wow!!!!! i mean really WOW!!!!!!!!!! thanks gene ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2002 12:39 PM Subject: Counting Crow Loves Joni - long
> I haven't posted about my trip to the Jazzfest in New Orleans a few weeks ago. It was fabulous! I really wouldn't know where to start. My eternal gratitude to Michael Paz for showing me the time of my life, again. > > One of the many highlights of the trip was experiencing the Counting Crows live. I grooved to them from the front of the VIP section sandwiched between actress Alyssa Milano on my right and Michael's Counting Crows List friends Stasia and Debbie (both from Dallas) on my left. The Crows played a nice set and being in the New Orleans sun to hear them and so many others was magical. > > The next evening Michael and I were treated to dinner at one of Joni's favorite restaurants, Maximo's in the French Quarter. There are pictures of Joan with Aaron Neville and other New Orleans stalwarts in the upstairs dining area there. We were seated by the door enjoying our drinks and dinner when in waltzes Adam Durwitz, lead singer for the Crows. Paz and his collegues weren't phased, of course, but I thought it way-cool and ironic. > > Anyways, to cut to the chase, Stasia emailed me this Joni-centric entry that Adam Durwitz made to his online diary yesterday. (Thanks, Anastasia!) Thought I'd pass it on. > > -Julius > > 5/21/02 - A Tuesday in Amsterdam. 10:30 am > > Jeez, I just bit my lip. I hate that. Now I'll be doing it over and over again all day. It's a clear cold day here. Not too cold though. I'm in my room at the Grand Hotel listening to Joni Mitchell records and reading the morning away. Been getting up early each day and spending the time watching the day get started. There's a canal outside my window and a couple on a boat sitting drinking coffee. They either look relaxed or hung over. I have no idea which it is. There is enough going on outside my window every evening to service a city's worth of hangovers and this is a city that loves a good hangover. I wish I was a different me. At this point in my life, I've given up all the habits that would've made Amsterdam a truly enjoyable city. I'm reduced to appreciating the joys of a pristine morning. Not bad in its own way. Morning is certainly not something I've ever seen very much of in my life, and when I did, it was more at the ass end of the day. It has an entirely differen! > t perspective when seen from this angle. > > Have you ever listened to "Blue" by Joni Mitchell? This is in my top 3 albums ever. I have about 7 copies because I always find myself in some city far from home without it and I end up buying another copy because I'm dying to hear it. I just feel like I connect with every song on this record. Not that I necessarily identify with them. They don't feel like my experiences, but it feels like she opens up her life to me and I climb in and feel what she feels. She's so beautiful. > > We did this cover of "Big Yellow Taxi" while we were recording Hard Candy and when Lillywhite found out Joni was working down the hall from where we were mixing, he told her about it and invited her over to hear the song. As soon as I heard this I panicked and decided I had to sneak out of the studio before she got there. I managed to quietly pack up my things without anyone noticing me, but unfortunately I stepped out of the lounge just as Jack Joseph left the studio to look for me and just as Joni walked back in the front door from walking her dog. Not only couldn't I get out the front door without running straight into Joni; I couldn't even get back into the lounge without everyone noticing that I had a fully packed-up backpack on my back. Caught between two equally unavoidable and embarrassing situations, I chose to humiliate myself in front of people I knew rather than people I didn't and slunk back into our studio. Joni came in a few minutes later and actually liked th! > e song a lot, which was a huge relief. > > We talked for a while and then she asked if I wanted to hear some of her new album so we went back to studio B in Ocean Way and she played me a few songs. I should explain that I began this experience in awe of her. The album she is working on is a two-volume set comprised of material from throughout her career done in entirely new arrangements accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. As well as the orchestra, she has musicians like New Orleans drummer Brian Blade and jazz saxophone legend Wayne Shorter filling out the band playing arrangements that are vastly different from the original recordings. > > She played me a couple songs, "Cherokee Louise" and "For The Roses" I think, and I sat there stunned. They were so beautiful and so full I wanted to cry. After a while I got up the courage to ask if I could hear some more. I never wanted to leave. I listened to music with her for about an hour. It's a stunning album. Listening to it was like being in a movie. More than just something I listened to, it seemed to fill all my senses at once. They won't play her on the radio, but she's there for you to find. I'm listening to Court and Spark" right now. "Blue" ended a while ago. There's no one like her. There never was. In a business dedicated to trying as hard as you can to sounding just like everyone else, she remains a true individual. Go see what she's like. She was really nice to me. And when there's no one here but myself and the morning in Amsterdam, she keeps me company. I wouldn't have it any other way.
