From: les@jmdl.com (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2005 #51 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, February 3 2005 Volume 2005 : Number 051 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- making pies njc ["Kate Bennett" ] what i'm doing right now - NJC ["mike pritchard" ] Re: Joni's Most Artistic Songs ? ["Marian Russell" ] RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! ["hell" ] Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! [JRMCo1@aol.com] RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! [Smurf ] RE: Hejira a blight....and another thing. ["Ross, Les" ] Top Ten Stupid Funny, well perhaps. NJC ["Ross, Les" ] Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) [Steven Blue ] Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) ["Sherelle Smith" ] Re: Hejira a blight ["McMillan Brad" ] Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) [JRMCo1@aol.com] Victory! - BSN voted back on track ["Michael O'Malley" ] Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) [JRMCo1@aol.com] Re: Victory! - BSN voted back on track ["mackoliver" ] Re: NJC - was Roberta now curling irons ["Donna Binkley" Subject: making pies njc Lama>>np: "Makin' Pies" on our singer-songwriter station. Kate, I think of you every time I hear this song. To me, it's *your song and even Patti Griffin's own version falls short.<< Your comment moves me because it is such an awesome song by someone I consider one of the best songwriters ever & with a voice that just chills me to the bone... I do love that song so thank you from the bottom of my heart for thinking of me when you hear it... the other masterpiece of hers is 'rain' ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 09:59:30 +0100 From: "mike pritchard" Subject: what i'm doing right now - NJC What a day! Does it get any better than this? My classes have all been cancelled, I am having lunch today with an old friend who's too busy to meet me very much; this evening I'm going to see Elvis Costello and the Imposters; Keith Jarret's playing 'When I Fall In Love' right behind me and the only other sound is from a dozen or so phosphorescent-green parrots screeching as they pass my window. mike in barcelona np KJ - Inside Out ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 03:35:57 -0500 From: "Marian Russell" Subject: Re: Joni's Most Artistic Songs ? This list is not necessarily a list of my favorite songs, but of those that I think are most artistic/creative/unusual. I tried to pick one song from every album, except for Mingus (I think all of Mingus is very artistic) and I basically ignored the compilation albums. The first two songs in the list below were never officially released; I find the guitar parts of these two songs the most interesting and complex of all the pre-STAS songs. Day After Day The Way It Is The Dawntreader Tin Angel Rainy Night House Blue Judgement Of The Moon And Stars Down To You The Jungle Line Shadows And Light Black Crow Paprika Plains God Must Be A Boogie Man A Chair In The Sky The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey Sweet Sucker Dance The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines Goodbye Pork Pie Hat Wild Things Run Fast Smokin' (Empty Try Another) The Reoccurring Dream ('cause Joni and Bobsart think so!) Passion Play (When All The Slaves Are Free) The Sire Of Sorrow (Job's Sad Song) Harlem In Havanah Marian ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 22:47:34 +1300 From: "hell" Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Sherelle wrote: > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this homepage to check > out Hell's > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! the website is fantastic too!!!!! I am still > reading it! Your picture of Joni is too much! Thanks, Sherelle! My website has gone through MANY iterations in the past few years, but I'm reasonably happy with the current format. And it's surprising that I have so little Joni-related stuff there - I guess I should do some more! Hell _________________________________________ "To have great poets, there must be great audiences too" - Walt Whitman Hell's Pages - a whole new experience! http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell - -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.1 - Release Date: 27/01/2005 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 10:07:21 -0000 From: "Ross, Les" Subject: Re: Hejira a blight Far be it from to me to diss anyone's opinion about anything (yeah, right) but I'm completely at a loss to understand how the song Hejira could be considered a blight. David's quote from the lyric 'forceps and the stone' singles out just one part of a complete masterpiece of artistry. In Joni's canon of work the song is her best as far as I'm concerned and the song that drew me into the album all those many, many years ago. I've been listening to the songs from Hejira a lot these past couple of days and invariably play the title song on repeat to savour its majesty. Yes, majesty. In every respect it's perfect: the instrumentation, the arrangement, the music, the singing, the words, the... well, I think that covers it. I placed the words last in this list by accident as it happens, but it's my experience that I get my first 'in' to all music in the music rather than the words. In Joni's case the words are crafted exquisitely and take listening to. Some chance these days with attention spans truly 'blighted' that such art might be given the time to be appreciated. I mean have you listened to popular music on the radio these days? What a pile of f##king crap. Exceptions there are though that only serves to prove the rule and it does so in spades. Perhaps it's always been that way and I've just grown into an intolerant, grouchy, middle-aged man. Who knew? It's usually a sign that someone's argument is faltering when they take recourse in dictionary definitions. In the one I have in front of me here for 'blight' there are a number of references to plant decay though, significantly, without rotting taking place. But other definitions refer to the prevention of growth and also to frustrate or disappoint. Perhaps the latter is closer to what is being proposed. But I don't support that either. The song is a melancholic essay on love, love failed and the flight therefrom, life and with just a dusting of fatalism to bouy it all along. Now, in some cultures (in decline)* such melancholy is reproachfully decried as being whiny with the attendant implication that if one has nothing upbeat to say about something then better by far to shut up about it. (I'm laughing here for a moment as this last reminds me of a line from that very fine film (?) Steel Magnolias when the ever-splendid Olympia Dukakis says, "if you can't say something good about someone, come sit next to me!"