Ani Hugs and Celebrations! Plus, AE Osworth
A Monday morning hello.
Last week was a big week: I did two fantastic interviews, attended my son’s first-ever track meet, got a couple of hugs from Ani DiFranco, and celebrated one year of this here publication. Not a bad way to spend a few days.
The interviews will be published in the coming weeks. My son did wonderfully, especially given how unseasonably hot it was. And Ani…OMG.
For anyone who doesn’t know me IRL, I’ve been a huge Ani DiFranco fan for more than 30 years. I drove hours to see her in concert when I was in college. Her image was plastered all over my cubicle in my first post-college job. I made Ani-themed mix tapes (hi, I’m old) and CDs for friends and pre-ordered her albums, so I’d have them the day they were released.
Needless to say, when I snagged an interview with her for Shondaland five years ago, I was floored. We had a 40-minute phone call, during which asked her every question under the sun because I assumed I’d never talk to her again. I was wrong. In 2021 I interviewed her via Zoom for FLOOD Magazine. Later that year I chatted with her (again over Zoom) for AARP. In 2022 I sat with her in the dressing room of a local concert hall and interviewed her in person for Writer’s Digest Magazine. In 2024 we Zoomed for Next Avenue.
And yet, I always assume she’ll never remember me. I’ve interviewed other celebrities more than once and they often don’t remember one interview from the next, so there’s no reason to think she’d be any different.
Anyway, on Friday I trekked about an hour to MASS MoCA to attend her concert soundcheck. It’s a Patreon benefit—subscribers to her Patreon can attend one soundcheck a year when she’s on tour. Because I couldn’t go to her show that night I treated it like a free mini-concert and gladly made the hour-long drive (listening to my Creative Reverberations First Anniversary playlist both ways) to watch her play a few songs.
She spent about 45 minutes testing out various guitars and playing three tunes with her band—“Worthy,” “Firedoor,” and “Revolutionary Love.” I was told that sometimes she says hi to the Patreon folks after the soundcheck, but it’s not guaranteed, which was fine. I actually thought it might be awkward if she came down and said hi and couldn’t remember me and I’d have to re-introduce myself…
But she did come down. And she did remember me. When she saw me, she yelled “HI!” and gave me a huge hug. (For someone so tiny she gives great hugs.) She sat down and chatted with me about the venue, her tour, life in general. She asked how I was doing. When we started wrapping up, I asked if we could get a photo together. She said yes and asked one of her staff members to take the photo.
She gave me another big hug and I told her I’d see her again sometime on Zoom. And then I floated home.
Seriously, though—they say to never meet your idols, but I’ve had nothing but great luck with mine. And everyone on her team is SO nice that it’s obvious they’re all really happy working together.
That was Friday. On Saturday I celebrated the one-year anniversary of Creative Reverberations. I put together a playlist of songs by musicians I’ve interviewed over the past year, and I’ve spent the past few days listening to it on repeat. Maybe it seems silly to make a big deal out of a little Substack, but as the amazing Amie McNee writes in We Need Your Art, “We don’t have many social practices that celebrate artists’ milestones. … So, alas, you must make these moments yourself.”
And that’s what I did. I’m really proud of my work here and I thank you, again, for being along for the ride. I truly hope you get as much value out of the interviews as I have. And if you’d like to give the first anniversary playlist a listen, you can find it here:
I loved last week’s interview with Julie Ann Crommett. There’s so much more she had to share that didn’t make it into that piece, so I’ll share that—plus her recs for things to watch, listen to, read, and do—on Wednesday with paid subscribers. Later this week you’ll get my interview with AE Osworth, author of the wildly wonderful novel Awakened.
That’s it for now. Have a wonderful, art-filled, celebratory week!