DiFranco fans ready for IU show

For folk rocker Ani DiFranco, music is a way of making sense of the universe.\n"My little songs are sort of letters to myself," DiFranco told Music Connection. I'm trying to clue myself in on some things. It's all a very self-conscious process on some level. My music, I guess, is what I live through."\nDiFranco will perform at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the IU Auditorium. Union Board is sponsoring the event.\n"Bloomington has a great history with Ani," said senior Andy Proctor, Union Board concerts director. "Earlier in her career, she built a following by playing places like Collins and the John Waldron Arts Center here in town. To see her play now in the auditorium is an amazing thing, knowing she built all that herself."\nDiFranco was born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., and began singing and playing acoustic guitar when she was 10. At 15, she moved out of her mother's apartment and began writing her own songs and performing in coffee houses. Three years later, she moved to New York to begin her independent music career.\n"I became an Ani fan my freshman year in high school," said sophomore Carly Everett. "I like her because she's so individual -- she doesn't want to be involved with big corporations. I'm excited for the concert."\nDiFranco decided to release her first album herself by borrowing money from friends and cleaning out her bank account. After her budding success on the indie circuit, DiFranco received many offers from record labels but instead decided to remain independent, allowing herself more creative freedom. She started her own record company, Righteous Babe Records, and has since sold more than 1 million albums.\n"We carry the whole Ani catalog," said Brett Hayden, who works at Tracks Music & Videos, 415 E. Kirkwood Ave. "We always have every title in stock because she's so popular around here. Everyone comes to buy her stuff."\nDiFranco's success is worldwide, and she spends most of her time touring the globe, playing at venues ranging from 3,000 to 30,000. She has contributed songs to the soundtracks of "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "The Jackal" and collaborated with diverse musicians from Utah Phillips to Prince.\nAs DiFranco's record label states: "The only constants in Ani's world are her commitment to writing and performing intensely personal songs, her fans' deep connection to her work and her intuitive insistence on doing things her own way."\nTickets are still on sale and can be purchased at the IU Auditorium for $24.50 (IU students) or $29.50 (public).