October 21, 2004,

by Katie Kroll

Alix Olson offers audience members a powerful reminder of their "Herstories"

Self-assurance and poise were on display Friday night when Northampton-native Alix Olson performed at Chapin Auditorium at Mount Holyoke College. She effortlessly carried her audience with her as she slid from casual banter to well-prepared spoken-word material.

Olson's performance ranged from intelligent and academic to mocking and clever, uproarious and outraged to restrained and subdued. The audience of more than 300 people was extremely enthusiastic about her efforts in all these extremes, and seemed genuinely impressed by her inspired and energetic performance.

The pieces themselves, all of which Olson wrote, ran a gamut of political, personal, sexual, spiritual and romantic topics. Olson's poem "Herstory" stood out as perhaps the most effective of those she performed. The opening line of the piece, "I was still sucking my thumb the first time I sang 'We Shall Overcome,'" is indicative of Olson's mastery over rhyme and cleverness with words.

Midway through the poem Olson stepped away from the microphone and asked audience members to give the "names of women who came before [them]." Seeming to be familiar with the piece and with Olson's cue, women in the audience shouted out names such as Maya Angelou, Sojourner Truth and Mother Jones while Olson chanted "the women/before you/the women/before you" from just outside the spotlight. When the flow of names began to wane, Olson encouraged the audience to continue, saying, "Shyness is a tool of patriarchy."

No other current performers are doing what Alix Olson is doing, and that alone makes her an exceptional performer. Although she relies solely on spoken-word material, she is as much a part of the women's music scene as any female folk-rocker. The group of performers who identify themselves as belonging to that movement would not exclude Olson from their ranks. From Friday night's concert it was clear that she has already gathered a group of devotees.

Olson appeared as a part of Something Every Friday, an on-going series of concerts, dances and other events for Five College students hosted by the Office of Student Programs at Mount Holyoke College.