From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2001 #386 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/joni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Friday, September 7 2001 Volume 2001 : Number 386 The Official Joni Mitchell Homepage, created by Wally Breese, can be found at http://www.jonimitchell.com. It contains the latest news, a detailed bio, Original Interviews, essays, lyrics and much much more. The JMDL website can be found at http://www.jmdl.com and contains interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more. ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Topsfield 2001- Pt 3- The Music [MDESTE1@aol.com] Toppsfield 2001- Part 5- Atty Mae Meets Galdiator [MDESTE1@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:47:29 EDT From: MDESTE1@aol.com Subject: Topsfield 2001- Pt 3- The Music A day of Music. Anne Sandstrom began the day with some songs she wrote and Annes voice just gets better and better every time I hear it. She recently sent me a CD of some of her self produced songs and it is a gem. I dont dispense gratuitous praise when it comes to music and many call me harsh in my assessments because of my background but Anne Sandstrom is a very, very, good lyricist. I think because of her doing her project her voice has become practiced and smoothe and her meolodies are interesting and different. There was still some settling in going on in the room as she began and some might have not noticed the quality of her set but I did. If you can email her do so and get her CD. I hasten to add that when I returned home yesterday i had to drive about 30 miles down the peninsula to retrieve our kids and listening to her CD was the best antidote to Jonifest withdrawls I could possibly have had. The Mixons doing Dawntreader, A case of You, and another I cant remember. I have been privileged to have played with Steve who is literally a professional mandolin and multi instrumentalist. Leslie sings alot like Laura Nyro. I went over to their house in Stockton prior to the fest but then they didnt think they were going to be able to make it and then all of a sudden they did and my car got totalled so we couldnt reconnect. It really doesnt matter since Steve is so good he could get out of bed in the middle of the night and burn off a great mandolin solo. Leslie has her unique style and sings with confidence. They did this most difficult song like they had always been doing it and it was such a treat to listen to. I can conjure up Steve doing the note intro to Dawntreader anytime I want because it was so stunning in its beauty. And I can hear Leslie sing "Mermaids live in colonies....". Chuck E is one of the original JMDL stars. The man does all kinds of things including keyboards and dulcimer. I chided Chuck on not doing a dulcimer tune at the church event but he saves those for those intimate get togethers; unfortunately for me I wasnt at the Friday night get together because he played then. Anyway Chuck did Trouble Child and his "Santana meets Joni in the lounge" version of Rainy Night which has a charm of its own. I think that more people should actually do what Chuck does which is to add his own interpretive ambience ot the songs and he does a great version of the song. I just loved Trouble Child. Ive always thought Joni herself should redo it more along the way that Chuck and Danzig and Willey did it in New Orleans. Later Chuck would add keys to various ensembles and group numbers. Gregg Cagno's "All I Want". Gregg is a performing musician who travels and has reputedly played all over. His voice is very strong and beautiful. His guitaristics are refined and intricate as well. He doesnt just "play" guitar. He coaxes parts and arrangements out of it which together with his beautiful voice make for a real experience. I think he also did Peoples Parties but with all the songs I heard that night it is a little hazy. His only faux pau was changing the lyrics of Jonis song to a parody which conjured up the Spirit of Siquomb and right in the middle of it the string predictably broke. Like... thwank...end of song. Only string to break all day. You make the call. Its not nice to mess with Mother Nature Gregg. Seriously this guy is a lurker but hes a gem and undoubtedly he will surface again at a future Jonifest to thrill everyone as he did us all. By the way he must have been forgiven by ther Siquomb Spirit and Michael Paz leapt to his rescue by hooking up the VG-8 and Gregg was able to finish his set. Beautiful stuff with lots of charm. Gregg & Claud's "Case of You" In a collaberation (one of the many) Gregg and Claude did a duet on this Joni Chestnut and Gregg has all the parts down. Their voices blended really well. Stephane Morrison is an accomplished pianistra and she reworked "For Love Or Money" in the style of Tori Amos. Bob