Madigan Shive, also known as Bonfire Madigan Shive, is an American songwriter, performing artist, community organizer, and musician. Shive is a

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, singer and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ist, formerly of the band

Tattle Tale Tattle Tale was an American musical group that existed between 1992 and 1995. Composed of Jen Wood and Madigan Shive, they were active in the grrrl pop scene, playing what was later to be termed folk punk. The Seattle-based group's song "Gla ...

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 Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...

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. The family lived in a

teepee A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan, and in use in Dakhótiyapi, Lakȟó ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

for about two years when she was a child, and moved often. She learned to play cello from age nine. In 1992, at age 17 she formed the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

based duo

with

Jen Wood Jennifer "Jen" Wood (born c. 1976) is an American indie rock musician based in Seattle, Washington. A solo artist since 1996, she was previously a member of alternative rock band Tattle Tale. Biography In 1992, at the age of fifteen, Wood form ...

. Tattle Tale were a part of the

movement. They released an album, ''Tattle Tale'', on the

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

label and an album on St. Francis Records. The band broke up in 1995. In 1995, Shive formed her own artist run

music label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produc ...

, 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 Jamie Merill Babbit (born November 16, 1970) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films ''But I'm a Cheerleader'', ''The Quiet'' and ''Itty Bitty Titty Committee''. She has also directed episodes of television prog ...

. Babbit also used Tattle Tale's "Glass Vase Cello Case" as the love theme in her film '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' (1999). In 1996 Shive also released the ''Fortunes From The F-Holes'' album. In 1997, she formed the ensemble project Bonfire Madigan with original members

contrabass Contrabass (from it, contrabbasso) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchest ...

ist

Sheri Ozeki Sheri is a female given name, from the French for ''beloved'', and may refer to: * Sheri Anderson, American TV writer * Sheri Everts, American academic * Sheri Forde, Canadian reporter * Sheri Graner Ray, video game specialist * Sheri L. Dew ...

, guitarist Shelley Doty, and percussionist Tomas (Tomas Palermo). The music has been described as "mixes classical stringed elements with modern beats and percussion into a punk-influenced, emotional concoction." Bonfire Madigan continues as a collaborative effort with other rotating musicians. In 2001, Shive made news while raising money to fight tenant

eviction Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgage ...

and trying to raise awareness of tenant's and poor peoples' rights. 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. In 2003 she became a founding collective member of The Icarus Project alongside

Sascha Scatter Sascha Altman DuBrul, Sascha DuBrul or Sascha Scatter, (born 1974) is an American activist, writer, farmer and punk rock musician known as the bass player of the 1990s ska-punk band Choking Victim. He is also the co-founder of The Icarus Projec ...

, 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". Hall credits Shive as the conceptual origin of Icarus Project's embrace of the harm reduction framework for psychiatric drug withdrawal. In 2008, Shive was a contributing author to the anthology ''Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction'' on

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpora ...

. Shive has made symphonic pieces and performances for live theatre and film since 2006. Chad Jones, reviewing her performance in ''

'Tis Pity She's a Whore ''Tis Pity She's a Whore'' (original spelling: ''Tis Pitty Shee's a Who'' 'ore'') is a tragedy written by John Ford. It was first performed or between 1629 and 1633, by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre. The play was first publis ...

'' at the

American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The Ameri ...

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."" CT's 'Whore,' Aurora's 'Busy World' take theater to church,

Examiner.com Examiner.com was an American news website based in Denver, Colorado, that operated using a network of " pro-am contributors"' for content. It had various local editions with contributors posting city-based items tailored to 238 markets throughou ...

. Accessed 25 June 2014. She is based in the Mexico / US border region of California.

