From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #318 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 Saturday, October 13 2001 Volume 2001 : Number 318 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. ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Today's Articles: October 12 [les@jmdl.com] Musician's who make a difference (sjc) [YORK48CAD@aol.com] Extra Tickets to Toronto Tribute(JC) [CherokeeLouise@aol.com] Musician's who make a difference (sjc) [YORK48CAD@aol.com] Movies/Books/CDs/TV Shows ["joseph tischner" ] Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) [Jerry Notaro ] Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) [Mark Domyancich ] Alberta College of Art ["shane mattison" ] Re: Q Review of 'Shadows & Light' [Relayer211@aol.com] RE: dates and measurements (sjc) [Catherine McKay ] Re: desert island books [Bruyere ] Re: Q Review of 'Shadows & Light' [Catherine McKay ] Cinema Paradiso ["Kate Bennett" ] Rumi, God, grief [dsk ] "Court And Spark" gold CD ["jlamadoo, home account" ] The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, 100% Joni Content ["jlamadoo, home account" ] Re: Cinema Paradiso ["Brenda J. Walker" ] RE: Cinema Paradiso ["Wally Kairuz" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 03:27:15 -0400 From: les@jmdl.com Subject: Today's Articles: October 12 On October 12 these articles were published: 1998: "Burning Bright" - Time (Review - Album) http://www.jmdl.com/articles/docs/981012t.cfm 1998: "Taming Joni Mitchell - Joni's Jazz" - Austin Chronicle (Interview) http://www.jmdl.com/articles/docs/981012ac.cfm - ------------------------ The JMDL Article Database has 635 titles. http://www.jmdl.com/articles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:26:46 EDT From: YORK48CAD@aol.com Subject: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:38:44 EDT From: CherokeeLouise@aol.com Subject: Extra Tickets to Toronto Tribute(JC) Hi all I have two extra tickets to the Toronto Tribute next week(presentation only) Row V. If anyone is interested in these tickets please email me off list;I am willing to do a sliding scale payment(whatever you can afford) Sorry for posting this so late,but I have been without a computer for almost 2 months and have been extremely busy with work! I will Fed-Ex the tickets,so you should be able to get them in time. Take Care...Lisa ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 10:49:03 EDT From: YORK48CAD@aol.com Subject: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) One week from today, I leave for SantaCruz to stay with our friend's and go to Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit. For those of you who aren't familiar, Neil does a benefit for a school that he and his wife founded 15 years ago, for children with special needs. The concert has always been great with many different performers each year. This year's line up includes: Neil w/ crazy horse, REM, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews and Tracy Chapman. My friend Joe got in line for tickets, they had a lottery, he picked #1, we have 5th row, front and center!!!!!! I am sooo happy! This brings me to my Joni point. I am disappointed that Joni is never involved in these fund raising events. You would think that the person who wrote woodstock, would be a little more politically minded. And although she is a Canadian, she lives in LA. When I watched the Joni tribute, I was very moved by all the performances. But when the would zoom to Joni, sitting in her box smoking, like she was the queen of Sheeba, I was a little disappointed. I have always thought of Joni as the "earth mother." Now, she kind of reminds me of a spoiled debutante, who gets to smoke even if it is not polite. Peace, Julie ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:15:31 -0400 From: "joseph tischner" Subject: Movies/Books/CDs/TV Shows ...So, the boss is out of town and I, along with everyone else in the office, have the luxury of plucking around the internet for at least a little while before we actually get motivated enough to DO SOMETHING. When I have the time I always stop by the DL to see what's going on. It seems like we're still reeling from Sept 11, in various degrees. It's gotten a little bit easier for me, though I feel guilty for not ALWAYS thinking about the victims, which is what I've been doing since. I passed the Manhattan skyline twice last week, and I didn't think I would recognize a difference. BOY was I wrong! It's just unbelievable, unimaginable. I don't know. I still pray every day for everyone. And I haven't forgotten anything; I never will. But we have to go on... To the trivia of Desert Island lists... which I've been finding thoroughly engaging and enjoyable. (It even helps to bring me outta my funk.) I think the main reason why we do this is to share with everyone the feelings we have for such great(?) works of art. And maybe by sharing, we give somebody the opportunity to discover something they mightn't have found on their own. If nothing else, we can compare notes on what each of us considers meaningful in our lives. I don't know why, but I can only rank movies in order from 1 to 10. There's a line of demarcation between each film on my list. But I can't do that with books and CDs. Anyway: 1:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cinema Paradiso!