The Things I Do For Love
The thing is, I’m not really even a fan of hers and I was trapped into going because Adrienne wanted free tickets to the sold-out show and since some strings had to be pulled through Ani’s management by Paste’s editor, I was asked to write a review in return. What’s funny is that Adrienne ended up being too sick to go and Paste never even ran it.
But I did, however, end up spending a lovely evening with several hundred women (I made up approximately 25% of the male population at the show), so who am I to complain?
So here it is:
Ani DiFranco at the Variety Playhouse
“One Hundred and Fifty songs and no hooks”, quipped Ani DiFranco halfway into her set to a sold-out Tuesday night crowd at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse. Apparently, she was content with that deprecating characterization of her catalog.
The lack of catchy melodies certainly didn’t seem to matter much to her fans as they sang along to every word and mirrored every inflection of her vagarious voice; the impromptu choir soaring so loud that it occasionally drowned out the powerful P.A. and band. DiFranco welcomed the energy from the crowd and seemed fueled by it as she beat her instrument into submission with her signature percussive, finger-picked attack on such fan favorites as “Not A Pretty Girl”, “Napoleon” and “Shameless”.
In an industry so obsessed with colossal hooks and massive choruses, it’s hard to imagine an artist like Ani DiFranco being successful in any other way but on her own terms. From peddling cassette tape demos at shows in the late Eighties to selling over four million records on her own label, Righteous Babe Records, she’s consistently done things her way. She’s toured relentlessly and put out an intimidating number of releases over the span of almost twenty years, winning over fans like a true traveling minstrel –one at a time.
For this particular show she pulled songs spanning her entire catalog, much like her September release, Canon, a double-disc career retrospective. Still wanting to please her long-time fans, she derailed from the set list to fulfill some requests and pervaded the time in between songs with her charismatic banter, tackling a wide range of topics from her ten month-old baby daughter to her appreciation of the Atlanta-based Southern Center For Human Rights.
Hooks or no hooks, on this night Ani DiFranco had the audience reeled.
Things That Are Good
-The song in the Fruit of the Loom commercial that looks like a video that has the “Fruit Guys” in it. You know, the one about the blue collection of underwear. Yeah, if you’re anything like me (and congrats if you are) you’ll be glad to know that they have the extended version up on YouTube. Oh man, it’s great. But why go all the way to YouTube when you can just watch the damn thing here:
Now that’s songwriting. Take notes, FreeCreditReport.com jingle writers, the bar has been set pretty damn high.
-Fionn Regan came by the Paste office this week to record a couple of songs for our podcast so we all squeezed in our little studio and watched him do his thing. It was great. He seemed like a nice enough fellow. If you haven’t heard his album, “The End of History”, you should probably do yourself a favor; you deserve it, after all. To keep it on the YouTube tip, here’s a cool video of his:
-Speaking of Paste related things, if you happen to see the issue with Iron & Wine on the cover in the coming weeks, flip that bitch to page 12, hit the guy or gal standing next to you, point to my name on the page and say, “Hey, I know this dude, he’s okay in small doses”. That would make my mom awfully proud. C’mon, she needs it.
-I’m coming to Nashville next weekend, so shape up Tennessee! I want to see some excitement and high energy for my homecoming. Don’t disappoint me.
I was supposed to go to my 10-year high school reunion but upon finding out that nobody that I actually want to see is going to be there, I asked myself why I was going. “Just to see how fat (fatter?) and lame (lamer?) everybody got?!”; I don’t think so. That’s really not enough to get me to spend $70 and waste a whole weekend around it. Oh well, there’s always the 15-year reunion, everyone will be even fatter and lamer then. Me included.
Good night and good luck.
Drove To Chicago All Things Know All Things Know
Ok, maybe it’s just Stacey. And she’s not really clamoring–more like politely inquiring.
Here ya go, Stace:
-The internship at Paste is going well. Actually, it’s going great. They’re keeping me very busy and I’m learning a lot. I was afraid that I might not be able to do everything that would be asked of me but I’ve learned that I can handle pretty much anything. The work environment is ideal for my particular sensibilities too. I mean, we spent the last couple of hours of work on Friday drinking beer and playing “cornhole” (a variation on the classic “horseshoe”). And when we manage to actually work at publishing a magazine that a half million people read every month, it hardly feels like work at all, and that, my friends, is the key to finding what you’re truly meant to be doing.
