Saturday 12 June 2004, am …

I rise quite early, woken by the humidity, after a sound and happy sleep. It’s around seven o’clock, and I’m keen to ‘get back into it’ and not miss one moment more of Janismania than my body needs me to. As soon as I’m ready, I wander down to the cafeteria …

I’m not the first to arrive – and there are mountains of doughnuts and other sweet and sticky things there for us to eat. And eat many of them I do. Wonderful! You know, in England, we don’t usually start the day off with that sort of meal! (In case that gets politically misconstrued, we tend to by-pass it completely and go straight on to a no-holds-barred, highly calorific Full English Breakfast instead!)

Some balancing light conversation with the other early risers ensues. They include The Indefatigable Beth, Murray of the Morning, Charlene of the Worms, Karen of the Comings and the Goings, and Jenny (Indiana Sunrise). And I get started properly on my new mission of ManicRudie portraiture …

We move into the Restaurant for a real breakfast. Excellent scrambled eggs, ham and toast - but it really beats me how, in the USA, those can be shamelessly combined on the same plate with pancakes and maple syrup! Or is that MY greedy mistake …?? 

Eagerly anticipating what I expect will be the weekend’s main event – the famous Janis Ian Master Class - I move early into the hall, taking up a central position again and capturing a few more portraits as the other Janismaniacs steadily arrive and claim their own seats.

Then, with both official and unofficial cameras rolling, a hush descends, Janis enters stage left, and at once magnificently performs ‘On The Other Side’. We are exultant. But when the applause has died down, John, who has filmed it all from the front and side, catches her eye and passes her an oh-so-gentle hint - and she simply tells us it needs to be done all over again. No debate, no ‘reasons why?’ – it just gets done again. And we all sense the second performance is even more astounding!

Then Janis’ first words, as a new quiet descends upon the room, are: “So, did you notice the differences?” There are a couple of perceptively correct suggestions from the floor. And she then proceeds to lay out the four precise differences between the two ‘takes’, as she recalls them. Her position in relation to the mike at a particular moment. The number of backwards steps she chose to take during the build up to each of the finales. One specific guitar sequence. And the overall “feel” of each full performance ... 

And so the Class has begun. I have stupidly forgotten to switch on my voice recorder (and will never remember to!), and I am so involved in listening and photographing that I fail to take any written notes. So everything that is said and done by Janis will later have to be dragged back from my memory. Fortunately, nearly three weeks later, it is all re-surfacing from my subconscious, as I type – hopefully without too much invention or poetic licence! For it is hard to ‘recall’ very much detail of this amazing Master Class, or the true sequence of the topics as Janis presented them. But the ‘big impression’, whose aftertones resonate on, is one of Hard Work, Perseverance, Perfectionism, and a sanity-maintaining Pragmatism (“Well, I can never be a great pianist, now that I’ve injured my left hand,” said Janis to herself a decade ago, “but I can perhaps now become a great guitarist instead…”)

Countless photos are being taken all around me, as Janis begins her smooth flow of amusing stories and absorbed showbiz wisdom. I can only relay these in a piecemeal fashion here …

She explains why she is using a microphone in such a small and intimate room. It is both because John and Philip will be filming and recording the Class, and to protect her voice for the live DVD shoots in Pittsburgh on the coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Fair enough!

And this leads her on to discuss the responsibilities of all performing artists to their paying, travelling, highly supportive audiences (for without the audience, there is nothing, repeat nothing). So no matter how sick you are, she tells us, if you can physically get yourself up onto that stage, and you still have your singing voice, then the show must go on. Several of us cannot avoid chipping in from the floor about the food poisoning which she and Philip suffered after the Paris show last March, and its LACK OF IMPACT on her London show the very next day. “Yes,” says Janis, winking in my direction. “Poor Mike turned up really early, to meet us when we arrived, carrying a fine bottle of wine. But I felt so unwell, I just said ‘Go away’!”

