Ken, That's great you were able to hear almost all of it! One thing I especially enjoyed about the show was the wide variety of styles and songs covered, and I could appreciate that even when I didn't like a particular artist's interpretation.
> I listened to nearly all 12 hours over the radio and was left with the same > impression I had after the TNT tribute. Many of the performers sounded in > over their heads. Was that second banshee-wailing cover of Jericho somehow > more listenable if witnessed live? Because over the radio feed, it was truly > horrifying. That was Sussan Deyhim. I hated her singing, too, and was thankful the song was short (I don't think she did all of it) and that she only did the one song. Even watching her was painful. Her face contorted. Her chin did more than a little trembling. It was such a relief to me when she finally sang something outright. Then her voice had a rich deep sound, but then she'd go back to that other way of singing. Ouch. I couldn't stop watching her though. Other people had other reactions to her performance. The friend I was with was impressed because she was doing with her voice what a previous artist (Theo Bleckmann) had done with manipulating the microphone and other mechanical equipment. Then at dinner after the show, I learned that that style of singing is "throat singing", common to the Middle East (?), and is part of a great tradition, and that some people love the sound of it. Not me. It's interesting to know about; I hope I don't hear it again. > I noticed that operatic voice worked well for the Song to a Seagull > selections, but sounded comical on Hejira and reminded me of the sketch on > Saturday Night Live where the uncool music teachers perform contemporary > rock; singing and over enunciating. LOL! That's exactly the impression I had of Lauren Flanigan, who tied together five different songs. She even moved kind of like the Saturday Night Live singer in those comedy sketches. Two, even three, songs would have been okay because I liked the drummer and sitar player so there were some interesting sounds separate from her annoying voice. But five! with those forced segues. Too much. > I loved the performer who did Passion Play! She was right on the mark! She was great! That's Gail Ann Dorsey, a singer/songwriter whose day job, as she puts it, for the last 8 years is being David Bowie's bass player. I liked her electric guitar Wolf that Lives in Lindsay also. > The collage of car themed tunes at the beginning was nice, but again the featured > performer's studied style of singing strikes me as off. I much preferred the > background singer, who was featured on a swinging verse of You Dream Flat > Tires. Me too! That was Karen Mack, and her singing sounded "real" in a way the others didn't. Her voice was the most enjoyable part of that set to me. > Urge For Going sounded unrehearsed. I'd looked forward to Christine Lavin's set and was completely disappointed. She didn't seem to know the songs and so stumbled along, and even if she'd played and sung the songs flawlessly, her voice wasn't very interesting. It had no richness or emotion to it, that I could hear anyway, so I had trouble paying attention to her, even though Urge for Going is one of my favorite songs. > In all, though, hearing others perform these works makes me appreciate Joni's > talent even more. Hearing the wide variety of Joni's songs, all of them so expressive and finely crafted, makes me appreciate her talent even more. Then hearing singers making some adjustments so they can sing the song, and watching the guitarists (usually) struggle to keep up makes me realize how complex some of them are. In general, the artists who were most comfortable were the ones who re-created her songs in their own style rather than doing them as Joni did. > Her singing is just dead on all the time, effortless and > comfortable. It used to be. She's had to do her own re-creating lately, and she's stumbled herself when singing other people's songs. There was one song at the Both Sides Now concert that she had to get out the lyric sheet for because she could never remember the words, so I think a lot of her ease with singing her own songs is that she's probably labored over most of them and they're ingrained, and she'll have creative "giving birth"-type emotional connections to her work that other people never will. > I was really surprised and pleased at Sue Graham Mingus' > presentation. I somehow had the idea that she wasn't a big Joni fan. I did, too, as though they were rivals for Mingus' affection. I don't know where I got that idea. > Wish I could have been there in person, because it is inspiring to know that > Joni's recognition is growing. And any tribute to Joni is better than no > tribute at all. It was wonderful being there. Most performers took a great deal of care in their presentation, which to me showed how much they respect Joni and love her music. Some of them even stayed to hear the other artists. With a couple of exceptions, it felt like there was a lot of enthusiasm for the entire event from the artists as well as the audience. In the 33 years that Wall to Walls have been done, Joni's the first woman to be so honored. Other honorees include Miles Davis, Richard Rogers, Bach, Ravel & Debussy, Duke Ellington, Gershwin, Copland, Charles Ives, Irving Berlin... so she's in impressive company. I think she'd be pleased at that. Debra Shea
