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| 1996-12-30 | — | Amy Talkington - React Magazine |  | JUST SAY POE
Dec 30, 1996
by Amy Talkington
HER HIT SINGLE "ANGRY JOHNNY" MAY HAVE BLOWN EVERYONE AWAY, BUT SINGER POE IS THE HIND OF GIRL WHO WOULD GIVE YOU THE SHIRT OFF HER EACH.
Clothes have always meant a lot to , singer songwriter Poe. In fact, a bizarre costume is why the artist formally known as Annie Danielewski has such a literary nickname. "When I was 10, I was obsessed with Edgar Alien Poe," recalls the musician, whose mother is an actress and whose father was a film maker. "I went to a costume party dressed as death and I named myself Poe to give everyone a hint." The name stuck around. Now if only her wardrobe could. Poe, 26. explains: "After the first big show I ever played, a girl came to the side of the stage and she said. 'I want to give you this ring. It means so much to me.' So, of course, I gave her one of mine. That night I ended up giving all my stuff away. I can't tell you how many shirts I've given away since then."
Poe's clothes weren't always so popular. Born in New York City, Poe and her family moved around most of her early years until they landed in Provo, Utah, just in time for her to start junior high school. On the first day, the hip young thing wore something she thought was really cool, a Sex Pistols T-shirt. "My classmates took one look at me and hated my guts," Poe remembers. A few years later, after her parents split up, the 16-year- old Poe finished high school early and returned to New York City - all by herself.
In what sounds like the plot of a Charles Dickens novel, Poe played her music on the streets and lived in a lower Manhattan apartment building full of homeless teenagers. "We were all kids from unhappy homes," Poe says. "It was totally cool, totally organized and totally drug-free." But school was always on Poe's mind. "I was really into academics as a kid so I took my SATs and applied to Princeton and got a full scholarship." After graduation, Poe moved to Los Angeles to be with her seriously ill father (she wrote the song "Fly Away" for him). After he passed away, she went to Detroit to record some songs. Eventually she met the bead of Modern records, who signed the fledgling singer.
From Manhattan to Princeton to Motor City, it's no wonder that Poe`s debut album, Hello, is quirky and smart yet way danceable. Her songs range from the in your-face "Trigger Happy Jack" ("you can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being") to the simple, cello- accompanied love letter "That Day." If you want to dance to Poe in person, be sure to check her out while she's on tour with her four-piece band, but please, don't ask for a piece of her clothing. She'd like to give something to you, really, but... "I can't give much away anymore." she apologizes, "because almost everything I wear on stage now, someone gave me."
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