Hmm... I suspect there may be some confusion out there about the difference between "Joni-only" and the digest. They're not the same - for those who may need clarifying. (Fatcat, are you getting the digest and expecting Joni-only content?)
So, on to what I hope won't be a too long "thread" that ties together Joni and Ed Ames... When I was little, I had a huge crush on Ed Ames. Very melodic voice, I thought (although I couldn't express it that way) and I thought he was exotically handsome when playing the character Mingo. Then, along came Julie Andrews. My first female idol. Again, very melodic voice. Her voice had a clarity that was new to me. And her diction was perfect. So, I began to realize that I could be infatuated with a strong, exotic male, and aspire to be like a woman I admired... As I was growing up, my mother would roll her eyes at the latest male fantasy 'crush' which often fit a certain mold. Strong but sensitive male, usually the "exotic sidekick" of the star of the show. (like Spock in Star Trek - see, I even pull William Shatner into this somehow...) Fast forward to 7th grade. I'm sitting in music class when I'm hit over the head by this amazing voice, using incredible images to describe the feeling I've pantomimed with my fantasy figures for years. The song was Chelsea Morning. The singer was Joni. She was living the life (or so it seemed) that I'd imagined for myself since those early days of daydreaming about Ed Ames. And I wonder, what effect did television have on the popularity of Joni's music? My guess is that we'd all grown up having our heart strings plucked by a plethora of TV characters. We couldn't really love them all in real life. And yet, the life Joni describes is just that. (think of Cactus Tree, for example.) Anyway, I guess you can probably tie Joni to just about anything. And I had to chuckle about the Ed Ames stuff because for me there is a connection. lots of love Anne
