Eugene weekly., August 21, 2008, Page 37, Image 37

music
BY SUZI STEFFEN
Melissa Etheridge
8 pm Friday, Aug. 22
Cuthbert Amphitheatre
$35, $65 reserved
Those Summer Nights
Melissa Etheridge’s earnest Awakening
F
or many minutes, as I walked to
work with the sounds of Melissa
Etheridge’s 2007 Awakening ringing
in my ears, I tried out comparisons. Melissa
is the lesbian Bryan Adams! Melissa is the
lesbian Aerosmith! Melissa is the lesbian
Pat Benatar! Journey! Heart! Crosby, Stills
and … oops, that’s too obvious.
Screw it. Can’t fi gure out the right rock
comparison, but I can say that listening to
Awakening reminds me that Melissa and I
come from the same area, where weather-
worn, bug-splattered cars blare wailing guitars
and power ballads as they motor humidity-
drenched folks in American fl ag shirts and
bandannas to Sandstone Amphitheatre in
Bonner Springs, Kansas, where fi refl ies
light up the fi elds beyond the stage and the
fl uorescent sprawl of strip malls competes
with fi elds of corn and wheat.
In her newest music, I still hear the sound
of people leaning into each other at the end
of a two-hour concert, knowing they have a
hour-long drive ahead of them but wanting to
hold on to that last bit of concert magic before
packing out. OK, true, at Etheridge concerts
there might not be quite as many American
fl ags, and at least half of the couples will be
My People (I hail ya! Making out to Melissa
was such a rite of passage before Ani came
along!), but seriously. The classic rock sound
lives on in Awakening.
Part of that sound requires a certain lack of
irony. I mean, 1993’s Yes, I Am stands as pretty
THE
much the best non-ironic rock album ever
despite the slight wordplay of the title. But
it’s been a while since I listened to Etheridge.
So at fi rst, I thought the chorus for the song
“California” was a bit of self-mocking for all
of us who left the Midwest and ended up on
this coast: “I will fi nd my love / I will seek my
peace / I am almost free / California, rescue
me.” You know? California (or Oregon) ain’t
gonna rescue us! Except she’s serious because
in Etheridge’s case, it kind of did.
There’s one poppy, sweet-hooked song
on Awakening, a cute little tune called
“Message to Myself,” that includes backing
vocalists singing, “Sha la la la” but that
also does a fi ne — if clichéd — job telling
other queer folks, “Truth is what you get
when truth is what you speak.”
What with coming out, her partnerships,
the kids and her bout with breast cancer,
Etheridge long ago became tabloid fodder,
but she never lost her social conscience. Who
could stay dry-eyed during “Scarecrow,”
her song for Matthew Shepard? And of
course, she wrote (and won an Oscar for)
“I Need to Wake Up” for An Inconvenient
Truth. Bryan Adams wouldn’t ever go there.
That’s the joy of Melissa, who mixes sappy
love ballads, angsty breakup rockers and
bluntly wielded lyrics (check out “God Is in
the People”), only to emerge with magically
meaningful moments. Take your lighters to
the Cuthbert; for Melissa Etheridge, cell
phone lights just won’t cut it.
ew
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Hookah Stew
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 9PM
Bill Magee Blues Band
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SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 9PM
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EUGENE WEEKLY AUGUST 21, 2008 37