From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2006 #45 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org 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 Sunday, February 5 2006 Volume 2006 : Number 045 Win a free VIP ticket to Carnegie Hall! details: jmdl.com/winvip.cfm ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: View my photos [RoseMJoy@aol.com] Woke up it was a New York Morning... ["Cassy" ] Forgive my omissions! ["Sherelle Smith" ] RE: Hooded Meshell ["Sherelle Smith" ] Re: Tributelations, njc ["Sherelle Smith" ] Re: Woke up it was a New York Morning... [Michael Paz ] People's Parties ["Cassy" ] Night In The City photos [PassScribe@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 19:26:51 EST From: RoseMJoy@aol.com Subject: Re: View my photos In a message dated 2/4/2006 6:39:51 PM Eastern Standard Time, passscribe@aol.com writes: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7uz5qf0.147dhvjg&x=1&y=n5gcme These are great Kenny! Thank you... Rosie ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 19:39:49 -0500 From: "Cassy" Subject: Woke up it was a New York Morning... It's going to take me more than one attempt to tell the story of my New York trip and to be honest... some of what happened in New York will stay in New York - my lips are sealed, I promised! I couldn't sleep at all the night before I left, I got maybe a couple of hours sleep at most and felt a little bit dazed as I left home. Arriving in NY I found a shuttle into Manhattan and went directly to my hotel. I'd made arrangements for an early check-in and was pleasantly surprised to get to my room early enough to call other JMDLers for lunch. Paz phoned a friend of a friend who was working Carnegie Hall for the show. We were very lucky to be invited in to hang around for sound-check and were seated in the front of the house while Jessie Malin was playing Carey. As it turned out, Jessie's band members played 5 or 6 songs as the "house" band for the night. They did a phenomenal job as back up musicians. It's never easy to play with complete strangers but they acquitted themselves beautifully. There were rehearsal halls on the floors above the stage where the actual music were settled prior to hitting the stage for final set-up. Once on stage each of the performers sound-checked and their settings were "saved to a file" for the evening performance, that's how the transitions went so smoothly from artist to artist... they plugged in, their file was brought up on the computer and away they went. It was interesting to observe as the artists asked for more kick or less piano etc. I was enthralled. Looking to my left I saw Amy Grant and Vince Gill walk in with a friend of theirs. Amy got busy setting up and Vince walked over to each of us and shook hands, introduced himself and we chatted a bit before he sat down to watch his wife. What a nice man! Amy sang, the sound tech saved her file and she came down to spend a few minutes with us too before heading out. Julius wanted to go and check out Citigroup Cafe so we left briefly to do that and Paz headed backstage to visit. When we left the cafe to head back in, I thought Julius was behind me so I walked directly up onto the stage to go backstage, find Paz and tell him we were leaving. When I looked behind me no Julius! I stopped in my tracks half way along the left side of the stage to wait but no one arrived. I had met Harry, Jessie Malin's tour manager, a few minutes earlier and was chatting with him a bit when I heard strains of "Help Me". The band and the back up vocalists were doing their check but Michelle Williams was late arriving and they had no lead for the check. I was just standing along the side singing lead with them and Harry nudged me he said "there's an open mike up there". I thought I'd died and gone to heaven... singing on the stage at Carnegie Hall! I was a bit shy about just walking over and singing at the mike but I belted it out anyway. After I left, all awash with emotion and spinning from the excitement I was walking to the door and in walked Judy Collins! I shook her hand, said hello and was, frankly, in too much of a tizzy to do much else at that moment. What an experience. The dream of a lifetime! I hooked up with Julius and Paz outside and probably gushed. They told me they had heard "someone" singing and I said "it was ME!" I will never forget it as long as I live. I am reliving that sense of wonder now as I type. More to come... ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:51:52 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Forgive my omissions! Please forgive me for omitting any artists from my review! That was not my intention especially with Little Jimmy Scott! My goodness he did a fantastic job!!! He gave me goosebumps! He was so regal in his white suit and had so much class and style. Unfortunately, this was my first time hearing him live and I was filled with regret for not hearing him in earlier years! I feel bad for everyone whose performances were not up to par. I know that their hearts were in it for sure. I kept wondering how many on the stage let the fact that they were playing Carnegie Hall enter their minds and if those thoughts affected their performance in any way. I couldn't help thinking each time someone took the stage, "They're playing Carnegie Hall! They're playing Carnegie Hall!!!" I was in awe for them!!! Love, Sherelle ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:56:27 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: RE: Hooded Meshell Oh wow! I did not know this about her. I was getting into my interpretation of her performance (not wanting to be in the limelight but instead giving it to the music). I didn't judge her at