From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2001 #254 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 Thursday, June 14 2001 Volume 2001 : Number 254 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. Information on the 4th "Annual" New England JoniFest: http://www.jmdl.com/jfne2001.cfm ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Today in Joni History: June 13 [les@jmdl.com] Re: Adventures in Joniland with Shane (sjc) ["hell" ] Re: Adventures in Joniland with Shane njc [mags ] Joni's use of "Stranger" [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] RE: Treading Water (NJC) ["Chris Marshall" ] Janis Ian concert NJC ["Kate Bennett" ] Chelsea Morning cover ["Lori R. Fye" ] Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #181 [Mauski4648@aol.com] Jazz Takes on JM [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" njc [Randy Remote ] Re: Treading Water/Kashmir Klub (NJC) [AzeemAK@aol.com] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" [Brian Gross ] RE: Joni's use of "Stranger" ["Wally Kairuz" ] june 13!!!!!! njc ["Wally Kairuz" ] Re: june 13!!!!!! njc ["Diane Evans" ] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" [RoseMJoy@aol.com] Re: JMDL Digest V2001 #253 - Janis Ian [BRYAN8847@aol.com] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" [KJHSF@aol.com] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" ["Mark or Travis" ] Re: Jazz Takes on JM ["Suze Cameron" ] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" ["Suze Cameron" ] Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] song connection contest re: a joni song ... i won!!!!! [mags ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 03:10:52 -0400 From: les@jmdl.com Subject: Today in Joni History: June 13 On June 13 in Joni Mitchell History: 1999: Joni attends a Seal concert in Toronto. From Patti (on the Shawn Colvin List) comes this tidbit: "Last night (June 13) I went to see Seal here in Toronto, and walking into the ampitheatre right next to me was Joni Mitchell. She is beautiful ! I almost thought it wasn't her because she looked too young, but it is hard to mistake her distinctive features. I stayed cool and opted not to approach her. About halfway through the concert I went to get a drink, and I walked right by her. So much for being cool ! I could not resist talking to her - I am a huge fan, and she is such an icon ! She was very sweet and gave me an autograph. Wow !!!" - ------------------------ Search (and contribute to) the "Today" database: http://www.jmdl.com/today ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 19:22:27 +1200 From: "hell" Subject: Re: Adventures in Joniland with Shane (sjc) Kakki wrote: > I picked Shane up at his hotel in Santa Monica which just happened to be > right across the street from the famous McCabe's Guitar Shop! Since Les > Deux is closed Mondays I decided to head east on Sunset over to Dan Tana's > next to the Troubadour (and location of the tequila anaconda parking lot > memorialized in "Talk To Me" from DJRD). As soon as the valet took the car > we broke out the cameras and started taking shots of the parking lot and > driveway. The parking lot manager came over to us with a mildly alarmed > look and asked if he could help us. Shane told him we were shooting a > "celebrity site." The manager couldn't help but laugh and had a look like > he seen everything around there and this was just another one of those flaky > L.A. things ;-) > > Dan Tana's is a trip and Shane instantly fell in love with it. It's almost > like a neighborhood roadhouse for the local movie stars and industry people. > Two tiny dining rooms divided by the bar and kitchen. The standard red > leather booths and hundreds of miniature Chianti bottles hanging from the > ceiling. Yellowed restaurant reviews from about 30 years ago framed > everywhere. Framed Lakers shirts (Magic Johnson among others) hanging next > to delicate and faded Renoir type watercolors that looked a lot like early > Joni paintings. Definitely lived in and comfortably tattered with the > contrast of elegant waiters standing by in tuxes. We were seated in one of > the rooms where there were only six booths. As we settled in our > neighboring diners (including actor James Woods, football star Lamar Lathon, > and some actresses we couldn't identify) all looked over smiling and nodding > their heads at us like we were regulars. As each finished dining they would > go up and say goodbye to everyone else and shake hands or hug. The very > friendly Lamar and his girlfriend stopped by our booth and chatted for > awhile, too! I think it helped that Shane has a bit of a movie star look > himself and we secretly were cracking up that maybe they all thought they > knew us from some picture we did togather ;-) We had just too much fun > there! I know I shouldn't cut and paste so much of Kakki's message, but it was all too good to leave out! What a great time this would have been. The list of things that I want to do while I'm in the US in September is growing longer by the second, and I've decided that sleep is definitely very low on the agenda ........ Hell ____________________________ "To have great poets, there must be great audiences too." - Walt Whitman hell@ihug.co.nz Hell's Personal Photo Page: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell/main/personal.htm Visit the NBLs (Natural Born Losers) at: http://www.nbls.co.nz ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 05:10:48 -0400 From: mags Subject: Re: Adventures in Joniland with Shane njc hell wrote: > < too good to leave out! What a great time this would have been. The list of > things that I want to do while I'm in the US in September is growing longer > by the second, and I've decided that sleep is definitely very low on the > agenda ........>> and now me: I agree..the descriptions in Kakki's post, as well as Kate's were great..it is wonderful to meet other jmdlers in person! Midnight at the oasis!! Yes Hell...you can definitely count on NOT sleeping...especially while at AsharaFest :)))))) You wont want to sleep for fear of missing out on anything. Hope you enjoy the sun rise. And tofu ;) Mags..... npimh: Lucky Girl, DED (yes I actually listened to the whole CD!!) thanks Brei ;)) > > > > ____________________________ > "To have great poets, there must be > great audiences too." - Walt Whitman > > hell@ihug.co.nz > Hell's Personal Photo Page: > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell/main/personal.htm > > Visit the NBLs (Natural Born Losers) at: > http://www.nbls.co.nz - -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- _~O / /\_, ___/\ /_ - ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:00:23 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Joni's use of "Stranger" "Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger Can set up trembling in my bones" Joni’s writing has quite a few references to strangers; unlike the Doors’ "People Are Strange", which casts the narrator/singer as the stranger, Joni almost always casts others as the stranger in her songs. The above reference, from Hejira, is almost identical to her description in "Down to You": "In the morning there are lovers in the street They look so high You brush against a stranger And you both apologize" Where the intervention of a stranger, representing the unknown, interrupts an isolation but still registers an emotion. In the former, the stranger’s touch chills the bones and in the second the brush elicits a spoken response, albeit a spontaneous reaction ("Sorry") as opposed to a trembling in the bones. Perhaps Joni is saying that our reaction to strangers is based on our openness to the experience? "Now your kids are coming up straight And my child's a stranger I bore her But I could not raise her" Perhaps Joni’s saddest lyric ever – the postscript to "Little Green, have a happy ending", describing her own child as a stranger, and directly opposite to her fantasy of "Morning Morgantown" where she and (supposedly) her child are enjoying a mother-daughter day with pleasantries like: "We'll wink at total strangers passing In morning Morgantown" Which is certainly a prettier picture, sharing a moment with someone and feeling SO confident and self-assured that you can wink at strangers with a smile. The idea that strangers are much less imposing when you don’t feel like one yourself. Much nicer than the blues of "California", where she laments: "Oh it gets so lonely When you're walking And the streets are full of strangers" Once again, she writes of passing strangers on the street, although there is not even the brushing up going on…even though we personally may not yearn to return to the West Coast, Joni does a good job of describing that feeling where you feel like the only person around who doesn’t know anyone, a similar isolation to being at the party and fumbling deaf dumb and blind, where people are strange, when you’re a stranger. But would she (or we) prefer to follow an impulse and react to that "Hejira" trembling? In "Carnival in Kenora", she finds a friend, perhaps after a wink: "Now a stranger takes my hand; we smile And the magic understands" And sometimes the reflection of the interaction with a stranger is not as innocent & pleasing. Sometimes strangers remain strangers, no matter how intimate we push the relationship: "Drive your bargains Push your papers Win your medals Fuck your strangers Don't it leave you on the empty side" Which begs the question…can we really ever KNOW another person? Do even our closest relationships remain "strangers" in a sense? It’s not clear whether Joni is writing about a one-night stand in the above lyric from WOHAM or whether she’s stating that anyone you become intimate with is potentially a stranger. And then too, Joni casts herself as the stranger in "The Silky Veils of Ardor": "I am a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through all these highs and lows" With a lyric that could have been the opening line to Hejira and it’s songs of travel and searching and love and its peaks and valleys. Ultimately perhaps, we are all strangers, to each other and even sometimes to ourselves. Ever look in the mirror and wonder who it is that you're looking at? The role of the stranger is a theme that Joni seems fascinated with, taking it's roots in her