Folk singers, activists and friends to harmonize.Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard One of the most anticipated performances at this year's Oregon Country Fair The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) is a three-day fair that takes place yearly beginning on the Friday of the second weekend in July in Veneta, Oregon, approximately 15 miles west of Eugene, with an attendance of approximately 45,000 over the three day period, with attendance peaking will feature two ground-breaking female folk singers from succeeding generations, Ronnie Gilbert Ronnie Gilbert was also the name of the bass player for the rock band Blues Magoos. Ronnie Gilbert (born September 7, 1926) is an American folk-singer, one of the members of The Weavers with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman. and Holly Near Holly Near (born June 6, 1949 in Ukiah, CA) is an American singer-songwriter, teacher and social change activist. After starting high school in 1963, Near began singing with the Freedom Singers, a folk group modeled on The Weavers. . Gilbert sang with the Weavers, the Weavers, The depicts plight of Silesian weavers. [Ger. Lit.: Benét, 1078] See : Sewing and Weaving Weavers, The textile workers revolt against their employer and wreck the factory. [Ger. post-World War II folk quartet that included Pete Seeger Noun 1. Pete Seeger - United States folk singer who was largely responsible for the interest in folk music in the 1960s (born in 1919) Peter Seeger, Seeger . Near is a trailblazing trail·blaz·ing adj. Suggestive of one that blazes a trail; setting out in a promising new direction; pioneering or innovative: trailblazing research; a trailblazing new technique. feminist who launched her own Redwood record label in 1972. Both musicians, activists, teachers, authors and artists, the pair will perform together on the main stage at 3 p.m. today. They also will give several spoken word performances, including an intimate "fireside chat" on Saturday at the Front Porch Stage. In anticipation of their first Oregon Country Fair appear- ance ever, we spoke to Gilbert and Near separately by e-mail. Ronnie Gilbert Question: Why did you sign on for the Oregon Country Fair? Answer: I hadn't been to a festival for some years, since I quit doing concerts. Holly Near told me she was going to do the fair this year, and Faith Petric said she'd been loving doing it for years. It seemed the right time and the right place. Q: What are you going to be performing? Are you mostly singing? Speaking? Both? A: Now that I'm an old person, people keep asking me to `talk a bit about your life and maybe sing a couple of songs' at their events. So I put a presentation together just for that purpose, and I'll be doing some of that. Then, I might read some from my play about Mother Jones, the unbeatable labor agitator ag·i·ta·tor n. 1. One who agitates, especially one who engages in political agitation. 2. An apparatus that shakes or stirs, as in a washing machine. Noun 1. who was called `the most dangerous woman in America.' Q: What do you like about performing with Holly Near? A: The joy of singing with each other, the electricity that keeps happening whenever we're on stage together. The welcome surprises we get and give from the difference in our ages and styles. The world values we share. Friendship. Q: You've been a musician, a playwright, a teacher, an a playwright, a teacher, an activist and an author. In which circle are you most active these days? A: I suppose I'm in an author stage, since I'm writing a memoir memoir History or record composed from personal observation and experience. Closely related to autobiography, a memoir differs chiefly in the degree of emphasis on external events. . But it's hard to stay focused on yesterday when today is in such turmoil. I'm always on the Internet trying to keep up with what's really going on in this country and in the world, since truth is no longer a component of this country's journalism. I'm a slave to e-mail lists, receiving and sending. That's my activism. But actually, writing and presenting my song-talk gives me a crack at all the circles you mention. Q: You've been working with the organization Women in Black, challenging U.S. foreign policy for years. Have you experienced any fallout fallout, minute particles of radioactive material produced by nuclear explosions (see atomic bomb; hydrogen bomb; Chernobyl) or by discharge from nuclear-power or atomic installations and scattered throughout the earth's atmosphere by winds and convection currents. since Sept. 11? A: Actually, Women in Black is not an organization, but a worldwide, loose network of independent groups which choose the feminist mode of mostly silent vigil-ing to protest personal and state violence as a means of settling conflict. In fact, my own group of mostly Jewish women had only started shortly before Sept. 11, in support of other groups in the area, mourning MOURNING. This word has several significations. 