Summer Issue, 2005
Velvet Park Magazine

Review of Left Lane

by Vanessa McEnery

Ready for a political and cultural revolution? Well, sit back and watch Left Lane: On the Road with Folk Poet Alix Olson... Left Lane chronicles a year in the life of self-described "lesbian feminist atheist socialist" Alix Olson. The film is by Olson's former tour manager Samantha Farinella and shows more than just a rebel with a cause. We see the remarkable response of her audiences, fellow artist-activists, and a voice that just won't quit. That's quite refreshing in this age of post '04 election apathy.

On this tour Olson collaborates with a multitude of musicians, poets and performance artists, including Chris Pureka, Pamela Means, Lyndell Montgomery, Keith Roach, Steve Coleman, and Sarah Jones. Pureka, Means and Montgomery are her regular companions on this tour and add to the highlights of some of the traveling through Red States in the Southeast and trying to decide who will be driving the van—the pierced tattooed butch or the African-American dyke with the 'fro.

With a sardonic smile and a twinkle in her eye, Olson takes her art through poetry, song, comedic skits and downright righteous anger. Pieces like "America's On Sale" and "Pirates" echo George Carlin, Lenny Bruce and the Beat generation. There is a particularly rousing clip of her trademark pice "Cunt Cuntry" performed in 1998 and at the 2004 March for Women's Lives. In addition to Olson's performances, there are glimpses of her parents Gary and Laura, and her spunky grandmother Dottie Katz. We get to see Dottie join Alix at a female ejaculation workshop at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. Olson's family bits offer a rare peek into a genuine, nurturing environment that supports Alix in everything from rants on sociopolitical justice to cheerleading.

Mostly, Left Lane is a candid look at one of the Ten Most Dangerous Women in America, as so dubbed by the Right-Wing group Concerned Women for America. Watching a woman rake issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality across the coals is definitely inspiring. Left Lane is making the LGBT film festival circuit this Summer