From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #118 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: les@jmdl.com Errors-To: les@jmdl.com Precedence: bulk Archives: http://www.smoe.org/lists/onlyjoni Websites: http://www.jmdl.com http://www.jonimitchell.com Unsubscribe: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe onlyJMDL Digest Friday, April 13 2001 Volume 2001 : Number 118 The 'Official' Joni Mitchell Homepage, created by Wally Breese, can be found at http://www.jonimitchell.com. It contains the latest news, a detailed bio, Original Interviews, essays, lyrics and much much more. The JMDL website can be found at http://www.jmdl.com and contains interviews, articles, the member gallery, archives, and much more. Information on the 4th "Annual" New England JoniFest: http://www.jmdl.com/jfne2001.cfm The Joni Chat Room: http://www.jmdl.com/chat.cfm ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Shawn Phillips [Kobus Louwrens ] various replies [Tyler Hewitt ] Re: Joni's smoking agenda?? ["Kakki" ] Cactus Tree ["Blair Fraipont" ] Steve's concert database [pyramus@lineone.net] Hendrix meets Mitchell [Sheila Mulhern ] Art (Some Joni content) [pyramus@lineone.net] Re: Art (Some Joni content) [catman ] Joni inspires again [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) [jan gyn ] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) [Ricw1217@aol.com] art ["Kate Bennett" ] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) [Catherine McKay ] Re: art [catman ] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) [catman ] Re: ivory tickler [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Passing the Torch (long) [RoseMJoy@aol.com] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) ["Mark or Travis" ] Re: ivory tickler ["Mark or Travis" ] Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) ["Mark or Travis"] RE: Art (Some Joni content) ["Nikki Johnson" ] art:useful? [Randy Remote ] Re: art:useful? ["Kakki" ] Re: art:useful? ["Mark or Travis" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 09:23:15 +0200 From: Kobus Louwrens Subject: Re: Shawn Phillips I heard a local radio with Phillips on a South African radio station (he is quite a legend down here: I don't know what his rep is like anywhere else). He tells a story where he met a tall blonde waitress (or something) somewhere and she asked him if he could show her some guitar tricks. And it turned out to be Joni. He tells it all 'nudge-nudge, wink-wink' to imply he showed her a lot more than quitar playing. Kobus - -----Original Message----- From: Deb Messling To: Joni Date: Monday, April 09, 2001 1:15 PM Subject: RE: Shawn Phillips >In the Borders Crossing article, soon to be posted on the JMDL web site, >Joni doesn't say SP taught her guitar, but says he's the first person she >ever met who had written a song, and she found that "intriguing and exotic." > >This was the first I ever heard of it. A search on Shawn Phillips on the >JMDL article site yielded nothing. > > >> >...During the next six years, Phillips showed Joni Mitchell how >> > to play the guitar, > >> This is news to me - can anyone shed any light on this ? > > > >----------------------------------- >Deb Messling >"I like cats. They give the home a heartbeat." ~Joni Mitchell >----------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 23:15:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Tyler Hewitt Subject: various replies RE: I suspect that in another hundred years or so, the Beatles' music will be considered something like folk art. (not folk music, mind you) Kind of like songs from the American civil war period are now. - ---- Andy Partridge of XTC has spoken in interviews about some Beatles songs like Yellow Submarine becoming children's standards like Mary Had a Little Lamb or London Bribges. Perhaps a similar take on what happens to popular songs over the years. RE: I'll confess my main reason for avoiding Bjork is I have no idea how to pronounce her name (like, you go into a record store, and you want to ask, "Do you have anything by.... Bork? Beeyork? Bajork?"), people in the media keep describing her as "elfin" (which I'm sure she must hate - I would!) and I also have this thing about people who go by only one name. It's pronounced Beeyork with the accent on the 'york'. I think the main reason that she goes by one name is because her last name is Gudmundsdottir, which bost people find even harder to pronounce than Bjork! Tyler Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 01:24:37 -0700 From: "Kakki" Subject: Re: Joni's smoking agenda?? Bob, It's really incredible how you've made contact with so many of the cover artists. It's always good to hear that they are receptive to being part of the "project," too. Boots' story perked up my ears a bit because a former boyfriend was a recording engineer at A&M in the 70s and he also had some Joni stories (of which I was skeptical and which started a few spirited rows ;-) But he loved Joni very much and I later learned later that some of what he said was true. As for the smoking justification, I used to work with a part-time opera singer. She told me that it was standard practice for many of them to smoke to in order to deepen the