From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2002 #7 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 Monday, January 7 2002 Volume 2002 : Number 007 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: -------- Re: Joni in fiction again & a suggestion for a new section onthe JMDL site [colin ] Re: fun throwaways [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Pearl's website [Jennymac48@aol.com] remember the first time you heard Joni [Mags ] Re: remember the first time you heard Joni ["Bree Mcdonough" ] Re: Joni in fiction again & a suggestion for a new section onthe JMDL site ["Bree Mcdonough" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 09:45:08 +0000 From: colin Subject: Re: Joni in fiction again & a suggestion for a new section onthe JMDL site > Bob and everyone,has this guy got his facts mixed up? I can't imagine Joni > lecturing to her fans about paying closer attention to her lyrics. It > doesn't ring true. it is true. Don't know the concert or when but she did tell her audience off for not listening. bw colin ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 11:42:43 +0200 From: "Ron Greer" Subject: Joni in fiction again & a suggestion for a new section on the JMDL site hi i tried to read a book awhile ago - totally inspired by a joni song. the book was called "coyote" and was inspired by the character in the song. unfortunately the book, being basically drivel, didnt do the song much justice :-) ron ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 15:57:45 +0200 From: "Ron Greer" Subject: fun throwaways hi >>bob wrote >>You're right, of course...I should lighten up on Dancin' Clown. Joni's >>allowed a fun throwaway or two. After all, if she has fun making records, >>she's gonna keep doing it, right? ;~) to keep the speculation going... what about big yellow taxi. it always struck me that this was intended to be a fun throwaway for three reasons. the first is just the sound & rhythm of the song - it just sounds like fun (to me anyway) despite the subject. the second reason is the laugh at the end of the recording - certainly sounds like fun. & the third reason is that just after amy grant did her cover, i saw an interview on tv, where she was describing how she spoke to joni before she recorded the track, and asked her if there was anything she should change to bring it up to date. i cant remember specifics now, but i really got the impression that joni was poking fun at her for taking it so seriously. now i was probably very influenced by my pre-conceived notion that byt was a "fun" song, and my own inability to take amy grants later music seriously (im a huge fan of her early music, but think she lost the plot in a big way after a while) ron np - rory block - gone woman blues ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 09:15:59 EST From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Re: fun throwaways << what about big yellow taxi. it always struck me that this was intended to be a fun throwaway >> Excellent points, Ron. And I agree with you. I think she pretty much composed it on the spot with the simple Chuck Berry guitar lick, and like you say, she's obviously having fun with it. And she knows it's a crowd pleaser. Yesterday I was enjoying her 1993 Troubadours of Folk concert while making a dub, and she introduces BYT as a "nursery rhyme"! Also, this arrangement is markedly different than any other of BYT that I've heard. Bob, who would also classify "Smokin' (Empty, Try Another) as a fun throwaway. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 09:48:03 EST From: Jennymac48@aol.com Subject: Pearl's website Pearl, or anyone, what is the website with photos of Joni in Tornoto recently playing the piano!!!!! Please, oh, please? Love, JennyMac ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 10:13:43 -0500 From: Mags Subject: remember the first time you heard Joni Brian and I are sitting here trying to figure out a way to articulate that moment, those feelings which were stirred up when we saw Joni walk across the stage in Toronto this past fall, knowing we were about to hear her play the piano for the first time in many, many years. I did a little piece of writing about it, albeit raw and rough, it comes closer to that moment than what I have been able to articulate thus far. I was sandwiched between my Brei and Steve Polifka in that darkened room, lights falling upon Joni's shoulders, as they should be. The audience was hushed and electric all at once. We knew..oh g-d we just knew we were about to witness something incredibly powerful and could barely contain ourselves. I am sure that all of our collective positive energy helped Joni to make that decision. Imagine our excitement about to burst like overfilled balloons when she asked us if she should play? A nice thought, I sincerely hope that Joni, beloved Joni did feel the love and admiration we have for her. A precious, special