Terry [EMAIL PROTECTED] asked:

> Will the book be available in the US? Or must one order it via Amazon UK?

The latest, according to Karen, 

> "the US release is currently being negotiated 
> and should be finalised soon .  And as for 
> Canada -- the book is being released there 
> this month !"

Sounds like "the bio has landed" from US orders
to Amazon.co.uk OK - but I'd also encourage 
y'all to order from the Helter Skelter bookshop - 
I have nothing to do with the shop myself, other 
than being a regular visitor, but as a Londoner, 
I  would love to see this specialist contemporary 
music bookshop survive and prosper.  It's been
on Denmark Street for a couple of years now,
(for those who don't know, Denmark Street, off
Charing Cross Road, used to be known as the 
'Tin Pan Alley of London' and today is almost 
totally guitar/music shops. Helter Skelter is 
opposite Andy's and the 12 Bar Club.  
website: http://www.skelter.demon.co.uk
e-mail  : [EMAIL PROTECTED]

They have a great selection of contemporary
music books  - this year I've also read the Clinton 
Heylin's bio of Sandy Denny, 'No More Sad Refraims', 
Colin Harper's bio of Bert Jansch, 'Dazzling Stranger' 
and David Hajdu's 'Positively 4th Street - the lives and 
times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina 
and Richard Farina', and have been temped to buy
several others, including the James Taylor bio. 

Talking of Sandy Denny, recently there's been 
an interesting thread on the Sandy list sparked
off by a list member who was concerned over
his wife's lack of self-esteem.  Sandy suffered 
badly from this, as a quote from Fairport's Dave
Pegg in Karen O'Brien's biography indicates:

>"[Sandy] just didn't know how good she was, really.
> She never thought she sang well, and she never
> thought much of her songs.  We all loved them. She'd
> go, 'Oh, you all love Joni Mitchell.  She's much better
> than me'. We'd go, 'No, Sandy. You're as good as she
> is.' But [there was] this dreadful insecurity - about
> everything.

to which the Sandy list-member replied:

>Re Joni Mitchell: Another long-term fave, 'Blue' has
>to be one of the world's best statements of the human
>condition. 

to which I replied:

According to Karen O'Brien

>"Much of Denny's own material could be interpreted
>as biographical, and she had referred to 'Blue' in her
>song 'Makes Me Think of You' which was only ever
>recorded as a demo.  The song is shot through with
>Denny's sadness at her deteriorating marriage to
>Trevor Lucas:

>   ....The albums strewn without their clothes
>       Gather dust among the grooves
>       The only one I play is 'Blue'
>       It makes me think of you....
>

Karen also mentions the 1968 Festival of Contemporary
Song at the Royal Festival Hall when Joni appeared with
Fairport Convention, Jackson C Frank, and Al Stewart.

I would love to hear from anyone who can remember that.
The late lamented Jackson C Frank's one and only album
has been a favourite of mine since my schooldays.  I also 
didn't know that Joni had toured the UK with The Incredible 
String Band. Anyone see any of those shows?

PaulC

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