Last Saturday night Mr. Coyote Rick hosted another fantastic BBQ and party
for JMDL'er Gary Zack, who is visiting L.A. for a week from Detroit. Gary
is the one who handed Joni a Protea flower at a show back in the 60s and
then later noticed she had included a protea in one of her album covers. I
think he also has the distinction (Bob?) of being the only one who has
professionally recorded Joni's unreleased song "Winter Lady." Clark, Ken
and Steve J were at the party, along with other friends and family of Rick.
We had an incredible sit-down dinner that Rick prepared all on his own and
many great margaritas and fine wines. Gary's longtime L.A. friend
(originally from Detroit) Diane Berglund, and her husband Marshall also came
by. Diane is a well-known, award-winning songwriter and performer who
stunned us all a bit at first because she looks, acts and talks just like
Joni! She performed around Detroit back in the Chuck Mitchell days and Gary
told me that a few times the clubs there mistakenly billed her and her
partner as "Jim and Joni Mitchell." Amazing. Maybe Terry M or Pat Henry
have heard of her. She told us a few Chuck Mitchell stories and about her
recording sessions with Joni engineer Henry Lewy at A&M in the 70s. She is
a fascinating and talented person. Diane, Clark, Gary and Rick's brother and
nephew tooks turns playing and singing for us after dinner. Gary has one of
the most gorgeous voices I have ever heard, oh my my. Kind of like
Livingston/James Taylor but stronger and better! He is doing some recording
while here in LA and I wish him the best in getting out his music. This is
a voice that must be heard! Tonight Gary and I got together again for the
requisite 3 hour dinner at Les Deux Cafes and had a wonderful time talking
about Laura Nyro (our second favorite) and everything under the sun. He has
a wonderful surprise to share with the list as soon as he gets to his email
again.
Gary and I have often marveled how we have such similar taste in music,
right down to the most obscure songs and artists from way back. We also
share an abiding love for those early, unreleased Joni songs. We were
talking about Joni's song "Melody in Your Name" tonight and he came up with
a very neat insight into some of the lyrics and thinks the song must have
been written during Joni's time in Philadelphia in '67. The second verse is
"Night comes much bluer than it used to be -the pink nun sings much sadder
than before..." Apparently there really is an order of nuns, the Sisters of
Divine Love" in Philadelphia who wear pink habits and are known locally as
the "pink sisters." Indoctrinated Catholic that I am I never heard of them
before (only knew about the wine "Blue Nun" ;-) You can check out the pink
nuns at this website
http://www.r-jementerprises.com/philadelphia/fairmount/pink.html
It was wonderful to spend some time with Gary and get together with the
gang. Thanks again to Rick for his generosity of heart and hospitality.
And thanks to Gary for taking the time out from his vacation to spend with
us. it was a real joy.
I hope to have some photos up in a few days.
Kakki