1. It is the apparel worn at funerals, and for a time afterwards, in order to manifest grief for the death of some one, and to honor his memory. 2. The expenses paid for such apparel. 2. the victims of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Our very first vigil vigil (vĭj`əl) [Lat.,=watch], in Christian calendars, eve of a feast, a day of penitential preparation. In ancient times worshipers gathered for vespers before a great feast and then waited outside the church until dawn for the liturgy (Mass). was a memorial to the victims on both sides of the oceans. After Sept. 11, the FBI threatened one of our sister groups with a grand jury investigation, a little foretaste fore·taste n. 1. An advance token or warning. 2. A slight taste or sample in anticipation of something to come. tr.v. of the `patriot' mentality that has been invading in·vade v. in·vad·ed, in·vad·ing, in·vades v.tr. 1. To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage. 2. this country since. Q: I read today that the U.S. military has a presence in more than 100 countries. Which situations are the most pressing as far as you're concerned? A: Precisely the most pressing is that our military is everywhere, in the service of corporate power, starting and/or policing regional conflicts, making sure with our fantastic technological military force that corporations get and keep what they want - and human life, creature life, the life of the Earth, be damned. Meanwhile, there is a war in this country, against our youth, against creativity, against dissent, against the very values we keep boasting - a war against justice itself. Which situation is the most pressing? Our own. Holly Near Question: What brings you to the country fair? Answer: I met (fair organizer) Robert DeSpain at an event in Seattle and he invited me. I look forward to experiencing the event. I also knew some of the Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a well-known Christian hymn. The words were written late in 1772 by Englishman John Newton. They first appeared in print in Newton's Olney Hymns, 1779 that he worked on with William Cowper. folks from long ago. I understand they were part of its beginnings, almost 30 years ago. Q: You're playing with Ronnie Gilbert. You've also played and recorded with her a lot. What keeps bringing the two of you together? A: Ronnie is coming up mainly to do the workshop part of the festival. But she will come on and sing a song or two with me at the main stage. Ronnie and I work well together. We both have a mix of music, politics and theater in our backgrounds, so we resonate res·o·nate v. res·o·nat·ed, res·o·nat·ing, res·o·nates v.intr. 1. To exhibit or produce resonance or resonant effects. 2. with each other's style. Our voices blend well, and best of all, we are friends off stage. We hang out, vacation together. We started working together in the early 1980s. It is good to have that kind of longstanding relationship, tried and true. Q: What have you learned from Ronnie? A: I grew up listening to Ronnie along with dozens of other singers. They were my teachers. When I was in high school, I sang with three boys in a group. We did a lot of Weavers arrangements, and I sang "Ronnie." She sang strong and true without a lot of tricks. Just right out there. I liked that. I think that is how I sing. Q: How has her voice matured over time? How about yours? A: I have often been told that women's voices get a kind of warmth in middle age. I am experiencing that now. My voice sounds better now than it has ever sounded. There is a maturity in the presentation, but there is also a depth of sound that has surfaced. I am enjoying singing more than ever. Q: What will you be performing together? A: I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what songs. One or two. We will decide last minute. That is how we work. Q: What can you tell me about the workshops you're leading at the fair? A: The one I do with Ronnie will be like a fireside chat. We will each tell stories of our travels, our work, our development as social change artists, mistakes we made, celebrations. This is lots of fun. We have done it before. Older people like it because it acknowledges a time when they, too, were activists, growing and learning. Young people like it because it is fun for them to know what has gone before, identifying the path, and now it is their time to run with it, determine where that road will go. Lots of laughter, good feelings. CAPTION(S): "We both have a mix of music, politics and theater in our backgrounds, so we resonate with each other's style." HOLLY NEAR ON WORKING WITH RONNIE GILBERT |
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