-The little lady and I went to see “Superbad” today. It was profanely funny. I don’t know what it is about high school comedies, but I usually enjoy them way more than I ever enjoyed my time in actual high school. Whether it’s “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Can’t Hardly Wait”, heck, even “Teen Wolf”–I love them all. Meanwhile, I cringe at most of my own high school memories. The naive awkwardness that makes these movies compelling is also what I want to eschew from my own reminiscence. Sick, isn’t it?
-Adrienne will be going to Chicago for Labor Day to visit friends and possibly scout the area for future living consideration. A lot of our friends have moved or are moving there in the near future and Adrienne is campaigning for us to follow them next year when she’s finished with school. I’m not exactly sold on the idea yet but I’m keeping an open mind. My philosophy has always been to embrace opportunities when they present themselves so I guess we’ll see. For now I’m excited to be where I am, doing what I’m doing.
All right, that’s enough for now.
Later.
Deuteranopia Is Not My Only Burden
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on the going-ons in my life so here we go:
–First and foremost, while running the risk of jinxing myself, I should tell you that I’m anxiously waiting to be interviewed for an internship at Paste Magazine. If you’re not familiar with this publication you should check out an issue or their really cool website. I don’t even need to stress how cool this would be for me; it would be the first job I’ve ever had that actually has anything to do with what I studied in college.
The internship would be either in the Marketing/Business or the Editorial department. It would pay close to nothing but the experience and contacts I would make there would be priceless. And how could they not hire me after the internship is over? I’m adorable.
They emailed me today to let me know that I should go in for an interview. I really, really, really hope I get this. You should hope for this as well.
–I’ve been running a lot lately and lifting weights. I guess it’s my last (and perhaps first) attempt at getting fit. I am seeing quite a difference in my body after just a short time so I’m actually sticking to it. I’ve already lost quite a chunk of the belly fat I’ve been nursing over the last…oh, I don’t know, ten years or so and I’m actually building up muscle. I know, shocking! This shit actually works.
I’m doing it five times a week for about an hour or so, hopefully I won’t burn out. I’m setting small goals for myself to keep me motivated and I guess my first is to run a 5k comfortably and at a good pace. I feel like I’m almost there already. I just hope my knees don’t give out since I’ve had problems with them in the past due to old basketball injuries.
–In other bodily news, I’m losing my eyesight. Not like the whole way or anything, I’m not going blind (hopefully, although I’m already colorblind). However my eyesight has gotten exponentially worse in the last few months. I have a hard time focusing on text that is more than three feet away from me and my eyes get fatigued while driving at night. I’m also seeing the words I’m typing right now in a bit of haze and I haven’t even been drinking (much)!
This is all a recent development as I’ve always had reliable eyesight and I must admit I’m very resentful that my eyes have given up on me so early. Yes, I haven’t treated them in the best manner with all the tv watching and endless hours staring at computer screens, but I figured they would carry me at least into my thirties.
Now I’m faced with the daunting task of getting my eyes checked and eventually getting glasses. Contacts aren’t an option as I would rather carve my name into my thigh with a rusty knife than have to touch my eyeball. That’s just not happening. Adrienne told me that I look like a sexy professor with glasses on so I’m not too worried after all. Then again, it is her job as my girlfriend to lie to me to protect my fragile ego, so she can’t be trusted.
–At least I can be thankful that I don’t have restless leg syndrome because that might lead me to a severe gambling debt. Have you seen this? Adrienne brought it to my attention after she heard it on a tv commercial. And after some research we found out that apparently a side effect of Mirapex, a medication that eases the symptoms of restless leg syndrome (RLS), is a rise in compulsive behavior. However, they take it a step further by singling out compulsive gambling as the main form of adverse behavior.
First of all, I’m not yet convinced that restless leg syndrome is an actual medical condition, even though Adrienne swears her mother has it. And then you throw in compulsive gambling as a side effect and I’m left to assume that restless leg syndrome is the body’s own deferral system against OCD and by taking Mirapex you’re merely transferring the fixating anxiety from your legs to your head. Is this a good trade off? I think not. You may lose some sleep with RLS but at least you’ll still have a roof over your head at the end of the day.
If you have RLS please don’t take Mirapex. Just calm the fuck down. Or just smoke some weed before bed; it’s less expensive and far safer.
All right, good night my sweet babies. Sleep the shit out of tonight for tomorrow is another day.
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