moment. ******* close your eyes and remember remember that very first time you ever heard Joni it took your breathe away stopped you....no, deeper than that riveted you in your tracks you could not believe how a human voice could reach down so deep inside you touch your very soul you wondered who she was and where she came from and how she knew you oh yes she knew you from the way she sang from the way she touched those keys or strings with the tips of her fingers oh yes you knew in that moment you knew from the way her words gave voice to yours breaking your silence finally close your eyes and remember those angst filled days and how joni became the very thing that saved you ****** It was a Sunday night many years ago now. I was working as a volunteer at the local telephone distress centre...doing what I love to do, help others through their problems. Walk inside my memory, go up that set of old wooden stairs at the back of this beautiful and ancient Anglican church in my home town. Find me sitting there, waiting for the phone to ring. As you listen with me to the local FM radio station...you hear DJ Terry Williams say he has something new to share. The chords break free and swirl around the room and your eyes fill with tears as you hear your 'self' within the words. Oh sweet memory. now tell me yours. Mags feeling the snow falling on cedars ;-) - -- it's a miracle - --- _~O / /\_, ___/\ /_ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 07:56:15 -0800 From: "Bree Mcdonough" Subject: Re: remember the first time you heard Joni Mags and Brian you guys are too much!! This is soooo wonderful!! How lucky that the two of you met and were able to hit it off and discuss Joni. Can life be better than this?!! I'm leaving town for a few days so I've printed this out to take with me. More on this later...... Thanks for sharing, Bree > >Brian and I are sitting here trying to figure out a >way to articulate that moment, those feelings which >were stirred up when we saw Joni walk across the stage >in Toronto this past fall, knowing we were about to >hear her play the piano for the first time in many, >many years. > >I did a little piece of writing about it, albeit raw >and rough, it comes closer to that moment than what I >have been able to articulate thus far. I was >sandwiched between my Brei and Steve Polifka in that >darkened room, lights falling upon Joni's shoulders, >as they should be. The audience was hushed and >electric all at once. We knew..oh g-d we just knew we >were about to witness something incredibly powerful >and could barely contain ourselves. I am sure that all >of our collective positive energy helped Joni to make >that decision. Imagine our excitement about to burst >like overfilled balloons when she asked us if she >should play? A nice thought, I sincerely hope that >Joni, beloved Joni did feel the love and admiration >we have for her. A precious, special moment. > >******* >close your eyes and remember >remember that very first time you ever heard Joni >it took your breathe away >stopped you....no, deeper than that >riveted you in your tracks >you could not believe >how a human voice could reach down >so deep inside you >touch your very soul >you wondered who she was >and where she came from >and how she knew you >oh yes >she knew you >from the way she sang >from the way she touched those keys >or strings with the tips of her fingers >oh yes you knew >in that moment >you knew >from the way her words >gave voice to yours >breaking your silence >finally >close your eyes and remember >those angst filled days >and how joni became the very thing that saved you >****** > > >It was a Sunday night many years ago now. I was >working as a volunteer at the local telephone distress >centre...doing what I love to do, help others through >their problems. Walk inside my memory, go up that set >of old wooden stairs at the back of this beautiful and >ancient Anglican church in my home town. Find me >sitting there, waiting for the phone to ring. As you >listen with me to the local FM radio station...you >hear DJ Terry Williams say he has something new to >share. The chords break free and swirl around the room >and your eyes fill with tears as you hear your 'self' >within the words. Oh sweet memory. > >now tell me yours. > >Mags >feeling the snow falling on cedars ;-) > > >-- >it's a miracle >--- > > _~O > / /\_, > ___/\ > /_ _________________________________________________________________ Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 11:12:08 -0500 From: Mags Subject: Re: remember the first time you heard Joni Bree Mcdonough wrote: > < lucky that the two of you met and were able to hit it off and discuss Joni. > Can life be better than this?!! I'm leaving town for a few days so I've > printed this out to take with me. More on this later......