Ani DiFranco

My first exposure to Ani DiFranco was at 1997 concert in Champaign, IL with Dan Bern as the opening act. Didn't know beans about either before the show.

The concert was wonderful! Ani pierces the space she inhabits with some sort of happy warrior thing, the way she sings and plays. Behind that space distortion, drags a black hole about who she is, what she stands for (rubber shorts?, hah), and what she should do?

This frank, if rambling memoir, collapses that black hole. I think frankness is at the essence of DiFranco's work.

I enjoyed the story of her journey of becoming an artist. As a former entrepreneur, I could relate to her struggles of starting a new business, and then, in being proud of making a go of it. And, in being overwhelmed by it, as time goes on.

I'm not really sure what to make about her statement that writing is masculine, and music is feminine. I don't think that either is gendered, by nature. Perhaps by custom?… (més)

It took me a bit to get into this, and I did appreciate that the audio book was read by Ani herself. There was a ton in here -- some of it troubling, some of it very her, some of it fascinating. I was hoping to know more about her more recent life. I found parts of it inspiring and parts of it problematic. Rambling and ranting. Also strongly opinionated, and attempting amends. She comes across as a real person, warts and all, and I was interested enough to stick with it.

Also, I genuinely have no idea how to rate this one.… (més)

Ani DiFranco has been on the music scene for some time, and she has always been original and independent. My preference is for her more rock influenced music, rather than the more jazz flavored stuff. Those older albums with all that heavy bass were great, as they hit your body much like the sonic waves of classic reggae. I saw her perform many years ago in Sacramento, around the time some of her lesbian fans were angry at her for having a boyfriend. She was true to her feelings and took no shit from anyone.

Oh, this is supposed to be about a book. I learned a great deal about her as a person and a musician, one who put her first album out at age eighteen and famously created her own independent record label, Righteous Babe Records. Early on, she became an emancipated minor and started her career working countless small clubs and performing on the festival scene.

Rejecting the mainstream accepted way of doing most anything, became her style as an activist, entrepreneur, and performer. In short, DiFranco is a force, true to herself, and constantly questioning society’s norms. She wrote a great deal about the different influences on her music. Eclectic would be an excellent descriptive term for Ani and her music. I would bet that many of her fans would never have heard of her close friend the musician Utah Phillips, if she hadn’t valued his friendship so much and shared the stage with him.

Books by popular musicians are on a broad spectrum, from intelligent and insightful, to wild stories of touring and some mindless mouth-breathers. Be assured that DiFranco knows her way around using words and making her point. I was very impressed by the person behind the music, the one who was revealed by this book. True to form, she’s got the smarts, and she is strongly opinionated, talented, very human, and caring. Need to read a bold book about a truly original woman, just open this book’s cover.… (més)