Folksy Lady

Joan Baez plays the Lakewood

Last night I had the strangest dream...about Joan Baez. I dreamed that she married a guy she met in jail, that she went to Woodstock six-and-a-half months pregnant and almost changed her name to Rachel Sandperl. And also that she fooled around with Steve Jobs and got to see the 1984 Macintosh before most of the rest of the world. Then later she took to spending a lot of time in a treehouse. It was a weird dream, but according to Wikipedia, eerily accurate. I must be psychic. By the way, she's also a folk singer and social activist. Whichever side of the Baez interests you--the three-octave range or the esoterica--check her out at An Evening With Joan Baez and Friends 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Lakewood Theater, 1825 Abrams Parkway. Tickets are $39 to $59 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com.
Tue., Feb. 24, 2009

 
  • Paula Brown 02/25/2009 6:16:00 PM

    OK, I'm a rocker at heart, but I wish there were more gigs like this, legendary, immaculately played, and right in my neighborhood. Joan Baez brings 50 years of music history to the stage and, unlike many worn out artists who make themselves plod through one more gig doing the same old songs so they can survive, Baez still enjoys it and, in fact, set herself off laughing a time or two. Baez is still plugged in and vital. Her material ranged from her first album to her newest, paying homage in between to America's essential folk/bluegrass/harmonic pioneers, The Carter Family, and reaching back centuries to UK folk influences with "Rose of Sharon." Her latest CD draws material from producer, Steve Earle, as well as Elvis Costello/T-Bone Burnette. Baez, of course, has a hippie chest full of historic originals, and for some of them she dispensed with the considerable musical talent of her band, sending them on break, and brought them to us in purest form, just her and her 12-string. For me, the high point of the show was the musical/lyrical/historical "Diamonds and Rust," a song that surely came straight from her soul. I have seen thousands of concerts, but I don't remember ever hearing such a richness and fullness of sound coming from one lone acoustical guitar and its player before. It was really a treat to be able to spend an evening with someone so talented and entertaining and who will always be considered a pillar of American music and history.

 

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