..or something like that.) Anyway, back to my point, I think it indicts the listener more than the song when Hejira is described as being whiny. Especially when it was written waaaay before La Mitchell really got into whine (peevish complaints, usually repeated) mode, which if her recent utterances in the press are anything to go by, she has certainly nailed as her acte-de-guerre. Sure she has a point, we heard it but it's all we hear. Les (London, returning to box) *see, even a reference to Dog Eat Dog. Yay! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 05:45:21 EST From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Whoa! What a gorgeous website, Hell! Your photos of New Zealand are mind-bogglingly beautiful. And that cross-stitch piece you've done of Joni blows my mind. Seriously...wow! What a talent we have here amongst us. Thanks! I'm toggling back now... - -Julius In a message dated 2/3/05 2:10:28 AM, hell@ihug.co.nz writes: > Sherelle wrote: > > > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this homepage to check > > out Hell's > > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! the website is fantastic too!!!!! I am still > > reading it! Your picture of Joni is too much! > > Thanks, Sherelle! My website has gone through MANY iterations in the past > few years, but I'm reasonably happy with the current format. And it's > surprising that I have so little Joni-related stuff there - I guess I should > do some more! > > Hell > _________________________________________ > "To have great poets, there must be great > audiences too" - Walt Whitman > > Hell's Pages - a whole new experience! > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.1 - Release Date: 27/01/2005 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 04:34:59 -0800 (PST) From: Smurf Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Synchro time once again ... I am wearing one of Hell's Joni T-shirts right now. XO, - --Smurf > Sherelle wrote: > > > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this > homepage to check > > out Hell's > > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 12:44:16 -0000 From: "Ross, Les" Subject: RE: Hejira a blight....and another thing. Richard, in his support of Hejira, cites or at least appears to concede that Hejira and For the Roses are Joni's most depressing albums. Not taking Richard to task over this at all as this observation is far from unique, but again I have never understood why work of contemplation, as Joni described it 'of the inner landscape', is described in this way! Though I look like a miserable git, as those who've met me can attest to, depression is (very fortunately for me) not a crushing presence in my life though I'm certainly familiar with it. I have never in more than 30 years of listening to the work of Joni Mitchell heard it and thought, 'how depressing'. (Though I really should qualify that. Read on, if you will.) Quite the opposite. In her saddest reflections, for example Sweet Bird, I have drawn remarkable solace and reward in listening to her take on the transience of youth and beauty. It's positively wry in its identification of the futility (vain promises on beauty jars) of trying to arrest the passage of time and its deleterious effects on one's boat race (face). What I mean is, in these and indeed most of her pre-DED work, her work was about the personal in relation to the self and relationships. In those works, I think I reacted, and favourably, to recognising the human condition at an individual level. From those where I'd experienced something similar it was a relief to discover that what I'd been through or felt was not unique and was here being so well articulated. If a reaction of depression is merited at all, then it's in response to work like Ethiopia, Dog Eat Dog (and not for the popular reasons, people!), Tax Free, Cool Water, Not to Blame, Magdalene Laundries and so on, where the human condition at a cultural or more global level gives us all something to feel depressed about. These subjects are truly depressing however prettily set to music they are. So perhaps her work can be described as depressing, just not those cited. Okay, I'll shut up and get back in the box. Les (London) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 08:27:22 -0500 From: "Richard Flynn" Subject: RE: Hejira a blight....and another thing. Les makes some powerful observations here, particularly about the solace and reward one can take from listening to the personal songs. This is why I hate to hear the music from this period described as "confessional." (I don't like the term applied to the personal autobiographical lyric poem either.) I had a particularly rough time with depression from 1971 till about 1977 (ages 16-22) and I do think that the records Blue through Hejira were so attractive to me because they are, as you point out, Les "about the personal in relation to the self and relationships." When I first heard "A Case of You" and "River" I had very powerful emotional reactions to them. (The same for "For the Roses.") When I first heard the unjustly maligned "Richard," I thought of my parents, and vowed never "to meet the same fate someday." Hejira (the album) was a real life-saver--I wore out the grooves on that one--and at 21 I let it wash over me in the dark many, many times. Anyway I'm sure I returned to these record again and again because they gave me insight and