From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2006 #274 Reply-To: joni@smoe.org Sender: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org 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, September 25 2006 Volume 2006 : Number 274 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: fifty-fifty fire and ice [LCStanley7@aol.com] Hi All (VLJC) LONG! [Michael Paz ] Joni talk ["Bree Mcdonough" ] Re: Hell about Joni's art [Garret ] [none] ["Marianne Rizzo" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 10:20:00 EDT From: LCStanley7@aol.com Subject: Re: fifty-fifty fire and ice An Eye Spy woman wrote: it just occured to me when reading this. . . that the song Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire resembles the thought of: Be Cool. . . ie. Fifty- fifty Fire and ice just the hot/ cold thing. . . that's all (one of the many duality themes) Hi Eye, Looking at things from Both Sides Now again? Doing the math, fifty-fifty fire and ice adds up to moderate temps. What happens when extreme come together? Could this be what makes Joni so cool and her paintings likewise? Fifty-fifty fire colors and ice colors? What is it about being cool? Also, I never noticed the "sweet" before fire before. Could that possibly be like cinnamon candy? Red hots? Sweet fire is pretty synesthetic, fire you can taste... two at once, a mixture like oriental sweet and sour, Yin Yang but not necessarily opposites, or in the realm of emotions fire you can feel like Aerosmith's sweet emotion. Love, ICU w/o critical care ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 12:16:15 -0500 From: Michael Paz Subject: Hi All (VLJC) LONG! Happy Birthday to Muller and happy vacation to Smurph. Hope you guys have a wonderful time! I have not been posting much cause I am still so damn busy. I wanted to write and tell everyone what a wonderful time I had on my train trip to D.C. We left N.O. Very early in the morning on Thursday along with Wild Magnolias, FeuFollet, Vic and the Puppett lady, and Grupo Fantasma from Austin Texas. We did whistle stops in Meridian, Ms (where we picked up Supa Chicken a local Blues player), And Birmingham, Ala, and finally Atlanta, Ga. Where we picked up Victor the Human Jukebox. A wonderful time was had by all. My gig was to provide sound for the artists when they jumped off the train at each whistle stop which was easy with a battery powered speaker and and a couple mics. Along the way we eat drank of course played a lot of music along the way. I brought my VG-8 and Parker and played a lot of Joni for some rabid Joni fans in the club car before we hit Atlanta. I was introduced to a Mr. Sansone who told me that his son had been hired to play keyboards for Wilco. I spent a good bit of time talking with him on the train and listening to the stories of how great his son Patrick is. I was not running on all cylinders cause it wasn't till we got to Atlanta that I saw him talking to his son and realized that it was my friend Pat Sansone who had played with my other pal Joe Tullos after his Scoundrel's Waltz album came out (a gem if you can find it). We had recorded the record at Daniel Lanois's studio years ago along with members of Blind Melon and Squirril Nut Zippers. Pat is one of them cats that can play everything and he is one hell of a great utility guy. I had about 45 seconds to have a hug and try to catch up before we had to get on the train and head on to DC. Victor's new girlfriend is a knockout and seems very nice, but we did not have much time to get to know each other. We had some jams in the club car with Victor and then moved it back to our crash pad car with the rest of the artists where we had a very nice jam with all the different influences of latino, cajun, jazz and blues melded into one big gumbo. Of course we played a couple of Joni ones cause the guy that hired me Garth Ross (who also hired Claudia and Randall) from the Kennedy Center is a big Joan fan. We wound down the party about 1am (very early by Victor and my standards). We stayed at the Watergate Hotel which was surreal for me. We had the whole day to our selves so of course we ate some more and rested a while but then we got together in the evening with the beautiful and talented Sherelle and her husband Rob. We had cocktails in the room and talked and watched some of the video of Jack Neilson that Jackie Guthrie had sent to me. We then taxied into Georgetown to meet equally lovely and talented Claudia and Uncle John. We had a meal that was just fantastic and of course lots of Conversation. Due to a serious case of Jet Lag Uncle John had to check out early with Claudia, but Sherelle, Rob and Victor and I headed back to the hotel for a few tunes before we called it a night. The next day we enjoyed a wonderful day of music with all the artists that came on the train with us as well as many more that came up by other means. Sherelle and Rob came out to meet us again and we had a lovely day. Victor made the Washington Post the next day as "a guy who joined in on flute" and we had a lot of pics from the train ride that made the paper. I was able to introduce Sherelle to Garth so I hope there