hi gang, the following is a reply I made to a note someone wrote to me and, FWIW, I thought it might interest some of you... cheers, pat NP: A Case Of You - Diana Krall (live) http://homepages.go.com/~badwolff/albums/album1/ ":o), yeah, to tell you the truth, I find it a bit staggering myself, even now... Joni was SO cool as a person and to me a mentor... I don't know how much you've hung around entertainers but there is a certain 'breakthrough' of ego that one goes through as they bridge the gap from stagefright to feeling right at home in the spotlight with everyone staring at them and hanging on every word. I think the advent of karaoke may have softened this gap some but it's still there... experience tells me that most people don't handle this well and the adjustments one makes usually bring on a sort of primadonna effect. I recall one time there was this rather good folk- blugrass-ragtime player named Bob Simpson who I called up in Detroit to see if he wanted a weekend... I had known him since I was 15 playing in my first coffeehouse in a detroit suburb and knew this guy was a codeine addict as he kept a bottle of pure codeine in the pick compartment of his guitar case. anyway, he vaguely declined and I told him ok and hung up and dutifully called around and found a female duo that had played before and they agreed to play. well, the weekend came around and, as you've probably guessed by now, both acts showed up! I want to tell you, the sheer tension of having these three people in the same room was unbearable and the hostility toward one another, and toward me, was unbelievable! generally speaking you're just better off not having two performers in close proximity at any given time... it's kind of like nationalism... they almost have to despise the other to justify their own existance. wow, I really went off there, didn't I? LoL!!! at any rate, my point is that Joni was totally different. in fact, it really amazed me how nurturing she was toward me as a musician and would sit there and take in my whole set and clap and wistle louder than anyone... and when we would jam, she would ask me to play stuff, and actually sit there and listen to the whole thing! (or join in...) when I hear her going off on Jewel or someone and see the reactions onlist I know that people really don't understand. it's NOT selfish as they assume... her bitching is about the trashing of ART and not about comparing herself to others or visa versa. (she's usually dead-on too, IMHO) think about it... how many musicians have you ever seen get romantically involved with other musicians? not many... it's usually with a non- musician. (Carly Simon, a notable exception) ...but look at Joni and her love life... this is REALLY different! almost weird... even her bands have been mostly her friends! think about it... :o) take care, pat" ps - as an afterthought, this may also partially explain the brevity of some of these pairings... Joni could handle it but the guys couldn't. Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
