| Transcript |
tt
bye, bye Clyde's
(Hello Hooray
^
By Pokey Anderson
"So there we were-1973, Clyde's American Bar, me singing, yawning and belching
to an audience of slightly bewildered
straight couples and a pile of women
friends trying to be on good behavior so I
wouldn't get fired a fourth time for
'bringing in the wrong type of clientele...'
and Ginny said,'Meg, this is ridiculous.
You should start singing for women's
groups all the time.' And I took one last
look around Clyde's and said 'hmmm...' "
Thus began one woman's exploration
' of a new genre of music. Meg Christian
was one of the first to seek to define
women's music from a feminist perspective. Five years ago she was one of five
women who created a national women's
recording company. Meg's first album,
and Olivia Records' first, / Know You
Know, quickly became an underground
classic. And Meg won even more hearts
(for women's music) during her first concert tour of Texas two years ago.
Meg has finally consented to return to
Texas, much to the delight of those who
saw her first concert, and those who only
heard about it. She'll be bringing with her
another Olivia Records artist, Teresa Trull.
Teresa comes from North Carolina,
where she had been supporting herself
driving a dump truck. Her friends sent
Olivia a tape of her music, and Teresa
ended up doing her first album, The Ways
A Woman Can Be, and moving to Olivia's
Oakland, Calif, base to join the collective.
Teresa's brand of women's music has
elements of blues and country, sung with
an incredibly strong and versatile voice,
and backed by her able acoustic guitar.
Her songwriting reflects her belief that
"music is a potential starting point for the
meeting of wimmin's minds and souls-
wimmin from all different cultures and
backgrounds."
Similarly, Meg affirms her responsibility as a feminist musician "...to use my
music and my concerts to make women
more aware of political issues which are
vital parts of our movement struggles-es-
peciaily lesbianism, class, race and the
commonality of women's struggles everywhere." Toward this same goal, Teresa's
album notes and lyrics were printed in
both English and Spanish.
Of course, it's a fairly large order for a
group of women to committ themselves
to make decisions collectively, to train
women in all facets of the music industry-
from engineering to public relations to
distribution-and to work for the eradication of oppression rooted in sexism, class-
ism and racism. And from the outset, one
senses that they had to contend with a
collective barely-concealed snicker from
the male dominated music industry,
including a prediction that Olivia would
need at least a million dollars in capital
to start with. (Olivia started with $12,000
in donations.)
Five years later, Olivia has survived and
grown, weathering its share of criticism
from feminists, and even garnering some
grudging recognition from the Establishment. For example, Billboard picked
Olivia's Be Be K 'Roche as a Recommended
LP: "Well produced and well arranged
material, although the lyrics tend to encompass what might be construed as love
affairs between members of the same sex"
(Nov. 27, 1976). The New York Times
was even bold enough to mention Meg's
Leaping Lesbians song in a recent review
(Jan. 12, 1978), but they steadfastly referred to Teresa as "Miss Trull" all the way
through the article.
All women are invited to hear women's
music for themselves, as performed by Meg
Christian and Teresa Trull at 8 p.m. Friday, May 19th at Agnes Arnold Hall on
the University of Houston Main Campus
(Entrance 6). Tickets are a $4.50 donation, but if a woman can't afford that
amount she is invited to donate what she
can. The local women who are coordinating the event, Out and Out Productions,
will see that the proceeds go to establish
a fund that will be used to sponsor future
cultural events.
Advance tickets will be available at The
Bookstore (1728 Bissonnet), Wilde 'N'
Stein (819 Richmond), "Just" Marion
& Lynn's (817 Fairview), and Women
Rising Center (1737 Indiana). Mail orders
or child care reservations may be sent to:
Out and Out Productions, P. O. Box
66815, Houston, Texas, 77006. The concert site is wheelchair accessible and there
will be sign language for the deaf.
As a bonus, Meg and Teresa will be
conducting an informal workshop on
Saturday, May 20th, at First Unitarian
Church (5210 Fannin, upstairs), at 10:00
A.M. They are eager to meet with Houston
women to discuss the politics of doing
women's music, what Olivia Records is
about, or whatever.
STAND Vp SISTERS
FEMINIST THEATRICAL GROUP
= ARE AUDITIONING ==__=
MUSICIANS FOR ACCOMPANIMENT
PLEASE CALL
JOYCE - 448-4765
mondays and Wednesdays
I DELL- 464-5561 (after 7)
tuesdays, thursdays and fridays
WEEKENDS - EITHER NUMBER
TERESA TRULL and MEG CHRISTIAN will be performing at Agnes
Arnold Hall on the University of Houston Main Campus Friday, May 19 at
8pm. Advance tickets are available.
&WMY-
interior 5 exterior
house painting
handmade signs
wall graphics
18
HOUSTON BREAKTHROUGH
APRIL 1978
_J |
