From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2001 #27 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/joni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Monday, January 15 2001 Volume 2001 : Number 027 The 'Official' Joni Mitchell Homepage, created by Wally Breese, can be found at http://www.jonimitchell.com. It contains the latest news, a detailed bio, Original Interviews, essays, lyrics and much 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: -------- My new cat, NJC ["Jim L'Hommedieu" ] RE: thanks Chris ["Chris Marshall" ] Advice Needed, (NJC) [MGVal@aol.com] RE: january 13!!!!!! NJC ["Wally Kairuz" ] the whore is happy tonight ["Wally Kairuz" ] RE: january 13!!!!!! NJC ["Wally Kairuz" ] Re: january 13!!!!!! NJC [claud9ine ] Number One - read as ... ["william" ] DO PROTEST SONGS HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE? NJC ["cassy" ] Celebrating MLK day ["Blair Fraipont" ] Happy Birthday Dr. King [simon@icu.com] Dr. King, NOT! a dreamer [simon@icu.com] Dr. King (Audio & Video) [simon@icu.com] I Have A Dream [simon@icu.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 21:05:35 -0500 From: "Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: My new cat, NJC There's a disc jockey at our local listen-supported, non-profit, public-radio, roots-oriented, college-radio station named Nikki Dakota. Her cat recently "blessed her with kittens" and she's been trying to give them away....... Today, I hadn't heard "Impossible Dreamer" yet on the station although Joni **IS** on the format! So I called the station and proposed to Nikki. "If you play Impossible Dreamer, I'll take a cat." She went for it and told the story on the air! Only thing is..... I didn't get it on tape. God, have I become a.... collector??? :) Pray for me, all. Waiting for a return call from Nikki, Lama PS- My brother-in-law heard Nikki on the radio! How cool! ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 02:06:38 -0000 From: "Chris Marshall" Subject: RE: thanks Chris I call on all here present to witness the following:- A member of the Marshall family absolutely without a clue for what to say next. You know how it is when you go to start a sentence? You draw breath, perhaps raise a finger to begin some sort of assertive gesture... and then you clamp your mouth shut again 'cos you suddenly realise that you don't, after all, quite know what you're going to say. Uh huh. s'me. So, without the benefit of a safety net or a bottle of wine to steady my hand, here goes :-) > To start with, i'm not actually too sure if this is considered join content > or not...dont want to annoy anyone....apologising profusely if i am! This, I think, is firmly in that "Joni List Content" category, whatever *that* is. It's a reminder of the power this list has to draw people together across continents, cultures, background, and lots of other profound things that I'm too tired to remember. And you beat me to it. I was contemplating a list post (which would be my first for months, I guess) to tell everyone what a great time we had over there in Dublin, but you beat me to it! Scoundrel :) [ Deletia: Garret went to New England last summer and...] > one of the highlights of my summer in New Engalnd was breakfast with Chris. > i finally put a face to the name and mail. History: I was over in the Boston area to meet a friend who was in Worcester for work reasons. I was lucky enough to go see Ashara for the day and to meet a few other Boston-area JMDLers that evening. I had planned all along to visit Cape Cod with the friend I was meeting, and did know that Garret was working there at the time, but we'd failed to really co-ordinate e-mails before I left, so had nothing firm arranged. Meeting Garret in Hyannis only happened by the skin of its teeth: the day before, my friend Chris and I had checked into a guesthouse that enabled me to get my e-mail. Pretty much at the same time, Garret managed to get an e-mail message out to me with a phone number. A couple of phone calls later, and it was arraged for the next day. The guesthouse owner *could* have told me to take a hike when I asked to use his computer and internet connection to check my e-mail... Hyannis was funny :) I'd been there a couple of years ago on a whistlestop USA tour with a crowd of friends. We had lunch at some greasy spoon cafe on the main street, principally because it was cheap. I vowed never to eat there again, especially with all the great seafood to be had on Cape Cod. So, Chris and I met Garret, and his friends JT and Donna. "Breakfast" was the cry, so I offered to buy, with the aim in mind of getting myself some of that seafood. I say breakfast: it was actually something like 11.30am. /Some/ of us had only just got up... :) Anyway, the assemblage was having none of my offer to buy food, the retort being "we know this great place..." So, there I was again, with this bizarre sense of deja-vu, renewing my vow not to eat there again... :-D > i would like to express my gratitude to Chris for coming here. in my role > as "tourguide" i got to see my own city from another side, i realised that > this actually is a really cool city. i learned a lot and with Chris i went > to places not too far my own home that i would never have thought of. > Chris, i'm sorry if my history lessons got a little too obscure, or, indeed, > my fascination with those stone mushrooms was over the top but youknow all > about me and fungi, lol. Pah - not a bit of it. If any of the rest of you manage to visit Dublin and get to meet Garret, you'll discover that this particular Uptown Boy (from the North side, so it fits) knows his history. He certainly opened my