we had a little minifest last night at tanti baci in ny, chris m (and a
friend kevin), alison, jeff, debra shea, and a lot of the conversation was
revisiting last weekend, for debra's benefit and our own. it was truly
magical. the first year at ashara's will always have a special place in my
heart, but this year's fest was an amazing, moving experience that is still
glowing...
there is a woodstock aspect to these gatherings, though we're older and more
cynical than those folks ever were. so we called the family room at
ashara's the 'womb room', and yet i spent very happy late-night hours there
saturday and especially sunday. especially for a couple of quiet joni
masterpieces by les ross, and then on request a somewhat messy and totally
eye-wetting sing-along 'hejira'.
les' church set was just as spellbinding as has been described. to hear
magdalene laundries in les' almost deadpan baritone with the sparsest of
strummed accompaniment and to feel yourself drawn in, once again but in a
completely new way, to the tragedy and beauty of this song, is a rare
experience. my formost highlight of the weekend.
i don't want to write all night and an awful lot has been already said. a
couple more special joys from me:
gregg cagno - what a great talent and open soul you are! never can enough
be said about your version of 'all i want', but my favorite cagnomoment was
the monologue about all those co-dependent love songs leading into
'no-dependent song'. independent complimentary hearts: what a concept! i
just loved the humorous but serious look at love...
mornings at ashara's: this was the first year i gave myself four whole
days and being at ashara's three mornings in a row was particularly
wonderful... terrific morning talks i had included ones with sharon b,
chris m., ashara (my dear sister/friend) and more. it's such a different
time in a jonifest, the morning is...
claud & kay singing sandy denny's 'the sea', for me: i got to know claud a
little better this year, and while her performances have lit up every
jonifest, she was at another level this year. she did a gorgeous version of
'who knows where the time goes?' on friday.
i'd been bitching at kay for years saying she belonged with this group, so i
was happy that she made it finally, and happy that her set was rockin' but
when she pulled claud up for a duet on 'the sea', i lost it. sat next to
mama lion ashara, the master of weepy hugs...
the jeff clark/leslie mixon etc. sweet bird
alison: singing 'hunter' - asking suze 'is it beer-thirty yet?' - posting
at 4:30 am. and so much more.
i've much more to say. tomorrow... maybe.
patrick
jfp - cagno
np - new joni boot
