"I'm beyond your peripheral vision so you might have to turn your head..."

I got to see Ani Difranco perform last night and it was amazing.  I knew it would be.

I'm so glad I decided to just go, even though I have so much work shit to do right now it makes my head spin. At first, I had the same reaction to her that I had 10+ years ago:  That it is so moving to have such a big, opinionated, BRAVE sound eminating from such a petite person.    She is full of energy, honesty, charisma and I needed to see that.   Of course, I love her recorded stuff (esp. the albums from the late 90's) but as with most artists, seeing her live is a horse of a different color.

And as I sat in the dark auditorium watching her, however, I realized that in the time since I last saw her perform we've both gone through major changes as women- married, become mothers, seen a new dawn for democracy in this country.  It was evident that these events influenced her in her more recent songs, and evident that they influenced me in how I reacted to her music and lyrics.  It was a moment of kinship with someone I have never met, but whose music has kept me company for 15+ years. 

Love.