A day of Music. Anne Sandstrom began the day with some songs she wrote and Annes voice just gets better and better every time I hear it. She recently sent me a CD of some of her self produced songs and it is a gem. I dont dispense gratuitous praise when it comes to music and many call me harsh in my assessments because of my background but Anne Sandstrom is a very, very, good lyricist. I think because of her doing her project her voice has become practiced and smoothe and her meolodies are interesting and different. There was still some settling in going on in the room as she began and some might have not noticed the quality of her set but I did. If you can email her do so and get her CD. I hasten to add that when I returned home yesterday i had to drive about 30 miles down the peninsula to retrieve our kids and listening to her CD was the best antidote to Jonifest withdrawls I could possibly have had. The Mixons doing Dawntreader, A case of You, and another I cant remember. I have been privileged to have played with Steve who is literally a professional mandolin and multi instrumentalist. Leslie sings alot like Laura Nyro. I went over to their house in Stockton prior to the fest but then they didnt think they were going to be able to make it and then all of a sudden they did and my car got totalled so we couldnt reconnect. It really doesnt matter since Steve is so good he could get out of bed in the middle of the night and burn off a great mandolin solo. Leslie has her unique style and sings with confidence. They did this most difficult song like they had always been doing it and it was such a treat to listen to. I can conjure up Steve doing the note intro to Dawntreader anytime I want because it was so stunning in its beauty. And I can hear Leslie sing "Mermaids live in colonies....". Chuck E is one of the original JMDL stars. The man does all kinds of things including keyboards and dulcimer. I chided Chuck on not doing a dulcimer tune at the church event but he saves those for those intimate get togethers; unfortunately for me I wasnt at the Friday night get together because he played then. Anyway Chuck did Trouble Child and his "Santana meets Joni in the lounge" version of Rainy Night which has a charm of its own. I think that more people should actually do what Chuck does which is to add his own interpretive ambience ot the songs and he does a great version of the song. I just loved Trouble Child. Ive always thought Joni herself should redo it more along the way that Chuck and Danzig and Willey did it in New Orleans. Later Chuck would add keys to various ensembles and group numbers. Gregg Cagno's "All I Want". Gregg is a performing musician who travels and has reputedly played all over. His voice is very strong and beautiful. His guitaristics are refined and intricate as well. He doesnt just "play" guitar. He coaxes parts and arrangements out of it which together with his beautiful voice make for a real experience. I think he also did Peoples Parties but with all the songs I heard that night it is a little hazy. His only faux pau was changing the lyrics of Jonis song to a parody which conjured up the Spirit of Siquomb and right in the middle of it the string predictably broke. Like... thwank...end of song. Only string to break all day. You make the call. Its not nice to mess with Mother Nature Gregg. Seriously this guy is a lurker but hes a gem and undoubtedly he will surface again at a future Jonifest to thrill everyone as he did us all. By the way he must have been forgiven by ther Siquomb Spirit and Michael Paz leapt to his rescue by hooking up the VG-8 and Gregg was able to finish his set. Beautiful stuff with lots of charm. Gregg & Claud's "Case of You" In a collaberation (one of the many) Gregg and Claude did a duet on this Joni Chestnut and Gregg has all the parts down. Their voices blended really well. Stephane Morrison is an accomplished pianistra and she reworked "For Love Or Money" in the style of Tori Amos. Bob came up to me and said "Marcel you've got to hear this woman shes "off the charts" and I did hear some of her set but I had developed this little problem. Bob told me I was going to follow Stephane and so just to make one last run through the song i had messed up the lyrics to 8 times that morning I went out onto the porch behind the church. The sun which felt so warm and comforting on my face and guitar immediately changed the temperature of the instrument and as I stood there listening to Stephane I lightly strummed my strings and the strings were horribly drastically out of tune. Like yech. So I ran down into the basement with my tuner and retuned. Fortunately