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How could anyone possibly not like Arigon Starr? Especially after I mangled her name the first time we spoke. Not a great way to start a conversation, for sure, but she responded amiably explaining her name isn't pronounced "like the dragon, or from Lord of the Rings", but "Ar-again". Not only will I remember how to say her name correctly in the future, I'll also remember how cheerfully she broke the ice.
That's Arigon Starr. The self-described "Diva" who's a diva in the original definition of the word—meaning she's very, very good at what she does—but isn't at all a diva in today's common usage. If you haven't heard of her, you will, for this multi-talented artist is a singer-songwriter, playwright, theatre performer and has even had an acting stint on the soap, General Hospital And through it all, she has remained grounded, from her early days playing coffee houses to last year's one-woman hit show, The Red Road. Connected to her audience, to her roots; without pretense and with plenty of humor.
But this Kickapoo/Creek/Cherokee/Seneca Diva isn't about to rest on her laurels. This April, Arigon will be premiering her 10-part radio series, Super Indian, about a Native teen who gains super powers after eating tainted commodity cheese. That's right. Tainted commodity cheese, with a sidekick and erudite talking dog to boot.
So sit back. You will enjoy our chat with the "Diva" as she covers a lot of ground from shoe-gazing performers, Orson Welles, Bono, Chief Dan George…and that Frazier-esque talking dog I was telling you about…
You've done it all—you're an actress, songwriter, and singer, even a comedienne. Where and how did you get started?
I got started down in San Diego, when I was pretty young. I've been involved in music since junior high and music was one thing that was  always really important to me. It made life worth living and just connected everything. Sure, I was a kid who watched TV and read comic books and went to movies like everybody else, but music was the main deal.
While I was in the community college down in San Diego, I was in a couple of bands. Then one day, I was talking to my mom and I said, "Mom, I don't think I can do music down here in San Diego when the center of the industry is just two hours up the road." So I managed to get a day job up here in Hollywood; I did coffeehouses by night. I was very tired, but I got a lot of great experience. There's nothing like getting in front of an audience; just you and your guitar. It's like whooooa—that'll sharpen you up right there.
Were you performing your own material from the start?
I was always doing originals. I did do some covers just to give people a reference. Offbeat stuff. I'd add in songs by the Rolling Stones and the Who. I'd put those in context with the stuff I was writing and it was great to see the reaction of audiences who thought—"Who's that Native American woman up there singing and how come you're not Buffy Saint Marie?" (laughs)
What do you enjoy more—performing or writing?
It's hard to really nail it down, since I'm working on about five different projects right now. Let's see, mainly right now I'm writing for the radio series Super Indian, which is about a Native super hero guy. That's going to be taped in April at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. I have 10, five minute episodes I need to nail down. We had a stage reading in November, and now we're just going to go back a little bit and sharpen it up and make it real tight. Hopefully, people won't be scratching their heads and asking, "What is she doing??!!" (laughs)
You seem to definitely push the envelope creatively. What personally motivates you?
I have so many different interests in life. I feel like one of those artists who just happens to be Native American, but I like to throw that sensibility in there. Let me give you an example; I had this discussion about Apocalpyto over the holidays with a friend of mine who's a non-Native. And he took his son to see it and they both liked it and he asked me why I thought people get so mad about these things because it's just a movie.
I thought it was a great discussion because films are really important. The way people are represented is really important. And what people see is really important because it really does, sadly, shape public opinion. This is something that Native people as artists really have to take care of, not really to set the record straight—because I don't think that's possible—but at least try to show there's a different side of it.
Who are your personal role models as an artist?
Probably the first person that had a huge impact on me was Chief Dan George. I'll never forget him. Will Sampson after him; Henry Kingi in Car Wash. The music also—Redbone. Never knew there was a Native band until those guys. Let's see…Jesse Ed Davis. I didn't realize he was Indian until I saw a re-re-re-release of the concert for Bangladesh. Omigod, that's an Indian guy onstage with George Harrison…that just blew me away…that was huge since I'm a huge Beatles fan, and just to know that there was an Indian guy standing up there with them was incredible. And I said, you know what? Shoot…if those guys could come from nowhere, from Liverpool England, then jeeez, there's a world of stuff out there. And they're all different. Wow.
