Oh get out! How lucky can two JMDLers get?! What a thrill for you both ... I'm so happy for you. Next time keep buying her drinks until we get there ;-)
Best to you both - Heather At 01:34 AM 9/30/01 -0700, Kakki wrote: >Joni was so great today! She and a friend, both with little dogs came and >took a seat on the outside patio (only place to smoke) at the Daily Grill. >I was surprised to see her with a dog! Coco, the little, very lively >terrier was barking, yapping and yapping non-stop. Joni felt a little >self-conscious and was trying to calm her down and explaining to everyone >that Coco liked to bark at the birds. She would say a few times to all of >us sitting out there how Jack Russell terriers were bred to be >self-starters, independent and that they do not take well to being chained >up (Hehehe). At one point, she took the leash off and Coco was very happy >wandering around all our tables and NOT barking. Coco reminded me so much of >my dog years ago - part terrier and very much the same personality. So I >was telling Stephen about Daisy and Joni asked and we laughed about how they >rebel at being on the leash to the point of choking themselves and how they >can jump 5 feet straight up in the air and are so hyper, yet always sweet! >Meanwhile, Paula Abdul was sitting with a friend behind us and had gone up >and introduced herself to Joni and had a nice meeting with her. Later Paula >brought out pictures of her own dog to show Joni! So anyway, I was very >self-conscious and did not want to intrude on Joni. A large group of young >women came in and sat down at the patio. Almost immediately, one of them >started being VERY rude to Joni about Coco wandering about. Absolutely >rude. She went on about it being unsanitary about a dog near diners, etc., >blah, blah. Welllllll...., of course, Stephen and I gave Joni the eye that >we would be her "back up" and made a few light comments trying to laugh the >girl off. Joni was nice but also assertive with her and said "I'm sorry, I >just learned I can't bring the dog here, but she will bark if I leash her so >you have your choice - she wanders quietly or you can hear her bark >non-stop - it's your call!" The young punk, er, girl, told Joni quite >snottily to put the leash on. So the leash went on and then I said "Coco - >sing for us!!" Tee hee. Oh and yes, the cacophony started once again ;-) > >Somehow, a long, natural conversation began with Joni from there. She was >so open and honest right from the heart on many matters, including personal, >which I feel not right about sharing here but the point is that when you >have someone like Joni being so from the heart with basically strangers it >says something very profound about one's integrity - she is who she is in >all instances. I want to be so proper here about what she said, rather than >being just a blabbermouth. The first thing she brought up was what she kept >calling the "war." I asked her if she had been painting lately and she >immediately said "three since September 11th." She went on to explain to us >in great detail the various images she perceived from the WTC coverage - she >actually was taking photos of the TV footage with a "paper camera" trying to >capture everything. She saw many images and metaphors literally in the >smoke and said how difficult it was to capture them so fast. She had much >to say about it all. I still think we should wait to hear her words on >this - she sees it, of course, on a larger, global scale, prophetess that >she is. On related subjects that we spoke about, including the dismal state >of music these days, I opined that there hasn't been much good music since >the 60s. She disagreed with me and said that the real best music was back >in the 30s and 40 like Louis Armstrong. I said that I had also been >thinking about that lately - how those times were much worse for people than >today and yet they produced that music. She said - to the effect - that >yes, they could be so optimistic in the face of what was happening and >produce such life-affirming music and that was real integrity, real >strength. Yes, yes. > >We talked about so much - you know how she is from reading her interviews >and this was just one of the most incredible you have ever heard! We talked >about painting in general and her painting specifically. I mentioned that >Stephen and I were both painters and she wanted to know about Stephen's >paintings. I'll let him write more about that when he recovers ;-) We >talked about her next project coming up and she told us a lot that we >already knew from here - she is using the same crew - Vince Mendoza, and, as >she said her "ex-husband" ;-) We talked about Beethoven, Debussy and >Mozart. (Our heads were spinning ;-) She mentioned the reworking of her >songs but it is hard for me to articulate it now and relate it properly. Ya >had ta be there ;-D > >So - somehow I brought up about her not writing lately and she said she had >not been able to write for awhile. Then she said, "no one is interested >anymore in what I have to say." God. We immediately jumped in and said "OH >YES, WE ARE." And Stephen added emphatically "your listeners ARE." Then >she said that this event, the "war" HAS evoked her writing again. Oh yes! > >She talked about Robert Hilburn (our longtime music guru in L.A.) and how >he, for awhile, did not quite "get" her. I said that my impression was >always that Hilburn (who is so damn picky) adored her. Naw, she said, he >always told her that he didn't like her foray into jazz and she would tell >him that the folk music was not as creative as what she did with the jazz. >I told her that hey, there were albums I didn't "get" at first, either, but >I always thought that was my problem, not hers, and I just figured that she >was 20 years ahead of her time. She laughed and said she didn't "get" some >of the stuff she did, either ;-) I said that the critics who didn't get her >years ago certainly have reconsidered and get her now. She said, "well, I >never was writing to write "hit music." > >So I may think of more that is right to say here later, but for now, the >brilliant news is that she is very inspired to write again and we do need to >hear from her. > >Kakki, heart still beating like a hummingbird
