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Underground > Radio & Music >

Ani DiFranco - testosterone-free zone or what?

Brigade du jour

23:07 / 16.12.02

Am I the only guy in the world who thinks Ani rocks? That versatile voice, that acrobatic guitar work, those razor-sharp lyrics ... excuse me, I think she makes me horny as well.

Goodness Gracious Meme

23:14 / 16.12.02

absolutely fair enough, IMHO. Just shows you've got damn good taste.

Brigade du jour

23:29 / 16.12.02

I'm sure I'm just being stupid here, but why are you calling me IMHO?

By the way, have you seen her live recently? She did this poem about the moral collapse of her native country with non-syncopated musical accompaniment in the background at Shepherds Bush Empire couple of months ago and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Brilliant.

Goodness Gracious Meme

23:38 / 16.12.02

IMHO - in my humble opinion.

No. am v. jealous, have never seen her live, and would love to.

Brigade du jour

00:37 / 17.12.02

Well I only found out from a friend of mine (who's now an even better friend for having got me into AD), and it was a last minute thing. Admittedly, they don't generally trumpet advertisement of her live gigs from every rooftop, but hey my story proves that you might get lucky next time!

14:04 / 18.12.02

I was at that Shepherds Bush gig too. Absolutely brilliant. Did you *hear* the saxophonist? Wow. Wow wow wow. I want to see her again.

16:40 / 18.12.02

Can I show off and say that years ago I was sent one of her cds ('Dilate') and a whole bunch of 10 x 8 photos for review - someone at her record company thought I was a journalist. Gave the photos away but I kept the cd, which is one of my favourites. The woman should be having number 1 hits, but she's too shouty I suppose to toe the line.

I've seen her live, too. At the Forum in Kentish Town, London, a fair few years back now. The audience was mostly female, and the night had a wonderful energy. I love Ani's independence. Most inspiring.

16:41 / 18.12.02

And may I say that I might change my user name to Imho.

20:08 / 18.12.02

I love Ani's records, but can't really stand her concerts anymore. The last couple I went to were more politcal rally than concert. I guess it depends what you're into...

Brigade du jour

22:32 / 18.12.02

Guess it does.

Btw shortfatdyke, are you taking the micky out of me for not knowing what IMHO means? Pout! I'm going to cry now.

Can I just take a quick straw poll here? The original question was are there any other male Ani DiFranco fans? I'm just curious, not trying to use Barbelith as a dating service or anything!

02:43 / 20.12.02

I have never owned an Ani CD, once had a mix tape of her that I listened to a few times, but once in 1996 this total stranger asked me out to an Ani DiFranco concert some hours away. Surprisingly I agreed to go and let me just say that show rocked! I believe she was with a bassist and drummer and I just could not believe how powerful the music was. More than once during the show I felt like I was seeing Bob Dylan in 1966. It's hard to understand how I could've felt so powerfully about a concert I can barely remember the details of now, but I just remember leaving the place in awe. For me, her recordings have never captured this intensity. I would definitely see her again, though.

Brigade du jour

04:04 / 20.12.02

She's one of those 'forget the details, just go for the whole feeling' kind of artistes I think.

Why do I keep saying 'artiste'? Must be a ponce or something.

09:20 / 20.12.02

Mmmmmmmm! Ani!

I have seen her at least five or six times, and think she is absolutely fantastic. Her recent double album was a little quiet and down in mood for my taste, but hey I'm sure there are others out there who adore it, each to their own.

I met an ex-boyfriend in the queue at an Ani di Franco gig once. He was a lovely, creative fellow and had been into Ani for years. There are loads of women at Ani's gigs but the men are not just token, there are lots of blokes there in the crowd too.

A moment at one of her gigs (The Forum, London) which has been seared into my memory was when she started a song and everyone in the crowd on the floor started jumping up and down and then sang along with her, word for word, note for note. An increadiably amazing and spine tingling experience. Powerful and amazing woman.

And yeah, I have a crush on her. Damn and she's married to a boy too!

