I’d brought along Joanna’s bite-sized Sony Cyber-shot camera in hopes of getting some decent stills, but the light was too low (even from the third row) and, as a result, all of the photos were streaked by motion blurs. So, instead, I experimented with the video capture, and I’m really pleased with the results — especially with the sound.
The show was a lot of fun. As her band members joke on the Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse DVD, Aimee Mann can only stand to tour for a few weeks at a time. Apparently, she’s a bit of a homebody. Her show at the Bijou last Wesdensday was the last night of this “acoustic” tour (she brought along a bass player and pianist), and she celebrated by opening up the middle of the set to audience requests. Instead of just responding to shouts from the crowd, though, she placed a box at the edge of the stage and invited us to fill it with written requests. Those whose songs were selected (at random) not only got to hear a spontaneous performance of their request but were also invited on-stage to play bongos and received a gift basket comprised of what Aimee referred to as “tour bus leftovers” — unopened Clif bars, peanut butter, and jelly; a re-gifted vegan snack basket; an assortment of soaps, gels, and a loofah; and the one genuinely cool prize, two books Aimee had read on the bus but now couldn’t fit in her suitcase (Jonathon Kozol and Patricia Highsmith, if you’re curious.)
That she’s a bit introverted doesn’t prevent Aimee from putting on a great show, though. She’s just an incredibly charming woman — talented, beautiful, self-effacing, funny.