I knew that things were off to a great start when Marcel showed up wearing a g-string and pasties and .... Wait! Wrong party! I knew that things were off to a great start when it was announced that Russ was bringing presents! What could be better? His Heirja shirts were a gazillion times better than anything I've seen in a store. It's probably been mentioned enough times to make them feel bad, so I won't say that the Mixons had to cancel. I brought in two non-list people to help spread the Joni word and at least one of them intends to augment his music collection with a lot more Joni. Everything went over so well and that was due 98% to Nikki. She was fun, gracious and always willing to abate my fear of boredom anxieties. The only snag was when my boyfriend Jeff arrived to pick up my little kids for the night. He mistakenly thought that Nikki was my 11 year old's friend and put her in the truck. There was a tousle and much examination of her identification before I was able to convince Jeff that Nikki was old enough to stay for the festivities. Couple of observations: If anyone gets a chance to meet Marcel, please do so! His right wing, mischievous behavior on the list masks a simply delightful man. He had me in stitches with his Garrett Morris "hearing impaired" translations of dinner table conversations. His playing was wow! I know that Paz and others have gone on before about Marcel's talents, but seeing is believing. Or hearing in this case. Or both. Marcel transformed my humble living room into a very groovy cafe. If auditory memory serves me right, he played great renditions of "Rainy Night House," "Carey," (in a slow Cyndi Lauper way, I sure wish that he did the Cyndi Lauper dance; maybe next time with the pasties and g-string), "Come In From the Cold, (my favorite!), and more. Unfortunately, I missed most of Nikki's playing while I was showing Russ other JoniFest photos on the jmdl site. Russ! Speaking of! What a dude! Why is it that so many really groovy guys are on the "other team?" What's with that? Not only was Russ extraordinarily generous with his very sharp tee's and sweat shirts, he was someone with whom I clicked right off the bat. Funny, sincere, helpful and kind, well, I'm not sure why he's not bottled and sold for mass consumption. Phone central kicked in with WallyK calling from Argentina. Although I tried to stay away from the phone, (it's very hard for me to hear on it), I answered his call. If that wasn't enough, we got phone calls from Steve Segal's stand-in and the always gracious Marian. Non list members were surprised at the far flung camaraderie of the JMDL and the better parts of list harmony were out in full force. Lastly the gig shut down about 11:30. I went to bed. Nikki put away the leftovers. At 1AM I was woken up by rattling doors to find a gaggle of teenyboppers who were here on the tip that Paz was hiding in my living room practicing his karate moves. I reminded them of the Davis Anti Smoking Curfew and sent them home to bed. I'm game for expanding and working this into an annual thing. Now that I'm a veteran of 3 major Fests and numerous small get togethers, I can say with authority: "Get yourself together!" It's worth it. Best, MG
