Ladyfest Nevada County

Whew!

Some of the Ladyfest Nevada County performers back stage: Uni and her Ukulele, Ricky Berger, Natalie of Agent Ribbons, Sasha of Sasha and the Shamrocks, Adrienne of Coal Beautiere, and Catherine Scholz

Thanks to everyone who helped make Ladyfest Nevada County such a success!

If you'd like to purchase a professional quality DVD of the Ladyfest Concert, please contact Touchdown Productions at 274-2206 or gil@touchdownproductions.com.
DVDs are $27 including tax!

Til next time... keep on rockin', Ladies!

Welcome To Ladyfest!

Saturday October 4th, 2008!



If you scroll down, you can read wonderful interviews with our workshop leaders and performers.

For a detailed Workshop Schedule, click here.

To purchase tickets, click here.

We couldn't do this without our fabulous sponsors:


Bluebird Farms, Safeways, The Briar Patch, Summer Thyme's, The Flour Garden, and South Pine Cafe!


Christopher's Deli right down the street from the Center of the Arts will also be offering Ladyfest attendees a lunch special of 1/2 sandwich, salad and drink for $7 if any of your friends ask about food.


A HUGE thank you to these community-minded businesses for their generous support!


See you Saturday for a day of education, information, and fun!

Kathi Keville

Kathi Keville is a well known Herbalist throughout North America. With over 35 years of experience working with her plants and their medicine, she is a great asset to Nevada County as an herbal practitioner, teacher, mentor and great friend. Kathi will be teaching the workshop "Aromatherapy for the Spirit" at Ladyfest Nevada County.



Kerry: How long have you been working with medicinal herbs and what do you find to be the most inspiring of the work that you do? (gardening, classes, books, clients, etc.)

Kathi: I began working with herbs in 1968, so I suppose this year is an anniversary of sorts. I've seen a lot of changes in the herb world and an increased appreciation among people seeking to use plants for self healing.

Kerry: Kathi, you are a well known herbalist across the country. Do you teach solely in Nevada County or do you venture out to other states and cities to spread herbal wisdom?

Kathi: I've been traveling about once a month to teach elsewhere throughout the US and helped lead a few herb tours to Europe. I may slow down a bit to focus more on teaching locally. I do love traveling, but also love Nevada County and have a beautiful herb garden to tend. I do a lot of writing, both book and magazine articles, but teaching and gardening are my true passion.



Kerry: You have written quite a few books with your knowledge of herbs. There's HERBS FOR HEALTH AND HEALING that everyone loves and WOMEN'S HERBS, WOMEN'S HEALTH of which you recently finished a new edition. Are there any other books/projects under way that you can tell us about? A T.V. show perhaps.

Kathi: The women's herb book began as a simple update, but my co-writer, Christopher Hobbs, and found much research on both herbs and women's health had appeared since we first wrote the book 10 years ago. It took three years for us to complete the update and we're very proud of it. Our goal is to help women and we know this book makes a big step in that direction.

My newest endeavor is being featured on the Veria channel's weekly show, "Everybody Nose" (channel 9575) on Dish TV. Filming is a lot of work, but it is a fun project and a wonderful chance to introduce aromatherapy to the TV audience. The best part is that the Hollywood TV crew comes to visit to film right in my garden so they can film each plant as I discuss it.

Kerry: Do you have any upcoming events/classes that we should know about if we want to learn more about you and herbal medicine?

Kathi: I teach a year long program, but have broken into segments so folks can pick and choose what interests them the most. More information about herb and aromatherapy classes, the 12 books I've written, the American Herb Association Quarterly newsletter, and my work can be found on my website.



Kathi Keville will teach the workshop "Aromatherapy for the Spirit" at Ladyfest Nevada County. For a full workshop schedule, go here.

Interview by Kerry O'Reagan

Kerry is a plant lover, herbalist, medicine maker, world traveler, and scholar of 1980s radio hits.

Suzanne Parkhurst

Nevada County has always been a beacon for unique and spirited individuals. Suzanne Parkhurst is one of these wonderful souls who was drawn to our community, and she truly exemplifies the Nevada County woman: open-minded, kind-hearted, and intelligent. Since making her home here in Nevada County four years ago, she has been involved with making lotions and potions with her herbal plant knowledge. She is also a member of a musical group of "sisters" where she plays the native flute during sound blessings for people and has recently begun angel readings with a local pianist. Join Suzanne for the intriguing workshop "Ladies of the Night Cream- Lotion Making De-Mystified" as part of Ladyfest Nevada County!



