From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2000 #159 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk JMDL Digest Wednesday, March 29 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 159 Ashara has set up a "Wally Breese Memorial Fund," with all donations going directly into the upkeep of the JoniMitchell.com website. Wally kept the website going with his own funds, and it will now be up to Jim to continue. If you would like to donate to this fund, please make all checks payable to: Jim Johanson and send them to: Ashara Stansfield P.O. Box 215 Topsfield, MA 01983 USA ------- The Official Joni Mitchell Homepage can be found at http://www.jonimitchell.com and contains the latest news, a detailed bio, original interviews and essays, lyrics, and much more. ------- The JMDL website can be found at http://www.jmdl.com and contains interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more. ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re; Joni Media Hype ["Stephen M. Rapp" ] Both Sides Now, the song, Redux ["Jim L'Hommedieu" ] Oscar songs (NJC) [Jason Long ] Re: Oscar songs (NJC) [michael w yarbrough ] Re: Oscar songs (NJC) [Jason Long ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 21:10:50 -0700 From: "Stephen M. Rapp" Subject: Re; Joni Media Hype This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - --------------06BBB3058E4F2F01B5F048E9 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; x-mac-type="54455854"; x-mac-creator="4D4F5353" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit If Joni Mitchell is being over hyped in the media, it's because Joni Mitchell wants to be over hyped. Several years ago Joni discovered part of poor album sales was due to her reluctance to go out on the stump. She got a new manager and hired a publicist. Joni doesn't like poor album sales no matter how indifferent she might appear in some text. After all she has a Bel-Air home and an island in Canada to keep up. Joan is no fool as to the biz. You will notice that after the album "opens", she disapears back into her studio obscurity. - --------------06BBB3058E4F2F01B5F048E9 Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="footpath.vcf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: Card for Stephen M. Rapp Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="footpath.vcf" begin:vcard n:Rapp;Stephen tel;cell:801-636-1855 tel;home:801-756-1096 x-mozilla-html:FALSE adr:;;112 So. Main Street;Alpine;UT;84004; version:2.1 email;internet:footpath@enol.com x-mozilla-cpt:;3 fn:Stephen Rapp Film Project end:vcard - --------------06BBB3058E4F2F01B5F048E9-- ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 23:32:58 -0500 From: "Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: Both Sides Now, the song, Redux The first thing that struck me about recording "Both Sides Now", the song, again was how very shrewd it is from a marketing standpoint. Like the press can say, "Joni 'reclaims' her folk classic Both Sides Now on her new album." I imagined that the "People" magazines of the world would be able to say, "Mitchell has reinterpreted two of her FOLK songs (where just about everyone last saw her) in her new (sic) jazz idiom." It gives them a chance to restate the old tired party line about being a 60s folk, while introducing a new take. The concept is incredibly easy to explain, to pitch. Just like they said that Clapton 'reclaimed' Layla by recording an unplugged version. Just like they said that Springsteen 'reclaimed' Born To Run by recording it in a new unplugged version sans the E Streeters. Are there other examples? All the best, Jim L'Hommedieu near Cincinnati ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 23:34:24 -0500 From: Jason Long Subject: Oscar songs (NJC) Michael wrote: >4) That Phil Collins won for that dreadful song in the same year that >"Beautiful Stranger" was released really sucks. And what about R.E.M.'s >great new song in _Man on the Moon_? Of course Madonna's been shafted >before. She's sung two winning tunes, but two great ones she helped write >("Into the Groove" and "Live to Tell") for movies were both omitted, >losing to songs I'm sure we don't even remember. If people who don't know >music vote for the Grammies, people who actively run from understanding of >music for the Oscars. I don't know, but it may be possible that the songs Madonna didn't receive nominations for did not meet the eligibility requirements as set out by the Academy. One of these is that the song has to be specifically written for the film it appears in (it cannot have previously existed in any form, whether it's actually been recorded or not), which unfortunately rules out a lot of good songs each year. I was personally rooting for Aimee Mann, but I think she would have stood a much better chance had it been "Wise Up" or "Deathly" that had been nominated, instead of "Save Me." However, "Wise Up" was originally recorded for the Jerry Maguire soundtrack and "Deathly" had already existed in demo form -- though it was what actually inspired the writing of Magnolia, it was still ineligible. The only songs Aimee wrote expressly for the film were "Save Me" and "You Do." I'm not really that disappointed that Aimee