P H O T O M Y M A R K SE L IG E R
M erchant’s
‘L eave Your
Sleep ’ tour
arrives in
Portland
with a show
fo r fa n s new
and old
BY SUE ZALOKAR
S T A F F W R IT E R
or the tuned in, turned on youths of the
1980s, Natalie Merchant’s lilting quiver was
a siren’s song; a soothing intellectual voice
for a generation of young Americans.
Her audience has grown up with her, and with
her latest tour, they’re bringing their kids along.
At 16 years old, disenchanted with high school
bureaucracy, Merchant began college on an
advanced placement track. It was while she was a
DJ for her college radio station that she met the
other members of what was to become 10,000
Maniacs. Between 1981 and 1993, Merchant’s
lyrics and voice were among the most iconic
sounds in the new alternative music scene.
Since 1993, Merchant has had a successful solo
career, and on Oct. 4 she will be performing with
the Oregon Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer
Concert Hall.
Her most recent album, “Leave Your Sleep”
F
(2010), brings to life poetry written about and by
children of the Victorian era, and more recently,
the hearts of New York City school children. The
album, which took more than five years to produce,
was a gift for her daughter, but it has become a gift
to children of all ages.
Over the phone, Merchant’s voice is as glorious
when she speaks as when she sings. She’s
explaining why she is late in calling for the
interview, and I find myself engaged in an organic
conversation with one of the most remarkable
voices of the last quarter century.
She starts our conversation by telling me about
the one she just left after dropping her daughter
off at school.
Natalie Merchant: There has been a case of
whooping cough at our school. So I was having a
conversation revolving around immunizations and
Victorian child death. It’s amazing how many
illnesses we just don’t deal with because we
immunize.
Sue Zalokar: We have had 650 cases reported in
Portland this year — more than twice as many as this
time last year. That alone is a good argument for
immunizing children.
N.M.: Woodstock (New York) is well known for
families that don’t immunize. Actually when I had
my child, I lived on the other side of the river from
Woodstock. I was told not to take my child across
the river until she was a year old because there is
so much meningitis and whooping cough.
S.Z.: Did you immunize your daughter?
N.M.: I did because I travel frequently and we
lived in Spain quite a bit. My husband is Spanish.
We lived on the Southern coast of Spain. It just felt
like the responsible thing to do. I did a lot of
research. It was the thimerosal that was really
frightening, but our pediatrician was able to ensure
See Merchant, page 5
Inside
Veterans could
A new kind
soon join ranks of
of food cart
specialty courts
My Street Grocery
brings fresh produce
to homeless, low-
income residents
A special docket will
focus on needs o f
form er soldiers
Page 7
Page 3
Realtors’
constitutional
rewrite
One real estate agent
weighs in on
Realtors' tax agenda
Page 8