Kerry How long have you been studying herbs and what sparked your interest in learning about plant medicine?

Suzanne: I have been studying herbs about 4 years. Before coming to Grass Valley, I lived in the Bay area, and was very much an "urban" resident. In fact I couldn't tell the difference between a pansy and a petunia. When we moved up here, we built a house on 5 acres and suddenly I looked around and saw plants and trees and wanted to know more about them. It was as if there was a whole world out there that I hadn't noticed before. The more I looked, the more I saw. And what I saw were living "beings" that not only were pretty and interesting, but also had medicinal properties. I wanted to know more about plant medicine and luckily found our resident herbalist, Kathi Keville, who started me on my path.

K: What aspect about herbal medicine intrigues you most? I know that you recently acquired a distiller to make hydrosols and essential oils-- how is that going for you?

S: What intrigues me is being able to get to know and use the plants that surround me. Many of these plants would be called "weeds" by others, but I am beginning to have great respect for these "weeds" and their medicine. So I use the plants that surround me (lavender, rosemary, fir tips, peppermint, etc.) in cooking and also in making lotions and creams. My garden has become so abundant that I have had to do major pruning. Instead of throwing the prunings into the compost, I decided to begin making my own hydrosols that I use in making creams.

Now I have a still for creating hydrosols (flower water) and small amounts of essential oils. The creams seem more vibrant when the hydrosol that is used comes from my own garden. I have my own "chemistry shop" set up, and I have a great time watching the hydrosol drop into the receiving beaker. It's mesmerizing!



K: Tell us more about your other passions in life. You have been playing the native flute for some time and are part of a group of "music sisters" and that you are an avid practitioner of Qi Gong. Can you tell us more about your experiences in these areas?

S: I belong to a group of musical "sisters", Sisters of the Sound Continuum (SIS). We are of various musical disciplines and ethnic backgrounds. We come together to do sound blessings for people who request it. Sound blessings are improvisational musical offerings with a set intention. For example, someone who has cancer may ask us to do a sound blessing for them. After a short meditation and complete silence, the sound blessing begins. It is totally freeform, so we have to listen very deeply to what the other musical sisters are doing so as to fit in to what is being played. It requires a lot of trust, non judgment and deep listening to be appropriate to the moment. We have done land blessings, house blessings, birth blessings and blessings for people with illnesses.

I am also now doing some additional "sound prayers" with a local pianist. We do angel readings accompanied by musical offerings for people who request a prayer/blessing.

Qi Gong in some respects is an off-shoot of my interest in plant medicine. The qi gong I do is Sheng Zhen qi gong, or unconditional love qi gong. It is very "nature based" in that many of the moves suggest images in nature. For example, one of the forms is called Return to Spring. The movements evoke images of the sun and moon, of the earth and of the ocean. The movements are also healing and help strengthen the body as well as move any blocked qi that may be in the body.



K: Does your music and Qi gong practice somehow enhance your herbal medicine practice? I know that you have also done some Plant Spirit Medicine journeys as well. How does it all tie in?

S: Music, qi gong and herbal medicine are all part of a whole. Music is a vibration, as are plants. When I do anything with plants, I first spend time with the plant in silence, listening and "feeling" what the plant may want to say or offer. When I make a product, whether it's tinctures, creams, hydrosols or flower essences, I always have music going in my room. It is a way of honoring the plants, and honoring the process of making whatever concoction is being created. The over-all discipline of the qi gong and its nature-based philosophy just deepens the process.



K: Is there anything else you would like to share?

S: When I look around, I am overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounds us. We are blessed with all sorts of plants, trees, bushes, etc., all there not only for their beauty, but also to teach and heal us. They are waiting for us to notice them. When we do, we enter into an exciting adventure of communication, healing and playful joy.



Suzanne Parkhurst will teach the workshop "Ladies of the Night Cream- Lotion Making De-Mystified" as part of Ladyfest Nevada County. For a full workshop schedule, go here.

Interview by Kerry O'Reagan

Kerry is a plant lover, herbalist, medicine maker, world traveler, and scholar of 1980s radio hits.