is an open door for her at Kennedy Center when here new record comes out. I am feeling like we have a chance to do a Joni Tribute at Kennedy Center in the future (and of course sponsored by Amtrak). The Kennedy Center is a gorgeous venue and I think it would be perfect. On the way back I was able to spend a lot of time catching up on sleep and playing guitar and watching the documentary I am working on as Music Supervisor. At dinner we sat next to an emerging artist by the name of Regina Spektor who was on her way to Atlanta to play a show. The kids from the Cajun band Feufollet were impressed that we were traveling with someone like her. I was not that impressed! Victor took many fotos which is suppose to post somewhere for public viewing and you can see the visual proof that we were stalked by Bob "Smurphy" Murphy who was in disguise. I was very upset that he could not just hang out with us like in the old days but was reduced to this tired old disguise we have seen him so many times before. One curious thing though is that he ditched the pom poms. Very strange! I got some very copol collectibals on the trip including stationary from the Watergate Hotel as well as an original chalk drawing by artist Rowina Bowman (a BIG Joni fan). VERY cool! Victor post the pics will ya???!!! Have a great weekend all and peace love and understanding to all the politicos. Early warning!!! I will be in NYC for the weekend of Oct 13 for the Long Island Music Awards and to of course kick Kay Ashley's ASS! Watch out beeeeatch cause I am coming to get you. You won't be hiding behind that fertility thing anymo. Please cheee for the New Orleans Saints in Monday night and watch the pre game show for performances by U2, Green Day, Allen Toussaint, and New Orleans Brass bands. BTW I worked with a band last Thursday called Packway Handle Band from Athens, Georgia. A wonderful bluegrass band. Keep an eye out for them and go check them out. Check them out at www.packwayhandle.com Heads up Muller they are in Greenville at the Greenville Fest on Friday the 13th of October (I will be on my way to NYC). Have a great weekend everyone. Love Paz NP-All The Time In the World-Packway Handle Band ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 14:28:25 -0400 From: "Bree Mcdonough" Subject: Joni talk I saw a wonderful band last night at a place called the Chartroom. They played some great stuff..Beatles....BTO ....Grand Funk Railroad...Buddy Holly...CSN. Their lead guitarist reminded me of Paul Kanter. At the intermission ...I went over to talk to the Paul Kanter look-a-like...and yeah...I asked him ...do you play any Joni Mitchell. He told me not at this time but were just now introducing her music to their new keyboardist. (Eventually they will do...FMIP..HM...ROR...most of the stuff he listed was from Court & Spark) I told him about the JMDL...the fests....and he talked about her open tunings. He also wanted to know if it was true about her throat cancer. I told him I was sure she DID NOT have cancer. As I walking away he asked...does she ever show up....I said...no...not yet...but were hoping. Bree ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:01:06 +0100 From: Garret Subject: Re: Hell about Joni's art Hey Lucy, I too have wondered this fand have meant to send my thoughts to the list many times. I first came across synaesthesia when in London. The director of the MSc course i was doing was involved with the UCL synesthesia research group. For anyone interested: http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jamie.ward/synaesthesia.htm Are you a synaesthete Lucy?? You could volunteer for an online survey;-) Here's a JoniQuote: "I think of myself as a painter who writes music....Basically, the reason I'm so unruly in this business is because I think like a painter, not like a musician." I think that colour and the notion of colour, explicitly and implicity, are central in Joni's body of work and probably deserve much attention from the masses of JMDL. We have touched on it before. Here are some lyrics for you to ponder. The only comment i'll make is that these are a few very obvious choices from songs Joni wrote by 1970 and with time this could have been an exhaustive list: Now comes the morning Wet with the kiss of midnight Shadows stayed sulking in the way Sunshine for dreaming Blackest magic to believe in Spectrums and rainbows and days I never saw a sky so free Never so blue Morning with mystic pagaentry Unveils a time for sharing love with you Marcie in a coat of flowers Steps inside a candy store Reds are sweet and greens are sour ...... Marcie's faucet needs a plumber Marcie's sorrow needs a man Red is autumn green is summer Greens are turning and the sand ....... And summer goes Falls to the sidewalk like String and brown paper Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning And the first thing that I saw Was the sun through yellow curtains And a rainbow on the wall Blue, red, green and gold to welcome you Crimson crystal beads to beckon Ladies in their rainbow fashions Colored stop and go lights flashing We'll wink at total strangers passing In morning Morgantown Oh I am a lonely