>> > Dear Bree.... looking so forward to hearing your story..and thanks for the kind words about Brei..he is the love of my life. We are so lucky and blessed. Everything has led us to each other...our common threads are incredible....and with Joni so much a part of 'us' too...bonus!!!!! so much to look forward to!!!! love, Mags and Brei > > > > > >Brian and I are sitting here trying to figure out a > >way to articulate that moment, those feelings which > >were stirred up when we saw Joni walk across the stage > >in Toronto this past fall, knowing we were about to > >hear her play the piano for the first time in many, > >many years. > > > >I did a little piece of writing about it, albeit raw > >and rough, it comes closer to that moment than what I > >have been able to articulate thus far. I was > >sandwiched between my Brei and Steve Polifka in that > >darkened room, lights falling upon Joni's shoulders, > >as they should be. The audience was hushed and > >electric all at once. We knew..oh g-d we just knew we > >were about to witness something incredibly powerful > >and could barely contain ourselves. I am sure that all > >of our collective positive energy helped Joni to make > >that decision. Imagine our excitement about to burst > >like overfilled balloons when she asked us if she > >should play? A nice thought, I sincerely hope that > >Joni, beloved Joni did feel the love and admiration > >we have for her. A precious, special moment. > > > >******* > >close your eyes and remember > >remember that very first time you ever heard Joni > >it took your breathe away > >stopped you....no, deeper than that > >riveted you in your tracks > >you could not believe > >how a human voice could reach down > >so deep inside you > >touch your very soul > >you wondered who she was > >and where she came from > >and how she knew you > >oh yes > >she knew you > >from the way she sang > >from the way she touched those keys > >or strings with the tips of her fingers > >oh yes you knew > >in that moment > >you knew > >from the way her words > >gave voice to yours > >breaking your silence > >finally > >close your eyes and remember > >those angst filled days > >and how joni became the very thing that saved you > >****** > > > > > >It was a Sunday night many years ago now. I was > >working as a volunteer at the local telephone distress > >centre...doing what I love to do, help others through > >their problems. Walk inside my memory, go up that set > >of old wooden stairs at the back of this beautiful and > >ancient Anglican church in my home town. Find me > >sitting there, waiting for the phone to ring. As you > >listen with me to the local FM radio station...you > >hear DJ Terry Williams say he has something new to > >share. The chords break free and swirl around the room > >and your eyes fill with tears as you hear your 'self' > >within the words. Oh sweet memory. > > > >now tell me yours. > > > >Mags > >feeling the snow falling on cedars ;-) > > > > > >-- > >it's a miracle > >--- > > > > _~O > > / /\_, > > ___/\ > > /_ > > _________________________________________________________________ > Join the worlds largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. > http://www.hotmail.com - -- And this loving is a drawing close, a tuning in, an opening. Until one perfect moment; but how can it be expressed? A receiving, an enfolding as I cradle you in my arms. Within my heart, within my soul, You are my true love. --Lui Collins - --- _~O / /\_, ___/\ /_ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 08:26:09 -0800 From: "Bree Mcdonough" Subject: Re: Joni in fiction again & a suggestion for a new section onthe JMDL site >Bob and everyone,has this guy got his facts mixed up? I can't imagine Joni > > lecturing to her fans about paying closer attention to her lyrics. It > > doesn't ring true. > >it is true. Don't know the concert or when but she did tell her audience >off for >not listening. > >bw >colin Say it ain't so. Lecturing the audience about her lyrics? Any articles to point to? Bree _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 06 Jan 2002 10:35:22 -0800 From: Julius Raymond Subject: Re: remember the first time you heard Joni > now tell me yours. > > Mags I was a freshman and Wendy was a senior, but we hit it off famously and became fast friends at college in Northern California during the early 80s. She was brilliant, funny, well-read and a talented photographer. A renaissance woman if ever I knew one. I revered and admired her and she knew it. Kindly, she was nurturing and gentle with my love. Going to her room was like visiting a sage in her study, but with a bohemian twist. She had an exquisite album collection and a plethora of delightful toys and whatnot that she took pleasure in entertaining me with: her Pez dispenser collection, a small but distinguished little library, smooth wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes containing earthly delights, some decorated with tiger's eye, amethyst or mother of pearl. One night she might show me some of