From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2010 #325 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 Sunday, October 31 2010 Volume 2010 : Number 325 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- anti-feminism [Michel BYRNE ] Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc [Em ] Happy Birthday, Grace! njc ["Mark" ] Re: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc [Moni Kellermann ] Re: New article: Joni is Supreme ["Mark" ] Re: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc ["Mark" ] njc ["Mark" ] Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc [jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net] Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc [Em ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 14:44:27 +0000 From: Michel BYRNE Subject: anti-feminism Hi Ingrid, thanks for your post - there's so much in it (and in ther previous discussion) that it'll take a while yet to properly reflect on it all, but just to say: like you, i've always been perplexed and disappointed by Joni's rejection of the term 'feminist'. To equate it with man-hating just because of one strand of the movement seems shallow and lazy. But that said, she clearly isn't a 'joiner' of anything, and would probably reject *any* '-ism' - even though she seems to practice Individualism pretty thoroughly! Her album 'Turbulent Indigo' is in many ways an expression of solidarity with other women, while songs in 'Hissing of Summer Lawns' had already looked at the way both genders play on the roles assigned to them ('Scarlett' manipulates, Edith plays the game, the She in 'Hissing' is resigned to her shackles (because of the material benifits?), though Harry's wife eventually rebels. In the Taming the Tiger album, 'No apologies' questions male behaviour at personal and political levels with razorsharp intelligence - how the woman who wrote that and 'Don't Interrupt the Sorrow' can say she's not a feminist is beyond me! But Joni's art seems to come primarily from deep intuition and feeling, from her individual experience, so that when she rationalises or intellectualises she can sound self-obsessed or solipsistic (I *think* that's the right word...) - as if political injustice hadn't been around before it entered her consciousness in the 80s (it's revealing that she seems to attribute her political 'waking up' to feeling personally cheated by the taxman, not to a more idealistic solidarity with the oppressed), or as if women's situation hadn't been precarious in so many ways before she turned her attention to 'feminist' issues (in her music) in the early 1990s. But I think it's just how she works as an artist - when issues affect her deeply enough, they get channelled into her music, driven by her emotional ego rather than a more intellectual identification with other groups. At least that's how I see it - but apologies if most of this doesn't make any sense! :) Thanks all for the great posts. Michel ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 08:22:30 -0700 (PDT) From: Em Subject: Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc Jim, thanks (again) for your input. That makes me laugh about the smoke. I also no longer smoke da herbal remedy and it has definitely occurred to me that THAT might be the missing component in my listening scenario. Maybe I'll try that later tonight Yeah I repositioned the speakers, and now am basically doing what I've heard referred to as "nearfield" listening - and it's much better that way, given my room size limits. But a couple of those CD's I bitched about still strike me as muddy, and I am saddened that on the Leon/Elton CD the piano isn't featured more prominently. Oh well it's their CD, not mine. The Derek Trucks CD still gives me a headache and the Robert Plant one, while having GREAT songs and other really great elements to it still sounds like if you really force your brain to comply, and then come up too quickly, you'll get the bends. I'm SUPPOSED to like that CD, dammit! and many things I DO like about it. Some of the songs are somewhat infectious, even. House of Cards comes to mind. Jim, thanks for being so patient.Hope you're having a good one. Em - --- On Fri, 10/29/10, jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net wrote: From: jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net Subject: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc To: "Em" , "JMDL" Cc: notaro@mail.usf.edu, beatntrack@sbcglobal.net, Bob.Muller@Fluor.com Date: Friday, October 29, 2010, 10:03 PM Wow, that was some post. Now it's my turn. When I was a blue-collar mechanic, I'd mix a small amount of reefer with listening to music. It was easy to zone out and listen with my full (but impaired) attention. Things have changed; I haven't smoked in decades. I think it's too much to expect a stereo to enclose my full attention. I can appreciate "Whites Off Earth Now!", the debut from the Cowboy Junkies, while writing this post. That's enough. I understand every mumble that Margo makes, and this is a big step up from the old "daze", pun intended. I don't think there's anything wrong with your equipment. If you aren't sitting the same distance from both speakers, then yeah, you need to make that happen. As Dave already said, if you don't have stands, you need them. Your