Ani DiFranco, Maceo Parker Together Onstage
She introduces new songs, including one
reflecting on the Colorado high-school shootings.
Contributing Editor Richard B. Simon reports:
BERKELEY, Calif. 霠Folk singer Ani DiFranco played a
handful of unreleased songs and mixed it up onstage at the
Greek Theater with funk veteran Maceo Parker on Friday night
during a stop on what the two performers are calling the
F-Word tour.
Playing together during one another's sets, they seemed to
convince the audience at the outdoor amphitheater that the tour
is actually about two F words: folk and funk.
DiFranco joined saxophonist Parker's band for Sly and the
Family Stone's good-time anthem "Sing a Simple Song," and
Parker la
ter returned the favor, joining headliner DiFranco for
her encore, "Overlap."
"To see two styles of music like that come
together 霠they're both about that," Kendra
Southman, 23, of Oakland, said. "They love
music, they love performing, they love their
audience ... I've seen Ani DiFranco play a few
times, but I'm a big Maceo Parker fan. I
probably wouldn't have come to the show if he
wasn't here. It's too much of a trip to miss,
you know?"
The politically minded DiFranco, 28,
introduced songs reflecting on the April
high-school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and
the October 1998 shooting of an abortion
provider, Dr. Bernard Slepian, in Amherst,
N.Y., which is a suburb of DiFranco's
hometown, Buffalo. She also played several
songs from Up Up Up Up Up Up (1999) and a
few early favorites.
Along with the requisite T-shirt stand were tables from Planned
Parenthood and Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund. A portion of
the show's proceeds were slated for the Seva Foundation,
which funds eye-care hospitals in South Asia and nutrition
programs to combat diabetes on American Indian reservations.
Parker, a longtime fixture of James Brown's JBs, and who also
served a stint with another seminal funk group,
Parliament/Funkadelic, set the tone with a 45-minute set
including tunes from his latest album, Funk Overload (1998),
and JBs classics.
As the sun set over the classical-style amphitheater,
56-year-old Parker, in a sharp, black suit that betrayed his
old-school showman aesthetic, led his band in a slow and
heavy "Pass the Peas."
At the core of the performance was the interplay between
Parker 霠who also has recorded with Jane's Addiction,
Deee-Lite and De La Soul 霠and trombonist Greg Boyer. It
evoked the definitive funk-horn style Parker developed with
trombonist Fred Wesley in the JBs.
After quoting Parliament's "Up for the Downstroke," Parker
announced, "For those of you who do not know, everything from
now on is gonna be funky!"
His son, Corey, stepped up to rap on "Uptown Up," from Funk
Overload. As the band began another slow groove, Parker told
the audience he had done a talent search in Berkeley earlier
that day to find a female singer. As the "winner" stepped
onstage, the crowd went wild 霠it was DiFranco, wearing a
necktie to match the dapper Parker.
Parker sang "I'm walkin'," and DiFranco replied with "I'm
talkin'," hitting the low notes, to the crowd's delight. That
exchange led into Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple
Song." DiFranco even did some choreographed dance moves
with the band.
Taking the funk cue from Parker, DiFranco started her set with
an electric-flavored "Virtue" (RealAudio excerpt), from Up Up
Up Up Up Up. As pot smoke wafted through the summer night
air, DiFranco strummed her acoustic guitar in her signature
slap-pop style, and her band stayed right with her syncopation.
"Welcome to our winter wonderland," DiFranco said, referring to
the chill in the evening air. "Let me introduce you to my friends,
whose nipples are also erect," DiFranco continued, motioning
to bassist Jason Mercer, drummer Darren Hahn and
keyboardist Julie Wolf.
The folk singer improvised lyrics frequently, talking about a
topic, then incorporating it into a song.
"As you can see, there's some people here filming on behalf of
a human behavioral study," DiFranco said, referring to her own
film crew. "They're investigating the effects of massive amounts
of funk and folk music on very cold people."