came up to me and said "Marcel you've got to hear this woman shes "off the charts" and I did hear some of her set but I had developed this little problem. Bob told me I was going to follow Stephane and so just to make one last run through the song i had messed up the lyrics to 8 times that morning I went out onto the porch behind the church. The sun which felt so warm and comforting on my face and guitar immediately changed the temperature of the instrument and as I stood there listening to Stephane I lightly strummed my strings and the strings were horribly drastically out of tune. Like yech. So I ran down into the basement with my tuner and retuned. Fortunately Bob had decided to have another performer Amy Lohman do a set and I had time to recover. Unfortunately for me I missed Stephanes set although what came through from upstairs still sounded fine. Amy Lohman did Michael from Mountains on the keyboard with halting, sensetive, and exquisitely timed phrasing reminiscent of Diana Krall. I just loved her set. I cant remember the other song she did probably because i was still in shock from the suprise tuning freak-out but she sounded great.. Then before I knew it Bob was introducing me. Im not sure if any other performer is introduced by his politics but thats the burden you carry I guess when you carry the burden of truth justice and the American way. I dont recall anyone ever being introduced for instance as "that controversial communist that we all enjoy" but "I Think I Understand". That very morning in the hotel rroom in Boston I tried to do Marci 8 times and always screwed up the verses somewhere. At the event was different. Shows you the power of prayer. Im kidding. In any event, somehow I remembered all the lyrics and i had a great time. I hope everyone who heard my set enjoyed listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing for everyone. The mics and monitor balance were perfect up there for sure. It was pure fun. I did Marci from Song to a Seagul, Night Ride Home with Steve doing some luscious fills. I think I Understand, and ended with Bob Dylans "Buckets of Rain". Steve Mixon was so wonderful to play this song with and I could have just kept listening to his ever creative solos for the rest of the day. Kate Bennett & Jeff Bisch . This was the first time I had the priviledge of hearing Kate Bennet and her husband Jeff. It was worth the wait. Kate of course is actually part of the Taylor Guitar clan and were talking real live working musician here. Stage presence, voice, the whole package. I loved Kates song Irene as well as Louisianna Roadhouse with its touch of cajun feeling. Jeff did his songs of deep and stark imagery, one about a crucifix and the other about a fire in his town of Santa Barabara. Late that night I could still picture the handmade house on the little patch of land. Of course when i picture Santa Barabara I dont see fires but probably the most picturesque main street in the state with a million clubs that were all designed by Jimmy Buffet. I was thrilled that they managed to make it to the fest and i hope they had as much fun being there as I did hearing these very tallented listers. Hope they get a gig in San Francisco. Lets not forget Ashara herself doing a Cheryl Wheeler song she dedicated to her "old man' Sal. Good grief is this guy the best or what. He seemed to be constantly working his tush off to make us all happy. I was also thrilled to see Ashara do a song for us all. She sings with such soul. Claudia San Soucie. I dont know how many noticed but Claudes got a brand new axe. At least thats what i thought since it wasnt the one she had in New Orleans. But she told me she had had it for some time and is now using it as her steady. Not the only new steady she has either (rimshot) but thats a whooooole 'nother JMDL story. Can you believe she doesnt play at some club every night. I cant. But then again I can. Shes our little secret. She did one of her many polished originals and then did her JMDL "standard" which is Joni's Conversation. She was accompanied by Chris Marshall of the Uk on Bass and Christine (who looked like she could be Michael Paz sister) on percussion. Always one of the JMDL high points. Now playing .....Steve...... Polifka. "The Voice". We kid Steve but he is one of the most accomplished musicians on the entire list. AND his hair is perfect. His version of Two Grey Rooms was unforgettable. His phrasing and fillls conjured up Jonis piano parts but he adds his own touches and in spite of having a cold he still had an amazing ability to sing the high part of the refrain. Wow. You shoulda been there. At this point or somewhere in here I had to go back to the hotel so I missed Bob Mullers set.I was totally bummed. I heard nothing but wonderful things about it and look forward very much to the CD when it comes