helped me to articulate (at least for myself) the feelings I was having--the specific events in Joni Mitchell's "autobiography" being beside the point, though they were, typically what the rock press tended to focus on. To some, this deep emotional identification with these "popular songs" might seem self-indulgent--but if such music helps us in "recognising the human condition at an individual level" and discovering that what one feels is "not unique" but that one must necessarily articulate such feelings in order not to be consumed by them or paralyzed by them-- well, then, that music is art. Anyway, Les, thanks for your observations. - -----Original Message----- From: owner-joni@jmdl.com [mailto:owner-joni@jmdl.com] On Behalf Of Ross, Les Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 7:44 AM To: 'joni@smoe.org' Subject: RE: Hejira a blight....and another thing. Richard, in his support of Hejira, cites or at least appears to concede that Hejira and For the Roses are Joni's most depressing albums. Not taking Richard to task over this at all as this observation is far from unique, but again I have never understood why work of contemplation, as Joni described it 'of the inner landscape', is described in this way! Though I look like a miserable git, as those who've met me can attest to, depression is (very fortunately for me) not a crushing presence in my life though I'm certainly familiar with it. I have never in more than 30 years of listening to the work of Joni Mitchell heard it and thought, 'how depressing'. (Though I really should qualify that. Read on, if you will.) Quite the opposite. In her saddest reflections, for example Sweet Bird, I have drawn remarkable solace and reward in listening to her take on the transience of youth and beauty. It's positively wry in its identification of the futility (vain promises on beauty jars) of trying to arrest the passage of time and its deleterious effects on one's boat race (face). What I mean is, in these and indeed most of her pre-DED work, her work was about the personal in relation to the self and relationships. In those works, I think I reacted, and favourably, to recognising the human condition at an individual level. From those where I'd experienced something similar it was a relief to discover that what I'd been through or felt was not unique and was here being so well articulated. If a reaction of depression is merited at all, then it's in response to work like Ethiopia, Dog Eat Dog (and not for the popular reasons, people!), Tax Free, Cool Water, Not to Blame, Magdalene Laundries and so on, where the human condition at a cultural or more global level gives us all something to feel depressed about. These subjects are truly depressing however prettily set to music they are. So perhaps her work can be described as depressing, just not those cited. Okay, I'll shut up and get back in the box. Les (London) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 08:50:39 EST From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: Hejira a blight....and another thing. You'll do no such thing. You're making perfect sense to me. I read every word. I'm intrigued by the paradigm you describe, whereby there is a subtle, yet unmistakable distinction in Joni's work, temporally, in that she began her career speaking to the human condition with a personal/individual 'voice', but evolved to render the human condition on an increasingly cultural/global plane. Thank you for my early morning epiphany and your thoughtful point of view. I concur! Now, if you're done for the moment, would you mind so much strapping on your guitar and playing your rendition of "Woodstock" for this madman across the water? Just let me know when, and I'll bend an ear toward England. - -Julius In a message dated 2/3/05 4:46:38 AM, LXROSS@ctrl.co.uk writes: > Okay, I'll shut up and get back in the box. > > Les (London) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:20:33 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: WALLY IN THE US IN FEB!!! njc/updates That's great Paz! Hi Paz! The person that has been playing my music on his Sunday Brunch program also played her music one Sunday and had a lot of interestingly good things to say about her. He mentioned that she had her own label and so I found her website and emailed the label to tell her that I heard her music on the program and to find out more about how she fared with her own label. Her team was very nice to me and wrote a very nice email back. I like what Terri is trying to do and immediately thought of you! From what I read, she is doing very well and is selling all of her CD's like crazy! I always love to hear stuff like that! Love, Sherelle >From: Michael Paz >To: Sherelle Smith >CC: Joni Digest >Subject: Re: WALLY IN THE US IN FEB!!! njc/updates >Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:12:11 -0600 > >Thanks very much Sherelle. I will check them out. I actually met Terri >Hendrix thru our very own Nikki Johnson. I have a phone number for her and >I >will try and call her tomorrow. > >Love > >Paz > > > Hi Paz, > > > > So glad that the shipments got off where they are most needed! I was > > checking out my Just Plain Folks newsletter and one of the people that > > contributed to the newsletter was from Sri Lanka I believe. He put out >an > > urgent plea that instead of money, they now need medicine and the drops >that > > are put into the water to protect people from water-born illnesses. Also >a > > singer/songwriter from Texas by the name of Terri Hendrix put out a plea >to > > pass on any addresses of those who are helping in a similar regard. her > > website is www.terrihendrix.com. I thought I would pass this info on and >let > > you know that no matter what the media says, you are definitely on the >right > > track! > > > > Love, Sherelle > > > > Paz wrote: > > > > I just heard from my sister that I have to go to Miami sometime in March >or > > April for a fundraiser for the Ruth Paz Foundation that one of the >hostesses > > from UniVision, Maria Celeste Arrabas' from "Al Rojo Vivo" (she use to >be on > > Primer Impacto) is throwing for