all though. I was in awe of her. She could stand on her head behind a curtain and I would still like her. I'm so sorry that it is such a struggle for her to be onstage. Thanks for letting us know. I deeply appreciate it! Sherelle >From: whizzboom@comcast.net >To: sherellesmith@hotmail.com >CC: joni@smoe.org >Subject: Hooded Meshell >Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 16:10:32 +0000 > >Just a quick note, since I'm sure others were wondering about this... > >Me'Shell has epilepsy - so the bright lights are bothersome to her. It's >one of the reasons she's been socnsidering retiring from live performance, >b/c even though she always has extra signs posted about this, pp still >insist on using flash photography when she's on stage...I watched her cut a >set short once b/c of it, and I was really annoyed (at the crowd). > >Cheers, >Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2006 01:18:06 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: Tributelations, njc Em I am so sorry for your losses! You lost a dear companion. Pets give love unconditionally which makes their loss all that much harder. I'm also sorry about the death of your boss, your partner's abscessed tooth (I've had one, very painful!) and the mishap with the stolen van hitting your house. I've had time to think about Joni not being there and I've found my peace with it. One article I read spoke of how intimidated the artists at her last tribute felt with her being in the audience and I remember Shawn Colvin openly admitting she was sweating bullets because of Joni's prescence while she was onstage. I believe that being the subject of a tribute concert has been and still is a source of emotional conflict for her. When the Cowboy Junkies sang "River" it brought me to tears. There is a line in the song where she wishes she could just be done with the whole "music" thing just skate away and I hung my head when those words were so beautifully sung. I felt like I had to let her go. She is so uncomfortable with her fame and her legacy anymore and I can only imagine the struggle she is going through. I've never seen Joni in any capacity and probably never will but I will always love her open and honest musical heart. Her life has been conflicted since day one and I guess that's what I've always accepted and appreciated about her. Sherelle Em wrote: My ailing dog is one of the main reasons I was unable to go. And indeed she passed away on Tuesday. Also my boss died late last week, and early Saturday morning (while my dog was having a seizure) my house was struck by a stolen van. And then Sunday my partner had to be taken to the walk in clinic with a swollen jaw from an abcessed tooth. So I was soooooooooooooo not supposed to go to New York. Maybe things stacked up against Joni that way too. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 04 Feb 2006 19:28:06 -0600 From: Michael Paz Subject: Re: Woke up it was a New York Morning... Thanks very much Cassy. My lips are sealed too although I was a little breathey there in some of my accounts of the week in NYC. See you in Vegas! ;-) Love Paz NP-Tinted Glass Sonya Kitchell > It's going to take me more than one attempt to tell the story of my New York > trip and to be honest... some of what happened in New York will stay in New > York - my lips are sealed, I promised! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 04:24:21 +0100 From: "Laurent Olszer" Subject: view my photos, njc Hey Michael, Problem is I only recognize SCBob in the photos. Who is who please ? Laurent ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 22:51:10 -0500 From: "Cassy" Subject: People's Parties I took a few minutes to hook up with Sherelle, Donna and Gary and then went to the lobby of the hotel to meet with others from the group. I met the enigmatic Lynn Skinner and immediately felt as though I'd met a soul-sister, what a gracious and kind woman she is, not to mention talented. Forgive me for not remembering everyone's names, I met so many people over the last few days it's difficult to keep them straight (not that I'd try to keep anyone straight who chooses not to be). Julius, Julius, Julius... How can I begin to thank you for the fabulous party you hosted? Your friend Kelly was such a delight to hang out with and as you performed your social-butterfly duties she and I spent quite a bit of time together as she began to understand that the JMDL isn't always "only-Joni". The performances were a lot of fun as everyone joined in at-will and sang their hearts out too. Rose showed us all a new photo she'd received and it was spectacular. Leading up to the pre-show party, I'd been keeping track of RSVPs because I was making JMDL pins for everyone, it was a fun little project and I enjoyed it though some of the pins were less than perfect... hell they were free so I didn't get any complaints. My idea was to commemorate the merging of the JMDL site with JoniMitchell.com AND the Carnegie Hall tribute in one pin and since the original JMDL artwork was, in my humble opinion, really good I didn't want to reinvent the wheel and design something totally new so I just modified it very slightly and it came out pretty good. It was a great opportunity for me to meet each person who attended personally as I handed them their party favours. It seemed a good way also to identify everyone as part of the group. As the time for the "VIP" cocktail party approached several of us departed and made our way into the designated area. I was surprised that no one took our tickets or even bothered to look at them as we entered... I spent the additional money why? Oh yeah... it was for charity. On entering the area, no "stars" were immediately apparent but they began to trickle in over the next little while. I personally met: Suzanne Vega, Lou Reed, Phoebe Snow, Richie Havens, Eels, the band for Jessie Malin (Harry told me Jessie would not be attending he was downstairs throwing up from stage fright) Amy Grant (again) Sonya Kitchell and Laurie Anderson. I had a photo taken with Richie Havens and when I asked someone to take my photo with Suzanne Vega my battery died !!