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2. A Room With A View 3. Broadway Danny Rose 4. Goodfellas 5. Entre Nous 6. Sense and Sensibility 7. Fight Club 8. Annie Hall 9. Hannah and Her Sisters 10.It's a Wonderful Life Animal House, Murder On The Orient Express, The Godfather There's gotta be a hundred others... But has anyone ever seen Cinema Paradiso? 1989 or so from Italy. Best foreign film that year. Pure joy from beginning to end. I cry like a baby every time. The soundtrack is even magnificent. SEE IT, you won't be disappointed! Books are difficult because there are many that I've forgotten. But the ones that stand out STRONGLY, some of which I've reread more than once: Emile Zola's Germinal and Nana John Irving's World According to Garp Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility Edith Wharton's House of Mirth and Custom of the Country Thomas Hardy's Mayor of Casterbridge and Far From the Madding Crowd Gabriel Garcia Marquez' Love In the Time Of Cholera Guatav Flaubert's Madame Bovary Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karennina Germinal's my favorite novel of all time. The bleakest work that I've ever read and one of the most beautifully and best written. The heartbreak and devastation of the poverty coalminers faced in 1800s France is very powerfully depicted by Zola. Gerard Dippity Do starred in the 1993 French made movie. It didn't do the book justice. CDs are tougher still. How can I have a top 10 list that isn't soley comprised of Joni? There's that guilt thing again... Steely Dan: 2 Against Nature Joni (Don't be too surprised!!): Wild Things Any version of Maurice Ravel's La Valse Luis Miguel: Romances 2 Diana Krall: All For You ... and everything else by all of the above. Last year when 2 Against Nature came out, I gave one listen and said to anyone/everyone: "this is the best CD I've ever heard in my life." Bar none. I still feel the same way! Every cut is absolutely fantastic. It's on pretty much constantly and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. There's nothing meaninful that Fagan and Becker have ever said to me, but, musically, this one has it all. And I kinda feel the same way about WTRF. Except that EVERYTHING Joni does speaks to my heart and soul-like she does for all of us. It takes me back to my newlywed days (10/10/82) and our first apartment. This is our love album. (It introduced me to the bible also. I since have read from Corinthians at several friends' weddings. Proudly and with joy because I know how beautiful these words are.) Has anyone mentioned TV yet? I'll Fly Away All In The Family thirtysomething Roseanne The Nanny St. Elsewhere Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (I'm a gameshow hound. I'm trying all the time to get on. I'll let you know WHEN it happens!) Love ya! Joe _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:39:01 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) <> I dunno, Julie...Joni has ALWAYS said that she's not very political, and I don't think that Woodstock is necessarily a POLITICAL song as much as it is a celebration of an event where so many people gathered during a turbulent time and existed in a peaceful atmosphere, and the hope that that feeling could translate onto a global setting. That having been said...Joni has done LOTS of benefit shows for causes she believes in; rainforests, farmers, ecology, amnesty, etc. She may not jump on the bandwagon and do them all, but I would say she does her fair share. <> Regarding the TNT show, I recall her being into the show more than you give you her credit for. Dancing in her seat during "Raised on Robbery", flirting with JT, etc. If somebody did a song and she didn't agree with the interpretation, I'd hate to see her with a passport smile. Her honesty can be disarming in terms of her being in show business. As for her smoking...I hate it, but hey, she's a feisty broad, not given to convention. That's why I like her, but it's a double-edged sword as it can be frustrating as well. Congrats on your great seats - Those Bridge shows are always great, and I'm sure this will be no exception! Bob NP: Walecki Benefit, 8/8/00, "Mercury Blues" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:47:48 -0400 From: Jerry Notaro Subject: Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) SCJoniGuy@aol.com wrote: > Regarding the TNT show, I recall her being into the show more than you give you her credit for. Dancing in her seat during "Raised on Robbery", flirting with