Ailing: Joan Baez' sister Mimi Farina
Kalish
tours to be with her younger sister Mimi Farina, who is suffering from
advanced lung cancer.
Mimi was widowed at the age of 21 when her husband and performing
partner Richard Farina was killed in a motorcycle accident on the eve
of the publication of his now cult-classic "Been Down So Long Looks
Like Up to Me." Mimi and Richard Farina made 2 albums together before
Richard's death.
Mimi established BREAD AND ROSES, a donation-funded San
Francisco-based organization which brought music and entertainment to
institutionalized people. BREAD AND ROSES recently celebrated its
25th anniversary, but Mimi was too ill to take part fully in the
festivities.
The blue-eyed black-haired Mimi was often introduced to audiences by
her sister Joan as "my outrageously beautiful sister..."
There is a book coming out in March or so about the early uneasy
relationship between Baez and Bob Dylan, and Richard and Mimi Farina.
TTrocc7007
>advanced lung cancer.
>
Sad news indeed...
Go down ye blood red roses...
Go down..
Tom Troccoli
Bryan Styble
throughout the Dylan-interested community.)
And yeah, I too miss Richard Farina. (He is, incidentally, is my nominee
for the Folksinger Who Most Affected a Hitlerequse Look).
As for Joanie's relationship with Sir Zimmerman...well, one of the most
astute artistic moves he ever made was distancing his talent from her
respectable, but hardly comparable, creative skills.
Sincerely,
BRYAN STYBLE/Albuquerque
RChamp7927
on me--perhaps because I no longer agree with much of the message. But his
voice and virtuosity on the dulcimer are both impressive and enjoyable, and his
duets with Mimi are beautiful. (I really wish that Mimi was heard more often
on "Celebrations for a Gray Day," which remains my favorite Richard/Mimi
album.)
I'm very sad to hear that Mimi is in such a bad way. She had a sweet soprano
voice that treated words and notes like fond lovers.
Bob Champ
Kalish
> As for Joanie's relationship with Sir Zimmerman...well, one of the most
>astute artistic moves he ever made was distancing his talent from her
>respectable, but hardly comparable, creative skills.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>BRYAN STYBLE/Albuquerque
I think that's like comparing apples to oranges, isn't it? He could
barely sing and, as many of his early contemporaries said, barely play
the guitar, but he obviously had something more to offer. Joan of
course had a near operatic soprano voice and was considered a much
better musician than Dylan ever was. If you're talking about their
song-writing skills, Joan didn't start writing until relatively late
in her career and never claimed to be Dylan's equal in that area
(well, who is?). On the other hand, having seen drawings and other
visual art produced by both of them, I'd have to say that Joan is a
wonderfully talented artist and Dylan...isn't. I think it's pretty
well documented that Dylan used Joan for his own purposes, and then
unceremoneously dumped her (see Pennebaker's documentary "Don't Look
Back" which shows the whole sad scene in glorious black and white).
Mimi said once, "There were many times when I thought, [Dylan]'s so
mean! Why does [Joan] like that? Well, there was something in her
that liked that, so what could I do about it?" Once when Dylan had
been very "mean" to Joan, Mimi pulled his hair until it brought tears
and told him NEVER to do that to her sister again - quite
uncharacteristic for Mimi, apparently.
Kalish
>duets with Mimi are beautiful. (I really wish that Mimi was heard more often
>on "Celebrations for a Gray Day," which remains my favorite Richard/Mimi
>album.)
>
>I'm very sad to hear that Mimi is in such a bad way. She had a sweet soprano
>voice that treated words and notes like fond lovers.
Mimi said she gave up singing and started BREAD AND ROSES in an
attempt to find her own identity. She was tired of always being
"sister of [Joan Baez]" or "wife of [Richard Farina]" or "daughter of
[noted Mexican American physicist Alberto Baez]."
Matthew Hubbard
>
> The blue-eyed black-haired Mimi was often introduced to audiences by
> her sister Joan as "my outrageously beautiful sister..."
Joan wasn't lying. Mimi was the super-finest hippie chick in history.
I say this with no disrespect.
Best wishes to Ms. Farina, her family, friends and fans.
MattH