Special Section
Get ready for NC Pride
page 15
/V
A.;
Q-Living
A conversation with Kathy Bates
page 33
Q-Style
Holding back the years
page 53
"Xi
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' Noted . Notable . Noteworthy. LCBT News & Views
Vol. 21 .Number 10 www.q-notes.com September 23.2006
Indigo Girl
Emily Saliers talks about music,
politics and a tour that kicks off
in Asheville
by David Moore . Q-Notes staff
exclusive
Emily Saliers is half of the legendary
acoustic duo known as the Indigo Girls.
Saliers and the band’s other half — Amy Ray
— met while both were students at an ele
mentary school just outside of Atlanta.
Although they had played together during
high school as B-Band and Saliers and Ray, it
was 1985 when they first emerged on the
Atlanta music scene as the Indigo Girls.
Over the next few years the Indigos would
offer up a handful of independent releases
before they would eventually sign with Epic
Records in 1988.
With the release of the self-titled “Indigo
Girls” in 1989, they rocketed to success with
their first hit single, “Closer to Fine.” In 1990,
they won a Grammy for Best Contemporary
Folk recording.
More acclaim and hits would follow
(among them “Galileo” and “Hammer and a
Nail”) before they would eventually leave Epic
and sign with the Walt Disney-owned label
Hollywood Records.
The girls were back in the spotlight before
the Sept. 19 release of their debut Hollywood
CD, “Despite Our Differences,” when they
teamed up with rocker Pink for her controver
sial “Dear Mr. President.”
Speaking exclusively with Q-Notes from
her home in Decatur, Ga., Saliers is sitting
on a beige sofa in her living room wearing a
pair of athletic shorts and a T-shirt with
the name Mary J. Blige emblazoned across
the front.
Starting her day off with a potato, egg and
cheese breakfast burrito (Saliers is a bit of a
foodie — she co-founded the Flying Biscuit
Cafe in Atlanta and she’s the owner of
Watershed restaurant in Decatur), she’s been
hard at work throughout the morning promot
ing “Despite Our Differences” with a handful
of phone interviews.
Across from her is a massive big screen TV
that she professes is primarily used for watch
ing football. On the adjacent wall is a brooding
tapestry by Atlanta artist Todd Murphy.
After letting her mixed-breed pups Molly
and Phoebe out to romp in the backyard, she
settles in to talk about touring, the new CD,
life and politics.
“Our tour kicks off in
Asheville Sept. 30th,” says
Saliers.
“We’ve played
Asheville a bunch and
just love it. It’s a beautiful
town. We wanted the
shows in the South to be
full stride,but nothigh
pressure.”
“Despite Our
Differences” is a bit of a
departure for the Indigo
Girls — both with the
label switch and in the
sound and production —
mostly attributed to a
new recording style done
live in a California studio
with longtime producer Mitchell Froom.
They’ve re-teamed with Pink for another
single — tins time on their release — “Rock
and Role Heaven’s Gate.”
“Amy wrote that song,” says Saliers. “After
one of her favorite bands broke up — she was
really disappointed.”
The twosome are known for writing their
own material and Saliers is quick to point out
that it’s generally easier for her to talk about
the material that she writes.
“I love the stuff Amy does, of course,” she
explains. “But when you wanna talk about an
Amy song it’s better to talk to Amy.”
Among the songs on the 13-track
“Differences,” three by Saliers are stand outs.
I
Emily Saliers is psyched about the
Indigo Girls’ latest CD ‘Despite Our
Differences’ and looking forward to an
upcoming tour.
“I wrote T
Believe in Love’ on a
ukelele,” she says
with a chuckle. “It’s
the first song that I
ever completely
composed on a
ukelele. It’s all about
the complexity of
love and how love is
a powerful benevo
lent force that keeps
it all together.”
Although the
music the Indigo
Girls record could
hardly be described
as country, Saliers
admits a fondness
for the style. That fondness steps out of the
shadows in “La.st Tears.”
“Df ..; shat is a country song,” she offers.
“It’s a song about a person who comes to a
point of hurt and says that’s it. 1 have no
regrets and it’s time to stop crying and move
on.”
In “Pendulum Swinger” she addresses the
topic of politicssomething the group’s not
known for shying away from.
“It’s about this country)’ says Saliers. “We
can’t keep being the bully of the world. It also
talks about the patriarchy of the church and
how women need a stronger voice. It’s a very
see road on 1
Lawrence v.
Texas
plaintiff dies
Tyrone Garner co-defendant in
case that overturned nation's
sodomy laws
by Mark Smith
HOUSTON, Texas — Tyrone Garner, a
co-defendant along with John Geddes
Lawrence in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas
case that overturned sodomy laws across the
nation, has died.
According to a representative of the
Harris County Coroner’s office in Houston,
Happier times: An elated Tyrone
Garner (left) with John Lawrence
following the Supreme Court’s ruling
against sodomy on June 26, 2003.
' see sodomy on 6
‘Open and Affirming* churches programming
director stepping down
UCC’s Ann Davis spent over
20 years on the project
J. Bennett Guess
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Rev. Ann B.
Day, a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister
who has aided more than 600 UCC churches
in the process of becoming “Open and
Affirming” (ONA) of LGBT people, has
announced that she will step down as coordi
nator of the UCC’s ONA program.
Day and her partner, Donna Enberg, who
has served as the program’s administrative
assistant, will complete their work at the close
of the denomination’s next
national General Synod in June
New AFFIRM director continues journey
page 12
«
SrwIW
2007. They have served the grassroots move
ment since 1987.
“Quite frankly, there would
not be an open and affirming
movement were it not for the
commitment, vision and tire
less work of the Rev. Ann B.
Day,” said the Rev. William R.
Johnson, who in 1972 became
the first openly gay man
ordained in the United States.
Since 1985, the self-created
ONA program — operated by
the independent UCC Coalition
for LGBT Concerns — has
maintained the list
tings and encouraged UCC churches, campus
ministries, seminaries, etc., to engage
members in an intentional study
process on issues of sexual orienta
tion and gender identity, and then to
declare publicly their full welcome
f and inclusion of LGBT people.
Many point to the ONA process as
one of the most significant, attitudes-
altering movements in the struggle
for LGBT inclusion in the church —
a campaign that has infused accept
ance and heightened visibility for
LGBT people throughout the 1.2-mil-
lion-member UCC and one that has
(■UMmIIwm )s '
/M '
ings of ONA set-
The Rev. Ann B. Day
has aided more than
600 UCC churches in
the process of
becoming ‘Open and
Affirming.’
see programming on 21
More lesbians being discharged
page 25