From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2013 #741 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://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Wednesday, June 19 2013 Volume 2013 : Number 741 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: A Luminous Joni at Luminato. Night One. [Anita Subject: Re: A Luminous Joni at Luminato. Night One. John, just got up this morning to read your wonderful review. You may not post much but this has to be worth waiting for. And I didn't see Joni 'singing' coming at all! Yet you seemed to know it in your bones - brilliant! I'm thinking of Marlene Dietrich from your description. Thanks for sharing the excitement! Anita On 19 Jun 2013, at 05:43, johncalimee@frontier.com wrote: > Hi to Everyone! > > The first night of Joni at Luminato was an electrifying hit. > Giving the spoiler away up front, at the end of a stellar second act, Joni took the stage and performed 'That Rain.' Then to everyone's surprise Joni remained on stage and sang 2 songs: Furry Sings the Blues and with help from the evening's performers, Woodstock. It was the perfect end to an almost perfect night. > > First, the musicians were in top form. The artistry was amazing. Anchored by the stellar performance of percussionist Jeff Haynes and the spirited play of Brian Blade. From the farthest back row you could see the joy in their faces and the snap to their beat. The arrangements were challenging, complex, completely faithful to Joni's arrangements and yet completely fresh and unique. Everyone brought something special to the table. > > The only bomb of the night was Rufus Wainright's first go around. He was the HAM and the CHEESE with his 'lounge lizard' rendition of Help Me (???) -I can't remember I blocked it out. > The guy was frozen in his wiggly performance as he stared at the floor stage right following the teleprompter so he'd get the lyrics right. To his credit he made amends in the second half of the show with a stirring take on Slouching Towards Bethlehem as an Irish lament. He phrased it better. > > The most out on the limb performance came from Cold Specks. She took Black Crow and utterly reinvented it as a southern plantation slave lament, more spoken than sung. For a song already lacking in easy melodic turns, she cast all of it aside to make the imagery of a black crow less crow and more the dark pit of psychological angst. I imagine half the audience did not get it. I was thrilled by the audacity of it. And I'm sure Joni was deeply pleased. As Rufus finished off the night with Free Man in Paris, Joni sat along the far wall with the other singers and spent the time rocking to the music, but mostly chatting with Ms. Specks. > > I was right in my expectation that her reading from Emily Carr was in fact a song in gestation! I knew it! I knew it! Before she started in on her 'reading', Joni mentioned that the poem had not been set to a melody. -Yet. Although on one, maybe 2 lines she did scat a few of the words. So bar anything going wrong, 'That Rain' is likely to join the canon of Joni Mitchell songs... and if her health holds out, maybe a few more. She did not look like a woman ready to pack it in. > > By the successful end of her reading/acting of Emily Carr, one could sense her worries lifting away and she dove whole hog into the two songs. True, she is spot on when she says she's down to a few notes. Her voice is thread bare. She spoke half of Furry, if not more. But she made the best of what little voice she had left. To squeeze the story out of the lines fresh she improvised her phrasing and melody with the aplomb and nuance of a savvy jazz singer. Hand gestures. Hips swaying. And a smile beaming across her face. > > The person who seemed most 'ill' tonight was Glen Hansard. On more than a few occasions he turned to his fellow stage members clutching high on his chest as if to say to them he was having problems. He usually spats out his lines with energy, but here he slid as gracefully as he could. And on those elegant vocal trills his voice was barely audible. He was still good. Very good. But in comparison to his LA performance, he was under the weather. > > Anyway, the show was deeply emotional. No one expected Joni to sing. It was icing on the cake. > > Anyway, that's that. I haven't posted to the list in AGES. But I promised Lisa and John Sornberge that I would. It turns out they were sitting in the row just behind me and my Richard. There was a bit of musical chairs going on behind us, as Rich had worn his tall suit to the performance and Lisa could not see over his head. Thankfully it all worked out. I got to chat with the authors of Gathering Light AND watch an exceptional musical performance AND watch Joni take the stage... > > j. > > p.s. I dare say if people found Joni's old voice to be a shell of itself, the flame war over her present voice will be World War 3. She's turning 70. Creatively, she's 50. And vocally she's 103. -And for 2013, I am thrilled beyond thrilled to have it. ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2013 #741 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------