The BUZZ Café, located at 905 South Lombard in Oak Park hosted
a friendly get together for OPALGA on the evening of Dec 8, 1999.
This was a nice meeting where people from all over Oak Park, some
gay, some straight, had a wonderful time. The music provided by
"Big Smith" was a treat to behold, energetic, pulse pounding, rhythmic,
and plenty of percussion to pass around. They are hoping to cut their
own CD soon and I for one will be in line to purchase one. This is an
all female group with enough smiles and hard work to power a small
country. The second performer of the evening was our very own
"Bob Hannigan" formerly with the band "Ransom". Bob Hannigan
played the guitar with delightful skill and talent. If this event was any
indication of the things to come OPALGA will have a hit once a month.
Mr. Hannigan's sister Laurie asked him to play for the benefit of OPALGA
and he agreed. Brother and sister work together in their day job as
bricklayers and masons. I think they should build an extra room on the
BUZZ café and hire Bob Hannigan to play whenever he wants.

Below is some additional information provided by Big Smith.
 
 

Big Smith means big drums and big sound. An all-female percussion
ensemble, Big Smith is rooted in a deep love of women's drumming and
feminist political activism. The group performs both original and
traditional drum compositions that mix African, Afro-Cuban, Latin, and
Native American hand-drumming and mallet-drumming traditions with Big
Smith's own energy and rhythms. 

Founded in January 1998 by former members of the Women's Action
Coalition Drum Core, Big Smith is currently touring the Midwest
presenting performances and workshops. In February 1998, Big Smith
composed and performed a musical tribute to author Leslie Feinberg
preceding her keynote speech at the Midwest Bi, Lesbian, Gay,
Transgender College Conference. Feinberg was visibly moved, and the
Chairperson of the conference offered these words of praise: "They're
riveting, they excited the crowd, they were touching, and they made us
think." Big Smith presented workshops in March 1998 at the Athena
Conference for Gifted Women and Girls at St. Cloud State University in
Minnesota, and spearheaded a drumming contingent at St. Cloud's annual
Take Back the Night March. In March 1999, Big Smith opened for Melissa
Ferrick at UIC. The group performed in October 1999 in A Statement for
Freedom VI at the Park West, a benefit for the IL Federation for Human
Rights, and at Dancin in the Grass, a benefit for the Crossroads Fund at
The Hothouse. 

Big Smith's birth mother was the Women's Action Coalition (WAC) Drum
Core, founded in 1992, and the spirit of the Drum Core remains alive in
Big Smith. WAC takes direct action on issues affecting the rights and
lives of all women, and for six years the Drum Core added power and
resonance to WAC's work, amplifying WAC's demands by drawing attention
at street actions and mounting political performances. Through drumming
together, the Drum Core also tapped into the strength, intuition,
creativity, and magic that is the essence of what patriarchy exists to
control. Big Smith continues this tradition. 

Big Smith's members had drummed with the WAC Drum Core for years before
breaking off to form a new, more formal performance ensemble. Big
Smith's focus is on developing compositions that are innovative and also
honor the musical traditions from which the drums come. Big Smith
creates work that is radically woman-loving and the group acknowledges
the inherent sacredness of women coming together to drum. Although the
ensemble is no longer officially a part of WAC, Big Smith's work is
informed by a deep commitment to feminist political activism and to
using art work as an instrument for political and social change. With
their drums and bodies, Big Smith harnesses a force strong enough to
blow up buildings. 

An eclectic mix of artists, drummers, and activists, Big Smith is fierce
and unforgiving about taking power, passion, and fire and using it to
create art and create change. They are actively anti-racist and
anti-classist, and unmistakably pro-woman and pro-queer. Kym Olsen of
the Women's Perform-ance Jam says, "These women have chosen the correct
name for themselves because their presence certainly is big. They are
committed to many alternative communities of women and continually
provide strong role models for women of all ages. Big Smith is a
talented, focused, well organized percussive group whose dynamic
performances are mesmerizing to witness." 

Bios of individual Smithwives

Nicole Garneau
has been an activist since she was a teenager and was a member of the
WAC Drum Core for 3 years. Nicole has studied West African drumming and
has a background in Theater, performance, and visual art. She is a board
member of Insight Arts, a Rogers Park-based Expansion Arts organization.
As a member of Big Smith, Nicole is interested in creating work that is
radically female, directly political, and critically conscious. 

Jane Haldiman
was originally fascinated with drums from afar (particularly by
encounters with a Taiko performance and an encouraging woman with a
conga at a party), and finally came to drumming herself via activism.
She joined the WAC Drum Core a year after she joined WAC, and all of her
drum knowledge has come from working with the other ensemble women. She
is a drummer, writer, activist, and artist. 

Katherine Klein
has been an performer, artist, activist and lover of women her whole
life and sees drumming with women as a perfect venue to express all of
these interests. Katherine began drumming when she fell in love with a
big, beautiful frame drum created by the Taos tribe of Native Americans
from Taos, New Mexico in 1986. She formally started performing with the
WAC Drum Core in the spring of 1993 and continues this fierce, powerful
woman-centered tradition with the Big Smith performance ensemble. She
believes drumming informs everything she engages in, from her
relationships to her career as a personal life coach. Drumming is
transformative on every level. 

Anne Statton
has been an activist since 1986 and a drummer since 1992. Anne has
studied both African and Latin drumming traditions and through drumming
has developed a profound respect for rhythm and the power of women
united in sound. She is a former member of the WAC Drum Core and was a
percussionist with Abibigoro and Mollycoddle. Anne welcomes this
opportunity to share her knowledge of the drum and her experience
smashing the patriarchy. 

Joy Wright
a founding member of Big Smith, has drummed previously with a women's
group called Ma Gun ("mother's heartbeat") in Norfolk, Virginia and with
the Women's Action Coalition Drum Core in Chicago. An activist both
professionally and personally, Joy works as the Training Director for
the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network and she believes that
the combination of women's activism and spiritual drumming provide a
powerful force towards social change. 

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This InterNet Newspaper is published by the Oak Park Journal.com
The editor is Edward Vincent, a lifelong Oak Park Resident
Eric Linden, Columnist 
Heidi Vizzone Features Editor and Reporter