eyes to the richness of history in Dublin and the surrounding area and my four days there couldn't begin to do it all justice. I even span things around and dragged Garret out on a bus tour of some places around Dublin. I had reservations myself, bus tours having a slightly funny image, but it turned out to be a grand plan. I never knew, for instance, that on the outskirts of Dublin there's a place on a hillside that's the spitting image of Beverly Hills. (Now *that* was wierd...) And the castles... ah! Wonderful! And let me just say... the mushrooms *really* *were* made of stone, and had no magic properties at all. > the conversation ranged from religion and cars to which joni albums are top > of the heap. LOL! The funny thing is... we hardly listened to any Joni! I think I got one play of MOA one night in bed and that was it. I had thought that Hejira would make a wonderful companion for the bus trip. In place of Hejira, I had a grand tourguide to fill my head with history and observations about the passing city and countryside. Sorry Joni, but this once... > Chris i think i've got to thank you for being a great > conversationalist, not vice versa, i only ramble like that when the other > person creates trust. Bless you! It goes both ways though: I can't converse effectively unless there's someone to bounce off, so thank you for being an equally great conversationalist. (Hey, there's no false modesty here you know!) > when the other person can talk back > and I > can don't > forgive know > me what > for you > interrupting mean! > constantly:-) *grin* > it is almost a year now since i signed up to the list for the first time; i > think it is good time not to express my gratitude to Les for bringing all > this to life. Les it's all your fault..... I'd just like to second that. Les, well done. Wally, your memory and your spirit lives on. Peace. This list, this "place", is unlike any other I've ever experienced, and as a seasoned internet hack, I think that's pretty special. Long may it continue. > i've made some good friends here, > and at least one with whom i will be acquainted for my life. [draws breath, raises finger, clamps mouth shut, see top] > it's all you > fault:-) thank you so much. There. Les: be told :-) > NP- Billy Joel, Uptown Girl, hehe...it's for you Chris! LOL. It's been going around my head for the last day and a half dammit! > ps- thank you for those sweet words this evening Chris You are, as ever, most welcome. > and dont stop texting me! makes me feel popular:-D Garret and I would like to announce that we will be the sole source of funding for Orange* and Eircom* for the next two years based solely on our expenditure on international text messaging. *laugh* So, god, er, how to wrap up? I dunno. Is this JC? Is it NJC? Does everyone deserve to read this in the hope it renews a warm feeling about the list and the influence it can have on people's lives? No idea. I had a ball in Dublin: I got to see a great city, I ate some great food, I drank some damn fine alcohol, I talked myself hoarse, and I spent enough time there to realise that I haven't spent enough time there. If any of you reading (what, still?) are thinking of going... do it! Just drop everything and go. In conclusion, I think it just remains for me to raise my glass to someone rather special in Dublin, someone who's managed to restore my faith in a bunch of important things. Slainte! (look look, I even got the accent over the "a" :-) - --Chris [* Note for non-UK/Eire residents: Orange and Eircom are mobile phone network operators in the UK and Ireland. Otherwise referred to as "robbing bastards" ] PS. I have some great photos of some of the places surrounding Dublin. As soon as they're on my web server, I'll pass out the URL to anyone that wants it. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 21:27:19 EST From: MGVal@aol.com Subject: Advice Needed, (NJC) Sorry to take up the bandwidth, but if anyone would care to discuss some things with me, I could really use another perspective. On Saturday, my kids got letters from their father. He's an alcoholic who has been homeless for a number of years. He seems to be in his 5 or 6th month of sobriety and now lives with a woman that he met in Rehab. This is the first that we've really heard from him in 6+ years. Although I'm happy that he is in recovery, I'm protective of my children. I would really like to hear from list members who are either in recovery, parents of recovered addicts, parents who lost children or worked with alternative visitation. I really want to approach this new twist in my life with as much compassion and fairness as possible. Right now, I really need to talk with someone about this whole situation and could use some outside perspectives. All replies will be kept confidential and I thank you in advance. Best to all, MG Tonight's whine: "when's Nikki coming backkkkkkkkkkk?" ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:38:44 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: RE: january 13!!!!!! NJC Re: january 13!!!!!! NJCclaudie, it's divine decadence, that's what it is. you're a goat-girl, i'm a goat-boy. we were born to be fauns and satyrs!!!! wallyK, getting the stir-fry oil ready -----Mensaje original----- De: claud9ine [mailto:claud9ine@home.com] Enviado el: Lunes, 15 de Enero de 2001 08:12 p.m. Para: Wally Kairuz; joni@smoe.org Asunto: Re: january 13!!!!!! NJC stop it ... you are making me already shake with laughter... now I thought I was being risqui (if that's how you spell it... ) and over the top...ola-la....I am not worried now ;-))))) claud 9 or 6 (depending on how you flip it ;-)) oh no.... help, I am sinking... am I in need of serious Freudian analysis or is that the fallout from my new ripe old age? ;^) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:49:15 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: the whore is happy tonight well, i'm seriously considering changing my position from jmdl birthday fairy to whore of babylon in honor of p henry or whoever it was that complained about them perverts ranting about their sexual exploits while the saintly hetero gentry must endure and jerk off. incidentally, i saw a picture of p henry once and he's goddamned UGLY. why is it that most phobes are ugly? pat, keep the dreams coming boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wallyK, bearly a whore - -----Mensaje original----- De: Siresorrow@aol.com [mailto:Siresorrow@aol.com] Enviado el: Lunes, 15 de Enero de 2001 10:11 p.m. Para: wallykai@fibertel.com.ar; claud9ine@home.com CC: joni@smoe.org; FMYFL@aol.com; john.van.tiel@wxs.nl; jmichaelpaz@telocity.com Asunto: Re: january 13!!!!!! NJC In a message dated 1/15/01 4:01:20 PM Eastern Standard Time, wallykai@fibertel.com.ar writes: << wallyK, SEXUALLY RANTING AND PANSEXUAL, ooooo scandal scandal scandal. the babylon whore herself on the jmdl!!!! >> well holy jesus! i just was listening to this pj harvey song about the whores who hustle and the hustlers who whore. and then i had listened to this meshell cd all day today which is like looking at porn with the ears cause she's total sex....shhhh such beautiful hair...do you mind if i kiss you there...yowsa! so anyway, now i see you are the whore of babylon yourself...right there in argentenia. oh my god wally, i had another dream the other day. clark was in it. he mentioned his naked back today on his cd..but he didn't say anything about the way his bicepts look. ( they are fucking perfect...cough...you know..in a str8 kind of way ) anyway, it was like that movie...trading places..i had traded places with him for three months. gave him my whole deal. the mortgage, the algebra homework every night which you can't do cause you cheated your way through school till you found liberal arts, the mother in law, the menstration, the bitch / witch who runs the homeowner's association who wants the kayaks moved off the dock cause they're ...unsightly...like her droopy ass cheeks are pretty, and then there's the church which ...oh my god....keeps asking for money. i guarantee you.....that muscular back and bicepts of clarkman will turn to three beer a night flab and varicose veins in three months time and he'll be praying to jesus for relief just like dubya. but not me tonight. tonight, i'm going to the whore of babylon. or is it the bear of babylon? and colin, i do love you. ciao. p np. jonatha - always......hey yoo magsie. oh yea...brian...hey...no sweat. it's cool. just a neat song dude. cough...ahem...night all. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:54:00 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: RE: january 13!!!!!! NJC colin, clark has MUSCLES, and i mean it! i'm sure he has the cutest tush in the western homosphere!!! not my type though. too boyish, you know. i go for the rugged type with a gut. baldies preferred. oh les ross, i worship thee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why didn't clark go all the way a la joni in for the roses, anyway? dirty cockteaser. wally >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>but, patrick, I don't have muscles like Clark..... You know, I am sure, I named my new puppy(who is now 5 mths nearly and we got him at 8 weeks) Clark. Now I wonder what the lister Clark is really like because this Clark is a little fucker! Hyper and full of it. Very cute but so tiresome. Even the adults think he is a pain. Especially as he humps them evry chance he gets(cept for Brad who growls at him) > > > ciao. p > np. jonatha - always......hey yoo magsie. oh yea...brian...hey...no sweat. > it's cool. just a neat song dude. cough...ahem...night all. - -- bw colin colin@tantra.fsbusiness.co.uk http://www.geocities.com/tantra_apso/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:16:31 -0500 From: claud9ine Subject: Re: january 13!!!!!! NJC Aaaaaahhhh... I am relieved ;-))))))) devinely yours, claud 9 > From: "Wally Kairuz" > Reply-To: "Wally Kairuz" > Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:38:44 -0300 > To: "claud9ine" , > Subject: RE: january 13!!!!!! NJC > > Re: january 13!!!!!! NJCclaudie, > it's divine decadence, that's what it is. you're a goat-girl, i'm a > goat-boy. we were born to be fauns and satyrs!!!! > wallyK, getting the stir-fry oil ready > -----Mensaje original----- > De: claud9ine [mailto:claud9ine@home.com] > Enviado el: Lunes, 15 de Enero de 2001 08:12 p.m. > Para: Wally Kairuz; joni@smoe.org > Asunto: Re: january 13!!!!!! NJC > > > stop it ... you are making me already shake with laughter... now I thought > I was being risqui (if that's how you spell it... ) and over the > top...ola-la....I am not worried now ;-))))) > > claud 9 or 6 (depending on how you flip it ;-)) oh no.... help, I am > sinking... am I in need of serious Freudian analysis or is that the fallout > from my new ripe old age? ;^) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 10:19:01 +0700 From: "william" Subject: Number One - read as ... Last post - Number One should have read Nothing Can Be Done, Silly Willy the Shake ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:14:54 -0500 From: "cassy" Subject: DO PROTEST SONGS HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE? NJC The following article was copied from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. I thought some of you might find it