The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival: Another World

Off Our Backs
October 2001

It was hot. Unbearably, interminably hot. I never saw so many women
with so little on before (even at Michigan!). The Womb (the festival
health care facility) was filled with women suffering from heat
exhaustion. A woman fainted flat on the ground at a workshop I
attended. (Festival workers were there within minutes with bags of ice
reviving her.) Every workshop opened with announcements about what the
symptoms of heat stroke were. It was between 100 and 105 degrees every
day from Monday through Friday. I was never so limber doing a yoga
class in my life -- muscles wilted to nothing in the heat. Even at
night, you could sleep totally naked and still be sweltering. (Normally
at night you dress up in sweat pants, long sleeve shirts, and jackets
and even then wrap in a blanket for the night stage.) The air was
still. And it was dry. It had not rained in 5 weeks and dust was
everywhere. The ferns, which cover the land, were brown and shriveled.

Then, on Friday evening, it rained. Glorious, chilling rain. You could
actually feel the wind come in and the temperature plummet at least 20
degrees in a matter of seconds. It rained hard. We were standing in the
food line and just had to stand there and wait, getting soaked clear
through. (The line was no longer moving -- no one under the food tent
wanted to leave the tent and make cold soup of their just-served food
in the rain.) Kids shrieked in delight. In true Michigan spirit,
spontaneous mud wrestling and even a mud football game erupted.

Right-Wing Infiltrators

The other salient thing about Michigan this year was the rumor that
some women from the American Family Association (AFA) had infiltrated
the festival hoping to find evidence of child abuse or some other
illegal activity to use to shut the festival down [see last year's
coverage where a lawsuit was filed alleging child abuse at the festival
in Michigan courts. The lawsuit was dismissed as unfounded.] Apparently
there never was actual evidence that the festival was indeed
infiltrated, except promises to do so by the AFA (nothing appeared on
the websites of the two right wing organizations who are challenging
the festival -- International Association for the Heterosexual Rights
and the American Family Association). But it made great fodder for
jokes and commentary. From the night stage Elvira gave a memorable
comedy performance in which she cited the Top Ten Ways to Spot an
Infiltrator at Michigan. Some of them were as follows:

- Festigoer says to tent neighbor who is really an infiltrator: "It
sure is hot..." Reply from infiltrator: "Not as hot as where you'll be
going, you pu-u-u-u-ussy li-i-i-icker!" (The audience roared with
hilarity over that one.)

- The infiltrators are the only women who have eaten the festival food
all week and are still constipated.

- They are the only festigoers who have a tarp made of gingham.

- They ask their tent neighbors one morning: "What animal makes this
noise at night? (whereupon Elvira gives an academy award winning
performance of the sounds of a woman having a super orgasm.)...I've
never heard that sound before..."

The audience loved the last one so much they made Elvira give a repeat
performance of it. (By the way, Elvira was fantastically hilarious and
spontaneous. If you ever get a chance to catch her act, by all means
don't miss it!)

There was a mannequin with a sign on it: AFA mole. Everyone speculated
as to what kind of experience a right wing christian woman would be
having at Michigan. The thought of it made for great fun overall and
lots of humorous interchanges.

Opening Ceremony

This year's opening ceremony seemed a little less inspired than other
years, although it was still certainly joyous and fun. There was a
fantastic gymnast act, with women tumbling through hoops under, on top
of and around each other. There was also a really nice part with
maypole dancing, with all the women dressed in white, some in flowing
dresses and the more butch women in white undershirts and boxers -- a
highly amusing touch.

Performers

Performers at this year's MWMF included Jill Sobule (of "I Kissed a
Girl" fame), Ubaka Hill and Shapeshifters, Sonia, Alix Olson, Lea
DeLaria, Dar Williams, Le Tigre, Bitch & Animal, Miami Fox, Cris
Williamson, Nedra Johnson, and Amy Ray performing with the Butchies.
The Amy Ray and the Butchies performance was one of the highlights of
the festival, receiving three (3!) standing ovations. The Butchies gave
a solo performance accompanied by wild moshing in front of the stage.
Body surfing by all of the Butchies and many of the other performers,
including Edwina Tyler, a renowned drummer who gave multiple
performances at the festival, sent the night stage crowd into a state
of dusty, sweaty ecstacy as the last night-stage performance of this
year's festival ended.

Controversy

This year there seemed to be less controversy than other years --
perhaps it was because of the feeling of defending our space emerged in
response to a common enemy -- the right wing infiltrators. Transgender
activists did set up Camp Trans outside the festival gates. This year
they managed to get electricity and so staged a rather loud drag king
and queen show one night. There was little discussion of the
transgender issue outside of an isolated workshop or two. There was a
candlelight vigil held by Camp Trans folks and transgender activists in
remembrance of transgender victims of violence -- those who have been
killed or hurt by violence for being transgender -- Friday night after
the night stage. However, Le Tigre was the last act that night and
their heavy punk-style music was so loud and disharmonious that about
three-fourths of the audience members were already back in their tents
by the time the vigil took place. I barely heard mention of the vigil
at all.

Even workshops were mostly cultural topics such as "Drum Basics,"
"Energetics for Magick," "Israeli Folk Dance," "Filipino Stick
Fighting," "Songwriting," "Wild Womyn Juggling," and "Chocolate Womyn
Rule" (in which women were advised to arrive naked for a "chocolate
pudding fest"!). There were many workshops on sex and sexuality, but
this year they were clearly labeled for those 18-years of age and over,
and sex demonstrations were prohibited. There were so few workshops
about feminism that a few feminist festigoers discussed having a
feminist tent at the festival -- a retreat where feminists among the
festival attendees could go to be with other feminists.

Photo (Women on stilts at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival)