Hi y'all!
I had an interesting JC encounter this past weekend I'd thought I'd share
with you guys.
If you've followed a couple of my other posts, maybe you'll remember my
mentioning a guy I know who played in a Detroit club called The Poison
Apple in the mid-sixties with a group named the Spikedrivers. At this
club, the Spikedrivers would take turns playing before or after Chuck and
Joni, either singularly or as a duet.
Saturday I had to go over to Sid's (of the Spikedrivers) to pick up my
daughter after she spent the night with her best friend, Sid's daughter.
When I got there, Sid introduced me to Richard, another member of his old
band, who was visiting Sid on his way through town. Sid relayed to
Richard I was a big fan of Joni's and conversely to me that Richard had
known Joni better and for longer than he had. They started relaying
stories, much akin to what Pat Henry has shared with us, about how Joni
would strike up friendships and hangout to eat, drink, play guitar, learn,
share and whatever with people at these little Detroit clubs. (Pat, just
for a sake of a timeline, the Spikedrivers played the same gigs as Joni
before you knew her. Sid knew Joni only after she had married Chuck but
before she was doing any open tunings, while Richard had first met Joni
while she was still Joni Anderson. Now Sid knew Chuck before either he
(Sid) or Chuck had met Joni. Sid said he gave Chuck some guitar lessons
when he (Sid) was about 16 - Sid and Joni are the same age. Sid recalls
the Cellar, but Richard doesn't. He had spintered off the Spikedrivers
and headed to Greenwich Village before the Cellar got going again, so he
didn't remember that club. Phew - follow that.)
Pat, just like you've conveyed, neither of these guys knew about Joni
having a child. Neither Richard or Sid found out about the baby until Joni
revealed it publically, but I saw the light go on when I explained why she
had married Chuck, because neither ever thought Chuck was worthy of Joni,
not at the time or since - every time his name came up, one or both would
pop in with a "Chuck's was and is a putz" type comment. So hearing about
Joni's effort to keep her child, shed a lot of light on her marriage to
him, all these years after the fact. After only catching a slight word in
the press about the child, Richard had initially thought Kilauren was in
her teens now - he had no idea the child was from the same time period
when he had known Joni. Richard said, "obviously, it was something Joni
kept very close to the vest." This paragraph is away from the main thrust
of my post, but I figured I'd address it now rather than answer an obvious
question many might have.
I did ask Richard if it were possible if he were *the* Richard? He didn't
know, but said it was possible. He said everything fits except his wife
was a graphic artist, not a figure skater. But then giving a disclaimer,
"but I'm sure Joni knew a lot of Richards." This is another short
paragraph away from my main thrust for the post, but a neccesary piece to
convey as a way of set-up.
OK, so the main thing that intrigues me are possible links between,
TLTISR, BSN and Tin Angel. Richard told me after he moved to NYC, he and
Joni used to get together all the time to talk, have drinks and just hang
out at a club on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village named The Tin Angel.
And it was at one of these little get togethers with Richard at the Tin
Angel that Joni pulled out of her ever-present notebook a new song she had
just written she was really excited about. She handed the song to Richard
and he encouraged her that he also thought this "clouds" song was pretty
darn good. ;-) This is where I'm wondering if maybe there's a link. Is
the "dark cafe days" and "dark with darker moods", the setting of both
TLTISR and Tin Angel, relaying the same friendship and atmoshere, just
written with a different focus? And could Joni's lyrical reference in Tin
Angel "to talk of castles in the sky" be a way of conveying BSN had been
one of their topics covered? Hmmmm
Sid had a BSN story too. Sid was spending fair amounts of time in NYC
because their manager lived there and Atlantic records was courting the
Spikedrivers to sign a record deal at the time. It was about this same
time that Joni got ahold of Sid and suggested they put it on their record
because Joni told Sid: "Mary Carol's voice would be perfect for this."
Mary Carol was Sid's wife and the female singer in the band. Anyway, Sid
kinda blew off Joni and told her they woud think about it and get back to
her. Never did. Sid had a *can you believe my stupidity* look on his
face when sharing that - but I'm glad he was laughing about his folly when
he relayed that tidbit! ;-)
Oh, one thing I told those two that they were both quite pleased about.
(Both casually followed Joni's career, but not close enough to pick up on
as many details as we all know. Each are more into concentrating their
own thang than anyone elses.) I let them know that Chuck had been the one
to insist both he and Joni had seperate companies for their publishing
rights. Oh, they got a huge kick out of that! Sid, just said "Karma,
man. Cuz you know he didn't do it to protect Joni - He did it out of his
own arrogant greed. Karma gets you every time." ;-D
Night all,
Penny
Note to self - get Darrell's e-mail addy to Richard since he's heading for
Vanc BC next. Who knows, maybe Joni is visiting the cabin and would like
to pop in to the Empire hotel for drinks with Richard like the old days.
;-) BTW, Richard said he tried to catch up with Joni backstage at her 98
Toronto show, but she had already left to spend some time with Kilauren
before his note got back to her. ;-(
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