You definitely have a country flavor to your sound, where does that come from?
Yeah, that comes from my dad. My dad was always playing Hank Williams, Hank Thompson, Ray Price—all those guys all the time. And he'd ask me, "Why don't you write one of those country songs?"
How then would you describe what you refer to as "Native Americana?"
Native Americana is a mix, like if the Eagles came from South Dakota or if George Jones was a Creek Indian, they'd make this kind of music. It's a Midwestern-southern sensibility and that's kind of a weird thing even for Native Americans. I had this Indian guy come up to me when I was playing in Tulsa and he said to me "I think it's weird you guys have southern accents." (laughs). A lot of people don't realize Indians from Oklahoma talk different from a Navajo or Natives up in Washington State.
All of those things come into making Native Americana. But I think the musical signatures are the short, direct, simple songs. Don't take hours to make your point. Get in there, get out, say it, and go. That's what I love about pop music, and that's why the Beatles are so great. They could say more in one minute 59 seconds than Pink Floyd could say in 10 minutes.
Another thing I appreciate about Paul McCartney is that, even at this stage of his career, he still plays for the audience.
Yes, me too. That's one of the things about being a performer, especially today. There's this whole generation of young performers who are what I call "shoe gazers." They come out onstage and look deep, dark, emotional and look at their shoes. They never communicate with the audience. So I ask myself, "why am I here when I could be putting this record on at home and be comfortable sitting in my chair?" (laughs) Come on…!
What is the biggest misconception people have of you when they hear the word "Native entertainer?"
Gosh, it goes back to leather, feather and beads…Also, they see a Native woman with a guitar they're going to expect sweet, little tales from the reservation. Nooooo…I think it really surprises them, because they, first, don't expect me to engage with the audience, or they expect me to be very spiritual. I've gotten that, believe me. It drives me crazy.
Is it getting any better?
Well, it's a little different every time…even back home, (in Oklahoma) when people hear there's a little bit of rock and roll in there it still surprises them…like whoooa, what is she doing? Once, I was playing for non-Indian audience and I found myself saying that "if you think 9-11 was the first time there was terrorism on the shores of America, you've got another thing coming." It was just something that popped into my head. Everybody just sat there kind of stunned. I thought, omigosh, I don't know why I said that!
Even in your lyrics, you have a political sensibility, yet you infuse humor in your message.
That's always been my hope. I would see our people do political diatribes and get up on their soapbox and really turning the audience off. Sorry, but that's going to lose them or it's preaching to the converted. I want to give them something a little different.
Do you consider yourself an activist when you go up there and perform?
In that respect, I'm a reluctant activist, because my view is my view and other people feel differently and I'm certainly reluctant to have people think that "she's telling us the truth."
I'm not the Bono of Indian Country. I'll leave that to somebody else. It's a lot of responsibility, and even in my views I'm not going to agree with somebody necessarily who lives in Michigan, who feels just as strongly and fervently as I do. I don't want to make them mad, that's not why I'm here doing what I'm doing. I have accepted in my own life that I'm an entertainer. That's what I'm here to do.
Because you're in the public eye, do you consider yourself a role model?
That comes with the territory.
Something you welcome?
This is something I got from my upbringing. And the people who raised me—my aunts uncles, cousins, my mom and my dad. You teach how you live and as long as you're living right there shouldn't be a problem. So, in that respect, if somebody looks at me and says, I want to be like that, then that's good. It's not in my nature to try to trick or pull a bait and switch on somebody.
I am who I am and I hope to live that way and honor the people who came before me. That's the whole point of it for me. Because I know my grandma is watching me, wherever she is. She is watching me and if I get out of step, I got somebody really mean to answer to. (laughs)
You're smart, attractive, multi-talented—traits important for all women, particularly young Native women, to see and aspire to. Yet, in some respects, the clock seems to be turning backward in our current environment where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are held up as icons.
