[Magdalen] Joan Baez

[Grace Cangialosi]

I'd love to hear the Bell concert, but I will be on an 8-day retreat in PA. The Paramount is a wonderful venue, but I'm a little surprised the concert isn't being held at Old Cabell Hall at UVA. The acoustics there are outstanding.

> On Mar 13, 2016, at 5:47 PM, "Mahoney, W. Michael" <wmmah at stoneledge.net> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 11:25 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.
> 
> Hmmm.  I will be in the same theater this coming Thursday though I doubt
> there will be smoke and mirrors -- er, I mean lights.  The performers will
> be Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.  Mendelssohn
> and Mozart are on the program.
> 
> I don't recall that I ever saw or heard Baez live though we certainly
> listened to her a lot in those early days.  I still have her original
> Vanguard recordings. I was lucky enough to be at concerts featuring, a
> differing times, folks such as Odetta, Josh White, Bob Gibson, Pete Seeger
> and other troubadours of the times.  But the most memorable occasion was at
> an Episcopal church somewhere in mid-town Manhattan.  The event was the
> baptism of my godson and for some reason Judy Collins was present.   She
> sat right in back of me.  One of the hymns was "Amazing Grace" and the
> congregation had the collective wisdom to fall silent.  She sang it solo
> and without accompaniment -- in my ear.  I was in love for days.
> 
> I also saw Nina Simone perform at a south side Chicago night club -- not in
> my ear but still a memorable experience.
> 
> Mike M.