#*!&* I was so disappointed. Kindly, Barbara offered to get a photo for me with Lou and Suzanne and Gary took one of me with Phoebe Snow. Another woman (the one who won the auction for the Joni jacket on eBay - forgive my memory lapse of your name) took a couple of others. What a pistol huh? A couple of notes regarding meeting the artists: - - Phoebe Snow was mightily hurt that she wasn't asked to sing for the tribute, she had spoken with the producers when she found out about it and they turned her down saying the "program was full". She was telling Gary and I that she is a huge Joni fan and desperately wanted to perform at this event but that it mustn't have been in the stars. I could tell she was disappointed that more people hadn't recognized her. I had had each of the artists sign my "Complete Poems & Lyrics" book on the page of the song they sang (Amy Grant was upset she hadn't thought of bringing her own copy to do the same) so I asked Ms. Snow what her favourite Joni Album was she said "Blue, of course" so I had her sign the title page for that Album, she was thrilled and wrote "Phoebe Snow loves Joni Mitchell" and signed. - - Lou Reed was not scheduled to perform either and spent much of his time escorting Suzanne Vega around during the early part of the event. I asked him what HIS favourite Album was and he answered "Hejira" but then turned to Suzanne and quietly asked her which album something I couldn't hear was on, then turned back to me and changed his answer to "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter" so he signed that title page. Lou Reed has a really bad reputation for being a son of a bitch when it comes to socializing. I've heard horror stories of him snapping rude remarks to fans who ask for autographs, even his peers don't have much nice to say about his social skills. The night of the tribute he was an angel. He hugged people, posed for photos, signed autographs, laughed and joked with people... I was stunned. - - Ms. Vega seemed bemused by the goings on and though she signed and posed for photos with grace she was obviously intimidated by the crowd, or stoned, I didn't know which. - - Richie Havens... wow! I felt his energy from five feet away and when he signed and gave me a hug I never wanted him to let go of me, he gave off so much positive vibe I felt as if I was getting everything I needed without ever having known I needed it in the first place. He laughed and talked and more importantly he listened to what people said to him too. - - Jessie Malin's band members were just tickled to have even been recognized. They talked with me for quite a time about the whole experience of playing Carnegie Hall with musical icons and being among them. They were genuinely humbled by the experience and they thanked me as much for my recognition of them as I did for their time in signing my book. We talked a little about the afternoon soundcheck, about Amy Grant wanting brushes on the drums and not sticks. They were surprised at how observant I'd been about a few mistakes they'd made and laughed easily. A real pleasure to meet these guys before they get "big". - - Eels have big egos. They initially behaved as though it were an inconvenience to sign autographs and said they were just about to leave. I raised my eyebrows a little in the direction of Mark Oliver Everett ("E") and just stared into his eyes for a second and he said "Ok, I guess we could do that for you" so I got him to sign then his band mates, he joked with his autograph that he hadn't written "All I Want" and stated to me he wished he had. His bass player is so tall and the other guy has the second most beautiful blue eyes I've ever had the pleasure to gaze into (Kevin Montgomery - - son of former Cricket Bob Montgomery - has the very best). It was time to go into the show so I picked up a little bag of goodies they had for the VIP attendees and realized there were way more than they needed. I grabbed an extra one and ran it down to the cafe so we could perhaps raffle it off later then ran back upstairs. Towards the tail-end of the crowd entering the hall I spoke to the ladies giving out the bags and asked if I could have a few extra for our friends who had been in the coffee shop for a private party. They checked with their boss and he said "sure" so I also took enough for Paz, Kay, Patrick and Julius who had organized the events for our NY "fest". I was hoping to get one to auction off at the later event but there weren't any more. There were lovely commemorative posters of the show in the bags. It was lovely rubbing shoulders with musicians whose music I've admired. Like Bob, I wish the cocktail party had been after the concert so I would have recognize more people but those I did recognize were worth the additional cost. Besides they had free drinks. More to come... ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 23:53:06 EST From: PassScribe@aol.com Subject: Night In The City photos For those of you who may have had problems viewing my photos of the "Night In The City", this link seems to take you right there. Hope it works for you... http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=7uz5qf0.147dhvjg&x=1&y=n5gcme Kenny B ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2006 #45 **************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------