Helga Davis - God Must Be A Boogie Man/Beat Of Black Wings/Love: Like I said, we had
NO IDEA what we were about to experience. Every once in a while, an artist doesn't
just perform or present a song, but rather they inhabit the piece. Helga, a singer
from Harlem, & her co-vocalist Marcel Blatchley accompanied by piano & bass started
with 'Boogie Man', and then segued into 'Black Wings' during which Helga became Killer
Kyle, feeling & emoting every line of the song in an extremely affecting way,
recalling the horrors he expereinced. Even she seemed surprised at the intensity of
her presentation. The 2 vocalists then traded off lines in 'Love', and tacked on to
the song a sung version of The Beatitudes (The first part of Jesus' Sermon On The
Mount), and when they got to "Blessed are the peacemakers" they just kept singing it,
each time with more feeling and more energy. This entire piece was performed in segue,
so there was never any release from the audience or from the perfo!
rmers. By the time the piece was over, I was literally shaking, awash in tears and
trying to hold back from sobbing. I looked at Debra and she was in a similar state. We
all were on our feet applauding & cheering and finally releasing what Helga had given
to us. Like Debra said, Helga herself was so emotionally spent that she needed her
bandmates to support her and help her offstage. This is a performance I'll remember my
whole life.
Stretto - Little Green: College acapella is a very important sub-genre of Joni covers.
A number of her songs have been done in this style, and many are appropriated quite
well. Raised On Robbery, Big Yellow Taxi, Woodstock to name a couple, have all been
done to good effect in acapella. Little Green, however, is a song of very deep
emotion, and to present it in doo-wop acapella fashion is just not appropriate. The
vocalists were talented, always in synch and on perfect pitch, but they had NO IDEA
what they were singing about, and that made this one more of a parody.
Garland Jeffreys - Peoples Parties, You Turn Me On Me On I'm A Radio: Well, Garland
may not have perfect pitch, but his respect for Joni & his ability to sell a song
overcomes all that. With a guitar/bass/accordion backing he had a lot of fun with his
2 songs, particularly 'Radio' when he jumped down off the stage, wandered through the
aisles, got the audience to sing along, and created a party atmosphere.
Garland also was quoted in the program:"Joni Mitchell has stood at the vanguard of
songwriters from the moment she hit the public and has remained there, paving the way
for the rest of us to explore the world of music beyond three chords".
Love that quote.
Jane Ira Bloom - Woman Of Heart & Mind: Jane is a saxophonist, she spoke not a word
but went straight to her work. Tell you the truth, it took me a while to figure out
what she was playing. Now knowing what it is, I'd love to hear it again. It was NOT a
straight cop of the melody, I can tell you that.
Morley - This Flight Tonight, River, Chinese Cafe: A young (female) singer-songwriter,
Morley had a great band backing her up, including world music legend David Amram on
piano and on penny whistle flute. On This Flight Tonight, he played 2 small flutes
simultaneously, one harmonizing with the other. An amazing solo. Her 'Chinese Cafe'
was outstanding, hitting on all the right emotions and arrangements. She got a
standing ovation - well deserved for a terrific performance.
But of course in a 12-hour gig, there have to be some low points. The first one was
about to come.
Bob
NP: Joni, "A Case Of You", Paris 6/15/72