us. They are trying to get Gloria and >Emilio > > Estefan involved. I will let all you well heeled Floridians know before >it > > happens. It's a bargain at $1000 a plate (not clear if you get to keep >the > > plate or not though). It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. I guess I >have > > to get my Armani hosed down. > > > > Special thanks to the ever supportive Ashara Stansfield for her very > > generous contribution to the South Asia relief fund. A shipment is >leaving > > this week for Oregon to hook up with the Northeast Medical Teams who >have > > been in country for awhile. Still no word on when Dennis and Dr. Heiman >and > > I are headed that way. I will keep you guys updated. > > > > > > Love > > > > Paz ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:24:29 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: "Roberta" musical play update Pooh!!!! Double Pooh!!! Don't worry Paz, if all goes as planned, there will be several more venues scheduled. I have already committed to a singing at a private function the weekend of April 23rd so there's no way I can do it then. Don't worry, everything will work out! I feel a change in the air for all of us and this is just the beginning! Love, Sherelle >From: Michael Paz >To: Sherelle Smith , Joni Digest >Subject: Re: "Roberta" musical play update >Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:16:47 -0600 > >NO NO NO Not that weekend. One of the busiest weekends of the year for me >(1st weekend of Jazz Fest) Say it's sooner please!!!! > >Paz > > >NP-Steve's Boogie-EJ > > > > Hi friends, > > > > This is only tentative but David is setting the play for the last >weekend in > > April. As soon as I get exact dates (Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday) > > confirmed as well as ticket prices confirmed I will let you know. Trust >me > > that ticket prices won't be exhorbatant because I am the new kid on the > > block! Stay tuned! > > > > Sherelle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:28:52 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Julius....my sentiments exactly!!!!! Hell, I love the fact that you have chosen a different way of presenting your art on canvas. Very unique and special!!!! Sherelle >From: JRMCo1@aol.com >To: hell@ihug.co.nz, sherellesmith@hotmail.com >CC: joni@smoe.org >Subject: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! >Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 05:45:21 EST > >Whoa! What a gorgeous website, Hell! Your photos of New Zealand are >mind-bogglingly beautiful. And that cross-stitch piece you've done of >Joni blows >my mind. Seriously...wow! What a talent we have here amongst us. >Thanks! > I'm toggling back now... > >-Julius > > >In a message dated 2/3/05 2:10:28 AM, hell@ihug.co.nz writes: > > > > Sherelle wrote: > > > > > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this homepage to check > > > out Hell's > > > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! the website is fantastic too!!!!! I am >still > > > reading it! Your picture of Joni is too much! > > > > Thanks, Sherelle! My website has gone through MANY iterations in the >past > > few years, but I'm reasonably happy with the current format. And it's > > surprising that I have so little Joni-related stuff there - I guess I >should > > do some more! > > > > Hell > > _________________________________________ > > "To have great poets, there must be great > > audiences too" - Walt Whitman > > > > Hell's Pages - a whole new experience! > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell > > -- > > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > > Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.1 - Release Date: 27/01/2005 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:27:22 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Hi Hell, Only add more Joni content if you want to. The website is great just the way it is in my opinion! Sherelle >From: "hell" >To: "Sherelle Smith" >CC: >Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! >Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 22:47:34 +1300 > >Sherelle wrote: > > > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this homepage to check > > out Hell's > > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! the website is fantastic too!!!!! I am still > > reading it! Your picture of Joni is too much! > >Thanks, Sherelle! My website has gone through MANY iterations in the past >few years, but I'm reasonably happy with the current format. And it's >surprising that I have so little Joni-related stuff there - I guess I >should >do some more! > >Hell >_________________________________________ >"To have great poets, there must be great >audiences too" - Walt Whitman > >Hell's Pages - a whole new experience! >http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hell >-- >Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. >Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. >Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.1 - Release Date: 27/01/2005 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:29:53 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! Okay smurf....that's weird!!! (But nice!) How do those things happen????? Sherelle >From: Smurf >To: hell , Sherelle Smith >CC: joni@smoe.org >Subject: RE: Re: A little good news (NJC) Hell's awesome art!!!!! >Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 04:34:59 -0800 (PST) > >Synchro time once again ... I am wearing one of Hell's >Joni T-shirts right now. > >XO, > >--Smurf > > > Sherelle wrote: > > > > > Wow! Wow! Wow! Everyone should check out this > > homepage to check > > > out Hell's > > > art!!!! Absolutely awesome! > > > >__________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. >http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 08:35:51 -0600 From: "Steven Polifka" Subject: Hejira- a blight NJC Hi all, Thanks Les, for your dissertation on Hejira! (and the DED reference...) I find the title of this post to be quite humourous at the moment. For Christmas, I gave Yolanda (my singer-diva-friend) a copy of Hejira, ( this