Page 12 - the NOISE February 2016

painting the blue:
ani difranCo sails into az
interview BY
MiKe WilliaMS
Ani DiFranco needs no intro beyond she’s playing the Orpheum on February 23. Onto this awesomeness!
You’ve titled your current tour, “Paint Congress Blue.” What’s in the name?
I’m encouraging people to take all the elections this year seriously, not just the presidency, which is all you hear about in the media it seems like. I’ve been especially encouraging young people to vote for decades. I feel like if we all participated, we’d have a different country and government. we’d have a new Obama — as the fact is, even the most well-meaning and brilliant president can do very little with their hands tied by a Congress that is stacked with extremists and obstructionists. I’m trying to propel that dialogue.
we need to not go slack this election year and take all the elections very seriously because, without a Democrat majority in Congress, some very important changes will not be made. we have crisis situations happening in terms of climate change, our criminal justice system and mass incarcerations. There are so many things that need addressing right now and we need to, as voters, lay the groundwork for that change to happen. For someone like me, I’d rather paint the Congress green, or purple and yellow, but for right now, we get a choice between red and blue. If it feels like a compromise in certain ways, I certainly understand that. It’s not very often I get to vote for someone as progressive as myself personally, but you have to participate in order to get that change. Democracy can still exist, but it’s up to us.
As the 2016 election is coming up and you’ve been active in politics since you hit the limelight, could you tell your thoughts on this crop of candidates?
well, I think Bernie is a breath of fresh air. He’s where it’s at, but I’d take Hillary any day. The symbolic importance of the first female president can’t be understated. I feel so blessed that my daughter, who is nine years old, and everyone who is young like her — the first president they’ll know is a half-black man. That is transcendent and extremely important for the consciousness of young people in undercutting the big lie of racism in this country. A chick president would be a huge subliminal sea change in the minds of the next generation who will never know that was an extremely radical thing. They’ll just know we had a woman president ...
But of course, as far as Bernie’s politics, he’s more on point by far than anybody in that arena. The republicans, well, what can be said? There’s an extremism being taken for republicanism now that is just shocking. It’s just utterly shocking how far right the dialogue has been pushed over the last decades. And it’s very intentional. ever since the 80s, we’ve been pushing the dialogue of what we’d consider the centerline to the right.
I just hope, again, that if we engage ourselves, we can push that centerline at least back to the center. I mean, Donald Trump is a fascist and the amazing thing is he doesn’t know it and so many people in America don’t seem to recognize the face of fascism. It’s like we all need a history lesson. On the left, we need to take this sh*t very seriously because, on the right, they’re having a party and have been for a while. And I don’t think just disillusionment is going to get us out of here. The irony is we’re going to have to believe in the process of democracy long enough to make it believable.
On a personal level, you were one of the first performers that introduced our little group of misfits to the concept of feminism in the mid-90s. We were generally on the punk/metal side of tone, but your messages were undeniably complimentary to the exploding riot-grrl scene. Sonic differences aside, did you feel a kinship to bands like Bikini Kill, L-7, Babes In Toyland, and the like?
That just warmed my heart so much! Ha! That’s thrilling to hear that feminism came through and found you through my work. And, yes, though I wasn’t directly connected with the riot-grrl scene, we were part of a sea change in the culture where the inclusion of women in music was becoming more natural. I’ve seen a lot change in my 45 years. I started playing guitar at nine and, back in 1979, when I first went into a guitar store, there was just no such thing as a little girl in a guitar store buying a guitar and trying to talk music with the boys. I was a jack-a-lope!
now, you walk in and there are tons. You don’t think twice about males and females in a
12 • february 2016 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
group, nor about blacks and whites performing together. we’re slowly broadening America’s awareness of who we are, our stories, and what our songs are which tell those stories. It’s becoming more automatic that we understand the differences between us, and that we should include and celebrate them. Feminism has always been in the forefront of my quest, but when I was coming up as a young woman, it was about self-empowerment, protection, and trying to elbow a space for my authentic self in this world. now, the message is more of the flavor that feminism is for all of us.
The way out of global patriarchy, which is the circumstance that every human being lives in, is balance. It’s an imbalance that underlies all human culture and you can’t get to peace through imbalance. Patriarchy is one of the fundamental circumstances that is hurting all of us. For instance, war hurts men probably as much as women. The destruction of the environment hurts us all equally. The hierarchies of racism, classism — all of these things are hurting all of us together, and they’re all based, fundamentally, in patriarchy.
so, I’m still thumping about it. It’s a road out of here for both women and men and I’m seeing more embracing the word. when I was young, even young women didn’t call themselves feminists. These were young women who wanted to be themselves, who wanted to be equal, and wanted to be self-determining, but they wouldn’t use it. now, they do. I think for me, the goal is for all men and women who believe people are equal — they should use that word and put it back into the language, back into everyday use, and, therefore, start to bring alive the concept on a deeper level.
Your record label, Righteous Babe, just celebrated its 25th anniversary. How has the industry changed over the years?
It sure has changed, but as far as better or worse, I just don’t know. It’s somewhat expedient in life not to judge. Change just is. I’m somebody who was always outside of the industry, so these changes, some of which some might say I helped bring on, don’t really affect me as much as somebody who has lived by the industry. I’m still out there pounding the pavement like I ever was and my relationship with my audience is based on more than just media. It’s word of mouth and it’s a relationship that’s been ongoing for 25 years. It’s pretty deep and it weathers the slings and arrows of things like the music industry being up-heaved, because that’s just not where we’re living. I feel like I’m the lucky one now.
Finally, like many folk artists, you got your start busking. Everyone in that medium inevitably picks up a good story from playing on the streets; could you share yours?
Of course! One of the days that has stuck with me was when I’d just moved to new York from Buffalo. I’m 18 years old and need money, so I take my guitar out on the street, and think, well, go where people have money. so, I went down to the financial district in lower Manhattan, put my case out, and, as you can imagine, all these businessmen were like, “Get a job,” and things like that. I was out there all day and made enough for a sandwich.
so, I’m walking home with my sandwich-amount of money, starving, and see this grate halfway down over this closing deli. There’s nothing else around, so I peeked my head under the grate and there’s a bunch of Middle eastern guys in the back of this falafel shop sitting around a table playing cards. They’re done for the day, but I asked if I could get a falafel anyways, they see my guitar, and say, ‘come on in. ‘ They made me a sandwich and asked if I’d play them a song. so, I pulled my guitar back out, played a song or two, and they passed the hat around the card table. And these immigrants, these people with not a lot of money, gave more in ten minutes than the businessmen gave me all day. At 18, I learned a fundamental law about human nature: People that have the least give the most.
Well, this was totally amazing on every level. We can’t wait to see you play!
| Mike williams is a misfit feminist. music@thenoise.us IInTervViIeEwW