Saturday, December 10, 2022

The Advent Jukebox, Day 10...River.


NotAllSweetBabies
AreNamedJamesVille



From a fantastic story by a guy named Will Blythe, who grew up in Chapel Hill North Carolina. Blythe's parents were friends with the parents of James Taylor.

Yes.

...The gathering took place on a bristly cold December night for Chapel Hill (in 1970. The evening started with a group of carolers, including James and his girlfriend of the moment—yes, it was Joni Mitchell—lighting out from the Taylors’ and rambling through the neighborhood from house to house. Ike went along, too, his voice resonant and booming. It would have been just like my parents to join in such a sing-along...

{snip}

...When everyone finished caroling, they went back to the Taylors’, gathering upstairs around the fire in the open living room. Nearby stood a Christmas tree that Ike and James had gone into the woods and cut down. Decades later, (a young woman who was there) Isabelle Patterson would tell (Taylor family friend) David (Perlmutt, who was also there) that whenever she hears Joni Mitchell’s song “River” (“It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees”), she’s convinced that the song was inspired by that visit...


Here's the jukebox version of Ms. Mitchell's classic...

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Image at the top of the post?...The original K Family Singers...Sure hope I wasn't too much like Papa Joe Jackson, at least not the bad parts...Heard Rae Dong Chong on a recent edition of Toronto Mike's podcast who mentioned that, when she was a kid, she was once at a family get together with the original Jackson family singers (Tommy Chong is her Dad)...Somewhere along the line she tried to get young Michael to come outside and play...She was informed by one of the older brothers (she couldn't remember which one) that they didn't 'play'...Oh boy.


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2 comments:

Keith said...

That’s the business Ross.

RossK said...

Business, indeed, Keith.

Thanks.

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