earliest and unreleased songs, and threading throughout her work...even in other's writing; her latest album begs her lover, "Don't go to strangers, darling come to me" Bob NP: Jane's Addiction, "Sympathy For The Devil" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 15:45:23 +0100 From: "Chris Marshall" Subject: RE: Treading Water (NJC) > I have it on good authority that the rain in the Gulf is due to people in > London burning Newcastle coal. "Confess! Confess, or I'll bring out.... > the comfy chair!" (Monty Python reference) Nah, the London lot (and indeed some of us from just outside it) are too busy enjoying the great music in the Kashmir Klub to be at home burning coal. Last night was another blinding night there, with Martin G, Azeem, myself, and having just arrived from Dublin, Garret (from the list) and Donna (not from the list). I'm sure Azeem can post some of the high points from the evening, particularly the lady from Argentina with possibly the most powerful pair of lungs I've ever heard... Oh and while I think of the Kashmir Klub: Debra, sorry I didn't really get to talk to you in the end. But that lift up to Ashara's is a definite possibility, especially if you're prepared to jump on a train and head south into NJ a little way... driving in NYC scares the pants off me!!! - --Chris (Cambridge, UK) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:21:45 -0700 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: Janis Ian concert NJC tanya in nyc asked "Is anyone going to the concert at the Bottom Line in NYC on June 20th which includes Janis Ian? Any Janis Ian fans? Just curious." Janis is coming to my neighborhood (literally) this Sunday & I plan to go see her. Odetta * Alison Brown & many others will be there too. Its the Live Oak Festival for any of you SoCalers that might be interested here is the website: www.liveoakfest.org ******************************************** Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html ******************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 11:42:37 -0700 (PDT) From: "Lori R. Fye" Subject: Chelsea Morning cover Okay, it's no doubt on someone's tape tree and has been discussed before, but I just heard for the first time Fairport Convention's cover of "Chelsea Morning," from their album "Meet on the Ledge: The Classis Years 1967-1975." Very cool, and rather psychedelic-sounding! NP: "Blue" on http://radio.sonicnet.com/mymusiclisten.asp?name=lrfye Lori in DC (who has not forgotten her obligations to Ashara for JoniFest ...) ~ Yahoo! Mail Personal Address - Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 15:07:23 EDT From: Mauski4648@aol.com Subject: Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #181 Jazz takes on Joni--David Lahm--and how does this poor old girl get a grap on this cd???????In Germany?????Karin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 16:24:18 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Jazz Takes on JM <> Karin, Surely you can order it from the internet...it's available on basically every music outlet there is (except the Greenville SC stores! :~( ) I got mine from www.cduniverse.com, but I know there are German music websites that will have it. Bob NP: Whiskeytown, "Waiting to Derail" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 13:55:30 -0700 From: Randy Remote Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" njc Bob, you've never written a stranger post. Interesting points worth pondering.... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 17:39:33 EDT From: AzeemAK@aol.com Subject: Re: Treading Water/Kashmir Klub (NJC) In a message dated 13/06/01 15:52:44 GMT Daylight Time, chris@secure-si.co.uk writes: << I'm sure Azeem can post some of the high points from the evening, particularly the lady from Argentina with possibly the most powerful pair of lungs I've ever heard... >> Well, I'll have a go: Marie Claire d'Ubaldo (said lady from Argentina) is one of the most magnetic performers I've EVER seen - and I've seen a few in my time. Her singing is viscerally powerful, her guitar playing funky and relentless, her songs amazingly diverse. If anyone wants to check out how powerful her lungs are, go to www.kashmirklub.com, then click on KREW, choose her singing A Kiss So Light, light fuse and retire. She also has the distinction (dubious as it is - she's not too keen to advertise this) of having co-written and made the first recording of one of Celine Dion's biggest hits, Falling into you. She also wrote The Consequences Of Falling, lead song from kd lang's last album. There was also the marvellously vitriolic Anna Page, the heartrending Jamie Lawson, and the totally wonderful Annabel Lamb. And a new face to me was the extraordinary Chyna Lee, who looks like Skin from Skunk Anansie and has a stunning voice, slightly reminiscent of Lucinda Williams. It was quite a night! Azeem in London NP: Mary Coughlan - Long Honeymoon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 18:05:24 -0400 From: Brian Gross Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" Joni wrote: > > "Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger > Can set up trembling in my bones" > > > "In the morning there are lovers in the street > They look so high > You brush against a stranger > And you both apologize" > > > "Now your kids are coming up straight > And my child's a stranger > I bore her > But I could not raise her" > > > "We'll wink at total strangers passing > In morning Morgantown" > > > "Oh it gets so lonely > When you're walking > And the streets are full of strangers" > > > > "Now a stranger takes my hand; we smile > And the magic understands" > > > "Drive your bargains > Push your papers > Win your medals > Fuck your strangers > Don't it leave you on the empty side" > > > "I am a poor wayfaring stranger > Traveling through all these highs and lows" > > > > "Don't go to strangers, darling come to me" > And Bob wrote the rest And as I was reading it, I could hear the music in my head Nice effect Nice work, Bro! mellowing out here before my sixers take on those big bad lakerbois ;-) brei np: (again!!) Yola from Eleanor McEvoy (who I will happily treat interested jmdlers to if you write me offlist) - -- After twenty-three years you'd think I could find A way to let you know somehow That I want to see your smiling face Forty-five years from now. --Stan Rogers ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 19:26:59 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: RE: Joni's use of "Stranger" wow, bob!!!! you sure are a good writer! wallyK ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 19:53:28 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: june 13!!!!!! njc dear russ: you are beautiful, you are sexy, you are my loving friend. all these years of wait will come to an end in september. H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y YoUHuNk~!~!~! keep some of that for me... wally, not the birthday fairy this time ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 18:35:42 -0500 From: "Diane Evans" Subject: Re: june 13!!!!!! njc Russ: Hoping your day is full of wonderment and glad tidings! And to all those I missed during the hectic (for me!) last couple months (Rose, Terry, and Jason Maloney, for starts), I fondly wish your days were full of moments you'll return to often! Diane _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 20:19:19 EDT From: RoseMJoy@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" In a message dated 6/13/01 10:10:08 AM Eastern Daylight Time, SCJoniGuy@aol.com writes: > And then too, Joni casts herself as the stranger in "The Silky Veils of > Ardor": > > "I am a poor wayfaring stranger > Traveling through all these highs and lows" > > With a lyric that could have been the opening line to Hejira and it’s > The role of the stranger is a theme that Joni seems fascinated with, taking it's roots in her earliest and unreleased songs, and threading throughout her work...even in other's writing; her latest album begs her lover, "Don't go to strangers, darling come to me" I think you're on to something here Bob and I'll add to your synopsis.... Didn't Joni have the hexagram of the Stranger or Traveler etched on her guitar? And he lyrics in the song Amelia: It was the hexagram of the heavens.... It was the strings of my guitar..... The hexagrams of the I Ching are determined by the forces of Yin and Yang within the individual. These are represented by broken (Yin) and solid (Yang) lines. In the hexagram of the Stranger, it looks like this - ----- - -- -- - ----- - ----- - -- -- - -- -- I'm convinced that Joni sees something of herself in this mercurial character, again duality For those of us who are unfamiliar with the teachings of the I Ching, a modern interpretation of the hexagram goes like this: Your life is an odyssey. You are constantly on the move from place to place. you find comfort in your sense of yourself moving. Maybe you are a practical nomad like Hemingway; or an aesthetic nomad like Cocteau; or an intellectual nomad like Norman O. Brown; or a spiritual nomad like Bishop Pike. You are always on your way into something or on your way out of something. This is not aimless, chancy wandering-it is the pursuit of it's own fuel, a search for a means of continuing existence. You feed on the best of the different places or ideas or roles you wander into; when that is consumed you wander out again. ( Black Crow) Because of your mercurial character you have very few acquaintances at any one time, although you have left myriads behind you. This is a bittersweet Tao: bittersweet because the joy or discovery is always paired with the hopelessness of your search. I can go on, but It's strange enough already without getting into the more esoteric meaning. I know I really don't know myself, but I guess that's what life is for....or about...learning :~) Rose rosemjoy@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 20:33:52 EDT From: BRYAN8847@aol.com Subject: Re: JMDL Digest V2001 #253 - Janis Ian Won't be hearing Janis at the Bottom Line, it's a continent away. But I'll be sure to see her with Judy, Roger & Richie (which I went on about in a previous post) later in the summer. Everybody get to this show -- Janis kicks ass on guitar! She is no longer the strumming waif singing downer