Return to Honorees
Mimi
Farina
By Nancy Nakai
One of
Mimi Farina's first memories is that of moving to Europe.
In fact, many of
Mimi's childhood
memories have
to do with moving, as her
father's work (a physicist/professor who sometimes worked for UNESCO) often
carried them well beyond the
borders of the Bay
area - to Baghdad,
Paris, the Los Angeles area, and various cities on the east coast of the
U.S.
While a native of the
Bay Area,
(Mimi was
born at Stanford Hospital in
1945) Mimi spent many of her early years in American schools or
English-speaking schools abroad. The frequent changes of
home and
friends were
"very difficult", as Mimi was a shy girl.
It was hard to
find a place where
she could fit.
Her first school was a
convent school in Iran, where Mimi states the nuns were very cold
and strict and whose
"insensitive approach turned me
off to learning through books".
She was happiest when she attended music and/or dance class
after school was finished
for the
day. In
fact, music and dance became
of central importance to her early in her life. One of her favorite memories is
of her aunt in London who danced, and encouraged Mimi to dance by putting her in
a stage production at
the age of 2
or 3. "I have been performing all my life," Mimi exclaims.
All
the children
in her
family (there
were three sisters, Pauline,
Joan and Mimi) were given piano lessons. Mimi
also took violin, although
she turned
to the
study of
guitar at the beginning of the
folk music movement in the mid-1950's.
Mimi feels that there was competition between herself and her sisters,
and that there was never a lot of support flowing from one to the other.
"Rivalry was
always a
factor in my life," she states.
That frustration is complicated by the fact that
she has been known as "Joan
Baez's sister" on many occasions.
The music and dance continued through high school, and
Mimi performed
in a Parisian dance troop
her last two years in high school. After
high school, Mimi was not interested in college
"book learning", but wished to continue with her performing in
music and dance.
During this
time, in
fact when
she was seventeen, Mimi met
Richard Farina, a poet, musician and song writer living in Paris. Within a year
they were married (1963) in California
and they began performing together successfully
thereafter. Mimi
played on guitar
and Richard
on dulcimer,
often singing Richard's
original songs which remain folk classics to
this day: "pack Up Your
Sorrows", "Children of Darkness", and "Birmingham Sunday", to name a
few. Together they recorded three
albums for Vanguard Records,
"Celebration for a Grey
Day", "Reflections in a Crystal Wind", and "Memories".
They made a legendary
appearance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
They lived happily in
Carmel during these few
years. Richard wrote a
novel. Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me,
and upon its successful printing
was away
to book-signing
events. While returning from a
book-signing one evening,
he was in a motorcycle
accident and was killed. It was Mimi's twenty-first birthday.
The next years were hard ones for Mimi, as
the death
of her husband bore
down hard
on both
Mimi's loving heart and her
security as a performer. She moved
to San Francisco, where Bill Graham
connected her with
a Marin rock band which
performed at the "Hungry I". Later,
she joined "The Committee"
(a political, satirical revue
company) which
Mimi declares both helped
her through the grieving process and taught her how
to be on stage.
After one
year, she
left The
Committee. She was invited
to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, but felt her voice
was not yet solo quality.
Instead she teamed up with singer Tom Jans in 1971, and cut an
album "Take
Heart" for
A&M Records.
This singing partnership
ended in
1972 when she struck out on
her own. Touring as a solo, she
opened concerts for well-known folk artists such as Gordon Lightfoot, Arlo
Guthrie, Hoyt Axton, Kenny Rankin, and Phil Ochs.
She also headlined at numerous clubs.
It was during this
time that the music
industry was suffering from a
vinyl shortage
(due to the oil crisis of
1973/4) that paralyzed record production. Unable
to obtain the support of A&M Records with
its preoccupation
on marketing fewer and
bigger selling artists, Mimi left A&M and Los Angeles.
It was back in the Bay Area
that Mimi sought
to resolve the conflict
between business and art -
and to search
for a
means of
making a contribution.
After completing
a singing
tour, and having open time
on her schedule, Mimi performed at a halfway house and "a lightbulb went
off". "I suddenly
couldn't see where I would fit anywhere else," she claims.
Mimi called other local
institutions. For, when
performing in these facilities, Mimi felt that she was helping to alleviate some
of the sense
of isolation
experienced by the people
confined, whether they
were in a convalescent home or a correctional facility.
And, she realized
that other performing artists -
who had
been "put
out" by
the music industry's
transition away from folk music -
had the
desire to continue sharing
their talents. Thus, in 1974, the organization "Bread and Roses" was
founded by Mimi. For the
first five
years, Mimi worked for Bread
and Roses without
pay. Instead she supported
Bread and Roses with her performing
talents and her previously
untapped organizational abilities.
Bread and Roses has
been the
constant recipient
of numerous awards, including the
1986 "Agency of the Year" Award from the Volunteer Center of Marin and a
1987 Recognition Award from
the Marin Council of Agencies. Mimi has
also received a number of awards, including
a 1982
"Women Making
History" Award from
Congresswoman Barbara Boxer and a Certificate of Recognition from the State
of California in 1984.
in addition, the pioneering
efforts of Bread and Roses' unique partnership of performing arts and social service has
inspired other
groups throughout the
country to provide similar services.
Mimi's
favorite role
models are
her older
sister, Joan -
"probably the most influential role model
in my
life" and a friend of her mother's, Rosemary Goodenough. She also continues to value the consul of her
mother, "my
strongest supporter".
Recently Mimi has been reconnecting with friends she made fifteen or more years
ago - people she has seen again
during the course of her recent successful singing tour of Europe.
She continues to write fine songs,
several of which
have been recorded by Joan
Baez and Judy Collins.
Written
1990
Mimi Farina died 2001