out. Bob is an underrated performer having one of the most dynamic personalities in the world and he does in fact know the lyrics to all songs composed since the fall of Troy. Even in Turkish. By the time I got back Michael Paz had just begun. Michael is such a solid player and I call him Captain Kirk because he goes where no man has gone before in his song selection. He just did some great energy versions of Dave Mathews and Jonatha Brooke songs and his version of Jonis Off Night Backstreet was the end. I can also still hear his voice as he sung Sex Kills in full VG-8. He also popped into several numbers throughout the night and anything he participates in sounds solid. Michael is one of the strongest rhythm players I now and he certainly has the VG-8 down except of course when one of us backing vocalists steps on the foot pedal and changes the key in the middle of the verse. Even THEN he kept it together. Michael You are the man. Kay Ashley's - I had never heard Kay before but Im glad I heard her this night do "People's Parties" (I think). She was all over the neck with the open chords and she handled one of the most difficult lyric pieces of any Joni song with elan. Somewhere in here we were all treated to something truly rare. There are UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, and Les Irvin playing on a stage. I was so transfixed by him actually being up there that who he was playing with escapes me now (Mea maxima culpa). Actually I think it was Amy Lohman. Les as you may recall is the creator of the JMDL and he attends every fest and then some but rarely actually plays although his playing is exquisite. He did the guitar on 'If I needded You' and sounded like it was he who did it for Emmy Lou on her album. His playing was flawless. What a treat. Thanks Les and thanks to whoever cast the spell that got him to play live. The night got very interesting here. We had all finished diner and the sun went down and that made the christmas lights framing the stage sparkley and beautiful. people relaxed in and it got very quiet. Willy the Shake- Willy just has got "IT". He takes any song and coats it with his feel for the essence. Did paul Simons Slip Sliding Away and Eltons Rocket Man with the latter done in a very original chording that was so tasty I wanted to hear more when he finished. Les Ross' "Not To Blame" & "Magdalene Laundries" (lots of tears and you can hear a pin drop). I think Les was such a suprising moment in the evening for two reasons. First of all he plays everything in standard tuning (wild ovation). None of that weirdo open stuff for this man of the Kingdom. Secondly he played and sang so softly and with such sensetivity that it was spellbinding. You had to not just listen you had to hold your breath. I got to chat with him a little one morning since he stayed at the Sheraton and he is such a gentleman. What a memorable moment in music. Yael's "That Song About The Midway". Yael is from Ann Arbor pursuing high intellect but she let her hair down and gave us apparently her debut performance on guitar. "Only been playing two years" she said. Im skeptical about that but she did an uninhibited set seemingly free of fear. Victors set I unfortunately didnt get to hear because i had to get some air and took a respite from the 12 hours of sets outside but he played with several people all through the night. Did a fantastic job backing up several people with a unique instrument that plays bass and other notes. He is a total original. Again i look forward to the CD to see what I missed. Last but not least was the guy i had anxiously awaited for literally years. Wally Kairuz from Argentina. Now Wally always does things i couldnt imagine myself doing in a million years and thats what he does OFF the stage. ON the stage its more like three million years. Talk about original vocal approaches. Not just the notes but the pronunciations. Wally was walking around with a guitar over his shoulder for about two hours before he actually played sort of like a strolling minstrel. I asked him what he was going to do and he always said ..."I havent decided yet". I was more nervous waiting to hear what Wally would do than I was for my own set. He was great. He did a Cole Porter song "Miss Otis Regrets" that was just so interesting and anyone who wants to know how to sing a song needs to watch Wally do his thing. he also is inevitabley the only perosn to do ma song Acapella. As the evening drew to a close we did some group songs including Nikki Johnson and the Nikkers version of The Bands The Weight. I must mention Chris Marshal from the UK the outstanding Brit bass player who added so many interesting things to so many songs during the day that his contribution was the perfect ingredient or as Joni would say Stimulant. Sooooo verry wonderful that he came and played with us. For anyone i left out or screwed up my recollection please please forgive me. For the record we all pitched in and cleaned up this enormous room and all the others in about 20 minutes. Thanks to the church for giving us this wonderful facility. It was unforgettable and as Michael's Doctor John would say..."such a night". ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 01:47:55 EDT From: MDESTE1@aol.com Subject: Toppsfield 2001- Part 5- Atty Mae Meets Galdiator There are certain moments in your life you sort of never forget, know what I mean? Well Sunday at Atty Maes was right up there in terms of being unforgettable. Atty Maes is this bar at the bend in the road on Plum Island that Michael and Kakki had found a few years back and it has grown as a sort of finishing party place for the Toppsfield fest. The past years CDs of the music there is all this quiet intimate atmosphere. I can still hear Marian from Vienna doing The Wolf that Lives in Lindsey or something and it sounds like the only people there are listers and its sort of a repeat of the church scene but with the bar there of course a little different. For this location I had planned three more Joni Songs plus a song I wrote for the listers themselves that was themed by one of the threads that had gone through the JMDL about Trees and the actual subject was Jimmy Stewarts (FMYFL on the list) playing doctor with this little girl next door in this tree as he had posted. So it was to be you know a fun little set. My wife and I had spent the day strolling throughout the New England seaside at the local street fare in Newburyport (really a pleasure) then we buzzed out towards Gloucester, Ipswitch and Salem through verdant polo fields, country lanes, off the beaten path antique stores one of which Im sure is a front for Space alien-like couple who are the proprietors who looked at us when we walked in as if to say "No one in 30 years has ever been in our store so what are you doing here". The entire store was filled with unredeemable junk but there it was with its door open and these people sitting there. I was carefully looking for the trap door in the floor as I "browsed" and the vibe was reeeely strange so after a bit we "escaped' leaving this strange strange staring couple to their lair and "treasures" like jagged cut magazine covers of National Geographic framed in rotting termite eaten frames selling at the bargain price of $45. Like I said this was witch country. I always wondered where the Addams family lived. Salem was a beautiful but funny feeling town. We went to see the witch museum which is famous but after reading the placards in the lobby waiting for the tour let me tell you just what they wrote on those things in the lobby was enough to convince me that I didnt need to hear about 10 year old girls burned alive over "rumors' and strange behavior. Count'em TEN women were done in in Toppsfield. Yikes. I was in a strange mood anyway from just having been subjected to the "glare tour" ride at the antique treasure trove. All the stores in Salem have this witch theme as if this religious cleansing mass murder and total freak out in the name of superstition was something to "celebrate". As if you go to LA and stand in line for the Manson Family House Tour. "Ding Dong....Get your severed charred limb souveniers right here". The town is actually quite pretty and they have several places there that look very much like the prototype of the haunted house so it must be a great place to celebrate Holloween. Leaving this area in the late afternoon we (of course) got lost and it took us quite a while to find our way back to our hotel having fallen prey to the Leprechan designed road system and the missing sign syndrome a number of times. But get back we did and we found a wonderful restaraunt where we had dinner and then on to Atty Maes. By the time we got there around 7:30 I could hear this really raucus band playing hot hot hot music and i knew this wasnt what I expected. As the door to the place opened out came this giant cloud of smoke like the scene in Predator 2 when Danny Glover meets the Rastafarian Mafia King in an alley and they open the car door and this cloud billows out except this cloud was made in North Carolina. I said "Oh my God they allow smoking indoors here". California of course is mostly smoke free and i dont think about it anymore but all of a sudden here it was in Ted Kennedys state...smoke filled bars. Amazing. And it was reeeely reeeely reeeely loud. As I walked through the place this is a super hot band blaring super hot music to a large herd of humans in mating mode. It didnt look to me like they were there to hear yours truly sing River. Uh oh. My wife is nearly allergic to smoke and as we snaked our way through this mob scene both of us getting looks and free feels I felt like