Mary Beth Rich

Mary Beth Rich is a passionate lover of the natural world. She has been a dedicated student of plants and their medicine for many years, studying on her own and under the tutelage of our local "herb guru", Kathi Keville. With a strong background in cultivation and propagation, she has developed a passion for growing medicinal plants in her greenhouse in Grass Valley. A genuine "grass roots" neighborhood activist, she recently spearheaded a community garden in her own front yard that has seen its second year's harvest this summer. Join Mary Beth for the fun workshop "Ladies of the Night Cream- Lotion Making De-Mystified" as part of Ladyfest Nevada County!



Kerry: When and how did you get involved in herbal medicine making?

Mary Beth: I've always looked to natural healing, but started my herbal studies specifically after I moved to GV in 2002. I walked into a Deep Ecology Expo years ago & saw a lady at a booth that looked exactly like my college roommate, so I approached her & asked her if her name was Kathi (my old roommate's name) & she said yes, but didn't go to NAU. It turned out to be Kathi Keville & that night I signed up for her herbal apprenticeship program & I've been taking classes ever since.



K: What aspect of plant medicine attracts you the most from your studies and experiences with herbs?

MB: I am continuously amazed at their ability to heal in so many ways.



K: I know that you are an avid gardener and have been a lover of plants for some time now. How has your herbal studies enhanced and/or changed what you cultivate and do in your green house and your garden now?

MB: My father was also an avid gardener so I started as a little girl helping him in the yard. Currently I am cultivating more medicinals, both for personal use & sales. I have started a medicinal garden separate from the community garden & continue to incorporate medicinals into my landscape.



K: What are some of the most recent adventures you have been on involving your herbal medicine making?

MB: I just recently harvested elderberries & have made some delicious syrup so far. I am in the process of making elderberry wine for the first time. Wish me luck!

K: Can you tell us a bit more about your home garden/ community garden in Grass Valley that has been producing for the last couple of years?

MB: This is the second year for the community garden & it has been a wonderfully fulfilling experience. The first year there were 4 households involved & this year there are 7. What a joy to walk outside to pick fresh basil or tomatoes or a nice sweet honeydew.



K: What else can you tell us about yourself and your plant passion?

MB: My greenhouse is my escape into bliss! It used to be a meeting space in a large hotel/convention center in the bay area & one day the management announced that they were tearing it down & I put in my request for it. The rest is history. I spend most of my time propagating plants from seeds & cuttings & have spring & fall plant sales. I'm doing something I love & I feel blessed.



Mary Beth Rich will teach the workshop "Ladies of the Night Cream- Lotion Making De-Mystified" as part of Ladyfest Nevada County. For a full workshop schedule, go here.

Interview by Kerry O'Reagan

Kerry is a plant lover, herbalist, medicine maker, world traveler, and scholar of 1980s radio hits.

Patricia Dove Miller

Creative Writing requires much craft and practice-- even for the talented and the brave. Acquiring a good toolkit is essential for any writer. For our Ladyfest participants who would like to explore this art form in-depth, Patricia Dove Miller has created a workshop on "Writing Practice". This technique, developed by Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones)helps you to quiet your inner critic, delve into your unconscious, go deeper into your writing, and increase your creativity. Patricia Dove Miller has taught writing and meditation residential retreats at Zen Mountain Center in Idyllwild for six years; she also taught at the San Diego Writing Center and the Shiho Center for Creative Arts. She has recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing at Vermont College. Here we find out more about Patricia, one of the stars of our local Literary scene!

Ladyfest: How did you begin your career in Writing?

Patricia: I WAS LIVING IN JAPAN AND A FRIEND LOANED ME A COPY OF NATALIE GOLDBERG'S BOOK, WRITING DOWN THE BONES. IT WAS A MATTER OF THE RIGHT TIME, THE RIGHT METHOD, THE RIGHT PLACE. I HAD A STORY I WAS DYING TO TELL AND GOLDBERG GAVE ME THE TOOLS. I'VE BEEN WRITING EVER SINCE. LATER I WENT TO ONE OF HER TAOS WORKSHOPS AND REALIZED THAT I WANTED TO TEACH WRITING LIKE SHE DID AND SHE BECAME MY FIRST MENTOR.

L: What do you enjoy the most about your work?


P: THE CREATIVITY AND FREEDOM. LEARNING, DISCOVERING, EXPLORING, AS I WRITE: ABOUT MYSELF, MY LIFE, OTHERS' LIVES, MY CRAFT, MY ART.


L:What is the most challenging aspect of your job?


P: LEARNING TO REVISE, TO PERSEVERE,TO ESTABLISH A WRITING ROUTINE AND KEEP AT IT.

L: Where do you get your inspiration?
P: FROM NATURE, FROM MEDITATION, FROM READING, FROM OTHER WRITERS, FROM EXPLORING MY UNCONSCIOUS THROUGH WRITING.

L: What advice would you give young women who aspire to live a Writing life?


P: READ WIDELY, TAKE A VARIETY OF CLASSES, FIND A MENTOR, ESTABLISH A WRITING
ROUTINE AND STICK WITH IT EVEN IF IT'S ONLY ONE HOUR A FEW DAYS A WEEK.

Patricia Dove Miller will be teaching "Gold In a Wild River: A 'Writing Practice' Workshop" as part of Ladyfest Nevada County. For a full workshop schedule, go here.

Patricia is a co-leader of a local Women's Writing Salon, and a member of the Literature Alive Board. She leads creative writing workshops in Nevada City and Grass Valley, and is available for individual editing and coaching. She can be reached at 530-265-5165 and dovepat@oro.net.

Wendy Van Wagner

Nevada County loves good food. We are home to several CSAs (also known as "farm shares"), one CSK (Community Supported Kitchen), four thriving health food stores, a handful of organic restaurants, a Slow Foods chapter, a Local Foods Coalition, and-- if you're in the know-- even an Underground Restaurant or two! And for those of us who don't know an apple from a rutabaga, or just want to refine our cooking skills, there are inventive and exciting cooking classes happening all over the County. We are so happy that the talanted and effusive Wendy Van Wagner, director of
In The Kitchen with Wendy Van Wagner, will be cooking up some fabulous seasonal local produce in her workshop at Ladyfest Nevada County. Who better to interview Wendy then one of our other young and gifted local chefs, Graham Hayes of Nourish Wise. If you hang out with either of these two characters for long enough, you're going to have an interesting conversation, and you're going to get fed. My kind of people!

Graham: It takes just one quick glance through your adorable website to see that you aren't only an extremely well rounded chef, but that you bring a familiar yet strikingly unique approach to modern culinary arts. Tell me how you became interested in cooking.

Wendy: It's sort of a funny story, I guess. Because I studied cultural anthropology in college, but I worked in this restaurant the whole time I was in School. It started out that the kitchen felt like the place to be; it was really warm, there was this amazing women that was the manager. The moment I stepped in there I thought 'I want to work with her, she seems like she has a lot to teach.' So I just started working there as a job, I had a great time being in the kitchen and I ended up working there for 4 year, and I was like, 'what am I going to do' - I guess I hadn't thought about it after college - 'what? I have to get a job!'

G: So cooking was a job on the side, it wasn't something you were
focusing on in school?

W: Exactly. But what ended up happening was that a lot of my cultural studies ended up overlapping with cooking. So when I was out in the world for the first time with no school, and I was just sort of grasping for anything, just trying to get it together - I thought, 'well I really like cooking, maybe I will just cook for different people.' I was living in this town, Claremont, and I just put a flyer up that said, "meals prepared twice a week and delivered. Who knows who will answer? And a few people answered, and finally I had 5 families that I was cooking for twice a week. I had some awesome meals, and I had some super failure meals. One family said, "You know, my kids just can't eat what you cook, I'm going to have to discontinue your service." Which was a totally humbling experience, but I kept going. I became interested in nutrition, so I moved to Berkeley and I studied nutrition education at Bowman college, but I always wanted to teach cooking classes. So I started teaching to kids through different public school things, and I moved to San Francisco with this vision of what I wanted to create. I knew I wanted to do this thing, that I was creating. I just needed to actualize it. So I posted something on Craigslist; I said, 'a cooking class, Tuesday night 6:30 - 9' and I got a few responses and these people came to my place. And it basically it evolved from there; from this really basic getting together of people in an non-intimidating environment to cook and be together and share a meal. That's the long of it, or the short of it, I don't know.

G: At what point, when you left college did you feel confident that you could make a career out of it?

W: Well in my mind, it was pretty much immediately, and I guess I just started doing it - but I was learning as I went. I certainly didn't feel confident enough to do what I am doing now, until 3 years ago when I made that first attempt at having cooking classes.

G: How long have you been cooking in general, or been involved in the kitchen?

W: I guess eight years.

G: Your work clearly has a strong emphasis on local, organic, and nutritionally balanced meals. I am curious how these elements became a part of your cooking practice, and if any of the initial farm-to-table women chefs like Alice Waters, Nora Pouillon, and Jessica Prentice played any role in inspiring that in you.

