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Spring 2008 - U.S.
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 After a few days of rehearsals in New York City, a comfy tour bus arrived to carry Joan Baez, her band and her crew to Albany, New York's unusually shaped The Egg performance hall for the first concert of this 2008 Spring tour of the U.S. Soundcheck at this venue became an extension of the NYC rehearsals and included two new songs from Joan's upcoming CD, Day After Tomorrow, produced by Steve Earle. Eliza Gilkyson's magnificent "Rose Of Sharon" has all the elements of the folk ballads on Joan's early 1960's Vanguard album, while Steve Earle's contribution, "God Is God" seemed ever so timely and was composed by Steve especially for Joan.
 As I set up a new merchandise display in The Egg's lobby, my memory went back to a past concert there where Joan and I played bumper cars with two of the many overstuffed rolling chairs lined around the theater's outer area.
That evening Joan opened her show with "Rose Of Sharon" and performed an impressive assortment of favorites associated with her enduring career, including "With God On Our Side," "Deportees," and "Joe Hill," along with other songs that will be featured on the new CD: "Day After Tomorrow," "God Is God," and "Scarlet Tide." The set list changed nightly, as Joan consulted band members during the shows for suggestions of what to perform next or to share a last minute change. Each evening Joan took her traditional concert solo turn and performed whatever came to mind, which by tour's end had included her own compositions "Love Song To A Stranger," "Prison Trilogy," and " Diamonds And Rust," traditional folk gems like "House Carpenter," R&B hits from her teen years like "Annie Had A Baby" and "Honey Love" along with Bob Dylan classics like "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word." By the time the tour reached the South, Joan started reflecting on her work with Dr. Martin Luther King and added a very moving a capella version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" to her solo set. After the Albany show the tour bus headed for New Bedford, Massachusetts' Zeiterion Theater, where Joan paid tribute to the local Portuguese community by singing a song in their language.
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The tour bus rolled into Waterville, Maine on a very cold Easter Sunday where big piles of snow were everywhere and made it seem more like New Year's Day than Easter Sunday! That evening the show's promotion representative, Raffi Der Simonian, directed us to a nice local restaurant, The Speakeasy, where a wonderful Easter dinner awaited. Raffi was a perfect host, and, after dinner, proudly gave us a tour of the restoration-in-progress, the Waterbury Opera House, where Joan and company would give a concert the next night. Raffi's enthusiastic, civic-minded appreciation for his town and its venue impressed everyone so much that we declared he would someday be mayor of this lovely little Maine city. In addition to it being Easter Sunday, it was also Maple Sunday in Maine, and someone presented Joan with a bottle of Maple salad dressing and a box of very sweet candy shaped like maple leaves!
After saying goodbye to our new friends in Waterville, the bus headed for a show at the Lebanon, New Hampshire Opera House followed by major events in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where both Joan and
That evening Joan's band members Erik Della Penna (guitar, "cigar box" mandolin, dobro, vocals) and Dean Sharenow (percussion, drums, vocals) gave one of their splendid solo concerts as Kill Henry Sugar at the Cambridge Bookstore. Kill Henry Sugar fans Crook Stewart (Joan's longtime and highly effective tour manager) and myself (merchandising) went along to enjoy the show and partake of the free wine offered by the venue! Erik and Dean, as usual, impressed their audience with original songs from their existing CDs, along with a few new compositions that will be included on an upcoming project.
"A Conversation With Joan Baez" happened on March 27 at Club Passim with Joan fielding questions from a Boston Globe reporter and the 125 audience members who were lucky enough to get tickets to the event. The following evening the Passim benefit continued with a sold-out Joan Baez concert at Sanders Theater.
Once again making a home base at a New York City hotel, Joan found that a cold she had been battling for a couple of days was settling in her chest with lots of congestion, a nagging cough and a sore throat. Luckily, Joan's NYC area friend, Dr. Irwin Redlener, managed to get her in to see a doctor who gave her antibiotics and a decongestant. Unfortunately, Joan's condition hadn't improved enough by the next day, and she was forced to make a rare concert cancellation of the show in Peekskill, New York. The following day, Joan and her entourage headed to New Brunswick, New Jersey for a concert at the State Theater, but during soundcheck Joan's throat continued to give her problems, and she felt she was unable to give a satisfying performance. Consequently, that evening's performance was also cancelled. Dinner was set up in the venue's green room, so we ate, packed up all the instruments, audio gear and merchandise display, and headed back to NYC where Joan was able to rest and let her medication take effect during a day off. By April 3, Joan felt she had improved enought to do a scheduled concert at Wilmington, Delaware's Opera House, where David Bromberg had agreed to join the band on a few numbers and Joan found herself changing the set list to fit the limitations that were placed upon her voice by the sore throat, congestion and cough. |
The very next evening Joan gave a concert in Englewood, New Jersey. Before the show at Bergen Performing Arts Center, CNN set up cameras for an interview with Joan that aired a few days later on the CNN Headline News cable channel in connection with a story about entertainers who openly express a social conscience.
After the Wilmington show, the bus took a short 82 mile drive to Easton, Maryland where Crook and I got Joan settled into her warm, comfy hotel room at 2:00am so she could get some rest before the next evening's performance. As fate would have it, that serenity wasn't to last long! Around 4:00am, loud knocks at hotel room doors awakened guests from deep sleeps, along with loud voices announcing that there was a fire in the hotel and that everyone must evacuate immediately! By the time I reached Joan's room, Crook had already wrapped a blanket around her and was hustling her down a back stairway to the bus, while I grabbed her purse and ran behind them! Outside, the band's remarkable bass player Mike DuClos was already pursuing his hobby and had his camera clicking away as firefighters climbed ladders, checked the roof and cleared the hotel of its patrons. Crook hustled Joan through the cold, damp night air and rain, past the Avalon Theater's marquee that boasted "JOAN BAEZ: SOLD OUT!," to the tour bus. In about an hour the efficient firefighters had a chimney fire under control, and the hotel's cold guests returned to their rooms. When we entered the hotel, the first thing we noticed was our tour bus driver, the all-knowing, energetic, friendly and professional John Ertler, sitting and smiling in the lobby. It appeared he had sized up the situation and knew it was safe enough for him to remain warm and comfortable in the hotel's lobby!