Discography

With Tattle Tale

* ''Tell/Yell'' (

, 1993) – demo album on cassette * ''Tattle Tale'' (Kill Rock Stars, 1994) – EP / album on cassette * ''Early daze'' (Pillarbox Red, 1994) – 7-inch EP * ''Sew True'' (St. Francis, 1995) – album on CD * ''Alderwood Mall / Loose lips'' (Chou Chou, 1995) – 7-inch single

As Madigan

* ''Plays With Herself'' (MoonPuss / Live Transmission, 1995) – 7-inch single * ''Rock Stop'' (MoonPuss, 1996) – EP on 12-inch and CD * ''Fortunes From The F-Holes'' (MoonPuss, 1996) – cassette album

As Bonfire Madigan

Albums

* ''...From the Burnpile'' (Kill Rock Stars, 1998) * ''Saddle the Bridge'' (Kill Rock Stars, 2000) * ''Plays for Change'' (MoonPuss, 2003) – live recording * ''I Bleed: a Decade of Song'' (MoonPuss, 2008) – a compilation of mostly previously released work as Tattle Tale, Madigan and Bonfire Madigan

EPs

* ''88'' (MoonPuss, 2002) * ''Lady Saves'' (MoonPuss, 2009) – 12-inch. Includes remixes by

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

and Dub I.D. (Tomas Palermo). Edition of 1000 copies.

Contributions to other releases

* ''Pixies Fuckin' Die!'' (LifeLike, 1999) – compilation album of

Pixies A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas arou ...

covers to which Shive contributed "Monkey Gone to Heaven" * '' Gone Ain't Gone'' (

ANTI- Anti- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label to Epitaph Records. While Epitaph's focus has mostly been on punk rock, Anti-'s roster includes gospel (Mavis Staples), country (Merle Haggard), hip hop (Sage Francis, The Cou ...

, 2006) album by

Tim Fite Timothy Sullivan, also known as Tim Fite is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, living and working in Brooklyn. His past releases have run the gamut from indie to alternative to country to hip hop. Life and car ...

– Shive played cello on "The More You Do"

Theater works

* 2006: Prepared solo cello suites for ''Vigil of Light'' at

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral located in the heart of San Francisco. It is a famed sightseeing destination for its striking architecture, stunning stained glass, labyrinths, Interfaith AIDS Chapel, and arts and cultural programs. G ...

, CA. * 2008: Live score written and performed for ''

'', directed by

Carey Perloff Carey Elizabeth Perloff (born February 9, 1959) is an American theater director, playwright, author, and educator. She was the artistic director of American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco from 1992 to June 2018. Biography Per ...

, at the

, San Francisco, CA. Tis Pity She's a Whore'' is a

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

written by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

. * 2008: Live material for Twisted Christmas program at Barbican Hall,

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

, London. Also featured

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following P ...

Patrick Wolf Patrick Wolf (born Patrick Denis Apps; 30 June 1983) is an English singer-songwriter from South London. Wolf uses a wide variety of instruments in his music, most commonly the ukulele, piano, and viola. He is known for combining electronic samp ...

Sandy Dillon Sandra Ann Dillon (May 19, 1960 – August 4, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter. She released several solo albums, describing her music as "jazz-punk western blues", and also worked with Ensemble Modern and Man Parrish.Harris, CraigSan ...

, Daniel Knox,

Mary Margaret O’Hara Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album '' Miss America'', released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a co ...

Smoke Fairies Smoke Fairies (Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies) are a British band hailing from Chichester. History Blamire and Davies met at school in Sussex during the late 1990s. They spent 2002 in New Orleans, where they absorbed American blues music. ...

Foy Vance Foy Vance (born 1974) is a musician and singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland signed to Ed Sheeran's Gingerbread Man label. Vance has toured as a support act to British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and his music has been featured on numerous ...

Kathryn Williams Kathryn Williams (born 15 February 1974, Liverpool, England) is an English singer-songwriter who to date has released 14 studio albums, written and arranged for a multitude of artists, and was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize. Willi ...

and

Neill MacColl Neill is an Irish surname, and may refer to * A. S. Neill (1883-1973), British educator and author * Alec Neill (b.1950), New Zealand politician * Ben Neill (b.1957), American composer * Bob Neill (b.1952), British politician * Bud Neill (1911-1970 ...

, and

Frank Sidebottom Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

. * 2008: Performing composer for ''Powerful Voices, Women of Ancient Greek Drama'' at The Onassis Cultural Center, New York. * 2010: Original recorded score for ''

The Lion in Winter ''The Lion in Winter'' is a 1966 play by James Goldman, depicting the personal and political conflicts of Henry II of England, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their children and their guests during Christmas 1183. It premiered on Broadway at the ...

