Bright Lights and Promises

I met Janis Ian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I was 13/14 a friend's Mum lent me Janis Ian's album Between The Lines, I fell in love with it, learned every song and sang them acapella to anyone who would listen, Janis is a brilliant writer and her voice is beautiful, she is 62 now and as wonderful as ever.

Tonight I went to the Barbican with my lovely friend Ninotchka to see Janis Ian and Tom Paxton in concert, she did an incredible version of Bright Lights and Promises on her own with an electric guitar as well as 17 and Society's child, and the hilarious Married In London.
Tom Paxton (who I hadn't heard of before) was also really good, very entertaining and they had the very talented Robin Bullock with them on extra gutar and mandolin and vocals, there was a lot of lovely harmony, it was a very warm intimate atmosphere and very moving indeed.
At the end Janis said they would be signing albums and that they would be making sure that they met everyone who wanted to meet them!

We joined the 'line' qute early thanks to Ninotchka and suddenly it was my turn to meet her, I started crying as I tried to tell her what she meant to me, in the endI I said 'I can't talk about it' and squeezed her arm, Ninotchka took over and said that I was a singer and how much Janis had inspired me when I was a teenager…. she was so lovely and gave me another album as a gift 'for luck' she said, and then happily posed for a photo.
While we were having our time together a lady pushed in from the side to try to talk to her, Janis said to us "Is this lady with you?" we said no and Janis said very politely but firmly "I'm with these people at the moment, you will have to wait".

I wasn't expecting to meet her and was totally overwhelmed, she was wonderful.

It was also great to spend time with Ninotchka, it's been too long!