I was a dues-paying member of the National Academy of Songwriters (now defunct), and had the opportunity to get tickets for a Lifetime Achievement Award dinner/ceremony, to be held 12-11-96. This would mean driving four hours to SF, and flying to LAX, which I did, taking a room at the Beverly Hilton, where the event was being held. Robert Klein, the comedian was talking to the front desk in his leather jacket. After checking into my room, I went in search of the ballroom, and to my shock, Joni and her band (Brian Blade & Darryl Johnson) were soundchecking. The place was unlit, almost empty, and filled with round tables, white tablecloths, and chairs. I slipped in, sat down at a table in the back, and tried to disappear into the shadows, watching and listening as they ran through their numbers. Until a cat came over, who turned out to be Brett Perkins, the CEO of NAS (that's him to the left of Joni in the B&W photo), actually a really nice guy; he said something like 'Joni doesn't want anybody in here', so I had to leave, oh no! But all was not lost, I spied a stairway in the hall, went up there, and heard the rest, although I could not see it. Later, the event: the other awardees that night were Smokey Robinson, who did not attend due to flu, and Lieber and Stoller. who entertained the crowd with funny stories and renditions of their famous tunes. Introducing them, a bearded guy with glasses walked by our table to the podium., It was Tom Petty. Also, O.C. Smith, of "Little Green Apples" fame sang the L&S classic "Stand By Me". At some point, just before a break, Joni walked past us, no doubt to get a drink and smoke; there was a little bar just across the open breezeway. Everyone else pretty much got up to stretch, too. I was standing on a little stairway that went up to the crowded bar, when Joni walked right past me, with two gentlemen, one on each arm, on her way back inside. It did not seem a good time to try to talk to her, She went back in, Graham Nash presented her award, she played four songs, wonderfully of course. The archives say they were "Just Like This Train", "Love Puts On A New Face", "Hejira", and "The Magdelene Laundries". There was a ticket option where, for $25 or something you could go to a champagne reception, the unstated implication being that Joni was going to be there. The 25 or so people waited around in this reception room, but it became clear that she was not coming. Still, met some nice songwriter types, and actress Sally Kellerman was there, too, like us, hoping to meet Joni.