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