From: les@jmdl.com (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #397 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, December 22 2003 Volume 2003 : Number 397 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Mingus & Mitchell: the MINGUS album ["Lama, Jim L'Hommedieu" ] Re: openess, sjc [LCStanley7@aol.com] Re: Love Actually [Bobsart48@aol.com] re - question about Borderline performance(s) ["J.David Sapp" ] Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 ["Trevor Gibb" ] Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 [Catherine McKay ] Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 [Catherine McKay ] Season Greetings ["ash" ] Today in History: December 22 [ljirvin@jmdl.com] Today's Library Links: December 22 [ljirvin@jmdl.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 03:44:56 -0500 From: "Lama, Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: Mingus & Mitchell: the MINGUS album This is Joni content. The contents of this post are largely about Joni Mitchell, without unreasonably stretching the definition of "her life and times". I bought the August 9, 1979 issue of "downbeat magazine". In it is the enthusiastic review of Joni's "MINGUS" album by Neil Tesser. Bob S. and I have discussed this previously but now that I have this issue in my hands, I can confirm it. Mr. Tesser is listed on the masthead page as a "Record Reviewer" and his last name appears in lowercase letters after the last sentence of the review on page 26. "-tesser" For the new people on the JMDL, I'll talk about why this review is so important. When MINGUS was released, it had some mixed reactions both from Joni's long-time admirers and from the admirers of the late Charles Mingus. Some of the "folk music" camp rejected it and some jazz fans thought Joni was exploiting Charles Mingus. I think Joni must have been taken aback pretty badly. For decades, she's only talked about the bad reviews. If you only read Joni's interviews and never read the original review, you'd think that all of the major jazz press reviled MINGUS. Poppycock. In downbeat magazine, Neil Tesser gave it 5 stars out of 5 possible. The first sentence is, "This is a wonderful piece of work." I'll excerpt most of the last 3 paragraphs to give a flavor of the review: "... DRY CLEANER has so much zest and fun - it's a perfect set-up for PORKPIE HAT, the masterpiece. Joni's lyrics, quite frankly, are profound; in the first five words, she manages to weave the song's original subject (Lester Young) and its composer into an epic framework of great emotional power: ' When Charlie speaks of Lester you know someone great has gone. The sweetest, swinging music man, had a Porkie Pig hat on. A bright star in a dark age, when the bandstand had a thousand ways of refusing a black man admission. Black musicians in those days they put him in an underdog position. Cellars and chitins' After a fascinating mid-section development of both melody and words, she weighs in with this: ' We came up from the subway on the music midnight makes to Charlie's bass and Lester's saxophone in taxi horns and brakes. Now Charlie's down in Mexico with the healers.' This is the poetry Joni Mitchell has been away from too long. In a way, what Mingus did for Lester in writing that song, Joni has done for Mingus in making this album. She gave her best on this one, and it's proved to be more than enough. - -tesser The complete text is on JJ's site at: http://www.jonimitchell.com/downbeat79.html BTW, When this issue is sold on ebay, they often title it "downbeat magazine Johnny Griffin" because his picture is on the cover. All the best, Lama ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 04:12:25 -0500 From: "Lama, Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: FS: Shadows And Light on DVD David et al, If you want to buy a US licensed product, they sell the current DVD with a purple cover, marketed by Shout! Productions. It includes a photo gallery by Joel Bernstein and can be found on Amazon. If a previous edition (without Joel's pictures) at a bargain price sounds good, consider the Hong Kong-licensed copy I bought on Ebay. It has the black/red cover that the CD and LP have. $10 US plus shipping. Both editions have the skating footage that was missing from the 60 minute US VHS edition. Contact me off list if you're interested. I also have the store-bought 60 minute US VHS edition for sale: $8 plus shipping. All the best, Jim David Marine said, >I need to replace my old Shadows And Light CD, and figure I may as well buy the DVD. Is there more than one release of the DVD, and if so, which do you suggest?> ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 09:43:52 EST From: LCStanley7@aol.com Subject: Re: openess, sjc Bob wrote: > But call it cathartic, or liberating, the act of opening > oneself up - even in the tete a tete of saying 'I love you, right out loud' > - > resonated (and still does) with a lot of her listeners. From my perspective, > it is > not at all surprising that one will find more of this public openness on a > Joni > list than on other lists. Very beautifully put Bob! And, Bob wrote this too: > I sense it was, instead, that rather "sit-commy like" discomfort that comes > > from being exposed to such openness, of partaking in others' - and sharing > ones' own - private moments and flaws and virtues and pain and joy. There is > risk > in this, no doubt. But, like Joni says, you're bound to lose if you let the > blues (or anything else, for that matter) get you scared to feel. Also very beautifully put Bob... and something I needed to hear. I'm an introvert and open up to people with reservation. It is easier to be open with people on this list though, due to our Joni connection. But, even then, there is always the challenge of possibly being misunderstood and facing the blues that can come with that. And, yes we are bound to lose is if we get scared to feel. Thanks for the words of wisdom and the way you quoted Joni here. Love, Laura ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 10:44:16 EST From: Bobsart48@aol.com Subject: Re: Love Actually Ed wrote: "From the All Music Guide's review of the "Love Actually" soundtrack (which contains BSN): "...Joni Mitchell's cover of "Both Sides Now" ends up feeling ponderous instead of ethereally lovely..." Geez, I wish JM would stop covering them Judy Collins songs..... Ed " I would add that - beyond the cluelessness (or, possibly, sloppiness) of the use of the term "cover", the reviewer seemed not to have been paying attention to the scene in which Joni's orchestrated "remake" of BSN was featured - one of tear jerking, if not gut wrenching pathos. The scene screamed for a more somber version of the song - not an "ethereally lovely" one. What a cloddy remark by the reviewer ! Come to think of it, "ethereally lovely" sounds more like the Judy Collins version than the original Joni version - perhaps I was being too kind when I wrote "possibly, sloppiness". Ironically, I do find the BSN version of BSN to be lovely - just not bright and bubbly - certainly not ponderous. So, I do not think this reviewer and I will ever see eye to eye on this (which to me is a good thing) ;-) Bobsart ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 11:49:20 -0600 From: "J.David Sapp" Subject: re - question about Borderline performance(s) Marian - about '96 I saw the New Orleans Jazzfest televised in the States - Joni performed Borderline. She was wearing summer clothes and a straw hat. It was a thrill as I stumbled across it by accident. I believe this was originally going to be a swan song performance but things conspired and the VG8 came along. Also at this concert she met Brian Blade who she credits with rekindling her interest in music. I believe the concert was summer of '95. An audio recording exists -video I don't know. peace, david ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 09:57:39 -0800 From: "Kate Bennett" Subject: Re: Joni and darkness >Oh, I think I understand Fear is like a wilderland Stepping stones or sinking sand< I agree...this is a remarkable & profound song written by someone so young...hearing this song when it was first released was the first time I thought about fear in such a way & it took me many years more of living (perhaps even decades) to really 'get' how fear is either "stepping stones or sinking sand"... Kate www.katebennett.com "bringing the melancholy world of twilight to life almost like magic" The All Music Guide ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:11:39 -0000 From: "Trevor Gibb" Subject: Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 Hey all this is my first proper post, hope it works ;-) I have a few little questions. First one is, does anyone know where the video of Joni singing Night Ride Home on a grassy bank by a river is from and what year it is? IM guessing its around 1991. I once had this as an mpeg but it is now lost :-( Also, Is there no joni area for transferring and sharing files anymore. The net seems rather light on joni material as opposed to Dylan and others. and lastly, Has a version of Joni singing Dylan's Sweetheart Like You surfaced yet and if so how does it sound. I'm a huge Joni Mitchell fan so I hope I dont come across as a boring question asker. In fact I was listening to the Back To The Garden show yesterday. She does a real great Hejira. Anyways, thanks all Trev - ---------------------------------------- "'Samuel Beckett, before he died, asked me for a script of `Don't Look Back,''' Pennebaker revealed. ''Beckett never referred to Dylan by name. He always called him `The Poet.' He'd say, `Could you bring me the script of The Poet?''' ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 20:34:21 -0000 From: "amelio747" Subject: Re: Joni and darkness Yes when I first got CLOUDS "I Think I Understand" went right over my head until one time I was listening to it and those words gave me a chill. So true but like Kate said you really learn things properly through time and experience. * * * * * * Stephen T "I get the urge for going But I never seem to go" - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kate Bennett" To: Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2003 5:57 PM Subject: Re: Joni and darkness > >Oh, I think I understand > Fear is like a wilderland > Stepping stones or sinking sand< > > I agree...this is a remarkable & profound song written by someone so > young...hearing this song when it was first released was the first time > I thought about fear in such a way & it took me many years more of > living (perhaps even decades) to really 'get' how fear is either > "stepping stones or sinking sand"... > > Kate > www.katebennett.com > "bringing the melancholy world of > twilight to life almost like magic" > The All Music Guide ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:38:46 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 --- Trevor Gibb wrote: > Hey all this is my first proper post, hope it works > ;-) Apparently it did. Welcome to the jmdl, Trevor. Stick around a while. > I'm a huge Joni Mitchell fan so I hope I dont come > across as a boring > question asker. There are no boring question, esp. where Ms Mitchell is concerned. Sorry if I can't answer any of them though! There are Joni items available for trade - all you have to do is ask. (I don't have a lot of them myself, but others do.) ===== Catherine Toronto - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We all live so close to that line, and so far from satisfaction ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:38:46 -0500 (EST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #396 --- Trevor Gibb wrote: > Hey all this is my first proper post, hope it works > ;-) Apparently it did. Welcome to the jmdl, Trevor. Stick around a while. > I'm a huge Joni Mitchell fan so I hope I dont come > across as a boring > question asker. There are no boring question, esp. where Ms Mitchell is concerned. Sorry if I can't answer any of them though! There are Joni items available for trade - all you have to do is ask. (I don't have a lot of them myself, but others do.) ===== Catherine Toronto - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We all live so close to that line, and so far from satisfaction ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 09:43:27 +1100 From: "ash" Subject: Season Greetings From Tasmania *as you read this..please 'hum' the tune from 'Cheers' the American TV series in your mind..... May I take this opportunity to say in this digest? firstly may I wish Ms. Mitchell a very happy Xmas and a wonderful New Year. and if she wants to go carol singing?...I'm your man!...just name the place! Secondly...I would like to say, it has been brilliant to meet all of you on this site and thank you ALL for being so welcoming......and I hope you all have an enjoyable time over these next days and that Santa (oops not very PC!) or whoever....... brings you what you want! and that Next year will be better in health and wealth (wealth meaning love and stuff ...okay you win the lotto/pools or get a grant/inheritance) and we can all meet at the place we all know (er here on this site!)...you can stop humming that silly 'Cheers' tune now!...I liked Kirsty Alley the best! Take Care Ash ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 02:10:42 -0500 From: ljirvin@jmdl.com Subject: Today in History: December 22 1972: For The Roses was certified gold by the RIAA - ---- For a comprehensive reference to Joni's appearances, consult Joni Mitchell ~ A Chronology of Appearances: http://www.jonimitchell.com/appearances.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 02:10:42 -0500 From: ljirvin@jmdl.com Subject: Today's Library Links: December 22 On December 22 the following articles were published: 1973: "Joni - A Leader Once Again" - Sounds (Review - Album, with photographs) http://www.jmdl.com/articles/view.cfm?id=347 1980: "Newsmakers" - Newsweek (News Item, with photographs) http://www.jmdl.com/articles/view.cfm?id=206 ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2003 #397 ********************************* ------- 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? 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