FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Seattle, WA PRIMARY CONTACT: Holly Figueroa holly@indiegrrl.com 206.579.0287 INDIEGRRL CONCERT AT THE TRACTOR TAVERN Some of the nation's premiere female musicians will take to the stage at the Tractor Tavern, Sunday, May 14th, for an INDIEGRRL EVENT. Artists scheduled to perform include Indiegrrl founder Holly Figueroa, national touring performers Magdalen Hsu-Li and Sheila Nicholls, and local sensational performing songwriters, Kym Tuvim and Sheryl Wiser. Indiegrrl began as a mailing list set up in May of 1998 as a forum for information, networking and conversation about independent music from a female perspective. The list welcomes women and men interested in women's role in the independent music industry. Since its inception, Indiegrrl has gone on to be much more than a mailing list, with concerts and tours across the country, as well as a second compilation CD coming out of the record label in May 2000 www.indiegrrl.com INDIEGRRL CONTACT Holly Figueroa holly@indiegrrl.com (206)-579-0287 Indiegrrl Event Sunday, May 14, 2000 The Tractor Tavern 5213 Ballard Ave NW Seattle 98107 (206) 789-3599 8pm $10.00 HOLLY FIGUEROA Holly Figueroa started wowing national audiences in 1999 after years of local concerts. She has toured extensively throughout the US, greeting fans everywhere with her refreshing style of hybrid folk and blues. "Three Chord Plea (first release) is charmingly blunt, as on "What I Miss", to harrowing, mood evoked on "A Thousand Times." She cuts through with a smoky, after midnight feel that ensures this (Indiegrrl) ringleader will not be confused with Lilith's white bread leading lady, Sarah McLachlan. Scott McLennan, Worcester (MA) Telegram, Datebook MAGDALEN HSU-LI Magdalen Hsu-Li, is a pioneer among Asian-American women in music. One of the first Chinese-American singer- songwriters to emerge in the United States as a star in the acoustic/pop/alternative genre, Magdalen has broken new ground as the forerunner of a new wave of Asian musical artists. Magdalen is a consummate performer, visual artist, and free spirit with a world vision whocannot be categorized: writing universal, personal, and political songs that stretch the boundaries of our conciousness. Audiences across America are raving about her, powerful, high energy, conciousness raising, live performances: events which feature: piano, vocal and and drumset duos, impromptu standup and theatre, thought provoking poetry readings, and spiritually rousing percussion and drum improvisations. Expect the unexpected from the tenderest of piano ballads, to raging political piano punk, Magdalen is a new voice for an increasingly diverse and multicultural generation coming into their own in the 21st Century. "With a Jackie Chan karate chop to the stereotype of the submissive Asian woman, Magdalen Hsu-Li answers back in the name of all outsiders not as an agitprop political shouter but in the seductive voice of a tender-hearted artist who transmutes anger, beauty, and hope into a fully realized album. Hsu-Li never compromises her music to make a political point and never compromises her politics to make her music more accessible. She clearly took care to make her powerful feelings sonically strong and melodic. Prepare to be surprised: All the colors of life shimmer in her well-crafted soundscape." Jim Fouratt,The Advocate, May, 1999 From "10 To Watch For On The Web" SHEILA NICHOLLS Sheila blocks out most of her childhood. She grew up in Colchester, Essex, England, a town fifty two miles east north east of London where her two brothers still live and her mum runs a pub. She's been writing songs since she was 14 but didn't really talk about it till she was 24 when she was living in New York and formed a band called "Sheila Nicholls and the Splendid Frock," because it was better than being a nanny. Returning to LA in 97 to record some songs, she has also been organizing and hosting "Chicks In Arms" to promote community of diversity among women performers in Los Angeles. It's a bit like Lilith 'cept boys can play if they wear a dress. Sheila runs her own label, Essexgirl Records, on which her debut album "Brief Strop" will be released in November. "Her sparkling new album, Brief Strop, shimmers with Celto/folk/English madrigal playfulness, while her range-foving alto... will nicely goose your flesh" Andrew Lentz, LA Weekly KYM TUVIM Her 1998 indie-debut, cited as a Top 12 Independent Release by The Performing Songwriter Magazine, features a top-notch ensemble including Michael Manring on bass (Michael Hedges, John Gorka) and Julie Wolf on accordion (Ani DiFranco, Laura Love). She has toured both coasts, appearing with nationally touring artists including: Caroline Aiken, Peter Mulvey, Barbara Kessler, Lori B and Karen Pernick in venues & festivals ranging from The Tractor Tavern and Bumbershoot in her hometown of Seattle to The Sweetwater (Mill Valley, CA) and Club Passim (Boston). Raised in California, Tuvim grew up in a musician's family - on both sides: her father, a pianist, and her mother’s father, a professional pianist, composer and band leader. At an early age she was following in these footsteps, becoming a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter by her teenage years. In 1987, she moved to Seattle to attend Cornish College of the Arts. "Kym Tuvim has a huge voice, one that fills rooms and gets compared to Tracy Chapman, if only because it pulls you in the instant you hear it." Charles R. Cross, The Seattle Rocket Sheryl Wiser Critically acclaimed Seattle singer and songwriter Sheryl Wiser calls her swinging, soulful music "rhythm & roots." Month of Saints is a passionate, melodic collection of roots-rocky relationship sketches that has been getting substantial radio airplay on AAA, college and community stations in the Northwest. Wiser writes beautifully crafted songs that she delivers in a voice of enormous range and power. Along with her sharp lyrical twists, she captivates her listeners with the savvy presence of a jazz diva. Her lush, clear vocals float effortlessly over an intriguing mix of styles. Pandemonium writes "Month of Saints is an album so lyrically powerful that emotions cannot be denied. Wiseršs woven all the colors of a Crayola box into this CD and it reeks of soul." The Seattle Times calls her "a gifted singer and songwriter. Wiser writes emotional, rhymically stirring songs and delivers them with passion." Billboard says, "The songs are emotional and compelling. Well-constructed, vibrant material." Sheryl has opened for Tori Amos, Luka Bloom, Crash Test Dummies, Dan Fogelberg, Peter Himmelman, Ellis Paul, Jill Sobule and The Paperboys. In March 1999, Wiser was selected as one of 11 vocalists to audition for Cirque du Soleil in San Francisco. "Wiseršs music is sharp and clean, featuring her sweet, powerful voice tempered by rich, stunning melody. Her music compels you to listen, and as youšre drawn into the web she weaves of thoughts and feelings and ideas, you find yourself walking on edge of a quick wit sharpened with water-deep emotions. Wiser writes emotional, rhythmically stirring songs and delivers them with genuine passion. She is a gifted singer and songwriter." Marisa Lencioni, Seattle Times. ###