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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2002)
MUSIC L esbian folk hero Jamie Anderson is arriving this month to promote the release of her new CD, Listen. In fact, she says, because we’re such stellar fans, she has more gigs in Oregon than anywhere else. Anderson is a gift to folk and women’s music. She’s one of those rare songwriters who can find the funny in the serious and the important in the inane. The North Carolinian has been touring nationally since 1987 playing women’s festi vals, coffeehouses, universities, folk festivals and house parties. She has managed to make a living solely as a performer for the past 13 years and says at age 44, she’s just happy to he playing. And she’s happy to he playing folk. It’s that music, the artist notes, that “has been impor tant in the struggles of many people, including [lesbians]. Some think it’s just a stereotype, like the character in Ellen’s coming-out episode, hut we really do exist, and we come from a strong foundation laid by women like Meg Christian and Maxine Feldman." Anderson is afraid this civil and women’s rights anthem music might he getting a little lost. “I’m not sure how important folk music is to the lesbian community now. It seems that most lesbians know about k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge, hut they don’t know folk artists.” Listen is Anderson’s seventh C D and cer tainly one of her best. Like any good folk album, it includes autobiographical material as well as social commentary. She sheds light on her own breakup from an LTR with songs such as “I Miss the Dog (More Than I Miss You)” and “Her Problem Now.” However, Anderson says the latter was not intentionally written as a breakup song. Initial- Folking it up Jamie Anderson’s new CD is funny, sexy, political and smart by L ynn T homas ly, she had been watching a Bonnie Raitt music video and just decided she wanted to compose a rollicking blues tune. But consider ing blues stings are inherently had news inten sive, her recent breakup experience became collateral damage. Family and its multiple variations are also a theme of Anderson’s music. She wades in with “A Love This True” in support of gay marriage. “A lot of [gay] people don’t like the idea of ‘marriage’ per se an d.. .won’t support legislation for gay marriage. They don’t want us to base our relationships on a heterosexual, patriarchal model,” Anderson says. “But I feel we don’t have to conform to traditional marriage to have the legal definition. I want to he able to visit my lover in intensive care without having to justify my presence to the nurse. Or worse, to not he let in at all.” Songs like “A Family of Friends” pay trib ute to many against-the-odds relationships. The subjects of “Forever Family" are based on real people in Anderson’s life, including a lesbian couple to whom her brother became a sperm donor. (They named the baby Jamie.) “We don’t have a Hallmark card for who we are,” Anderson says. “We’re not the same as parents, aunts and grandparents even though we are in the baby’s life. My mother has the hardest time with it. She is technically the grandmother, but not actually, so it’s emotionally difficult." But it’s rather "inspiring” to Anderson. “People do what they can to create these connections. I never wanted kids of my own, though. It’s hard enough in this line of work just having pets,” she laughs. Speaking of pets, Anderson has always been an ardent advocate. Her song “When Cats Take Over the World” from the album Never Assume is a comic feline classic. And not long ago, she rescued a Jamie Anderson is appearing at a venue near you pregnant cat from an interstate rest stop. (The offspring appears on the cover “after I played this song the audience forgot to of Listen.) clap. They just sat there stunned.” JH Although Anderson says she’s not an animal J amie A nderson mill stun audiences m Portland rights activist with a capital A, she encourages 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at Touchstone Coffee House, responsible pet ownership and even includes 7361 N .E. Glisan St. The sliding-scale cost is information in her C D liner notes about it. $5-$10. She also appears in Eugene 8:30 p.m. The title song on Listen is one of the March 2 at Paradiso Café, 115 W. Broadway St. release’s most evocative. Although she com ments that “it is the cardinal rule of songwrit ($5); in Newport 6:30 p.m. March 3 at a house ing not to paint yourself in a bad or unflatter party, 654 N.W. Nye St. (donations accepted); and ing light,” she takes quite a risk with this fear m Corvallis 8 p.m. March 7 at Oregon State Uni versity's LaSells Stewart Center (donations accepted). less confessional about having an affair. It’s a number heated with the passion of lust and the L ynn T homas is a singer-songwriter, too. She can pain of realizing someone else is being hurt. “A couple of times,” Anderson admits, be reached at mzmz4143@saw.net. ' S8T W* % -i S \ß Central Cafe Great new menu! Serving breakfast and lunch, available for special events. 218 North Main Street Gresham, Oregon 97080 503-665-5052 1 /2 O f f E n tr e e w/ p u r c h a s e o f e q u a l o r g r e a t e r value Wednesday Is Brewer Day! Pint Specials All Day Long 503/282-0622 Rihk'yc Steak • Pesta Chicken Han’t ie • Park Lain M edal Hans l/len sh n n f Lam b Rack • C rab Cakes P an Scared Salm an • Oven Roasted Chicken Reserva tiene c >’ Confinile Rci/nired ,\o other offers honored with this cannon