(For the record, readers, that makes for a punchy stage story, but it is definitely NOT what Janis actually said to me in London! She and Philip were both extremely gracious, despite their illness: they let me help them in with the equipment, and we all chatted for a couple of minutes: me sympathising, Philip stoically getting on with the job as usual, and Janis resting up in the bar area and planning her next moves – first, to find a local drugstore for appropriate medicine and some phone cards, and second, to hit her dressing room. She was very apologetic to me for being so ‘down and distant’, and said she just needed to get some more sleep as soon as possible. I left them both to get ready for the war, and wandered around West London, with all my fingers and toes crossed, for the rest of the afternoon. Less than five hours later, Janis and Philip produced a magnificent show for the full-to-bursting house. She has publicly stated that she has never been more unwell than that, in any performance, throughout her long career. Bravo, guys!)

Then Janis begins to explain the application of method to her art. She has a sort of 5-step mantra for managing her performance from (pre-)start to finish. Regrettably, I really cannot recall all five specific elements, but I believe they were along the lines of ‘Entrance - Focus - Control - Involve - Exit’. What does matter, however, is that she always religiously uses this ‘checklist’ to ensure that: 
- she is always absolutely ready and waiting for her cue from Philip
- she makes her entrance displaying total confidence and appropriate authority, without tripping up the steps and falling flat on her face (other performers, she says, sometimes choose different ‘styles of entrance’ ... but those are always meticulously planned!)
- she is, at every moment of the show, totally focused – that is, her senses are acutely aware of everything that is occurring in the showplace (that means sound, and vision, and even touch  - yes, her feet know exactly where any uneven bits of stage are lurking!). Remarkably, she didn’t discuss the sense of smell in this context, but I’m sure it plays its part (she’d probably be the first person to shout out “FIRE” and then lead the charge to the door!). And as for taste - well, who knows?
- she aims to keep gentle but firm control over everything and everyone around her, including the audience, and especially Her Stage (trespass on it at your peril!)
- she tries to transport her audience out of their normal world and into her “offering”, carrying them along with her through all of its ebbs and flows, and then finally, quite gently, returning them to the real world again
- she makes a serene and dignified exit (and once again, avoiding trip-ups while leaving the stage is highly desirable!)
(Janis – I know I have not got all of this quite right – but I hope I have captured the main spirit of your sublime messages. I will be VERY happy to update this ‘5-step text’ with any ‘corrections’ you may wish to supply!)

She goes on to give us much more detail and prove that, by applying great effort, the performance can seem effortless ... and by applying unbridled perfectionism, it can approach perfection. A few simple examples:
- she always studies and remembers the exact number of steps up to the stage, and the number of walking steps from there to the microphone
- she checks and knows the exact number of backward steps to the rear of the stage
- she moves backwards just two steps in the finale of ‘On The Other Side’, to show a change of emphasis, and to appear just a little ‘smaller’, but she then stands solidly there, to command our continued attention and indicate she is still very much in charge …

She moves on to tell us much of the close relationship between Acting and Performing. To give just one example here: the use of the arms and hands, for emphasis, clarity, unambiguity, control, and so on …

She demonstrates Sitting Down and Standing Up, especially on TV – both the clumsy way (via the back of a deep couch – doomed to failure, especially if you are not the tallest of people!) and the elegant way (via a carefully maintained upright position at the FRONT of such a couch!)

She tells us you should never drink, or worse, before a show (she did it once, and she didn’t get away with it …)

At some point halfway through this wonderful morning, Janis takes a smoke break … and, perched like a pixie on the front bench, she continues to chat easily with us, while trying out the beautiful blonde raffle guitar, and happily tolerating every single camera lens being pointed at her …

Back inside, she continues the class. She talks of the absolute need to always be ‘top dog’ in any joint billing, without any undue malice to the others on the bill – it is, she says, simply essential for them NOT to be able to upstage you, no matter how great your friendship with them might be! (OK … she was actually much more blunt than that – basically, she says, you gotta kill ’em!). She tells us of her occasional early failures to achieve this (the arrogance of stardom was the culprit), and insists us it will never happen again (her humility, perfectionism and utter ruthlessness will ensure it!)

She demonstrates her famous stubbornness, her perseverance, her thick-skin, and her unswerving integrity, as she describes pursuing and finally getting that first record deal, and then rejecting Shadow Morton’s advice and insisting that the single word ‘black’ must be retained in the lyric of ‘Society’s Child’ … thus abandoning the ‘promise’ of a ‘guaranteed’ number one hit record, and instead having to cope, for years, with all the cruel fallout which then ensued.