W: When I initially had started that really small meal delivery thing, in Claremont. I was living in this co-op and we had a farm that was in conjunction with it. So i was really around all of that, agriculture
that my friends and I were growing, and it only seemed natural to incorporate it. And that was really the first time any of that came into my consciousness, I was like, 'Oh wow! Not only does it taste better, but it actually feels really good to be part of growing this food.' And then, of course, taking it to the next step. I feel like I have seen examples of like, 'wow, it's so cool to grow your own food.' and then me even feeling that, but then not making the connection of how awesome it is to actually make that a part of your diet. It was like, they were two separate activities until I was living this lifestyle that allowed for that. And then all the other pieces started to feel like they were falling into place, with this concept being part of a greater consciousness happening - oil, and all of that. I worked with Jessica Prentice when I lived in the Bay Area, and she was doing Full Moon Feasts, and it was before her book came out and gained momentum. And I called her up and said, "Wow! I really want to be part of this, can I help on one of your diners just to see what you do." She was basically trying to live and work how she sees the world. When I last saw her, it looked like it all was coming together for her, and she was making a viable lifestyle for herself out of these passions that she has, which I have so much respect for and I am constantly finding that, that is my goal to build a sustainable lifestyle -that word is so cliche now - but a lifestyle based on doing something you love which is positive for the world. But, Alice Waters, when I lived in Berkeley, she's a rock-star - her whole thing is very glamourous and awesome and she has the right kind of personality that has really been able to spread this info to a greater audience.

G: It seems these woman, and other women in general have played a really crucial role in real and local food resurgence -

W: I really think that women and food has a natural connection. Women are nurturers, not that men aren't -

G: Breast-milk is a great example - you have food built into your physical structure.

W: Yeah, it's ironic, that women are just, in only the last 30 years, becoming renowned for being chefs - where did that disconnect happen?

G: The history of food is so peculiar, I am baffled by that myself. Somehow I geeked out and watched Top Chef all least season - which was the first time a woman had won Top Chef. It was interesting to see how significant of a role sexism and gender issues played in the Top Chef discussion groups. Talking about, this woman should have won, but didn't because she was a woman, and things on that note.

W: Granted, I have never seen one of those cooking shows, so I am totally judging it off of what I imagine it to be which is that it's all just a competition. And I just don't think that is where women are coming from in terms of cooking.

G: Right, and what makes Top Chef interesting, is that you see this
side of these women contestants that is very competitive, and aggressive and ready to rock.

W: I'm just not into it. It's putting competition and weird power dynamics on a really basic thing like cooking. The content doesn't matter, it could be anything, the power dynamics are what makes people watch it.

G: On that note, being a women in this competitive world of cooking, especially in the restaurant industry, there are certainly disadvantages. In that men have pretty much been the restaurant industry for so long, since the industries inception really. So you are more likely then not to be working under a man, if you are a woman working in a restaurant. I am curious, in the local and organic food industry, which you have created a niche in - have you found advantages or disadvantages to being a woman? Are there any that are gender-based in this particular faction of the industry?

W: I don't really know how to answer that. I worked in this sophisticated, high-end restaurant that was run by a man and a woman. She was a very powerful lesbian woman, and he was the more fun business partner, and he was gay and they really had different dynamics then the ones you are describing. I was pretty low on the totem pole though, so no matter what I would defer to whoever was above me. And in that situation it wasn't about gender, it was just about my experience.

G: That seems to be the way it is in the progressive food world. We can say men this or women that, but obviously not everyone lives up to the cultural stereotype.

W: Honestly, I feel like those sort of dynamics are actively trying not to exist in this movement. It's more egalitarian.

G: Definitely. Now that you have come back to your home of Nevada City, and you have immersed yourself in the local food community here. Where is our community at in relationship to the macroscopic local food movement? All around the world these incredibly progressive and sustainable measures are being achieved toward local food security. How are we doing here in relationship to the greater world, and where are we going?

W: If you look around this county, everyone is doing something or starting something, and I just feel like, 'the more the merrier.' Someone grows basil in their yard, and another person grows blueberries, and the more of that networking we have, the possibilities just grow.

Wendy Van Wagner will teach the workshop "Cooking with the Seasons- Spotlight on Fall" at Ladyfest Nevada County. For a full workshop schedule go here.

Interview by Graham Hayes. Go to Graham's website, Nourish Wise, for more information about his cooking classes, Community Supported Kitchen menu, and catering services.