JT, etc. If somebody did a song and she didn't agree with the interpretation, I'd hate to see her with a passport smile. Her honesty can be disarming in terms of her being in show business. And during the Joni's Jazz concert (Bob's favorite), which was very long, Joni gave every performer her full attention. She bopped and danced to the music just like everyone else. Jerry np: Jeff Buckley - Kashmir ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 17:14:28 +0100 From: "Paul Castle" Subject: Q Review of 'Shadows & Light' Here's the review from November's Q Magazine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAR-REACHING How a gentle folkie changed modern music Joni Mitchell Shadows and Light The Definitive Biography Karen O'Brien Virgin IN HER INTRODUCTION alone, Karen O'Brien manages an admirable feat, dropping references to Friedrich Nietzsche, Bob Dylan, Hillary and Bill Clinton and Meg Mathews within mear pages of each other. The common thread, it transpires, is the shear reach of the artist in question: rooted in the high- falutin' world of coffee house bohemia, for sure, but such a modern commonplace that she could give a future president the name for his daughter (taken from Mitchell's Chelsea Morning), and create the hippy-chick look occasionally "rocked" by the erstwhile Mrs Gallagher. In fairness, ephemeral points like these are a rarity. This is a book that seeks to decisively shine a light on Mitchell's artistic importance and, thanks to Karen O'Brien's capable writing and seemingly endless research, it impressively succeeds. In particular, the chapters about her decisive arrival - between 1969 and 1970 - are a joy, confidently placing her within the context of the '60s counterculture and its relationship with mainstream America. On occasion, in fact, the text masters its themes to the point that it teeters on the brink of social history. In keeping with all that, the book frequently alights on an all too familiar subject: Mitchell's recurrent clashes with cloth-headed sexism, particularly pronounced during the first phase of her progress. "Joni Mitchell is 90% virgin", read the tag-line on an early record company ad, before the copywriter sketched out her first album in terms of a long delayed female orgasm, finally brought on by some big-hearted male hippy. Groovy times, eh? **** John Harris - Q Magazine (Nov 01) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very best PaulC ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:30:39 -0500 From: Mark Domyancich Subject: Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) Also, the bridge benefits tend to be acoustic, and we all know Joni's given up on playing or writing on an acoustic. Mark NP-Grateful Dead, 8/6/71-Loser At 11:39 AM -0400 10/12/01, SCJoniGuy@aol.com wrote: ><woodstock, would be a little more politically minded. >> > >I dunno, Julie...Joni has ALWAYS said that she's not very political, >and I don't think that Woodstock is necessarily a POLITICAL song as >much as it is a celebration of an event where so many people >gathered during a turbulent time and existed in a peaceful >atmosphere, and the hope that that feeling could translate onto a >global setting. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 14:08:18 EDT From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: In Search of... Wonder if any of you traders out there have any live Erykah Badu available? Is so, let me know...I may need it for a Joni trade. Thanks in advance if you can help, Bob ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:14:50 -0700 From: Phyliss Ward Subject: Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) You've already had some good responses to this but I would like to add that just because Joni hasn't performed at these events *lately* doesn't mean she isn't political or doesn't contribute. It could be she just chooses to do so in other ways. If memory serves me she did attend a fund-raising event for the democratic party in Los Angeles during the last campaign. She may be writing checks behind the scenes as well. We also shouldn't forget that she suffers from post-polio syndrone and traveling/performing is taxing on her physically. YORK48CAD@aol.com wrote: > I am disappointed that Joni is never involved in > these fund raising events. You would think that the person who wrote > woodstock, would be a little more politically minded. - -- Phyliss mailto:phyliss@goldenfigclay.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 11:15:29 -0700 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: Subject: Re: [JoniTribute2001] weekend plans Stephen from Vancouver wrote:>>Italian,family owned and run for many years, suberb food! We will have a fixedappetizer and antipasto first course, and then we can individually order a main course. No one will be disappointed, trust me on this one!