voice. Although, I have a feeling that if Joni did say this, it was probably just another way to divert from someone getting on her about the smoking! Kakki Bob wrote: > "PS - Here is a bit of Joni trivia for you. A buddy of mine was a recording engineer in the seventies and got his start by assisting with the likes of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Dave Mason and many others including Joni Mitchell. My friend has always loved what he calls the "clarity" of her voice. (To give you an idea of how far back this goes, he worked with her during the period when she was hooked up with David Crosby.) The following piece of trivia may be common knowledge to a Joni fan like you, but here is what he once mentioned to me. He said that in her early days she was never satisfied with her lower vocal range. She was always wanting to sing deeper. So she chain smoked cigarettes and did so for many years." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 07:48:08 -0400 From: "Blair Fraipont" Subject: Cactus Tree Listening to this song as I was preparing for bed last night, I realized how much it reminds me of my former roommate Dororthy, who was man crazy. She was constantly seeing different men, going on dates, but always insisting she was independant. Independant except when she would come downstairs crying her eyes out because some guy left her. But the lines, "There's a man who's climbed a mountain And he's calling out her name And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles He calls again He can think her there beside him.." Are almost a perfect match to her ex-lover-boyfriend who now lives in California and works in a National Park. He would call her from that distance atleast twice a month, and she sort of brushed it off. and then, "her heart is full and hollow like a cactus tree while she's so busy being free" She always came across as a very sweet concerned person, but when it came down to it, she did have this very thin personality that had a holow consistency. And what a great contradiction used by Joni. For instance,when we all view a cactus for the first time, we first think, "WOW, that thing must be heavy!" But realize of what the insides really consist. And that works with people too, i suppose. "Gee, Johnny is such a sweet guy" "oh, he is vindictive and plants his flowers upside down" "oh dear." Now, i am not here to say, "oh what an awful girl, dont be like her, or you'll be an awful person" I only appreciate the song more, now that I can relate to it. And, I love Joni's imagery and storytelling capabilities (as we all do). COMING UP TUESDAY AT the University of Delaware, Fellow Listers: Kate and CJ. I can't Wait. NP: Love or Money, JM from MOA _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 12:55:00 +0100 (BST) From: pyramus@lineone.net Subject: Steve's concert database Excellent Steve. A great source of information. pyramus P.S. If all those girls were your dates I'm surprised you had time to go to ANY concerts. ;) < Subject: Hendrix meets Mitchell I read somewhere that Jimi Hendrix wrote in his diary about the day he met Joni Mitchell. I understand the diary was bought by Paul Allen (Music Experience Project Museum in Seattle). Has anyone ever been to the museum? Apparently the diary is displayed and opened to this exact page. Is this portion of the diary transcripted anywhere? I'd love to know what Hendrix wrote about Mitchell. Thanks, Sheila ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:12:42 +0100 (BST) From: pyramus@lineone.net Subject: Art (Some Joni content) Some fascinating views about art on the list recently. I'm reminded of the following quotation: "The nature of a work of art is not to be a part, nor yet a copy of the real world (as we commonly understand that phrase), but a world in itself, independant, complete, autonomous; and to possess it fully you must enter that world, conform to its laws, and ignore for the time the beliefs, aims, and particular conditions which belong to you in the other world of reality." (Oxford lectures: Professor Bradley: 1901). My own view is akin to those of the good professor. As Colin said everything is (potentially) art, but I would add that you have be prepared to perceive it as such. I suppose the modern idiom would be that you have to 'buy into it'. If we look at painting, you walk into a gallery and either study the paintings and involve yourself in them, or you just think that they are wall decorations (Elvis Costello's 'useless beauty'?). If you involve yourself in them then they become art. They are art when they are created because the artist obviously must involve himself in them. They then become art again when viewed by someone who is willing to view them with his mind and not just his eyes. You don't have to be an artist to do this. Of course this works with the other arts as well. Look at Jonis music. Some people are quite happy to find joy in the music and aren't too bothered about the lyrics. A few will not be too concerned with the music but love the lyrics. When the lyrics are strong this works well. Still more love both, and the interaction between the two. It depends how you approach this and how deeply you are willing to buy into it. All art is