Russle Crowe in Gladiator. All that was missing were the chained tigers. Emerging out the back door i found all these listers mingling in the front area and it seemed like they were all getting ready to actuallty leave which would have been fine with me except I knew that Mike Paz had gone through a ton of work to organize this event and something had obviously gone very strangely awry. Encountering him he told me to "sign up" so i did amidst the dijn and I saw the names of some who i knew were fleeing for their lives outside. Even Ashara was going. In fact everyone was fleeing this incredible scene. Poor Mike. I began to realize that what was happeneing was the totally unexpected. Can happen in the live music biz and I gave my wife the keys to our car and I said go wait for me in the car. Ill do my songs and meet you back there as soon as I can. Im standing there with my fellow victims Steve Mixon and Jeff Bisch. We knew we were really up against it. Here we had never played anything like the material we needed for this raucus place in fact I had no idea WHAT we were going to play right up until Mike reveals my name to the crowd who was already a little curious about what these acoustic instruments were doing in their place. The last thing that happened to me was that 20 seconds before im supposed to play I close my guitar case to get it off the stage area and catching my thumbnail on the lock proceed to rip about a third of it off the finger. Its bleeding like crazy and Im sucking my thumb which by that time Im sure everyone thought it was my security blanket-like reversion to the musician fetal position. Somehow it stopped bleeding and the finger was sort of numb but i was so distracted by the entire environment that we just began. I have no idea what it sounded like. Im thinking as we play what on earth are we going to do for a second song. Jeff did a Dylan song and his harp broke. So Steve Mixon and I did something i cant remember what. I leaned over to Steve and said what on earth are we going to do and him being the utter professional that he is he just said screw this lets just play what we know and forget about the crowd and the scene so we did Buckets of Rain again. Ill tell you this in all the years I played Ill never forget Steves solos which even through the haze of my numb thumb finger and the smoke and the horny crowd and all just sounded totally amazingly great. I dont think I would have made it and kept my sanity without him being there. Steve a big big standing O and eternal thanks from Marcel. My thumb had actually stopped throbbing as I packed up and i remember hearing Yael begin her song. I went up to Mike and as i start to talk to him this guy comes up and says that the band is going to start again. I made it back to the car. I really felt sorry for him as I pictrued all his work having gone down the drain. later I came to understand that many of the other listers had played earlier in the late afternoon it was only the late players that had been hit by the "Perfect Storm" of music. My wife was still in the car sick from the smoke so i dropped her off at the hotel and went on to Asharas. The Leprechans struck again. Fortunately we have cell phones these days. After i ended up in Ipswitch again I radioed her and she literally talked me back to her house like a movie in which the passenger lands the 747 after the pilot has a heart attack. I was so happy to finally get back to her house. The thumb was stable but it wasnt going to be easy to play that was for sure. The last afterparty was great to be at. In the back room Ashara was finally able to kick back there being little work left to do. The room was filled with dozens of candles and Jeff and kate were doing songs. Jeff did this incredible song about a little girl being playfully swung by her grandpa in the park (the man has a way with powerful imagery in his lyrics) and Les Ross did some more of his inimitable renditions like Amelia. Just a sweet guy. In the outer room Steve Polifka was leading this theatre of the bizarre with Reggae versions of Joni songs and martin Giles playing bass and it was something you had to be there to truly appreciate since they were converting all the lyrics to Jamaican. Hey mon like rastamon vibrations spice-in oop de Morgantown mon. The pain had begun to get interesting but I made one more trip through the house. Got to finally do the song for Jimmy although it was in Asharas formal dining room. I think he liked it although he had had a few drinks and was trying to tell me something about this person he had met through the internet named Sandra. [Inside joke]. Anyway with mother thumb beginning to get cranky I did one more song back in the candle room with Jeff and Kate and had to leave. Parting is such sweet sorrow but then again as you trade hugs and goodbyes you