[Magdalen] Joan Baez

[Jay Weigel]

Always wanted to see her and Judy Collins, but never got to. I have,
however, seen Arlo Guthrie and John Prine (together, in a memorable concert
which was a birthday gift to my late ex), Stephen Stills, Peter, Paul, and
Mary (in their young days, and what a night THAT was!), Blackmore's Night
(twice--and S/O says Ritchie Blackmore is unfair, he has 6 10-inch fingers
on each hand LOL), and most recently Loreena McKennitt. Plus innumerable
Celtic groups, some of whom might be known to others.

On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 11:40 AM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> What a great review, Grace! I enjoyed reading it. Scott
>
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 10:25 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > My reaction to the concert was decidedly mixed, though I'm glad I went.
> It was a thrill to see her walk onstage alone at the beginning, guitar in
> hand. The audience immediately rose to its feet and gave her a standing
> ovation, after which she quipped, "Well, I can go home now!" Her opening
> song was "Me and Bobby McGee."
> >
> > That was the only time she was onstage by herself, and the staging and
> lighting effects from that point on seemed more suited to a rock concert,
> with smoke and shifting arrangements of spotlights that were sometimes
> trained on the audience. The stage went dark after every single number. In
> retrospect, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had just closed my
> eyes and listened, because the music itself was excellent. The three young
> musicians with her were very talented, and each of them was given an
> opportunity to shine. There was a young woman whom Joan introduced as her
> "co-singer," a young man playing percussion, and a young man who played
> piano, guitar, mandolin and banjo and did some back-up singing.
> >
> > One distraction was that after every number a young woman came onstage
> and switched out Joan's guitars, moving the jack for the amp from one to
> the other. I'm sure it was done so Joan didn't have to spend time tuning
> and re-tuning during the concert, and it was done quickly, but I found it
> distracting and even annoying by the end.
> >
> > Some of the songs were new to me, and some were old favorites. A couple
> of the latter she introduced as "real folkies," and on a couple she had the
> audience join in on the chorus, notably "It's all over now, Baby Blue," and
> another with a "ly-ly-ly" refrain. Clearly the audience already know those
> and sang with gusto. The Woody Guthrie song "Deportees" was incredibly
> relevant today, and she gave the backstory of how it came to be written.
> > She did sing "Diamonds and Rust," Renee, at one point substituting "50
> years ago" for the original time frame, which brought a chuckle from the
> audience. She ended it with a half-half-spoken "I'll take diamonds!" Other
> standards were "The House of the Rising Sun," and the John Lennon song
> "Imagine," which was the third and closing encore, with the audience
> joining in on the refrain.
> > In keeping with her activist roots, she sang a very effective song about
> global warming, with the spare accompaniment of a very light hand drum and
> her soft striking of the guitar strings with only her voice on the melody.
> She also made a soft pitch for Amnesty International and its work with our
> incarceration epidemic. There were AI volunteers in the lobby with
> petitions regarding the sentences of young offenders to life without parole.
> >
> > I'm glad I went--I feel as if I've bookended her career with that early
> concert in 1967 and now this one. From a lovely girl with long dark hair
> and a high, clear soprano to a beautiful woman with short, snow-white hair
> and a mellowed mezzo-soprano.
> > What a ride it's been--for all of us of her generation!
> >
> > On March 12, 2016, at 5:04 AM, Christopher Hart <cervus51 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I did see Seeger in person and Arlo too, but I think I've only seen Joan
> > Baez on TV. I'm a big fan though and envy you this concert.
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 5:27 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Great pictures, Charles--thanks! Judy Collins was here about five years
> >> ago, and Arlo Guthrie was over at Shrinemont at the Shenandoah Summer
> Music
> >> Festively several years ago. I never saw Seeger in person, but his
> brother
> >> Mike was in my house once, jamming with some of my bluegrass music
> friends.
> >> Quite an evening!
> >>
> >> > On Mar 11, 2016, at 5:09 PM, "Charles Wohlers" <
> >> charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Fantastic! Glad she's still touring. I've only seen her once, a few
> >> years ago at the 50th anniversary Newport Folk Festival, with Pete
> Seeger,
> >> Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie & others. For those of you who won't be with
> >> Grace tonight, here are pictures:
> >> > https://www.flickr.com/photos/cwohlers/sets/72157621928219406
> >> >
> >> > Chad Wohlers
> >> > East Bridgewater, MA USA
> >> > chadwohl at satucket.com
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > -----Original Message----- From: Grace Cangialosi
> >> > Sent: Friday, March 11, 2016 3:40 PM
> >> > To: Magdalen
> >> > Subject: [Magdalen] Joan Baez
> >> >
> >> > I'm going to hear her tonight--will definitely be a trip down memory
> >> lane! The first time I heard her was in the summer of 1967 at the Sylvan
> >> Theater in DC. She was barred from performing at Constitution Hall
> because
> >> of her anti-war views, so she held a free concert on the mall. Our son
> was
> >> six weeks old and attended in his car bed...
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Christopher Hart
> >
> > List Mail Address: cervus51 at gmail.com
> > Personal Mail: cervus at veritasliberat.net
> > Twitter: @cervus51
>
>
>
> --
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA
>