goes back to giving Joni Cd's to people as gifts. Hejira, C& S, NRH and DJRD are my usual choices...) and Brenda Russell's latest. Right now we have this Rhythm & Torch gig pending for Feb 19th at M & M Club. She needs to be learning some songs but has confessed to me that the only thing she can listen to is Joni in the car. "She's got Beale street nailed down," Yogi commented to me. "After 30 years the descriptive passages still describe it today... amazing! And what about that Song for Sharon?!" So instead of being upset, I'm gonna try to get her to learn Coyote this Saturday at rehearsal... ;-) Steve ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 14:52:36 -0000 From: "Ross, Les" Subject: RE: Hejira a blight....and another thing. Richard wrote: Oh this is a real bete noir of mine too. I mean, god should help those authors of fiction were their work to be so described. In the best examples of written fiction one would not want to sit and contemplate that the writer was 'speaking' from experience! LOL! It has forever seemed that what Joni has written in her career HAD to have been written from first-hand experience. Perhaps it was but the assessment of the work needn't be contingent upon it having been so. It's unintentionally (or maybe it's intentionally) demeaning to fail to separate the work from the personality. What illustrates this to me was when I first saw Joni in Edinburgh during the awful (IMO) WTRF tour. Up to that point I'd set Joni on a pedestal. To this puppy she could do NO wrong. Well, having had a crap review for the previous night's concert, she had a real go at us, the audience and the critics from the local rag in particular. She brought up stories of miserly Scots she'd encountered in her early life and was being a total cow. So there I was initially glowing in the glory of her presence only to have the guts kicked out of me by this harpy on the stage. Who WAS this woman? They launched into a rocked out (god-awful) version of Song for Sharon with the guitar amps cranked all the way up to eleven and it all just fell away badly from there. I left the gig that night vowing to trash her every album and commit to a life of fealty to all things disco. When eventually I calmed down - some months later, albums untouched on the shelf - I realised that the work transcended her 'feet of clay' and hammered home the dangers in signing up to the Cult of Personality. A lesson indeed for modern times. Les (London) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 15:04:13 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re:Things that make me feel happy/lucky-njc, but some important news at the end Hi Walt, I can totally feel you when you say that Job's Sad song got you through your cancer ordeal. There is something profoundly deep and gut wrenching in the way Joni interprets Job's story. It helped me get through some tough times too. Sometimes things happen in life which feel so wrong and unfair, it makes one reach out from the depths of their soul to ask the question, "why?" I believe there is something deep within the human spirit that will not let us give up when adversity strikes. I am happy for this news, Walt. What a weight this must have been for you to carry! Take care my friend! Sherelle Walt wrote: (8) And today, I'm *very* happy because the possible bad news I was "sitting on" was a concern that my lymphoma had come back after nine years. I saw the specialist today: and it hasn't. I got home, put Job's Sad Song on the piano (this was the song that got me through my first time with cancer), and sang it with joy. Thanks to all of you for being such a great community; for being such good friends. Love, Walt ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 15:22:34 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Hi David! You are quite welcome. I have the Best of Roberta Flack CD and there was some good music that she recorded in that time period I think. My favorite era with her was when she first came on the scene with the soundtrack song from "Play Misty for Me". No solo artist in my opinion had ever done what she was doing at the time. I remember the 45 and on the B side there was a song called "Mood". Both songs were so unique and special to me. People immediately saw her as a serious artist. Maybe that's why she may have gotten flack for some of her music in the 80's. To me, it would be very difficult to out-do that kind of success. In my mind, I think Jill Scott may be in the same boat. She launched into the stratosphere with her debut CD, "Who is Jill Scott?" Her combination of soulful music and poetry was hard to top. I had a chance to listen to her second CD and as much as I want to say otherwise, I really like her first CD much, much better though I am not sure why. I'm afraid that people will write her off because of it and not give her a chance to flex her artistic muscles much like we've given Joni that opportunity. Here's hoping!! Sherelle David wrote: Congratulations Sherelle! I love Roberta Flack. Her album with Donny Hathaway has never been far from me since I was 12 years old. I just had it on today at work, and I think her recording of Sweet Bitter Love is one of the finest recordings ever. Sometimes she gets a bad rap for her 80's music, but I think she's one of the best. Break a leg! And thanks for the note the other day. Joni often makes me laugh too. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 15:46:52 -0000 From: "Ross, Les" Subject: Top Ten Stupid Funny, well perhaps. NJC Top Ten most Polite Ways to Say Your Zipper Is Down..... by David Letterman 10. The cucumber has left the salad. 9. Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bells. 8. You need to bring your tray table to the upright and locked position. 7. Paging Mr. Johnson... Paging Mr. Johnson.. 6. Elvis is leaving the building. 5. The Buick is not all the way in the garage. 4. Our next guest is someone who needs no introduction. 3. You've got a security breach at Los Pantalones. 2. Men may be From Mars.....but I can see something that rhymes with Venus. And the #1 way to tell someone his zipper is unzipped..... 