When I first saw Cat Power, it was when she was promoting her Covers album. I had been a huge fan since MoonPix (again, I have to credit Dakin with introducing me), so Dakin, Magpie, and I piled into the Jetta and drove to Lawrence, KS (all the good bands played in Lawrence). This would be my first Cat Power experience.
We studied hard on the drive up, learning most of the words before we got off the Turnpike. We yearned for heartbreak, for poetry. What we got was Chan Marshall on stage murmuring into the mic, "I'm such a stupid fuck. I'm such a fuck."
We were understandably shocked. I remember Magpie saying to herself, "Oh please don't kill yourself. Not right in front of everyone." Dakin had a more humorous approach, getting some folks to shout "We love you, Chan," but deliberately pronouncing the hard "ch" instead of the soft "sh" as it it supposed to be pronounced. The sarcasm was lost on most people, but the point was that we were more than a little disappointed.
My second Cat Power exprience was in London, and I was with a French girl who had waited two years to see her live. She knew all Cat Power's songs, and could play many of them on piano. Chan was opening for Dirty Three, but was so drunk, she played half-covers of White Stripes songs her whole set.
So when I heard a couple years ago of Chan going sober, I was hopeful. And now look at her. She looks fantastic. To be honest, I never knew what she looked like because every show her hair was hiding her face--she was almost invisible to the audience, which may be what she was after. But here she is, gorgeous and rocking out. Well done, Chan. Soft "sh."
Check out more Cat Power photos at Pitchfork.
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