breaking years of lurking, I take the bit between my teeth and respond: James Leahy wrote:
>I first saw Joni perform live at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto >in early summer 1968. This marked the beginning of my obsession. I saw >her again in Montreal at Place des Arts in 1969, Toronto's Massey Hall >in 1969, and the Mariposa Festival again in 1969 -- that was her 'green >gown year.' Saw her again at Mariposa in 1970 (her 'golden gown year'), >which I believe was where she met James Taylor. That year marked the >final year she would officially appear at Mariposa (it was believed the >stars were ruining the festival). She did an impromptu concert there in >1971 (I caught the last part of BYT as I entered the festival grounds). The Mariposa Folk Festival began in Orillia -- 100 miles north of Toronto -- a year or two after I moved from there to the U.S. Alas I never had the privilege of seeing any of it, although before we left I *was* lucky enough to see Gordon Lightfoot play at the Orillia Opera House as half of a duo, then called The Two Tones (formerly The Two Timers). So much for the great Canadian folk tradition. I've seen Joni only once, at the Troubadour in L.A., in 1968 it must have been. I have a vague recollection that she had the (unfinished?) painting to CLOUDS on stage with her, and she sang a lot of songs from that forthcoming album. Explained that "fear is like a wilderland" in I Think I Understand was inspired by Tolkien. Sang "a medley of [her] hit," Both Sides Now, and as an encore led the audience in singing along to The Circle Game, with help from Buffy St. Marie on the ground floor and Graham Nash upstairs. ><snip> >To tell the truth, none of these concerts matched the first one I saw in >1968 for sheer magic and beauty. Transcendental indeed. This was before her vibrato widened. I missed her when she did the Dylan/Morrison tour (although, oddly, I finally saw Dylan a year later when he toured with Paul Simon). I've only seen her on occasional television appearances, heard her on every new album, and still treasure my laser disc of Shadows and Light. My coworkers, late 20s and early 30s, today wax rhapsodic on Joni, and here am I, old enough to be their father, nodding right along with them. >NP: I finally bought Nick Drake's Pink Moon CD. Have yet to listen to it. Get the rest of Nick Drake. Wonderful. Hope this message interests somebody. Gil NP: Captain Beefheart: The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot
