“It dawned on me early if I feel abandoned or victimized that was my perception. I had the power to change my point of view. It sounds easy but I’ve been writing about it for 50 years”. Ferron
Ferron was submitted to Caitlin Press August 16th. The release date is March 16th, 2027. It’s a biography but I call it a bio/memoir. Ferron and I spent 80 or 90 hours in taped conversations about her life and her lyrics. I also talked to more than 25 of Ferron’s professional and personal associates. In the end I was as much a collaborator and choreographer as an author. I became a medium through which Ferron could speak about her art and her life’s experiences. The book is a unique blend of voices, lyrics and images, but also it is a fabulous story about a fascinating woman/singer/songwriter and philosopher queen.
For those of us who know Ferron, Emily Saliers from the Indigo Girls said it best, “Ferron is a singular kind of guru” in that she sang a whole generation of feminists through a knot in their lives. Ferron was part of the soundtrack that gave deeply thinking and deeply hurting women a space to heal and gather strength to move on and build a new kind of society. The 70s to 90s were heady times and Ferron was there. She made it simple “life don’t clickety-clack down a straight-line track. It comes together and it comes apart.” (Ain’t Life a Brook) And she made it profound “I don’t know what it’s like for you but here’s what it’s like for me. I wanted to turn beautiful and serve Eternity and never follow money or love with greasy hands or move the earth and waters just to make it fit my plans.” (Girl on a Road)
For those who don’t know Ferron, her work was unlike other lesbian/feminist artists of the day. It was critically acclaimed by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Rolling Stone and many other mainstream media as well as alternative media. She earned comparisons to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. The Boston Globe said Bob Dylan (yes, the fellow who earned a Nobel prize for literature) would be called the Ferron of the 60s. Yet despite her greatness, her name is often unknown and her story has remained untold.
At its heart, Ferron is a moving story of survival and self-creation, tracing Ferron’s experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, and her determination to become an authentic and honourable human being through the healing power of poetry and song. In telling her own story, she became a cultural hero for a generation.
We are working on ways to spread the word. The best way to ensure the book is widely distributed is for interested people to contact their local bookstore and enquire about the book, order one, if possible, or request that the bookstore bring it in.Ferron can also be preordered through Caitlin Press.
HOLLY NEAR, FERRON & DANCE BRIGADE
with Christelle Durandy, Jan Martinelli, Tammy Lynne Hall, Michaelle Goerlitz, Shelley Jennings
A Tribute to the Past, A Vision for the Future
January 9-19, 2025 https://dancemissiontheater.org/dance-brigade/the-peace-tour
The highlight of Dance Brigade’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Season will be the creation, performance, and touring of A Woman’s Song for Peace – a new dance theater work featuring original, live music by iconic musician and activist Holly Near, seminal queer feminist singer-songwriter Ferron, and groundbreaking Afro-Caribbean jazz artist Christelle Durandy, intertwined with Dance Brigade’s fierce, nuanced choreography and signature melding of styles with Hip Hop, Modern, Salsa, and Taiko – utilizing these storytelling components to convey a larger narrative about social justice and liberation.
A Woman’s Song for Peace is Dance Brigade’s contribution to the current political and social dialogue around peace, war, and foreign policy in our society and in the world. We bear witness to wars in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Sudan, and a culture/rhetoric of war and violence in our own society and at our Southern border. As we move through an intense and divisive Presidential election cycle in which these issues are front and center, we argue about specific details of foreign policy – and it’s easy to forget that we all share a basic desire for peace.
A Woman’s Song for Peace aims to reorient our audiences towards this priority, helping us remember our shared humanity. We believe that this collaboration can unify and activate people, and we offer our artistic response – a creative cry for peace – as a gift to our communities, an aid for individual and collective healing and transformation, and a vision for a way forward.
In Eugene, OR, Dance Brigade will partner with WOW Hall on WOW’s 50th anniversary fundraising event on Saturday, January 11th with a tribute to their shared history including songs and storytelling by Holly Near and Ferron, and performance of a signature dance theater piece with original members from the Wallflower Order Dance Collective, whose inception took place at the WOW Hall in 1975. “Defiance” was created in 1977 in sign language and written by Dorothy Miles and performed across the US and internationally; it remains a lasting and powerful work about finding one’s voice and speaking one’s truth to power.
TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 16, 2024 – Buy Your Tickets Now!