created from nothing and needs an audience to survive. We are all creating art all of the time and are surrounded by it, but sometimes fail to realise it. pyramus ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:34:39 +0100 From: catman Subject: Re: Art (Some Joni content) > We are all creating art all of the time and are surrounded by it, but sometimes fail to realise it. that is my take on it. Thanks for your interesting post. > > > pyramus - -- bw colin colin@tantra.fsbusiness.co.uk http://www.geocities.com/tantra_apso/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 13:42:11 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Joni inspires again We all know that Joni has inspired darn near every MUSICIAN working in the biz today, but here's a guy who was inspired in the visual arts...sorta topical in light of the current art thread. (Debra, I too am lovin' your comments!) Here's a quote... <> And here's the whole story where you can see his creations: http://www.rrobertsgallery.com/pierson.html Bob NP: Ani, "beautiful night" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 15:41:21 -0700 From: jan gyn Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) Oh, brother! Get off the cross; we can use the wood. - -jan ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 15:52:15 -0700 From: Steve Dulson Subject: The list Dear Friends, Perhaps I am hopelessly naive and sentimental, but I consider many people that I have met on this list close friends, even family. Many of the posts I have read over the last month have been attacks on other listers. Many have brought tears to my eyes. Seeing dear friends or family members fight is no fun. I have long believed (long time listers will nod knowingly) that bringing up religion, sexuality or politics on this list always, always leads to flame wars. Now it seems any subject can result in personal attacks against the poster. I wonder if Les should give us all a time-out, perhaps shut the list down for a month. Maybe that would make us reflect on what this list does, and does not, mean to us. Whatever happens, please, please, please don't attack other listers. You can disagree with ideas without attacking the person who posted them. The are some listers whose posts I never read - experience has taught me that, for my mental health, some people are better ignored - - and perhaps that is an approach others might consider, rather than flame those who infuriate you.. Please excuse me for not sending this NJC, but some of my dear friends are Joni-onlies. All the best, - -- ######################################################## Steve Dulson Costa Mesa CA steve@psitech.com "The Tinker's Own" http://www.tinkersown.com "Southern California Dulcimer Heritage" http://www.cpmusic.com/scdh "The Living Tradition Concert Series" http://www.thelivingtradition.org/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 19:38:23 EDT From: Ricw1217@aol.com Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) > Of course everyone wants the rancor and negative vibes to go away from the > list. I do as well." no you don't! laughable that you would contend you do. you FEED off the rancor and negative vibes and do everything you possibly can to provoke them. > But then again what this post is about is censorship, intolerance and what > happens to anyone who only a small group of people on the list have decided > they dont like. what this post is about is you, once again, blowing your kazoo. notice me! notice me! > > I was told by one person that this > is a "mental problem" i have in search of "attention". and that would have been me. but i never told you you had a mental problem. do you? know thyself, marcel. > Obviously they dont know me personally and they dislike what I write > very much. Think about that. They dislike my thoughts. They are BAD > thoughts. > Bad humor. Bad sarcasm. Bad politics. And because a few of them feel this > way > YOUR thoughts are unacceptable and not fit to post lest they get miffed. > what rubbish! no one objects to your thoughts marcel. (WHAT thoughts??) it's the manner in which those alleged thoughts are expressed. > They like to use ideas and dress them up in incendiary insulting > invective terminology and associate certain people with evil. And then they > dont expect to have their target respond. He or she is just supposed to > take > it as if that is their manifest destiny and right. are you talking about what YOU do here? because that is pretty close marcel. you have your toes curled right around the cusp of insight! > > I believe that If you start something directed at some person then you must > defend what you said to that person first and foremost and do so directly. > unless it is someone defending themselves against YOU??? (when oh when do we get to the stomping out of the room and the slamming of the door???) > I dare say it is impossible to say any > friggin' thing without someone short on their medication taking offense. short on their medication? so, you bear no responsibility for the response. its just someone short on their medication? frees you of any of the blame huh? nifty how that works. i once said something very similar to a list member, not realizing he had many reasons to