I offer up this challenge to any of you who have never attended a Jonifest, minifest, Paz fest or simply met up with any other list members ... JUST DO IT! I dare you not to have a great time and not feel a part of some secret society!
Last night, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Kerry, Steve Polifka, Dennis and Jack! Along with these listers Dennis brought two friends AND my "older" cousin Kathy (snicker). Steve brought his sweet partner Jeff along for the adventure as well. While Dennis and his entourage met up elsewhere, Kerry, Steve, Jeff and I met at "The Closet." We began indulging in libations and were treated to a performance by my friend & bartender Lee. She performed her fan dance to the Madonna video, Vogue, flawlessly and to a huge round of applause, as per usual. We then mosied over to Davenports. We were greeted at the door by Dennis, who recognized us immediately. We then attemped to make our way to our seats. I was surprisingly greeted by both bartenders, who seemed to know me. Hmmm do I party too much? One was an old friend, Sue Who- as she is known. The other also mentioned her excitement at seeing my name on their reservation list for the evening - WHO WAS SHE!?? (shrug) Happily as we entered the cabaret room I saw my "older" cousin Kathy, sitting there. I am enjoying saying this as she is only 3 years older, but complained all night about my making that reference to our relationship. And since she is now threatening to join the list and attend a Jonifest, I hope she someday finds this post in the archives. Soon after Jack Merkel joined the table. The two owner of Davenports then came to the table, friends of Dennis and travel compaions of his on his trip to China. I also was surrised they remembered me from the old days. They were there to see the show for the first time themselves. The show began with the three performers stepping on to the stage and opening their set with "Raised On Robbery." Immediately the harmonies stood out for me and the tone of the night was set. This was not to be an imitation of Joni, but purely done in a cabaret, nightclubby short of flavor. As there has been some talk here latley of Joni's songs becoming standards , I found this style to the most advantageous to that accomplishment or goal. Both of the women, Anne & Allison :-P - had what I would say had medium to deeper voice ranges, definitely not meant to be mimicking "the chirp." Rob's voice may have been the highest but was not really meant to challenge the high notes, nor did he try. Next they did, again with great harmonies, "You Turn Me On ..." There was an initial fear they would stick to the really well known Joan and steer clear of some of her true treasures. With Allison :-P having the first solo, I was quickly corrected. She did a very nice rendition of "Barangrill." Anne who I think was the most stylistic and more the actress came up with, "The Last Time I Saw Richard" - maybe her weakest song of the night for me, although she was fab on several others. And Rob's first solo was "Help Me." Backed up by some sweet harmony, provided by Anne & Allison:-P. YES I am going to make that sign every time I mention her! The rest of the set went like this: Allison/Two Grey Rooms Anne/ Sunny Sunday Rob/In France They Kiss On Main Street During the evening Rob had some flubs of lines and thankfully Steve was in the audience to prompt him! Next came what may have been the best song of the evening, when Anne did her version of "The Gallery." You had to love this, even for those of you who may not love this song, she just really nailed it and beautifully. Then Allison :-P did the same with, the soon to be a standard, "Blue Motel Room." And Rob's best was next with "See You Sometime." So it was bang bang bang, with each giving their best and you had to be way into it now! They interjected some Joni facts or myths, depending on what your knowledge of Joan truly is. Rob in fact picked up and played the ukelele, mentioning this was Joni's first instrument. And later, there was a reference to Janis, the muppet, being created with Joni in mind. If anyone can confirm or disspell this rumor please let us know. And the set contuinued: All/Solid Love Rob/A Case of You All/Circle Game And the big finish was an acappella version, with finger snapping of "Big Yellow Taxi." Once again with super harmonies. The nearly full room was mostly on their appreciative feet, as they exited the stage. The name of this group is Foiled Again. They do have plans for a follow-up Joni show. And they are considering a special "Blue" show as we found out later. We then moved into the main bar to socialize and discuss the show. Here we mingled for the rest of the evening with the three performers and each other. I did finally realize that Renee, the other bartender was an acquaintance from my past - so whew, talk about saving face! And she really just exchanged numbers with me, to see about playing softball for me this summer. Cousin Kathy and I got to enjoy some quality time with each other for the first time in several years, so that was very cool. This all lasted until I had to drag Kerry & Jack out of the bar as we were in fact the last patrons. We all talked and got to know a little about each other, speaking of the listers. Again, as I have said sooo many times - I have found my people! Now as luck would have it I managed to be standing right next to Allison - ok, I'll stop that face thing. We talked mostly to her and Rob, who was fast becoming our bud. They were thrilled to hear about the list AND VERY excited about Jonifest. So they too, have ideas now about joining and going! We sang bits of songs and laughed a lot. Then, and I can never tell when it's going to come over me, Ethel entered! We all took turns singing different lines from Joni songs as Ethel, including Allison, Rob, Kerry, Jack & Steve. On second thought maybe we were channellng Smurph channelling Ethel? And you know there may have been more but I have trouble remembering things when I am channelling. So I would say Jonifest Chicago style was a great success and a splendid time was had by all. So happy to have been a part of this great group and encourage others to get together anywhere anytime - all in the name of Joni! Kerry is now on a train on her way back to Milwaukee and I am sure will have her own report to file, as well as the others. Love to my old friends and new, I wouldn't have missed this for the world! Peace, Susan Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online http://webhosting.yahoo.com
