Ani
Wow we went and saw Ani DiFranco on Saturday. It was a pretty entertaining experience...
I'm not a rabid fan, I mean I have one of her CDs and I've never heard a song by her that i didnt like. Crystal is a huge fan so i got some tix even tho i'm pretty low on funds these days. The show was at the Lyric Opera House which was cool because its a pretty small venue and has awesome acoustics, but kinda funny at the same time to see the contrast between all the grungy kids who came to the show and the staff that was all dressed up in tuxedos.
The lobby was like like a 3-ring circus of activism, I had about 5 people come up to me and ask me if i was registered to vote, and they had tables set up for various environmental and feminist causes. It was pretty cool, and of course there were people in tuxedos selling cappacinos, wine and cocktails. Crystal got a jack&coke and signed a postcard some guy gave her to receive email updates on important feminist issues, while i just stuck to the basic cup of coffee and snickers bar...
Once we got to our seats I started to have doubts about whether i wanted to be there or not. The opening act, Dan Bern kinda sucked. I mean like all 5 songs that he sang were some rockin Springsteen style songs that went on about how much George Bush sucks. And maybe I just dislike the whole crowd mentality, but they ate it up getting way into it. Super unbridled enthusiasm seemed to be their thing for the whole show and I find that annoying but especially so at the beginning when responding to political propaganda. I just sat there thinking "wow, for a bunch of non-conformists, there sure does sem to be a lot of uniformity of opinion here." I was starting to convince myself that i should have kept my $100 and just wandered into a Kerry Campaign rally and I would have gotten the same type of experience.
Of course all those thoughts were brushed aside after Ani took the stage though. She was just awesome, I've never seen anyone rock the acoustic guitar like that before. She was bouncing all over the stage singing with that raw emotional intelligence that you just dont see anywhere else. Unfortunately, I think all the stuff she sang was off of her new album cuz I didnt recognize any of the songs but they were still pretty stellar and she gave some good spoken word pieces extolling the virtues of democracy, kindness, voicing your opinions, and treating all people equally.
She just kicks ass!
I kind of have a habit after some event like this, of sorta "reviewing my mental notes" that i took during the concert and it struck me that two of the main themes of her message, were the virtues of democracy and fighting against injustices that are inflicted upon those who are "different".
It seems to me that in any system where the majority rules, those that are in the minority are going to get stepped on. Sure they may still have their voice, but if the majority doesnt want to listen them what good does it do? So I guess if I got to ask Ms. Difranco one question it would be "why are you so in love with this notion of 'democracy' when democracies by their nature punish those who are different?"
In other related news, despite getting more than the required amount of registered Maryland voters to sign petitions, Ralph Nader's name was blocked today from appearing on Maryland's ballots for presidential elections in November. How's that for democracy?
I'm not a rabid fan, I mean I have one of her CDs and I've never heard a song by her that i didnt like. Crystal is a huge fan so i got some tix even tho i'm pretty low on funds these days. The show was at the Lyric Opera House which was cool because its a pretty small venue and has awesome acoustics, but kinda funny at the same time to see the contrast between all the grungy kids who came to the show and the staff that was all dressed up in tuxedos.
The lobby was like like a 3-ring circus of activism, I had about 5 people come up to me and ask me if i was registered to vote, and they had tables set up for various environmental and feminist causes. It was pretty cool, and of course there were people in tuxedos selling cappacinos, wine and cocktails. Crystal got a jack&coke and signed a postcard some guy gave her to receive email updates on important feminist issues, while i just stuck to the basic cup of coffee and snickers bar...
Once we got to our seats I started to have doubts about whether i wanted to be there or not. The opening act, Dan Bern kinda sucked. I mean like all 5 songs that he sang were some rockin Springsteen style songs that went on about how much George Bush sucks. And maybe I just dislike the whole crowd mentality, but they ate it up getting way into it. Super unbridled enthusiasm seemed to be their thing for the whole show and I find that annoying but especially so at the beginning when responding to political propaganda. I just sat there thinking "wow, for a bunch of non-conformists, there sure does sem to be a lot of uniformity of opinion here." I was starting to convince myself that i should have kept my $100 and just wandered into a Kerry Campaign rally and I would have gotten the same type of experience.
Of course all those thoughts were brushed aside after Ani took the stage though. She was just awesome, I've never seen anyone rock the acoustic guitar like that before. She was bouncing all over the stage singing with that raw emotional intelligence that you just dont see anywhere else. Unfortunately, I think all the stuff she sang was off of her new album cuz I didnt recognize any of the songs but they were still pretty stellar and she gave some good spoken word pieces extolling the virtues of democracy, kindness, voicing your opinions, and treating all people equally.
She just kicks ass!
I kind of have a habit after some event like this, of sorta "reviewing my mental notes" that i took during the concert and it struck me that two of the main themes of her message, were the virtues of democracy and fighting against injustices that are inflicted upon those who are "different".
It seems to me that in any system where the majority rules, those that are in the minority are going to get stepped on. Sure they may still have their voice, but if the majority doesnt want to listen them what good does it do? So I guess if I got to ask Ms. Difranco one question it would be "why are you so in love with this notion of 'democracy' when democracies by their nature punish those who are different?"
In other related news, despite getting more than the required amount of registered Maryland voters to sign petitions, Ralph Nader's name was blocked today from appearing on Maryland's ballots for presidential elections in November. How's that for democracy?