Subject: RE: Is Joan Baez a fraud?
From:
Uncle Jaque
Date: 23 Feb 02 - 09:01 PM
I guess you could say that like some who have already given credit here to "Joanie" for instilling an early passion for "Folk" music, she did that for me as well, back around '62 or '63. I think I wore out a couple of her albums and went hoarse singing some of those old songs back then.
Although she was a full-grown woman when I was still a teenager, I yearned to meet a woman like her someday, and my Wife's slight resemblance, guitar playing and singing voice may well have been a factor in the relationship that is now at 30 years and holding. Then something happened with my beloved "Joanie"; there was that nasty affair going on in Asia, young people all over - with the exception of most of us rustic back-hill-folk - were getting all silly and dressing funny, the Russians were supposed to nuke us into oblivion at any time, and Joanie suddenly stopped singing the old songs. It seemed that all she would utter had to involve some sort of vitriolic protestation, or she had nothing to sing or talk about at all. I suppose that there was plenty of stuff to legitimately protest, and worthy causes to champion.... but would it have hurt all that much to sing "Amazing Grace" just once in the midst of all that? Actually I did hear her on the Public Radio about 25 years later singing it, and it surprised me that she still had it in her.
We havn't heard much from our Folkie Sweetheart of the '60's over the intervening years, but from what there has been it's been apparant that she's still very much "got it", musically speaking.
Then she appeared for a concert in Portland, and I thought some of going, just so I could see her one time in my life, and hear the voice I once loved so passionately up close and personal. Then I read the article, which had a lot more to do with her political and social "causes" than it did with her mucic, which seemed to be somewhat incidental; a vehicle with which to promote her ideology. It told of her angst for the poor, unfortunate Taliban freedom fighters currently incarcerated in the U.S. Military base in Cuba, their civil and human "rights" being terribly impinged upon by those imperialistic capitalist pig Americans... gee, I wondered; where was Joanie's outrage at ruby Ridge, Waco, or over the gunpoint kidnapping, brainwashing, and expulsion of little Illian Gonzalez? Oh, wait...
If I'm going to sit through a couple of hours worth of ranting and diatribe orchestrated to tear down and heap contempt upon the United States of America, I figure that we don't need to buy a $35 ticket for it. Shucks, anyone who enjoys that form of entertainment can come here to the Mudcat and peruse the "POL" threads for that amount of time for free.
Farewell, "Joanie"; It's been nice tae ken ye. I hope ye don't mind if I still sing, ever so softly when no one's listening, some of your old songs... from back when ye sang them just for the joy, and the love of it.
Remember?
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sj
