From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #74 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 Sunday, March 2 2003 Volume 2003 : Number 074 Sign up now for JoniFest 2003! http://www.jonifest.com ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . ["Lucy Hone" ] Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Toronto Star interview/article in today's Toronto Star [Catherine McKay <] Re: Chords of Inquiry [Deb Messling ] RE: Toronto Star interview ["Victor Johnson" ] Joni TV ["Christopher Treacy" ] Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . . Now "did you get off the train and when did you get back on?" [Chris ] Joni on CBC and in your video library [Rick and Susan ] Re: Joni on PBS Joni an American citizen??? [Catherine McKay ] RE: Toronto Star interview [Catherine McKay ] Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . [Mags N Brei ] Re: Joni on PBS Joni an American citizen??? [Mags N Brei ] Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . . Now "did you get off thetrain and when did you get back on?" [] Re: KD and Hejira [Catherine McKay ] Star Interview ["James Leahy" ] Star Interview ["James Leahy" ] Re: Star Interview [dsk ] Spotting a Joni fan at 50 paces [dsk ] JMDL project [SCJoniGuy@aol.com] Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain [=?iso-8859-1?Q?Emiliano_Pati=F] Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain [Catherine McKay ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 09:31:47 -0000 From: "Lucy Hone" Subject: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 15:26:26 EST From: Murphycopy@aol.com wrote....... "Have you ever grown to love any of Joni's work many years after it was released? Am I going to be put in the JMDL slow class for admitting this? " WELCOME TO THE CATCHING UP CLUB... I am catching up after a 16 year gap... and catching up on Joni is not something you can rush is it. Also I think Joni's music is something that when you come back to it, you discover what it was you had been missing...."you don't know what you've got til its gone" I had to go out and buy my vinyl Joni's on CD when my ex and I split as he took the record deck and HIfi system. But Joni had just about been banned in our house anyway so I had rarely had a chance to listen to her in the 16 years I was with my ex...Pathetic isn't it! I am not that person anymore and Joni's music has played a huge part in that. I had "boarded the train" with BLUE, but now realise that "Ladies of the Canyon" was when I started to hear Joni. I had bought Court and Spark and played it to death, and Hissing too..... but there are huge gaps in my collection and indeed my listening until 4 years ago, when I finally bought my house and was free to buy and listen to what I wanted. I had the luck to meet someone who lent me some of their Joni CD's which I stored on my Real Player. (Shadows and Light, DJRD, Mingus, Turbulent Indigo, Both Sides Now) but gradually I am buying my own copies as I hate to be harnessed to the computer. I have yet to hear Taming the Tiger, and quite a few of the other albums, but I wlll get there.... I bought T'Log and it grows on me. This train will run and run. A turning point for me was a wonderful spring day, in 2000, and I had bought bunches of daffodils and irises, had cleaned the house (for once) had the windows open and sunlight was pouring in at the back of the house, birds were singing and everything looked glazed in that freshness that April has to it... I turned on the radio and "Chelsea MOrning" started to play, as if it had been waiting for me. I stood in my kichen and realised for the first time in years that I was happy. Joni's music playing loudly in my house and no one to turn it off, and no one to criticise the buying of flowers..... And coming back to Joni, or even discovering her older works ..... only 4 years ago... is something I am enjoying sooo much, the lists, whether Joni only or the digest list, are wonderful places to gain different view points on what the songs are about. In art appreciation the "beholders share" is important to the person looking at the painting...... I think the "listeners share" is something I am finding as hearing Joni unlocks me from a rather lonely aural tomb! Thank you, Murph, for admitting your newness to some of it too....I don't feel such a twit! Lucy, on a very Chelsea morning in England. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 07:41:29 EST From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . > I stood in my kichen and realised for the first time in years that I was > happy. Joni's music playing loudly in my house and no one to turn it off, > and > no one to criticise the buying of flowers..... > Lucy, your posts are always so poetic. I loved this passage, and since we're speaking about the lyrics to Hejira, I thought of this phrase: "So now I am returning to myself, These things that you & I suppressed" And you're right, Murphy makes a LOT of us feel like non-twits. :~) Bob NP: XTC, "Tissue Tigers" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 07:59:41 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Toronto Star interview/article in today's Toronto Star Today's (Sunday's) Toronto Star has an article/interview on Joni in the Arts & Entertainment section. There's also a photo in the hard-copy version.) Here's a link: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035778493755&call_pageid=968867495754&col=969483191630 and here's the article for those who don't like links (apologies for the bandwidth otherwise.): - ------------------------------------------------------ Joni Mitchell's both sides now on display Joni has looked at both sides of life MARTIN KNELMAN It's five o'clock on a weekday afternoon, and the California sun is about to disappear into the Pacific Ocean, but Joni Mitchell  who happens to be known as one of the world's greatest and most original living singer/songwriters  is still wearing her pyjamas. "I've got to go to a birthday party and wrap a present." She is standing in the yellow-and-blue-tiled kitchen of her mansion in the upscale Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles, where she has spent most of the day talking on the phone and drifting from room to room. So far today she's been unable to get off the phone long enough to get dressed. The birthday party is for her former manager, Elliot Roberts, who is turning 60 (a milestone Mitchell herself will face next November). Now she's on the phone again, doing an interview with some journalist in Toronto, once more telling the story of the tall girl with high cheekbones and long blonde hair who started her career in Yorkville coffee houses and became famous for turning her own psychic pain into popular art with such songs as "The Circle Game," "Chelsea Morning," "Woodstock," "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Turbulent Indigo," all the while recording 21 albums and winning five Grammy Awards. To the despair of handlers trying to promote her current album, Travelogue, Mitchell almost never gives interviews, partly because she guards her privacy, partly because she thinks the media always want to turn everything into trivial gossip, partly because, as she explains bluntly: "I'm not good with the press. I can't handle it. I tend to be too honest." But she has agreed to do just this one interview because it's about The Life And Times Of Joni Mitchell: A Woman Of Heart And Mind  a two-hour television biography that will premiere Tuesday. CBC will show it in two parts this week and next on Life & Times. Then in April, PBS will show it in a two-hour slot in its prestigious American Masters series  a tremendous honour since the series does indeed focus on artists who truly are masters. Having the film made was by no means an easy or relaxing experience but Mitchell has seen the finished product. She likes it and wants other people to see it, though she is also honest about her reservations: "You can't get a whole life into a bio. I feel that I'm a jukebox with 300 buttons, and people keep pressing only two  A1 and B2. "The only reason I'm doing this interview is that I think the film is touching and unusual. I have my own criticisms of it, but it's good storytelling, and you get drawn into it. My father once said to me, `Joan, you've lived many lives in one.' I think this piece brings that out. It's like a fairy tale. It shows a life that's been wonderful and difficult and full of challenges and joys. Susan Lacy (the director and editor) took a lyrical, poetic approach; it's a very romantic piece." In almost every room of Mitchell's house there is a radio tuned to a different station, though none is tuned to a music station. "There has been a tremendous drop in the standards of music on the radio. It was always the fluffy stuff that got the most attention, but there used to be places where the pioneering spirit had its place. Now it's all droning mediocrity. You'd have to be on ecstasy to enjoy the direction music has gone in. I've lost interest. I don't want to be a part of it." Instead her radios are tuned to talk stations offering news flashes and political commentary, which all seem like madness to her. "I wander through my house trying to get a picture of what is happening to the human psyche," she says in a tone that's both perplexed and angry. "The whole thing is ridiculous  a tragic comedy. We're marching into war. That means we've become an imperialist power, which goes against everything America stands for. It all comes down to personal economic interest." Whatever her bank account may say, she is still essentially that vulnerable waif who was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, raised in Saskatchewan, and who made the world take notice when she strummed her guitar and sang about her deepest feelings in a sweet soprano voice that ranges over several octaves. Susan Lacy, the American Masters veteran producer-director, has gone way beyond the usual conventions of TV bios, creating a riveting narrative that tells the story of Mitchell's life while also providing a complex and intelligent overview of the ups and downs of her career. It includes not only marvellous performance footage but also revealing interviews with, among others, David Crosby, Graham Nash and David Geffen. The film was produced by Eagle Vision, an independent company, in association with PBS, and has a different feel from most CBC Life & Times bios, partly because it's twice as long as most, and partly because it was acquired by CBC with little creative input. For years Mitchell has bemoaned celebrity even though she was also conscious of enjoying its benefits, and she has always followed her own personal and artistic instincts rather than giving in to the fashion of the times and commercial pressures. You are not ever going to see Joni Mitchell in Las Vegas doing a "Joni's greatest hits" act that exploits her audience's nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s. Over the years she has faced her share of meltdowns. Husbands and lovers have come and gone. "I'm a serial monogamist and I've had good relationships," she says. "I'm proud that there are men in the bio who speak tenderly and insightfully about me." The critics were sometimes unkind about her constant attempts to be fresh and inventive. She had a kind of nervous breakdown  out of which came fresh inspiration. She withdrew into painting and meditation. She had already been written off as has-been a decade ago when she quipped: "Now I have rich people's problems, and you can't make songs out of rich people's problems." That was before her spectacular 1994 comeback with an album that won two Grammys and new fans. Then in 1997, she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  the same year she was deluged with publicity about her reunion with the daughter she, as an unwed mother, had given up more than 30 years earlier. Through it all, Joni Mitchell has never forgotten exactly who she is or where she came from. When you listen to her new version of "Both Sides Now" on her 2000 album of the same title, it's obvious her voice doesn't have the lyric purity it had when she first sang it three decades earlier. But now her voice has the rich and weary, smoky lived-in quality of a woman who has enough experience to understand at last the words she wrote so long ago. "Something's lost but something's gained/ In living every day." And when you hear the thrillingly mature Joni Mitchell revisit this signature song, you know you're getting the simple truth, without lipstick or makeup: I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow It's life's illusions that I recall I really don't know life at all. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 08:21:23 -0500 From: Deb Messling Subject: Re: Chords of Inquiry Doug's entitled to his opinion, of course, but just as a point of information, I do believe the phrase "chords of inquiry" was coined by Joni in discussing her open tunings. At 10:17 PM 3/1/03 -0500, Doug wrote: >Thats about the dumbest title I've ever heard. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Deb Messling -^..^- messling@enter.net - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.445 / Virus Database: 250 - Release Date: 1/21/03 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 8:44:12 -0800 From: "Victor Johnson" Subject: RE: Toronto Star interview "Now it's all droning mediocrity. You'd have to be on ecstasy to enjoy the direction music has gone in. I've lost interest. I don't want to be a part of it." J. Mitchell This line cracks me up...but to some degree I think its true, as least as far as radio goes- in Atlanta anyway. I'd be curious to know what new music Joni has listened to and what she thinks is any good. I kind of see where she's coming from though. I went to see King Crimson kick off their tour in Asheville the other night and were just brilliant. The played almost all new material and the whole show was just so powerful, innovative, hauntingly beautiful...it wasn't just a "good" show, I mean I was totally spellbound, drifting off on the musical landscape they were creating. They remind me of Joni Mitchell, in that they have a unique sound that is so highly innovative and unusual and their music has a real sense of personality and depth to it. If Joni Mitchell had been the lead singer of a progressive art rock band it would have been King Crimson. Victor, who went to see Angela Motter last night (really good local Atlanta singer)- two great nights of music in a row...which leads me to believe there is lots of good music out there, you just have to try a little harder to find it...most likely it won't be on the radio. - --- Victor Johnson - --- waytoblu@mindspring.com Visit http://www.cdbaby.com/victorjohnson Look for the new album "Parsonage Lane" in March 2003 Produced by Chris Rosser at Hollow Reed Studios ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 09:10:57 -0500 From: "Christopher Treacy" Subject: Joni TV So, nobody has answered my question...I thought maybe I'd state it again. Jin has indicated on the JM.com site that the CBC special and the PBS American Masters episode are one in the same...are we sure of this? Secondly, what has happened to the film about Travelogue? I hate to make this sound so urgent, but ya' know, over the years I guess I've gotten used to a full out JM media circus surrounding each release and this time we got nothing, no Letterman, no Rosie...Joni Jonesin'. Later, Chris ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 14:34:51 +0000 From: Chris Marshall Subject: Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . . Now "did you get off the train and when did you get back on?" On Sunday, March 2, 2003, at 04:48 AM, Lori Fye wrote: > I hopped ON the train at "Hejira" when I was 19, and have spent the > last 26 years wandering through the various cars, with no intention of > ever leaving. I'm with Lori on this one... Hopped on with Hejira in about 1994, and can't imagine myself ever getting off said train. Almost didn't get on the train... it was only through reading of Jaco's work on her material that I gave it a try. I was hooked from the off. It's like meeting someone wonderful that you just *know* you're never going to fall out with, and will always be there for you. It's a constant comforting presence. Gee, look at me getting all philosphical. - --Chris Marshall chrisAThatstand.org (AIM: Chr15Marshall) "If you're ever lost, I'll beat the world to finding you" Stryngs, "Bobblehats and Beer" Band website, with downloads, at http://www.stryngs.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 07:08:01 -0800 From: Rick and Susan Subject: Joni on CBC and in your video library The CBC replays Life and Times on CBC Newsworld at the following times: Tuesday at 11 p.m. ET, Wednesday at 2 a.m. ET and Saturday at 7 a.m. ET and 4 p.m. ET. As well, it seems the CBC presentation of Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind will be available on video starting May 20. The price is in Canadian dollars: To purchase The Life and Times of Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind Contact: THA Inc. 90 A Isabella Street Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1N4 tel. 416-925-3766 fax 416-925-3116 tominternational @msn.com Retail Price: $24.98 Release Date: May 20/03 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 10:45:32 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Joni on PBS Joni an American citizen??? --- Mags N Brei wrote: > Doug wrote: > According to this schedule: > http://www.pbs.org/whatson/schedulex/daily.html?date=2003-04-2 > > The show is called "Chords of Inquiry" and appears > to be 90 minutes long. > > > > i just checked out your link and according to 'them' > they say that Joni is an American > citizen....wot????? > > this inquiring Canadian mind wants to know! Are Americans allowed to have dual citizenship? or are you supposed to forsake all others when you Yankify? Just wondering - some countries don't allow it and in a way, it makes sense - how can you be a "citizen" of more than one country? ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 11:04:24 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Joni TV --- Christopher Treacy wrote: > So, nobody has answered my question...I thought > maybe I'd state it again. > > Jin has indicated on the JM.com site that the CBC > special and the PBS American > Masters episode are one in the same...are we sure of > this? > > Secondly, what has happened to the film about > Travelogue? It certainly appears that the PBS and CBC shows are one and the same, with the difference that the Ceeb's is going to be played out in two parts (probably with many commercials) and that PBS will air it as a single entity (if we're lucky, it won't be pledge week and there won't be a two-hour pledge break halfway through!) If I can get my inept Canadian VCR (I'm sure it was made either in the USA or China, in fact) to cooperate, I will tape both in any case. (The problem isn't the VCR so much as the remote - it seems you can't program the VCR without using the remote to access the menu, and that part of the remote is kaput, so I need to dig out my instruction manual and find out for sure.) The useless Toronto Star interview that I pointed to a while back does say it's the same thing, but we needn't believe everything we read. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 11:14:09 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: RE: Toronto Star interview --- Victor Johnson wrote: > "Now it's all droning mediocrity. You'd have to be > on ecstasy to enjoy the > direction music has gone in. I've lost interest. I > don't want to be a part > of it." J. Mitchell > > > This line cracks me up...but to some degree I think > its true, as least as > far as radio goes- in Atlanta anyway. I'd be > curious to know what new > music Joni has listened to and what she thinks is > any good. So would I. I thought everything sounded the same because I'm getting old; now I'm glad to see that Joni says it really DOES all sound the same (so it must be true). If Ecstasy were a legal drug, I'd think this was all part of the pharmaceutical industry's dastardly plot to get everyone hooked on as many drugs as possible - take this pill and enjoy the shitty music! It reminds me of "Brave new world" and I wish I could remember the name of the drug everyone was on. Have you ever noticed when you go to buy drugs (the legal kind) that there's always a huge lineup of people also buying drugs? ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 08:20:18 -0800 (PST) From: Mags N Brei Subject: Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . Smurph wrote: "Have you ever grown to love any of Joni's work many years after it was released? Am I going to be put in the JMDL slow class for admitting this? " and then Lucy wrote: <<>> <<>> well here I am to join in with your club Smurph and Lucy...a great big me too, me too. my journey a la joni began in 1974 while i was working as a volunteer at a distress centre . on the table beside me was a small radio which carried the most wonderful fm station our little town had to offer. talk about an oasis! I was mesmerized when I heard those opening chords . my heart nearly burst wide open when I heard my loneliness, my life reflected back to me in Court and Spark, oh sweet relief. From there, I took a step backward to Blue and then Ladies, then Clouds. After that, Joni's beautiful voice was banish-ed from the king's domain within which i resided for far too long. once i took my life altering hejira from the west toward lighter days, my heart rejoiced as I was once again introduced to more Joni than I ever dreamed possible. Ive only learned about her later works from for the roses, to hejira, to don juan's reckless daughter and night ride home as well as mingus , and dog eat dog because of this list. while at times it embarrasses me to admit this, because i am a such a life long fan of joni...suffice to say, and i am proud of it...educating mags is still in process. my blissful ignorance is exemplified by my not understanding the lyrics from that hissing song were meant to be a retrospective.. thanks bob muller for the heads up on that one! and speaking of Bob and riveting Joni moments...i will never forget the day at Joni Fest a few years ago when Bob Muller sang Amelia. Tears all round the room. It was like hearing the voice of an angel. You could have heard a pin drop. I see that the album Hejira and the gifts within have resonated deeply within many of us. I know for me, it has become one among my favourite of Joan's work. I also love Turbulent Indigo...when I heard that for the first time, I thought, yea, there she is. She's back. My ears didnt get Mingus at the time, and now, thanks to this list Im encouraged to hear things in a new way. at last....i share my life, love and space, internal and external with my honeyboi who loves joni as much as i do. he knows her lyrics ... nearly all of them (which to this day amazes and delights me) , he sings joni songs with me at the drop of a hat, he uses joni lyrics in his every day speech as a way of making a point. and yes, Lucy, he even likes flowers ;-) Mags np: xpn You open my heart, you do. Yes you do. - JM Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 08:41:45 -0800 (PST) From: Mags N Brei Subject: Re: Joni on PBS Joni an American citizen??? Catherine McKay wrote: <<>> Yes Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus...oops wrong story! yes Catherine, you really can be a dual citizen. Im not sure under what circumstances. I have a friend who resides in Canada, as a canadian and an american citizen. Some of us are planning the permanent resident/green card route, while maintaining Canadian citizenship. :-) and Im still not sure what Joni's status is. I dont know why that shocked me so. Mags...looking for signs of oh canada!!! oh yea, my shirt :-) thanks Roberto!! You open my heart, you do. Yes you do. - JM Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 11:43:42 EST From: Murphycopy@aol.com Subject: Re: Joni TV Chris writes: << this time we got nothing, no Letterman, no Rosie.. >> Well, after her recent hissy fit over Letterman's treatment of musical guests, I wouldn't expect to see Joni on his show any time soon. Rosie is off the air, of course. But you're right, there has been no TV presence after T'log's release. I think Joni has either retired, or she believes she has retired, but will change her mind (again) on this issue once the musical muses get the painting muses in a good headlock. In any case, I just hope she doesn't show up on "Get Me Out of Here . . . I'm a Celebrity!" --Bob ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 14:07:30 EST