interesting. Cassy Article URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/leisure/artsandentertainment/printeditio n/article/0,2669,SAV-0101140356,FF.html DO PROTEST SONGS HAVE A FIGHTING CHANCE? By Julia Keller Like the vibration from a freight train coming from a long way off, some songs are felt before they're heard. You sense them first in the soles of your feet. Songs such as "We Shall Overcome," "If I Had a Hammer," "Blowin' in the Wind" and "This Land Is Your Land" don't seem to have been composed as much as discovered, fully formed, ready to change the world. Whether you're 18 or 88, you feel like you knew them before you knew they existed. Often called protest songs, they are linked to sweeping social movements such as the abolition of slavery, the rise of organized labor, the civil rights struggle and opposition to the Vietnam War, as well as specific topical events-allegedly wrongful executions, mining disasters and the like-that stirred the masses. They're blunt, sometimes funny, often angry, always powerful. And, if current trends continue, doomed. "The reality is that Britney Spears is not doing too many songs about improving working conditions for folks at McDonald's," said Mark Moss, editor and executive director of Sing Out, a folk music magazine based in Bethelehem, Pa., that was founded by Pete Seeger a half-century ago. "It's about commercialization. The people who package music want you to be happy. Music is something you listen to while you buy Nikes." Al Rose, a Chicago singer and composer who co-owns Kopi, a coffeehouse in Andersonville, said audiences are as much to blame as record companies. "There's something about contemporary society -- I don't know. You start singing a protest song and people roll their eyes. You can almost hear the collective eye-rolling." Bucky Halker, a Chicago musician who also is an historian of protest songs dating back to the Revolutionary War, has seen the same waning of interest. "It's a smaller group of people doing it and they sing a lot to themselves," he said. "There's not the movement and culture sustaining it now. People don't get galvanized much anymore." But back when they did, Chicago was a vibrant stage for the protest song. The city better know these days for its jazz rhythms was, in 1905, site of the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World, nicknamed "Wobblies," and their folk-infused tunes. Seeger, the patron saint of protest singers, dubbed the group "the singingest union American ever had." Each member was issued a union card -- and a songbook filled with ditties in support of workers and contemptuous of the all-powerful, dastardly bosses. Such passion set to music seems almost quaint today. Theories abound as to why the classic protest song has faded to a whisper: the galloping commercialization of the music business; the relative prosperity enjoyed by a greater number of Americans than ever before; the lack of a vigorous, engaging social movement such as the battle for rights for traditionally disenfranchised groups such as women and African-Americans; and, as a corollary to all of the above, the widespread sense that all of the great battles have been fought, all of the monumental causes exhausted. By that line of thinking, we've simply prospered our way past the need for angry, impassioned protest songs, grown too rich and sophisticated for the simplicity of righteous indignation. Add to that mix the triumph of irony as the default setting for contemporary attitudes, and you have effectively undermined the foundations upon which protest songs are built. They require a kind of anti-irony: a determined naivete, a sustained willingness to believe that a bunch of people singing in unison can change the world. Not everyone would agree, of course, that the protest song is dead. Some see such hand-wringing as the simple nostalgia of Baby Boomers who, while cleaning out their attics, find dusty guitars and yellowed Woodstock posters and sigh about the days gone by. Many people argue that music produced in the past two decades has more than its share of political content, from the moody, populist haiku of a Bruce Springsteen lyric to the snarling, insistent poetry of rap and hip-hop artists such as Rage Against the Machine. The band's latest CD, "Renegades" (Epic), is billed as a tribute to protest songs and includes covers of work by Springsteen, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. A recent New York Times article claims that political music is alive and well in the work of younger artists. But there's a difference. Despite the legions of contemporary musicians such as the Indigo Girls, Eddie Vedder, Ani Di Franco and Tracy Chapman who brandish political causes in their work, those causes typically are manifested in personal terms: How does an injustice feel to me? How do I react to the world's woes? As Limp Bizkit kvetches in "Break Stuff": "It's just one of those days/You don't really know why/But you want to justify/Ripping someone's head off." Moreover, the political involvement of today's musicians often feels like a public-relations ploy, just another image-building tool. Performers are fully expected to espouse hip political causes. It's part of the act. The fate of protest songs is a complicated issue for many reasons, not the least of which is the problem of definitions. If you expand the meaning of the phrase "protest song" to include any complaint, any observation that the world is less than ideal, then, yes, contemporary music qualifies. The thrusting rants of rapper Eminem could constitute social criticism as biting as Dylan's "Hurricane" or Guthrie's "Union Maid." But