She explains how she has the music ‘inside her’ … her ability, from a very early age, to hear how a melody should be, without knowing ‘why’ or having to write it down; her ability to transpose anything dynamically into any other key; and so on. This is a real talent, she agrees, which she took a very long time to accept as such, but which she now finally feels comfortable modestly to acknowledge and exploit to the full.

She pays tribute to the very different but equally important roles which both of her beloved parents played in her musical development. And that leads her on to talking, in remarkably hushed tones and with utter reverence, of ‘Artists and Heroes’. She reminds us just how artistic many, many people truly are. Then she gives her definition, with some examples, of Heroes - and she insists that, by comparison, and despite what people sometimes say, she feels that “she is no hero”. And she concludes by insisting, with obvious sincerity, that she is certain that everybody here today, in this very special place, is either Artist, or Hero, or both …

She talks fondly of how she travelled the world with a band for many, many years, and of all the good times that were had! And then she describes, in some depth, her now-solo mode. It’s equally fulfilling. It’s all a matter of time and place. ‘Simplification’ is the essence of the work of Janis Ian, right now …

At some point, she makes a few jokes about her monumental mistakes and her other failures! I think she mentioned the stories of Woodstock (she decided not to be on the bill and in the movie, or even to be there - or “maybe she was, but can’t remember!”), The Graduate (she turned down the movie score – well, Paul Simon needed another break, eh?), How Not To Handle A Diva’s Co-Writing Suggestion Phone Call From California Which Could Have Brought Untold Fame And Fortune, and maybe some others …

She demonstrates various aspects of her guitar technique. Really, no words are adequate. Then, to sum up everything she has told us, Janis Ian finally, yes finally, performs her career song ‘At Seventeen’ – and performs it to perfection, and to a rapturous standing ovation. But of course.

She concludes her talk with a few gentle but heartfelt words on the powerful sharing experience that she knows Janismania is for us all – herself included!

And then she takes questions from the audience … many, many questions. By the time she finishes, she has held the spotlight for nearly three hours, plus the “active smoke break”, and we have run over well into the lunch break. But who cares? (Well, I do, just a tiny bit … for I have a big special announcement to make after lunch, I am getting very excited about it, and I am fearful of getting squeezed out!)

But nothing can diminish our cheers and applause as we finally thank Janis for this long, remarkable, and uninhibited insight into her life’s work and her great artistry …
 

Saturday 12 June 2004, pm …

We move off to our excellent restaurant lunch  - do-it-yourself burgers with all the trimmings and, for me, jangling nerves on the side. Janis is virtually the last to arrive, and takes an age to construct her own meal. Then, after allowing her a few minutes' relaxation, I agree with Melinda that the time is right ... but Janis suddenly stands up and appears to be making an early exit! Aaarggghh!! – the best laid plans!! But she is only collecting even more food for her very light lunch. When she finally settles again, Melinda announces a special presentation, and at last I have the floor for a couple of minutes …

I announce that, for nearly two years, I have been building a PC database of every one of Janis’ recorded songs. Janis, who is loosely aware of this from some e-mail exchanges some time ago, is already looking surprised and rather interested! Then I tell everyone that, after the announcement of Janismania, I set myself the task of completing the project in time for the event. And, having done that, I then produced a ‘book’ of the database, entitled ‘A Few Old Friends: A Janis Ian Songs Companion’. It catalogues all 258 of Janis’ ‘accessible’ songs, and provides lots of interesting insights into them  …such as the keywords used in the lyrics of every song, and the most frequently occurring keywords, and the lyrical themes and musical styles of each song, and the instruments and voices used in each one, and any musical ‘echoes’ (of other artists and/or their songs) invoked for me by particular songs … and so on.

Janis is looking very happy now – she seems to approve! And so I am delighted to present her with her own personal copy of the book (NOT for future auction!), including the full data CD upon which it is based. She gives me a hug of honest thanks. I give Tina another copy of the data CD, which may perhaps one day be used to make the database broadly accessible from Janis’ web site.

