From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2010 #110 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk Unsubscribe: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe Website: http://jonimitchell.com JMDL Digest Friday, April 16 2010 Volume 2010 : Number 110 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- My design for the fated Herjra Double ["andrew neave" ] greek theater berkely njc ["gene" ] a letter from Sheila Weller [T Peckham ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:57:44 -0700 From: "andrew neave" Subject: My design for the fated Herjra Double Just thought that some might like to see my design for the Hejira Double on the Deviant art web site What a shame that it didnt come out ,, like THOSL there must be alternative versions of the wonderfull songs of Hejira Wouldnt be nice if special CD versions of some artists came out in this format ,, IE extra pages of Paper with the Lyrics on fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/094/d/b/Album_presentation_by_andeemac2006.jp g Maybe some will come out on the Box set ,,,,, and news of this by the way Andrew Neave ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:11:34 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: a movin' and a shakin' njc With all of the moving, shaking and spewing Mother Earth has been doing lately, I keep thinking about that old Jefferson Airplane song 'When the Earth Moves Again'. (Hi Em!) Also Paul Kantner & Grace Slick's 'Sunfighter': We gotta learn to leave the planet be No more room here to f**k around like we did before Just maybe one more chance to leave it be Not meaning to sound like one of those 'the End is Near' or 'we're living in the "Last Days"' people, I have to say it is making me wonder. The Planet Strikes Back? Mark in Seattle who was out of town nearly 30 years ago when the top of Mt. St. Helens blew off. Seattle was lucky about the direction of the wind. Eastern Washington and other points east, not so lucky. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:26:49 -0700 From: "gene" Subject: greek theater berkely njc Hello, I was given some free tickets for an upcoming concert at the Greek in Berkeley. The tickets are right and 8 rows back from the stage. Are there regular chairs or should I bring cushion and stadium seat for the show? It's been a very long time since I've been there and I kind of remember cement benches. Thanks for any info. peace~~gene ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:49:47 -0500 From: T Peckham Subject: a letter from Sheila Weller I was lucky to be a part of a large team who worked on Sheila's book, *Girls Like Us. *It's almost unheard of for anyone at my (low) level to have any contact with an author, but occasionally extraordinary things happen, and I was privileged to be able to communicate directly with her in a late stage of production, when we were all still striving to get every little detail right. (Okay, so we missed on some things, like mileage in Canada . . . it got fixed in the paperback, tho!) :-D Sheila kindly invited me to stay in touch via email (and now FaceBook), so we continue to discuss all things Joni (and Carly and Carole). I mentioned the recent renewed discussion around the Joni/Jackson relationship and its aftermath, and the fact that people still have a lot of questions about it. Sheila sent me this and asked me to post it on the list. I know she welcomes all questions, most of which she answers. ;-) T Dear JMDL-ers: Hello. I am the author of *Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon -- and the Journey of a Generation.* I understand that a number of you have been conversing about the account in my book that Joni's tumultuous relationship with Jackson Browne, and her general vulnerability at that point in her life, led her to make what *she* has called a "suicide attempt" in the early '70s. Because this is one of the most explosive accounts in my book, and because sometimes people in other fields don't realize what goes into researching, writing, verifying, and legal-vetting a nonfiction book about living subjects (that has not been authorized by them, or vetted by them), I thought I would step in to explain how I acquired, and verified, that piece of information. A bit of backstory: When I received my book contract, I immediately contacted Joni's representatives, Macklam Feldman Management. The rep declined to forward Joni my letter (she had so many requests and was concentrating on her painting, etc.) but he wanted me to "stay in touch." A great number of people in Joni's life agreed to speak to me. You can see the breadth of quoted (and some few unnamed) sources in the book. One of my most trusted sources on Joni was a person I have never named - -- in a book with a great number of named sources, there are always some who cannot be named; any journalist will tell you this. This person was a very close daily confidante of Joni's for about ten recent years and remains close to her. This person was someone I had to find -- she/he did not come to me. I was told this person was a deep confidante, and -- there are just ways journalists know this -- it totally checked out. This source told me a number of things in the book and one of the disclosures was the "suicide attempt" (ALWAYS Joni's term, the source told me). Because this was explosive material, I re-asked the source about the details -- the Jackson Browne relationship, the apartment on steep Doheny Drive, the David Geffen phone call/rescue, the "Car on the Hill" -- many times. The source many times re-asserted them, ALWAYS -- always! -- saying that Joni had told many friends this same story (as well as other delicate stories in my book) many times...it was part of what you knew about her when you were taken into the confidence of Joni. I got positive verification of the account -- the suicide attempt, the relationship with Jackson leading up to it, and Joni's abiding animus toward Jackson for this reason -- from three other sources: a person who was very close to Joni during this time (named elsewhere in the book), a subsequent serious boyfriend, named in the book, since deceased; and someone very close to Joni for many recent decades, including today (also quoted in the book). These were all off-the-record confirmations; it was understood that I was backing up the multiply-rendered account of a primary source and that their names would not be used in the book as sources for this, though (as a professional matter of course) could be confidentially named to the lawyer vetting the book for my publisher. Each of these people reiterated what the original source said -- that Joni mentioned this incident a lot. Although David Geffen was named by the primary source as the virtual eyewitness to the suicide attempt, I did not try to contact him. Anything I needed about Geffen's professional relationship with Joni was available elsewhere (and, as readers of my book know, it was never a book about the music industry per se -- as opposed to many, fine, others) and he was by then, frankly, a mega-millionaire Presidential-candidate-maker: I doubted he would give me the interview, and I was almost certain that he would never confirm the suicide attempt story even if he gave the interview. During the researching/writing of the book (2003 - 2007), there was a period of a few weeks, probably around 2005, when I was told by a close friend of Joni's (a woman named as a source in the book) that Joni was going to call me. I rarely left my seat next to the phone. She never called. In the summer of 2007, when my book was being readied for publication, I made several attempts to contact Joni to ask her to affirm, or deny, the veracity of much of the book. I was willing to fly to L.A. for a meeting. Her reps told me she was busy recording SHINE and, furthermore, that she "didn't want to talk about the '60s". The book was fact-checked by three fact checkers, and vetted by the publishing attorney. Two months after the book came out, I had lunch with a book editor (not within Simon & Schuster) to discuss a possible project. This person has edited several book on popular culture and media that were critically acclaimed and which I greatly admired. She/he had not read all of GIRLS - and he/she clearly had not come to the suicide attempt passage. Because he/she said -- in the tone of voice that resonated, *Do I ever have a scoop for you* *that's TOO LATE for you to use*... (journalists hear this a lot): "Guess what? Years ago I was on a beach weekend with David Geffen. And he told me something that will shock you -- Joni Mitchell once made a suicide attempt and he had to come over and rescue her." I told this editor that I was very grateful for her/his disclosure of Geffen's words. Because after much re-confirmation with my original source and the three back-ups, I had confidently put this incident in the book, feeling certain it was true. And now, after the fact but with an unsolicitedness that was gratifying to my conscientious sense of having sought the truth, assessed the material, and*gone * with it...now, through a third party, I got confirmation from David Geffen of the account that I (and the publishing lawyer) had strongly judged to be true. Hope this clears some things up and all best wishes, Sheila ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2010 #110 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------