expanding a definition invariably weakens, muddles and homogenizes the thing being defined. Even the people who believe that the protest song is alive and well agree that its current manifestation is more inward and individual than in days past. "The protest song has taken on a more personal feel," said Ellen Rosner, a Chicago musician whose debut CD, "The Perfect Malcontent" (No Genre Records), was released last year. "On the surface, they sound like angry diatribes. But if you look deeper, they're much more than that. Who isn't discontented?" Michael Cameron, owner of Chicago's Uncommon Ground coffeehouse at which new musicians are showcased, concurred. "It's much more personal now. People are focusing on their own feelings." That's a far cry from the protest songs of old, which typically appealed to the sense of a common soul, to a conviction of shared struggle and sacrifice. Classic protest songs are either stories about a tragedy befalling innocents or rousing choruses that speak to a universal cause -- not explorations of a solitary psyche. The best metaphor for this shift may lie in a story that Seeger related on the liner notes to the 1998 CD "If I Had a Hammer/Songs of Hope and Struggle" (Smithsonian Folkways), a gathering of vintage protest songs. As near as music historians can determine, the song "We Shall Overcome," which became the major anthem of the civil-rights movement in the 1950s and '60s, derived from a blend of a 19th Century hymn ("I'll Be All Right") and an early 20th Century song, "I'll Overcome Someday," Seeger wrote. But it didn't catch on until 1946, when Lucille Simmons, an African-American tobacco worker who was walking a picket line, changed the "I" to "We." The contemporary protest song has, in effect, changed that "We" back to an "I." Halker, who has preserved many of the 20th Century's traditional labor songs on his new CD "Don't Want Your Millions" (Revolting Records), traces the shift to the 1970s. "That's when the acoustic musicians -- James Taylor, Jackson Browne -- turned inward. That's how we got into the angst-ridden whining of today." But one person's angst-ridden whining is another person's eloquent cry of despair. And even some veterans of the storied days of the protest-song movement are reluctant to pronounce the genre dead. "Yes, the protest song is still there. But it may be harder to find now," said Candie Carawan. She and her husband, Guy, are legends in folk music circles, having devoted their lives to working and singing for social change. The Carawans live in New Market, Tenn., near the Highlander Center, a non-profit organization that has trained community leaders and social activists since 1932. Those who have taught or attended classes at the center include Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Stokely Carmichael. Guy Carawan, who wrote protest songs with Seeger in the 1950s and '60s, said music has always been instrumental to the work of grass-roots organizing. "Any time there are major movements in the country, they have a body of songs that are being sung by large numbers of people. It lifts people's spirits. But you have to know where to look for it." One place to look is Harts Creek, W.Va., where singer-songwriter Elaine Purkey carries on the tradition of topical songs. In her day job, she works for the West Virginia Organizing Project, a non-profit group that keeps citizens informed about local issues. But she has also recorded original songs such as "Picket Line Lady" and "One Day More," in support of striking West Virginia miners and aluminum workers. "I didn't believe I could make anything rhyme like that, but I had something to say," Purkey declared. "I was feeling a lot of anger about the whole situation. In this country, nobody should want for anything. And they wouldn't, if there wasn't so much greed." "It seems to me that there aren't as many protest songs out there," said Purkey. "You have to listen a lot more. But rock and rap have a lot of protest songs, too. It's about a different kind of war -- the war that people in inner cities are fighting. It's not about labor issues; it's about everyday kinds of issues, living issues." Some observers maintain that protest songs have never been mainstream, that what seems like a paucity of them in the present day is really just a reflection of the same old marginal status that the genre has always endured. But some protest songs have turned into big hits, such as Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1955 recording "Sixteen Tons," written by Merle Travis. The song is a coal miner's lament about the quiet tyranny of living in a company town. Likewise for many of the songs by Springsteen, such as the bitter ballad "Born in the USA," which are both commercially successful and redolent with political meaning. Indeed, no one has been truer to the spirit of the protest song than Springsteen, who alternates his crowd-pleasing rock anthems with darker, more poignant songs about an America that is changing, and not for the better. It is worth noting that Springsteen is a passionate admirer of Guthrie's work. On his CD "Springsteen Live: 1975-85" (Columbia), the rocker calls "This Land Is Your Land" simply "one of the most beautiful songs ever written." He then sings the song -- Guthrie's defiant reply to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" -- to a hushed crowd. Peter Guralnick, who wrote a multivolume biography of Elvis Presley and edited "Best Music Writing 2000" (Da Capo Press, $14), said many pieces that ended up being protest songs didn't start out that way. "In many ways, the profoundest protest songs were those written in secret