LotuSIGN in the Press
ACL Fest review: Coldplay
Posted on Saturday, September 17, 2011, 01:12 AM By Chad Swiatecki Article Link
A few years ago in an article about sign language interpreters at music festivals, Austin resident and touring interpreter Barbie Parker talked about the relative difficulty of preparing to interpret for different kinds of artists. A legacy artist like Bob Dylan was a nightmare because of the deep canon and unpredictable setlist, while rappers presented a two-pronged problem because of speed of delivery and the multitude of plays on words and other lyrical devices that don’t translate gracefully to sign language… read more
Death From Above 1979 ‘Do It’ in Sign Language at Lollapalooza
Posted on Aug 7, 2011 2:54PM by Liisa Ladouceur Article Link
One of the most unique aspects of aLollapalooza main-stage performance is the sight of American Sign Language interpreters at the front of the stage, signing the lyrics live with much rock ‘n’ roll attitude. Canadian duoDeath From Above 1979 put one ASL worker to the best use on Saturday afternoon, incorporating her into their finale… read more
SXSW – Final Interactive Day
Posted on Mar 17, 2011 03:42 pm by BeckA11y Article Link
Next was Accessibility the Musical! Moderated by Sharron Rush, the executive director of Knowbility. She had a great panel of accessibility experts and users of assistive technologies. There was live sign language interpreting and many demos and videos! Barbie Parker discussed the field of interpreting live performances and how much work is involved. I never realized how important it is to do research on the person or performance being interpreted… read more
Music, rhythm fascinates deaf student
Posted on Nov 17 2010 at 1:00 AM by Lindsey Cherner – Article Link
Jannifer Wilkins spoke without words, her hands forming a language that Barbie Parker, her interpreter, decoded. Wilkins was born deaf, and has been singing since she was a child; since before she could remember. When asked about music, her hands moved with even greater dexterity exemplifying her passion for the subject. Part of this passion inevitably came from her father, a professional jazz drummer who played gigs around the Houston area for years. Wilkins credits much of her passion for her studio arts major to him, as well as her overall love of music… read more
[Greek Magazine] Austin City Limits Music Festival: The Strokes, Sonic Youth, The Sword, The Black Keys, Blues Traveler, Ponderosa @ Zilker Park (Austin, Texas), 08/10/10
Posted on October 20, 2010 11:17 by Menelaos Prokou – Article Link
Κάτι εκπληκτικό που έχουμε παρατηρήσει μέχρι τώρα είναι ότι στις μεγάλες σκηνές υπάρχουν μεταφραστές για κωφάλαλους, που μεταφράζουν με τις κινήσεις των χεριών τους και τη γλώσσα του σώματός του όχι μόνο τους στίχους, αλλά και τον τόνο της φωνής του τραγουδιστή.
(Translation) Something amazing that we have seen so far is that the marquees are deaf translators, who translate the gestures and body language of not only the lyrics but the voice of the singer… read more
Austin City limits 2010 Recap
Posted on October 19, 2010 by Matt Treon - Marquee Magazine – Article Link
Anyone of the bands playing, if not careful, could find their audience members, hard of hearing or not, watching one of LotuSign’s interpreters instead of the them — that’s how good they are at what they do. LotuSign even received recognition from several performers throughout the weekend, including Julian Casablancas of The Strokes who, between songs, turned toward one of the interpreters and said, “I like your moves.” read more
The 9 Best Sign Language Performances From Music Festivals
Posted September 2010 by Amanda Dobbins – Article Link
MUSIC BUZZ This just in: ASL interpreters are awesome and full of swagger. Especially this My Humps lady—the professional league of Concert ASL interpreters (there is such a thing!) needs to draft her pronto. (Thanks to Lindsey Weber for sharing this magic.) This woman’s name is Barbie Parker, and she runs a company of performance interpreters. The awesome Beck lady from below works with her… read more
Lollapalooza in sign language
Posted on August 20, 2010 by David Meerman Scott – Article Link
I was absolutely fascinated with the live sign language interpreters who were rocking to some of the more popular bands. They were stage right on a platform so that the people in a special section on the left side of the audience way up front could see both the interpreters and the band. And the section was right in front of a set of massive sub-woofers so those in the special section could feel the music… read more
Your eyes – and ears – at Lollapalooza ’09
Posted on August 10, 2009 by Bruce Blythe – Article Link
If you got close enough to some of the main stages at Lollapalooza last weekend, you may have noticed solitary figures standing just off to the side of the bands, grooving and swaying away to the beat. They looked like they had the best spot in the house. But, like the bands, they were actually working. These people are “performance interpreters,” experts in American Sign Language who translate song lyrics for the deaf in real-time. There were about four of these interpreters working 25 or so Lolla shows over the weekend, and CKOW caught up with some of them to learn more about what looks like a really cool job… read more
View From The Couch: Green Day at Lollapalooza 2010
Posted on August 8, 2010 by Green Day Mind – Article Link
Billie Joe brought up the American Sign Language interpreter for the evening to do the water gun as they seemed to have bonded through the night and she was rocking out some musical sign language interpretation… read more
Lollapalooza in sign language: For the hearing impaired, Barbie Parker squeezes all the sex, drugs and subtle nuances of pop music into her hands.
