Melissa Ferrick gives off that long-lost best friend vibe.

Either this chick is a pro at sucking up to college journalists, or to be less self-important and cynical, Ferrick truly is so forthcoming, articulate and gracious.

The Boston-based acoustic rocker who hit up Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., this summer will make her second State College visit of the year at 9 p.m. Monday with Aussie singer-songwriter Jeff Lang.

Ferrick, a Berklee College of Music graduate who cut her big break opening for Morrissey, has released eight albums since her 1993 debut, in addition to forming her own record label, rubbing elbows with rockers Weezer and nurturing her identity as a feminist and gay activist.

On forming Right On Records:

"It was really difficult to find a reason why I shouldn't form [Right On Records], my own label. Major label acts sell millions of records, but the rest of us tour and play songs we actually write ourselves. There's a sense of community at this indie level that I've been craving for many years. I sought that community on major labels, but I didn't fit into that cat fight."

On opening for Weezer:

"I remember being backstage getting coffee and a mother came back with her daughter in a Weezer T-shirt down to her ankles to meet the band. I had broken a guitar string from playing so hard that night, and the girl said to me, 'I've never seen a girl break a string before. You've the coolest woman I've ever met and I'm going to learn how to play guitar.' That's why Weezer had me on tour with them. To tell the audience that you can be a girl and you can still rock."

On Ani Difranco:

"Ani Difranco is an extremely inspiring artist. I learn a lot from listening to her. She makes me feel things that other artists don't make me feel. I'm not anywhere near as poetic politically as she is. She's able to wrap herself somehow into a song. Most of her songs are in the third person, but I have a sneaking suspicion they're about her. I'm terrible at that. She's one of those artists I keep discovering no matter how many times I've listened to her records. Ani is a jazz artist. She's like Joni Mitchell in her Mingus phase."

On coalition building:

"How can someone box herself off and say, 'I'm a dyke so I'm not going to even open myself to experiences with men,' meaning non-sexual experiences too? I don't want to seclude myself in a room with six white lesbians. It's like when I play college campuses, why should the event just be through the LGBTA group? Go to all the minority groups and invite them all. Invite everyone who is a minority because, and this is not a new concept, but if all the minorities get together, we are the majority."

On redefining sexuality:

"When I first came out and realized I liked to kiss girls, I was 17 and I thought everything had to change. I fell into a very bizarre way of life and lost all my liberal tendencies because I just conformed to another community, which is a very conservative way to live. I've been coming out of this for the past ten years, changing my mind and changing the ways I live and how I think about my body and my sexuality. I don't think we accomplish anything as a community by refusing entry to people. I absolutely love women and I absolutely love men. That doesn't make me a bad lesbian."