Received Honorable Mention for Magazine Writing at the 57th Annual Philadelphia Writers' Conference June 2005

 

 

A Concert Experience

 

It was exciting to hear Amy Ray’s voice resonating out into the Philadelphia neighborhood as we approached the venue.  “Amy is already here!”  my friend, Kim, and I exclaimed in unison.  We had seen Amy perform with Emily Saliers, as the Indigo Girls, many times.  But, this was the first time we were going to see Amy perform songs from her solo albums and we were excited!

 

The North Star Bar was jammed with drinkers and smokers.  The doors to the music side of the bar were closed, but through the glass, we could see Amy warming up.  Kim and I were starving so we ordered chicken tenders and beer from a pretty waitress with colorful tattooed arms.  She smoked a cigarette while she served food and drinks, which we found unusual, but she did a great job and we made sure to tip her well.

 

We mingled with a group of friends that we’ve met at various Indigo Girls shows.  I wondered if Amy Ray realized how far people were willing to travel to see her perform.  In my small group alone, there were folks from Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey and even one from England.

 

When the doors opened at 9:00pm, we quickly made our way towards the stage.  Kim and I positioned ourselves next to a staircase that led to the green room and waited for the show to begin.  After an hour went by, we were getting a little impatient and we started to wonder what was going on.  Since we were within earshot of the band members, we became privy to the information that Amy had gone to the hotel for a nap.  Being the same age as Amy, I completely respected the need for a power nap.  I thought about getting my daughter to an early soccer game the next morning, and counting on one hand the number of hours of sleep I’d be getting, I cringed.

 

As we waited, I thought about Amy’s new songs.  I had only heard the CD, Prom, for the first time that day, but already, some of the lyrics were sticking with me.  On "Pennies on the Track", Amy sings "So I’m heading back to school all brilliant and new.  Trying hard to fit in and not to walk like a man."  While I know all about trying hard to fit in, walking like a man has never been a concern in my girly-girl existence.  I started to wonder if my shortcomings were due to my femininity.  I wished I was more independent.  I wished I was more of a leader.  I wished I was more like Amy.

 

Moments later, the opener, Ani Cordero, took the stage and snapped me back into reality.  Ani gracefully climbed the steps onto the stage carrying her purse and wearing a black floral dress. The presence of band leader, Ani Cordero, reminded me that femininity is not mutually exclusive of independence or leadership.

 

Ani set her purse down behind an amplifier, cracked open a bottle of beer and slung a guitar over her shoulder.  She was joined on stage by trumpet player Eric Biondle and Eric Eble on bass guitar.  Chris Verene, Ani’s husband and drummer, rocked out in what seemed to be his own personal zone.  At one point, Chris told the audience that he is a professional photographer and old friend of Amy Ray.  He said he took all the photos of Amy for her Prom CD and that it really is Amy in all those pictures.  Chris said Amy had to jump up and down about 30 times for him to get the cheerleader shot. 

 

Audiences love it when musicians talk in between songs and tell stories.  Ani is an audience’s dream.  She talks to the audience like she’s talking to one person.  Most of Cordero’s songs are in Spanish, so she usually explains the meaning of songs before singing.  Before she leaves the stage, she also always asks, "Does anyone have any questions?"

 

Ani told us that last summer she was at a point where she had no money.   "Not even $2.00 to ride the subway," she said.  So Ani took a job as a secretary.  She said, "You know, when you work as a secretary, they treat you like you are really stupid.  They don’t know that I leave work on a Friday and head to Philadelphia to do a rock and roll show, because I don’t tell them."  Ani said, "I’m very sensitive and I take things personally.  I wrote this song to help myself deal with just that."  Then, Ani sang a song about how she will not let those people get her down.  The song was in English, as were several of Cordero’s new songs.                                                                  

 

Cordero received a rousing applause as they finished their set.  I raised my beer bottle in a silent toast to the day that Ani Cordero’s many talents will pay off and she will no longer have to make photocopies or answer telephones.

 

When Amy came out on stage to set up her equipment, I watched as she plugged in her amps.  I noticed that she was careful to pull down the back of her orange Star Trek t-shirt each time she knelt down in her low waist jeans.  I laughed to myself, thinking of all the times I had tugged on the back of my own shirt when kneeling down to help the children at my kids’ school.  I would hate to flash my kids’ classmates!  I wondered if Amy missed high waist jeans as much as me.

 

When Amy was finished setting up, she walked over to the top of the green room stairs.  Her band members were there and Amy said, "Hey, are you guys ready?"  With that, drummer Will Lochamy, bassist Jody Bleyle, guitarist Les Nuby and Amy took the stage.

 

Amy said, "We don’t have a name for the band yet."  Someone in the audience shouted, "Amy and the Rays!"  Amy repeated the name and laughed.  The band started with "Rural Faggot", a song, Amy told us, she wrote about her neighbor who isn’t her neighbor anymore, because he moved to the city.  "It’s hard to be a gay boy in the country," Amy laughed.  They continued with "Put It Out For Good" and more songs from Prom and from Amy’s first solo CD Stag.  At times, Amy played her guitar and sang with what seemed like anger, while other times, she seemed to just be happy to be jamming.  After playing several songs, Amy said, "This is a middle-age work-out!"

 

Amy’s bassist, Jody, was on fire from the beginning to the end.  She jammed to every song while dancing and jumping around the entire time.  On one song, she almost started playing before Amy.  She looked at Amy and said, "I can’t help it.  I love this song so much, I just want to start playing the riff!"  Amy laughed.

 

At one point, while Amy was tuning her guitar, she apologized for how long it was taking.  She said, "You can all talk among yourselves."  But, the audience remained quiet, so Amy said to her band members, "You all have microphones.  You can talk."  Jody told us a story about how Les had been eating a Luna Bar and he said to Jody, "These are for women."  Jody said, "Of course they are.  They have estrogen in them."  Jody laughed as she recalled how Les had been so worried that he checked with Will to make sure it wasn’t true!

 

Amy and Jody responded to an audience request and sang "Happy Birthday" to someone in the audience.  Then Amy said, "We have two more songs to play for you.  That’s all we know, so there won’t be an encore."  Someone in the audience yelled, "Bullshit".  Amy said, "No, really, we don’t know any more songs yet.  Trust me, you don’t want us to play anything else!" 

 

So they played two more rockin’ songs and left the stage.  By that point, it was 1:00am, so Kim and I bolted for the door.  It was late, we are getting old, and we had soccer games to get our children to in the morning!

 

Maureen Palli

April, 2005