Sigh... I knew this was a bad idea when she suggested it but... I went along anyway. Several months ago my son's Mum pointed out a concert to me the night before Mother's Day. Janis Ian (a two hit lesbian folk singer from the 60's) was playing in town and she mentioned how much she loved her and her music. As you might expect I responded with the classic Jack Nicholson line about "I'd rather stick needles in my eyes". But I went out and got her second row seats anyway.

Anyone that's been following my posts here know that Ms. Ian would probably NOT be my cup of tea, but I'm a musician first. I can appreciate damn near anything that's done well and with true desire. Midway through her show I'd developed an appreciation of Ms. Ian's phenomenal voice (she must be pushing 60) and great stage presence. She's up there "nekid" just a guitar and her voice, no net, nowhere to hide. Good songs and great stories, particularly about being a Jewish, lesbian living in Nashville for 16 years now. Finally she gets to her biggest this "At 17". A poignant tale of teenage lonliness and depression that speaks to all the ugly duckling and nerds out there.

Just as she lunches into it some fat, ignorant, middle aged balrog starts half singing along with her. It's one thing to sing along with Bruce Springsteen when the band's cranking at 50 million decibles it's quite another at an minimally amplified, acoustic solo performance. If you do sing along there you'd best be able to carry a tune and KNOW ALL THE GO***MN WORDS!!!! Needless to say after a few seconds of this I glared at the guy, he glared back. He kept singing, I said "shut the f**K up, I didn't pay 50 bucks to hear him sing"... He's said, "you shut the f**k up", next thing you know we're scufflin' in the asile.

No blood no foul. Quite lively for a folks concert though.

Da Worfster