Ani DiFranco's twenty-nine-song double CD opus, Reveling/Reckoning, is still a month from its April 10th release date. But the ambitious DiFranco, who laughingly describes herself as "a whirlwind of Type A energy," is not letting the wealth of new material keep her from looking ahead a bit. "The next thing in the works is a new live record," she says.

According to DiFranco, the album will be recorded during her upcoming spring tour, and she plans to begin the mixing process soon after that. DiFranco has released a live album before, but she promises this one will be special. When the disc does see the light of day, and DiFranco says she's not sure exactly when that will be, it will be accompanied by a film. While it will primarily be a concert movie, DiFranco promises the as-yet-untitled project will be more than just live footage, as director Hillary Goldberg (who DiFranco met outside a show years ago) will chronicle life on the road for DiFranco, her band and crew.

"There will be live performance stuff and then also just contextual stuff about a lot of the political work that accompanies and surrounds the music," she says. "It all stems from the songs and the content therein. So the song 'Subdivision,' for instance, sends Goldberg to Buffalo to capture more about this work of trying to save the architecture of Buffalo. Then she'll also go down to Atlanta, Georgia to the southern center for human rights, which is an organization that does a lot of criminal defense work, anti-death penalty work and prisoners' rights work, basically fighting cruelty and inhumanity in the justice system down there. And Righteous Babe funds a lawyer that works there. So stemming from one of my songs about the criminal justice system, Goldberg will go and flesh that work out there."

DiFranco says the plan is for the two to come out together to create a "live synergy." Does she have any clue when her loyal fans can expect to see her make her film debut? "Damned if I know when," she says laughing. Fans shouldn't be too impatient though. Between Reveling and Reckoning they have more than enough to keep them busy.

STEVE BALTIN
(March 17, 2001)