Bob had decided to have another performer Amy Lohman do a set and I had time to recover. Unfortunately for me I missed Stephanes set although what came through from upstairs still sounded fine. Amy Lohman did Michael from Mountains on the keyboard with halting, sensetive, and exquisitely timed phrasing reminiscent of Diana Krall. I just loved her set. I cant remember the other song she did probably because i was still in shock from the suprise tuning freak-out but she sounded great.. Then before I knew it Bob was introducing me. Im not sure if any other performer is introduced by his politics but thats the burden you carry I guess when you carry the burden of truth justice and the American way. I dont recall anyone ever being introduced for instance as "that controversial communist that we all enjoy" but "I Think I Understand". That very morning in the hotel rroom in Boston I tried to do Marci 8 times and always screwed up the verses somewhere. At the event was different. Shows you the power of prayer. Im kidding. In any event, somehow I remembered all the lyrics and i had a great time. I hope everyone who heard my set enjoyed listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing for everyone. The mics and monitor balance were perfect up there for sure. It was pure fun. I did Marci from Song to a Seagul, Night Ride Home with Steve doing some luscious fills. I think I Understand, and ended with Bob Dylans "Buckets of Rain". Steve Mixon was so wonderful to play this song with and I could have just kept listening to his ever creative solos for the rest of the day. Kate Bennett & Jeff Bisch . This was the first time I had the priviledge of hearing Kate Bennet and her husband Jeff. It was worth the wait. Kate of course is actually part of the Taylor Guitar clan and were talking real live working musician here. Stage presence, voice, the whole package. I loved Kates song Irene as well as Louisianna Roadhouse with its touch of cajun feeling. Jeff did his songs of deep and stark imagery, one about a crucifix and the other about a fire in his town of Santa Barabara. Late that night I could still picture the handmade house on the little patch of land. Of course when i picture Santa Barabara I dont see fires but probably the most picturesque main street in the state with a million clubs that were all designed by Jimmy Buffet. I was thrilled that they managed to make it to the fest and i hope they had as much fun being there as I did hearing these very tallented listers. Hope they get a gig in San Francisco. Lets not forget Ashara herself doing a Cheryl Wheeler song she dedicated to her "old man' Sal. Good grief is this guy the best or what. He seemed to be constantly working his tush off to make us all happy. I was also thrilled to see Ashara do a song for us all. She sings with such soul. Claudia San Soucie. I dont know how many noticed but Claudes got a brand new axe. At least thats what i thought since it wasnt the one she had in New Orleans. But she told me she had had it for some time and is now using it as her steady. Not the only new steady she has either (rimshot) but thats a whooooole 'nother JMDL story. Can you believe she doesnt play at some club every night. I cant. But then again I can. Shes our little secret. She did one of her many polished originals and then did her JMDL "standard" which is Joni's Conversation. She was accompanied by Chris Marshall of the Uk on Bass and Christine (who looked like she could be Michael Paz sister) on percussion. Always one of the JMDL high points. Now playing .....Steve...... Polifka. "The Voice". We kid Steve but he is one of the most accomplished musicians on the entire list. AND his hair is perfect. His version of Two Grey Rooms was unforgettable. His phrasing and fillls conjured up Jonis piano parts but he adds his own touches and in spite of having a cold he still had an amazing ability to sing the high part of the refrain. Wow. You shoulda been there. At this point or somewhere in here I had to go back to the hotel so I missed Bob Mullers set.I was totally bummed. I heard nothing but wonderful things about it and look forward very much to the CD when it comes out. Bob is an underrated performer having one of the most dynamic personalities in the world and he does in fact know the lyrics to all songs composed since the fall of Troy. Even in Turkish. By the time I got back Michael Paz had just begun. Michael is such a solid player and I call him Captain Kirk because he goes where no man has gone before in his song selection. He just did some great energy versions of Dave Mathews and Jonatha Brooke songs and his version of Jonis Off Night