FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Seattle, WA

PRIMARY CONTACT:
Kym Tuvim
kymtuvim@cakerecords.com
206.328.8696

INDIEGRRL TO HOLD BENEFIT FOR THE INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER (IMC)

Some of Seattle's premiere female musicians will take to the stage at the Tractor Tavern, Sunday, January 30th, 2000 to benefit the Independent Media Center. Artists scheduled to perform include The Aiko Shimada Band, The Marit Peters Band, Havilah, Lesli Wood, and Holly Figueroa.

This concert will highlight not only the talent of these performing songwriters, but will also alert people to the ongoing work of the IMC. This performance is the beginning of a building alliance between these organizations, reflecting two powerful but similar movements - both seeking independence from corporate control. Indiegrrl and the IMC are part of local and worldwide movements to create and support independent music and information.

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 March 2000 www.indiegrrl.com

INDIEGRRL CONTACT
Holly Figueroa
holly@indiegrrl.com
(206)-579-0287

The Independent Media Center (IMC)

"Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice. Through IMCŹs various projects, we hope to answer the question: ˝What are the communication needs of a democratic society and how can we satisfy those needs?… The IMC also seeks to generate alternatives to the biases inherent in the corporate media controlled by profit, and to identify and create positive models for a sustainable and equitable society. During the WTO, the IMC was operating as a 24-hour activist newsroom with some 450 independent media producers coming through the Center and distributing the information through our website (www.indymedia.org). The IMC has plans to continue as a community resource Center for public interest, non-commercial media production and education. As part of this goal, the IMC hopes to provide a much needed link between the various efforts of independence - from music and art to news and information to public relations and global networking.

IMC CONTACT
Sheri Herndon
206.261.0184
sheri@speakeasy.org

Indiegrrl Benefit for The Independent Media Center
Sunday, January 30th, 2000
The Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard Ave NW
Seattle 98107
(206) 789-3599
8pm
$7-10 Sliding Scale
All proceeds benefit the Independent Media Center

AIKO SHIMADA BAND includes Aiko Shimada with Dave Carter on trumpet, Mark Collins on upright bass, Steve Moore on trombone and keyboards, and Eric Eagle on drums. Seattle Weekly calls her music "ethereal free-folk", and The Stranger describes her as "a different sort of singer, one with a gift for simmering sophisticated musical and lyrical ideas down to a taut, powerful minimalism."

MARIT PETERS BAND Hailed by The Stranger as one of Seattle's best songwriters, Marit Peters blends dark jazzy piano pop with intelligent, emotional, revealing lyrics to create songs which continue to haunt listeners long after their attention is initially won. The Marit Peters Band, a five piece sexy groove pop outfit (including an all-star cast on trumpet, piano, bass, and drums), has been packing Seattle venues since its formation in the spring of 1998. The band just released their first full length CD, Dead Reckoning, on Oheyou Records.

LESLI WOOD If you've seen her perform live then you've already witnessed the tremendous abilities she has as a singer, songwriter & guitarist. Capturing her audience, Lesli reflects on the importance of being true to yourself. Reluctant to be categorized into any one movement, she strives to create her own.

HAVILAH Havilah sings with a passionate strength that engages anyone within earshot, entrancing them until the very end. Writing acoustic folk/rock with a raw, expressive edge, her lyrics hold truth and speak poetically and poignantly about an array of life experiences.

ALANA CINI Alana toured Australia for two years on bicycle before settling in near the Tjapukai Aboriginal Tribe in North Queensland, Australia. Inspired by her associations with the aborigine's, seven years later was gifted with her first didgeridoo. She has performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention Band and for a variety of local and national events and recordings. Although having only played the didgeridoo for four years she is considered to be one of the finest didgeridoo players in the United States.

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