February 2003

by Dave Madeloni

There were shouts, screams, hoots, guffaws, whistles. A visceral synergy emerged between performer and audience-an electricity flow from the stage to the crowded floor and back. All eyes were riveted on Alix Olson.

In what was clearly one of the highlights of last spring’s WAMfest (a Lillith-like gathering at Mount Holyoke College) Olson ignited the passions of the crowd by incorporating the humor of a standup comedian, the verbal dexterity of a rapper, and the grace of a trained thespian. The grinning, flirtatious folk poet was obviously feeding off the reaction of the crowd as words flew out in torrents, her cadence quickening then suddenly pausing-her rhythmic phrases espousing feminist empowerment, political defiance, and playful eroticism .

Olson, a member of the 1998 Nuyorican National Championship Poetry Slam Team, returns to headline the Iron Horse Music Hall (along with Oona’s alum Pamela Means) tomorrow night. That esteemed venue rarely,if ever, books anything but musical acts. In an email exchange, I asked the Brooklyn-based performer about playing in a place better known for presenting folk music.

“Though I'm not a musician, I feel very connected to music...,” said Olson. “I hear melodies and rhythm in my head and body whenever I write, and most of my on-the-road peers and friends are folkies. Spoken word/beat poetry has a musical history, so it makes sense to me. I feel very lucky to be traveling in the folk circuit, a powerful lineage of activist artists and grassroots venues.”

I imagine that many who were wowed at WAMfest will be returning to Northampton to be re-energized by Olson’s subversive verse. In a time of intensifying polarity between the political establishment and a skittish, increasingly skeptical populace, Olson’s anti-establishment tirades should land upon plenty of sympathetic ears .“While any time of conservative domination is frustrating, I always try to put us in history's timeline, both so that we feel less alone and so that we may learn from the past”, explained Olson. “We've had painful times before, and the trick is to focus on present specifics (like our impending attack on a nation of innocent civilians), ongoing problems (sweatshop labor, prison industrial complex), and preparing for future activism (for example, how do we secure a third party in this country). In this work, I am fortunate enough to be consistently inspired by communities of thinkers and activists all across the country who are doing just that..”

Olson, who once graced the cover of Ms. Magazine, is in Woodstock, NY recording her follow up to Built Like That   her 22-track debut cd. “The tentative title for this new album is "independence meal". This past year has been a really transitional and reflective time for me personally, kind of a get over love gone awry year. Simultaneously, I've been dealing with being a global citizen in a suffering national climate, one of tremendous loss, and overwhelming powerlessness. I think making this project has nudged me to steal back my power on political and personal levels, and I really hope it will help others to do the same in a small way.”

The Wesleyan graduate enjoys and nourishes a refreshingly reciprocal relationship with her fans. “My shows are in large part a recycling of audience energy, and so I am thankful to have audiences who listen hard, who are willing to go where I go, to laugh and get furious with me so I'm not alone.” said Olson

She noted a performance in at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where the hate-crime murder of Matthew Shepard made international headlines. Explained Olson, “Maybe a hundred people in little folding chairs. Ugly, fluorescent lights , no stage, a microphone that kept breaking, so I had to do half the show sans amplification. It made sense though: in the sense that reclaiming space takes work and it's not pretty." Olson makes her living using words in a communal effort to reclaim space for the disenfrachised and marginalized, a group that is getting larger by the day.