Dominique Del Chiaro

Dominique Del Chiaro is a woman who is dancing through life to the beat of her own drummer-- and what an awesome beat it is! A professional dance instructor and performer, she created and owns the dance companies Salsa Sierra and Razzmatazz Swing. She has been teaching salsa/swing/ballroom for over 10 years and group fitness (including zumba and world rhythms) for over 20 years. This spicy lady dances with a professional dance team in Sacramento called La Evolucion, and she has a local dance team called Salsabomba. Here we learn about how Dominique came to her unique life of rhythm and motion!

Ladyfest: How did you get started in salsa dance?

Dominique: I had been teaching junior high school for about 10 years when I did an activity with my 6th grade class about "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Well, as 6th graders will do, they asked me what I really wanted to be. I told them my dream was to be a professional dancer, so I promptly began ballroom classes the next month. That was about 10 years ago, and I have been performing and teaching ever since, including a big show at the Reno Hilton in 2000.

L: What do you enjoy the most about your art form?

D: I love performing and teaching salsa, swing, ballroom and zumba. I love to play with people and watch their inner magic spring forth. It seems like most people just need a little prompting, and perhaps a lot of permission, to let loose and find their artist within.

L: What is the most challenging aspect of teaching dance?


D: When someone resists their own creativity out of fear of looking stupid. There simply is no such thing as looking stupid, it is a mindset from youth that some people battle with well into adulthood.

L: Where do you get your inspiration?


D: My students and people who perform and social dance. My original inspiration for salsa and swing was going to dance conferences and watching people be so creative and dance naturally and spontaneously with each other. It looked like so much fun, and my heart would race with excitement just watching. Since then I have been to many countries and many dance events and watched people who love the art of partner dancing. It tells a story, it makes you feel connected to something bigger than yourself.

L: Do you feel that your gender has impacted your professional life in any way?


D: My mom told me when I was 16 to never depend on a man; meaning, find my place in the world. She never did that, and consequently she died of leukemia (perhaps from years of depression) when I was a 18. I know as a woman who owns my own business, my own house and runs two dance teams that I need to stay on the ball. I don't have time for distractions and bad attitudes. I am grateful for this kind of inner guidance and discipline beyond words. I love being a woman, who in this time in history, can do it all!

L: What advice would you give young women who aspire to enter your field?

D: In any field I would say find your passion early. Let it be YOUR OWN passion, not someone else's. What makes your heart sing? What seems a little out of your reach? What makes you want to give yourself completely? I started dancing at 32, and wished I had started at 12, but I found that it is never too late to pursue a dream.

Dominique Del Chiaro will be giving the dance workshop "Spicy Salsa Shines" at 4:45pm as part of Ladyfest Nevada County.

Dominique can be reached on her websites at www.salsasierra.com and www.razzmatazzswing.com.

She can also reached by email at salsasierra@sbcglobal.net or by phone at (530) 477-0767.

Terri Hicklin

Terri Hicklin is a bona fide mover and shaker. After years working in Social Services she left to go back to school to pursue a new profession in Communications. Becoming aware of increased corporate and governmental control of media, she became a free-speech activist. She began working at Channel 11, our local community access television station in 1999. Since then she has produced numerous television programs and has worked with local organizations like APPLE (the Alliance for Post-Petroleum Local Economy) and the FARM (Foothill Arts Resources and Media). Terri will be discussing how she is using multi-media and technology to tell the stories of the community during Ladyfest’s Media Panel from 11:30am-12:30pm.

Ladyfest: How did you get started in your line of work?


Terri: I left my career in Social Services after many years of counseling people and working within a bureaucracy. I returned to school and received a degree in Communications. While enrolled, I interned first at KVMR, then at the old FCAT, Community Access Telelvision Station. I started out not knowing anything about how individuals’ voices can be heard via local, independent media. I ended up as an advocate for people to use their right of freedom of speech and use our local media, as it is one of the few real freedoms we have left.

L: What do you enjoy the most about your work at NCTV?


T: I enjoy the variety. I enjoy the challenge of working in a technical world when I, myself, am not a “techie.” I enjoy being connected to the community in a broad way. I enjoy working out front, as well as behind the scenes, doing something (programming a television station) that most people take for granted, and have no idea how it all works.

L: What is the most challenging aspect of your work?


T: The world of community access television is a very specialized area. Most people have no real understanding of what it is, and how it can be of benefit to them and to our community. I want to get the word out to more people so that they can utilize it to the fullest.