take it personally. so i APOLOGIZED to him. could you advise me how far to skip ahead in order to get to where YOU apologize? i'm on a tight schedule here... Just remember that if you dish it > out you need to be able to take it with the same spirit you gave. > words to live by. i think that lesson is being visited upon you right now! are you learning it? If you want to attack the ides itself thats fine just focus > on the idea as opposed to the person. That is called tolerance. Tolerance is > not to be of ideas, it is to be of people. If you dont feel compelled to > tolerate another person then why should the other person tolerate you. > HELLO???? is there anyone in there? when do you EVER show the LEAST bit of respect or tolerance toward ANYONE? when? are you serious or is this some sort of mind fuck? ugh. enough already. you bore me. best of luck to you. there's 45 minutes of my life i will never get back... ric ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 16:36:29 -0700 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: art My favorite artist is mother nature. Look, feel, smell all the amazing shapes, colors, textures & smells of flowers. Truly miraculous in my opinion. My favorite flower right now is Plumeria. Just intoxicating.... Kate, still a flower child ******************************************** Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html ******************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 20:02:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) - --- jan gyn wrote: > Oh, brother! > Get off the cross; we can use the wood. > -jan Now, that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time! Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 01:26:21 +0100 From: catman Subject: Re: art I agree but get that feeling more so when i look at my pets. And people too. Kate Bennett wrote: > My favorite artist is mother nature. Look, feel, smell all the amazing > shapes, colors, textures & smells of flowers. Truly miraculous in my > opinion. My favorite flower right now is Plumeria. Just intoxicating.... > > Kate, still a flower child > > ******************************************** > Kate Bennett > www.katebennett.com > sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com > Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: > http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html > ******************************************** - -- bw colin colin@tantra.fsbusiness.co.uk http://www.geocities.com/tantra_apso/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 01:28:31 +0100 From: catman Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) > Now, that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a > long time! > Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca Oh Catherine you shame me! I sent a similar message privately! - -- bw colin colin@tantra.fsbusiness.co.uk http://www.geocities.com/tantra_apso/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 10:38:12 +1000 From: "frank caldwell" Subject: ivory tickler g'day from down under,I have just downloaded Joni-Steve wonder version of summertime from napster,can someone inform me who play's the piano on this version? IAKUOL(I AM KING UNDISPUTEDLY OF LURKDOM) GOOD HEALTH:FHEJIRA@BIGPOND.NET.AU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 20:54:14 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Re: ivory tickler << g'day from down under,I have just downloaded Joni-Steve wonder version of summertime from napster,can someone inform me who play's the piano on this version?>> That would be Herbie Hancock, Frank. The track is from Herbie's record "Gershwin's World", and also contains Joni singing "The Man I Love", superb as well! << IAKUOL(I AM KING UNDISPUTEDLY OF LURKDOM) >> This cracked me up, Frank - Thanks for the smile! Bob ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 20:53:38 EDT From: RoseMJoy@aol.com Subject: Passing the Torch (long) I thought this was an interesting read and our Joan is briefly mentioned. Passing the flame With a new generation of female singers getting tired of touring with rock 'n' roll bands, the sultry sophistication of the torch song is back in vogueLI ROBBINS Special to The Globe and Mail Tuesday, April 10, 2001TORONTO -- On a rainy Wednesday night at the Montreal Bistro and Jazz Club in downtown Toronto recently, you would have had to bribe some devotee just to get a seat at the bar, so popular was the reigning chanteuse, Molly Johnson. "Instrumentalists don't pull them in like this," the doorman confided.A sea of rapt faces, from barely legal girls lip-synching, to fortyish men bearing a fair resemblance to lesser characters in the TV series The Sopranos, were trained on Johnson. Although she did sing originals, it was the jazz standards, treated with Billie Holiday-esque tristesse, that held them mesmerized.The world-weary languor of the torch singer is hot these days. Johnson and Laura Hubert hold court at Toronto's Palais Royale on May 11. A whole series simply called Torch ran last winter at Toronto's Top O' the Senator jazz club.And there's a new crowd slithering into those slinky gowns. We've got Joni Mitchell seeing "gloom and misery everywhere" since, as she sings on her