~ So, just who is this Sarah McLachlan grrl?
Sarah McLachlan, a Canadian-born singer/songwriter & founder of
Lilith Fair (the one-of-a-kind all female tour) is, in my and many other
alt.m.s-mers humble opinions, one of the most amazin’ n’ astoundin’
singer-type-chickas to ever come along. And then there are the folks
who say she’s a goddess too, wonder where they get that from? There
are plenty of sites on this vast web to check out for that basic “where,
when, why” type of questions, the only ‘official’ of which being
http://www.sarahmclachlan.com and http://www.nettwerk.com , but
like I said, there are tons of fan pages, use a search engine, that’s
what its there for.
~ What albums has she done?
Our beloved stepped into the pop circuit with her debut release
Touch 10 years ago. Since then, she has released Solace (1991),
the double-platinum Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (1993), the
multi-media enhanced The Freedom Sessions (1994), Rarities,
B-Sides, and Other Stuff (1996), and, most recently, the Juno and
Grammy award winning Surfacing (1997), with over 3 million copies
sold. Where the hell have you been? Sarah is expected to release a
live album next, after Lilith ‘98 draws to a close, and Sarah gets some
well-deserved time off.
~ What about this Lilith thing?
‘Tis the tour of the season, the “all-female” thing, galapalooza, grrls,
gurls, and more grrls, comin’ to a city near you.
From the Sarah merchandise catalogue: “It doesn’t exclude men, it
simply celebrates women,” says Sarah McLachlan of Lilith Fair, a
festival tour created by McLachlan and her management. The Lilith Fair
Tour is the first of it’s kind, and makes a statement about the
evolution of the role of women in popular music. McLachlan notes,
“three years ago promoters were really scared to put two women on
the same bill. Now, the climate has changed dramatically. We’re
proving it can be done.
Check out http://www.lilithfair.com fer all ya ever needed to know
‘bout Lilith.
Hot topics/Debate/Controversy and whatnot. If yer lookin’ fer
flame bait, dontcha go no further.
~ Is Sarah gay?
While it’s true that Sarah does seem to attract a diverse audience,
(and yes, of course the woman-dominated Lilith Fair sports it’s fair
share of lesbians on stage and in the audience as well), Sarah
McLachlan is (supposedly) happily married to her drummer, Ashwin
Sood. And really, we don’t have to cover this topic every month... But
the gay/bi/straight/whatever issue always remains one of great
debate, so if ya really wanna start somethin’ on alt.m.s-m (or any
other ng fer that matter), this is one of the hot the topics to go for.
...And jus’ fer yer reading pleasure: (from Details, Jan. ‘98):
BEAUTY IN UGLINESS. ISNT IT IRONIC THAT AS A CHILD IN HALIFAX
YOU WERE CONSIDERED SO UGLY THAT KIDS NICKNAMED YOU
MEDUSA?
OKAY, SO WERE YOU A LESBIAN?
NEVER TO THE BEDROOM?
Let the flames sizzle on...
~ Who was Uwe Vandrei?
A person. Honor his memory, at least, with a bit of dignity.
Building a History: The Story of Uwe Vandrei (1960 - 1994)
http://www.textorcom.com/uwe/
http://www.wallofsound.com/news/stories/3176index.html
Exclusive to The Globe and Mail: Canada's National
Newspaper
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/docs/news/19980627/TheArts/tastal
.html
And one more flamin’ question, jus’ fer the helluvit,
~ Sarahs religion?
“Oh, you know --Sarah McLachlan, the ethereal, poetic, waiflike fairy
who burns incense, reads poetry all day, and lives in a fucking tree. I
mean, I am sensitive and I do have wind chimes and a hot tub and I
am into homeopathic medicines and herbs, but I also like a good
scotch sometimes.” (not that that answers anything, I just like the
quote, another from the Details interview :)). ...Another Mystery...
Yet more questions that appear quite often on our humble ng:
~ Is there another Sarah list?
What, we alt.s-mers ain’t *good enough* for ya? Fine then. :) Fumble
towards the F-T-E list whydontcha? Send a “subscribe [your email
addy here] fumbling-towards-ecstasy” message to
Majordomo@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au to “join the club”.
~ Does Sarah have a fan club?
Yes. You can join the official Sarah McLachlan fan club, Murmurs, for
$30 in North America and $35 everywhere else. You can get more info
on this at Sarah’s or Nettwerk’s web site.
...Ah, but wait, jus’ when you were gonna ask... even more
random answers!
Yes, Sarah *was* adopted.
Yes, she dated her keyboard player (before finding, ahem, solace in
Ash... or was it shelter? sweet surrender? I know it’s not Mary... Could
be Adia though... oh well, good enough :)).
