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Artist description
Michelle is a singer/songwriter based in NYC. She has played at various political/art/jam band music festivals on the East Coast, in the last five years, and at many New York City club venues. She speaks with a vulnerably powerful voice straight from the heart. She has just released her first full length CD, "Fire In My Belly and Blue Sky to Get Me By," A CD much like her live shows full of in the moment laugher and beautifully uncensored emotional turns. |
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Music Style
Folk Rock |
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Musical Influences
Ani DiFranco, Michelle Shocked, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead |
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Similar Artists
A mix of Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell and Fiona Apple |
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Artist History
In NYC Michelle has opened for Railroad Earth at the Village Underground and has also played at Arlene Grocery, CBGB's 313 Gallery, The Elbow Room, The Baggott Inn, The Triad Lounge and many others. She has played at music festivals in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and West Virginia. Recently, Michelle created quite a stir performing for the Fairfax Chapter of The Women's League of Voters for which she made the front page of the Metro Section of The Washington Post. For more information about performances please contact Michelle at vargom@webtv.net. |
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Group Members
Mostly solo, sometimes with Harry Greenberger |
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Instruments
guitar, keyboard, djembe drum, mandolin |
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Albums
Fire In My Belly and a Blue Sky To Get Me By, 2002, and single, Come As You Are, 2000 |
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Press Reviews
Women Voters Group Reflects on Its Role
Winifred Hamilton (dressed in a period hat to attend the Women's Suffrage
Tea, a League of Women Voters event to celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the
19th amendment which gave women the right to vote. (Juana Arias - The
Washington Post)
By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 26, 2002; Page B01
There were plenty of big hats, hobble skirts, rousing speeches and proper
finger sandwiches at the Women's Suffrage Tea held yesterday at a Tysons
Corner hotel. There was also a passionate, highly political and, at times,
profane 27-year-old folk singer from New York, who performed with her dog,
Maceo, at her feet.
Move over, Susan B. Anthony. Michelle Vargo is in the house. And not
everyone's happy about it.
With the fall political season gearing up, the League of Women Voters'
Fairfax chapter organized the event to mark the 82nd anniversary of the 19th
Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote. The period garb was
meant to be a reminder of women's long struggle for equality, organizers
said.
But it was Vargo, wearing a brown, sleeveless suede top and tight black
pants, who prompted the most discussion -- and encapsulated the league's
struggle to remain relevant in a political world that has changed radically
since the group was founded more than 80 years ago.
In an era when the voter information that is the league's hallmark is often
easily accessible on the Internet, and when many working women have less time
for such groups, attracting new blood has become a real challenge.
"We are aging as a group each year because, to date, we aren't bringing in as
many of the younger women as we want to," said Kay Maxwell, president of the
league's national organization. The nonpartisan group, which sponsors
debates, registers voters, lobbies for electoral reform and provides
information in thousands of races across the country, has teamed up with
groups such as Rock the Vote and put information on the Web to get younger
women involved, Maxwell said.
Some who attended yesterday's tea enjoyed the scones, heavy cream and
memories more than they did Vargo's bongo playing and protest songs. Some in
the audience began to squirm when the singer announced, "You are all a bunch
of liberal women, so I guess I can say I don't like our president at all."
The league is staunchly nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates or
political parties.
A few participants left, and some who stayed were critical. "I don't think it
was appropriate for this audience," said Mildred Brown, 74. "Her music was
too modern and too New York. You've got to go with the age of the crowd."
Later, Vargo said she thought her performance went well and called the league
an inspiration.
"I was a little worried about the age gap, but I feel like everyone was very
supportive," she said. "There are such strong women here. It was really
moving. It's not, like, an old issue in many ways. It is really relevant to
me still."
Noora Al-Saadawi, 7, seemed to be having a good time. "It's really neat. I'm
learning something I didn't know before," she said, raising her voice over
the guitar strumming. Noora was sitting next to her grandmother, Kay McQuie,
who said women still have a long way to go and the league is a great
organization to help them get there.
"There is still no Equal Rights Amendment passed, and there's still a glass
ceiling, and there's still something I call a sticky floor in many areas of
business and endeavor," McQuie said.
When asked what she took away from the afternoon's events, Noora was stumped.
Her mom, Julie, whispered in her ear: "Women had to work hard for the right
to vote." Noora, who donned a big hat in honor of the occasion, repeated as
she was supposed to. But then she came up with her own answer: "The hats are
very itchy."
Dottie O'Rourke, who was wearing a period purple, gold and white "Votes for
Women" sash and a silk hobble skirt, designed to impede walking to make women
look more "feminine," couldn't imagine wearing such a get-up every day.
"I may as well have bound feet," she said, adding that many of the
suffragists who demonstrated outside the White House were mobbed, then jailed
at the notorious Occoquan workhouse, which became the Lorton Correctional
Complex. "The idea that voting was a hard-fought-for right is something we
constantly remind people of."
Annelies Richmond, 30, said she was in awe at the women in the room and those
who came before.
"My mom's in the league. These women here have fought for the rights we take
for granted today," she said. Her mother, Gail Richmond, 57, a nurse from
Fairfax, thought of the idea of asking Vargo to come from New York to perform.
"I think the young people were in tune with her," Gail Richmond said. "Some
of the older people didn't seem to like the political slant. But this is a
suffrage tea. It's what it's all about."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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Additional Info
Buy CD at 66th St. Tower Records, NYC, NYCD (81st and Amsterdam NYC) or email vargom@webtv.net |
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Location
New York City, NY - USA |
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