L: Where do you get your inspiration?


T: I write, and do photography and videography. I love Nature and working outside. I also love the spontaneous…catching something as it is naturally occurring. I also love working with musicians, and get excited by their talents, which brings out my own. I love brainstorming, and working with like-minded people…when ideas are firing one right after the other, and it seems like anything is possible.

L: Do you feel that your gender has impacted your professional life in any way?

T: I actually think that in today’s world, being a woman may have advantages. There are more grants, for example, for women in the arts than there was say, twenty years ago.

L: What advice would you give young women who aspire to enter your field?

T: I would encourage them to get an education and make the most of it; to try different things until they find their “right livelihood,” then keep on going and keep on learning new things. Also, to take nothing for granted and remember to SHINE, SHINE, SHINE!

Terri Hicklin will be a participant in Ladyfest’s Media Panel from 11:30am-12:30pm.

Interview by Jesse Locks and Sasha Soukup

Sasha and the Shamrocks

The first time I met Sasha Soukup of Sasha and the Shamrocks, we just sort of made noises at each other for about an hour---no real words, just little throaty animal, alien sounds. Somehow, not knowing how or why, we slipped from this reality and conjured a secret world where language was unnecessary, because we understood each other on a far deeper level. Maybe it's because we share the same birthday (November 19) or perhaps we were friends in a past life...fighting evil in an ancient land, partying flappers from the twenties...I have a feeling we go all the way back to the days of australopithecus afarensis, and that's why we made those strange noises at each other...whatever, it's a mystery that may never be solved. We've been friends now for about twelve years, and in that time I've watched and listened to Sasha grow as an artist, and I am always astounded by the range of her imagination and the fearless bravado of her performances. I decided to ask her some questions about her music in the hopes of sharing with you a truly original personality and performer.

Tammy: how is country livin' these dayz? do you feel
free of the rat trap? do you have more time and space to be creative out in the sticks?

Sasha: country living means sleeping under the stars, Sundays at the river, and plants and trees all around me. it is a much slower, quieter life... and not being overwhelmed with options sort of lets me be ten years old again. I have created more art in our three years here then in the previous ten years. but living in a community of 13,000 people also means a total lack of anonymity, which is sometimes suffocating, and sometimes comforting. every once in a while i need to get out, to soak in the bright lights and random magic of the city, but our cats Mouchie and Zazou clearly prefer the country. they like to climb trees and go on hikes.

T: many of your songs are autobiographical, do you find it
scary baring all of your memories, beliefs and fears for others to
dissect?

S: when I get possessed with the urge to express certain things, it's like I can't rest until they are outside of me. being brave enough to play my very personal songs live has made me grow up a lot, because I've had to decide over and over again that the satisfaction I get from self-expression is worth the horrible fifth-grade feeling of being naked and ugly in front of everyone. it has made me learn to be true to myself first.

T: where do you find the characters and the words for your
songs? are they all you? am i crazy? are you constantly writing things down as they come to you? are you fantasizing all day long? how the hell do you write this sh*t?

S: the most exciting writing that I do happens in a kind of manic trance state, but I am married and we live in a small place, so I can't always be the psychic space-hog. but I have to have a creative outlet, or I get off-balance; so I have found that I can write in small bursts on my lunchbreak at work. this tends to create songs that develop slowly-- even over several months-- instead of coming out in one huge rush. sometimes the subject of the song will change completely by the time it's "done".

yes, i am pretty much fantasizing all day long, but whether it's a good, creative fantasy, or obsessive compulsive thinking about the state of politics or my bank balance really depends on how well I am harnessing my imagination.

I'm not actually sure if all of my songs are about me. I have to really feel something to write about it; but not all songs come from my own experience, so maybe some of it is channeling. now that sounds very mystical, but sometimes I channel ridiculous things, like bad French TV shows from the 70s. I write on scraps of paper, I have a tape recorder, and great ideas usually come in the car driving home from a good gig, or from extreme emotional turmoil.

T: what is your writing process? do you know what the song is going to be about before you pick up the guitar?

S: sometimes I have a general urge, like "I want to write a pop song with the chords from "Under My Thumb!", sometimes a whole song shows up unannounced. I like to have a couple of different songs coming together at once, so I can switch focus. thinking too hard about a song is the surest way to kill it.

the most dynamic songs come from me and Chris just jamming, and the final forms of the songs almost always come from a collaboration between us. Chris has incredible ideas about rhythm and also about structure.