'' at

Shakespeare Santa Cruz Shakespeare Santa Cruz was an annual professional theatre festival in Santa Cruz, California, which ran from 1981 to 2013. After losing the financial support of the University of California, Santa Cruz, the company was relaunched through crowdfun ...

, Santa Cruz, CA. * 2010: Composer and musical director for a new English translation of '' Sophocles' Elektra'' at

Getty Villa The Getty Villa is at the easterly end of the Malibu coast in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. One of two campuses of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedi ...

, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, featuring

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

.Theater review: 'Elektra' at the Getty Villa
,

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

. Accessed 25 June 2014.Sophocles' Elektra Staged at the Getty Villa
,

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

. Accessed 25 June 2014.The Venerable Brought to Vivid Life
,

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

. Accessed 25 June 2014.

Filmography

Films about Shive

*''Whisper Rapture: A Bonfire Madigan Suite'' (2018) – by Ken Paul Rosenthal, 36-minutes

Soundtrack contributions

* 1998: "Pity Rock" by Madigan featured in '' Sleeping Beauties'' short film by

. * 1999: "Glass Vase Cello Case" by Tattle Tale featured in '' But I'm a Cheerleader'' feature film by Jamie Babbit. * 2001: "Snowfell Summer" by Bonfire Madigan featured in '' Chain Camera'' feature length documentary film by

Kirby Dick Kirby Bryan Dick (born August 23, 1952) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best known for directing documentary films. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary Feature for directing ''Twist of Fait ...

. * 2002: "Scraps" by Bonfire Madigan featured in ''

Better Luck Tomorrow ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' is a 2002 American crime film, crime-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Justin Lin. The film is about Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime and ma ...

'' feature film by

Justin Lin Justin Lin (, born October 11, 1971) is a Taiwanese Americans, Taiwanese-American film director. His films have grossed US$2.3 billion worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' (2002), the ...

. * 2006: "Cage" by Bonfire Madigan featured in ''Laibach 3: Divided States of America / Laibach Live (2006)''.

Other film contributions

* 2002: "7 Mile Lane" performed live by Bonfire Madigan, and an interview with Shive, featured in '' D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist'' documentary film by Michael W. Dean. Also includes contributions from

Ian MacKaye Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye (; born April 16, 1962) is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of hardcore punk ...

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo arti ...

John John Jesse John John Jesse (born 1969) is an illustrative painter from New York City's Lower East Side in the Juxtapoz gonzo-pop vein. He often shows with artists like Esao Andrews. Jesse has cited Gustav Klimt, Caravaggio, Béla Iványi-Grünwald, an ...

, Jim Rose,

J. G. Thirlwell James George Thirlwell (born 29 January 1960), also known as Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus (band), Foetus, among other names, is an Australian musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for Juxtaposition, juxtaposing a variety o ...

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. Watt co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ...

Richard Kern Richard Kern (born 1954) is an American underground filmmaker, writer and photographer. He first came to prominence as part of the cultural explosion in the East Village of New York City in the 1980s, with erotic and experimental films like ...

Ron Asheton Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician , who was best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the Stooges along with Iggy Pop and his brother, ...

, and

Dave Brockie David Murray Brockie (August 30, 1963 – March 23, 2014) was a Canadian-American musician, who was the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, in which he performed as Oderus Urungus. He performed as a bassist and lead singer in the b ...

. * 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. * 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. * 2009: Score, starring role and co-director (with Hilary Goldberg) of ''Transliminal Criminal'' short film. * 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.Crooked Beauty
, Ken Paul Rosenthal. Accessed 26 June 2014.

Books with contributions by Shive

*''Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-destruction.'' New York, NY:

Seven Stories Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books is a museum and visitor centre dedicated to children's literature and based in the Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle upon Tyne, close to the city's regenerated Quayside. The renovated Victorian m ...

, 2008. . Edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev. Shive contributes a chapter, "Cello Speak: Exploring New Languages for Madness".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shive, Madigan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American punk rock cellists American punk rock singers American women singer-songwriters Women punk rock singers Musicians from Seattle American feminists Feminist musicians Kill Rock Stars artists Riot grrrl musicians Singer-songwriters from Washington (state) 21st-century American women