From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2011 #241 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 Website: http://jmdl.com JMDL Digest Saturday, August 20 2011 Volume 2011 : Number 241 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Last night... [Bob Muller ] Re: Last night..., NJC [LC Stanley ] No regrets, coyotes [Steve Dulson ] Joni's Jazz - Jonifest - All That Jazz... [Bob Muller ] Re: No regrets, coyotes [Catherine McKay ] Re: Two Grey Rooms ["Mark" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 05:21:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Muller Subject: Re: Last night... Hi Cassy - I'm glad you got a bit of consolation anyway...I just returned from LA late last night (yes, I know the festivities are still going on over there) and will post my write-up later today (I hope). It was a hoot of course and your cool badges were on display all over our nook at the Bowl. Thanks so much for another commemorative trinket. Bob NP: The Strokes, "Angles" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:11:07 -0700 From: LC Stanley Subject: Re: Last night..., NJC Cassy, Here is most of the song Paz sang for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDv2imbF8LM&feature=youtube_gdata_player I missed you! Love, Laura On Aug 18, 2011, at 1:27 PM, Michael Paz wrote: > How wonderful! We have missed you both so much. I dedicated # 41 to you night > before last at the FarBar. Congrats on the new house! > > Love > > Paz > > > Michael Paz > michael@thepazgroup.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:19:28 -0400 From: Steve Dulson Subject: No regrets, coyotes Glen Hansard's version of Coyote on Wednesday was the high point of the concert for me. While driving down from Lesli and Pete's house last night, two coyotes crossed the road in front of us - successfully. *************************************************** Steve Dulson Costa Mesa CA FAR-West (Folk Alliance Region - West) tinkersown@ca.rr.com www.far-west.org ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:15:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Muller Subject: Joni's Jazz - Jonifest - All That Jazz... Hopefully I can capture some of the great fun and music of the past couple of days. I flew into LA on Tuesday and was met at the airport by Roch, a longtime JMDL'er lurker who was happy to pitch in and help and I have to start by saying how much I appreciated meeting him and his generous spirit. Imagine picking up a total stranger and providing customized chauffer service all over LA for a couple days. Only in JMDL-land does such a thing happen! We went straight from LAX to the Kyoto, where Michael had scored us a great deal on some really nice rooms and I bumped into Dave & Robin right away. Went straight to the lounge and soon was joined by Steve Dulson, (Gentamen) Jim, Jack Merkel, Les, Richard, Jody, Ashara and a host of others, swapping stories and catching up. That led us to the Far Bar, a nearby joint that Kakki had scouted out, and it was perfect. Great beer selection - me and Happy/Craig tried to run the table but didn't get very far. More longtime friends came in; Kay, Phyliss, Julius, Laura, Pearl & Steve, Lesli, Pete, Patti, Jody and you know there may be more. Dave and Robin set up and played their usual superb stuff - Crazy Cries of Love, Lucky Girl, Silky Veils, and Kay, Michael and others provided more excellent tuneage. Sue Tierney came late but we were still going strong. A fun time. Wednesday came and I tagged along with Steve D, Michelle, and Sue to have lunch at Musso & Frank, a famous LA eatery. Felt like I was in a 30's film noir - what a cool place and the food was also great. What made the trip was getting the guided Hollywood Boulevard tour by Steve - seeing the Whiskey A-Go-Go, the old A&M studios where Joni recorded, and even cruising Laurel Canyon. You couldn't blink and not miss some famous cultural landmark, it was great fun. We made it back to the Kyoto and went to party central otherwise known as Michael's suite. Sherelle had joined in by then as did Lindsay, Alison and her sister Nicole. I really enjoyed Richard's dobro playing! But the time had come to head to the bowl... Once again it was Roch to the rescue - he drove me, Alison and Nicole to the bowl with a beverage stop along the way which was pretty funny. The day was beautiful, perfect weather-wise, and the picnic spot where we ate, drank, and mingled before the show was a bunch of fun. Once again we were treated to Dave, Robin and the Mutts delivering some tasty Joni jazz and more folks showed up there too, like Jimmy and Ed and David Marine. It was great to meet him after all these years and he promised to be a better contributor (OK David, it's in writing so I'm looking forward to hearing from you). Was particularly nice to hang out with Jody and catch up with her. But now it was time to head inside. It was my first time in LA, first time at the Hollywood Bowl - what a venue, like Chastain Park on steroids! It just kept on going. Didn't fill up but there was a big crowd. We had decent seats with a view of the screens where you could see the close-ups and the sound was really great. Herbie came out and introduced the night and the vocalists. He spoke of the 1974-1979 run from C&S to Mingus, and Aimee Mann kicked things off with Court and Spark. Well, I'm not a Mann fan and I thought she was pretty bad. Her voice has that flat monotone quality and she sings with no emotion and for me it just sucked the life out of the songs. I mean, Joni's songs are nothing if not for FEELING and she just gave none that I heard. I won't mention the other songs she did because they were instantly forgettable. The only saving grace was the AMAZING band she had playing behind her. The opposite of Aimee was Glan Hansard - OMG, he was off the charts. He did Coyote with all the energy and feeling and spot on the lyrics intensity it requires, and at the end when Shorter stepped up and they duetted on