Jadedness loves company (and inspired music)

Last night's Ani concert was disappointing, but more importantly, a sign of the times. Sure, she was off, and she's one of those artists (unlike Bruce Springsteen, who is apparently always at least amazing) who either blows you away with her energy and stage presence or makes you realize how tired you are with a lack thereof. I thought it may have been just me, but Marisa, who was there when we saw Ani at Wolftrap a year and a half ago, felt the same way.

Beyond the lack of her potentially electrifying energy, there was another issue: she was, in her own words, "happy." She talked about how she can tell when she's happy because the songs she writes are shorter; she introduced another song as a transition into her happy songs phase. Even "Gravel," which she chose for her encore, sounded light and happy, and that's just wrong. I know that feeling left behind by Ani's change in mood is so ten years ago, but I can't help it.

A character in Sarah Ruhl's "The Clean House" at one point said to her soul-searching housekeeper something along the lines of, 'I'm sure if we'd met at a party, I'd find you to be an interesting person, but I've hired you to clean my house. So please clean my house.'

I'm glad Ani the person is happy, but dammit I need Ani the musician to turn out and play powerful, jaded music. Can't she at least fake it when she plays her old jaded songs in concert? Does parenthood leave no one unscathed? Does everyone affected by it get a happy, beautiful-world attitude adjustment?

The big issue here of course is our projecting onto artists the image that attracted us to them in the first place, and not being interested in sticking with them when they try something else. They're not, after all, our friends; they serve a discrete purpose in our lives, like a housekeeper does. As people, they may have a right to grow, but that doesn't mean that we, as consumers, have to like it. Joni Mitchell was shocked at the disappointment of her fan base at her foray into a different genre. The uproar over Marc Jacobs has been attributed in part to his critics' discomfort with his changing as a person . Philosophically, I believe we need to accept that artists are people, let them be who they are. As a consumer, however, I miss the personality that used to come out so powerfully in Ani's music.

***
Is everyone on crazy pills? Is no one else complaining about this? I once again, this morning, called AT&T. This time I said that as soon as I research another plan, I'm leaving, I've so had it with the text messages in the middle of the night, and I want them to note on my account that that's why I will be switching providers. At least this time I got someone with at least half a brain on the line, and she didn't say, "well, your autopay is expiring. And she actually found why it was happening, but needs to research if there is a way to change it without taking me out of autopay. Crazy pills. I cannot choose not to get text messages, much less in the middle of the night. How does that work?

What is it with the Christmas music starting before Thanksgiving? And they say that my people control the media.