Ani Rocks

Ani

When I was in high school, Ani DiFranco was all the rage. I'd never heard of her before my first day, but it seemed that her songs wafted out of the windows of every girl's dorm room on campus. Her lyrics were plastered all over everyone's online profiles. My friend Meredith did an art project inspired by her song "Little Plastic Castle." Ani was everywhere. Several friends made me mix tapes either featuring Ani or else made up entirely of her songs. I, too, found her melodies infectious and her lyrics thought-provoking. The summer before my senior year, I visited my friend Virginia in San Francisco and we went to Ani's concert at the Berkeley Bowl. For a girl who had grown up in a small, conservative farm town, this was an eye-opener. Ani is a feminist icon. She identifies as bisexual and most of her song lyrics were about relationships with women. Looking around at the other concert-goers, I felt like I was in a movie; one man was wearing a flowing, flowered skirt that matched his girlfriend's. Lesbian couples looped their arms around each other's waists. It's funny to think about now, but my eyes nearly popped out of my head back then. If you'd asked me, I'd have said that I absolutely supported gay rights, but it was sort of like lobbying to save the polar bears when you'd never been to the North Pole or seen one up close. I knew it was the right thing to do by instinct but had no direct experience with homosexuality or anyone more than just a touch liberal. After the opening act, though, I found my eyes glued to Ani, and there they stayed. She was a fantastically magnetic performer, and Virginia and I sang and bobbed along until I didn't feel out of place anymore.

I was excited to get an invitation to attend another of Ani's concerts last night from my friend Lia, a former classmate who also lives in New York. Lia was also an Ani fan during high school, but she's remained much more in the know than I have. She's up to date on Ani's albums and has seen her perform lots of times. One of her friends used to be Ani's drummer, and she knew all about Ani's husband and five-year-old daughter Petah (pronounced "pita"). She told me all this as we leaned against the stage at the Bowery Ballroom and waited for the show to start. I had a dentist appointment after work and so was delayed in meeting Lia, who showed up to wait in line half an hour before the doors even opened. Her patience was rewarded, however; she scored us spots literally against the front of the stage and made some friends, including a friendly guy who spent most of the concert waving at Petah in the wings, and a rather strange guy who had flown all the way from New Mexico just to see this concert. Goodness. 

Melissa Ferrick

Melissa Ferrick opened for Ani. When most people think of feminist musicians they think of hard-faced, angry women who yell their lyrics into the microphone. While this style doesn't describe Ani in the least, it fit Melissa to a T. She crackled with nervous energy, moving continuously in jumpy little jerks. She wore fitted men's pants and a button-down collared shirt topped with a vest and suit jacket. Her hair stuck up in a long, haphazard pompadour that bobbed crazily around her head as she moved. She was funny but bitter at the same time, and even her "happy song" had a melancholy air to it; a girl standing behind us had tears streaming down her cheeks as she sang along about not being afraid to be who you are. Most of her songs were angry though, and she twisted up her face as she sang so much so that several times I thought she'd burst into tears herself. She showered the microphone with spit. Apparently she's had a rough month, and based on her lyrics a lot of it is due to a failed relationship. Poor Melissa. She's a very talented musician, though, and I really enjoyed seeing her.

Then Ani came onto the stage, and the crowd behind us exploded. Although I saw her more than ten years ago, she didn't really look much different. She was wearing a white, ribbed tank top and olive green utility pants over black boots. The only jewelry she wore was a single silver ring on her right pointer finger (if you don't count finger tattoos as jewelry. I don't.) She beamed as she strolled onto the stage with the first of about ten guitars slung over her shoulder, and kept beaming throughout the set. I don't think I've ever been to a show where the audience showered the performer with more adoration. It was several minutes before it was quiet enough for Ani to tell us how happy she was to be there, and then the room exploded with whoops and clapping again. Ani played a mixture of old and new songs, which I appreciated, as I am unfamiliar with her newer material and was pleased to hear songs I knew and loved. The lull between every song was filled with screams of "We love you Ani!" "You rock!" "You're the best!" etc. She somehow left out the third verse of one song, and pointed it out after the song ended and just as one of her fans was pledging her undying admiration. "That's great," Ani beamed. "No third verse? No problem. Keep it up with that unconditional shit." Not only did Ani sing, she couldn't seem to stop chatting with us. Ani loves to talk, and she's a very dynamic talker. She made a comment at the end of one song about the G note, then paused and looked out over our heads. "Did I ever tell you about the time I played on a Prince album?" she asked, just as though she was sitting with each one of us individually over cups of coffee. She launched into a hilarious story (has there ever been a story about Prince that is not hilarious?) that had us all in stitches. She bobbed around, grinning and showering us with her clever, insightful lyrics. She read us a poem she'd written about "the 'p' word" (which turned out to be "patriarchy"). She talked politics, interspersing her sharp observations with tongue-in-cheek commentary that kept me riveted. I think one of the most appealing things about Ani is her ability to be both outspoken and charming at the same time. Instead of coming off as strident and grating, like so many feminists and liberals can, she's just, for lack of a better word, lovable.

Needless to say, I had a great time at the concert and am inspired all over again to listen to more of Ani's quirky, funny, insightful music. I highly recommend that the uninitiated check her out; visit her page at her label Righteous Babe Records (how cool is that??) or YouTube some of her songs for a taste of her style. Some of my favorites are "Virtue," "Little Plastic Castle," "Deep Dish," "Napoleon," "32 Flavors," "Anticipate," "Roll With It," and "Angry Anymore," to name just a few.