painter I live in a box of paints I'm frightened by the devil And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid The "i live in a box of paints" line stands out. We have had some good analysis of this line onlist before and i cannot pretend to be able to offer any deep insight. It betrays Joni's world view; it tells us that painting is her life, yup, she's writing a (f***ing amazing) song but she is, in fact, a painter. It could be telling us that she has some tendency towards synaesthesia. I wonder.... In interviews her references to her own music and her music making/song writing process and to that of others often indicates that she is thinking of music in colorful terms: "the harmony the girl was using was very *primary colors*. I thought, "How can you say she's been listening to Court and Spark? It's an insult to Court and Spark, because this is so rudimentary". Later in the same article: "I have a painter's ego and I get a thrill of juxtaposing one color against another. I get like a private rush. I'm an only child. It's a form of solitary play. If I put that color next to that color and add another color, you know, I get a buzz. It's the same with music. I don't have any of the musician's languages. I read as a child, but I let the reading ability go. I don't use it in the recording process, because I fiddle around with the guitar so much that I'm not playing it normally anyway; the numerical language that some musicians have doesn't mean anything within my system, nor does the alphabetical system. I don't know what key I'm playing in. So I'm a sophisticated ignorant is basically what I am. But there are people who can come in, listen to what I play, write it out, and follow it. My harmony is selected by my own interest in the same way that I would select to put that color next to that color. I think of myself as a painter who writes music. " I don't think this makes her a synaesthete, but, again, i do sometimes wonder. I suppose the song writing/painting links could, in some ways, go back to her teacher (Kratzman??) who told her that if she could paint with a paintbrush she could paint with her pen. I find particularly revealing Joni's common statments about the colours of music, and how she *feels* music. Are there not quotes out there somewhere relating to Joni's difficulties working with rock musicians? She mentions that she sees musical chords as pallettes of colour and that "jazzers" got that concept whereas rock musicians often did not. There is an anecdote that i read on jm.com recently where Joni describes how her guitar style went from an overly complicated finger picking to something more straightforward. This was achieved through drawing someone without looking at the page. A simplification of her painting led to a simplification of her playing. Just another simple indiciator that the two are intrinsically linked. Some articles that may be of interest that i came across in a quick search: http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=960 http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=37 I've rambled long enough. Would love to hear from some others. GARRET ps - off the topic, did anyone see that documentary maybe last year on BBC2 about synaesthesia? I felt so sorry for the guy who tasted words. I think he said that the word "change" gave him a taste of nappies, while the word "sausage" gave him a taste of yoghurt. Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 11:09:10 +0100 From: Lucy Hone Subject: Re: Hell about Joni's art I think I have to remain neutral about Joni's art.... its all a bit to Van Gogh for me.. I wonder sometimes if Joni has "Synesthesia" It would mean she sees words as colours and hears sounds as colours and would write words that produce colours for her .....and she uses colour in a number of her songs does she not.... Turbulent Indigo, Blue, Little Green, Big Yellow Taxi, Cold Blue Steel, Blue Motel Room, So blue and yellow make green............hmmmmmmmmmmmm She sings of being a lonely painter, living in a box of paints, but she is a scribe also so maybe words are colours and we are seeing her songs as paintings I do get sensations of colour from her songs.. Turbulent Indigo is a mixture of browns and yellows and deep reds. Hejira is very much a sliver and black creation with shots of green, Both sides Now is sort of warm oranges with clear blue... Magdalene Laundries is shades of green and brown Some songs produce nothing at all.... Anyway it was just a thought.... Lucy in a bright blue England with fab Autumn sun playing on the walls of the house nextdoor. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2006 21:16:05 -0400 From: "Marianne Rizzo" Subject: [none] Cherokee Lousie Walking to the door Going out you get the 3rd degree And comin' in you get the 3rd world war ~ _________________________________________________________________ SearchYour way, your world, right now! http://imagine-windowslive.com/minisites/searchlaunch/?locale=en-us&FORM=WLMTAG ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2006 #274 ********************************* ------- 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)