Absolutely, I agree. I live not two blocks from the place where Britney was photographed at the nightclub. I walk by there every day. Dang, what is wrong with her? It breaks my heart to see these gals out there doing what they're doing. I think, man there's some lady out there who sacrificed everything so you could be out there doing that?!? With the stripper pole and all the hoo-ha, what is that?!
You received tremendous reviews from your one-woman show last year, The Red Road. Is that the biggest thing you've done so far?
Heck, yeah!
Are you planning to take it on the road?
Yes, we haven't got all of our dates booked yet for 2007, but it's definitely going to be on the road. I'd love it if it could play for a whole month somewhere. The Red Road shows a different side of Native America. I'm hoping to decloak and demystify Native people and show how they are just like other people. We have the same kind of issues but with that extra thing we carry around with us that we try to make right—like dealing with the stereotypes, these misconceptions about who we are. There's a lot of that in the play, and there's a lot of the kind of stuff we do to ourselves. Who's Indian and who's not? Those issues are in The Red Road.
What was your inspiration for the show? How did you come up with all these characters?
The show has 11 different characters. It came out of the song I wrote about a Native American truck driver and I thought that was something that's never been seen, even though there's a bunch of Native truck drivers. Randy Reinholz and Jean Bruce Scott from Native Voices at the Autry knew me from all of the shows. My manager, Janet Miner, who said to Randy, Jean and me—why don't we have a show that has Arigon singing, acting, and what if it was a one person show?
The whole concept would be similar to what Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg would've done. But with one difference—these others have done vignettes. I wanted to tell a story and have these characters talk to each other.
It seems it would be an incredible challenge as a performer to go in and out of 11 different roles. Is it utterly exhausting?
The process of it was actually liberating. It did test me, but people ask me that. I come offstage and I'm so energized I could go out there and do it again. And they say, 'what??" There's just something about it. The energy about it, the telling of the stories and the characters and the music and the interacting with the audience. Because in this show, like all the things I do, I interact with the audience. I talk to them a little bit; they're part of the show. It's really important that people feel that they're part of it, rather than passive.
Tell us little bit about your upcoming radio series, Super Indian.
I'll be playing one or two characters. This is the fun of doing radio and also, playing several characters. The show, a radio play, is about a boy who finds out he has super powers after he has eaten tainted commodity cheese. From there he takes on the role of Super Indian, and he has a side kick named Mega Bear and a talking dog named Diogi.
Talking dog?
Yeah, the talking dog sounds like Frazier…(laughs) He's very educated… It's not set in stone, but the idea is to have five minute segments that will air at the top of the hour at various radio stations around the country. It will be syndicated, so the radio stations will play them when they play them. Either through Native Voice One or American Indian satellite.
Do you have plans beyond the original 10 episodes? Who's in the cast?
Heck yeah, If they fly, we'll make more of them. One guy we really like is a young actor named Kalani Queypo. He was in Into the West and The New World. He's a funny guy and a very good actor.
I think it'd be a great movie…
It would be an awesome movie! I'd love to see it as an animated series on Nickelodeon.
Have you ever thought of working behind the camera as a director?
You know, I probably will eventually. Somebody said to me… "You know who you remind me of? Orson Welles!! So I asked what he meant by that… "Are we talking Mercury Theatre or 'no wine before its time.'" (laughs)
What plans to you have professionally in the coming year and beyond?
I still think there's a lot of life in The Red Road and I'd like to see it on HBO. Or play on Broadway. It's been a while since an Indian's been on Broadway. So inspiring to me….
Last question…Why call yourself the "Diva?" You certainly don't act like one…
When I use it, I'm referring to the original meaning of diva, which is to say a description of somebody who is very good at what they do.
(Remember her name…Arigon. Not pronounced like the dragon, or anyone from Lord of the Rings. )
You can purchase Arigon Starr's music through iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon and her website: www.arigonstarr.com
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