Yes, a kewl (albeit unauthorized) biography was written of our beloved
heroine, ‘tis called Building A Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan
and Lilith Fair by Canadian chicka Judith Fitzgerald . Go fourth and
buy, baby, buy!
Yes, Sarah screams in an episode of Poltergeist.
Yep, there’s been lawsuits involvin’ Sarah, and nope, I’m not gonna go
into ‘em.
No, Sarah did not write the song Dear God, it was originally by XTC.
Yep, the song Full of Grace was originally Fall From Grace and the
older version can be found on boots if ya look around fer it.
~ What does Sarah’s song [fill-in-the-blank-with-title-of-yer-choice]
mean?
While it usually isn’t said directly by Sarah “The song ___ is about
___,” here’s a lil’ snippet of things gathered from articles/interviews
over the years:
Possession is ‘prolly the easiest to figure out, Sarah explains it in
virtually every interview done... Written from the point of view of an
obsessed fan it is.
If ya look long n’ hard enough, I betcha can find the adoption issues
that surface in Mary.
Good Enough: could it be ‘bout a mother/daughter relationship? ...or
are there secret sinister lesbian overtones? You make the call.
And the deal with I Will Remember You? This song was on the
soundtrack for the movie The Brother’s McMullin. It can be found on
both Rarities, B-Sides, and Other Stuff c.d. and the Adia” single. It’s
often confused with another Sarah song called I Will Not Forget You.
Angel is said to be about heroin use/addiction, etc.
Sarah has said that Adia is about relationships (yeah, is that vague
enough for ya?), friendships or otherwise... And yes, Adia is a real
person, and no, Sarah won’t tell who (but it's not about her grandma or aunt, as have been previously brought up). Ah, the sweet mystery
continues.
...oh, this could go on for hours... Here’s the deal: No one (except
Sarah and/or any of her privileged co-writers) know the exact, fer sure
meaning of Sarah’s songs. Sure, we can speculate/interpret/debate/kill
people and break things over who’s right n’ who’s wrong till we’re all
virtually blue in the cyber face, but that ain’t gonna do us no good...
And besides, think of all that energy yer wastin’ when ya could be
using it on better things... You know, wild, passionate sex, or killing
people and breaking things.
Where can I find a lot of general Sarah info that the chick who wrote
this hasn’t included and/or order Sarah/Lilith Fair merchandise,
request a catalogue, etc.? ...And yet again, I tell ye, the official
Sarah/Nettwerk web pages be yer best bet
http://www.sarahmclachlan.com and http://www.nettwerk.com . Email
‘em at info@nettwerk.com ...Tell ‘em Nikki sent ya (they'll love that).
...And
USA:
CANADA:
Oh, and one last thing: Don’t even think about saying the D# word on
alt.m.s-m! You will be struck down, tarred n’ feathered, thrown into a
pit of highly venomous snakes, and repeatedly tortured until yer cryin’
fer Carl Palmer (to put it mildly...).
Yeah, I know this jus’ barely scratches the ethereal surface of Sarah,
but I’m sure with a little lookin’ y’all folks can find a complete n’ total
Sarah FAQ elsewhere, jus’ thought I’d clear up some of them
easy-to-answer ones, and leave the rest up to y’all. Please direct all
hate mail and/or requests for sexual favors to me.
...And before I get 7462 emails sayin’ “You stupid condescending
whore, why’d ya hafta go and interject yer own damn opinions in every
frickin’ sentence?” (not that any lovable sarahmaniac would dare do
that, but) lemme jus’ say this: Please, be my guest to do a better job,
really, it won’t be too hard, I promise :). Oh yeah, and you can write
me and tell me how much ya luuuv me if ya wanna, jus’ whatever
floats yer boat, ya know? Goddess Grrl aims to please. :)
I felt totally Wiener Dog -- I mean, my teeth were so bad that I had to
wear retainers for two years to straighten them out enough to even
put braces on them. (laughs) Medusa started sixth grade when I had
long curly hair; and me and an acquaintance of mine showed each
other our breast --well, she had breast, I had nothing. Anyway, one of
my evil girlfriends --which was the only kind of friend I had at the time
-- told everyone that I was a lesbian, and from then on everybody in
school hated me. I mean, I couldn't get laid for miles -- boys use to
see me and fall on the ground and writhe and scream that they were
turning to stone. The first time, I cried; the fiftieth time, it was like,
get over yourself.
I wasn't really, but I've always been open to the falling in love with a
woman. I've had crushes on them and I've kissed my fair share,
lemme tell ya, but that's as far as I've gone.
No, though there was a broom closet one time with a cute little
bartender in Boston.
Nettwerk Records Inc.
632 Broadway, Suite 301
New York, NY 10012
Nettwerk Productions
1650 W. 2nd Ave.
Vancouver, BC V6J 4R3 alt.msmsmsmers have gazed upon this wonderous page since it appeared 8.6.98