her candid photographs of children in El Salvador, on another she'd read me letters she had written to lovers who had broken her heart, on yet another she would light candles and incense and read to me from Sylvia Plath, Anais Nin or Hermann Hesse. I remember coming to see her one time and she opened the door, looked at me with mock seriousness and said: "One question, mister. Water colors or finger paints?" I laughed, but I still have the water color canvas we collaborated on that evening. Sometimes she'd produce one of the wooden boxes from behind a tapestry with a glint in her eye, as if something wonderful was about to happen. She's open the box and say "smell this" and, depending on her mood, or the alignment of the stars, I might be smelling sinsimilla, saffron, myrrh or some rare aromatic potpourri. Things my olfactory sense had never experienced before. Fragrances that imprint themselves on your mind and are ever associated with a time, place or person. In some cases all three. One night she said "Close your eyes, open your mouth and stick out your tongue." She gently placed an exotic raspberry tasting candy directly on my taste buds. A tingle ran from my head, down my spine and twinkled my toes. I said,"Ummm." . She just smiled. She had gotten them in France, she said, then added matter-of-factly "they're magic." Before I could ask her what she meant by that, she took my hand and said "Come on, it's raining, let's take a walk." We walked arm and arm around campus in the drizzle, she pointed out that the eucalyptus trees were breathing and I'd be damned if they didn't appear to be. We found ourselves at a garden where there were a number of Rodin sculptures and she told me sad stories about of the subjects of each one as I marveled at their beauty and ran my hands across their wet smoothness. I was getting emotional and my sensory perceptions were oddly heightened, but all in a good way. We made our way back to the dorm, jumping in puddles along the way, singing "I Love to Walk in the Rain" from a Shirley Temple movie we had both seen independently, and we laughed till we cried at the fact that we both remembered the lyrics so well. Wendy's room was toasty warm upon our return, somehow. She lit candles all around the room and incense, too. She had one of those little red kettles that you plug in to heat water and made chamomile tea that we drank from oversized, hand-painted ceramic mugs while kicking back on her futon. She turned to me suddenly, like she had just had an epiphany, and just looked at me, eye to eye for what seemed like a long time. She was smiling mysteriously, like the Mona Lisa or Buddha, and seemed to be sort of sizing me up to see if I was worthy of what she was contemplating. Finally, she got up and went over the wooden crates that housed her album collection, alphabetically. She found what she was looking for, then carefully reached in with her fingertips and slid the record out of its protective sleeve. In the candlelight I could only make out a dark album cover with a blurry blue figure of a woman's face on the cover. She was handling the disc like some kind of precious heirloom though, holding it between her palms only along the edges. She put it on the turntable and cleaned it with one of those velvet swab things after putting a few drops of something in a red plastic bottle on it. She gingerly dropped the needle on the record than hurried back to be by my side. She held my hand with both of hers. The beauty of the sounds that came out of her speakers astounded me. I listened closely to the lyrics of the first song and was profoundly moved, almost to tears, like I had been while experiencing the Rodin sculptures. I was absorbed and enthralled, and was hearing music that had a visceral, emotional effect on me like no music ever had before, like I felt when smelling Wendy's myrrh. I sat rapt for the whole album side, then begged to hear the other. Wendy must've seen the amazement and wonder written on my face after the last lingering note of "The Last Time I Saw Richard" and pre-empted my inevitable questions. Joni Mitchell, she said. Blue. - -Julius ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:57:46 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: remember the first time you heard Joni The first time I heard Joni would have been in 1969 shortly after Clouds was released. Our family had recently moved to the Toronto area from small-town Pembroke, Ontario. I was 12 when we moved and I felt uprooted. Puberty/adolescence is probably not a good time to move from the town you've spent most of your life in to a completely new, bit city. I was a bit immature, that is, compared to the "city" kids. We moved in mid-summer and I started Grade 7 that fall and the kids in my class all seemed so grownup. They were interested in boys, I was afraid of them. They were wearing makeup and going to make-out parties in the garage