a jam it was incredible. Everything he did (Boho Dance, Shadows & Light) was equally incredible. He was supposed to have done Otis and Marlena which would have been amazing I'm sure. Got cut unfortunately - wish Aimee Mann's FMIP had been instead. Cassandra Wilson was just as smokin', particularly on Hejira which brought the tears to my eyes. Her smoky alto just really suits that period. Her Help Me was one of the best I ever heard, just filled with gut-wrenching desperation and emotion. At one point she just chanted "Help Me, Help Me" about 8 times, now I don't know if she was buying time trying to remember the next line or not but I thought it was brilliant. Chaka Khan was...well, she was Chaka Khan. I loved her "People's Parties" (which she said she got instantly) and "Don't Interrupt The Sorrow" (which she said was late coming to her and we debated if it's even possible to "get" DITS), she did get a bit carried away with the Chaka-screech thing she does, in almost every case it did nothing for the song and made her forget the words. "We got high on alcohol, and we got drunk on love..." She would have done better to tone down the grandstanding wailing and focus on the lyrics of the song. Kurt Elling was clearly having a good time - his style was very loose and loungy, and he really killed on Dry Cleaner and Black Crow, adding a verse from Blackbird at the end - very cool. I will have to check him out further. As always, the memory of exactly who did what is escaping, so hopefully the others can fill in the gaps in my reporting. There was a program which I didn't get, it also showed Wolf That Lives in Lindsay by Brian Blade but that also didn't happen which was a shame. While the arrangements were amazingly true to Joni's own, it made for a little unoriginality. The one high spot of the whole night was the BAND; Greg Liesz was simply amazing on guitar and dobro, always adding color and texture without taking the spotlight. Mark Isham and Tom Scott made a solid horn section (an understatement) and Jon Cowherd did equally amazing work on the piano. Herbie himself only played on a handful of songs as did Shorter; still, just being in the presence of these giants of the jazz world was humbling and unforgettable. Brian Blade introduced their performance of HOSL by reading the famous liner notes which I thought was really cool. There was no encore and I thought the evening ended too quick - then again I'm used to the Jonifest jam sessions that go on to the wee hours (like we did later that night). There was nothing from DJRD (criminal), only 1 song from Mingus (disappointing), Joni didn't make an appearance (shame on her), but rather than focus on the disappointments I will rather remember the highlights of what was for the most part a magical and musical night, enjoying some of the best music of our lifetime with some of my best friends in the world. Bob NP: The Strokes, "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:25:51 +0100 From: Anita Subject: Joni's Jazz > Bob,what an informative and evocative post,with your usual attention to detail.You certainly have captured a great deal that gives those of us who weren't there a sense of Joni's Jazz and lots more,too.Thank you! > > > Anita x > > Sent from my iPod > > On 19 Aug 2011, at 20:15, Bob Muller wrote: > >> Hopefully I can capture some of the great fun and music of the past couple of >> days. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:25:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: No regrets, coyotes Although I was not there, I would not be surprised to hear about how well Glen Hansard might sing anything. I've seen him with Marketa Irglova (The Swell Season) in concert, and he is absolutely brilliant. There were a couple of his own songs and a few of Van Morrison's that he covered the night I saw them that had me in tears. >________________________________ >From: Steve Dulson >To: jonijazz@yahoogroups.com >Cc: joni@smoe.org >Sent: Friday, August 19, 2011 2:19:28 PM >Subject: No regrets, coyotes > >Glen Hansard's version of Coyote on Wednesday was the high >point of the concert for me. > >While driving down from Lesli and Pete's house last night, two >coyotes crossed the road in front of us - successfully. > >*************************************************** >Steve Dulson Costa Mesa CA >FAR-West (Folk Alliance Region - West) >tinkersown@ca.rr.com www.far-west.org ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:00:24 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: Two Grey Rooms In case anyone else (like me until I just watched it a few minutes ago) has never seen the video for Two Grey Rooms, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjDi_plwi5A&feature=related Thanks to Suze Cameron. Mark in Seattle - -----Original Message----- From: Jamie Zubairi Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 11:28 PM To: ava rosenblum Cc: joni@smoe.org Subject: Re: Two Grey Rooms Just to note on the video compilation which has Two Grey Rooms within it, Joni says she came across this story "about a fella, someone from Fassbender's scene" whereas Wikipedia (which often gets things wrong) claims it's Fassbender himself. I can't imagine if Fassbender were gay that he'd hole himself up out of the public eye just to watch someone walk past twice a day. I love the story though, and the song. And the opening chord sequence. Jamie Zubairi Sent from my iPhone On 18 Aug 2011, at 04:38, ava rosenblum wrote: > i was listening to Two Grey Rooms tonight on NRH. The lyrics are so > intriguing that I looked online to see of there is a story behind > them. What a fascinating portrait created by JM. Thought some of you > who didn't know this would be similarly intrigued. > > >> >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Grey_Rooms ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2011 #241 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, send to joni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------