<<< Oh yes trust him! Stephen took us to the most wonderful restaurant in Vancouver last winter (w/ Wally, Steve & Michelle Dulson)...Stephen knows his restaurants! Oh how I wish I could be there! Have fun you all! ******************************************** 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: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 14:57:45 EDT From: Merk54@aol.com Subject: Re: Musician's who make a difference (sjc) And let's not forget that her appearances at these events are always greeted with open arms. If memory serves me correctly, she appeared at Farm Aid one year, and had beer cans thrown at her. Behavior like that sure wouldn't encourage me to attend more of these events. Just a thought. Jack ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 16:28:54 -0600 From: "shane mattison" Subject: Larry King; paul mccartney; joni ideas show ideas? how about siquomb! let's all pitch in here! shane ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 23:42:56 +0100 From: "Garret" Subject: shadows and light I just got my copy of this book, i really can't wait to start reading it!! It's on sale just about everywhere here in Dublin. i really enjoyed the Joni Mitchell Companion by Tracy Luftig; that gave me at least a tale a day. How my friends enjoyed that:-) However, i'm currently about half way through A Passage to India by Forster, and a whole lot of Aristotle reading that i've taken on, so it may have to wait a little. I was very interested to note that Kren O Brien mentions correspondence between Joni and Georgia O Keeffe, that should make for great reading! and now to my point:-) It has been mentioned a few times on the list that there are currently no plans for sale of the book in USA or Canada. On the inside flap of my copy there is both a UK and a Canadian price quoted. That would seem to suggest that there are in fact plans to give it a Canadian release. Here's hoping. GARRET ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 16:33:31 -0600 From: "shane mattison" Subject: Alberta College of Art all jonifiles can check out the Alberta College of Art where joni attended, but has now improved since her time, safe to say: http://www.acad.ab.ca/ shane ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 21:14:23 EDT From: Relayer211@aol.com Subject: Re: Q Review of 'Shadows & Light' when will the book be available in the U.S.??? I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 22:38:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: RE: dates and measurements (sjc) - --- Wally Kairuz wrote: > well, this is getting more and more interesting [at > least for me]. > so who says pop, who says soft drink, who says soda > among you? i swear i am > serious. > wallyK > > I say pop. I always thought pop was what Canadians said, and soda was what Americans said. I realize from the answers I'm seeing here that it's not your nationality, but maybe the region you live in, that affects what you say. When I was about 12, my family moved from Pembroke, a small town about 100 miles north of Ottawa, to the Toronto area. For some reason, the kids in the school I went to (in what is now Mississauga,just west of Toronto) used the word "rubber" for what I called an eraser. I thought that was really weird (and gross). One thing I can never understand is when some Americans, when they tell you the time, will say, "It's a quarter of twelve." I never could understand whether that meant a quarter to, or a quarter after! As far as "cold cuts" are concerned, I had no idea there were so many different ways of referring to the stuff! Joni herself has used it in a couple of songs - -Winn-Dixie coldcuts in "Refuge of the Roads"; "We've got coldcuts from the fridge" in Cherokee Louise. i guess Joni's not a vegetarian. Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 22:58:57 -0400 From: Bruyere Subject: Re: desert island books >A Giacometti Portrait by James Lord. Absolutely the best books I've ever >read on the creative process. An absolute must read for anyone interested >in the mysteries of the arts! This is a good one Jack. Heather ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 23:06:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Q Review of 'Shadows & Light' - --- Paul Castle wrote: > Here's the review from November's Q Magazine > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > FAR-REACHING > How a gentle folkie changed modern music > > Joni Mitchell > Shadows and Light > The Definitive Biography > Karen O'Brien > Virgin Does anyone have any idea what cloth-headed sexism is supposed to mean, as is this quote from the Q article: > Mitchell's recurrent clashes > with cloth-headed sexism, particularly > pronounced during the first phase of > her progress. "Joni Mitchell is 90% > virgin", read the tag-line on an early > record company ad, before the > copywriter sketched out her first > album in terms of a long delayed > female orgasm, finally brought on > by some big-hearted male hippy. > Groovy times, eh? **** > > John Harris - Q Magazine (Nov 01) Get your free @yahoo.ca address at http://mail.