From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2009 #290 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/onlyjoni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com Unsubscribe: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe onlyJMDL Digest Monday, October 26 2009 Volume 2009 : Number 290 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: joni & the black man [Michael Paz ] Re: Joni and the Black Man [jrmco1@aol.com] Re: It's a boy! ["Donna Binkley" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 07:11:07 -0500 From: Michael Paz Subject: Re: joni & the black man Hi David- I was in Mexico City after we came back from Thailand in Nov 2007. We were invited to a concert at a nice jazz club and Gene was playing with a trio. Some of the guys in the band sat in with them and we had a great time. He was a very nice guy and I enjoyed talking to him. I dd not realize he had a Joni connection. He is my friend on Facebook. Next time you see him please remember me to him and send him good wishes from the PHJB. Best Paz On Oct 25, 2009, at 1:26 AM, Dflahm@aol.com wrote: I played a gig yesterday with Gene Perla, the bassist. He told me that he subbed for Jaco on one JM concert (Hollywood Bowl). He was a very close friend and musical partner of Don Alias. I asked him whether Don & JM had a personal thing going and he said "For about two years." He also said that when JM met G O'Keefe for the first time, she and Alias drove from LA to O'K's house (in NM?) and JM asked Alias to ring the doorbell; she wasn't up to it at that moment. Don Alias, now deceased, was black and if you have the original DJRD songbook, you can see (I'm pretty sure) him and Gene Perla on the drive-in screen opposite p. 65. I'm going to verify this with GP next time I see him, since he's never seen the book. The photo credits for the songbook are: Norman Seefe, Glen Christensen and Myrtle Anderson. This might shed some light on JM's blackface pictures on DJRD. DAVID LAHM Michael Paz michael@thepazgroup.com Tour Manager Preservation Hall Jazz Band http://www.preservationhall.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:00:20 -0400 From: jrmco1@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni and the Black Man Thank you for your reasoned point of view, David. From my perspective as an African American man, I believe the following to be a good primer on the history of "blackface," for starters. From this definition, one can more readily trace the Australian TV show, Joni and DJRD connections, I think. So, this from a reputable wikipedia-type website: "Blackface is a type of character performance in which performers paint their faces black (with burnt cork or greasepaint makeup) in a manner that presents a crude caricature of African features. This was a fairly common show-business phenomenon in the USA from 1828 through the 1930s (also enjoying some popularity in the UK and in parts of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century). It was often associated with the "Negro minstrel show" tradition of comedy and musical entertainment. Blackface was invented by a white comedian, Thomas D. Rice, who introduced the song "Jump Jim Crow" and an accompanying dance in his act in 1828. The song had a syncopated rhythm and purportedly recreated the dancing of a crippled black man Rice had seen in Cinncinnati, Ohio: bI wheel about and turn about and do just so, Ev'ry time I wheel about I jump Jim Crow.b Rice performed all over the country under the pseudonym Daddy Jim Crow. The name became attached to the Jim Crow laws that enforced segregation in the post-Civil-War period. While most commonly blackface denoted a white performer who would thus stereotype a black person, by 1840 African-American performers were also performing in blackface makeup. At the time, the stage also featured comic stereotypes of conniving Jews, cheap scotsmen, drunken Irishmen, ignorant Southerners, gullible rural folk, and the like. Blackface was essentially eliminated in the USA post-vaudeville when it became widely associated with racism and bigotry. While some performers of genuine talent performed in blackface (including Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, both white, and Bert Williams, the first black performer in vaudeville and on Broadway) today most people associate blackface mainly with the demeaning attitudes towards persons of African descent in that historic era. On the other hand, it has also been said that blackface entertainers did much to introduce African-American music and humor to white audiences. Certainly, white performers have continued to emulate black performers, but without the makeup. Frankie Lane, Johnny Ray, Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and his Comets, Mick Jagger and many, many more emulate a black style, both out of genuine admiration and out of recognition of the performance power of that style. Indeed, allusions to black style are virtually standard for rock and roll and pop music, not only at its beginnings, but up to the present day. From Led Zepplin's blues appropriations in the 1970s, which developed into heavy metal, through the careful emulation of the New Edition by the New Kids on the Block in the 1980s, which spawned the boy bands, to such white rapperrs as Eminem, Kid Rock, andVanilla Ice, the black style is a constant presence. Cartoons from the 1930s and later often feature characters in blackface as well as other racial caricatures. Such films were still being shown on television as late as the 1970s, but have rarely appeared since. Blackface and minstrelsy form the theme of Spike Lee's film bBamboozled.b It tells of a black television executive who reintroduces the old blackface style and is horrified by its success. TThe Black and White Minstrel show was a British musical variety show that featured blackface performers, and remained on British television until 1978. Related types of performances are yellowface, in which performers adopt Asian identities, brownface, for Latino or East Indian, and redface, for Native Americans. Whiteface is sometimes used to describe non-white actors performing white parts, although more commonly describes the clown or mime traditions of white makeup." - -Julius ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:37:10 -0500 From: "Donna Binkley" Subject: Re: It's a boy! Victor, I couldn't be happier for you! He'll have the beautiful talents of you both I'm sure. Please inform the JMDL of the album "Victor and Son" when it comes out... Donna Binkley >>> 10/22/2009 4:50 PM >>> Coltrane Daniel Johnson was born at 1:16pm. He's 6lb 5.9oz and 20 inches and has nice long fingers! Pictures are up on Facebook. More to come! Sent from Comcast Mobile This E-mail (including attachments) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC Sections 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. This electronic transmission (and any enclosures or attachments thereto) is for the protected by the attorney / client privilege. Any further distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited by law. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the author and destroy the message (and all attachments and enclosures thereto) immediately. ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2009 #290 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe