Linda Ronstadt

[NYC Fan]

NYCF, were you able to go to this? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

PM:

I did go to the 92nd St. Y event, and it was a great evening. Linda was interviewed by John Rockwell, who used to be the rock critic for the NY Times, and has been friends with Linda for 40 years. So there was a real ease between them, which made the conversation flow. If you have seen the excellent 2-part Tavis Smiley interview, she covered a lot of the same topics that she spoke about at the Y.

I particularly enjoyed how well versed Linda was in all sorts of music. She has explored so many types of music in her career and her knowledge of the history of those styles was so impressive. It was great to hear her speak about all of the people she has worked with and her various projects. I saw Sting do a benefit recently at the Public Theater, where he played the music from a Broadway musical that he is working on and talked about the creative process, and it reminded me of Linda. These are true musicians who are always looking for something new musically to explore.

They didn’t cover the whole Troubadour scene in as much depth as I would have liked, and she did not go into the story about hiring the Eagles as her band. She did mention them, and specifically said what a great writer Don was and what a great country player Bernie was. But not too much detail on all that, sadly. She did mention a bunch of the other people like Jackson, JD, etc., and spoke about that time with great affection.

Another story I found very funny is how she came to be in the Pirates of Penzance on Broadway. She was talking about how she didn’t like playing sports arenas on tour. She said they had terrible acoustics and that everyone was more interested in drinking, smoking and getting hot dogs than listening to the show. She told (I think) her manager how she wanted to play “a place with a curtain”. It was so funny how she spoke about this and kept emphasizing playing a place with a curtain. Somehow she decided she wanted to try out for Pirates. She was laughing about how clueless she was in her thought that it was no big deal to meet with Joseph Papp and tell him that she wanted to do this. She later found out, as she put it, “People were waiting in line to work with Joe Papp. And Meryl Streep was in that line”. I loved her sense of humor looking back on it. And of course that story got a big laugh from the NY audience.

She told another great story about how cheap Jerry Brown is. Apparently she was very close with Rosemary Clooney after working with Nelson Riddle. But one of her first social meetings was a lunch for the two of them at Rosemary’s house. Jerry Brown showed up at Linda’s house as she was getting ready (this was long after they dated, but she said they remain good friends), and invited himself along. And then, instead of buying a hostess gift, he insisted they take the flowers that someone had just given Linda from the vase and bring them along for Rosemary. She said Jerry Brown is pretty tight with a buck. The way she told the story was hilarious.

She also had some amazing stories about working with EmmyLou Harris and Dolly Parton, the first time she saw Bonnie Raitt at the Troubadour, and many of the other wonderful female singers she had worked with. I loved her story about Bonnie. I guess Bonnie came out on stage looking pretty, with her guitar, and Linda and her girlfriends (I forget who she was with) were thinking that Bonnie wouldn’t be all that. And then Bonnie started to sing One of the things I found really endearing about Linda is that she was so effusive in her praise of all the women singers she has known. She spoke so eloquently of working with them and the creative process.

The interview was probably 50 minutes and then they had a 20 minute or so Q&A session. After that, Linda was going to sign books. The line was massive. Longer than I’ve ever seen it at one of those events. But sadly, after about 20 minutes, she had to stop. She had said in the interview that the Parkinson’s affects her ability to write. She looked exhausted and I felt for her.

It was such a wonderful evening and I’m so glad we were able to go and see her. What a funny, down to earth, kind and talented woman she is. She has had such an interesting life and I admire her for how she has explored so many genres of music. I haven’t had time to sit down and read the book yet, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Sorry if this is more information than you wanted. LOL