Ayria at Emporium

  Here is something I did not know happened until Ayria mentioned it on stage in between songs. The Abbey Pub had a fire. I was like ......what?! So I had to look it up later and indeed it happened in 2015. I've gone to shows there regularly, but not in a long time. And in that long time, shit happened. I lost track of the place as I have lost track of Ayria. So when I saw her name on Emporium's calendar I jumped at it. It was years accumulated in between this time and the last time I saw her at Reggies. And I don't know when or if she ever played Abbey Pub but I know I missed a few Chicago performances. There are so many tracks from Flicker and Hearts For Bullets that I listen to now. Those are the two CD's I have. And there is so much more work than that I know. There was this one time I was at Evil Clown, a record store long long gone. I had an Epsilon Minus CD in my hand. Its one of them CDs I regret not buying. The frugal part of me decided to not spend on it, and I regret that, and one day Evil Clown was no more. As Dr Smith said...."oh the pain".....its twice as painful when y'all don't get my Lost In Space reference.  I keep saying her band name. Her name is Jennifer Parkin and she is from Canada.
  She is touring for Paper Dolls now. And its really great! The awesome thing is that she still played a lot of what I was familiar, a lot of what I got hooked on.  Not all artists do that. Some will always only play their latest and almost detest their old work. I can understand that. That favorite track you just heard live once, she played so many times.  I am mindful of that.  I notice too that the fans are intimately familiar with her music. They hear the music on their own time on repeat. The fans around me seem to know her lyrics. And there is a lot of struggle to identify with inside those lyrics. And so her crowd reacted to hearing Girl On The Floor. The audience at Emporium was enthusiastic for Ayria. This is industrial music. The fans are going to dance, they will recite the words right with the performer. This reactive energy from the crowd is in full strength when the chemistry involves not just the dance floor worthy music but also an awareness, mindfulness of the words. And people really connected to that song I mentioned as just one example of that resonant spark that bounces from the performer to the audience and back again. I shall one day buy Paper Dolls. For now, I'm happy that she still tours with an open veins love for her crowd....that loves her back. I am happy to see her endure and continue to thrive and produce music.

Zig