Ani DiFranco at The Uptown

After nearly ten years of empty marquee promises, I finally stood in ,line at the Uptown Theater in Napa comp tickets in hand (courtesy of R. Freedman at The Vallejo Times Herald). This was a monumental occasion for me. I reminisced with longtime Napkins about having seen a movie or two back in the day when it was a really good deal if you didn't mind being poked in the rear by a cushion spring. Ah, the days of our misspent youth. Even George Altamura was there and he, himself has been quoted to have frequented The Uptown when he was young (back when they allowed smoking in the theater). Of course, he had the main influence on the restoration of The Uptown Theater and I am guessing it now looks a lot like the original. Many people have been working hard to make sure of that. Now to Ani...

I hadn't seen Ani in years. Not that we are BFFs or anything but I have seen her perform live a handful of times and even saw her documentary not too long ago. She always stays fresh in my mind. Tonight, it was just her and a her bass player, Todd Sickafoose. God bless em'. They really carried the show. She always has a lot of energy and he really complimented her style well. Playing an upright bass no less. Ani is now a mommy and she talked about that a bit. It must be life transforming. She is balancing her new role as a mom while still rocking!

The opening act was a couple of locals from Oakland and San Francisco, respectively.
They had a really great vibe. I was excited to see and hear how so few performers could create such a wonderfully fulfilling sound.

Luckily, I was seated in front of fellow musician, Charles Hersey (or Charlie as I know him) and friend which just added to the already warm, home-townie feel I was getting from being at the Uptown Theater in general. I really cannot believe something so great is so close! I think it is filling in a lot of the music gap from Konocti being gone. I really think there is room enough for many music venues in the area. It's as it should be....

My husband, Aaron and bass player, Dave also enjoyed the show and was happy to be there. They are both huge Ani fans as well and to cap off the evening, my cousin, Chynna was there and gave us a big hug out of the blue! She lives in Fairfield and is also a big fan of Ani's. All together, it was a fabulous night!