JAN 2025 WEST COAST TOUR PERFORMANCE DATES:
Jan 09: Soreng Theater @ Hult Center (Eugene, OR) 7:30 pm Show GET TICKETS
Jan 10: Newmark Theatre @ Portland’5 Centers for the Performing Arts (Portland, OR) 7:30 pm Show GET TICKETS
Jan 11: WOW Hall Fundraiser (Eugene, OR) 6:00 pm Doors Open GET TICKETS
Jan 12: Craterian Theater @ Collier Center (Medford, OR) 5:00 pm Show GET TICKETS
Jan 15: Center Theater @ Mendocino College 7:30 pm Show (Ukiah, CA) GET TICKETS
Jan 17: Ruth Finley Person Theater @ Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (Santa Rosa, CA) 7:30 pm Show GET TICKETS
Jan 18: Crocker Theater @ Cabrillo College VAPA Complex (Aptos, CA) 7:30 pm Show GET TICKETS
Jan 19: Herbst Theatre @ San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center (SF, CA) 6:00 pm Show GET TICKETS
Audience Award for Best Doc: Image+Nation, Montreal
Elle Flanders Audience Award for Best Documentary, InsideOut, Toronto
Audience Award for Best Doc, OutFilm CT
Director’s Award, OutFilm CT
Best Doc, Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival
(Release date: summer 2009.)
Before the Indigo Girls and before Ani DiFranco, there was Ferron, whose plaintive and poetic songs provided the soundtrack for an entire generation of lesbians. Nearing 60 and feeling the urge to reconnect with her audience, Ferron reunites with her band to perform a concert after nearly a decade away. Internationally award-winning director Gerry Rogers (My Left Breast) is there to capture the moment.
Part performance film, part biopic, Ferron: girl on a road traces, the life, the songs, the loves, the heartbreaks, and the pioneering path carved by a true folk legend. Intimate, and sweeping all at once, this film moves beyond “chronicle” and captures in word and deed, the essence of a visionary artist, and the soul of an icon. It is a celebration!
Opening on British Columbia´s Saturna Island, where Ferron welcomes her band mates into her home to rehearse, the action shifts to a stage in Victoria, where Ferron and the band perform some of her most adored songs — Shadows on a Dime, Girl on a Road and Snowin’ in Brooklyn.
Interspersed between tunes are interviews with the band members and with Ferron herself, who talks openly about her painful childhood, her rise and fall in the music industry, her past feelings of shame regarding her Native ancestry and, finally, about coming to terms with herself after a lifetime of struggles.
Documentary: 73 minutes ● Producer/Director: Gerry Rogers ● Camera: Peg Norman ● Editor: Lyly Fortin ● Music Editor: don db benedictson ● Release date: summer 2009 ● Phone 709-726-3472 ● Fax 709-726-5647 ● Email gerry@augustaproductions.com ● Downloads: Ferron: Girl on a road press kit (Word Doc or PDF) ● Ferron: Girl on a road DVD poster (PDF) and postcard (front – PDF).
New Zealand Outtakes Reel Queer Film Festival – May 21 – June 10
Auckland, Monday May 25, 6:10pm
Wellington, Sat. June 4th, 4:30 The Paramount
Christchurch, Sat. June 7, 2:45 Regent on Worcester Cinemas
Honolulu Rainbow Film Fest – May 21-24
Honolulu, Sat. May 23 6pm Doris Duke Theatre
Big Island (Kona), Fri. May 29, 5pm Aloha Theatre
Big Island (Hilo), Sat. May 30, 4pm Palace Theatre
2009 Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Screening Date: October 11, 2009 @ 5:00 PM
Tampa Theatre, 711 N Franklin St.