Lousy weather had become the norm for this tour, so Joan and her group were looking forward to getting deeper into the south for a day off in Charleston, South Carolina, where Kill Henry Sugar gave another wonderful concert at Hungry Monk Music, and Joan and her band gave another concert the next day at the Charleston Music Hall. Joan found her energy level easily depleted by the congestion and nagging cough that still lingered, but admirably carried on giving full shows at every venue! Crook received a call from the NYC doctor that had seen Joan, who revealed that a throat culture he had taken indicated she needed another prescription to control the cough she was experiencing. By the time we reached Jacksonville, Florida for a show at the Florida Theater the cough was beginning to ease up. |
 Next stop was Tampa, Florida, where the city was filled with tens of thousands of marathon runners who blocked the streets and prevented the bus from getting to the hotel. The bus had to park several blocks away, but even on foot it was difficult to cross the streets due to the mass of running humanity! During a day off in Tampa, Kill Henry Sugar appeared on the local morning TV show "Studio 10" where they performed two of their original songs and promoted their local performance later that evening.
During the Tampa soundcheck Joan experimented with one of the songs from her upcoming album. She decided to play "Rose Of Sharon" with only Mike DuClos backing her on bass instead of using the entire band. It made for a very basic and moving arrangement which was retained for the rest of the tour.
Powerhouse Community Arts Center gave Joan a regal welcome for her April 12 concert in Oxford, Mississippi. Unique hand-stitched programs were created along with amazingly beautiful posters. A very special meal was served after soundcheck, and the treatment the entire tour group received was definitely above and beyond the call of duty! The venue had even installed a 28 foot picture of Joan above their marquee, but sadly, a windstorm blew through Oxford and took it down before Joan had the chance to see it.
During the Peekskill concert Joan shared with the audience that Bob Dylan had played her Vanguard recording of "Joe Hill" during one of his recent XM Radio "Theme Time Radio" programs, where the subject was "Songs About Guys Named Joe." Mr. Dylan made stellar remarks about Joan before he spun the record.
Be sure to keep up with all the exciting news and tour information that's always available here at the website. And until the next adventure, coming up soon in Europe, we all wish everyone happy trails. |
Tuscaloosa, Alabama's appearance was more of a two day EVENT! On her day off, Joan and her manager, Mark Spector, headed for Stillman College where she was reunited with Bill Fegan, who had hosted Joan during her visit to Tuscaloosa 45 years ago, and Bishop Ernest Palmer, who conducted the black choir during that rare, integrated event. A film crew was present to record the reunion and conversation as part of an upcoming documentary as part of Joan's 50th anniversary. The conversation between Joan and the two men was at times amusing and light, and at other times extremely deep and moving. They shared their recollections of their initial meeting, where black audience members had no idea who Joan was, and white audience members who came to enjoy the immensely popular young folksinger sat precariously in the audience at the all black college. Ernest pointed out that 45 years ago a white woman and a black man sitting on a bench, as the three of them were that time, could easily have been hauled off to jail or shot at from a passing car. Bill reintroduced Joan to a scarf that she had left at his home after the long ago concert. He had kept the scarf knowing that one day their paths would cross again! Joan smiled and tied the almost half-century old scarf around her neck as she continued to talk extensively about her goal to integrate concert audiences and shared stories about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The next night in her concert at the Bama Theater the reunion with Bishop Palmer and Mr. Fegan inspired Joan to share stories and inspired her to sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Amazing Grace" for those in the theater. (Photo at upper left is of Joan and film director Mary Wharton reviewing footage.)
Immediately after the Oxford concert, the entire group hopped back on the tour bus and headed for the Memphis, Tennessee airport, where everyone was originally scheduled to depart from at the end of the tour. However, the two missed concerts in Peekskill and New Brunswick had been re-scheduled, so Joan, the band and I flew back to NYC while Crook left the tour to fulfill a previous commitment as Jackson Browne's tour manager, and the bus and our favorite driver, John, headed back to Florida. Jason Raboin, Joan's longtime audio engineer, flew in direct from his work with a Modest Mouse tour of Japan to do the sound for the two shows since this tour's audio engineer, Paul Dalen, had to depart as well. Once again making NYC a home base, Joan enjoyed wonderful breakfasts from the Manhattan Diner and took walks to some fine health food stores in the area. While in New York City, Joan found time to review the final mixes for her new album due for a September 9 release. Jason took on the duties of tour manager AND stage/house engineer, while I slaved over hot cups of tea and delivered them to the tour's star onstage, in addition to handling merchandise sales!
The tour ended with the makeup concert in New Brunswick, after which Erik, Joan and I hopped into a rented vehicle and made our way back to NYC under the care of Dean Sharenow's driving. Dean, Erik and Mike live in the area, while Jason lives farther up in New England, so that left Joan and I to fend for ourselves as we made our way the next day to JFK Airport with a pile of suitcases and guitars for our flights to our homes in Arizona and California. Joan would soon be belatedly celebrating her mother's 95th birthday!
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Photos (top to bottom: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11) by Crook Stewart, 2008
Be sure to take a look at the many other photos from this tour. Enjoy!
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