From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V7 #9 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Monday, January 26 2004 Volume 07 : Number 009 Today's Subjects: ----------------- re: [MLL] 2003 music i got out of bed for ["jill" ] [MLL] Mary Lou Tinight in New Haven [Bopst@aol.com] [MLL] HI from Mary Lou [Bopst@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 04:25:07 -0500 From: "jill" Subject: re: [MLL] 2003 music i got out of bed for oh my god. I am going to follow up that impressive music post because I am so pathetic. this year was so bad for me. I spent much of it pondering the mechanics of getting out of bed without crawling back in. so please don't laugh at my little list. it is a BIG accomplishment for me. I tend to panic a bit public. I don't remember dates, but I think I have the order correct. All NYC. 1) "The Chanteuse Club" at Joe's Pub. A lovely, funny, poignant, glamorous irreverent, intimate all-acoustic performance with Miss Maggie Moore, Kate Pierson, Gayle Ann Dorsey, and someone I don't know. They actually sang an acoustic version of "Roam" -- it was fabulously fun. I can't wait until their next performance. 2) Mary Lou Lord at Mercury Club. My introduction to her. A midnight performance, small and intimate and loving audience. I was really taken by her voice and her songs and singing -- the vocal arrangement/interpretation -- moved me very much. I loved the Green Pajamas songs "She's still bewitching me" and "She Turns Me On" and the way that chorus also goes on and on and on.... itself. I loved all the songs and I think my very favorite was "A long way from... Tupelo" (sp?) It was so beautifully written, like a fresh flower floating down a flowing river. I am not going to analyze Mary Lou's songs or performance here on her own list. I don't know if that is disappointing or a relief. But I do want to say this, Mary Lou didn't think she was performing as well as she could be. She kept apologizing and referencing the new release and saying her performance was a poor indication. I think the audience basically ignored these comments, because everyone loved what she was doing and just being in her presence. I don't think she really realizes, I am not sure it gets through to her that what she does is not... I don't know how to say this. If she can play a so-called "lousy" concert (which it *wasn't*!) and touch people - I saw the looks on people's faces - Mary Lou, there's something really special and healing about you. And I will make this statement impossible for you to deny because it is about me: You reached me. And few people / performers ever do. And it is lonely and terribly hard to live every day unreachable. I left you performance moved, touched, changed. It's a combination of your voice and your presence. You are giving 100%, you just aren't secure in what you are giving yet. But it is real. 3) Party at The Slipper Room -- goodbye party for someone I forgot (oops). And he did the longest version of "Windy" I have ever heard. In a nerdy suit with weirdo glasses and a hairpiece. If this is what he is going to wear in LA... And he slid his feet in this backwards and forwards and sideways dance and really I am not kidding he would not stop. It must have been ten minutes if not more. And each time the music would slow and it seemed he was sliding off stage, there he was coming back. It was ridiculously funny. Maggie Moore performed as well with David Driver, BETTY, and then Kim Cea who made me laugh so hard despite myself the next day my abdomen was killing me. 4) Juliana Hatfield and Some Girls at The Knitting Factory. Thank you Mary Lou for loving Juliana Hatfield or I never would have known about her. This show was fabulous. Juliana on guitar is like no one I've ever seen before (until see below). Freda Love was able to play a mean drum set in a tight stretchy dress AND sing solo at the same time. The lyrics she added were some of the best. But I think my favorite might be Juliana's "get up off me/ I want coffee". And Heidi Gluck played everything and sang back-up, too. These women were amazing together. And so alive, so present, so connected with the audience. Although Juliana said she was afraid of us because we were New Yorkers and we were so tough. She says some unusual things. 5) "Wicked" the musical. I won't say anything about the show, except that it is the first musical I've seen that is absolutely centered upon how a true and complex friendship develops between two women. Musically, the actors are amazing. I've heard (and heard) Kristin Chenoweth (Glinda) has a four octave range. Impressive... but I also must say this: Idina Menzel (Elphaba - "wicked" witch). And this: Idina Menzel. And oh my god, this: Idina Menzel. I've heard her husband is now playing the male lead. I wish I had seen him. The show must be so hot now. I don't know what Idina's vocal range is and I don't care. It's pretty extensive whatever it is. What moves me is what she does with her voice, it's as if her entire body is enraptured in her voice. Maybe it is because she plays the most loving character in the musical. But I think it comes from her. Her voice has an intelligence and emotional range of it's own. 6) Ani Difranco -- ok, another amazing female guitarist. I've never seen someone play a guitar while bouncing and lifting her knees up and down and dancing in a way that only she does without missing one string. I love the way she performs so free, she seems so uninhibited, beautiful, happy, and inspired. The way she experiments with her voice also interests me very much. Often it is more moving when she sings a word or words without the words -- it leaves this eerie absence, or if she vocalizes, it is like a pained (depending) more primal, I don't know. It's powerful to me. Sometimes I've heard Mary Lou do this, too. That's all for last year. But I watched "Buffy". That's something. Jill ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:14:48 EST From: Bopst@aol.com Subject: [MLL] Mary Lou Tinight in New Haven Hi there...I'll be in town tonight playing in New Haven Conn....I'm not sure what venue it is...Please check my web site for details...All I'm pretty sure about , is that it's free.... See ya then... - -Mary Lou ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:20:37 EST From: Bopst@aol.com Subject: [MLL] HI from Mary Lou Ok...I got the details for the show...It is A FREE SHOW !!!! Venue: THE BAR 11:00 PM (I'm not sure, but it might be all ages...Call.....) 254 Crown St. New Haven Conn. Phone # 203-752-9418 ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V7 #9 ********************************