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 23:20:19 -0400 From: Bruyere Subject: toodles Hi all - I'm quite a bit overwhelmed lately with the on goings in my life .... school,research, teaching, working, grandchildren .... so I'm taking leave from the list for a bit. It is difficult for me to keep up with all the posts. I do try to read everything that is posted. I'll be back later on. Keep your spirits high and your love in the wind - Heather ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 20:03:40 -0700 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: Cinema Paradiso >>>Cinema Paradiso - I'm with Joe on this one. Magnificently sentimental.<<< is that the one about the bicycle delivery guy & the poet? ******************************************** 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: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 23:23:36 -0400 From: dsk Subject: Rumi, God, grief There's an interesting article about Sufi poet Rumi and Coleman Barks, his best known translator, with comments about fundamentalists, God, grief and other things at http://www.salon.com/people/feature/2001/10/12/barks/print.html This is my favorite quote today: To make name distinctions, says Rumi, is to miss the point. He makes his point with a fish metaphor -- Barks gave one rendition: "One of [Rumi's] jokes about what theology is, he says it's like we're a school of fish getting together to try and discuss the possibility of the existence of the ocean. There is no separation. So don't try to find names for it." Debra Shea ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 00:41:27 -0400 From: "jlamadoo, home account" Subject: "Court And Spark" gold CD eBay Item #1471287959. The seller is demanding $74.99 as a starting price! What is that guy *smoking*?!? I do not recommend this but I thought it was funny enough to post. Amazed, Lama np: Steve Stills' Thoroughfare Gap on vinyl ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 20:52:24 -0400 From: "jlamadoo, home account" Subject: The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, 100% Joni Content Hi Karen, Congratulations on the book release! Someone on the Joni Discussion List said that you are especially fond of The Hissing Of Summer Lawns. Me too. Here's a post I wrote about it. Jim L'Hommedieu Covington, Kentucky, USA - ---------- Sunday, 1/14/01 7:10 AM EST Subject: Re: Jungle Line, ~~ an essay, very long, 100% Joni Mitchell Content!! - ---------- Tanya, in NYC (at least for another week) said in Digest #18 on Saturday morning, > I just can't make it through > Jungle Line. It's just so > different from anything she > did before it, I think it's > just not speaking to me and > I'm not getting it. The rest > of the album, I get - - beautiful. > It's funny because when I first > heard Hejira I thought it was > the wierdest thing Joni had > ever done - now I get it, it > speaks to me and I love it. > Will the same thing happen > with Jungle Line?" Hi Tanya, In a word, "Yes". You _will_ get "The Jungle Line". It's not so different from the rest of Joni's songs. She's working with several new media but there's nothing new about that!! Her trademark attention to quality shines through. Don't let those drums throw you! When I read your post, I thought, "Oh good! A chance to talk about _The Hissing Of Summer Lawns_." I love this album. I've been singing the songs, reading the lyrics, jumping around to the drum tracks, examining the artwork, humming the tunes, soaking it up, pondering it, and most of all, celebrating it since it was new. I've even participated in a discussion list on the Internet about this album. :) I apologize in advance if I sound like a know-it-all. I've been accused of that in the past. I'm not. I'm just gonna be myself and use my own words, okay? Here goes: ~~ To understand "The Jungle Line", you have to understand the album as a whole. You have to be open to the idea that a CD can be as great as a book. Just like any great piece of literature, each element, each chapter defines part of the whole. The Hissing of Summer Lawns is a masterwork. There is no "fat" on this album. Everything is there on purpose and serves to support the whole. Joni has masterfully built an exquisitely detailed, multimedia work that begins with the fold open cover. So, the themes on the cover are the themes of the album. Let's open up the double-square cover and look at it as the _rectangle_ that she intended..... You can "read" the cover from left to right. On the left, you see a wealthy person's home in some hills, complete with a "blue pool" in the backyard. It's quite far from everything else. From this, I surmise that it's possible that some of the characters on this album are modern and wealthy and very much in their own world. :) There's a Christian church that is separate from