With music, activism and creativity, Hickman is indeed super
By Joe Gross
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Austin360.com
Sara Hickman likes to keep busy. She’s planning a concert tour with the Texas Coalition Against the Death Penalty, she’s developing a TV show for tweeners called "Super Pal Universe," she’s working on a one-woman show called "Another Mother For Peace" and she’s on the board of Austin Area Interreligious Ministries. And she’s raising a family with her husband, Lance Schriner.
Oh yeah, she also makes records, a whole mess of them in the past 18 years. From early folk-pop albums to a slew of children’s records to last year’s "Motherlode," her funny, dramatic return to adult music, Hickman’s songs are suffused with a joy for the detail of everyday life, how larger issues break down into the day-to-day.
And she can even bust out the occasional bout of Hollywood-speak, describing "Super Pal Universe" as "a cross between the Monkees and ‘Pee-Wee’s Playhouse’"; to her credit, she apologized immediately after saying it. (Auditions for the show will be May 12 and 13; check out superpaluniverse.com for more information.)
And this longtime activist pulls no punches when discussing her rage over the prison at Guantánamo Bay. "People should be really angry about this," Hickman says. "And I don’t want to hear any of that ‘bleeding heart liberal’ stuff; I’m talking about as a human being who would like a fair shake at a fair trial."
But she’s equally adamant that compromise is the key to healthy relationships in all ways of being. "It seems everything is so black and white now, so red-state-blue-state," Hickman says. "Where’s that beautiful middle ground where we can have debate and discussion?"
Hickman says she’s excited about playing the adult stage at the Austin City Limits Music Festival after years on the kiddie stage.
"What I love about big festivals, you have the chance to connect with a lot of people really quickly," she says, "so I’m trying to write some new songs with a lot of call and response, a lot of audience participation."
Participation is what Hickman’s about. "I’m someone who really feels like it just takes one voice to start a choir," she says. "Just like it takes one person to start a movement. That’s all it takes."