1. I always knew you were crazy, but now I can see your nuts. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 07:41:08 -0800 (PST) From: Steven Blue Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Hey Sherelle! OK I am in on this one..................Roberta Flack. I remember when our family received the Album, "Chapter Two" For me there is nothing like it, it was Roberta before Donny and all the rest. Hey Sherelle, do you remember "Preen" on wood floors, doing pots and pans with the old "Brillo" brand soap scrub pads? My sisters hot curling iron on the stove, spic and span in the air and yes Roberta Flack. This music WAS my music to grow up with, my mother loved it, I remember her gently falling asleep to "Just Like a Woman", how "Ballad of sad young men" seemed to capture and personify the black enlisted soldiers of the Vietnam war, and how I remember being a Military Officer assigned to protect the Secretary of State in the 19804s, being tired and worn out from the travel, about a year after losing my mother. I looked out of the hotel window and saw the Washington Monument, and I grabbed a news paper. A short time after I started reading it, the radio played an hour of Roberta Flack. Tears came to my eyes as selections from her Chapter two broke the evening silence. It was as if I could feel my mothers presence in the room as it began to get very cold for no apparent reason. I remember putting my head back in the hotel room suite, and just as if my mother was beside me, the song "Just like a woman" came on and I thought only of my precious wonderful mother. The next thing I knew, it was about 4AM, and in Washington DC working at the Pentagon meant TIME TO GET UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I will never forget "Chapter Two" If anyone can find tat album, it is well worth the effort. OK I am going back into lurkdom! (smiling) Steve Sherelle Smith wrote: Hi David! You are quite welcome. I have the Best of Roberta Flack CD and there was some good music that she recorded in that time period I think. My favorite era with her was when she first came on the scene with the soundtrack song from "Play Misty for Me". No solo artist in my opinion had ever done what she was doing at the time. I remember the 45 and on the B side there was a song called "Mood". Both songs were so unique and special to me. People immediately saw her as a serious artist. Maybe that's why she may have gotten flack for some of her music in the 80's. To me, it would be very difficult to out-do that kind of success. In my mind, I think Jill Scott may be in the same boat. She launched into the stratosphere with her debut CD, "Who is Jill Scott?" Her combination of soulful music and poetry was hard to top. I had a chance to listen to her second CD and as much as I want to say otherwise, I really like her first CD much, much better though I am not sure why. I'm afraid that people will write her off because of it and not give her a chance to flex her artistic muscles much like we've given Joni that opportunity. Here's hoping!! Sherelle David wrote: Congratulations Sherelle! I love Roberta Flack. Her album with Donny Hathaway has never been far from me since I was 12 years old. I just had it on today at work, and I think her recording of Sweet Bitter Love is one of the finest recordings ever. Sometimes she gets a bad rap for her 80's music, but I think she's one of the best. Break a leg! And thanks for the note the other day. Joni often makes me laugh too. Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 17:37:16 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Yes Steve! I work in the DC area and you are so right about having to get up that early to battle I-395. This was a very touching story, full of memories. Thank you for sharing this. Yes, I remember the Brillo pads, Spic and Span, and the curling iron on the stove. I can only imagine Washington DC in the 80's when this album of Roberta's was out and in heavy rotation on the radio. She is still very loved but I can only imagine what it was like at the time. I pass the Washington Monument everyday on my way home. I'm seeing your memory in my mind much like Joni's song Heijera when she speaks of the view "from window of my hotel room". You tell your story well. Thank you. I will look for "Chapter Two". I only have the Best of Roberta Flack so I am not sure what songs are on the CD. Thank you again for sharing that memory!!!! Love, Sherelle >From: Steven Blue >To: Sherelle Smith , joni@smoe.org >Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) >Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 07:41:08 -0800 (PST) > >Hey Sherelle! > > OK I am in on this one..................Roberta Flack. > >I remember when our family received the Album, "Chapter Two" For me there >is nothing like it, it was Roberta before Donny and all the rest. Hey >Sherelle, do you remember "Preen" on wood floors, doing pots and pans with >the old "Brillo" brand soap scrub pads? My sisters hot curling iron on the >stove, spic and span in the air and yes Roberta Flack. This music WAS my >music to grow up with, my mother loved it, I remember her gently falling >asleep to "Just Like a Woman", how "Ballad of sad young men" seemed to >capture and personify the black enlisted soldiers of the Vietnam war, and >how I remember being a Military Officer assigned to protect the Secretary >of State in the 19804s, being tired and worn out from the travel, about a >year after losing my mother. I looked out of the hotel window and saw the >Washington Monument, and I grabbed a news paper. A short time after I >started reading it, the radio played an hour of Roberta Flack. Tears came >to my eyes as selections from her Chapter two > broke the evening silence. It was as if I could feel my mothers presence >in the room as it began to get very cold for no apparent reason. I remember >putting my head back in the hotel room suite, and just as if my mother was >beside me, the song "Just like a woman" came on and I thought only of my >precious wonderful mother. The next thing I knew, it was about 4AM, and in >Washington DC working