From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: Gimme a "B"!! In a message dated 3/2/2003 11:46:37 AM Eastern Standard Time, russbowden@earthlink.net writes: > Do I get a freebie? Yes, indeedy! Congrats to keyboardist extraordinaire Russ Bowden who stepped up and claimed the 'alphabet' freebie. Just let me know where to send it Russ. Bob NP: Alana Davis, "Weight Of The World" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 18:16:39 -0500 From: "michael o'malley" Subject: KD and Hejira Well, not one soul responded to my recent post about gushing, so I guess it was just too-too uncool, boring or embarassing for some. C'est la vie! I've noticed that that my local TV guide refers to the upcoming CBC Life & Times doccumentary as Both Sides Now and Then, and not (the much better ) Woman of Heart and Mind. We'll have to see what that's all about. In the Satuday Globe and Mail (Canada's National Newspaper, which I read religiously every Saturday morn) there was a great little bit about k.d. Lang's desert island discs, as noted recently in Downbeat Magazine. Downbeat asked the 41-year-old native of Consort, Alberta to name the five recordings she would need lf stranded on the proverbial desert island. Bobs take note: Her choices: Hejira by Joni Mitchell (yeah!); Latin a la Love, by Peggy Lee; Season of Glass by Yoko Ono (not for the faint of heart); the songs Let's Get Lost and Lush Life, as performed, respectively, by Chet Baker and Johnny Hartman with J. Coltrane, and Warm Valley or Blood Count by long-time Ellington saxophonist, Johnnny Hodges. Ya got to give her credit, this lady's got taste, eh! And speaking of Lush Life, isn't Billy Strayhorn simply one of the greatest unsung geniuses? His songs send me. Michael in Quebec ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 19:36:18 -0500 From: dsk Subject: Re: "Hejira" -- Oh, I get it now . . . Now "did you get off thetrain and when did you get back on?" Lori Fye wrote: > > I hopped ON the train at "Hejira" when I was 19, and have spent the > last 26 years wandering through the various cars, with no intention of > ever leaving. Being given LOTC and Clouds was the beginning of my ride. I can still picture my boyfriend at the time holding out two used albums that he'd just bought at a radio station sale and hearing him say, you might like these. All that whiteness on the LOTC cover was instantly appealing. And he was in front of a window so there were sunbeams flowing into the room and there was a mystical glow to the whole scene. (ok, slight exaggeration there :-) And he was right, I loved both those albums on first hearing, even some of the "whiny sound" ones on Clouds. I was instantly hooked by the lyrics about the complexities of relationships and identified completely with the appeal of freedom and the attitude "you could have been more than a name on the door". The purchasing of Hejira sealed the deal forever, so that even when the train wobbles and threatens to throw me off, I've hung on. It was while walking miles through a Massachusetts blizzard (no cars or buses were able to move but the record store in town was open!) to spend my last few (for a while) dollars on Hejira, and thinking how nuts, how completely obsessive that was, that I decided I was in this relationship for life, no matter what. That loyalty's been sorely tested at times, especially during the 80s and recently with BSN and T'log. The first bump on the tracks was Mingus, which was the first album I didn't instantly love. I expect to stick with Joni, though, no matter what she does, and it still feels kind of nutty sometimes. Joni's the only one I've felt that determined about. Now I'd also buy anything by Richard Thompson or PJ Harvey as soon as it's released, but those are recent "relationships", and I don't think I'd walk through a blizzard for them. Debra Shea ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 19:49:48 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: KD and Hejira --- michael o'malley wrote: > > In the Satuday Globe and Mail (Canada's National > Newspaper, which I read > religiously every Saturday morn) there was a great > little bit about k.d. > Lang's desert island discs, as noted recently in > Downbeat Magazine. ... > Her choices: Hejira by Joni Mitchell (yeah!); Latin > a la Love, by Peggy Lee; > Season of Glass by Yoko Ono (not for the faint of > heart); the songs Let's Get > Lost and Lush Life, as performed, respectively, by > Chet Baker and Johnny > Hartman with J. Coltrane, and Warm Valley or Blood > Count by long-time > Ellington saxophonist, Johnnny Hodges. Ya got to > give her credit, this lady's > got taste, eh! They don't let me read the Globe but I must say kd Lang certainly has eclectic taste. And doesn't she have one of the most amazing voices? ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 19:50:08 -0500 From: "James Leahy" Subject: Star Interview Here's an interview with Joni by The Star's Martin Knelman: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035778493755&call_page=TS_Columnists&call_pageid=970 599109774&call_pagepath=Columnists ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 19:52:07 -0500 From: "James Leahy" Subject: Star Interview Joni Mitchell's both sides now on display Joni has looked at both sides of life MARTIN KNELMAN ENTERTAINMENT It's five o'clock on a weekday afternoon, and the California sun is about to disappear into the Pacific Ocean, but Joni Mitchell - who happens to be known as one of the world's greatest and most original living singer/songwriters - is still wearing her pyjamas. "I've got to go to a birthday party and wrap a present." She is standing in the yellow-and-blue-tiled kitchen of her mansion in the upscale Bel Air neighbourhood of Los Angeles, where she has spent most of the day talking on the phone and drifting from room to room. So far today she's been unable to get off the phone long enough to get dressed. The birthday party is for her former manager, Elliot Roberts, who is turning 60 (a milestone Mitchell herself will face next November). Now she's on the phone again, doing an interview with some journalist in Toronto, once more telling the story of the tall girl with high cheekbones and long blonde hair who started her career in Yorkville coffee houses and became famous for turning her own psychic pain into popular art with such songs as "The Circle Game," "Chelsea Morning," "Woodstock," "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Turbulent Indigo," all the while recording 21 albums and winning five Grammy Awards. To the despair of handlers trying to promote her current album, Travelogue, Mitchell almost never gives interviews, partly because she guards her privacy, partly because she thinks the media always want to turn everything into trivial gossip, partly because, as she explains bluntly: "I'm not good with the press. I can't handle it. I tend to be too honest." But she has agreed to do just this one interview because it's about The Life And Times Of Joni Mitchell: A Woman Of Heart And Mind - a two-hour television biography that will premiere Tuesday. CBC will show it in two parts this week and next on Life & Times. Then in April, PBS will show it in a two-hour slot in its prestigious American Masters series - a tremendous honour since the series does indeed focus on artists who truly are masters. Having the film made was by no means an easy or relaxing experience but Mitchell has seen the finished product. She likes it and wants other people to see it, though she is also honest about her reservations: "You can't get a whole life into a bio. I feel that I'm a jukebox with 300 buttons, and people keep pressing only two - A1 and B2. "The only reason I'm doing this interview is that I think the film is touching and unusual. I have my own criticisms of it, but it's good storytelling, and you get drawn into it. My father once said to me, `Joan, you've lived many lives in one.' I think this piece brings that out. It's like a fairy tale. It shows a life that's been wonderful and difficult and full of challenges and joys. Susan Lacy (the director and editor) took a lyrical, poetic approach; it's a very romantic piece." In almost every room of Mitchell's house there is a radio tuned to a different station, though none is tuned to a music station. "There has been a tremendous drop in the standards of music on the radio. It was always the fluffy stuff that got the most attention, but there used to be places where the pioneering spirit had its place. Now it's all droning mediocrity. You'd have to be on ecstasy to enjoy the direction music has gone in. I've lost interest. I don't want to be a part of it." Instead her radios are tuned to talk stations offering news flashes and political commentary, which all seem like madness to her. "I wander through my house trying to get a picture of what is happening to the human psyche," she says in a tone that's both perplexed and angry. "The whole thing is ridiculous - a tragic comedy. We're marching into war. That means we've become an imperialist power, which goes against everything America stands for. It all comes down to personal economic interest." Whatever her bank account may say, she is still essentially that vulnerable waif who was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, raised in Saskatchewan, and who made the world take notice when she strummed her guitar and sang about her deepest feelings in a sweet soprano voice that ranges over several octaves. Susan Lacy, the American Masters veteran producer-director, has gone way beyond the usual conventions of TV bios, creating a riveting narrative that tells the story of Mitchell's life while also providing a complex and intelligent overview of the ups and downs of her career. It includes not only marvellous performance footage but also revealing interviews with, among others, David Crosby, Graham Nash and David Geffen. The film was produced by Eagle Vision, an independent company, in association with PBS, and has a different feel from most CBC Life & Times bios, partly because it's twice as long as most, and partly because it was acquired by CBC with little creative input. For years Mitchell has bemoaned celebrity even though she was also conscious of enjoying its benefits, and she has always followed her own personal and artistic instincts rather than giving in to the fashion of the times and commercial pressures. You are not ever going to see Joni Mitchell in Las Vegas doing a "Joni's greatest hits" act that exploits her audience's nostalgia for the 1960s and 1970s. Over the years she has faced her share of meltdowns. Husbands and lovers have come and gone. "I'm a serial monogamist and I've had good relationships," she says. "I'm proud that there are men in the bio who speak tenderly and insightfully about me." The critics were sometimes unkind about her constant attempts to be fresh and inventive. She had a kind of nervous breakdown - out of which came fresh inspiration. She withdrew into painting and meditation. She had already been written off as has-been a decade ago when she quipped: "Now I have rich people's problems, and you can't make songs out of rich people's problems." That was before her spectacular 1994 comeback with an album that won two Grammys and new fans. Then in 1997, she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - the same year she was deluged with publicity about her reunion with the daughter she, as an unwed mother, had given up more than 30 years earlier. Through it all, Joni Mitchell has never forgotten exactly who she is or where she came from. When you listen to her new version of "Both Sides Now" on her 2000 album of the same title, it's obvious her voice doesn't have the lyric purity it had when she first sang it three decades earlier. But now her voice has the rich and weary, smoky lived-in quality of a woman who has enough experience to understand at last the words she wrote so long ago. "Something's lost but something's gained/ In living every day." And when you hear the thrillingly mature Joni Mitchell revisit this signature song, you know you're getting the simple truth, without lipstick or makeup: I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow It's life's illusions that I recall I really don't know life at all. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 20:24:22 -0500 From: dsk Subject: Re: Star Interview James Leahy wrote: > > MARTIN KNELMAN > ENTERTAINMENT > > In almost every room of Mitchell's house there is a radio tuned to a > different station, though none is tuned to a music station. ... > > Instead her radios are tuned to talk stations offering news flashes and > political commentary, which all seem like madness to her. > > "I wander through my house trying to get a picture of what is happening to > the human psyche," she says in a tone that's both perplexed and angry. How fascinating. As far as I know, this is the first mention ever of exactly what Joni listens to in her daily life. Such cacophony! This really surprises me because it seems so disjointed. All bits and pieces. I wonder if she's always done that or if she's more curious now about the current world situation. ... As soon as I write that, I can hear "Ethiopia", so obviously being curious about what's going on in the world isn't new for her. > "The whole thing is ridiculous - a tragic comedy. We're marching into war. That > means we've become an imperialist power, which goes against everything > America stands for. It all comes down to personal economic interest." Whoopee. There's some anger there. I feel a new album coming on... Debra Shea NP: TV, The Sopranos, a little too violent for me... waiting for Six Feet Under at 9 on the same channel. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 21:04:38 -0500 From: dsk Subject: Spotting a Joni fan at 50 paces It was a mysterious experience. There's a woman where I'm working who I see occasionally. She's there during the day, I'm usually there in the evening, so our conversations have been pleasant and usually brief. I don't know exactly what it was about her that made me think she may be a joni fan, even though we'd never talked about music. She's in her 40s (I guessed), talkative and seems adventurous... are those the signs of a Joni fan? The thought crossed my mind and then I forgot about it. So last week we were chatting and it's like a joni-rep whispered in my ear saying ask her if she's a joni fan (really, I don't usually hear voices). I asked, and her response was a loud, "I loooovvve Joni!!!" Well, what a thrill for me. I didn't have to explain that "no, Joni's not dead" (I hate it when people think that!) and I didn't have to say, "yes, she was a 'folk' singer but she moved beyond that long ago" and I didn't have to explain why I like her so much... we could just talk about lyrics and loving her music and how we each came to find out about her. I told her it was so rare to find another Joni fan that we're kindred spirits now, for all time. There's no escaping it. She said "oh yeah, that's fine" (with much enthusiasm; sign of a generous spirit I'd say, especially since she didn't mind my over-dramatizing). I told her about Joni Wall to Wall on March 22 and she's all excited about going. I also mentioned the list and she said "oh no, I'm not that serious about it all". Don't know where she got that impression of discussion lists; not from me, although I guess anyone here is rather "serious about it all." Has anyone else ever spotted a Joni fan from afar? Debra Shea ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 21:26:32 EST From: SCJoniGuy@aol.com Subject: JMDL project In a message dated 2/25/2003 12:25:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, MTatum@mail.lasccoa.state.la.us writes: > Another idea is an actual gift to Joni from the list that would > allow each member to include something or to contribute in some way. > The cookbook was before my time here, but is a good example. How about > some cds from us (Jonifest-type performances?) Hi Mark...I've been sitting on this one for a couple of days...anyway, we DID send Joni the "Tape Of You" project way back when (before MY time, even). So she has a collection of JMDL performances. I'm still intending to send her the complete (at least as complete as I can get it) collection of covers in the beautiful boxes that Hell made. In its essence, this *is* a gift from the list as a whole as so many have contributed to the collection, and it features music from around the world. More on this story as it develops. Bob ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 03:29:56 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Emiliano_Pati=F1o?= Subject: Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain Wow! I feel happay for you, genuine north-americans for being able to enjoy what it seems a very pleasant show! Here in my country, Espaqa, Joni never appears on Tv, although her records come at stores in time.... for the pleasure of "the happy few" I just joined the list two weeks ago: it's great reading about people's experiences relating Great Joni. It's been a "little" discussion too about the political NJC posts: I must agree that sure the www is full of forums with political, social and actuality caring aim, but, excuse me if I get rude, but the situation is so severe, so grave that is normal that many people wants to discuss it with the people one cares about, as the JMDLers! Let me repeat Joni's words: "I wander through my house trying to get a picture of what is happening to the human psyche," she says in a tone that's both perplexed and angry. "The whole thing is ridiculous  a tragic comedy. We're marching into war. That means we've become an imperialist power, which goes against everything America stands for. It all comes down to personal economic interest." by the way: I've stopped hearing new Joni's music at the release of Mingus (at my 19 years it was really hard): Never stopped hearing Ladies of the Canyon, Blue, Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (let me write in capitals those Great and Sacred masterpieces). At Turbulent Indigo felt at ease once more: She's now and ever the greatest american singer (and that's saying a lot!) My kind regards to you all, and !Boas noites!: Emiliano NP: Cesaria Ivora: "Miss perfumado" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 22:20:00 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain --- Emiliano_Patiqo wrote: > Wow! I feel happay for you, genuine north-americans > for being able to enjoy > what it seems a very pleasant show! Emiliano, welcome to the list. I'm