didn't win, even though I'm a huge fan of hers. I pretty much knew she would be a long shot; honestly, the more I think about it, the more her nomination itself surprises me. "Save Me" is one of the darkest songs I can recall being nominated for an Oscar for quite some time. The eligibility requirements for the Golden Globes aren't quite as strict, and I do remember Madonna being nominated for "Beautiful Stranger" this year. I found it strange that R.E.M. were nominated for neither the Globes or the Oscars -- they seemed like a given and were definitely worthy contenders. Cheers, Jase NP: Leona Naess, _Comatised_ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 22:53:21 -0600 (CST) From: michael w yarbrough Subject: Re: Oscar songs (NJC) On Tue, 28 Mar 2000, Jason Long wrote: > I don't know, but it may be possible that the songs Madonna didn't receive > nominations for did not meet the eligibility requirements as set out by the > Academy. One of these is that the song has to be specifically written for > the film it appears in (it cannot have previously existed in any form, > whether it's actually been recorded or not), which unfortunately rules out a > lot of good songs each year. The Academy is strict about it, you're right. Nonetheless, LTT was specifically written for Sean Penn's _At Close Range_, and ITG was written for _Desperately Seeking Susan_. And there's no doubt that BS was written for the _Austin Powers_ sequel. In addition to these great songs, there are the lesser "Crazy for You" and "Gambler" (though I love that cheesy-ass tune) for _Vision Quest_ and the dreadful "This Used to be My Playground" for _A League of their Own_. Many of these even achieved the commercial success that is usually a prerequisite. > I'm not really that disappointed that Aimee didn't win, even though I'm a > huge fan of hers. I pretty much knew she would be a long shot; honestly, the > more I think about it, the more her nomination itself surprises me. "Save > Me" is one of the darkest songs I can recall being nominated for an Oscar > for quite some time. Who can forget Elliott Smith's pricelessly downbeat Oscar performance two years ago? (Or for that matter, Maddie herself clearly rooting for him even as she presented the award to the schlock that went on and on and on from _Titanic_.) I've fulfilled my Madonna-boosterism quota for the season. Now I can return to studying. :-) - --Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 00:36:27 -0500 From: Jason Long Subject: Re: Oscar songs (NJC) Michael wrote: >The Academy is strict about it, you're right. Nonetheless, LTT was >specifically written for Sean Penn's _At Close Range_, and ITG was written >for _Desperately Seeking Susan_. And there's no doubt that BS was written >for the _Austin Powers_ sequel. In addition to these great songs, there >are the lesser "Crazy for You" and "Gambler" (though I love that >cheesy-ass tune) for _Vision Quest_ and the dreadful "This Used to be My >Playground" for _A League of their Own_. Many of these even achieved the >commercial success that is usually a prerequisite. It surprises me that "Live To Tell" wasn't nominated since it was specifically written for At Close Range -- although I'm not all that keen on Madonna, I find it to be an incredibly moving song. A lot of my friends are fans of Madonna and I was always under the impression from them that "Into the Groove" had existed as a demo before it was decided to use in the Desperately Seeking Susan. Glad to be set straight on that. I think maybe part of why these two songs in particular weren't nominated is because a lot of people didn't take Madonna very seriously early on in her career (heck, for that matter, there still seem to be people who don't). Also, it seems rare that any young artists/writers in general get nominated - -- it's usually people who have been in the industry for a number of years. Just an observation.... >Who can forget Elliott Smith's pricelessly downbeat Oscar performance two >years ago? (Or for that matter, Maddie herself clearly rooting for him >even as she presented the award to the schlock that went on and on and on >from _Titanic_.) Honestly, I totally gapped when it came to Elliott Smith's performance; his song is clearly another exception to the type of fare that normally gets nominated. >I've fulfilled my Madonna-boosterism quota for the season. Now I can >return to studying. :-) I can honestly say I've enjoyed reading the posts you've made about Madonna to the list. I'm intrigued with her as a person and some of her ideas, but I haven't developed a real appreciation of her music yet. I do like hearing different perspectives about her work, though, and your posts remind me that I shouldn't dismiss her music out of hand. I think part of my resistance is that given my circle of friends, there's a certain overexposure to her music at times, which ends up turning me off a little and I end up not always giving her a fair shot.... Jase NP: Aimee Mann, _Bachelor No. 2_ ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2000 #159 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list at Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe joni-digest" to ------- Siquomb, isn't she?