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Ani DiFranco Says Album Was Bettered by Baby

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Although Ani DiFranco is used to making records in “a couple of minutes,” the 39-year-old songstress took her time with Red Letter Year, her first studio album since welcoming daughter Petah Lucia, 2 ½.

“The sound of the new record has the baby to thank for its scope,” she says with a laugh. “It took me two years to finish this record because the baby was literally born in the middle of it.”

Ani explains that she started doing demo work while Petah was still in utero, something which “protracted the process…much to the benefit of the record.” She adds,

“It took this kid to realize the common wisdom of taking your time in the studio.”

Not everything has changed, however, and Ani’s love of touring leads the list. “I’m still out here road warrior-ing, dragging the baby everywhere I go, and that seems to work out pretty good,” she notes. “But [the hard part] is the creation of new material.”

Petah has been the recipient of so much of Ani’s “mental space and creative energy,” she admits that not as much is left over for music. “It’s definitely harder to find the time and energy to write while raising a kid,” she says. “But I figure I’ve written plenty of songs in my day and I’ll get back to it again.”

Petah is Ani’s child with husband Mike Napolitano.

Source: Kelowna.com

– Missy

Lynn Herring Says Boys 'Get a Hoot' Out of Mom's Fame

Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage

Having recently wrapped up a three-month turn on As the World Turns, Lynn Herring is back at her cattle ranch outside Los Angeles — and there’s nowhere she’d rather be.

“Up here, I’ll throw on mascara to go to the booster meeting or the PTA because, you know, you’ve got to look nice for the moms and dads but that’s it,” the 51-year-old actress tells Soap Opera Digest.

If her Topanga Canyon neighbors were to recognize her, Lynn says it is more often than not from her brief tenure with ATWT, and not from her longer reign as Lucy on General Hospital and Port Charles — something which “threw” sons Hank, 18, and Grady, 16, for quite a loop. “Hank … goes ‘Mom, they actually watched you,’” Lynn recalls. “They got a hoot out of that.”

Of the boys, Lynn adds,

“They’re doing great. Hank is at USC having way more fun than I think he should, and Grady is actually in his first play at the end of this month.”

Hank and Grady are Lynn’s children with husband Wayne Northrop.

Source: Soap Opera Digest, November 3 issue

– Missy