After "Two Little Girls," from Little Plastic Castle (1998),
DiFranco played a new song, "Providence," in which she
rapped, "I've just got one thing to tell you/ That words are
vitamins and life is short."
In another new song, "Hello, Birmingham," about the murder of
an abortion doctor, who was shot through his kitchen window,
she sang, "A bullet ensuring the right to life/ Whizzed past his
kid and his wife/ And knocked his glasses right off of his face/
And the blood poured down the pulpit."
DiFranco reached back to Puddle Dive (1993) for "Willing to
Fight" (RealAudio excerpt) and "My IQ," about taking an IQ
test as a little girl and being told that "different is wrong."
Yet another new one, "To the Teeth," derided the U.S. gun
culture: "The sun is setting on the century/ And we are armed
to the teeth," DiFranco sang, "And every year now like
Christmas/ Some boy gets the milk-fed suburban blues/
Reaches for the available arsenal/ And saunters off to make the
news."
For "Not So Soft" (RealAudio excerpt), DiFranco stripped
down to a tank top to play a hand drum between her knees, as
her whole band played percussion instruments. "I always
wanted to be commander-in-chief of my one-woman army," she
sang, and her audience responded by clapping in time.
DiFranco brought up Boyer for "The Diner" and a ska-inflected
take on "Anticipate." Corey Parker came out to rap for racial
unity during "Jukebox."
The crowd fell silent as DiFranco brought Maceo Parker out for
her encore, "Overlap," from 1994's Out of Range. She sang to
her adoring audience "Stand here in front of the light stands/ So
I can see your silhouette/ 'Cause I am not done looking at you
yet."
It was the first DiFranco show for Kristen Myles, 17, from
Walnut Creek, who said she has been a fan for four years. "Ani
was hell of cool," Myles said. "It's so much better to hear it live
than on the CD, because you know that it's her; she can sing
... [Maceo was] cool, but Ani was best."
o Parker
Together Onstage
She introduces new songs, including one
reflecting on the Colorado high-school shootings.
Contributing Editor Richard B. Simon reports:
BERKELEY, Calif. 霠Folk singer Ani DiFranco played a
handful of unreleased songs and mixed it up onstage at the
Greek Theater with funk veteran Maceo Parker on Friday night
during a stop on what the two performers are calling the
F-Word tour.
Playing together during one another's sets, they seemed to
convince the audience at the outdoor amphitheater that the tour
is actually about two F words: folk and funk.
DiFranco joined saxophonist Parker's band for Sly and the
Family Stone's good-time anthem "Sing a Simple Song," and
Parker later returned the favor, joining headliner DiFranco for
her encore, "Overlap."
"To see two styles of music like that come
together 霠they're both about that," Kendra
Southman, 23, of Oakland, said. "They love
music, they love performing, they love their
audience ... I've seen Ani DiFranco play a few
times, but I'm a big Maceo Parker fan. I
probably wouldn't have come to the show if he
wasn't here. It's too much of a trip to miss,
you know?"
The politically minded DiFranco, 28,
introduced songs reflecting on the April
high-school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and
the October 1998 shooting of an abortion
provider, Dr. Bernard Slepian, in Amherst,
N.Y., which is a suburb of DiFranco's
hometown, Buffalo. She also played several
songs from Up Up Up Up Up Up (1999) and a
few early favorites.
Along with the requisite T-shirt stand were tables from Planned
Parenthood and Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund. A portion of
the show's proceeds were slated for the Seva Foundation,
which funds eye-care hospitals in South Asia and nutrition
programs to combat diabetes on American Indian reservations.
Parker, a longtime fixture of James Brown's JBs, and who also
served a stint with another seminal funk group,
Parliament/Funkadelic, set the tone with a 45-minute set
including tunes from his latest album, Funk Overload (1998),
and JBs classics.