at the Pentagon meant TIME TO GET >UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > >But I will never forget "Chapter Two" If anyone can find tat album, it is >well worth the effort. > >OK I am going back into lurkdom! (smiling) > > >Steve > >Sherelle Smith wrote: >Hi David! > >You are quite welcome. I have the Best of Roberta Flack CD and there was >some good music that she recorded in that time period I think. My favorite >era with her was when she first came on the scene with the soundtrack song >from "Play Misty for Me". No solo artist in my opinion had ever done what >she was doing at the time. I remember the 45 and on the B side there was a >song called "Mood". Both songs were so unique and special to me. People >immediately saw her as a serious artist. Maybe that's why she may have >gotten flack for some of her music in the 80's. To me, it would be very >difficult to out-do that kind of success. > >In my mind, I think Jill Scott may be in the same boat. She launched into >the stratosphere with her debut CD, "Who is Jill Scott?" Her combination of >soulful music and poetry was hard to top. I had a chance to listen to her >second CD and as much as I want to say otherwise, I really like her first >CD >much, much better though I am not sure why. I'm afraid that people will >write her off because of it and not give her a chance to flex her artistic >muscles much like we've given Joni that opportunity. Here's hoping!! > >Sherelle > >David wrote: > >Congratulations Sherelle! I love Roberta Flack. Her album with Donny >Hathaway has never been far from me since I was 12 >years old. I just had it on today at work, and I think her recording of >Sweet Bitter Love is one of the finest recordings ever. Sometimes she gets >a bad rap for her 80's music, but I think she's one of the best. Break a >leg! > >And thanks for the note the other day. Joni often makes me laugh too. >Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 12:55:38 -0500 From: "McMillan Brad" Subject: Re: Hejira a blight Les; You said: "The song is a melancholic essay on love, love failed and the flight therefrom, life and with just a dusting of fatalism to bouy it all along" Boy, that sums it up. The whole album, I have always thought, was the Hejira she named it. I read one review that panned her for pseudo-intellectualizing, and having an inflated ego, referring to her flight from life using the term for the flight of Mohammed. They even had something ugly to say about the cover referring to her "artsy beret". That is one of my favorite photos of her period. I think Joni intimidated people in her industry when she shed the flower child image and presented herself as a grown up woman who could compose and play rings around most. As to the music on Hejira, it is consistent in that, as you say, she explores her contradictory feelings about men and relationships. - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ross, Les" To: Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 5:07 AM Subject: Re: Hejira a blight > Far be it from to me to diss anyone's opinion about anything (yeah, right) > but I'm completely at a loss to understand how the song Hejira could be > considered a blight. David's quote from the lyric 'forceps and the stone' > singles out just one part of a complete masterpiece of artistry. In Joni's > canon of work the song is her best as far as I'm concerned and the song that > drew me into the album all those many, many years ago. > > I've been listening to the songs from Hejira a lot these past couple of days > and invariably play the title song on repeat to savour its majesty. Yes, > majesty. In every respect it's perfect: the instrumentation, the > arrangement, the music, the singing, the words, the... well, I think that > covers it. > > I placed the words last in this list by accident as it happens, but it's my > experience that I get my first 'in' to all music in the music rather than > the words. In Joni's case the words are crafted exquisitely and take > listening to. Some chance these days with attention spans truly 'blighted' > that such art might be given the time to be appreciated. I mean have you > listened to popular music on the radio these days? What a pile of f##king > crap. Exceptions there are though that only serves to prove the rule and it > does so in spades. Perhaps it's always been that way and I've just grown > into an intolerant, grouchy, middle-aged man. Who knew? > > It's usually a sign that someone's argument is faltering when they take > recourse in dictionary definitions. In the one I have in front of me here > for 'blight' there are a number of references to plant decay though, > significantly, without rotting taking place. But other definitions refer to > the prevention of growth and also to frustrate or disappoint. Perhaps the > latter is closer to what is being proposed. But I don't support that either. > > > The song is a melancholic essay on love, love failed and the flight > therefrom, life and with just a dusting of fatalism to bouy it all along. > Now, in some cultures (in decline)* such melancholy is reproachfully decried > as being whiny with the attendant implication that if one has nothing upbeat > to say about something then better by far to shut up about it. (I'm laughing > here for a moment as this last reminds me of a line from that very fine film > (?) Steel Magnolias when the ever-splendid Olympia Dukakis says, "if you > can't say something good about someone, come sit next to me!"..or something > like that.) > > Anyway, back to my point, I think it indicts the listener more than the song > when Hejira is described as being whiny. Especially when it was written > waaaay before La Mitchell really got into whine (peevish complaints, usually > repeated) mode, which if her recent utterances in the press are anything to > go by, she has certainly nailed as her acte-de-guerre. Sure she has a point, > we heard it but it's all we hear. > > Les (London, returning to box) > *see, even a reference to Dog Eat Dog. Yay! