LGBTQ activists and musicians Bonfire Madigan Shrive and Evan Greer are making their way down the left coast on what they’re calling the “Tiny Fists Tour.” Travelling with their young children, (they’re not partners, just cohorts) the two have been performing, and facilitating workshops, along the way. On Sunday, April 29th, they’ll be performing at DiPiazza Restaurant & Lounge, which is located at PCH & Anaheim. Opening the show at 7 are Anna Oxygen of Kill Rock Stars records, and sibling celebrity duo The Potential Lunatics.
Shrive, who came up in the Pacific Northwest Riot Grrrl scene, rocks the cello, and has collaborated with Elliot Smith, ex-Kronos Quartet member Joan Jeanrenaud, David Coulter of The Pogues, Laibach, Apocalyptica, and Jolie Holland. She’s also a founding member of The Icarus Project, and she’s worked extensively as a composer for theater.
Greer is a self-proclaimed ‘radical genderqueer singer/songwriter, parent, and community organizer’ who has collaborated, toured, or shared stages with Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, Wayne Kramer, and Chumbawamba. I asked Evan to explain the activist nature of the tour.
“Our tour is called the Tiny Fists Tour,” said Evan, “and features myself and Bonfire Madigan, who is a truly legendary figure from the Northwest feminist riot-grrrl scene. Both of us have been deeply involved in a variety of different social justice, LGBTQ, environmental, and gender justice organizing from the time we were teenagers, so it’s been only natural for us to carry that passion into our music and tours as professional musicians.
“Madigan and I connected over a mutual admiration for each other’s music, but also because we are both queer parents who are touring with our families. We put together the Tiny Fists Tour to prove that you can be a new mom and still totally rock, and to increase the visibility of LGBTQ and alternative parenting through music and interactive workshops.
“The vast majority of the events on our tour,” Evan continued, “have been organized by various grassroots or student activist groups, from the Eureka Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (a radical gay group) to the Icarus Project (alternative mental health) to the Survival Center (climate justice). We work to use our music to not just comment on movements for social and economic change but to truly fuel them, feed them, and be a part of them in a meaningful way.”
I asked Evan to speak about social justice, and how the tour is creating change.
“Social justice,” explained Evan, “is a pretty huge and broad umbrella term that is used to encompass movements that work to empower people and communities who have been disenfranchised by systems of oppression like greed-based capitalism, colonization, imperialism, sexism, homophobia, and more. Madigan and I both apply an intersectional analysis to our work, meaning that we see all forms of oppression and exploitation as deeply interwoven. We have both been involved in racial justice work, tenants rights, housing equality, etc.
“We use our music to support these movements in a variety of ways from promoting grassroots organizations on our websites and in our liner notes to performing hundreds of benefit shows for various groups to releasing benefit CDs and compilations to fund-raise for various groups.
“As we tour,” Evan said, “we also often offer interactive workshops and trainings on a wide variety of topics that relate to social justice, as well as nuts and bolts skills for organizing like media, event management, public speaking, and anti-racism trainings.
“To delve deeper into your question about social justice, we see vast inequality in the world, drawn along lines of race, class, gender, ability, immigration status, etc. We use our music to provide emotional food and medicine to the hard working organizers of all generations who fight against these injustices.”
I asked Evan if creating a clear path from where we are to where we want to be is necessary in order to make progress.
“I think collaboration and cohesion between various different “issue based” movements will be necessary for progress,” Evan mused, “but I don’t think there is any one single path to liberation. The truth is that all of these issues are important whether people care about the environment or homelessness. What we need, in my opinion as someone who has been organizing since I was in high school, is for more solidarity and coordination between movements who are working for positive change. If we can get people talking about how climate change will effect homeless people, suddenly we’ve created a space where these two theoretical organizations could be sitting at a table figuring out how to pool their resources and work together more effectively.
“This is a huge part of what we are trying to do with the Tiny Fists Tour. Since our music focuses on such a broad range of issues we are often able to create events that bring in a shockingly broad range of people who care about a variety of important justice issues. Music is such a powerful language for bringing people together and seeing how our struggles connect.
“To answer your question further,” continued Evan, “I think that change comes from the bottom up. I have the honor to be a touring musician and have the opportunity to travel to communities all over the world to lend my music to the movement. I get to see amazing positive organizing happening in these communities and then carry those stories with me to the other communities that I visit.
