JOHN DENVER STILL HIGH ON LIFE by John Guinn Knight-Ridder News Service Denver Post 6/20/82 ------------------------------------------------------------- Softball, Air Force Jets to Mark July 4 Benefit What could be more American than John Denver and softball on the Fourth of July? How 'bout beer, pop, flags and a flyover by Air Force jets? Denver and all the rest will be together Sunday at Softball West Stadium when Denver's Johnny and the Sharks team meets a squad of radio and television personalities to benefit the Leukemia Society of America and the East West Community Center. The benefit will start at 2 PM at the stadium, West 64th Avenue between Pecos Street and Federal Boulevard. Admission is $2.50 for adults and $1.00 for children. -------------------------------------------------------------- John Denver is as honest as a bee sting, but not nearly as painful. He laces his conversation with words like "incredible", "wonderful", "satisfying", "beautiful" and "loving" until you begin to wonder if he knows this is 1982. Yet he also projects a stalwart sincerity that keeps you from dismissing him as a vapid collection of plastic personality traits. Denver's optimism is genuine. He really seems to believe in the inevitable goodness of all things and he wants you to believe in it too. And while he didn't dip much below the superficial level in a recent telephone conversation, his voice, like most of his photographs, was all smiles. He seems to compose as easily as he smiles. "Usually an idea that feels like a song that you can make a whole thought out of, or a phrase or something comes to mind, and when I have a chance to build on it I do" Denver said. "Sometimes it takes months. And sometimes a song comes on and it takes over, and I know that I better get out of the way and not do anything." Denver characterizes his style as "coming out of folk music more than anything else. I feel I've adapted it to the popular sound of music today and that sort of continues to change." "I'm not really a rock artist or disco or country, although it's close to country sometimes. But I don't think "Annie's Song" or "Shanghai Breezes" or "Rocky Mountain High" can be categorized as country." Denver achieved a special notoriety last year when he wrote a song ("Perhaps Love") for operatic tenor Placido Domingo to sing on an album that marked the tenor's first attempt at pop singing. Denver joined him in singing the song on the best selling album, which was also called "Perhaps Love." He says he loved the experience. "Domingo's a wonderful man, a warm, generous and wonderful human being" Denver said. "It was incredible working with him." Denver does have a somewhat sober side. The New York Times, citing the fact that he is now 38 years old, referred to him as "almost like a statesman" in a review last year. That pleased him. "Yeah, I like that" he said. "I'd like to be a statesman very much. I feel enthusiastic and optimistic about most things and I'm not afraid to show it." "But I am an adult, and in regard to the concerns I feel are shared by many people, I'm glad to be able to articulate them." These concerns are wide ranging. "Hunger in the world is one" Denver said. "And I served for two years on a Presidential Commission involved in nuclear disarmament. I've been concerned about that for a decade now, and share the feeling with people all over the world. The idea of conflict in general and nuclear war concerns me greatly, and, of course, anything to do with wilderness." Denver said the most important thing in his life is trying to sustain his family. "These other concerns color that. Maybe it would be more honest to say that my aim is to keep myself straight in the world and to seek self-fulfillment, and the way that is found is in relationship to my family." One of the high points of a life apparently filled with high points was Denver's trip to mainland China last summer. "It was an incredible experience" he said "Time has a different feeling to it there than anyplace else I've been." "To see a different system and see that in some respects it works very well, and also to find out that the Chinese people have problems just like in our country really deepened my experience. People are alike everywhere. Differences do not need to be areas of conflict. I was thrilled with the Chinese people. They are wonderful, happy, loving people." But the most satisfying thing for the sunny singer with the round rimmed glasses and the flaxen hair is "live singing. That satisfies me the most." "It's getting right out there in the middle of the people and having songs that people want to hear. You come away feeling good about it and so do the people. A performance is a wonderful thing. It's wonderful to be part of a shared experience." Copyright 1982 Knight Ridder News Service ------ EDITOR'S NOTE: John Denver will appear in concert Sunday and Monday as part of the Summer of Stars series at Red Rocks Amphitheater.