Luciana Souza - Blue, All I Want, Amelia, Jericho: Luciana's set was very pretty and
very UN-pretentious. She was accompanied by Adam Rodgers on guitar, and sang while
seated and played some percussion by banging the instruments on her thighs. Sounds
silly, maybe, but it was very pleasant.
David Krakauer - The Fiddle & The Drum: This was performed on solo clarinet. I'm not
familiar with David but he's obviously a virtuoso on his instrument, playing this song
over a number of octaves. Although this was obviously an instrumental, he started by
reading the lyrics and commenting about how contemporary (and sadly so) they were.
Theo Bleckmann - Refuge Of The Roads/Sisotowbell Lane/Sunny Sunday/Borderline: Theo is
a European vocalist - performance artist who has a DEEP love for Joni. You could just
see the joy oozing from him during this performance, which was also very challenging &
ambitious and had to be seen to be fully appreciated. Accompanying him were John
Hollenbeck on percussion and found objects, and Gary Versace on piano & accordian.
Besides just singing, Theo recorded his live vocals on a machine, then played them
back and harmonized with them, experimented with the rhythms and textures of his voice
and its tones. While this was riveting at times, it went on a bit too long for my
taste, and when the percussionist ventured away from traditional instruments and
started rubbing coffee cans on guitar strings and such, it took away rather than
adding to the sonic textures. But for the most part, this was a very unique and
enjoyable presentation.
Edie Carey - Night Ride Home: My guess is that Melissa Errico had originally laid
claim to NRH, because Edie was going to do 'Come In From The Cold' but did NRH instead
when Melissa cancelled. This was a straightforward girl-with-guitar performance, and
was very warm & genuine. Edie's originally from NYC but is now based in Atlanta. She
was very happy to be a part of W2W. She then introduced Anne Heaton, and they did a
jaw-dropping gorgeous take on "Slouching Towards Bethlehem", Edie on guitar, and Anne
on electric piano. Perfect harmonies and emotion, and again very moving in its
timeliness.
Anne Heaton - For Free: Edie split, and Anne gave a solo performance of For Free,
which must be a song she's comfortable with as she seemed so relaxed and in control
with it, joyfully playing & singing, and smiling. Very nice.
Julien Fleischer - Conversation: Julien made the first of his 3 appearances, and he
intro'd this song as a special request for someone backstage. It wasn't on the
program. Julien's voice is very warm, and it was interesting to hear this song
presented as a man singing to a man about being trapped in his male-female
relationship. Put a very unique spin on it. His playing reminds me of the way our own
Claud so effortlessly strums through it.
OK, we're about 2/3 of the way through...thanks to those of you who may be interested
enough to read all of this. I'm enjoying reliving it all in my mind!
Bob
NP: Joni, "This Flight Tonight" Seattle 2/16/72
