It was my first year at university (UC Davis, near Sacramento).. Two friends from my hometown and I had been planning for quite some time to see Joni for the first time in Berkeley on 1 March. I was such a devoted fan of Joni that, when I saw that she was appearing at the Memorial Auditorium, I decided two concerts were much better than one. So I saw Joni for the first time at this concert...I never told my friends that I had gone...

The first concert I ever went to was Joni's concert at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. I was 12 years old and went down in a VW camper van full of hippies who were living at the same yoga commune in Grass Valley that I was living in with my mother and sister. Joni was amazing. My sister had recently been given a cassette tape of "For the Roses" that we played to death. I'll never forget the explanation Joni gave at the concert of how she went outside at night and the wind rustling the leaves of the arbutus tree sounded like thousands of tiny hands applauding and was part of her inspiration for the song "For the Roses". She ended with (or near the end) with "You Turn Me On I'm a Radio" and totally rocked it. It remains such a clear and wonderful memory.

My boyfriend (who later became my husband..then later my ex-husband) and I drove down to "Sacto" from Placerville in his 1962 Austin Healey. It was the first time I'd ever seen Joni in concert. I was extremely excited and she gave a wonderful performance-GREAT CONCERT! Joni was with me through jr. high, high school and college. I wore out many stylists listening to her albums over and over on the "Pioneer Hi-Fi Stereo" my father bought me for my eighth grade graduation! HAPPY TIMES!

My fond memory is being the fool who came out of the audience and stood at the edge of the stage and handed Joni a bouquet of roses. At least I got some applause and she did take the roses.