folk with a punk sensibility

arjuna has been performing since before she can remember. Growing up, she sang with her mother, Ellen Greist, participated in school, church, and community choirs as well as professional theater, and wrote poetry constantly. At age 18, she picked up an acoustic guitar, learned some chords, and fused her poetry with her song.

After a few years of performing at open mics, pride festivals, and college functions, one afternoon in July of 2000 she recorded a six song demo CD, "Some Chick Sings."

arjuna continued to expand her performance horizons, singing solo as well as sharing the stage with such lovely folk as Pamela Means, Edie Carey, Trina Hamlin, and Adrianne.

arjuna and "Some Chick Sings" have been featured on "A Cut Above," a site reviewing new indie songsters on Planet DUG, a part of Daemon Underground. That reviewer observed, "Arjuna is a poet & singer first & foremost... she explained to me she had learned to play the guitar & write her own songs in self-defense almost because it seemed 'that explosive combination of melody and word' was the medium which would allow her to best express herself. And express herself she does with humor, haunting lyrics, & melodies which will remain in your head long after the six songs & the dark blue cd have stopped spinning."

From mid May-mid June and from late September-early December 2001, Arjuna went on a North American tour, finding willing ears for her music and spoken word, interesting places to play, and other performers to discover and learn from. Venues included Music by the Bay House Concerts in Assonet MA, The Art Bar in Toronto ON, Nietszche's in Buffalo NY, Cafe Paradiso in Eugene OR, The Motley in Claremont CA, Trade St. in Tryon, NC, and Patrick's in Baltimore MD, as well as many coffeehouses, colleges, house concerts, and benefits.

arjuna moved to the Northampton, MA area in mid January, 2002. Since then, she has played at area performance spaces such as Fire & Water Cafe, The Ironhorse, and Diva's Nightclub in Northampton, Capo's Cafe and Flywheel in Easthampton, The Open Square in Holyoke, The Java Hut in Worchester, and Earthdance in Cummington. She has been a featured performer at UMASS and Smith College events including a benefit for HRC and a rally for National Coming Out Day, and the 2002 Northampton Music Festival. The collection of folks she has shared the stage with has been growing happily, and now includes Gooselove, Joe Bridge, Ember Swift with Lyndell Montgomery & Cheryl Reid, Erin Smith Band, Meg Hutchinson, The Smokejumpers, Betsy Spivak, James O'Brien, Emily Greene, Antara, Chris Pureka, Sarah Bolen, Kelly Griffith, Kevin Allred, Laura Love, Aisha Ayers, God-des, Tribe 8, Shelly Doty, and Station Wag. The Springfield Journal, a paper covering news and arts in Western MA, featured arjuna as their cover story in October of 2002, citing her as “one of the up-and-coming politically charged folk musicians in the valley.”

From August to December of 2002 arjuna recorded ‘odd numbers,’ a collection of songs and spoken word pieces focusing on feminism, queer pride, religion, body issues, politics, love, loss, ethically slutty travel, environmentalism, and your mom. arjuna's guitar & vocals provide the core of the album's sound, while guest artists (read: talented friends arjuna dragged down to the basement recording studio) mix things up on a few tracks with bass, drums, cello, harmony vocals, and organ.

She is currently on a North American tour for February-April of 2003, including stops at the Lesbopalooza festival in Eugene, OR and In Other Words Feminist Bookstore in Portland, OR. The owner of that store called arjuna "a blessing!... like Dar (Williams) and Utah (Phillips) had a baby!" Other stops include The Casbah & The Speedjump Java Joint in Madison, WI, Nietszche's in Buffalo NY with Tim Baldwin, Katie Miller, and CommonbonD, and UVM in Burlington, VT with Buddy Wakefield.

born: August 24, 1979 in Lexington, KY
raised: on an organic farm in North Haven, CT
graduated: from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA (with honors! woo-hoo!)
favorite writing subjects: love, loss, feminism, queer sex, religion, the environment, mothers, menstrual blood, & amerika.
most often compared to: Dar Williams, Suzanne Vega, Dan Bern, Ani DiFranco, Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, Rose Polenzani, Annie Sprinkle, and both Indigo Girls.
contact: somechicksings@yahoo.com
website: http://www.oocities.org/kweerkore