This past week, I came across an advertisement for Christmas, and I thought it was a bit early for Christmas anything. But really, we are about 90 days away from Christmas. The way time is flying by, 90 days away is just a hair longer than a blink away.
Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be blending into one, as noted at Sam’s Club, where on one shelf are Halloween decorations, on the shelf behind them are Christmas decorations, and somewhere in between is Thanksgiving.
Something else I came across this past week was a Hulu special on Lilith Fair, a concert festival featuring an all-female lineup of mainly solo artists created by Canadian superstar singer, Sarah McLaughlin.
Sarah wanted to prove to the world that women could headline concerts in a male-dominated industry.
Well, she was right, and she put together some of the world’s top entertainers and up-and-coming artists.
The first tour occurred in 1997, continued in 1998, and finished in 1999 in her native Canada.
She recruited Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, Jewel, Joan Osborne, Tracy Chapman, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Paula Cole, Natalie Merchant, Queen Latifah, Sinéad O’Connor, Indigo Girls, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks and Lisa Loeb, to name just a few, who graced the main stage.
The second-stage artists included Dido, Patty Griffin, Aimee Mann, Susanna Hoffs, Tara MacLean, Beth Orton, Bijou Phillips, Pat Benatar, and Susan Tedeschi, to name the 100 other artists over the three years.
On occasion, a village stage was added with newbie artists like Christina Aguilera, Nelly Furtado, Kristin Hersh, Anna Gasteyer, Idina Menzel, and India Arie.
Now, many of you may not know some of those artists or any at all, but in the late 1990s, these women were killing it musically.
These series of concerts over the three years were selling out venues everywhere, including our own Montage Mountain, not the newer pavilion we have now, but the older setup under the stars.
It was August 13, 1997, when Lilith Fair pulled into Scranton and Montage on a rainy Wednesday, and it rained. I know firsthand because I attended the concert along with over 15,000 others.
A lot of people labeled a concert for chicks, and at times, I felt that to be true as I looked around the venue.
I was fortunate enough to sit in the first few rows, and as it rained, the water flowed downhill towards the stage under our feet. It was really like sitting on a chair in a shallow creek.
At one point during the show, I turned around to look toward the back of the venue and I was shocked at how many people were really there. Other than a professional football or baseball stadium, I never saw that many people gathered in one place like that before.
On our bill were of course, Sarah McLaughlin, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, and the Indigo Girls. On the second stage were Patty Griffin, Lisa Loeb, and Yungchen Lhamo.
Regrettably, I never made it to the second stage because eventually one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters turned out to be Patty Griffin.
Luckily, at the end of the show, all artists from the main stage and second stage all came out and performed a few songs together for an encore.
28 years later, that concert, and I’ve been to a lot, is still one of my all-time favorites.
I was very familiar with McLaughlin, Crow, Colvin, and Jewel, but I didn’t know the music of the Indigo Girls. By the time Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls were done with their set, they made another fan.
Both ladies, now in their early 60s, are still out there performing.
Shawn Colvin performed her big hit, “Sunny Came Home,” and Crow delivered a few of her big hits, “All I Wanna Do,” “If it Makes You Happy,” “Everyday is a Winding Road,” and “Soak Up the Sun.”
Jewel entertained us with “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “You Were Meant for Me,” and “Foolish Games.”
At one point during the show, Sheryl Crow, with camera in hand, shot Jewel and a few of the other artists in the pit in front of the stage. I wasn’t too far away from here when she was shooting away, and I just recall how super thin she was. That’s a crazy thing to remember, but when you see an artist on TV, it seems they are larger than life.
After each show, Lilith Fair would donate $1 per ticket sold and donate the money to a local non-profit agency.
I dug out the archives and found they donated $15,500 to the Lackawanna County Women’s Resource Center.
If you can catch the documentary on Hulu, you won’t be disappointed. It’s as much a part of rock and roll history as Woodstock.
In 2010, McLaughlin attempted to put Lilith Fair back on the concert trail, but it never gained the traction it had for the three years in the late 1990s.
And now as mentioned in last week’s column, I will now give you a few facts on rainbows.
There are four different types of rainbows: primary, secondary, supernumerary and moonbows and no two people see the exact same rainbow — your position changes the specific set of droplets sending light to your eyes.
Quote of the Week
“I remember talking to my agent about touring with another female, and the response was, ‘You don’t want to do that because it won’t sell tickets.’” —Sheryl Crow
Thought of the Week
“It proved so many people wrong who didn’t think the world would.” —Jewel
Bumper Sticker
“Lilith Fair really created bonds.” —Bonny Raitt
