Madigan Shive, also known as Bonfire Madigan Shive, is an American songwriter, performing artist, community organizer, and musician.
Shive is a cellist, singer and guitarist, formerly of the band Tattle Tale and now fronting her own ensemble, Bonfire Madigan. She composes symphonic pieces and performs for live theatre and film. She was a part of the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s and her songs have been included in independent feature and documentary films.
Biography
Shive's parents were "intentional future community" people; her mother called her Running Pony until she was about six years old, and regularly changed her name. Shive eventually chose one of them, Madigan, as her permanent name when she was a teenager.[1] The family lived in a teepee in Washington for about two years when she was a child, and moved often. She learned to play cello from age nine.[2]
In 1992, at age 17 she formed the Seattle based duo Tattle Tale with Jen Wood.[3] Tattle Tale were a part of the riot grrrl movement.[4][5] They released an album, Tattle Tale, on the Kill Rock Stars label[6] and an album on St. Francis Records.[7] The band broke up in 1995.
In 1995, Shive formed her own artist run music label, MoonPuss Music and began solo releases as Bonfire Madigan. She released the Rock Stop EP in 1996. The song "Pity Rock" from the EP featured in the film Sleeping Beauties by Jamie Babbit. Babbit also used Tattle Tale's "Glass Vase Cello Case" as the love theme in her film But I'm a Cheerleader (1999).[4][8] In 1996 Shive also released the Fortunes From The F-Holes album.
In 1997, she formed the ensemble project Bonfire Madigan with original members contrabassistSheri Ozeki, guitarist Shelley Doty, and percussionist Tomas (Tomas Palermo).[9] The music has been described as "mixes classical stringed elements with modern beats and percussion into a punk-influenced, emotional concoction."[10] Bonfire Madigan continues as a collaborative effort with other rotating musicians.
In 2001, Shive made news while raising money to fight tenant eviction and trying to raise awareness of tenant's and poor peoples' rights.[11]
Shive says she has been actively hearing voices and having experiences of what mainstream psychiatry would call delusions but that she frames differently, including mood extremes, all her life.[5] In 2003 she became a founding collective member of The Icarus Project[5] alongside Sascha Scatter, Jacks Ashley McNamara and Will Hall. The Icarus Project was a mental health organization and network with the view that many phenomena commonly labeled as mental illness should instead be regarded as "dangerous gifts". She has said "We see our madness as a dangerous gift to be cultivated and taken care of, not a disease to be cured".[12] Hall credits Shive as the conceptual origin of Icarus Project's embrace of the harm reduction framework for psychiatric drug withdrawal.[13]
In 2008, Shive was a contributing author to the anthology Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction on Seven Stories Press.
Shive has made symphonic pieces and performances for live theatre[4] and film since 2006. Chad Jones, reviewing her performance in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore at the American Conservatory Theater for SF Theatre Examiner, wrote "What makes the play worth seeing is the live music provided by punk cellist/vocalist Bonfire Madigan Shive, a fascinating performer who connects to the play more viscerally than the actors."[14]
She is based in the Mexico / US border region of California.[citation needed]
2003: "Mad Skywriting" performed live by Bonfire Madigan in Angel Food by Harper Carter. 26-minute documentary short film following Shive on her solo tour of France.[27][28]
2006: "Mad Skywriting" performed live by Bonfire Madigan in Don't Need You: the Herstory of Riot Grrrl documentary film about the origins of the Riot Grrrl movement.[29]
2009: Score, starring role and co-director (with Hilary Goldberg) of Transliminal Criminal short film.[30]
2010: Shive contributed cello compositions for Crooked Beauty documentary short film by Ken Paul Rosenthal about artist-activist Jacks McNamara's journey from childhood abuse to psych ward inpatient to mental health advocacy.[31][32]
Books with contributions by Shive
Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-destruction. New York, NY: Seven Stories, 2008. ISBN978-1-58322-827-2. Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev. Shive contributes a chapter, "Cello Speak: Exploring New Languages for Madness".