But there is someone else who has helped me tremendously in gathering some of the more esoteric stuff for this project, especially the lyrics of some of Janis’ earliest songs, and recordings and information for some of the ‘Rarities’. So I am delighted to publicly present the amazing and generous Kathleen Brogan with another full copy of the book and database. She had known I was going to give Janis a copy, but she was not expecting anything for herself! What a pleasure to be able to surprise and thank her in this way, and acknowledge everything she has done for Janis and her community of fans over so many years!!

Then I finally announce that the third copy I have brought with me (and there are only four altogether, my own copy included), will be auctioned off for the benefit of the Pearl Foundation, at supper that evening – IF, that is, anyone is interested in bidding for it! I joke that I paid $30 for the binders for the three copies – so would anybody be willing to start the bidding at that price? There is an enthusiastic round of ‘Yes’ votes, and we are in business! I then promise to leave the book on display in the front lobby all afternoon, for anyone to study and consider their bids … but very gentle handling required, and no dirty fingers!

We move off to the ‘breakout sessions’, in three groups. My group goes first to The Secret Completion of the Amazing Quilt, with Karen. The patchwork quilt is beautiful in every regard! Once I have dared to make a few sharp snips upon one border, under Karen’s careful direction, I can concentrate on taking lots more portrait photos for the Gallery …

Next up, for our group, is Games in the Gym … but I am absolutely sweltering, and just not in the mood to play Action Man. I also need to take lots more photos for the Gallery ... so I send off my excuses, stay with the Quilt, and get to meet the second group properly ...

During the next break between sessions, Dave and I find ourselves briefly back in the main hall. And we suddenly spy Janis taking a power nap in one corner. I shall never forget Dave’s bravado in moving quite close and then letting rip with his noisy old 35mm camera and flash – which naturally wakes Janis up at once. He apologises, of course … and she just smiles, clearly gives him the “OK”, and promptly closes her eyes again. So then I decide that ‘Who dares, wins’ … and gently whispering “Well, I guess you won’t mind just one more then, Janis,” I too take my special (quite silent!) snap of 'La maestra in riposo'.

In passing, during this long hot afternoon, I have been picking up unsolicited ‘intelligence’ that some people are talking of bidding up to $200 for ‘A Few Old Friends’! I am quite amazed at this news ... I really had hoped to raise maybe $100 for it, at best. Then Anna bumps into me on her way back from the administration office, and tells me privately that she has just been in direct contact with her bank, back in Ireland, to ensure she has enough funds to bid and win! I have absolutely no idea what her bidding limit will be, and for all the right reasons, I dare not ask ... but I am beginning to wonder just what on earth I have started here …

The third and final breakout session of the afternoon is our group’s small ‘meet and greet’ … just a dozen of us relaxing and chatting with Janis for about an hour, with Tina and Nancy in quiet attendance. In reality, of course, it is not so much a ‘group chat’ as a series of questions for Janis, with some fascinating, lengthy answers ... but we all pitch in to the discussion, whenever and however we wish. We hear many more of her ‘life anecdotes’, both humorous and serious, as well as some stunning ad-hoc demonstrations of her guitar techniques (Dave is transfixed!). I especially enjoy talking with Janis about her masterful piano duet with Chick Corea on the recording of ‘Jenny (Iowa Sunrise)’.

Towards the end, I am at last able to get all my CD liners, album covers, and book covers signed by Janis. And it is then a great honour for me to be asked to sign, in return, the copy of ‘A Few Old Friends’ which I presented to her earlier in the day.

As Janis is finishing up, with supper and the auction looming, I walk over to the wonderful electronic piano that one of the Rudies has brought in and left in the ‘meet and greet room’, and I begin playing ‘Bright Lights And Promises’ gently in the background as Janis, Tina and Nancy wander happily off towards the hall for the next round of events. 

Dinner is superb: Pearl’s Mac and Cheese, and a host of other delights. I enjoy it immensely, sitting at last with my old cyber-friend Dar for a few precious moments, and showing her the special promo copy of the Janis-songs-based novel which I have produced (Dar was a treasured ‘first reader’ for me last year!)  But once again I am a little distracted, as I steel myself for another little solo performance ...

