Well we had the Pia Zadora of Joni fests. Small but beautiful. With the addition of a few of MGs neighbors who came over to be indoctrinated into the church of Joni it was a warm and friendly gathering that had its moments. Unfortunately the Mixons had something prevent their visit which meant that my fingers alone had to be sacrificed to the ginzu knives called my guitar strings. But it was for a good cause. As in all of these events people I had communicated with but never met turned out to be really neet. But before I describe the fest itself I feel obligated to talk a little about the pre-fest journey to Davis. I wanted to provide a small but special token of my appreciation to the Hostest with the Mostest so I started out early in search of the Taylor Ham. I really wanted to suprise her with that food object that finds its way into most of her communications. Went to safeway and literally had three employees valiantly searching through all their inventory including the back rooms on behalf of my pleadings to find the Sasquatch of food objects the Taylor Ham and it ended up 30 minutes later with all of us looking at the master inventory list only to discover they dont exist at Safeway. Then I tried a specialty store that has gourmey everything. No luck. So I brought home a case of beer to bring and inadvertently left that on the front porch when I left. It was a bozo and road construction day on the road so it took me forever to get out of San Francisco I finally made it over to Oakland area and discovered that they had removed the sign announcing the offramp to Alameda where Russel lives so I ended up getting to his house to pick him up about 45 minutes late. We then proceeded to Davis and lucked out when the 10 mile long traffic jam due to an accident began just 100 feet AFTER the turnoff we needed. Cool. Only to be done in by our directions and in honor of the modern world were literally "talked in" by cell phone. We were there, finally. The evening went by quickly and it was finally capped off with calls from Wally Kairez in Argentina (Investment tip: avoid Argentina telephone company stocks for now) and the inimitable Michael Paz who now that I look at his picture does in fact resemble Stephen Segal (from the neck up anyway) just as the ladies claimed. Maybe we could have a poll. In any event the police were summoned to chase away the crowd of adoring nubile fans who had heard that Michael Paz would be attending the fest, had their money refunded by my attorney and were given a rain check for next year. Ill do anything to get a crowd to a jonifest. In any event..... I had been struck for the two weeks prior to the fest with a cold but fortunately it cleared up and it felt good to do Jonis songs (mostly old ones-Marci, Rainy Night House and a slow version of Carey among them) except for Come in From the Cold (which i did in honor of my colds). I also tried to incorporate a little suspense into my set by accidentally bringing with me my old reading glasses (to read the lyrics), because they have no ability to stay on when I look down so it was a heart stopping moment for all to see whether I could finish a song and still keep my glasses perched perilously on the end of my schnozz. After about three songs my voice arrived and it was a priviledge to do some old chestnuts for the assembled tude (multi being more than 10). Then Nikki played some and I loved her version of a Black Crowe song the name of which escapes me. Shes going to be very good and suprised me by telling me shes only been playing for two years. I had very much looked forward to playing with Steve Mixon and hearing Leslie sing but it just wasnt to be. After the music we sat down for a wonderful cheezecake and coffee prior to Russ and I leaving and unfortunately missing the call from one of my favorite listers (Marian) who I love everything she has done at the fests in the past. It was my distinct privilege to ride to the fest with Russ Bowden. He made some really cool Sweatshirts and T-shirts with the album cover of Hejira on them as a gift for everyone. How classy is that. The man is so deep and has a positively encyclopedic knowledge of so many things, Opera for one, it was a ghreat pleasure just to converse with him during the rides. His family music background is amazingly rich in its history including his own stint with the SF Gay Mens Chorus one of the best choral groups in the SF Bay Area. Hes way too modest. I look forward to seeing him again. If we can ever get Wally the K to the WEST coast someday since hes assiduously avoided the south and west coasts and there is no north coast I just know a dinner with these guys would be a conversation for the ages. Thats one of the very best aspects of the list get togethers. Meeting the listers in person enabels you to know people in depth as opoposed to their posts alone. I hope Mary Grace decides to hold another of these next year. We need to have one on the west coast for sure. So a big thanks to Mary Grace for stepping up. Hopefully next year we can get alot more people. Maybe if we keep her well stocked in Taylor Hams. By the way they are only sold in New Jersey I came to be informed at the fest. Of course Im hoping to actually get to the one in Toppsfield next year and finally get to meet Ashara whos video we watched early in the evening. She did an amazing job on capturing the opening. Marcel Deste
