Song Spotlight: Annie Hardy's Man Downn (a night at Stories Books & Cafe)

It was a Friday night. I had put in for a photo request that did not get approved. I decided to take a glance at Showlist on Instagram and noticed that Annie Hardy was playing at Stories Books & Cafe. It was almost like it was meant to be. 

I've been aware of Annie Hardy since I encountered her band Giant Drag at the Indie West Fest in 2011. By that point, the band was well established in the Los Angeles music scene, having formed in 2003. It took a few years -- jump all the way to 2019 -- before I crossed paths with Hardy once again. She was on the same music bill as Queen Kwong (a favorite of mine). During that set at The Redwood Bar, I knew she looked familiar and then she mentioned the band Giant Drag and it started to click. I saw her one last time in 2019 at Stories Books & Cafe. 

Annie Hardy at Stories Books & Cafe

I guess there are always these long time gaps between Hardy sets for me: leaping forward once again to 2025 and the mentioned Friday night at Stories Books & Cafe.  Based on her initial comments to the audience, it seems that since the pandemic, her sets are not as frequent as they used to be, "Hello, thanks for coming to the show. I'm going to play some songs. I've done this, I hear, before. But I don't remember . . . I'm a new soul in the same body."

She did solo set with an acoustic guitar. Hardy always gets the crowd giggling during her sets: driven by her comedy, but also because she just throws out thoughts that sometimes makes one a bit uncomfortable. Back in 2019 at Stories, I remember her talking about a subject that was especially relevant at the time and she was taking a totally different point of view and a couple people got up and walked out. 

Annie Hardy at Stories Books & Cafe

On this night, I'm not sure anyone walked off because of anything controversial that she said. I will say there were some semi-crude moments during the set. To start off the set, there was the moment where she took out her Nicorette gum and stuck it on her right hand. It got people laughing at the grossness of it all. Later during the set, she mentioned that she was getting a nicotine high. When the set ended, she put the gum back into her mouth by chewing it off her hand. Heading off to a debutante ball is not her goal in life.  

"Do you think Dave Matthews is on meth? I hope so, he needs an excuse."

She introduced a mash up of cover songs that have the word fire in the lyrics. It was dedicated both to the January Los Angeles fires as well as to discussions she had around the topic of Kings of Leon. Her mash up included Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" and "I'm on Fire" as well as Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire." 

Like many a sing-songwriters she did not appreciate distractions. When her set was about to begin, she mentioned to the people over at "Table 4" that it was time to end their conversation. A building alarm went off during the set, which she couldn't help but mention throughout the remaining portion of her time on stage. Then there was additional conversations happening beyond the area of the venue, which also caused some distractions for her. She sort of complained that one of her friends was probably out in that section talking instead of hanging out watching her performance.

Annie Hardy at Stories Books & Cafe

For those who don't know the layout of the venue, there is a bookstore and outdoors in the back is a singer-songwriter area where the music needs to stop at 10 p.m. The venue itself is fenced off and then beyond that is an area for people to have their cafe orders and then there is a large parking area for the businesses. That area, for as long as I can remember, is a place where people just hang out. The underground hangout for the cool kids of Echo Park. Of course, that just meant that all the conversations could be heard in the venue section.     

The song of the night has to go to "Man Downn." She was about to play her last song of the night, but realized that she hadn't played the first song listed on her setlist, which was "Man Downn." The crowd encouraged her to play the song. With the building alarm going off in the distance, she sang the song with some depressing lyrics. She had mentioned earlier in her set that her songs were split in two, the first half usually about a guy who couldn't hack it with her while the second half was about Jesus. So perhaps she was taking some depressing moments from the Bible that are in reality just the darkness before the light. 

Waiting for that crown of thorns
To be put on my head and worn
I'm going to die

Partial Setlist (and not in this order and leaving off two songs as I couldn't read the handwriting): Man Downn, Ennvi 3 am, Hard On, No Good, Mash Up Covers, I Was Right.