Yesterday's music was such a life affirming celebration, reaching back through time as art can wonderfully do and erasing it (Chelsea Morning is HOW old?), and by its very being tying us all together and expressing hope for the future. There were performances that will be with me forever. I hope many of you were able to tune in at some point, and that a recording becomes available for everyone.
It was interesting to me the way people inserted their comments about the war, without giving any speeches. Toward the end of the day someone mentioned that the artists had been told not to talk about the war, and yet many of them got their viewpoint about what's happening across anyway. Marathon man (and continuously charming, too -- how does he do that?) Jonicovers Bob took notes and I hope will soon give a detailed listing and reaction to what we heard and saw yesterday. At this point, for me, my thoughts about it are not very organized so I'll start with my favorite performance: Helga Davis, with an accompanying singer and small band, starting with God Must Be a Boogie Man (nice, sounded good, happy), then as she sang Beat of Black Wings, becoming today's Killer Kyle overwhelmed with all his complex feelings, then joining with the other woman who'd started singing Joni's Love, giving an emphasis to peacemakers, and as the song went on it became a demand and a plea and a desperate hope and urgent prayer for peace and (I felt) healing for Killer Kyle and all who are suffering. I was in tears by the end, as many people were, and Helga herself needed physical support from her co-performers. Magnificent. There was no emotional space between her and the music and the audience. Other highlights: Laurie Anderson's pre-Both Sides Now introduction; sitting calmly, with her foot she started a machine that made an eerie throbbing sound, and over that she said, with her own unique pacing, "to everyone who creates, create beautiful things now, and create... like there's no tomorrow..." Her version of BSN was very sweet, with her plucking what looked like a small electronic violin. Mingus Big Band doing Joni/Mingus songs and hearing stories from Sue Mingus. The Priest with a sexy Latin beat. Lucy Kaplansky's pleasing-to-me voice and demeanor. Gail Ann Dorsey singing Passion Play. Morley talking about Joni's elegant and subtle political activism. Garland Jeffreys' style of "having a good time" singing. The different instrumental sounds in the performances by Theo Bleckmann (who also mentioned that he experienced T'log as a moving anti-war statement), Don Byron and his group, and Burnt Sugar. The dramatically performed poem created from Joni lines (I imagined being in the beat poets era). Martha Wainwright's annoying-to-me start, saying things like "I really don't know this song but I've been playing it all day; and I don't have the cd so I don't know what it's supposed to sound like but I got the notes, so I'm going to give it a try." She was talking about Big Yellow Taxi!! The balls that girl's got! And then it turned out ok, with her playing BYT very slowly, and people singing along, and her whispering as we sang "I'm so glad you're all here." I found all of that oddly appealing by the end of her performance. Hearing Ute Lemper sing so clearly and effortlessly and with such power. Those were the things I enjoyed most. I can see already from what others have written that what I liked least (even hated!) were other people's favorites, and probably vice versa, so for now I'll limit my comments to this favorites/highlights list. Debra Shea