near some townhouses. I didn't think I had anything in common with them. Over the course of the next three years, because we were in a new subdivision that was growing by leaps and bounds, I went to about five different schools, as they kept building new schools and changing the boundaries. Or, the new school wasn't quite finished on time, so we spent part of the year being bussed to another school, where we had temporary classrooms in the gym. Two schools each in both Grades 7 and 8. Then, I started highschool. All my classmates from Grade 8 were going to the public highschool, but my parents wanted us all to go to Catholic schools, so once again, I started highschool not knowing a darn person. Needless to say, I was a wreck - I'm not a really outgoing person at the best of times so put adolescent angst on top of that, and I felt like biggest freak in history. Somewhere in that time - I guess if it was 1969, I would have been 16 (for some reason, I always thought it was earlier than that), a friend of ours from our old hometown came to visit and she told me about Joni Mitchell. I was imagining she'd be some country and western type artist - which is what I figured anyone Canadian would be (Canadians of a certain age would probably get this, the rest of you, maybe not!) but I bought Clouds without having heard her first, took it home, put it on the record player and.... I was in love, I had found my idol, the person who understood my soul and lifted me out of the gloom (temporarily anyway!) Joni became my goddess - I wanted to be just like her. I wanted to play her songs on the guitar and I wanted hair just like hers (with the help of Summer Blonde, I got as close as I could). The beauty of discovering an artist not at the very beginning is that you can buy their older albums too, so it's kind of like Christmas every day for a while - I just had to go out and get the first one (STAS, Joni Mitchell, whatever you want to call it.) I was in Joni heaven. Years later, still a freak but fairly comfortable with it, she still lifts me up and inspires me. Yet, I still haven't listed to Joni this year and I guess I should because I'm feeling way too melancholy lately (it's winter, it's dark, I owe lots of money to lots of people, and we're all too friggin' gloomy in my family - resolution for this year: have some fun!) Sometimes Joni makes me feel really good and positive; other times, she makes me cry (which is good, because then you get it all out). It's funny - I'm not sure whether I'd have felt the same about Joni if I had discovered her at a later age. I'm sure part of the devotion (that's all I can call it) that I have to her relates to my age and personal circumstance at the time. I have since discovered many talented singers/songwriters (many, thanks to this list) but no one ever does it for me like Joni. Ahh, first love! - --- Mags wrote: > close your eyes and remember > remember that very first time you ever heard Joni > it took your breathe away > stopped you....no, deeper than that > riveted you in your tracks > you could not believe > how a human voice could reach down > so deep inside you > touch your very soul ______________________________________________________ Send your holiday cheer with http://greetings.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 13:59:11 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: remember the first time you heard Joni - --- Mags wrote: > thanks > for the kind words about > Brei..he is the love of my life. We are so lucky and > blessed. Everything has > led us to each other...our common threads are > incredible....and with Joni so > much a part of 'us' too...bonus!!!!! so much to look > forward to!!!! > Mags'n'Brei, you are so lucky to have found each other. (I'm jealous.) ______________________________________________________ Send your holiday cheer with http://greetings.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 14:34:33 EST From: WARREN901@aol.com Subject: Re: comefuckmepumps hey guys...just a little post to clarify the reference to " come fuck me pumps. " of course it is obvious they are an invitation. they are of the spiked variety and usually very high. i always picture them in red, although i'm sure any color will do ! later... jonily yours ( this is the joni content, ) warren keith ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2002 11:53:26 -0800 From: "Mark or Travis" Subject: Re: comef**kmepumps > hey guys...just a little post to clarify the reference to " come fuck me > pumps. " of course it is obvious they are an invitation. they are of the > spiked variety and usually very high. i always picture them in red, > although i'm sure any color will do ! later... I always think of them as black and on Joan Crawford's feet. Mark E. ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2002 #7 ******************************* ------- 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?