Posted on August 9, 2009 by Brent DiCrescenzo - Article Link
Naturally, the first question most people ask is, Why are deaf people going to rock shows? “There’s a range to deafness,” Parker notes. “It’s an access to music on some level. Music has become so visual after MTV. Right by the speakers they get a great feel of vibration. Our audience is always going to be in a place with a reggae beat or heavy bass.” Bands like Fleet Foxes, with their gentle folk strumming and cooing, don’t go over so well—unless their lyrics and look are interesting. “There’s no subtlety in sign language,” Parker says. “Music is full of metaphors, and that’s our challenge.” Don’t be surprised to see one of the four women of Alive pouting, snarling, giggling or seducing. “That’s part of our code of professional conduct. We must convey the message as it’s being conveyed.” Yes, even the gin ’n’ juice–soaked sexual eruptions of Snoop Dogg. Parker’s just glad the Mars Volta and its arcane Aztec vocabulary aren’t on this year’s lineup. “I had to break out a Latin dictionary just to get an idea of what they were talking about,” Parker says with a laugh. “I wanted to crawl under something.” Catch Parker interpreting at Lolla for Ben Folds, Andrew Bird, Kings of Leon, Coheed & Cambria, Kaiser Chiefs, Vampire Weekend, Snoop Dogg and Jane’s Addiction… read more
Litigious Lollagoer
Posted on August 12, 2008 by Jake Malooley – Article Link
After two unsatisfying Lollapalooza experiences in 2006 and 2007, Jacob Hickey is pursuing a lawsuit against the festival’s organizers, C3 Presents. In January, Hickey, a 25-year-old deaf Lincoln Square resident, filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, claiming the company didn’t follow the Americans with Disabilities Act. Although he says this year’s Lolla was better in terms of deaf accessibility, there’s more work to be done… read more
Meet Austin, Texas-based Barbie Parker and her über-hip network of American Sign Language live performance interpreters
Posted on June 15, 2009 by Admin2 - Article Link
An Austin-based network of American Sign Language interpreters that has worked with Austin City Limits, among other festivals, since 2002. “We really want to be the conduit delivering the message that’s onstage to the deaf consumers so they have access to the whole vibe, the whole groove,” says API’s Lucy Brotherton, sister of longtime Robert Earl Keen guitarist and producer Rich Brotherton. “They can see the artist and their costumes; they can feel the bass and the beat. What we add is the story or the concept that’s coming across vocally. It fills out the whole picture.” read more
Lollapalooza Day Two: Don’t Worry, Be Happy
Posted on August 4, 2008 10:23AM by Karen stabiner and Sarah Dietz – Article Link
For a long time — okay, for decades — my unrequited wish was to be a back-up singer, a nicely proportionate dream for somebody who could carry a tune and got lonely, sometimes, writing. Forget it. As of Day Two at Lollapalooza, I have a new career goal. I want to be one of the women (all of the ones we saw were women) who sign for the hearing-impaired at music festivals. They don’t merely sign lyrics; they sign tempo, they sign riffs, they seem to have specific gestures for specific instruments. And it’s not just the hands. It’s a whole-body thing, it’s dancing with social purpose, and short of singing, what could be better than that? Someone should offer a good-will ambassadorship, immediately, to the woman who was signing for country rocker Dierks Bentley. Just send her around the world spreading joy. The woman’s infectious, even if you can’t understand a syllable she’s signing… read more
Outside Chances – Songs for the Deaf
Posted on May 2008 by David Browne – Article Link
ACL meets ASL
Posted on September 14, 2007 by John T. Davis SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN – Article Link
Signers using ASL, Parker said, do not translate music lyrics word for word (an improbable task — imagine trying to literally sign the blizzard of language in a rap song). Rather, she said, interpreters deal in “meta-messages” — second and third meanings of what is actually being said. She and her cadre, “interpret conceptually.” ”I interpreted for Lupe Fiasco at Lollapalooza this year, and he has a ton of lyrics in one song,” she said. “It would be impossible to put a clear message out in sign language that quickly. So you really have to go for the meta-message — what’s the meaning he’s giving out?” read more