From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #1511 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 Monday, December 1 2014 Volume 2014 : Number 1511 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Bidini open letter ["David J. Phillips" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 19:23:16 -0500 From: "David J. Phillips" Subject: Bidini open letter On 30/11/14 11:4555, malka marom wrote: > I found Dave Bidnibs letter disgusting, disgraceful way to to get attention to himself. and On 30/11/14 12:0036, Jamie Zubairi home wrote: > Yes, exactly who is he? > First: Malka, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your book, and for joining us here. Second, a response to Jamie's question. He is "a Canadian musician and writer. Originally from Etobicoke, Ontario, he was a founding member of the rock band Rheostatics, and currently performs with Bidiniband. In addition, he has published several books about music, travel and sports, and has written feature journalism pieces and columns for numerous Canadian magazines and newspapers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Bidini Finally, I have to say I find that the letter pretty succinctly (even elegantly) describes much of Joni's recent efforts to "get attention to [her]self." "Haughty exceptionalism" is smack on the money. I find myself veering wildly between gaga adoration and deep concern for her well-being. I honor her; I am humble before her. Her circumstances - her genius, her vision, her stardom, her place in a specific historical moment - have clearly been almost incomparably difficult to negotiate. To have negotiated all of those things and forged them into great art is just... I am beyond words. She is a great great artist. But, wow. She actually seems delusional to me sometimes - when she speaks of being the only one paying attention to environmentalism in the early 70's, when she says that a male musician would never turn the volume down, when she talk about Western music as monolithic, when she obsessively turns the conversation to what others have said of her. Where is the heart, the humor, the humility in these recent interviews? I don't think it's absence is solely the work of malicious editors. There's only glimmers of it even in the clearly kind, intelligent, even reverent interviews. That reverence is not misplaced. She is unique; she is a genius - a disciplined and driven artist. But she also been showered with hard-earned praise and money. That she apparently can't accept that gracefully, indeed that she seems driven to cut and defend - it's like watching a loved one hurt themselves uncontrollably. djp ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #1511 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------