And so the auction of ‘A Few Old Friends’ begins. I stand up and admit to everyone that I have heard some rumours suggesting $30 is too low a starting point: so, “Will anyone offer me $100?”  “Yes!” several people shout. And then it just takes off! $150 … $200 … $220 … straight to $300 … slowly up to $500 ... then another big jump up to around $700. Finally, just two combatants remain to slug it out, and Anna finally claims it for ... wait for it … $850 !! 

Janis is sitting ‘front row’ and shaking her head in disbelief. So am I. I drag Anna and Janis out for photos. Then I remind everyone I still have four more copies of the data CD for auction. “Who’ll give me $20 for the first one?” No problem! The price climbs steadily and it goes for $60! The next one climbs higher and sells for $80. And the third goes for $120! I figure that it just cannot get any crazier, and that nobody will want the last CD. Wrong. It finally sells for no less than $200!!  The lucky winners include, I think, Dar, Craig, Carol and one other (I just can’t remember who! Someone remind me!).

I am still incredulous, and Janis has commented loudly at one point, “You’re all insane!” But she ain’t complaining! The book and the CDs have raised over $1300!

We move on, back to the official agenda for a few moments, as a gentle hush descends and MikeJ presents a stunning audio-visual feast which he and Charley have produced – a superb retrospective of Janis’ entire life and musical career! And although they and I have not communicated at all about our separate projects on her life’s work, it strikes me vividly how well they complement each other. So very good!

After the rumpus of the auctions, Janis has gone very quiet throughout Mike’s ‘presentation’, and it is clear she is deeply moved by it. When it is finished (too soon!), Mike presents her with a personal copy of the CD – and then proceeds to auction off another one! The price rises quickly and robustly, and it eventually goes to Michelle, reportedly for $325!

Not to be outdone, Janis suddenly decides to run an ad-hoc auction of her own! “What I am bid for the pants I am wearing? (but you don’t get them till the morning)!” Well, the price takes off just as before, and eventually Jenny wins them - for at least $200, I think!

Finally, Kath has created a beautiful painting of a young Janis, which had been revealed a little earlier, along with a plan for a set of limited edition prints to be produced soon and sold off for the benefit of the Foundation. But after the runaway success of the first auction, Kath has come up to me and quietly asked if I will lead another one, to sell the original painting itself. And off we go again! It finally goes to Leslie … for at least $325!

All in all, our spontaneous auctions have raised well over $2000 for the Pearl Foundation (and this does not include the raffle for the guitar – more on that later). Everyone is punch-drunk (without punch or any other alcohol in sight), and Janis is really, really happy. She gives me a huge thank-you kiss! Reward enough!

And now this surreal post-prandial party finally threatens to break up, as Janis announces she is feeling very tired, and will have to leave us again soon for another early night. But, she insists, after a quick smoke break she would really like to briefly hear the ‘Rudie band’ before she disappears for good …
 

Saturday 12 June 2004, evening …

I decide to leave my camera in its case for the rest of the evening. So all the photos in this section are the shared work of others. Thank you!

As she goes out for her smoke break, Janis invites anyone who wishes to pick up and even play one of her stage guitars. Very trusting! 

Several people take advantage of this, to try out its action and pose for photos. Dave ends up holding the baby!

Meanwhile, many other guitars are being removed from cases, and chairs are being pulled up at the ‘stage’ end of the room. Marcia is setting up her small drum kit, and one or two people are starting to warm up on guitar. But no ‘Rudie Band’ has spontaneously burst forth ... sadly, there has not been any time to get that organised, despite some high-blown advance aspirations! But almost everyone who was at supper has stayed behind in the hall (Dar’s Swim and Games are on hold!), creating a highly expectant, informal audience-in-waiting … 

Janis ambles back in and make a beeline for Kath, who is limbering up with her guitar at ‘centre stage’, right next to me. It has all suddenly gone very quiet again ... and Kath looks just a little apprehensive. Janis, who is not renowned for the kid-gloves handling of her disciples, simply pulls up a chair only three feet in front and to the side of her, smiles broadly, and says “So, play me something!” 

And Kath just grasps that nettle and begins … interspersing smoothly flowing passages from ‘Marching on Glasgow’ with the amazing percussive freestyle she had demonstrated the previous evening. To give her a bit of moral support, I chip in, on ‘Glasgow’, with a very occasional bottom E or a gently thumbed fill-out chord. But she doesn’t really need support … she is just cruising!