“While it may feel like all these passionate people are just talking about what SHOULD happen, I always try to assure people that there are amazing things that are already happening and have been happening in cities and tiny towns all over the world. Throughout history people have resisted repression from early slave rebellions to the Puerta Rican independence movement in the 70s to Labor Movement to the Occupy Movement today.
“If you look throughout history it’s easy to see that music and art has always been integral to the success of these movements. From the anti-war protest songs of the 60s and 70s to the incredible harmonies created during Apartheid to the music that we are making today in solidarity with these struggles, movements that sing together stand stronger.”
I asked Evan how change is possible when so few people bother to vote.
“I think it’s definitely important to look at history for this one,” Evan said. “Certainly we have a problem with apathy today, and TV and fast food probably aren’t helping, but I think even more at issue here is how communities have historically felt treated by the politicians who are supposed to represent them.
“Marginalized communities, people of color, women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, etc. have had their rights trampled on again and again by local, state, and federal governments and the corporations that they take large donations from. Many people feel that their votes don’t matter and so they don’t bother, or that their is no one worth voting for. In many cases, politicians who truly do speak for the needs of the people face even greater challenges with actually effecting any change through the political system which is historically designed to protect the status quo and the interests of the wealthiest citizens.
“It’s also important to note,” observed Evan, “in a place like California which has a large immigrant population, many people don’t vote because they aren’t able to or because they are afraid of potential questions of their immigration status. Many others are not allowed to vote if they have been convicted of a felony. There is also a long history of municipalities around the country systematically using technicalities to disqualify people of color from voting. All of these factors combine to create an environment where many people feel that voting does little to help them.
“As for me, I think voting, especially in local elections, is one tool in our toolbox that we can use to make change, but I also feel strongly that real and lasting change, the type of change that empowers communities to address their own needs and gain some level of autonomy and independence, comes from the bottom up and can’t be won at the ballot box.
“It will be won,” Evan stated, “and has been won, through grassroots activism and organizing. Look at the labor movement of workers organizing together in solidarity to create unions and have a say in their work place. Through organizing, talking, discussing, and eventually acting through strikes, direct actions, civil disobedience, public media campaigns, and more, they pushed through massive and significant changes that we all enjoy today like the weekend, the 8 hour day, minimum wage, child labor laws, and many other basic protections that we often take for granted today. These protections were not granted by sympathetic politicians, they were fought for by rank and file workers who refused to continue working under the conditions they faced.
“This is just one historical example, but there are amazing examples we see every day on this tour. Last night we performed at the Davis Bike Collective in Davis, CA. A collectively run community organization that collects broken and used bikes and then teaches youth and others how to fix them up to provide a service for the community. They are not only empowering young people to gain skills, they are effecting the environment by encouraging biking as an alternative form of transportation. By creating a space where young people can come together and learn, and also providing a space for the community to engage in workshops, events, and dialogues, they are effecting important and lasting change in Davis.
“In Seattle our event was organized by the Sissy Collective, a group of young women and queer people who put on musical events that highlight the voices of people who are often silenced or underrepresented in the music scene. Their work to bring LGBTQ, women, and people of color performers to Seattle is making a difference for many young people who may have never thought they could become an artist or performer until they saw someone who shared their identities doing it. These changes may seem small in comparison to the problems we face as a world, but these small organizations are part of the fabric of a much larger movement that continues to spread all over the world.
“For myself as an out queer and transgender performer, I know how important it is to the young people who see me play that they know there is someone else like them out traveling, playing music, having a family, and being happy. I get e-mails all the time from young people who say my music has saved their lives, and I know that Madigan has experienced that as well with her heartfelt music that has been so important to so many young women. We can’t ignore the importance of these small acts and can’t pretend they don’t connect to something bigger.”
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diPiazza Restaurant and Lounge is located at 5205 E Pacific Coast Hwy. All ages are welcome. For more information about food and shows, visit diPiazzas.com.
To learn more about Bonfire Madigan, visit BonfireMadigan.com.
To learn more about Evan, visit EvanGreer.org.
To learn more about Anna Oxygen, visit AnnaOxygen.com.
To learn more about The Potential Lunatics, visit ThePotentialLunatics.com.