ImageOut 2009-Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, Oct. 9-18, 2009
Screening Dat & Time: Monday, October 12, 6:15pm @ LITTLE THEATRE
Siren Nation, Nov. 5-8, 2009 Portland, Oregon
Screening Date: Sat. Nov. 7th, 2009, Noon – 5:30 p.m. The Hollywood Theatre
Inside Out Ottawa-Gatineau LGBT Film & Video Festival
November 20 – 22, 2009, National Gallery of Canada
Director:
Gerry Rogers
Camera:
Peg Norman
Editor:
Lyly Fortin
Additional Camera:
John Vatcher
Mo Simpson
Cal Garingan
Lighting:
John Vatcher
Live Music Recording:
Ron Cote
Sound Recording:
Peg Norman
Gerry Rogers
Derm Carberry
Lisa Kolisnyk
Christine McDowell
Set Decorator:
Debbie Vatcher
Production Assistants:
Chris McDowell
Ian Vatcher
Music Edit & Mix:
Don db Benedictson
Sound Editor:
Paul Steffler
Sound Mix:
Don db Benedictson
Assistant Editor:
Phillip Cairns
Transcription:
Kelly Dooley
Closed Captioning:
Lyly Fortin
Online & Colour Correction:
Steve Cook
Thank you, thank you:
Cari Green
Diane Boehme
Paul Pope
Pope Productions
John Vatcher
Debbie Vatcher
LSPU Hall
Maria Popacostaki
Ellen Balka
Wendy Williams
Pat Hogan
Jean Smith
John Kramer
Shelagh Rogers
Frank Fagan
Mary Gauthier
Issa
John Vatcher
Bill Coultas
Sandy Morris
Danielle Dumesil
Theresa MacKenzie
Jeanne O’Brien
Debbie Hynes
Sylvia Hamilton
John Doyle
Frank Fagan
Debbie McGee
Chris Darlington
Lynne Fernie
Lorraine Segato
Amelia Curran
Patricia Pin
Russell Floren
Gigi Rodriguez
Harvey Hyslop
Lori Clarke
Thank you to all those whose support helped to make this happen.
All songs written by Ferron:
“O Baby”
“More Than That”
“Girl On A Road”
“Snowin’ In Brooklyn”
“Higher Wisdom”
“Shadows On A Dime”
“Indian Dream”
“Testimony”
“Our Purpose Here”
“In The Mean Time”
“Ain’t Life A Brook”
“Girl On A Road”
Archival Video Footage with the generous permission of Shawn Preus
Archival Photos used with the generous permission of:
Gayle Scott
The Foisy Family Collection
Wynn Berry
Jody Boyman
E&O Insurance:
Premiere Insurance
hey, happy happy…
my best news is to say that my health is greatly improved but i don’t think i’ll be leaping over fences anymore. oh well, all the fences are gonna have to come down anyways! Some of you have probably noticed that there are no shows on the horizon. I am indeed trying to think of new ways to be present with my writing and not be on the road. Wish me luck in this endeavour. The wall hangings with my lyrics on them is going great guns. I’m pretty busy with that since I make them all inch by inch. I’ll be putting up new photos soon but at the bottom of this letter is the link to view some that have already sold. If you have any ferron lyrics that you think you could imagine hanging on your wall, I’m the girl to get in touch with. My friend wilma told me that the fen sanctuary web page is definitely not our Fen. We are excited to announce that Girls In the Wild, a vision quest program for girls 10-16 will be using the Fen as their central building. It is still finely decorated, still availabe for day, week, weekend rental and my next event there is March 26th. TRET FURE will be singing there that night and I’m hoping those of us who can will show our Michigan spirit and maybe even bring a cake. I’m hoping to have enough hangings to decorate some walls at the Fen by then.
Of course the documentary Girl ON a Road came out the same year I had to take a rest. It has gone to many film festivals now and has won several awards. So hey, getting older and still feeling pretty good , that’s a sweet thing. I’m working on the next cd and should have it out for the beginning of summer. And I’m available for writing workshops so give me a call at ferronferron@gmail.com Hope we all have an fine, level headed year. love ferron
january 2009
The Suprise Of A Lifetime…
….was discovering that yes indeed i was having all the signs of a heart attack. But we made it to the emergency in time and i was put on nitro glycerin which expands the arteries and so no damage was done to the heart muscle and after a long night was taken to the operating room and they put a stent in my left descending artery coming at it curiously enough from my right groin. I got out yesterday afternoon and am on bed rest for a bit to make sure i don’t open the incision as I could ‘bleed out’ as the nurse so tactfuly put it. i have a bit of a limp from the operation which will go away once the incision heals. I have great difficulty being taken care of and am not allowed to pick up more than 5 pounds. This is life changing stuff. had a good run on the wild side but I guess all rides come to an end. I feel happy and peaceful and only sorry that I couldn’t have the operation and be at the shows I committed to. The doctor looked at me like I was nuts when i asked if I could fly the next day. This is a good story with a happy ending even though it includes taking heart pills daily. gag me with a spoon. Thank you for all your concern and love. Still here, love ferron
Ferron: The Book
