Well, I finally broke away for a brief period last night and zipped down to
the Debra Owen gallery in downtown San Diego to catch the Henry Diltz
photographic exhibit. The exhibit itself was in a narrow portion of the
gallery and it was quite a small crowd -- maybe 25 people while I was
there. The show was just great -- a real soul-soother for me. I tried not
to look too geeky by zoning right in on the Joni photos and enjoyed many I
hadn't seen before -- a great portrait of Paul and Linda McCartney (that
the program said was on the cover of Life magazine) and some beauties of
Jackson Browne (I remember well thinking in the '70s what a dreamboat that
guy was), Linda Ronstadt, Mama Cass. I really enjoyed all the CSN photos.
Need I say how great the Joni photos were (although one entire wall should
have been devoted to her ; )
Henry was there talking to a small group of people and helping to identify,
I think, some members of the Eagles on a photo. He walked by me once, but,
as usual in that situation, I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him.
I'd even brought along one of my copies of Leonore Fleisher's book on Joni
from back in 1976 because it had some of his photos of Joni in it. Well, I
left it in the car and just felt weird going out to get it for him to sign
it.
One of the museum's employees came up to me from time to time to earnestly
ask if I had any questions, politely hand me a program, in a stage whisper
point out Henry to me. I told him that I knew who Henry was, being a
longtime fan of Joni's, and that the exhibit was just great and was my
antidote to "Almost Famous" which I'd found disappointing. Made-up band
and made-up songs which meant nothing to me. This, I said, gesturing
around the exhibit, means something to me. Oh, he said, and walked away.
You understand, don't you?
Back to suburbia and yelling at kids to get ready for bed . . .
Lindsay
P.S. The back of the program listed quite a few cities that the exhibit
will go to. You could probably go to the web site on the brochure and
check www.artchives.com