T: the yellow hair is a murder ballad about killing your sister, yet you're an only child. did you borrow the story or are you exorcising the evil other inside of you with this one?

S: I'm obsessed with the genre of murder ballads-- I have no idea why. I think it is a socially accepted outlet for my inner morbidity. (once a goth, always a goth.) I like your hypothesis about the Evil Other inside of me. this question from the woman who thinks the soundtrack to Rosemary's Baby is party music! (:

T: how into witches are you?

S: I think that a witch-- a white witch, a good witch, however you want to put it-- is the greatest thing a woman can aspire to be. people are afraid if magic, but it is all around us. most of the universe is invisible. a witch learns to perceive and work with these natural energies. my mother grew up in Southern Ireland, so I am not very far removed from my pagan roots. I do a lot of sorcery in the blogosphere... me herbal blog is called Kitchen Witch!

St. Patrick attempting to drive the pagans out of Ireland, as recreated by Sasha and the Shamrocks

T: who writes the best stories that you are so jealous of that you didn't write them first?

S: currently, I am obsessed with Francesca Lia Block (Weetzie Bat) and Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn). I have fallen in love with the Young Adult section at my library. a friend of mine does a blog where she is always talking about what she's reading, and she really re-ignited my love of books. When I read a lot, I am a much better writer.

T: in the song 'driving at night' you write about being a pizza
delivery girl and falling in love with the security guard at a gated community. in it, you sing 'you are the guardian and i am on fire.' is it easy for you to make the jump from the mundane to the extraordinary?

S: I think my whole brain is a mix of the mundane and the extraordinary. thank you for noticing that line! my habit of leaping from the Totally Out There to the Totally Practical still confuses Chris, even after all this time. I blame my Capricorn Rising and Moon in Aquarius. also, there is that little matter again of the Invisible World. just because something looks normal, it doesn't mean it is. take a pizza delivery girl, for example... there could be a lot going on under that Round Table uniform. I would know.

T: who are your top three female rock heroes?

S:

1. Yoko Ono

2. Neko Case

3. Carla Bozulich

T: who would direct your life story?

S: Agnes Varda. With some help from Guy Maddin.

T: i want to mention some of my favorite songs, and in five words or less you tell me how they were inspired:

a) charmed viola: las vegas, fungi, barbie dolls

b) happy anywhere: moving, staying, coming, going

c) scorpio girls: pen pals, desperation, first love

d) let's play princess: loneliness, invisible friends

e) hms endurance: Os Mutantes, perseverance, February, lust

f) annabel lee: media, feminism, fake feminism

T: where do you get your inspiration for your hair and your costumes?

S: i pull from the flotsam and jetsom of thrift stores and storybooks. I am imprinted with my mothers fashion sense from her days of being single in San Francisco in 1965-- I had a Dress Up Trunk full of those clothes when I was growing up. I can also be found in the movie theater lapping up any and all period pieces... all film snobbery goes out the window when there are good costumes. as far as onstage fashion goes, my number one rule is to avoid subtlety at all costs.

T: do you see a kind of particular evolution when it comes to the content of your songs?

S: I notice two themes coming up again and again in my work: first, there is the painful awareness that we can only live one life, have one love, at a time. secondly, there is the theme of a desire to bring hidden things to light. that could mean parts of my own life story, my ancestry, or events and themes from broader human history (like witch burnings!). I am fascinated with hidden things, things no one talks about, things no one else sees. my expression of these themes has changed, as I've moved away from a folkier kind of singer-songwriter style into more pure Rock. it is challenging for me to write about personal things and make them universal-- it is easy to create your own little world, and describe everything inside of it, but if someone else can't hear your song and make their own understanding from it, you have failed. I didn't use to feel that way-- I was happy to write in code, or in explicit personal detail. I still value the songs from that time, but they are like very pretty diary entries... now I want to paint big public murals. I feel that the Ultimate Song is about things that are important and need to be heard by everyone, but is also irresistibly catchy-- and danceable.

Sasha and the Shamrocks will perform as part of the Ladyfest Nevada County evening concert. Show starts at 7pm.

You can download Sasha and the Shamrocks songs for free from their Myspace page, and purchase CDs at their live shows.

Interview by Tammy Fortin.


Tammy plays in the all-girl San Francisco psyche-pop band Excuses for Skipping, and she is a regular writer and videographer for the SFMOMA blog Open Space.