Janis watches Kath with intense fascination and obvious admiration. After a while she feels forced to stop her in her tracks and ask: “How do you DO that?” Kath shows and explains ... and Janis just has to rescue her own guitar from Dave’s safe clutches, and try it for herself. It’s tough! She tries several times, and half-cracks it. Then Kath plays some more, with Janis occasionally ‘following’ her … and so this round of explanation and emulation continues. 

Then Janis suggests gently how Kath could handle a particularly challenging phrase ... and demonstrates what she means. Kath tries once, twice, and then gets it, perfectly. Janis is delighted. And thus the mutual-maestra-class goes on, for at least fifteen minutes, I think. When they finally stop, it is obvious that they have both had a fantastic, deeply inspiring time! The hall has been absolutely silent throughout, as everyone strains to catch each word and note. And I’m really lucky to have been so ‘up close’ to this! Bravo, both of you!

(Oh, by the way, Kath (and Anna) … did you realise that ‘Indiana’ is an anagram of ‘Ian and I’?)

Then Janis calls out: “Where’s Michelle? … ah, there you are!” (she’s just over to Janis’ left, with 12-string at the ready). It turns out that Michelle had recently confided to Janis that she would love to sing to her a very special song of her own writing (in honour of both their mothers) ... but had not expected it would ever actually happen. “Play me that song!” says Janis out loud, once again taking no prisoners! So Michelle grits her teeth, takes a very deep breath, and goes for it …

Janis, like all of us, sits silently and listens to every word and note of this tender song of gratitude and humility, and applauds loudly at the end. Michelle is emotionally drained, but is clearly delighted that she has pulled it off! Bravo, ma’am!

Then Janis compliments Michelle for her bravery and, in particular, on the structure of the song … pointing out, for example, how the melody line jumps up high at one point, reflecting the tone of the lyrics (coincidentally, that’s very similar to what Janis had said about the extra-short chorus of her own ‘Society’s Child’, earlier in the day). And Janis then feeds that bit of wisdom over to Kath, as a suggestion for adding a little more colour and variety to her percussive freestyle piece.

And then Janis unceremoniously calls upon Marcia to demonstrate her drum kit, especially the reverse-action bass pedal. Marcia has had no warm-up, and has not even had time to tune the snare ... but she too is in at the deep end, and has no choice but to swim! But she’s a true professional, and she runs through a fabulous series of solo breaks and rolls, with Janis edging ever closer to observe and admire Marcia’s technique with her special kit, and yet another unique performing style! And when she finally stops, another huge round of applause ensues. Bravo to you too, Drummergal!

Now Janis at last says goodbye and leaves us for the night. The pool is declared open for just one hour’s swimming, with ‘Fun and Games with Dar’ to follow upstairs. 

Many people wander out of the hall, and it seems temporarily quite empty. But that’s no problem: the MusiRudies at last have a little time and space to tune in to each other. I had been looking forward to a swim, but that simply isn’t going to happen for any of us if we are to hold on to the moments that have just been created with Janis, and spin some more mania magic from them …

Over the next four hours or so, a lot of music is played! It starts off with individuals and pairs quietly ‘just jamming’, with Marcia wondering if and when her drums will be of any use! But fairly quickly a large guitar circle consolidates itself in front of her, including, from time to time, Leslie, Kath, Michael, Dave, Craig, two of the young helpers, myself, and almost certainly others I regrettably have forgotten … plus special guests Gene on occasional piano, Kathleen (torch-singer extraordinaire) and resident dancers Jenny and Carol!

Mind you, most of our early efforts to select a song, and then agree some chords (!), and then see it through to the end, fall sadly by the wayside! But we get there with one or two: The Beatles’ ‘Here Comes The Sun’ springs to mind as perhaps the ‘best-completed’ one, and this boosts our resolve. Marcia is soon very comfortable with the need for her drummer’s role (ouch!) and her fulfilment of it, even though she’s rarely able at the start to take command of the beat, because of what I can best term the new-found group’s ‘lack of precision’!