never get the feeling you wont see everyone again and again and again. Our last afternoon was spent in Boston. Went to the old North Church and visited Paul Reveres house and had a superlative Italian lunch with my thumb swolen and my arm in a sling. What a great way to end a pefect weekend. My wife is French and Im Italian so I need to use both tongues. Au revoir mon ami. Chi vediammo ancora alla MECCA. If you have never been to a fest sell the house or car. Ask Hell. Its just one of those priceless experiences. Its also something that as you spend time on the list you get one impression of the people behind the posts but meeting them is a whole different thing. This is really one big happy family with some amazing characters. Please forgive me for not mentioning everyone but a few gubbeys are in order. Mags and Brei- thanks for your friendship over the last couple of years You deserve each other. Leslie & Steve, You guys have been so kind and so tallented. maybe we should start a minifest just to do songs out here. Willy the Shake... the man of the incredible posts. It was a wonderful thing hearing you sing. Bob Muller- Bob you are my hero. Your endless energy and humor are an inspiration. Jimmy, - My wicked step brother. Sandra wanted me to tell you you broke her heart. Thanks for your posts which keep me in stitches. Ashara... Thank you for everything...Your generosity is off the charts. thanks for allowing us a mothership of joy in which to meet and greet and share the love. Maggie, chef supreme, Thanks for all your work which is so easily taken fro granted Pazman, Michael, you are the soul of the fests. I cant imagine one without you. OK so your into this VG-8 thing but Im from San francisco so Im open minded. Thanks for your friendship and consideration big guy. Chuck E... It was incredible finally meeting you. I wish we had been able to talk more. Kate Bennett and Jeff, I love your musics. Thanks so much for your friendship. WallyK: Why dont you leave that sinking Argentine economy and come to San Francisco. You'll make lots of new friends and they have places here where people sing like you and no one even notices. Seriously Wally, meeting you was one of the things I looked forward to most and I just wish we could have had more time to chat. Come to SF and dinner is on us. Russ... Thanks for coming Russ and giving me the gift of your awesome tallent. hey Russ I hear they have this great stand-up piano at Atty Maes.....why not? Smurph- y- When you said goodby to me I realized that there were still so many people I hadnt had a chance to meet that i wish I did. Chris Marshall- stellar addition to the fest. Thanks for coming all the way across the pond to thrill and amaze us all. Victor! : Victor again sorry I missed your set thank God for the CD to come. Les Irvin: It is amazing what that little internet project you started turned into now isnt it. Lama, -thanks for your hard work which will leave all our memories for us to see. Great to see you again Jimmy. Amy: Loved your set Amy. John Van Tiel- Why is it that you never come to San Francisco. We even have two windmills and brisk winds off a real seacoast. Maybe you can bring a guitar player with you. Thanks for the incredible cheeze and helping me to rinse the plates. Anne Sandstrom: Thanks for sending me your incredible CD. It was great meeting you and also thanks for the work you did on the organizing of the churchfest. Next time I want to sing a duet, seriously. Claude, See above. Rose, mama mia they sure have neet people in jersey. Lorie Frye- Thanks for spending some time with me and us Lori. After all the email exchanges it was great to share some time. Gregg- Great stuff Greg. Let me know the next time you come to the left coast to perform. Kakki : Miss Los Angeles and I say that with affection. Can we share a martini together next time. That one sip you gave me was the only alchohol i had the entire fest. Now that cant happen again. See you in LA my soul sistah. Pearl and Steve, it was great to see you again Nikki, hey you are getting better every time i see you Nikki. Keep in mind, colds and atty maes happen. Its the nature of the music biz. I looooved the weight excpet it was hard for me to do my levon helm on lighterfluid imitation. Les Ross... I think we met in a past life at the crusades oh Lionheart. Thanks so much for your warmth and songs. You MUST come back. Yael...wish we could have had more time to talk about things. You got chutzpa girl. never lose it and see you att he next fest. Steve Polifka- Thanks for the thrill of Two Grey Rooms steevo. It was a treat. And thanks for those magical moves on the Ganja line. Love to all hugs to all. Marcel Deste ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2001 #386 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe ------- Siquomb, isn't she?