I've finally recooperated from my trip to Seattle and Victoria B.C. and wanted to share some Joni moments with you all... First of all, as my Emerald City Compadres have already shared quite adequately, Bob and I had a wonderful time sharing dinner and conversation in Seattle. It doesn't matter where you go, Joni folk are just the greatest, period. In Victoria we attended a week long workshop in clay at Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts. Being as we lived in a dorm and shared everything from bathrooms to meals with our fellow artists, I had a lot of opporunities to converse with some of the local ones. It was amazing how much brighter the lightbulb shines up there when you mention Joni. They certainly seem to appreciate her more there. I met 2 people in particular who had Joni stories of interest. My new friend Chris lives in Saskatoon.. He is a huge fan of Joni's and tried very hard to impress me with all his Joni knowledge. Of course from being on this list it is hard to come up with something new to me. (I told him I had a PhD in Joni) However, he did share that he used to live in a rather large house. A few years ago he put it on the market and guess who came to check it out?! He begged the Real Estate agent to please let him be there when she came but no cigar. Of course, Joni didn't buy the home but it was his small claim to fame. He invited me to town sometime so he could show me all the Joni sites....maybe someday... My other new pal Lorrie had quite an interesting story about Joni's influence on her and was kind enough to summarize it for us. so here it is... ****** Must have been in 1962 when I was about 14 years old, my brother, Sandy, would have been 19 or so. Sandy and his pals frequented a coffee house in the basement of a United Church in downtown Calgary, Alberta. The Coffee house was a rather new concept, following on the heels of the beatnik scene at The Java Cafe. Folkies were finding their place in our small city. I was a big fan of The Kingston Trio, as my brother had all their albums. I borrowed an old guitar from the family across the street so I could pick out the tunes I was singing along to. This old guitar was very warped and the strings must have been a decade old. I knew nothing about pain till I spent a few hours on that guitar with my soft little fingers. Little fingers! I just measured my index finger - it's 2.25". Try stretching those out to a C or F chord on a big-old guitar and pressing down strings that are about an inch away from the neck. Sandy was sooo excited one morning at breakfast. He said "You've just got to hear this girl that plays at the coffee house, Lorrie. She plays a baritone uke and is just fantastic. You'd be able to play a ukulele more easily than a guitar, and if you hear Joni Mitchell play, you'll know just how good a uke can sound." I finally worked up the nerve to go to the coffee house one weekend. I looked about 8 years old so I hovered near the back, as unobtrusively as possible. In fact, I was so self-conscious that I didn't stay more than 10 minutes -- didn't even make it as far as the table where you had to pay to get in. But I was there long enough to know that I was listening to magic... I had never heard an instrument sound so weird and wonderful as that baritone uke. I bought a uke and there went my worries. And that's my story. ***** So, Lorrie is one of those rare folks who heard Joni play in the folk/uke days. She shared with me that her brother was a huge fan, and saw Joni play often in the old days. She would have loved for him to share but sadly he met his end in an automobile accident. -- Phyliss, posting for the year ; - ) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mylexxus.com/welcome.asp?site=goldenfig