all else. Separate from the home with a pool, separate from the modern world, separate from the jungle figures. The church is a concept unto itself. Lastly, we get to the heart of the matter. Two things- juxtaposed vertically. In the foreground is a group of primitive people, fresh from a kill. These folks are the only people in the picture, as if we are all African no matter where we live. They have slain a snake, a symbol of evil to Christians. Uh-oh, the themes are interacting already. They are familiar with death. In the background is the ordered modern world, both suburban and urban. We are observing the primitive and the modern simultaneously. While writing this post, I just found something brand new in this 25 year-old graphic. Long ago I noticed that Joni used blue in only two places on the whole cover. It's in the wealthy person's home on the left. Look at the other end of the picture, at the _other_ use of blue. Check it out. Isn't it striking how this small war-era building looks like the childhood home in Maidstone, Saskatchewan Canada of a certain under-appreciated, multi-talented master that we all know? Did anyone "get" this before? Judge for yourself- Ashara generously shot Joni's Maidstone house for posterity and included it at 1 hour, 57 minutes into JMDL Video Tree #2 (tape #1). It was shot on a windy July 1, 2000. Thank you Ashara. Okay, I admit the windows are different but many, many of the other details match like a hand and its shadow. IMO two of Joni's homes are right there- highlighted in blue, bookending the cover at the extreme left and the extreme right. I'm not saying that these are literal representations- only that the author may have used architecture familiar to herself and that we are privileged to look over her shoulder in this small way. Anyway, this graphic sets the themes. Enough about the cover. Let's pop in the CD and listen to the first track. I think of "In France They Kiss On Main Street" as classic Joni. It's sort of about young people partying. Every thing's primary colors. There are "Kisses like bright flags hung on holidays". It could be a track from Court and Spark, the preceding studio album. The listener has something familiar to enter with. It's a throwback. It's an introduction to the album. It's about kids raised in "middle-class circumstance" who have gone to the City to become young adults. It's about youthful exuberance and the lack of experience that makes partying seem harmless when you're in your twenties. These are partiers who haven't seen a friend die of drunk driving.... There are no dead junkies on this track. If this album was a book, the next chapter would be "The Jungle Line". The second chapter begins abruptly. The suburban kids are gone and we listeners are alone, confronting something ancient, primal, and as we will see, deadly. We are in the African jungle listening to.... war drums. There is no narrator. Nothing familiar to the westerner, just the frenetic beat of a big gang of hand-made drums, calling for war. The drums are in the foreground. We are thrown into a strange land wondering what the hell is next. This is like the huge jump-cut in an American film, "The Deer Hunter". One moment you're observing every tiny, tiny detail at a friend's wedding. The next millisecond you're over wartime Vietnam, staring out the open door of a roaring American helicopter, wondering where the snipers are......... "We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto." About the drum track, Joni said that she owns an album of the Burundi 'warrior' drummers and liked to dance to it. As I recall, she said that she hears a Bo Diddley figure in there, but she may have been talking about the later "The Tenth World". (See Tape Tree #5, complied by Simon, "My Top 12" - from BBC Radio 1, London, England - broadcast May 29, 1983.) In fact, at the time, she include the Burundi drummers as one of her top 12 tracks of biggest influences! So I guess she started with the rhythm track and built it up from there. If there is a single key to liking this track, maybe it is picturing the author dancing to the drums in her kitchen with her cats. As the camera pulls back, out the kitchen window and up, you can see an aerial view of the Spanish compound on the cover. :) Imagine that she's dancing to the African drums, thinking about the primal pleasure of live music in a nightclub, the dangers of the drug culture, and in contrast, the simplicity of a distant church. All of the rest of the stories on the album flow out of these images. Together they form a classic Joni duality- the jungle within the city. She's been writing about these things from the first album, observing first the country, then the city. Anyway, when HOSL was released, drums had never been so prominent on one of her studio albums. Here's a new color on Joni's palette. The drums reflect the African influence on the cover and the song's title. She used