songs (if she ever was, I don't know, but that's the common image of her). The Judy Collins Wildflower Festival has been expanded to lots of cities around the country over the next several months, so don't miss it (see judycollins.com or janisian.com). Bryan ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 20:47:35 EDT From: KJHSF@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" Did I misinterpret something? I've always thought that "the trembling in my bones" was caused by the allure of a stranger's touch, rather than disdain for a stranger's touch. She's talking about being so glad to be on her own still (and I've taken the "still" to mean that the second idea will contradict the first), a stranger's touch is intoxicating. I've thought of this as another exploration into self-contradiction. To paraphrase; I like being alone, but I'm still thrilled by a stranger's touch. Has anyone else had this interpretation? Ken ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 17:56:01 -0700 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" Has anyone else had this > interpretation? > Ken Me. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 21:45:50 -0400 From: "Suze Cameron" Subject: Re: Jazz Takes on JM Karin wrote: ><this cd???????In Germany?????>> Karin, Don't forget if you order through the internet to go through Wally's site www.jonimitchell.com and follow the shop prompts so the website gets a taste of your purchase. Just another way we listers help support the cause. Take care and enjoy the CD, I know I have! Suze Get 250 color business cards for FREE! http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 21:48:53 -0400 From: "Suze Cameron" Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" RoseMJoy wrote: > I think you're on to something here Bob and I'll add to your synopsis.... >Didn't Joni have the hexagram of the Stranger or Traveler etched on her >guitar? >And he lyrics in the song Amelia: >It was the hexagram of the heavens.... >It was the strings of my guitar..... >The hexagrams of the I Ching are determined by the forces of Yin and Yang >within the individual. These are represented by broken (Yin) and solid (Yang) >lines. Rose, cool insite that I wouldn't have known, thanks! Also Bob, great thread. This idea has been churning in my head for a while but as usual doesn't come to fruition. Thanks for putting into words. Suze C N.P. crickets outside my window Get 250 color business cards for FREE! http://businesscards.lycos.com/vp/fastpath/ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 22:11:57 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" << Did I misinterpret something? I've always thought that "the trembling in my bones" was caused by the allure of a stranger's touch, rather than disdain for a stranger's touch. >> And my take is the same as yours, Ken...I must have been vague in my explanation. I would contrast the touch of the stranger in "Hejira" & "Carnival" with the brush-up in "Down To You" and say that they elicit opposing responses from Joni. At any length, thanks for helping to clear up the imagery! Bob, remembering all those red marks the English teachers put on his papers! NP: Jonatha Brooke, "Crumbs", Rockin' the Fillmore 4/1/01 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 23:53:40 -0400 From: mags Subject: song connection contest re: a joni song ... i won!!!!! Not sure if you all remember this or not, but last month, our Kate Bennett won a contest on the song connection site. http://www.songwritersconnection.com/ As a writer, and a big fan of hers, I was sparked by her enthusiasm and took it upon myself to check out this writerly opportunity...anyway..... I submitted a piece about a Joni song...they wanted to know what song was inspiring and such .. and I came up with something about Little Green. They picked me as this months winner!!!!! sorry for the self promotion but .... I am just so excited!!! If you want to see what I wrote about it, let me know. lots of love, Mags np: 45 years, still, always. - -- - --------------------------------------------------------------------- _~O / /\_, ___/\ /_ - ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 00:35:32 EDT From: Bobsart48@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni performs in Concord CA les@jmdl.com wrote: "<< On June 12 in Joni Mitchell History: 1983: Joni performs in Concord, California>> I was there and the experience still rates high on my list of thrills of a lifetime. Joni on acoustic guitar, Joni at the grand piano, Joni on the dulcimer. Joni singing "Real Good For Free". Makes me want to go back and do it all over just for those magic moments. Was anyone else there? " Not I. However, I get the picture, having been at her Carnegie Hall concert on my side of the world sometime in 1972 circa the time For the Roses was released. Just her up there, getting us to feel like that. Was this a solo concert too, even though it was after she had committed to the 'band' concept ? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 00:35:23 EDT From: Bobsart48@aol.com Subject: Re: Arkadia CD In a message dated 6/13/01 3:21:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, les@jmdl.com writes: > On: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 15:44:43 EDT > SCJoniGuy wrote: > "Subject: David Lahm's More Jazz Takes on JM > > I've been enjoying David's wonderful Arkadia CD "More Jazz Takes on Joni > Mitchell" and wanted to write a detailed review about it. > > Firstly if you haven't gotten this disc, you should, for a couple of > reasons: > > 1- It's totally freakin' excellent! > 2- It's 2/3 Joni music, and you're a Joni fan, right? > 3- David's one of us, and I'm a firm believer in supporting a fellow > JMDL'er! " > A great review, by our premier poster and critic. I did not realize that David could afford to buy such ad space, but maybe he did it on spec. Anyway, it worked on me. I'm getting it tomorrow. Is there anything special I need to know in doing my shopping ? To all the rest of you out there, I know this is going to be great, on account of I got to listen to David live two weeks ago. (David, you can write to me off-list if you would like to know my rates for a full, rave review) ;-) Bob Sartorius ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 01:05:28 -0400 From: dsk Subject: Re: Joni's use of "Stranger" SCJoniGuy@aol.com wrote: > "Still somehow the slightest touch of a stranger > Can set up trembling in my bones" > > Joni's writing has quite a few references to strangers; unlike the Doors' "People Are Strange", which casts the narrator/singer as the stranger, Joni almost always casts others as the stranger in her songs. Interesting post, Bob! I have a feeling I'm about to disagree with you on a couple of things. The lines from Hejira are my favorite, especially combined with the line you left out: But you know I'm so glad to be on my own Still sometimes the slightest touch of a stranger Can set up trembling in my bones I always thought of that as trembling with desire, sudden and surprising desire considering she's happy being on her own and untouched for the time being. The last time I heard those lyrics in my head was at the Richard Thompson concert in April, in the very crowded lobby while waiting for Alison to suss out the beer situation, and all of a sudden I felt a man behind me with his right hand on my shoulder and left hand on my waist, and I turned my head around and then we were almost nose to nose and he asked if I was all right and I wanted to say, "well, no, I'm all hot and bothered now and who are you anyway? And why are you touching me like that? And... I like it." And then as if I wasn't aware enough about how I felt, I heard Joni singing those lines. But I just said "yes" and he smiled and then he was gone. Much different reaction than brushing against someone briefly and then saying sorry (for invading your space) and far from causing a chill. > The above reference, from Hejira, is almost identical to her description in "Down to You": > > "In the morning there are lovers in the street > They look so high > You brush against a stranger > And you both apologize" > > Where the intervention of a stranger, representing the unknown, interrupts an isolation but still registers an emotion. In the former, the stranger's touch chills the bones and in the second the brush elicits a spoken response, albeit a spontaneous reaction ("Sorry") as opposed to a trembling in the bones. Perhaps Joni is saying that our reaction to strangers is based on our openness to the experience? I'd agree with that, as in openness to feeling connected, even if it's only briefly. Or maybe it's based only on our needs at the time, which aren't always known until they (literally) get rubbed up against. In Hejira, seems to me Joni wants to connect in an honest way rather than the possessive way in which she had been connected, so feeling momentary desire is very honest, and fleeting, and not at all possessive. That's much different than the feeling in Down to You, where the person isn't able to connect at all, even when being physically intimate. There are other "stranger" mentions in that song: Constant stranger You're a kind person You're a cold person too and Constant stranger You're a brute--you're an angel You can crawl--you can fly too Ooohh, chilly! That person's a stranger even to herself. The crawl and fly line makes me think it's Joni singing about herself (snake and eagle), which I'd never considered before. It's easier to accept the harshness of the song if I think she's describing someone else. Somehow being able to look at herself that unblinkingly is a little scary, like it's a challenge for me to do the same and I'm not sure I want to do that. I can't think of strangers without also hearing the classic Tennessee Williams line about relying on the "kindness of strangers", which doesn't seem to fit into this discussion at all, but it wants to be mentioned anyway. Hmmm, that's it for my scattered thoughts at the moment about strangers.... Debra Shea P.S. Bob, now that I've mentioned my man Richard Thompson, did you see him in May? And, if so, what did you think? ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2001 #254 ***************************** ------- 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?