Carlee WrightKaren McFarlane Holman is a rockstar…and not just in the literal sense. In addition to playing guitar in two local bands: the all-girl punk group Hot Sheets and the socio-punk trio City of Pieces, she also rocks the world of science as a chemistry professor at Willamette University, the world of radio as a founder of and DJ with the community radio station KMUZ, and the world of community activism as a team member of TEDxSalem (and a board member of The Moxie Initiative). An all-around badass, she radiates style and confidence, kindness and compassion, so stop, and step into the world of Salem’s punk rock chemistry professor.
A girl & her guitar. Karen plays a 1971 Gibson Les Paul. Photo by Ben Mah.
What is your favorite thing about Salem? I love how Salem has its own quirky personality that allows it to stand distinctively from every other city in western Oregon. I enjoy watching people from other Oregon cities expressing that Salem is somehow “less than desirable,” because it shows that we still hold mystery and surprises.
What is your favorite thing to do in Salem? If I’m in a quieter mood, walking or kayaking in Minto-Brown Island Park is top of the list. If I’m feeling more rambunctious and extroverted, I love walking around downtown, seeing what new thing (business/project/art) has emerged, and running into people and talking and connecting with them.
What do you wish you knew more about? Politics. It all just makes my head spin. I wish I could download a bunch of knowledge about it so that I could maybe, just maybe, better understand the world.
What is something that your friends would consider “so you”? If I were with my friends and I walked by a store that was selling vinyl and vintage guitars, decorated tiki-style with bamboo growing around and indoor water features, had science trinkets and funky art, tropical flowers and cocktails, and with some good punk rock ‘n’ roll playing, and I didn’t go in, they would then know that I had been possessed by an alien.
Who’s your go to band/musician when you can’t decide what to listen to? La Femme. They are the perfect combo of fun and upbeat, but also insightful and ethereal, and most importantly, they make me wanna dance. If I only knew French so that I knew WTF they are singing about.
What moment do you wish you could experience for the first time again? There are a few of such precious moments that hold so much purity of life. One that I cherish was when I got to say goodbye to my dad before he died, in a beautiful conversation that was the most loving time I ever spent with him. Another was when I walked up to my son Dean after school. He was surrounded by his teenage friends and yet he didn’t even try to play it cool—he completely beamed when he saw me. With my son Julian, recently I made a huge leap into the gorgeous realm of unconditional love with my acceptance of his gender, experiencing the feeling of loving him wholly as a person and releasing my grasp onto my previous perceptions of who I thought he should be.
What’s your secret talent? I can write in hundreds of different fonts. Friends who received gifts of mix tapes from me back in the day can attest to that.
What topic could you spend hours talking about? Chemistry! And I do.
What was the best compliment you’ve received? When I was living in San Francisco and playing in punk bands there, The SF Bay Guardian had a write-up of one of our concerts. The article had a phrase that I’ll never forget: “Karen plays her guitar with a Johnny Ramone ferociousness.” Now, Johnny Ramone as a person is not the coolest cat on the planet, but being compared to his guitar style? I’ll take it!
Breakfast or dinner? Breakfast FOR dinner! 😀
The Clash or The Ramones? The Ramones. They were my first punk love!
Water polo or synchronized swimming? Synchronized swimming! So wonderfully kitschy.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 2 (Aug/Sep 2018)
The Instigator