code. Gospel songs, for example, have always been the means of communicating a message as deep and profound as you could have -- but, but necessity, written in code. "When you hear Aretha Franklin singing, `Respect' or `Natural Woman,' the songs aren't explicitly political, but the way Aretha sings them makes them work that way." Overt protest songs of an earlier era, such as the anti-war tunes by Joan Baez, Tom Paxton and the late Phil Ochs, quickly become dated. "They're always on the verge of becoming a cliche. It's like a slogan. It only appeals to those who are already true believers." Any song, be it about striking miners or a failed love affair, can potentially raise a listener's consciousness, Guralnick said. "Protest comes in many forms. All art, to one extent or another, challenges the status quo." Yet there still is a sense in the air that the contemporary world, drenched in its acid bath of irony, has neither the time nor the desire for the classic protest song. The difference between the protest songs of old and what passes for protest songs today may be understood in light of a sentiment voiced by Heinrich Heine, the 19th Century German poet. We will have no more great cathedrals, Heine lamented, because it takes conviction to build a cathedral. The modern world has only opinions -- and you cannot, he said, build a great cathedral out of an opinion. The same may be true for a great protest song. 1916 "Dump the Bosses" (John Brill) Are you poor, forlorn and hungry? Are there lots of things you lack? Is your life made up of misery? Then dump the bosses off your back. 1930s "I Don't Want Your Millions Mister" (Jim Garland) We worked hard to build this country, mister While you lived a life of ease; Now you've stolen everything that we built, mister All my people starve and freeze. 1940s "Two Good Men (The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti)" (Woody Guthrie) Say, there, did you hear the news? Sacco worked at trimmin' shoes; Vanzetti was a peddlin' man, Pushed his fish cart with his hand. Two good men a long time gone ... 1950s "We Shall Overcome" (Traditional) We shall overcome, we shall overcome We shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday. 1960s "Draft Dodger Rag" (Phil Ochs) So I wish you well, Sarge--give 'em hell! Kill me a million or so; And if you ever get a war without blood 'n' gore, I'll be the first to go. 1970s "Ohio" (Neil Young) Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming We're finally on our own This summer I hear the drumming Four dead in Ohio. 1980s "Rain on the Scarecrow" (John Mellencamp) Scarecrow on a wooden cross, Blackbird in the barn; Four hundred empty acres That used to be my farm. 1990s ? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:34:54 -0500 From: dsk Subject: Re: Jungle Line... 100% Joni MitchellContent!! Jim, This is great!!! What a pleasure reading all about this album I thought I knew so well! It's time to look at the cover again, listen anew and read all this a few more times. Thanks for sharing your insights and enthusiasm... it's infectious. atb, Debra Shea Jim L'Hommedieu wrote: > > When I read your post, I thought, "Oh good! A chance to talk about _The > Hissing Of Summer Lawns_." I love this album. > To understand "The Jungle Line", you have to understand the album as a > whole. You have to be open to the idea that a CD can be as great as a book. > Just like any great piece of literature, each element, each chapter defines > part of the whole. > > The Hissing of Summer Lawns is a masterwork. [and the journey with Jim through HOSL continues.....] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:39:44 EST From: IVPAUL42@aol.com Subject: Re: the whore is happy tonight NJC In a message dated 1/15/01 9:55:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, wallykai@fibertel.com.ar writes: << well, i'm seriously considering changing my position from jmdl birthday fairy to whore of babylon in honor of p henry or whoever it was that complained about them perverts ranting about their sexual exploits while the saintly hetero gentry must endure and jerk off. incidentally, i saw a picture of p henry once and he's goddamned UGLY. why is it that most phobes are ugly? pat, keep the dreams coming boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wallyK, bearly a whore >> I really don't think it's necessary to address this post directly, but the fact it was sent to the list sickens me and I wish for no more such future personal attacks. Where is the NJC? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 22:17:13 -0800 From: Michael Paz Subject: Re: My free music Clark- I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!! You've come a long way baby. I hope you do well with it. Now it's time to start touring. Pack up the VW bus (or Honda) and hit the road man. The latest thing is to play in people living rooms and charge a small cover charge. I have anice living room in New Orleans where we could do a little concert. I can even find an opening act for ya (wink wink). Best wishes to you bro and see ya Saturday. Love Paz NP-East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)-Diana Krall on 1/15/01 1:39 AM, CarltonCT@aol.com at CarltonCT@aol.com wrote: > www.cdbaby.com/clarkcarlton > > Hey Joni-junkies - > > Off of the politics and religion to do a little flagrant self-promotion here. > With advice from our own lovely and talented Kate Bennet, my own CD is now > for sale (only 12 dollars) through CD-Baby. They threw together a website > for me, so you can at least see what my naked back looks like as well as my > Martin guitar with the ocean superimposed on it. > > And if you