From: owner-lucy-list-digest@smoe.org (lucy-list-digest) To: lucy-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: lucy-list-digest V5 #65 Reply-To: lucy-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-lucy-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-lucy-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk lucy-list-digest Friday, March 21 2003 Volume 05 : Number 065 In this issue: [lucy-list] Lucy on WFUV 3/20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 23:57:30 -0500 From: "Benay Bubar" Subject: [lucy-list] Lucy on WFUV 3/20 It's hard to know how to begin posting here now that war has started. It feels frivolous not to mention it; it feels frivolous in a way to say ANYTHING about music. But I've been listening to WFUV all day, fuzzy reception and all, and it seems they're doing things like this: they have war news every hour, and then they have music, and then they talk about protests, and then they talk about something like meditation, and then more music...and it is that balance that has been carrying me through, and sometimes that has more impact than a steady barrage of news would. It hasn't seemed frivolous. And when Lucy came on this morning, she didn't mention the war, except in a passing reference to having arrived at WFUV VERY early because she'd been afraid of traffic problems that hadn't materialized...but her being there didn't seem frivolous either. So I will say at the outset that my mind is occupied with MANY things besides Lucy right now, but that I am going to post anyway, because it is a huge universe and there is still some space, however small and hidden it sometimes may be, in which this too---a small good thing---matters. Lucy's spot on WFUV started at 10:30 this morning (EST) and lasted maybe half an hour. I only got to listen to it live for the first 15 minutes or so, which I spent standing at my desk holding my hand, soothsayer-like, over my radio in hopes of improving the reception (REALLY inconspicuous thing to do in the midst of a busy work day, of course). Then I got a call that unexpectedly a student from my college was having an informational interview at my workplace---would I like to come meet her? No, actually...I wanted to listen to Lucy...but I had no choice but to haul myself over to where she was and attempt to be wise and mentor-like, and then by the time I got back, Lucy's interview was over. I did luckily manage to attain a rather fuzzy tape of it, from which I was able to discern what had happened! So Lucy was at WFUV to promote the Joni Mitchell festival at Symphony Space on Saturday. They played Every Single Day from the CD, and then she talked about hearing Joni Mitchell for the first time as a teenager...then she played Written on the Back of His Hand live and talked about how surprised she was that she hadn't forgotten any words, since she usually never forgot words but it was scarier on the radio. "You NEVER forget words? Even live onstage?" asked the interviewer. She then admitted that she DID forget words during shows on occasion. (Lucky for her she admitted it, or somebody down the line---like maybe me---just might have managed to tease her about it eventually!) But I'm sure she's right that it's a lot scarier on the radio. They talked about how Lucy writes songs...she said the new album will be out probably in February or March, that she's writing more songs for it and already has "more than a couple...a FEW." She spoke of writing songs with Rick and how when she writes something that doesn't work, he says, "Lucy, that's just not good"...but how she can only tell from audiences what's not good based on the songs people DON'T come talk to her about, because people are too nice to say anything bad to her. She then played This Is Home, which she said happened to have been relatively easy to write compared to some others. Finally, more talk of Joni Mitchell and the Symphony Space event...and about covers of songs (where somebody adds their own stamp to someone else's song) vs. "redos," the nontechnical term for when somebody just sings someone else's song without adding anything to it! And how Lucy has never really tried to cover Joni Mitchell---though she has performed Carey occasionally (because someone told her when she did it at a soundcheck that she should perform it), she had only performed Willy by herself in her bedroom, on guitar, before she recently tried it on piano at a show (I think she was referring to the 2/14 Purchase show as its piano debut). She seemed VERY nervous as she admitted that she was going to perform Willy right there on WFUV...the first time she'd ever played piano on the radio, she said. She proceeded to do a BEAUTIFUL rendition of Willy, after which the interviewer remarked that she seemed relieved it was over and she said, "I hope I didn't mess it up!" Nope, it was great...she shouldn't have worried. And finally they played Lucy's "guest DJ" pick---A Case of You by Joni Mitchell. The interview sounded a little awkward at moments...I've forgotten the interviewer's name, but it wasn't any of the WFUV people I'm very familiar with, and it seemed as if maybe he didn't particularly know Lucy or her music, though he was perfectly nice and perfectly interested. And after all, probably Lucy's not the VERY easiest interview...you don't get the feeling she has 10,000 spontaneous fascinating stories she could tell off the cuff, but rather that she has maybe 15 things she's prepared to say ON THE RADIO and might pull out five or six of them depending on what comes up (if that's the case, I don't blame her...that's how I'd do it too, I'm sure, if I ever had to be on the radio)...though surely she's not the hardest interview either. Anyway, Lucy pulled this interview off very well overall and did not say anything to ruin her life (as she is wont to worry about when it comes to live radio). As far as I was concerned, she did perfectly, and that interview was like a small gift---especially on a day when, in general, some of us were finding it very hard to speak about anything at all. Benay ------------------------------ End of lucy-list-digest V5 #65 ****************************** This has been a posting from the Lucy Kaplansky mail list digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe lucy-list-digest" in the body of the message