From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2013 #698 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 Tuesday, June 11 2013 Volume 2013 : Number 698 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: The new Joni-Jian interview [Dave Blackburn ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:13:51 -0700 From: Dave Blackburn Subject: Re: The new Joni-Jian interview I agree on all Michael's bullet points and add a few of my own "most surprising discoveries" (after one listen through - more points may surface subsequently) When she is asked about her music and her sense of accomplishment with it her response was (gaze at the ceiling looking for answer) kind of "meh, it could have been better". Jian was intrigued by this from probably the greatest living songwriter and she couldn't really satisfy with the kind of answer he was fishing for. She seems much more satisfied with her painting. This may be because she hasn't played or sung in years and it feels foreign, but she still paints everyday. Some of her aloofness and hermit tendency was simply illness that she didn't wish to have discussed publicly. Mingus and Miles were arch rivals and he (Mingus) did not take kindly to Joni choosing Miles' late 60s band, or the use of electric instruments. Astrology is something Joni takes seriously despite the gypsy down on Bleeker St who took her 18 bucks. Joni had not played piano since 8th grade and her knuckle rapping teacher made her hate it, and yet with what must have been only a few months immersion she got the chops together to write and play piano compositions on LOTC, Blue, FTR, C&S, HOSL and DJRD. I have transcribed nearly all of these pieces and many of them are quite sophisticated, and somewhat hard to play. Again, no big dealI (JM) just picked up the piano again. She blames all manner of mysterious ENT issues on Morgellon's, spoken with her cigarette in mouth. Max Bennett told us he and his wife Teri were invited up to her house for a DVD viewing when the ballet came out and Joni's dog was coughing and spluttering on the couch as Joni breathed her second hand smoke right at him. Joni said "I don't know what's wrong with him; he seems to have some sort of upper respiratory disease." Jian was excellent: well prepared, polite and respectful, although needing her to keep on topic sometimes. Clearly her mind is somewhat tangential, with one idea spinning off another, and for a televised interview it was necessary to keep a bit more linear. She was good at quoting Buddhist teachings, Nietsche and lyrics from when she was 16 (how did she do that?) but couldn't remember T.S Eliot's name. She does good impressions: Dylan, Mingus, Rothschild, etc. I was half waiting for her to point a bony finger and say "I don't like you." Of course, she did like him and was possibly a little charmed. Her willingness to release alternative Mingus takes is exciting. There may be more Dave On Jun 11, 2013, at 5:59 PM, Michael quebec wrote: > Hi everyone, > > What a day it has been. I listened to the entire broadcast this morning as I > sat by my easel at work. I loved seeing how warm and cosy Joni's home is, and > how she seems to be ageing so gracefully. I'm still so touched by her humour, > her amazing self-awareness, and her vivacity. I've gone through the interview > material a few times, and many things struck me, in no particular order: > > She's building a second house on her land in BC ? > > Her clear attachment to Canada, the land, and the friends of her past. > > Warren Beatty doesn't like the media either, for fear of being misconstrued. > Funny she mentions Beatty still; I seem to remember his name associated with > the song, People's Parties. > > We're all being driven mad by an electronic world of cellphones and > satellites. > > Her most creative, playful childhood friends were gay guys. > > Her adamant defense of giving her daughter up for adoption for lack of > resources, not because it could have hampered the development of her career. > > She's cursed by astrology to be deeper than the average person, and has a > fundamental need to be different and original. > > If you listen to her music and see Joni the author, or Joni the celebrity, > you're missing the point. Communicaton only happens when you see yourself in > the music, and it touches you. This she believed was perhaps her greatest > accomplishment, as she stated near the end. > > How she applied the vocabulary and techniques of painting and filmaking to the > craft of songwriting. > > I thought it a shame to hear that she has lost the control of her voice, that > her sinusses are damaged by disease (she says as she puffs away...) > > I loved the observation, (when the women aren't singing in the kitchen, you've > got a sick nation.( > > That we're all on our own, let's face it; remove the crutches. > > How she beat the odds to stay alive, her tremendous lust for life, alternating > with periodic irritability : ) > > I look forward to seeing the artistic choices in the new ballet. > > To Jian's credit, he never asked her anything inapproriate about her personal > life, but I agree, at times he seemd a little impatient, but clearly he was > enthralled and charmed by her. I think he asked some great questions and was > generally very empathetic. > > I'm enjoying Joni's paintings more as I get older. > > Michael in Quebec, who really hates Mabel Mercer's rendition of BSN ! ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2013 #698 ***************************** ------- To post messages to the list, sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------