Friday, October 13, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 3
iBailamos!
Gabe Ortiz, left,
and Lesli May
perform a
traditional Mexican
Hat dance in the
Ballroom at the
Kansas Union. Ortiz
and May are both
members of the
Ballet Folklorico of
Topeka, which came
to Lawrence as part
of Hispanic Heritage
Month.
Photo by Craig
Bennett/KANSAN
Politics part of Indigo Girls' concerts
Musician answers Kansan's questions
By BriAnne Hess
writer@kansan.com
Kansas senior staff writer
The Indigo Girls will bring their political views and acoustic sound to Lawrence at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Lied Center as part of their Honor the Earth Tour.
The duo of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray have been touring in Montana, Utah and Arizona to raise money and spread awareness about indigenous tribes.
The Kansan spoke yesterday to Ray, who was in Denver, by telephone.
How did you get involved with the
Honor the Earth cause and the tour?
We started seven years ago with a group of Indian activists. We had been active in environmental work like that for a long time and some of the most effective work was going on in the indigenous tribes.
We created Honor the Earth, which gives grants to indigenous tribes and
toured in '83, '95, '97 and now. We go for three to five weeks to raise money and political awareness.
We give out political action cards during the show and do a letter-writing campaign, which we've found has been an effective tool. Speakers come to talk on specific issues, and we play on reservations.
Do you have a cause in Lawrence?
We're trying to encourage Haskell students to be at the show. We're working specifically on Leonard Peltier and trying to get clemency from the president.
The time before Clinton leaves office is really important. It's important to focus on that and try to get action. We'll find out at noon today if we can visit him (Peltier).
A lot of our board members are friends of his and were with him when he was arrested in 1975. Our stand is that he did not get a fair trial, and he's been in there for 24 years, and now his health is failing.
It's a human rights issue for us. A lot of people don't know about it and those who do have become tired.
We're trying to invigorate them.
How do you stay inspired in your causes and your music?
This tour really energizes us when we go to the reservations and talk to them. We see what we're working on and are put in those situations.
As far as our music — we love playing music — we've been playing together for 20 years. This tour is always cool because Jackson Brown was with us earlier and Bonnie Raitt.
You'll be playing with Indigenous?
Yeah. They're like rock stars on the reservations and even off of them. We open for them on the reservations though — they're fans are rabid. They're a Native-American blues group — Yankton Sioux from South Dakota.
What's one song we can count on hearing at your concert?
"Galileo" — because people always request it, and we never get tired of playing it.
In the liner notes of Retrospective,
you write about how words are resistant to death. What would you want your words to be?
Probably the more recent stuff I've written I like better lyrically because I think I've gotten better.
The earlier stuff was just me emoting. The song "Go" is one I'd like to have to be left behind — maybe none of them.
It is nice to think there is something left of you in art, but I think I know my place, and it's a tiny little speck — I'm not one of the greatest of the greats.
Plans for a new album?
We've been on tour for over a year so we have to take a few months off. From January to April we'll write. Then on May we'll start to record. It will be an acoustic record, and we'll have an accordion player with us. It will be out in a year.
Do you and Emily work together when you are writing?
It's a solitary process. We often don't see each other for months at a time. The one space we really give each other is songwriting as far as our career goes.
Edited by Erin McDaniel
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