"Shocked fan Lisa..."

[fflo]

Friday night Michelle Shocked is playing the Ark, and I'm gonna be there. Shouldn't you? It's general admission, so even though I've got my ticket, it's not to late for us to share the experience. (And squirrelykat is ushering.)

That was me in the paper this weekend, singing her praises.

Comments

[maffick.livejournal.com]

omg, that is so cool! you're in the paper.
you sang some proper praises for sure.
wish i could be there...who knows, maybe something will turn up at the last minute.
but that is awesome, l. great words.

[fflo.livejournal.com]

she's one of my faves. i'm massively looking forward to it! (do you like this use of "massively"?)

i remember

[vachementmoi.livejournal.com]

Short Sharp Shocked is one of my favorite albums of all time. I had it on cassette, which got eaten by my car a few years back during a financially bleak moment, so i never got around to buying it again. your comments really hit the nail on the head. you're all articulate and shit. me? not so much. in any case, have fun, and know that a girl in france is there in spirit.

Re: i remember

[fflo.livejournal.com]

That's gotta be my favorite, too. I'm most looking forward to the new one that's said to have that feel.

[squirrelykat.livejournal.com]

we're going to have a fun night! when A. asked me for a quote, i KNEW you'd
have great words (darn tootin' right you're articulate!)

[fflo.livejournal.com]

Below is the whole e-mail I wrote the guy. And it says only some of what I could wax on about. I left out a lot, like how I bought a cassette version of Arkansas Traveler before my trip to L.A., so I could ride around in my rental car playing "Come A Long Way" on some of the streets it's set in. (Love that song: Tow it to the repo man's front door, and you can give him the keys, i don't need 'em no mo'... )

I knew he was only looking for a line or two. Too bad he didn't want the anti-capitalist stuff, huh.


What I love about Michelle Shocked is more than her music. I do love her music,
in its various incarnations, with its energy and wit and passion and reverence.
But what I _adore_ is her grassroots, progressive-populist attitude---in her songs,
in her performances, and in her strategies for dealing with the business of sharing
her work broadly.

She does have an overt political presence, having (for instance) supported Dennis
Kucinich (so did I!) & performed in Jim Hightower's Rolling Thunder Tour events.
She speaks her mind about political matters when she performs, too, in the grand
tradition of populist singers. Where she really gets radical, to me, is in her
disruption of the notion of music as consumer goods, music as primarily an economic
commodity. The story of how she fought for & secured the rights to her own
work is inspirational, and not just in the topical way (in these times of internet
music distribution, etc.). The philosophy also comes out in her advocation and
celebration of people making our own music---"homemade jam," as she calls
it in the song.

I also have many fond personal associations with Michelle Shocked, from the first
time I heard her---"Graffiti Limbo" on alternative radio years ago---on
through a dozen memorable moments. In D.C. she brought the Fairfield Four to an
amazing post-AIDSwalk concert. In Baltimore she made her entire audience turn around,
face the other way, and do the butt dance for her enjoyment. In East Lansing she
invited anyone in the crowd who wanted to to come up and join the band, taking over
instruments & seeing what happened. The rumor is that her tour dates this time
are going to open with audience-participation karaoke to her old catalog. It's
always something different, but with that grassroots feel running through it all.