Thursday, July 5, 2007 10:56 AM CDT

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Women's music a high note

By Dan Craft
dcraft@pantagraph.com

NORMAL -- If at first you succeed, then don't even think twice: Come back for seconds.

That's the rule of thumb governing the 2007 edition of the National Women's Music Festival, which is sharing uptown Normal space with the Sugar Creek Arts Festival this weekend -- just as it did last summer for the very first time.

Instead of competing with one another, the two events have discovered a synchronicity in their arts orientations, with one leaning to the visual arts, the other to the sonic.

But with plenty of overlapping.

Because a part of Sugar Creek is moving onto the ISU quad, courtesy uptown road construction (see stories on D1), the two events will be in closer proximity than ever.

And hence, hope organizers, in even greater harmony.

The National Women's Music Festival is no sophomore itself, however: Now in its 33rd year, the event has been shuttling to various locations around the Midwest for more than three decades.

It's designed as four days of concentrated activity encompassing music, art, culture and some heavyweight names from the world of women's alternative and folk and rock. At ISU, the Bone Student Center is festival central.

But the big lure are the name performers, some nationally known, some more regionally oriented.

Among this year's lineup are musicians Melissa Ferrick, Nina Gerber, Women in Docs, Jamie Anderson, Kara Barnard, Suzanne Buirgy, Ferron, Judy Piazza, Ember Swift, Linda Tillery, Lucie Blue Tremblay, Amy Carol Webb, Wishing Chair, Amasong and ISU music faculty vocalist Michelle Vought.

Also performing is a contingent of comedians, led by Zoe Lewis, Poppy Champlin, "Last Comic Standing's" Michele Balan, Marga Gomez and Ubaka Hill.

A number of authors (Elizabeth Cunningham, Kip Parker, Radclyffe, Jade River, Kassandra Sojourner) also will be conducting workshops and seminars.

And famed NPR "Calling All Pets" host, Patricia McConnell, will be on hand signing books and offering tips.

The guests perform or speak at a number of varied forums, with names like the Main Stage, the Emerging Artists Stage and the SheRocks! Stage.

In a modification from last year, this year's event won't sprawl around the campus as much, keeping most of the major concert/performance activity in the BSC (only the workshops will stray, across the street to Schroeder Hall).

The four-day schedule is jam-packed with activity, ranging from a daily market place to workshops to film and video showings to seminars to a coffeehouse to a golf scramble.

According to Jane Weldon, producer of the festival, ISU was selected a year ago to host the festival, courtesy its accessible location, an easy shoo-in for both musicians and music lovers converging from around the country.

It was such a success that there was no reason to rove any farther, as in past years: In addition to the central location, there was the ample space for the event's popular marketplace and the many workshops, as well as dorm space for attendees digging in for the entire four-day experience.

"We really are interested in a long-term relationship with ISU," Weldon says. "And more and more people in the community know who we are."

Certainly the economic benefits to the community go without saying. "There isn't a hotel room to be had this weekend. And people coming in for the festival will be shopping here and eating out, too," says Weldon.

As for the concurrent Sugar Creek Arts Festival on Saturday and Sunday, Weldon would like to see a little more direct interaction in the years ahead, with, say, performers from her festival crossing over to one of the Sugar Creek stages.

The National Women's Music Festival was founded in 1974 on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana as an educational and performance forum "for the development, exploration, enhancement and empowerment of women's lives and cultures."

Weldon calls that event "a landmark in women's music," bringing folk and alternative musicians to the fore in a concentrated presentation.

In the ensuing years, the event "moved and spent a large number of years in Bloomington, Ind., then ended up moving to Muncie for a bit, followed by two years at Kent State University in Ohio.

Oh, and one last thing: Though it's called the National Women's Music Festival, all ages and interests and, yes, sexes are welcome.

Men, says Weldon, tend to show up mainly at the concerts, particularly those at the SheRocks! Stage. There, the rules are relaxed to the degree that bands need only to be fronted by a woman singer to qualify.

Festival sampler

Following is a partial schedule of events for the National Women's Music Festival on the Illinois State University campus today through Sunday. All events are open to the public. Tickets are $265 for a four-day pass, $75 for today alone, $95 for Friday or Saturday, and $35 for Sunday. They are available at a table outside the Bone Student Center Spotlight Room.

Today

• Marketplace, open at 2 p.m., Ballroom

• Opening ceremonies, 2 p.m., Ballroom

• Main Stage opening celebration with Amy Carol Webb, Judy Goldsmith, Trina Hamlin and Fairdinkum Aussie Jam, 7 p.m., Ballroom

• Kickoff dance, 9:30 p.m., BSC Circus Room

Friday

• Workshops, 9 a.m., Schroeder Hall and BSC

• Marketplace, open 9 a.m., Ballroom

• Emerging Artists Stage concert with Martine Locke, Nancy Scott and Nervous But Excited, noon, Circus Room

• Opera, "Madame Monsieur," Michelle Vought, 2 p.m. Circus Room

• Main Stage concert with Jamie Anderson, Linda Tillery & Nina Gerber and Ubaka Hill, 3 p.m., Ballroom

• Main Stage concert with Ferron, Marga Gomez, Women in Docs and Melissa Ferrick, 6:30 p.m., Ballroom

• Goddess Jam Coffeehouse, 11 p.m., Circus Room

Saturday

• Artists & Donors Breakfast, 8 a.m., Circus Room

• Workshops, 9 a.m., Schroeder Hall & BSC

• Marketplace, open 9 a.m., Ballroom

• Patricia McConnell book signing/presentation, 11 a.m., Ballroom

• Radclyffe book signing/presentation, 12:15 p.m., Ballroom

• Amasong concert, 11 a.m., Prairie Room

• Main Stage concert with Zoe Lewis and Suzanne Buirgy, 3 p.m., Ballroom

• Main Stage concert with Wishing Chair, Lucie Blue Tremblay, Ember Swift, Michele Balan and Poppy Champlin, 6:40 p.m., Ballroom

• Drum Jam, 10:40 p.m., BSC Third Floor Lounge

• Open Mic, 11:30 p.m., Circus Room

Sunday

• Marketplace opens, 9 a.m., Ballroom

• Main Stage concert with Pamela Blevins & The Indianapolis Women's Chorus, Drum Jam with Wahru and jam session with all festival performers, 10 a.m., Ballroom

• Closing ceremonies, 2:30 p.m., Ballroom

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Comedian Zoe Lewis is part of the eclectic lineup for this summer's National Women's Music Festival, returning for the second time to the Illinois State University campus today through Sunday. (For the Pantagraph/ELIZABETH WINSTON)

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