And then we proceed to cover a wide range of music. Others have remembered better than I have, so I’ll steal from their reports and mention also songs from James Taylor, John Denver, Ike and Tina Turner, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, a certain Janis Ian (bravo, Leslie and Kathleen!), Credence Clearwater Revival (our house dancers shine with ‘Proud Mary’!), and other rock’n’roll, folk and pop standards.

After a couple of hours of ebbing and flowing Rudie music (and appreciative audiences!), Beth brings over several huge bowls of dips to feed the band, and the guitarists take a well-earned break. Thanks once again, Beth and all your helpers! 

Now, my secret wish - to ask Janis if I may accompany her on piano while she sings ‘Bright Light and Promises’ - has been long-abandoned, for many good reasons … not least of which are that she’d already given her all to us throughout this long day, and that she really needed to protect her voice for the upcoming DVD shoot. But I decide this is the moment for the next-best-thing, and have a quiet word with Marcia, who has been encouraging me to go for it all evening, and is all set to accompany me. So, ‘Drummer, let the music play …’ – and I wander over to our honky-tonk piano and strike up the opening notes of that wonderful song, my all-time JI favourite.

I’m delighted that lots of people join in with the vocal, with Kathleen emerging as the clear lead singer. So when it’s finished, with Marcia still in great support on the drums, I move on to ‘When The Party’s Over’, and then ‘In The Winter’, which really gets our female vocalists going! I stop for a break, and the guitars take over again – there are more great solo performances, especially from Leslie with her huge, word/chord-perfect repertoire, and lots of singalongs. When the guitarists pause again for more eats, I go back to the piano and offer ‘Light a Light’, ‘Tea and Sympathy’, and ‘Lover’s Lullabye’. Each time the vocalists do us proud! 

Then I try to get thing rolling on the dance floor with the bouncy bossa nova ‘I Would Like To Dance’, but it really needs a clear vocalist and a well-rehearsed salsa band to fill it out, so it doesn’t take off! Instead, I figure that since we’ve already had ‘Ruby’ from Anna, and ‘BLAP’ from me, the third of Janis’ great bar-room songs deserves an airing too. So I launch into ‘Belle of the Blues’. It goes down well, with lots of people joining in, albeit rather raggedly. So when it’s finished, Kathleen Brogan insists we must do it again ‘properly’ … and she jumps up onto the piano and lies down on it with a rose in her teeth! Kath of the Guitar and several others gather around me, as the backing chorus, and with Kathleen belting out the vocal with all the emotion that thirty years of Janis-adoration can bring, we sing it all over again. I keep shouting out “Turn the page!” as I try to play this final song as well as I can for everybody! At the end, the place falls apart with applause for Kathleen and the rest of us. A wonderful episode! Did anyone film it? … I’m sure someone said they had …

It must be well past one o’clock by now, and soon the music party finally winds down. But we haven’t finished yet. Several of us move directly up to the 2nd floor lounge, and we find Dar still running in overdrive. She has been having a whale of a time, clowning around in the pool with Karen and several others, and then leading lots of silly games along with MikeJ, Charley, Craig, Marjan, Myra, Karen, Anna, Michelle and Rachel, to name just a few. But she tells us how sad she is to have missed the Rudie music! 

I join into a few crazy charades for a while, but we soon all adjourn to the couches to relax and chat. Kathleen brings in her copy of ‘A Few Old Friends’ and asks me to sign it. She and I then spend nearly an hour going through it together, almost page by page, talking abut many of Janis’ songs and my ‘notes’ on them … often agreeing on our favourite songs, or on a special ‘echo’, and so forth (“Ah, I wondered if anyone else had spotted that!”) and equally often disagreeing (“You don’t REALLY like ‘Sniper of the Heart’, do you?” ... “Well, surely YOU can’t seriously enjoy “Don’t Leave Tonight!”). What a fabulous argument to have!

Then I sit chatting for a little longer to Kathleen, Lucille, Kath, Craig and Dar, and it’s obvious that we could all talk to each other for another week without getting bored …  but I am now almost collapsing with exhaustion and emotion from all the wonderful events of the past twenty hours, and I finally have to make my excuses and drag myself off to my still-humid bedroom for just a few hours’ sleep. 

WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!
 

© 2004