sure you'll find a north-american or two who might be able to help you get a copy of this show. There are always ways of doing these things. You really should give Mingus another try or two. It's really an amazing piece of work. ===== Catherine Toronto ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 19:22:50 -0800 (PST) From: Susan Guzzi Subject: Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain ?!Ola que tal Emiliano?! My Spanish is not so good, pardon me. It is so nice to hear from you. You are correct Emiliano, the situation in the world is grave and worrisome, no matter if you support the war or not. JMDL people are special and full of passion, so it is understandable that so many of us took part in those discussions. I am pleased to see Joni's quotes implying she is not happy about the postion we are taking in the world. I too favor the periods in Joni's music you mentioned. BUt tell us your favorite album and why you love it so. Please make yourself at home and tell us more. Also I love all of Joni's work, I just love these periods so much more, ... well except for "Dog Eat Dog!" Welcome again new Emiliano! Peace, Susan NP: Joni/T'log/Otis & Marlena - --- Emiliano_Patiqo wrote: > Wow! I feel happay for you, genuine north-americans for being able to enjoy > what it seems a very pleasant show! > > Here in my country, Espaqa, Joni never appears on Tv, although her records > come at stores in time.... for the pleasure of "the happy few" > > I just joined the list two weeks ago: it's great reading about people's > experiences relating Great Joni. It's been a "little" discussion too about the > political NJC posts: I must agree that sure the www is full of forums with > political, social and actuality caring aim, but, excuse me if I get rude, but > the situation is so severe, so grave that is normal that many people wants to > discuss it with the people one cares about, as the JMDLers! > > Let me repeat Joni's words: > "I wander through my house trying to get a picture of > what is happening to the human psyche," she says in a > tone that's both perplexed and angry. "The whole thing > is ridiculous a tragic comedy. We're marching into > war. That means we've become an imperialist power, > which goes against everything America stands for. It > all comes down to personal economic interest." > > by the way: I've stopped hearing new Joni's music at the release of Mingus (at > my 19 years it was really hard): Never stopped hearing Ladies of the Canyon, > Blue, Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (let me write in capitals those > Great and Sacred masterpieces). At Turbulent Indigo felt at ease once more: > She's now and ever the greatest american singer (and that's saying a lot!) > > My kind regards to you all, and !Boas noites!: Emiliano > > NP: Cesaria Ivora: "Miss perfumado" Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 22:34:31 -0500 From: dsk Subject: Re: Toronto Star interview.... from Spain Welcome Emiliano! Oh, yes, the world situation is grave. At some point some political discussions will probably pop up here again. For now, it's pleasant I think to take a break from it (on the list, not possible in reality). The show about Joni does sound great! The recent posts are the first time I've seen any details about it. There may be a way to purchase the show, or if not, maybe copies will be shared. Stay tuned to the list for the most up-to-date info... Mingus was a "challenge" for me, too. It wasn't the jazz that put me off or that Joni was trying something different, since her experimenting is one of the things I most respect about her. To my hearing, her precise, folk-type voice didn't fit the music. Her voice didn't seem loose or rich enough, so it all sounded rather jarring to me then. I may need to do a re-listen or two for my Joni homework. There are plenty of people on the list who love it. Since you jumped back onto the metaphorical train at Turbulent Indigo, you may have missed Night Ride Home, which came out in 1991. That cd got me enthused about Joni again, after not enjoying her 1980s fuzzy sounding cds very much. NRH is clear sounding and romantic, and as she says, it's a happy cd, with lots of c major chords. If you've missed that one, it may be a pleasant Joni discovery for you. I'm in complete agreement with you on your "Great and Sacred masterpieces." They are masterpieces indeed, along with a few others (most of what she's done I think), and most people here would agree with you, too, so you're in "understanding" company. Again, welcome to the list and thank you for your introduction. It appears from your NP that you could introduce people here to some new music. Right away, I'm intrigued by the title "Miss perfumado"... all the best, Debra Shea Emiliano Patiqo wrote: > > Wow! I feel happay for you, genuine north-americans for being able to enjoy > what it seems a very pleasant show! > > Here in my country, Espaqa, Joni never appears on Tv, although her records > come at stores in time.... for the pleasure of "the happy few" > > I just joined the list two weeks ago: it's great reading about people's > experiences relating Great Joni. It's been a "little" discussion too about the > political NJC posts: I must agree that sure the www is full of forums with > political, social and actuality caring aim, but, excuse me if I get rude, but > the situation is so severe, so grave that is normal that many people wants to > discuss it with the people one cares about, as the JMDLers! [snip] > by the way: I've stopped hearing new Joni's music at the release of Mingus (at > my 19 years it was really hard): Never stopped hearing Ladies of the Canyon, > Blue, Hejira, Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (let me write in capitals those > Great and Sacred masterpieces). At Turbulent Indigo felt at ease once more: > She's now and ever the greatest american singer (and that's saying a lot!) > > My kind regards to you all, and !Boas noites!: Emiliano > > NP: Cesaria Ivora: "Miss perfumado" ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #74 ******************************** ------- 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? (http://www.siquomb.com/siquomb.cfm)