speakers will float images better with them. If they are on the floor now, the bass will tighten up and the midrange will clear up when you put them on stands. But the overarching thing I'm thinking is this: the room is tiny and it's holding you back. Every time I move to a different apartment, the sound changes. Some rooms sound terrible, especially if room measures 8'x8' and the ceiling is also 8'. You'll get the muffled midrange and thumpy, totally messed up bass that you are describing. There are things you can do in a big room that you can't do in a small room- you can put the speakers 1/3 of the way into the room and sit 1/3 of the way out from the back wall. Unfortunately, that means that you are sort of throwing away that 1/3 of the room behind the speakers. If you have a basement, it's not a big deal; you can set it all up in there and the only price you pay is that the cinder blocks muddy-up the bass. I don't think many people in Florida have basements though. Having both a concrete floor AND a concrete ceiling was really bad. If you really want the "master-class" in speaker placement, here it is: http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=26&pagestring Even on a bad day, your system is much better than any concert, right? At least the headphones are working for you. Jim L'Hommedieu Lama ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:13:54 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc One of the great singers of rock & roll, Grace Slick's birthday is today. She's 71 years old and, as far as I know, still going strong. Happy Birthday, Grace! Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:40:46 +0200 From: Moni Kellermann Subject: Re: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc Am 30.10.2010 19:13, Wie Mark so vortrefflich formulierte: > One of the great singers of rock & roll, Grace Slick's birthday is > today. She's 71 years old and, as far as I know, still going strong. Interesting read: "Grace Slick looks back, and ahead" http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20101021/ENTERTAINMENT/101019477/1320?p=all&tc=pgall moni k. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 10:51:00 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: New article: Joni is Supreme This an interesting review. It's short but telling in some ways. We've seen a lot of footage from YouTube and elsewhere of Joni in performance. To me, even in the earliest performances, she almost always looks confident and capable of giving fresh but polished, well-rehearsed renditions of her songs. She does seem to be more relaxed in small venue type settings. She seemed to be very comfortable performing in front of TV cameras as well. I just watched the featured video on JoniMitchell.com of Johnny Cash introducing her and Joni giving a stunning rendition of 'California'. But this review catches her at the moment of vulnerability when she was in the process of gestating the songs that would appear on 'Blue'. I've read a lot about her sensitivity and seeming frailty in those years. This paragraph is particularly telling: "Her Festival Hall concert was her first in Britain since January and one of her rare appearances anywhere. One can understand how, for such a sensitive person whose performances involve reliving deep felt emotional experiences, to go out on stage and sing can be a terrifying occurrence. Early in Saturday's act, failing to project her voice, forgetting the occasional song and at one point being completely unable to tune up for a particular number, it looked as if Joni's nervousness would defeat her." But this is a positive review and it goes on to tell how she triumphed over whatever demons she was battling at the time and gave a fine show to an appreciative audience. I found this interesting as well: "Brought back for an encore she chose the classic "Circle Game," written some time ago for a musician friend who thought he was over the hill at 21, and called on her manager Elliot Roberts and a self-conscious Graham Nash to help her and the audience with the choruses. If Joni does as she keeps threatening and gives up her already rare live performances then our loss will be monumental." The review is from November of 1970 of a concert she gave in London and apparently "a self-conscious Graham Nash" was present. She did perform 'California' at this concert and I wonder how this fits into her relationship with James and what was going on in her mind at the time. 'Will you take me as I am, strung out on another man.' And there is that final sentence about threatening to give up performing. I wonder if this is her ambivalence about fame and fortune and the music business starting to kick in full force or if it was her general state of mind at the time, pulling her down, maybe making her feel inadequate and just generally confused and depressed. Mark in Seattle - -----Original Message----- From: TheStaff@JoniMitchell.com Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 6:31 PM To: joni@smoe.org Subject: New article: Joni is Supreme A new article has been added to the Library at JoniMitchell.com: Title: Joni is Supreme Publication: New Musical Express Date: 1970.11.28 Read it here: http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2282 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:10:22 