From: owner-joni-digest@smoe.org (JMDL Digest) To: joni-digest@smoe.org Subject: JMDL Digest V2014 #1725 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 Wednesday, February 11 2015 Volume 2014 : Number 1725 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Thoughts from a new member... [Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Thoughts from a new member... Welcome to the jmdl. I really enjoyed reading your piece. I never listen to the radio (and I don't have a car) so I'm often spared the usual top-ten play-'em-until-they're-engraved-into-everyone's-brains songs, but they are ubiquitous. You pass by shops and everyone's blasting them outB - either those same ten songs, or some vapid electronic dance music that sounds like the same two or three chords played over and over again against bass boost and synth beats. No idea what was in the water back then, and I hope it's not just because many of us are older and we're stuck back in the music of the 60s and 70s, but I don't think so. There were pop hits then and some of them were silly, others even stupid, but they didn't all sound exactly the same either. I was in a restaurant with my son a couple of weeks ago and noticed that all the songs they were playing had these, "Oh-oh-oh-oh" kind of choruses in them, that more or less followed the same notes. Different songs, different people singing, but all what those kinds of choruses. This music was a bit of fluff-pop C la Katy Perry and a bit of used-to-be-indie-but-made-it power pop kind of stuff. If I heard one or two songs like that, I might like it, but they ALL had that hook in them. There is some good new music out there, but it ain't on the radio! From: "floriofamily@optonline.net" To: joni@smoe.org Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 10:57 PM Subject: Thoughts from a new member... HiB Im new to the group and was motivated to join after reading the New York Magazine piece.B To say Im a huge fan sounds a bit hysterical and juvenile perhaps (given that Im 55), but I was happy nonetheless to stumble upon Jonis website and this little portal where she seems to be universally admired.B I always wondered what happens to people like Joni.B How does someone with so much light (talent) turn on her dimmer switch and gracefully retire to the rear of lifes stage?B It saddens me to think of such a thing she seems such an incredible life force.B Its got to be like caging a hurricane. Anyway, I was driving home from my dads house today (who is sadly exiled in home hospice anxiously awaiting the day the master of the universe decides to turn off his power switch) and as Im cruising in my Moms old Chevy Malibu, Im flipping through radio stations trying to find something decent to listen to.B Alternately, one station was playing Bruno Mars new song, three other stations were playing three different but current Taylor Swift songs and another was playing Ariana Grandes most recent hit.B This same group of five songs played repeatedly on many different stations for the whole two-hour time I was in the car.B No other options on the radio other than NPR, which is tough for someone who loves music.B That aside, there was nothing remotely thought provoking about this music and it got me thinking about whether we will ever hear music of Jonis quality again?B The music on the radio today is so whitewashed;B I have to perhaps naively wonder, was it drugs that fueled the depth of creative thought back in the 60s/70s?B Or was the prudence of the 1950s simply a mental girdle that had to be busted out of, with great, thought-provoking and meaningful lyrics the natural by-product of this liberation? I dont have the answers but I do know that if I have to listen to Taylor Swift sing Shake it Off one more time, Im going to give up on that old Chevy Malibu radio. In closing, Im thankful to Joni and other artists like her, who have provided the soundtrack to some of the happiest memories and moments of my life.B She still has the magical ability to calm me when Im upset, liberate me when Im feeling carefree and focus me when Im trying to be creative.B In a word, gratitude, to Joni and for all here who stuck with me and read this to the end!B B ------------------------------ End of JMDL Digest V2014 #1725 ****************************** ------- To post messages to the list,sendtojoni@smoe.org. Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:joni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe -------