On May 15 the Out/Loud Queer & Trans Women’s Music Festival is being held at Cozmic Pizza for its 15th annual showing.
Out/Loud looks to draw attention and awareness to women within the LGBT community. The show is held for LGBT individuals and allies. This platform opens the dialogue for members and allies to speak openly and inclusively. The ASUO Women’s Center has been an integral part of organizing this event and continuing it’s legacy for the past decade.
Sarah Libby is the coordinator of Out/Loud this year and is looking forward to the event. She was chosen to coordinate this event and believes it is the perfect space for queer and trans women to express their individuality.
“I have had a lot of help from volunteers and people getting this event ready,” Libby said. “There aren’t a lot of spaces for queer and trans women to be surrounded by people who are like them and want to support them. This is the perfect opportunity for women to express their queer or trans identities and be different together.”
The festival began in 2000 in a student’s backyard and is now the largest queer women’s music festival in the Northwest. The festival was originally dubbed “lesbapalooza” and promoted for queer women, but added trans women to bring more women into the community. In 2006, the name was changed to Out/Loud to represent a more diverse population in the community.
Libby recognizes all experiences are not the same for queer and trans women, but making a platform for women to connect and share those experiences gives way to understanding and a sense of belonging.
“We want anyone who is accepting and supportive of queer and trans women, but we want to feature queer and trans women as artists and performers for our show,” Libby said. “This is really an opportunity to take the politics out of it and get down to good music.”
Beth Scott, volunteer coordinator at the ASUO Women’s Center, is looking forward to working on Out/Loud for the first time.
“I am really excited about getting involved with this event,” Scott said. “I have heard great things about it in the past and there are some really great performers who I am excited to see.”
The festival has been held in many venues throughout its years, but the message and support from the community holds consistent.
Abigail Leeder is the director of sexual violence prevention and education at the University of Oregon. She attended the Out/Loud festival in 2007 when it was held at the McDonald Theatre and multiple times thereafter.
“Having attended this event in the past, it has always been a unique and awesome space,” Leeder said. “It is a great place for people to dance and celebrate and listen to awesome music.”
Interested in Out/Loud but still not sure what to expect? Here’s the rundown of the five performers who will grace the festival this year.
Singer-guitarist Edna Vazquez was raised in the Mexican state of Jalisco, the cradle of mariachi music, but mariachi is one of the many styles she has dabbled in over the course of her career. She’s been known to play rock, pop and other Latin styles like tango and the Cuban trova. Since an appearance on the popular Spanish-language talent show Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento, her profile has risen, and she frequently appears on Northwest festival lineups from Portland’s PDX Pop Now to Eugene’s very own Out/Loud. Though she will be performing solo at Out/Loud, she is also a member of Mariachi Los Palmeros and the Edna Vazquez Quintet.
Puerto Rican vocalist Taina Asili is always working on something. In addition to leading La Banda Rebelde, with whom she’s working on a new album entitled Fruit of Hope, she’s been in punk bands (the brilliantly named Ricanstruction), jam bands and hip hop groups. And she does poetry! She’s an Out/Loud veteran, having previously played the 2011 and 2013 festivities, and her performance this year will consist of herself and guitarist Gaetano Vaccaro performing original music from Fruit Of Hope.
Tuscon’s Namoli Brennet is a (mostly) acoustic singer-songwriter known for her relentless touring schedule and live performances, which often integrate loop pedals and a vocoder. She’s been making music since 2002 and is now on her 11th album, Ditch Lilies, which came out in March 2014. One of America’s most prominent trans singer-songwriters, she was recently listed on the inaugural Trans 100 list, a list showcasing the diversity of work produced by the transgender community in the United States.
Though Whitney Mongé has several self-released, Kickstarter-funded albums available on Bandcamp, she’s best known as a busker, most notably at Seattle’s Pike Place Market. She’s appeared alongside world-famous violinist and street performer Joshua Bell in the documentary Find Your Way: A Busker’s Documentary, and Seattle Weekly named her the best street performer in the Northwest. But Mongé’s no stranger to the stage either, and she tours regularly up and down the West Coast. In the words of Seattle Weekly: “Whether she’s performing outdoors or playing a long-booked gig, Mongé’s music isn’t just a career, it’s a way of life.”
Washington-based singer-guitarist Kim Archer is known for her raw vocals and performance energy, whether she’s playing solo (as she will be this year) or with the hard-rocking Kim Archer Band. Though fans will attest to the power of her live performance, she’s still a force of nature in the studio. Her 2011 album My Friend shows both sides of the coin, featuring seven of her best blues-rock compositions alongside a wonderful — and more than a little unexpected — live cover medley.
By Ally Taylor and Daniel Bromfield