don't want to buy my CD, you can hear a few clips for free. I > think the people on this list would most like to hear "Most of All", and my > gay bros and/or fellow Brian Wilson freaks will like my homage to the Beach > Boys called "Boys on the Sand." > > They also invite people who know the album to submit a review of it. This > is your chance to help promote me or take revenge on me for all my virulent > opinions. Patrick is right, I am a deeply feeling person, and I think my > music reflects that too. Resident conservative contrarian Marcel Deste has > also seen past my hopeless liberal affliction and recognized me as someone of > abilities. So check me out. The album, SALT WATER, is dedicated to > Roberta Joan Anderson who I owe a great debt to, like any other > singer/songwriter who has followed in her gorgeous, mesmerizing wake. > > I wasn't real happy with the quality of the sound as it came out of my iMac > and through my headphones, but maybe you will get something of greater > fidelity. > > www.cdbaby.com/clarkcarlton > > universal love, ecstasy, intensity, > > Clark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:17:49 -0500 From: "Blair Fraipont" Subject: Celebrating MLK day Well, It being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I think my time was well spent. I attended a American Civil Liberties Union meeting for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Project in Delaware. The project is to prepare us for our Lobby day which would be in April in which we talk to our senators about LGBt Issues in the state. And that we are also trying to pass a bill for the state that would not allow any person to be fired, evicted, etc..because they were gay. So, we had a great conversation, and I definitely learned alot, and Cant wait till LOBBY DAY IN APRIL!! love blair _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:20:10 -0500 From: simon@icu.com Subject: Happy Birthday Dr. King HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Lyrics & Music by Stevie Wonder) You know it doesn't make much sense There ought to be a law against Anyone who takes offense At a day in your celebration 'Cause we all know in our minds That there ought to be a time That we can set aside To show just how much we love you And I'm sure you would agree It couldn't fit more perfectly Than to have a world party on the day you came to be Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday I just never understood How a man who died for good Could not have a day that would Be set aside for his recognition Because it should never be Just because some cannot see The dream as clear as he that they should make it become an illusion And we all know everything That he stood for time will bring For in peace our hearts will sing Thanks to MARTIN LUTHER KING Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Why has there never been a holiday Where peace is celebrated all throughout the world The time is overdue For people like me and you Who know the way to truth Is love and unity to all God's children It should never be a great event And the whole day should be spent In full remembrance Of those who lived and died for the oneness of all people So let us all begin We know that love can win Let it out don't hold it in Sing it loud as you can Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday Happy birthday Happy birthday Ooh yeah Happy birthday... We know the key to unify all people Is in the dream that you had so long ago That lives in all of the hearts of people That believe in unity We'll make the dream become a reality I know we will Because our hearts tell us so from the album "Hotter Than July." __________________________________ others may have forgotten, but not i ... in the late 70's the effort to establish a national holiday in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was stalled and passage seemed hopeless. (in large messure) due to the tireless efforts of Stevie Wonder, Right! eventually won out over ignorance. and we now honor this man who many reviled while he lived. thankx man. Happy Birthday Dr. King - -------- simon - -------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:20:22 -0500 From: simon@icu.com Subject: Dr. King, NOT! a dreamer DUBBED PLACID, KING's MILITANT VOICE IS REVEALED By Maynard Eaton All too often the media, political leaders and too many historians miscast and misrepresent Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as merely a placid, non confrontational civil rights advocate who was content to focus on integration. The world has been duped into believing that the essence of Dr. King's message and mission is embodied in his "I Have A Dream" speech. While that marketing ploy and characterization of Dr. King's work and wizardry has made him a palatable folk hero, it has also skewed the substance of the King saga. That personification fails to recognize how this charismatic leader emerged as such a threat to America's economic interests he had to be eliminated. Those who worked with and marched with Dr. King say image-makers are attempting to sanitize this African American icon. "Dr. King was a radical revolutionary," opines Georgia State Representative Tyrone Brooks, formerly the national field director for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. "White America is trying to change the image of King so that our children and unborn generations will not view the real King that we knew. Dr. King was not someone who walked around dreaming all the time. Dr. King was an activist and a true revolutionary." "He was always militant," says former SCLC President Dr. Joseph Lowery of King. "Anybody who talks about staying