70's Stuff

Today on my $200 trip to Chapters, I purchased a Joni Mitchell DVD out of curiosity: "Refuge of the Road", which is essentially a tour documentary without the fun bits (stupid dialogue, reveling moments of personality traits, etc...) of her 1983 "Refuge" tour, amidst her great love affair with jazz and her jazzy bass player huzz Larry Klein.

Now, this was totally worth the purchase because in the first five minutes alone, we are exposed to some serious 70's edits, including HORSES running through FLAMES, and SEAGULLS flying through the opalescent sky.

What was MOST interesting though, was in the opening credits. I see the name Vinnie Colaiuta pop up, her drummer, and then realize that Vinnie played on a track for my first band's first album! We were working with John Shanks at the time and hooked up something else, with a budget bands can only dream of today. Recording in Henson Studios (formerly Charlie Chaplin's estate, later becoming A&M Studios) with the top studio players in the business (though we played our own instruments, we were nothing compared to big budgets and big names).

My memory of him is an extremely energetic guy in his 50's, I reckon, bouncing into the studio with short 70's (of course) shorts and wrist bands, carrying drum sticks like they were his handbag. He got on the kit and BLEW our minds. Too bad I was 15 and didn't realize the importance of this human being in the same room as me.

Anyway, here's a clip in all its white-lit glory


I love you Joni, but I still don't get the jazz thing... Save Court and Spark of course.