Hissing of Summer Lawns

I believe that Robin Adler and her band Mutts of the Planet are the most serious and dedicated group of musicians I have ever encountered. The foremost repertory band on the globe performing the work of Joni Mitchell, they have performed several of her albums in their entirety, including Blue, Court and Spark and Hejira.

Although the lineup has occasional changes the musicians are always top notch. The current lineup features Jamie Kime, an incredible virtuoso and Grammy winner on electric guitar who has toured with Jewel and Zappa meets Zappa, Barnaby Finch, the keyboard wunderkind who has played with everybody, Lee Ritenour, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Ronnie Laws, Earl Klugh and George Benson to name only a few. Jim Reeves the bass player, is a Canadian who has long grooved for the band Steely Damned. The drummer Duncan Moore is acknowledged as king of the skins in San Diego. Robin's husband Dave Blackburn plays rhythm guitar and is a supremely talented musician and producer.

The band takes on Joni's Hissing of Summer Lawns on Saturday Nov. 11, the day before my whale watching trip. I plan on going to the show and I hope you will too. You will never have an opportunity to hear this material played live with this level of vérité and musicianship again.

You can order tickets at Robin's website here. This will be a celebration of Joni Mitchell's 74th birthday and the venue is the newest location of Dizzy's. See you there.