off the buses and challenging folk to walk is militant. Talking about public accommodations and the denial of the voting rights; all that is militant. He was dynamically and actively militantly non-violent." Brooks contends that Dr. King was assassinated because he was about to redirect the civil rights movement into another dimension ? economic parity. "White America decided that this man has certainly been a catalyst in bring about social change in terms of desegregation and voting rights, but now this man is talking about altering the way America does business and talking about a redistribution of American wealth to the poor and the disenfranchised," Brooks said. "It really upset America." Says Dr. Lowery of the discernable shift in Dr. King's thinking and leadership; "The movement moved away from the customer side of the lunch counter to the cash register side. People who were willing to deal with segregation and busing and lunch counters were not quite ready to deal with economic integration. And so he died. They didn't care about niggas riding the bus, but when you talk about owning the banks and dividing the pie up, that's another proposition. You're talking about a seat at the economic table and even today there is pretty stiff resistance [to that]." During the first decade of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. had been hesitant to become involved in other political issues, for fear of weakening the cause for racial justice. By 1967, however in a speech at Riverside Church in New York City that many considered momentous, he declared his opposition to the Vietnam War. That speech; that moment amounted to a paradigm shift for the movement and the man. "Peace and civil rights don't mix, [people]say," Dr. King said. "Aren't you hurting the cause of your people, they ask. And when I hear them, although I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. "I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube," Dr. King continued. "So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such? We were taking the young Black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia, which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem." Both Lowery and Brooks say that after that controversial speech, Black and White America to take a different view of King. "The war was about economics as well as humanness," Dr. Lowery argues. "Martin said 'the bombs that explode in Vietnam in the '60s will explode in our economy in the '70s and '80s.' And, it did." "[Dr. King] was roundly criticized by all the establishment Black leadership. They all condemned Dr. King for that speech," Rep. Brooks recalls. "They said he'd gone too far and that the movement ought not get involved with foreign affairs. King said look at the amount of money that is coming out the American taxpayers' pocket ? including Black people ? that's financing this war. After that speech, you saw the anti-war movement really grow ? young, White liberals and other civil rights leaders got on board. So, the King speech at Riverside laid the foundation for that overwhelming American response which said the war must end now." Brooks said it is most important and ultimately tragic that people began to see Dr. King as just a civil rights leader who would focus on domestic policy, not as international, global leader. Hopefully future generations will recognize that his deeds and his direction include far more than just his dream of integration. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:22:54 -0500 From: simon@icu.com Subject: Dr. King (Audio & Video) a variety of Audio and Videos of Dr. King's speeches are currently available. ALL are recommended. 1. A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Peter Holloran (Editor), Clayborne Carson (Editor) Audio Cassette (May 1998) / 6-Cassettes, 8-hours Time Warner Audio Books; ISBN: 1570425728 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570425728/ref=ed_oe_a/105-2290392-288391 6 2. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. [UNABRIDGED] by Martin Luther King, Clayborne Carson (Editor) Audio Cassette unabridged edition Unabridged (December 1998) 6-Cassettes, approx. 9-hours Time Warner Audio Books; ISBN: 1570426295 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1570426295/ref=ed_oe_a/105-2290392-288391 6 3. The Speeches of Martin Luther King (Video) NTSC format (US and Canada only) Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC ASIN: 6301038851 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6301038851/o/qid=979606105/sr=8-6/ref=aps _sr_v_2_3/105-2290392-2883916 the following Audio CD Recordings can be accessed at the following URL. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=music&field-keywords=% 20%20Martin%20Luther%20King&bq=1/ref=aps_more_pm_3/105-2290392-2883916 4. In Search Of Freedom: Excerpts From His Most Memorable Speeches [Spoken Word] ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (Audio CD) 5. I Have A Dream ~ Jr. Martin Luther King (Audio CD) 6. MLK: The Martin Luther King Tapes ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (Audio CD) 7. We Shall Overcome ~ Martin Luther King Jr. (Audio CD) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Jan 2001 23:22:09 -0500 From: simon@icu.com Subject: I Have A Dream Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 "I Have A Dream" by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" - --------------------- "They kill people who give hope in this culture." Joni Mitchell ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2001 #27 **************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe ------- Siquomb, isn't she?