Hey Joniacs, My hero Marian of Vienna came to L.A. town. For those of you who don't play the guitar, she is one of several guitarists who created and maintain the Joni guitar site. These are very patient, talented individuals who have gone to some extremes in order to figure out Joni's tunings and her chord shapes so we can play them ourselves. I relearned how to play my guitar after putting it down for nearly 16 years as a result of going to the tablature site at jonimitchell.com and seeing just how the Joan does it. Even though Marian was jetlagged and on her last ounce of energy, she wowed us later at Kakki's cool apartment in the sky with renditions of lesser played Joni songs including The Wolf That Lives in Lindsey. When's the last time you heard a live version of that one? It was great to meet her and her talented sister Jennifer who also sings and plays. We met for dinner at Joni's fave Hollywood hang out, Les Deux Cafe which is behind an obscure building in a pretty grungy area of the city which is going through a renovation right now. The patio is very pretty with lots of trees and it's easy to see why Joni likes this place -- you can smoke, and the food is sublime. I had squab which was tender and filleted and sauced in an intense reduction with just a hint of thyme, a puree of turnips and braised cabbage with hazelnuts and bacon. The best dessert was a chartreuse ice cream sandwiched between layers of a chewy meringue. Like Joni, I will have to sell a song like "Both Sides Now" before I could eat there every night. As for Steve and Michelle, Rick and Brad, Kakki and Marian, well, JMDL people are interesting, fun and really pleasant to be with. hugs, Clark NP: Depeche Mode
