I watched two documentaries back-to-back, one on Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound, the other on Joan Rivers: Joan Rivers, a Piece of Work. Two talented women, both now in their 70's, both enormously successful, now looking back over their lives. That's not quite true, Joan Rivers won't stop long enough to reminise, but more on that later.
Joan Baez was born in 1940 with a clear, singing voice, coupled with a unique ability to write much of her music. Both her parents were handsome, intellectual and refined. Her father was a professor at MIT, the family moved to Belmont, MA when she was in her teens. This close proximity to Harvard Square was the impetus she needed to launch her career by playing her guitar and singing folk songs either on the street or in the ubiquitous coffee houses in Cambridge. She often said her guitar was an extension of herself. Although She enrolled at Boston University, she only lasted about six weeks in the halls of higher learning. Music was what mattered to her.
Success both surprised and frightened her. There were times when she would glance at her audience in the middle of a song, break into a panic attack, excuse herself, go into the bathroom, "talk herself out of it," return and continue where she left off. Panic attacks notwithstanding, her career flourished, she met and became involved with Bob Dylan for several years in the 60's. Their mutual talents were a magnet for each other and the audiences they served.
The 60's were a time of great unrest and Joan Baez was an integral part of both the Cival Rights movement and later the Vietnam protests, attracting thousands to her concerts. She sings upon rare occasions today, but seems to be content with her status in life. I love it that she has allowed herself to age naturally without the aid of Botox or plastic surgeons.
Not so with the other Joan, Ms Rivers, who is indeed "a piece of work." Of the two Joans, I found Joan Rivers to be much more interesting, as a matter of fact, I found her to be fascinating! She has the tenacity and the drive of a Pitt Bull. Whereas Joan Baez refused to set foot in a plastic surgeon's office, Joan Rivers supported many. That face has been lifted more times than a snow plow during a Minnesota winter. She admits it, she brags about it, although we get the sense that aging makes her very angry. (Joan is an extremely controlling woman, and aging is one thing she cannot control.)
Born in 1933, she grew up in Westchester County and graduated from Barnard College. No dummy she. Joan took a variety of whackadoodle jobs, including a stint as a tour guide at Rockefeller Center. I mention this only because I, too was once a tour guide at Rockefeller Center. That job took stamina, and whereas I have long since lost my get up and go, Joan will keep working until she drops. She is incapable of saying no. No matter where the gig, NYC, Las Vegas, or an Elks Lodge in the boonies of Wisconsin, Joan shows up and does her schtick. She is so competitive that she won on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.
I was prepared to dislike her intensely, I'm not all that crazy about raunchy humor and the F bomb dropped every other sentence, but I found her to be rather endearing, in spite of her intense workaholism. She calls it as she sees it, there is not a phony bone in her body, in spite of that face which seems to contradict her authenticity.
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