layers of ominous sounds from a pioneering electronic instrument called a Moog synthesizer. This was a huge departure too. "The Jungle Line" signals that this album is not "Court and Spark 2, The Sequel". So, here she is, a folk singer no more. A pop singer no more. She's not only playing a Moog, she's _layering_ it on top of a African rhythm track. She's composing with layers; she's now become a record producer. But not a _folk_ producer. She's not putting dulcimers on top of nylon strung acoustic guitars. She's not putting strings on top of jazz-pop songs (as John Lennon suggested) like on Court and Spark. This is something new yet again. She's juxtaposing African rhythms with synthesizer! The ancient/primitive with the modern/electronic. Amazing in itself. All the more amazing when you realize that she did it in 1975! You gotta realize this was before Paul Simon was lauded for inventing "World Music". Before Sting was celebrated for hiring Branford Marsalis. Anyway, like the cover, the primitive is in the foreground and the urban is being observed from a distance. The words on The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Oh, the words! If there was any doubt before, it is now clear that Joni is a deep thinker. On "The Jungle Line", the words borrow the ambiguity of "Sweet Bird" (also on this album). It's more of a scene than a story. Joni, (the narrator and a painter herself), is looking over the shoulder of another painter. This time out it's Rousseau. Rousseau is painting an urban scene, a nightclub. There's lots of excitement in the air, (live music, a low-cut blouse, beer) and more than a hint of danger. The narrator enters the painting and never leaves. The rest of "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns" is all about this one painting. It's people. About the primitive world in the city. About danger. She never goes back to the innocent, youthful partiers. As Springsteen observed, "there's a darkness on the edge of town." She never calls for a return "to some semblance of a garden". The narrator notices that the waitress is working among "cannibals" who might "eat a working girl like her alive". Then the danger theme is duplicated in an image of a poppy wreath on a soldier's tomb- a drug death. She works these images into a Tangled (hi Victor!) vine near the end, intertwining poison (the jungle's danger) and mouthpiece spit (the vulnerable, primitive musicians), and the nightclub (the urban scene). Then the "camera" pulls back, still inside the Rousseau painting, and we go "steaming up to Brooklyn Bridge", as if to say "There are a million stories in the Naked City." We go traveling, traveling, traveling in New York City, to look for the next chapter in this book about dangers and compromises and paradoxes of the twin worlds. We witness Edith and the Kingpin locked in their awful yet perfect embrace where meeting your mate is also meeting your match. A new adult world in which every blessing is a curse. Where benefactors kindly offer perils yet parasites carry blessings. A world where hostages are forced to do the unthinkable.... to smile for the camera. All of the themes from the cover except the church are right there in "The Jungle Line". This is not a minor work. This album is the work of a multi-dimensional Master at the top of all of her games simultaneously. A masterwork. Now Tanya, will you give "The Jungle Line" just one more try? All the best, Lama PS- Thanks for the bandwidth Les. Without you, for whom would I write? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 23:07:48 -0700 From: "Brenda J. Walker" Subject: Re: Cinema Paradiso Here's the one-liner: It's a coming of age story about a film director who grows up in a small Italian town where there is little to do but work and visit the town's sole distraction - a movie theatre. It's wonderful. B On 12 Oct 2001, at 20:03, Kate Bennett wrote: > >>>Cinema Paradiso - I'm with Joe on this one. Magnificently > sentimental.<<< > > is that the one about the bicycle delivery guy & the poet? > > ******************************************** > 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: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 03:51:40 -0300 From: "Wally Kairuz" Subject: RE: Cinema Paradiso kate, i think that the movie you're talking about is il postino, about chilean writer pablo neruda in exile and his postman [letter carrier? postal worker?]. wallyK On 12 Oct 2001, at 20:03, Kate Bennett wrote: > >>>Cinema Paradiso - I'm with Joe on this one. Magnificently > sentimental.<<< > > is that the one about the bicycle delivery guy & the poet? > > ******************************************** > 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 > ******************************************** ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2001 #318 ********************************* ------- 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?