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: Re: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc Moni, thank you *so* much for posting this link. I always get a kick out of reading or hearing what Grace has to say. It sounds like she is as sharp as ever and she always makes me laugh. She never minces words. She always lays it on the line. In relation to the thread on feminism, I thought this was interesting. She was saying that she likes Lady Gaga "That's in your face. That's what rock and roll is all about. And she can actually sing. It's not just about the crazy outfits." Then the interviewer asks her this:: Q: Would it be too much to extrapolate and say that she, in a way b many generations later, is standing on your shoulders? A: Oh, I'm sure there's some impact, in the sense that we gave women the idea b you can do this. You can do any damn thing you want to do. It never occurred to me because I was just born thinking, bYeah, I'm gonna do this and I'm not gonna do that damn thing over there.b I wasn't fighting anything. It was just, that's the way I was. I didn't realize Grace was having health issues. The weird thing is that I have some kind or neuropathy that makes my lower legs tingle and burn off and on. It seems to be at it's worst when I'm stressed. I do take a medication for it but it doesn't always work. I don't think my doctor knows for sure what causes it. He says the meds I take don't generally cause neuropathy and I have my diabetes under control with my diet and exercise. I guess I'll have to Google erythromelalgia. Mark in Seattle - -----Original Message----- From: Moni Kellermann Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 10:40 AM To: Mark Cc: joni Subject: Re: Happy Birthday, Grace! njc Am 30.10.2010 19:13, Wie Mark so vortrefflich formulierte: > One of the great singers of rock & roll, Grace Slick's birthday is > today. She's 71 years old and, as far as I know, still going strong. Interesting read: "Grace Slick looks back, and ahead" http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20101021/ENTERTAINMENT/101019477/1320?p=all&tc=pgall moni k. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:19:26 -0700 From: "Mark" Subject: njc From Wikipedia. This is too weird: Erythromelalgia, also known as Mitchell's Disease Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:25:34 -0700 (PDT) From: jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net Subject: Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc I'm disappointed by the mixes of Springsteen's albums. Pretty much all of them (after "The River"). They sound fine at work, listening to headphones, plugged into an average sound card, without a good amp. But when I play them on the REAL stereo, Springsteen's albums sound shrill and lack bass. I can hear the kick drum, barely, but there's no bass to speak of. They just sound wrong, especially "Magic". Some albums sound better on the computer. I agree that Lanois's albums sound grungy. He put some kind of filter on Emmylou Harris' voice. Although I like the songs and the arrangements, "Red Dirt Girl" sounds better in the car than on the real stereo. There aren't many albums created with one mic anyway. Some people say that multi-tracking makes flawed recordings. That's too bad because 99.9% of singer-songwriter and rock albums are made that way. Jim L'Hommedieu Lama ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2010 13:34:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Em Subject: Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc I agree about the Springsteen. But the one fairly recent album of his that I feel isn't that way is "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions". I love the sound on that one. Jumps out of the home stereo very nicely. Agreed on The River....very very listenable. Funny you mention Lanois puts a filter on Emmylou Harris's voice. To me Daniel Lanois IS kind of a "filter". I still like his production of Neil Young's Le Noise though. It's like Neil didn't let Daniel be the filter. :) Em - --- On Sat, 10/30/10, jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net wrote: From: jlamadoo@sbcglobal.net Subject: Re: Em's recurring audiophile thread, njc To: "Em" Cc: "JMDL" Date: Saturday, October 30, 2010, 4:25 PM I'm disappointed by the mixes of Springsteen's albums. Pretty much all of them (after "The River"). They sound fine at work, listening to headphones, plugged into an average sound card, without a good amp. But when I play them on the REAL stereo, Springsteen's albums sound shrill and lack bass. I can hear the kick drum, barely, but there's no bass to speak of. They just sound wrong, especially "Magic". Some albums sound better on the computer. I agree that Lanois's albums sound grungy. He put some kind of filter on Emmylou Harris' voice. Although I like the songs and the arrangements, "Red Dirt Girl" sounds better in the car than on the real stereo. There aren't many albums created with one mic anyway. Some people say that multi-tracking makes flawed recordings. That's too bad because 99.9% of singer-songwriter and rock albums are made that way. Jim L'Hommedieu Lama ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2010 #325 ***************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------