As the sun set over the classical-style amphitheater,
56-year-old Parker, in a sharp, black suit that betrayed his
old-school showman aesthetic, led his band in a slow and
heavy "Pass the Peas."
At the core of the performance was the interplay between
Parker 霠who also has recorded with Jane's Addiction,
Deee-Lite and De La Soul 霠and trombonist Greg Boyer. It
evoked the definitive funk-horn style Parker developed with
trombonist Fred Wesley in the JBs.
After quoting Parliament's "Up for the Downstroke," Parker
announced, "For those of you who do not know, everything from
now on is gonna be funky!"
His son, Corey, stepped up to rap on "Uptown Up," from Funk
Overload. As the band began another slow groove, Parker told
the audience he had done a talent search in Berkeley earlier
that day to find a female singer. As the "winner" stepped
onstage, the crowd went wild 霠it was DiFranco, wearing a
necktie to match the dapper Parker.
Parker sang "I'm walkin'," and DiFranco replied with "I'm
talkin'," hitting the low notes, to the crowd's delight. That
exchange led into Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple
Song." DiFranco even did some choreographed dance moves
with the band.
Taking the funk cue from Parker, DiFranco started her set with
an electric-flavored "Virtue" (RealAudio excerpt), from Up Up
Up Up Up Up. As pot smoke wafted through the summer night
air, DiFranco strummed her acoustic guitar in her signature
slap-pop style, and her band stayed right with her syncopation.
"Welcome to our winter wonderland," DiFranco said, referring to
the chill in the evening air. "Let me introduce you to my friends,
whose nipples are also erect," DiFranco continued, motioning
to bassist Jason Mercer, drummer Darren Hahn and
keyboardist Julie Wolf.
The folk singer improvised lyrics frequently, talking about a
topic, then incorporating it into a song.
"As you can see, there's some people here filming on behalf of
a human behavioral study," DiFranco said, referring to her own
film crew. "They're investigating the effects of massive amounts
of funk and folk music on very cold people."
After "Two Little Girls," from Little Plastic Castle (1998),
DiFranco played a new song, "Providence," in which she
rapped, "I've just got one thing to tell you/ That words are
vitamins and life is short."
In another new song, "Hello, Birmingham," about the murder of
an abortion doctor, who was shot through his kitchen window,
she sang, "A bullet ensuring the right to life/ Whizzed past his
kid and his wife/ And knocked his glasses right off of his face/
And the blood poured down the pulpit."
DiFranco reached back to Puddle Dive (1993) for "Willing to
Fight" (RealAudio excerpt) and "My IQ," about taking an IQ
test as a little girl and being told that "different is wrong."
Yet another new one, "To the Teeth," derided the U.S. gun
culture: "The sun is setting on the century/ And we are armed
to the teeth," DiFranco sang, "And every year now like
Christmas/ Some boy gets the milk-fed suburban blues/
Reaches for the available arsenal/ And saunters off to make the
news."
For "Not So Soft" (RealAudio excerpt), DiFranco stripped
down to a tank top to play a hand drum between her knees, as
her whole band played percussion instruments. "I always
wanted to be commander-in-chief of my one-woman army," she
sang, and her audience responded by clapping in time.
DiFranco brought up Boyer for "The Diner" and a ska-inflected
take on "Anticipate." Corey Parker came out to rap for racial
unity during "Jukebox."
The crowd fell silent as DiFranco brought Maceo Parker out for
her encore, "Overlap," from 1994's Out of Range. She sang to
her adoring audience "Stand here in front of the light stands/ So
I can see your silhouette/ 'Cause I am not done looking at you
yet."
It was the first DiFranco show for Kristen Myles, 17, from
Walnut Creek, who said she has been a fan for four years. "Ani
was hell of cool," Myles said. "It's so much better to hear it live
than on the CD, because you know that it's her; she can sing
... [Maceo was] cool, but Ani was best."
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