RE: Ferron - NPC

["Paul Perner" <ravensdawn>]

Yes, Ferron is by all means from the classic old school,
"women's music" planet which sometimes a difficult
surface for men to land on. But a song of her's back
in the 80s struck my heart in such a positive way that
I persuaded that genera at the record shop (then morphing
into CD stores) and found a test pressing of Horses
(a rare, all blank vinyl with a cover of the Maplethorpe
photo printed on a 12x24 sheet of paper - the card
board jackets hadn't been made yet) on which some-
one at Arista hand wrote "women's music" on it.

I found that an awkward statement for Patti's music.
Yes, it had a strong appeal for women, but the last 
thing I could imagine her doing back in '75 is standing
around in a big women-only circle in Colorado, Northern
California, Mass., Upstate NY or some other Coombya
campfire stronghold with Holly Far (oops, that's Nea...
oh, you who) in a great, swilling, swaying estrogen sing-
along.

I don't think that after Radio Ethiopia that the person
who refaced that test pressing (not realizing it's value
then) would have thought twice before pegging Patti
has "Women's music." In this decade we have so many
tags for so many sub-generas it makes categorizing, 
especially if you're getting paid for it as part of your
days duties, a very difficult job to do so accurately.

So, what kind of music does Patti make? Our great
lady, herself would put her discs in the "Rock 'n Roll"
section along with the Stones, Dylan and the Doors and
I would do the same. But she has covered so much ground.
The cut Radio Ethiopia is like improvised late era Coletrane
in a way and a live acidic Hawkwind space journey in
another.

'O Patti, Patti, Patti....  I will love you till I die, but I must
say, if weren't for Lenny and a handful of other friends
and family, you would have flown off to Neptune and 
perhaps never come back. Who are you? What are you?
How did you learn to spread your wings so wide?

Paul Perner

(trying to be a Learner)

> [Original Message]
> From: Jane Sooby <jane>
>
> Ferron's show here in Santa Cruz about 2 months back was an absolutely
> stunning performance, full of humor, heartbreakingly great songs, and
> extremely fine musicianship. Go see her if you have a chance.
>
> One point to make, though: Ferron is no fresh young thang. She's been
doing
> this for a long, long time. She actually came up from the women's music
> scene back in the 70s. What I consider to be her best album, Testimony,
was
> released in 1980.
>
> But don't let that stop you--Ferron has always been good; she has seasoned
> into being great!
>
> Jane