Szach Sullivan Photo

This month I am pleased to share my Meg Christian Tribute Show, which includes special rare material:
a historic radio interview from 1983 and a live concert from 1981. The full concert can be streamed
in Part 2. These were from a main transition time for Meg, when she had just done the "Meg & Cris at
Carnegie Hall Concert," and was about to leave Women's Music, in 1984.

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Click for Olivia Records Discography

   

All photos above courtesy of Jzach Sullivan. The B&W photos were taken at Chatham Women's College, Philadelphia, 1982.
Diane Lindsay, Meg's backup musician in those years, is in lower left pic, and color pic is at Carnegie Hall Concert, November 1982.

 

 

Where & When WAS this Festival Concert?

I received this recording with it only identified as Meg performing in ~1981 at a "Women's Music Festival," just after the release of "Turning It Over." So, that was my research starting point. First of all, I found three different references verifying the "Turning It Over" album was a Fall 1981 release. She mentions upcoming gigs, mostly by city name, but one is Oct 4th, so September would be the very latest in the year for this performance. And she mentions looking up at the moon, so it's an outdoor show, and most importantly she refers to them being "here in the Bay Area." Oh, and she comments on it being cold, as she was wearing "thermals" under her outfit. It certainly could be cold in August/September in that area.

Was this a concert or festival? I think for a festival it would be unusual for a single artist to be given an hour-long slot, though I sure would have given Meg an hour. If it's a Festival, which one? Robin Tyler was doing her West Coast Women's Music Festival by then, and I can verify that Meg was scheduled to perform at the second WCWMF, the weekend of September 10-13. See the clipping. Now, again, Meg said they were "in the Bay Area," and those festivals were held in Yosemite, about 215 miles or 4 ½ hours away, so I am not sure I would consider that the Bay Area, but, again, despite that, the clipping calls it San Francisco. Finally, I think the emcee you can hear asking Meg & Diane back for an encore sounds like Robin Tyler, so all that pretty much nails it for me. It was the West Coast Women's Music and Cultural Festival. If someone has other info, please let me know.

And, Jamie Anderson let me know I am correct, as she was
at this concert and remembers it well. And, just wrote
a wonderful entry in her blog about it...find that Here

Pokey Anderson

Pokey Anderson, a friend I've known for many years, was host of the lesbian/feminist show Breakthrough, on KPFT-FM (Houston) for eleven years, until 1992. Accordingly she has an extensive collection of women's music. I was able to borrow from her a tape of a radio interview she and co-host Cherry Wolf did with Meg Christian, on April 29, 1983. And it's excellent. I figure if I can't bring you my own interview with Meg, I'll bring you a historical one, done at the time period when she was about to leave women's music for her spiritual calling. So, she talks about women's music, the "Meg & Cris at Carnegie Hall" concert, her alcoholism and how overcoming that led to her following the teachings of a Siddha Yoga guru.

Youtube Meg Christian Tribute Page                              Diane Lindsay