jazz CD, Both Sides Now, "my man and I ain't together." Former metal queen Lee Aaron asks the object of her desire to "teach me tonight, starting with the ABC of it," on her jazz and blues recording, Slick Chick. Both CDs, released last year, are part of a ripple of recordings featuring jazz songs first popularized by the middle of the last century, if not earlier, and now recorded by performers better known as pop artists -- predominantly female pop artists.Not everyone is a chanteuse come lately, of course. At the top of the heap of jazz-standard purveyors are performers such as Canada's hugely successful Diana Krall, and the new contender for the retro-jazz-queen throne, 23-year-old Ella Fitzgerald sound-alike Jane Monheit. Monheit is a girl from the burbs of Long Island who sings jazz standards so convincingly both the world's most legendary jazz clubs -- New York's Village Vanguard and The Blue Note -- have invited and applauded her charms.David Hajdu, (author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn), writing in the New York Times Magazine in December, was less impressed; he quipped scornfully that Monheit's is "a jazz world George W. Bush would understand," saying she "seems to embody mainstream jazz's wholesale submission to nostalgia." He cited innovative singers such as Dominique Eade, Judi Silvano and Nora York as big talents shunted to the sidelines by the jazz recording industry precisely because those vocalists want to focus on original material. Haven't heard of them? Likely you won't, but you will see Monheit this summer when she's expected to play some of Canada's jazz festivals and you'll hear her this fall when her second recording of standards is released with distribution in Canada (the first, Never Never Land, was, until recently, available here only as an import).At the Montreal Bistro, the audience is definitely on retro's side. "I love torch singing," one patron gushed. "Molly's one of the best torch singers in the world." Johnson prefers to call herself, whimsically, a saloon singer. No wonder. That "torch" moniker is a little hot to handle, given song-lyric sentiments running decidedly toward the politically incorrect. Take the torch classic, My Man, for example, sung in some versions like this: "Two or three girls has he, that he likes as well as me. But I love him. I don't know why I should, he isn't good, he isn't true, he beats me too. What can I do?" Not a thing, apparently. After all, the essence of torch singing is obsessive love in one guise or another.The expression "torch," shorthand for "carrying a torch," derives from the 19th century, when dedicated political followers showed support for a candidate by carrying lit torches in campaign parades. That spawned the phrase "carrying a torch," which later came to signify clinging to unrequited or lost love. By the jazz era, those smouldering women in off-the-shoulder dresses had taken up residence in the nightclubs of the world. (Claudette Colbert's movie Torch Singer was made in 1933.)But for the Canadian singers now travelling this well-lit promenade, jazz singing is scarcely just about love-gone-wrong songs. Johnson says for her the lure of the jazz standard, whether in the "let-me-rip-my-heart-out" style of a torch song or not, is in the complex melodies of jazz. "All through my years singing in rock bands, the melodies weren't strong enough. And I always sang jazz at the same time as doing rock stuff -- I could sing quietly, work on improvising and songwriting. I used to say I'd retire and only sing jazz -- now I have." She says, jokingly, she decided to record "a sophisticated record, for my sophisticated friends" and her jazz-oriented album came out last fall, to enamoured reviews.With Johnson, as with other singers moving into mid-life, the focus on jazz is part of an accommodation to life changes as much as anything. With two kids she's relieved not to have to "travel with a bunch of guys in a bus any more." Instead, it's about "the old dead guys," as she describes the composers of jazz standards to her audience at the Montreal Bistro, getting a big laugh. She doesn't entertain the notion that there's something potentially moribund about that. "In general, people hunger for melody. You listen to computerized, formulaic stuff, and the human heart and ear will seek melodies -- kids hear this music now, and to them, it's new and fresh."Montreal-based Ranee Lee, who's been singing jazz for 38 years, and recording it for 20, isn't surprised that both jazz singers and pop singers are falling in love with standards and torch songs again. She also doesn't concur with the notion that it's a conservative trend. "When you go to an art gallery and see Picasso, you won't say, 'I can't enjoy this because it's not contemporary.' If a person is open-minded, they will have the capacity to appreciate it all -- the same is true with music." Lee thinks this embrace of the older repertoire is in part because there was a period, pre-Krall, where the material was not frequently recorded by singers. "When these songs are brought back, it's natural people will pay attention to them - -- they're tried and true and tested."Some singers, drawn to the music but wanting to revise those