Backstreet was the end. I can also still hear his voice as he sung Sex Kills in full VG-8. He also popped into several numbers throughout the night and anything he participates in sounds solid. Michael is one of the strongest rhythm players I now and he certainly has the VG-8 down except of course when one of us backing vocalists steps on the foot pedal and changes the key in the middle of the verse. Even THEN he kept it together. Michael You are the man. Kay Ashley's - I had never heard Kay before but Im glad I heard her this night do "People's Parties" (I think). She was all over the neck with the open chords and she handled one of the most difficult lyric pieces of any Joni song with elan. Somewhere in here we were all treated to something truly rare. There are UFOs, the Loch Ness Monster, and Les Irvin playing on a stage. I was so transfixed by him actually being up there that who he was playing with escapes me now (Mea maxima culpa). Actually I think it was Amy Lohman. Les as you may recall is the creator of the JMDL and he attends every fest and then some but rarely actually plays although his playing is exquisite. He did the guitar on 'If I needded You' and sounded like it was he who did it for Emmy Lou on her album. His playing was flawless. What a treat. Thanks Les and thanks to whoever cast the spell that got him to play live. The night got very interesting here. We had all finished diner and the sun went down and that made the christmas lights framing the stage sparkley and beautiful. people relaxed in and it got very quiet. Willy the Shake- Willy just has got "IT". He takes any song and coats it with his feel for the essence. Did paul Simons Slip Sliding Away and Eltons Rocket Man with the latter done in a very original chording that was so tasty I wanted to hear more when he finished. Les Ross' "Not To Blame" & "Magdalene Laundries" (lots of tears and you can hear a pin drop). I think Les was such a suprising moment in the evening for two reasons. First of all he plays everything in standard tuning (wild ovation). None of that weirdo open stuff for this man of the Kingdom. Secondly he played and sang so softly and with such sensetivity that it was spellbinding. You had to not just listen you had to hold your breath. I got to chat with him a little one morning since he stayed at the Sheraton and he is such a gentleman. What a memorable moment in music. Yael's "That Song About The Midway". Yael is from Ann Arbor pursuing high intellect but she let her hair down and gave us apparently her debut performance on guitar. "Only been playing two years" she said. Im skeptical about that but she did an uninhibited set seemingly free of fear. Victors set I unfortunately didnt get to hear because i had to get some air and took a respite from the 12 hours of sets outside but he played with several people all through the night. Did a fantastic job backing up several people with a unique instrument that plays bass and other notes. He is a total original. Again i look forward to the CD to see what I missed. Last but not least was the guy i had anxiously awaited for literally years. Wally Kairuz from Argentina. Now Wally always does things i couldnt imagine myself doing in a million years and thats what he does OFF the stage. ON the stage its more like three million years. Talk about original vocal approaches. Not just the notes but the pronunciations. Wally was walking around with a guitar over his shoulder for about two hours before he actually played sort of like a strolling minstrel. I asked him what he was going to do and he always said ..."I havent decided yet". I was more nervous waiting to hear what Wally would do than I was for my own set. He was great. He did a Cole Porter song "Miss Otis Regrets" that was just so interesting and anyone who wants to know how to sing a song needs to watch Wally do his thing. he also is inevitabley the only perosn to do ma song Acapella. As the evening drew to a close we did some group songs including Nikki Johnson and the Nikkers version of The Bands The Weight. I must mention Chris Marshal from the UK the outstanding Brit bass player who added so many interesting things to so many songs during the day that his contribution was the perfect ingredient or as Joni would say Stimulant. Sooooo verry wonderful that he came and played with us. For anyone i left out or screwed up my recollection please please forgive me. For the record we all pitched in and cleaned up this enormous room and all the others in about 20 minutes. Thanks to the church for giving us this wonderful facility. It was unforgettable and as Michael's Doctor John would say..."such a night".