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:03 / 20.12.02

Yeah, but I hear she's one o' them no-good fence-sitters, so there's always hope

Brigade du jour

21:49 / 20.12.02

Oh, you guys are reminding me how much I fancy her, can we get back to the music please?

Oh go on then, just talk about her dreads for a while, and those tight crop-top things, just for a while now ...

Constitution Hill

23:01 / 22.12.02

...and don't forget how fabulous a dancer she is, and how she plays her guitar with her whole body...

umm, well, i've been an ani fan for 7 years now, and have only met one other guy who was into her, [apart from me], and most of my male friensd can't really get beyond the angry-womanness of her music, but a few who i've taken along with me to gigs [well, driven me to gigs] have adored them, tho being surrounded by panting dykes might have helped with that...

i gave my current girlfriend a tape of ani on our first date, as she was going away to paris for a week, and now she's a bigger fan than me... she hasn't seen her yet tho, as we missed her last gig while travelling.

If i could be arsed i'd put the lyrics of 'School Night' on that 'lyrics of your life' thread.

Brigade du jour

00:28 / 23.12.02

Funny, the first thing of AD's I ever heard was a live CD put together by my mate Hele, and it had the best version of Amazing Grace i've ever heard ... oh, Living In Clip, that's what the album's called.

Anyway, I never really picked up on the 'angrywomanness' of what she does - yeah I know she probably gets angry about certain things, and listening more closely has revealed to me exactly what these are, but the whole feel I get from her music doesn't tend to be 'blimey, she's a big angry ain't she?' so much as 'ooh, she's fucking blinding. what a guitar player.' Now and again, I think to myself, did she really say that? when she does say something really angry.

SecretlyClarkKent

21:57 / 26.12.02

I'm a guy and I've been a fan of Ani's ever since '96 or '97... I've seen her live seven times, I think now. The last show was in Chicago, IL [a five hour drive from us] a few months back. Male Ani fans aren't an entire rarity around here, especially at the shows I've been to. [Hell, I met my boyfriend at one, almost two years back.]

I can't say what honestly attracts me to her... it comes down to her music, I think. Ani's sound, as much as it's evolved through the years, consistently blows me away. Most of my friends weren't too excited over So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter [Ani's latest double-disc live CD] but I listen to it quite often. Amazing arrangements of a few of her greats, as well as some new ones. That album is the last one that her band will be heard on, as she's now gone back to being solo. [Last time we saw her, it was solo, and a few days after she broke her foot. Poor girl had to sit through the entire show, a first in her career.] Amazingly she managed to pull of one of my favorite shows. She did an encore with Self-Evident [her post 9-11 poem] and she stood for the entire thing, abandoning her crutches at one point.

Ani's one of the few artists who can keep me interested for an entire show. Generally the ache of standing for that long gets to me, but for her I'd easily put up with sets that were twice as long.

[Because I have to mention it... -everyone else has- she does get me kind of hot and bothered, at times. Which is funny, y'know, 'cuz I'm gay.]

-Jared

Brigade du jour

19:31 / 30.12.02

Result! Another XY chromo likes Ani! Actually, you're probably not the first male reply I've had, I lost track being away from a computer all last week, apologies to any other Ani gentlemen.

Of course the fan gender doesn't really matter, I just found it generally ludicrous that there were loads of threads devoted to bands/artistes I'd never heard of, but not one for this fantastic diva.

Big thank you to everyone who's joined me in my Ani-based reverie.

13:00 / 31.12.02

count me in as one of her male fans. she's fucking incredible, live and on CD.

my only regret is that i never got into her when she was still playing small venues near my college.

13:01 / 31.12.02

She's all right. The frightening single-mindedness of her hardcore fanbase can be a bit off-putting, and her reach often exceeds her grasp, and she's self-obsessed to the point of neurosis, and the guitar-playing is often pointlessly flash (just PLAY THE FUCKING DOWNBEAT FOR A CHANGE!), and that voice can wear pretty thin, and she's not particularly subtle or nuanced or even particularly focused, and she falls back on stridency far more often than is healthy and in the end her songs all tend to be about me me me me me me me me...

