THE RIGHTEOUS REPORT
your marvellous guide to the fantabulous world of ani difranco brought to you by those moondancin' mystics
at Righteous Babe Records
March 28, 1997
APRIL 22! APRIL 22! COME ALIVE ON APRIL 22!
Yup, as all America knows by now, that's Peter Frampton's 47th birthday. AND the day Ani's new 2-disc
live album hits the streets. We've been taking advance orders at 1-800-ON-HER-OWN and the phones
are ringin' off the hook, cuz everybody wants to get their hands on Living in Clip: 31 tracks, a beautiful
full-color photo album, the new single "In or Out," the previously unreleased songs "Gravel" and "Hide and
Seek," the return of Doc Severinsen, the perversely erotic shrinkwrap (if you go for that sort of thing).
There's a preview story in the online e-zine Addicted to Noise (Feb. 26 Music News of the World,
www.addict.com), if you wanna know more.
LISTEN UP! A LITTLE RADIO UPDATE
Somewhere on your radio dial you're bound to catch the ubiquitous Janeane Garofolo chattin' it up with Ani
on the syndicated "7Up Listen Up" interview program. During the half hour, Ani treats the audience at home
to several live-in-studio songs, including a new one, "Independence Day." Speaking of radio, howdy to
Jennifer Kallen at KGHP (Pacific Northwest) (only the second person ever to actually request being
included in the Righteous Report--wow, someone reads it!) and Jeff Raspe at WHTG (New Jersey); thanks
for spreading
the word.
SEVERAL CATCHES OF THE DAY FROM THE MURKY OCEAN OF PUBLICITY
How nice to see Ms. D in Spin's April 1997 feature on the 40 "Most Vital Artists in Music Today."
(Juxtaposed as she is across the page from an alarmingly crotchless Marilyn Manson, our Ani finally comes
across as the Girl Next Door we've always known her to be.) Meanwhile, on the Canadian front, there she
is on the cover of the February issue of the music mag Chart (watch their website at www.chartnet.com for
a future online version) and the March issue of Saskatchewan's Briarpatch. If you missed CMJ's March
1997 cover story by Lois Maffeo, check out the lovely scan of it at www.rit.edu/~aps0104/ani. Finally, Ani
was Genre's March "Queer Artist of the Month," a title which entitled her to discounts at supermarkets,
hotels, and fast food restaurants across the globe. Or not.
Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DIVA
The Dilate version of "Amazing Grace" has made its way onto Divine Divas, the new 3-disc compilation of
women vocalists from around the world on Rounder (catalogue #5071/2/3), part of a highly praised series.
EVERYDAY SHE WRITES THE BOOK
Two whole pages of the brand-new Trouser Press Guide to 90s Rock are devoted to Ani, written by editor
Ira Robbins himself. It's an opinionated, extraordinarily detailed tour of the first eight albums, a real bonanza
for quotemongers like Your Humble Reporter: Like I Said is "subtle but marvellous," Out of Range is
"DiFranco's masterpiece," and Ani herself "ambles easily on the creative waters that have drowned so many
in crocodile tears." But beware: it's one of those books you pick up and don't put down for, oh, two or three
days.
CLOSELY WATCHED SITCOMS
Pay careful attention to the sets of the comedy Boston Commons and pretty soon you should be able to spot
a bit of Righteous Babe paraphernalia in the background. When the show's set designers called for
permission to use a poster, we naturally thought a huge blow-up of the staff photo from the new album
would be most appropriate. Darn the luck, they had something else in mind.
LETTER FROM EUROPE
Our pals at Cooking Vinyl tell us European MTV's Alternative Nation has been playing first the "Shy" video
and then the one for "Joyful Girl." CV has also released a single of "Untouchable Face," imagine that, b/w the
More Joy versions of "Shameless" and "Both Hands." And their import version of Not a Pretty Girl comes
with a bonus EP containing 7 early tracks. Oh, and NME listed Dilate among their Top 30 Indie LPs not
long ago...
BEST OF '96, PART II
Acclaim for Ani's work last year continues to pour in. Dilate was named one of the top albums of '96 in
Billboard's Critics' Poll, Newsday, The Berskshire [MA] Eagle, The East Bay Express, The San Diego
Union-Tribune, Capital Times [Madison, WI], Argus [Fremont, CA], The Sonoma County [CA]
Independent, The Houston Voice, The Binghamton [NY] Press & Sun-Bulletin, The Cape Cod Times, The
[Elmira, NY] Star-Gazette, The Arizona Daily Star, The Santa Barbara News-Press, The Walla-Walla
[WA, natch] Union-Bulletin, The [Lansdale, PA] Reporter, The UC Santa Barbara Nexus, The Mobile
[AL] Register, The [Ogden, UT] Standard-Examiner, and our very own Buffalo News. Hits magazine's
panel of semi-celebrity critics-for-a-day finds musicians Duncan Sheik and Catie Curtis (plus cutiepie Ellen
star Jeremy Piven) singing Dilate's praises, too. The Berkshire Eagle, Hartford Courant, and Raleigh [NC]
Spectator also singled out Ani's live shows in their respective burgs, while Madison's Capital Times and,
yep, The Berkshire Eagle waxed ecstatic
over Utah Phillips' RBR release, The Past Didn't Go Anywhere.
THE WORLD IS HER OSTERIZER, THE ROAD IS HER HOMEBOY
People have been lovin' the 97 tour, in which Ani is joined by longtime drummer Andy Stochansky, new
bass player Jason Mercer (formerly of Toronto's Bourbon Tabernacle Choir), and the already-legendary
ChoirBoy. New songs galore, including "Little Plastic Castle" and the aforementioned "Independence Day."
European dates are scheduled for this summer.
In the meantime, keep an eye out for Ani in the following cities:
4/3: Lakewood, OH *
4/4: Louisville, KY *
4/5: Columbus, OH *
4/6: East Lansing, MI *
4/9: Cedar Rapids, MI *
4/10: Champaign, IL *
4/12: Milwaukee *
4/13: Indianapolis *
4/15: Easton, PA *
4/16: Clinton, NY *
4/18: New Haven, CT *
4/19: Poughkeepsie, NY *
4/20: Durham, NH *
4/23: Asheville, NC *
4/24: Knoxville, TN *
4/25: Birmingham, AL *
4/26: Tampa, FL *
4/27: West Palm Beach, FL *
5/3: Buffalo, NY
Righteous Babe Records PO Box 95 Ellicott Stn., Buffalo, NY 14205
ph. 1-800-on-her-own. e-mail: [email protected]