Mimi Fariña
Mimi Baez Fariña (born Margarita Mimi Baez, April 30, 1945 – July 18, 2001) was a singer, songwriter, and activist. She was the daughter of physicist Albert Baez and sister of folk singer Joan Baez.
Fariña married novelist, musician and composer Richard Fariña in 1963 at the age of 17, and the two collaborated on a number of influential folk albums, most notably Celebrations for a Grey Day (1965) and Reflections in a Crystal Wind (1966). After Richard Fariña's death (on Mimi's 21st birthday) in a 1966 motorcycle accident, Mimi married Milan Melvin and continued to perform, sometimes recording and touring with either her sister Joan, or folksinger Tom Jans.
In 1974, Fariña founded Bread and Roses, a non-profit organization, designed to bring free music and entertainment to hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons, initially in the San Francisco Bay area, and later nationally. It still remains in operation, producing 500 shows per year. The organization's name came from a 1911 poem by James Oppenheim, Bread and Roses, which is commonly associated with a 1912 garment workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Though she continued to sing in her later years, releasing an album in 1985 and performing sporadically, Fariña devoted most of her time to running Bread and Roses. In the late eighties, she teamed up with Pete Sears to play a variety of benefit and protest concerts. Many concerts were concerned with human rights issues in Central America, especially the US backed civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador. They once set up to play on the abandoned railroad tracks outside Concord Naval Base in California. Surrounded by military police, Farina and Sears played a show for people protesting US weapons being shipped to government troops in El Salvador.
She died of a rare form of cancer of the endocrine system in July 2001 at age 56.
The life of Mimi Fariña is somewhat chronicled in David Hajdu's book, "Positively Fourth Street". She also has a cameo appearance in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the city, set in San Francisco in the 70's.
She is referenced by Catherine O'Hara's character of Carol Ward in on episode #52 (the first episode of Season 5) of the US television series Six Feet Under, stating she had been involved with the production of the (ficticious) "Pack Up Your Sorrows: The Mimi Fariña Story."
See also
- Richard Fariña
- Joan Baez
- Albert Baez (father and notable physicist)
External links
- Allusions to Richard or Mimi Fariña
- Still Shots Performance on Rainbow Quest
- Tribute from Bread & Roses site
- Obituary in Marin Independent Journal
- Bread & Roses, non-profit organization founded by Mimi to bring live entertainment to shut-ins