test results, are analyzing them in less expected ways. Toronto-based Phe Cullen, a glam rocker who previously worked in Britain, has recently released an eponymous recording of standards of a different colour, rock classics like Purple Haze and Ruby Tuesday, but done up as jazz. Chicago's Patricia Barber tried the same sort of thing on her first two, critically lauded CDs, including interpretations of Sonny Bono's The Beat Goes On and Peter Green's Black Magic Woman. Tellingly, her last album, released last year, was a collection of standards and, perhaps not surprisingly, it has been her biggest seller to date.Then there's the case of Laura Hubert, former lead singer with the Juno-award-winning roots rockers, Leslie Spit Treeo. Her new release, My Girlish Ways, sees Hubert sporting feather boas, long gloves, high heels, and a vintage dress. But she's also swathed in a sort of babushka in one shot, and wears a toy teddy bear as a brooch. Its a bit of a send-up, and Hubert's attitude toward performing jazz and blues material is anything but reverent."It's not 'Oh shut up, I'm singing,' " she says. "You've got to have the cash register going, people having a good time. It's gotta have some action." There was plenty of action at one of Hubert's recent Saturday afternoon gigs at The Rex jazz bar in downtown Toronto. Jazz fans and passing Saturday afternoon shoppers alike yacked, laughed and ordered pints, listening to Hubert "having a little fun with torch," as she puts it. For Hubert, the move to jazz wasn't a jump on the Krall bandwagon -- back in pre-Leslie Spit days, she sang jazz with friends, planning some day to "get a dress and an attitude and sing those songs."It's a story echoed by Lee Aaron. Granted, her jazz and blues release, Slick Chick, was bit of a shocker for those who didn't know of the singer's childhood days in musical theatre, nor of the regular jazz gigs she's been playing in Vancouver since 1997. (When Slick Chick came out, Billboard magazine said, "If Britney Spears did a guest stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company, it wouldn't be any more surprising than the latest album by Canada's Lee Aaron.")Aaron, from her home base in Vancouver, isn't apologetic. "I can't allow people's perceptions, or fear of their perceptions about me, to direct my musical path or my life. The industry, to some degree, still wants to define me by that 'rock chick/metal queen' persona. But I'm 38 now, and I've lived through fame, fortune, exploitation, divorce, parenthood and financial devastation."That image of me is really quite narrow and oppressive. Some elitists may never get their head around the idea of a former rocker doing jazz. Others think it's a brave move. I just think it's music and there are no rules."Of course for singers, pop-based or not, focusing on jazz has distinct lifestyle advantages. As Lee Aaron puts it, "Jazz fans in general usually don't get loaded and throw up at the show."Jazz is, after all, nice work and it seems you can get it, if you want to "roast that chestnut," as jazz musicians jokingly put it, one more time. rosemjoy@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:28:39 -0700 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) > > Now, that's one of the funniest things I've heard in a > > long time! > > Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca > > Oh Catherine you shame me! I sent a similar message privately! > > -- > bw > colin Mine said ROTFLMAO. Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:33:09 -0700 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: ivory tickler > g'day from down under,I have just downloaded Joni-Steve wonder version of > summertime from napster,can someone inform me who play's the piano on this > version? That would be Herbie Hancock. This is from his 'Gershwin's World' cd. Welcome out of lurkdom! Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 18:52:53 -0700 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: The "Bjork Incident". (long and provocative) (SJC) I have met more than a > few of you and you who I have met know what I am really like as a person. > > Those who dislike me very much have never met me but their dislike is very > strong. Obviously they dont know me personally and they dislike what I write > very much. Think about that. They dislike my thoughts. This reminds me of a man whom I had the great misfortune of working for at was probably the darkest period of my life. He used to tell me that he was a completely different person away from work. I wanted to tell him that that meant absolutely nothing to me since I never saw or interacted with him anywhere else but at work. And at work he had a certain amount of power over me and the way he used it had nothing to do with whether or not he was a 'nice guy' when he didn't have his manager's suit on. For me his actions toward me as my superior totally negated any claim he made of being a 'nice guy.' My point is that most of the people on this list will never meet one another face to face so what else do we have to base our opinions of one another on but what we write? And for me the way ideas & thoughts are expressed say as much (and maybe more) about a person as the thoughts