October 15, 2004,
by Sarah Sabalos
Poet Throws her verbal punches at Cafe Strudel
Poetry and politics are blood sisters, and nobody knows it better than Alix Olson.
The nationally touring folk bard — who has headlined HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and appeared in more progressive media than you could dangle a chad at — will wield words tonight at Cafe Strudel as part of her “Down With Bush” tour.
Olson’s outside-the-lines work encourages independent thought and grassroots action, in defiance of big-ticket campaigns and the “two-party, Fox vs. CNN” corporate media.
“I think U.S. citizens are trained at a young age to fully inhale the system, the rhetoric and ideologies surrounding democracy, capitalism, religion, family life,” Olson, 29, wrote from the road. “If the wizard is exposed, and we realize we’ve been lied to, it’s frightening, like political vertigo or instantaneous sobriety. After all, once you’ve seen the light, there’s no going back and, at that point, whether you like it or not, you are accountable to truth and responsible for creating change.”
When: 9 tonight
Where: Cafe Strudel,
118 State St., West Columbia
Admission: $10
Contact: (803) 794-6634
“So the hypodermic media shoots us up until our brains are entombed, petrified, lying side by side next to our 401 K’s and our SUV’s, chainstored in the chamber of a Wal-Mart mummy freeze / And outside that sarcophagus of American flags and ‘god bless’s,’ our collective conscience is brought right down to its knees / Praying forgiveness for this nation exporting numbness / For treasure looting the oil, the ozone, the airwaves and the grain / These are our true colors running, and they are running away with everything ...”
— from “Pirates” by Alix Olson