Happy Birthday Mags!!!! That means that two of my favorite people were born on the same day - you and Russ!
And, for the Joni content, the biography is an interesting read. It fills in a bunch of details, but, of course, leads me to wonder about questions I never considered before. The thing I've found most surprising so far is what Joni said she would say if she were to do the introducion that Joan Baez asked her to during the Rolling Thunder Review. Frankly, I don't know what to make of it. She uses a word I never thought would escape her lips - and the one word I've never used. (it starts with 'n') Seeing as how I'm about to disappear for a week or so, I hope this doesn't start an interesting discussion on Joni and racial relations. (wait for me! wait for me! well, ok, you don't have to...) Anyway, the book touches on this subject a bit, especially Joni's dressing up as "Art Nouveau" on the cover of DJRD, and even in the line "while Muslims stick up Washington." It also talks about how she pissed off Furry Lewis, and the fact that she was frowned upon by some for being a "white chick" who collaborated with Mingus. Frankly, I've always been uncomfortable with Joni's dressing in blackface. But then again, I have a certain narrow prejudice myself that unless you grew up in a neighborhood in racial turmoil you couldn't truly understand the complexities of racial relations. I realize I'm wrong about that, but I guess it gives me the attitude of "well, I didn't have a lot of what others seemed to have, growing up, but I did have the first hand experience of cultural clashes and attempts to resolve them from a very early age". Anyway, the book is quite interesting. And there are references to us, both directly and indirectly, including general quotes from discussions we've had. (Remember the Urge for Going thread of a couple of years ago?) So, I guess we're famous... lots of love Anne