themselves. If the thoughts are stated without arrogance or condescension, then I feel the person expressing them at least has the right to be heard out. On the other hand if the person expressing those thoughts obviously is convinced that his or her opinions are the absolute truth and anyone who disagrees is an imbecile, then I could care less about whatever it is they are saying. And I certainly wouldn't have any desire to meet them face to face or find out anything more about what they are 'really like.' Mark in Seattle ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 22:48:19 -0400 From: "Nikki Johnson" Subject: RE: Art (Some Joni content) Pyramus wrote: > Of course this works with the other arts as well. Look at Jonis > music. Some people are quite happy to find joy in the music and > aren't too bothered about the lyrics. A few will not be too > concerned with the music but love the lyrics. When the lyrics are > strong this works well. Still more love both, and the interaction > between the two These lines stood out to me, what an insightful post. I suppose I was drawn to it because I admit when I first discovered Joni, I was more drawn to her words than the music. I always wrote poetry so words were and continue to be important to me. Ladies of the Canyon was my first album and I remember loving the words to "For Free" but not the music so much. There were a few other songs like that too. Now of course there were musical aspects of the CD I did enjoy or else I wouldn't have listened to it. But then I guess some of it came with age (I was only 13 or 14 when I purchased LOTC) and as I listened to Blue and LOTC and Hits (the first 3 Joni albums I bought) I started to really appreciate the music and the synthesis with the words...simply amazing. Thanks for making me think about that! Love Nikki np: Stevie Nicks & Sheryl Crow~ Sorcerer "Dream on but don't imagine they'll all come true...Vienna waits for you" ~ Billy Joel > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-joni@jmdl.com [mailto:owner-joni@jmdl.com]On Behalf Of > pyramus@lineone.net > Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 1:13 PM > To: joni@smoe.org > Subject: Art (Some Joni content) > > > Some fascinating views about art on the list recently. I'm > reminded of the following quotation: > > "The nature of a work of art is not to be a part, nor yet a copy > of the real world (as we commonly understand that phrase), but a > world in itself, independant, complete, autonomous; and to > possess it fully you must enter that world, conform to its laws, > and ignore for the time the beliefs, aims, and particular > conditions which belong to you in > the other world of reality." > > (Oxford lectures: Professor Bradley: 1901). > > > My own view is akin to those of the good professor. As Colin said > everything is (potentially) art, but I would add that you have be > prepared to perceive it as such. I suppose the modern idiom would > be that you have to 'buy into it'. If we look at painting, you > walk into a gallery and either study the paintings and involve > yourself in them, or > you just think that they are wall decorations (Elvis Costello's > 'useless beauty'?). If you involve yourself in them then they > become art. They are art when they are created because the artist > obviously must involve himself in them. They then become art > again when viewed by someone who is willing to view them with his > mind and not just his eyes. You don't have to be an artist to do this. > > Of course this works with the other arts as well. Look at Jonis > music. Some people are quite happy to find joy in the music and > aren't too bothered about the lyrics. A few will not be too > concerned with the music but love the lyrics. When the lyrics are > strong this works well. Still more love both, and the interaction > between the two. It depends how you approach this and how deeply > you are willing to buy into it. All art is created from nothing and needs > an audience to survive. We are all creating art all of the time > and are surrounded by it, but sometimes fail to realise it. > > > pyramus ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:11:18 -0700 From: Randy Remote Subject: art:useful? Art that is useful: A handcrafted musical instrument A delicious meal A handmade sweater An inlaid table A Frank Lloyd Wright building Calligraphy Anything that soothes the spirit, or enriches the mind (ie a song, a book, a painting) RR ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:09:15 -0700 From: "Kakki" Subject: Re: art:useful? A hand-painted martini glass. > Art that is useful: > > A handcrafted musical instrument > A delicious meal > A handmade sweater > An inlaid table > A Frank Lloyd Wright building > Calligraphy > Anything that soothes the spirit, or enriches the mind (ie a song, > a book, a painting) > > RR ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:36:41 -0700 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: art:useful? > A hand-painted martini glass. > Most definitely hand-painted martini glasses! :-) ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #118 ********************************* ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe ------- Siquomb, isn't she?