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:10:19 EST From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Sherelle writes: > This was a very touching story, full of memories. Thank you for sharing > this. Yes, I remember the Brillo pads, Spic and Span, and the curling iron > on the stove. > A touching story indeed, Steve, and eerily I feel like I share some of the same memories. Certainly, I remember stopping dead in my tracks the first time I heard Flack's "The First Time..." on the radio back in the day. And I'm not usually one to split hairs, but I'm quite certain that the iron our mothers and sisters got white-hot on the stove-top was called a "straightening comb," not a "curling iron." That's what we called 'em down in Texas, least ways. Ya'll. :-) - -Julius ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 18:18:19 +0000 From: "Michael O'Malley" Subject: Victory! - BSN voted back on track It's official, today it was announced on CBC's 50 Tracks that BSN recieved 50 % of listeners votes, so it will be reinstated on the list. It beat out (unfortunately for many, I suspect) Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, which was its main competitor. They also aired my telephone call today, as a representative of the Joni vote. What a shocker that was, to hear my neurotic rant for Joni on national radio! Oh well, it's all in good fun, and for a good cause to boot. Looks like I've come out, yet once again! http://www.cbc.ca/50tracks/thelist.html Michael in Quebec _________________________________________________________________ Don't just Search. Find! http://search.sympatico.msn.ca/default.aspx The new MSN Search! Check it out! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 13:30:48 -0500 From: Jerry Notaro Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Sherelle, How far back in the story does the author go. My friends from Washington remember her playing piano and singing nights and weekends at gay bars in the D.C. Area while she was still teaching school. I too am a big fan of hers. Saw her in the Colors of Christmas Concert a few years back. Also saw a show on TV where she has lost tons of weight (which she needed to) and is dating a very young man (go girl.) Jerry ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:45:46 EST From: JRMCo1@aol.com Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) Oooh, Sherelle, I sure hope you get to sing "Set the Night to Music" as part of your performance! I love that one and I think it would lend itself well to a theatrical treatment. I can envision you just setting it off with that one, girl! Come to think of it, that one might be a duet...if you hurry, you can get me on the cheap before I go to Hollywood with American Idol. Or not... I've got an Uncle in DC...this would be a great opportunity to spend some time in this nation's capitol. My mother attended Howard, you know...which is neither here nor there really, but it just seems that everything is intertwined. Don't it? - -Julius ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:01:11 -0600 From: "mackoliver" Subject: Re: Victory! - BSN voted back on track Ha ha. After reading Bob's post about voting more than once, I went back and voted 25 times. Oops. Well, if they allow it, then I had to do it, for Joan. Ah, the beauty of high speed internet. mack np: Gino Vannelli__________________________________________________ > Don't just Search. Find! http://search.sympatico.msn.ca/default.aspx The new > MSN Search! Check it out! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 19:47:42 +0000 From: "Sherelle Smith" Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) We actually had both of them Julius. The straightening comb was exactly that, an iron comb. The curling irons were pencil-thin and worked like pliers. Yes, I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard "The First Time..." too. I remember it well! Much love, Sherelle >From: JRMCo1@aol.com >To: sherellesmith@hotmail.com, sab32641@yahoo.com, joni@smoe.org >Subject: Re: Roberta Flack (now NJC) >Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 13:10:19 EST > >Sherelle writes: > > > This was a very touching story, full of memories. Thank you for sharing > > this. Yes, I remember the Brillo pads, Spic and Span, and the curling >iron > > on the stove. > > >A touching story indeed, Steve, and eerily I feel like I share some of the >same memories. Certainly, I remember stopping dead in my tracks the first >time >I heard Flack's "The First Time..." on the radio back in the day. > >And I'm not usually one to split hairs, but I'm quite certain that the iron >our mothers and sisters got white-hot on the stove-top was called a >"straightening comb," not a "curling iron." That's what we called 'em >down in Texas, >least ways. Ya'll. :-) > >-Julius ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 14:09:23 -0600 From: "Donna Binkley" Subject: Re: NJC - was Roberta now curling irons And I'm not usually one to split hairs, but I'm quite certain that the iron our mothers and sisters got white-hot on the stove-top was called a "straightening comb," not a "curling iron." That's what we called 'em down in Texas, least ways. Ya'll. :-) - -Julius Julius honey, curling irons are a girlie thing so i'll try to set you straight. Back in those days those things WERE also used to straighten hair. We also used huge, I mean HUGE rollers with Dippity-Do (anyone remember that?) to straighten our curly hair. It sounds strange - rolling to straighten - but it worked. Then in the '80s perms (see Joni in the WTRF songbook) were in and we all wanted curly hair, hence the "curling iron". And since you mentioned Texas, I heard today on the news that Kinky Friedman (former country western singer) has announced his candidacy for governor of Texas and will nominate Willie Nelson as head of the Texas Rangers. I swear I'm not making it up. Sheeit! Well I guess if California can be run by actors, Texas can be run country singers. Yee ha! Willie for President I say! love yall, db ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2005 #51 **************************** ------- 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? (http://www.siquomb.com/siquomb.cfm)