All that being said, she's all right, and she's got a load of killer choons. Best enjoyed in small doses, for me.

13:02 / 31.12.02

Oh, and this...

just found it generally ludicrous that there were loads of threads devoted to bands/artistes I'd never heard of, but not one for this fantastic diva

...made me laugh.

Because it's all about you, right?

Matthew Fluxington

13:26 / 31.12.02

I agree with Jack Fear on nearly ever point. There's a generous handful of songs that she's written that I quite like, but most of her work turns me off for the reasons Jack outlines. I'm especially put off by the level of selfabsortion in her work, she's narcissistic to the point of making a guy like Trent Reznor seem mature and well-adjusted by comparison. Her lyric writing never seems to get any better than that of a precocious college student, and I think a lot of her appeal is that she does write in a way that a lot of American kids do, but it's still mostly overwrought and lacking in finesse. A lot of her lyrics give me flashbacks to being the editor of my high school literary magazine, and going to these big lit mag conferances and workshops - there's just no shortage of suburban teenage girls out there who write the same way that she does. But isn't Ani in her mid-30s by now?

My favorite Ani song is the live orchestral version of "Amazing Grace" from Living In Clip, which I think is just brilliant and wonderfully arranged. "Shameless", "Every State Line", "Fire Door", and "Heartbreak Even" are all great too, but if I can go the rest of my life without ever having to hear "Untouchable Face" or "Little Plastic Castle" ever again, I'll be a happy man.

She's got a lot of potential to be a lot better than she is, I wish she'd evolve at a faster rate.

14:55 / 31.12.02

As do I. But here, too, the zealous adoration of her fans may actually work against her: when you're surrounded by people who are constantly telling you how Great and Real and Authentic you are, and who Love You Just The Way You Are... and who will be perfectly satisfied if you keep churning out the Same Old Same Old...

...well, it would be easy for Ani to take the path of least resistance and become the Ramones of folk-rock.

Here's hoping she sees fan-worship as the trap it is.

Regrettable Juvenilia

17:02 / 31.12.02

I wish I could remember the title of the one Ani DiFranco song I really know. It's the one which has the great line "all I need is my leather, one t-shirt and two socks", and it's killer...

But I really wonder what makes her more of a 'testosterone-free zone' than any other female artist. Is there some testosterone present in a Cat Power, Girls Aloud, Shakira or Ms Dynamite record that Ani has somehow managed to removed from her own, perhaps with nanobots, or pagan magic?

No, seriously, I sound like I'm just being snippy here, but I do have a point...

18:06 / 31.12.02

I think the reference was more to the composition of her audiences, which are overwhelmingly female.

Regrettable Juvenilia

17:13 / 01.01.03

Like the Spice Girls, then?

Brigade du jour

19:23 / 01.01.03

Or The Full Monty.

Wow, I really didn't expect this much of a response - has there never been an Ani thread before? Or at least not for a while? I have to admit, I really can't be bothered to scan back through every single Music thread title until I find it, so I just went ahead and started one.

What I'm saying is that I think we've gone beyond the whole testosterone angle, and it's now a general discussion on one particular rock'n'roll person, and that's okay you know? I mean, sticking to the topic is all well and good, but I'm afraid my brain just doesn't work like that so I hereby encourage all and sundry to go off the gender-type thingie as much as they like.

Hope that's okay with you lovely moderator people, if I've breached some etiquette I'm sure you'll let me know. Peace!

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:17 / 01.01.03

Wearing a moderator hat, I think it'd be better for the forum to have separate discussions; it looks like we've got some rigour over here, at least... what part of gender in rock do you want to explore? It's worth its own thread, methinks.

My Ani-tolerance level is quite low, much for the reasons Jack suggests, and also because I lived with a hardcore fan for a couple of years, and that really cruelled it for me, to a certain extent. But Dilate is still pretty neat.

Matthew Fluxington

22:45 / 01.01.03

As a moderator of this forum, I second Rothkoid's suggestion that if people want to talk about the gender tangent, another thread should be started. This thread should be about Ani and her music.