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1969 Season Print-ready version

Greek Theater Magazine
August 1969

The following is from the Greek Theater's summer 1969 program

Welcome to the Seventeenth Anniversary Season of the Greek Theatre Association. We are presenting to Los Angeles what we believe is one of our most entertaining seasons ever.

The summer was successfully launched with the record-breaking engagement of the dynamic singer from Wales, TOM JONES. He was followed by the happy sounds of THE 5TH DIMENSION and then came the appearance of two popular artists, JOHNNY MATHIS and HENRY MANCINI.

Our old friend HARRY BELA FONTE followed for a welcome three-week engagement, making his ninth appearance at the Greek Theatre.

Tonight you are enjoying the talents of five young newcomers to the world of live theatre and the question "who are CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG?" will be answered irrefutably as these bright, contemporary talents "do their thing."

At this performance you will undoubtedly be witnessing the catalyst of one of tomorrow's top entertaining groups toward stardom.

The musical abilities of these young people has already been firmly established through the medium of records with their hit LP albums and singles.

None of the young men are newcomers, David Crosby was a founding member of the Byrds, Stephen Stills led the Buffalo Springfield, Graham Nash penned most of the material for the Hollies. Neil Young was also a member of the Buffalo Springfield.

On the same bill is JONI MITCHELL. Her voice and her guitar are free, pure instruments in themselves; there is a beauty in the way she uses them to convey a full range of stirring idea emotions.

Next is the young man whose artistry excited Greek audiences last summer as a guest. Now, JOSE FELICIANO returns to star in his own show. A multitalented artist, his repertoire ranges from jazz to pop ballads, and from classical to Spanish folk songs. He opens Monday, September 1. A delight to see and hear, Feliciano - the happy one - may well become another special Greek Theatre favorite.

On the same bill with Feliciano will be JULIUS WECHTER and THE BAJA MARIMBA BAND, the Mexican pop group who inject a sprinkling of humor along with good music in their colorful presentation.

Joni Mitchell

Making note of the artistic talent of a student named Roberta Joan Anderson, the child's sixth grade teacher said, "You love to paint with brushes and colors. Someday I think you'll love to paint with words." A dozen years later Roberta Joan Anderson, now known as Joni Mitchell, made the teacher's prediction come true with her first Reprise album.

Just one example of how true the prediction was can be found in a recent Detroit review: "She is a beautiful woman. Her voice and her acoustic guitar are free, pure in6truments in themselves; there is an additional beauty in the way she uses them to convey such a full range of idea-emotions. But if she looked like your grandmother and her voice cracked and she only knew three chords, her performance would be justified by her songs alone. As a songwriter she plays Yang to Bob Dylan's Yin, equaling him in richness and profusion of imagery and surpassing him in conciseness and direction"

Born November 7, 1943 in McLeod, Alberta, Canada, Joni attended public schools In Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and, bent on a career as a commercial artist, enrolled in the Alberta College of Art in Calgary. Just to pass the time, she took along a ukulele. After mastering some chords and a few traditional ballads she found she could earn extra money by singing and got her first job in a coffeehouse called the Depression. As time his went on, she found she enjoyed singing more than painting and decided to make a trek to the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario, a three-day trip east on the Canadian Pacific. On the way she wrote her first song, a blues number called "Day After Day," timed to the clacking of rail road wheels on steel rails. And she didn't return to Alberta. Instead she found work in half a-dozen Toronto coffee houses and continued to write songs. In Toronto she met and married Chuck Mitchell in June of 1965. A year later she went to live with him in Detroit, but the marriage was dissolved soon after that.

The twenty-four-year-old with blonde hair-to-her-waist and startling bone structure has now written over sixty songs and has just bought a house in Laurel Canyon, where, in her time off from writing songs, she paints in her backyard. She may even have a future in art.

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Added to Library on March 29, 2009. (6080)

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