millions of young fans
who scream for them, idolize them, imitate them.
McLachlan acknowledges that Lilith Fair can be empowering for
young girls, who see a lot of women in positive positions doing something
they love, but hastens to add that the message is really up to the
individual and what they choose to get out of it.
Perhaps thats the way it should be. Maybe young girls in the
pit of junior high school depression leave Lilith Fair with a deepened sense
that theyre OK just as they are. After all, if Sarah and Paula say
its true, sending out comfort in songs like Good Enough and
Me, then it must be so. Maybe struggling musicians come away with
greater faith in themselves, inspired by the way local artists are honored on
the village stage. Maybe Utah women found comfort in the Lilith presence. Maybe
all that was just the beginning. I know it was for me.
When Cole smiled at me at the news conference and said,
After years of singing, Ive come to realize that no ego
Paula, Im not the source. Im me, and that maintains my
humility, something shifted in me. The chasm -- the one that separated me
from the beautiful ones in junior high school, that made me an awkward,
frightened reporter now -- closed. Where before Cole had been famous, poised,
confident, apart from me, suddenly she was speaking to me, sharing her heart.
And the dreams that I have, the ones that I barely whisper to myself --
suddenly, they were not so impossible.
Its like she said. Its not about me or her or any of
us. Its greater than that. The gulf that separates the beautiful from the
average, the successful from the ordinary, is not as wide as I think. Maybe it
doesnt exist at all, except in my head.
Robin Taylor lives in Dayton, Nev.
National Catholic Reporter, October 9,
1998
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