From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2008 #30 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, April 28 2008 Volume 2008 : Number 030 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- Re: Joni and birds ["Mark Angelo" ] Night of the iguana ["Marion Leffler" ] Re: Joni and birds [Bob Muller ] Re: Joni and birds ["Mark Angelo" ] "White Eyes Lies" ["Mark Angelo" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:58:59 -0400 From: "Mark Angelo" Subject: Re: Joni and birds Hi Terra, You are the second or maybe third poster whose favorite album is FTR. My first purchase was C&S, naturally I know it by heart, but rarely play it these days. FTR is up there among her best, I wonder if so many like it because it was the last heavily piano-dominated album until...Shine I believe. If I had to pick my favorite I think it would be Hejira, I love the guitar tunings and the lyrics. And THOSL. Also TTT has such interesting open tunings and I love the lyrics from that period of time when she was reunited with her daughter and told the the whole recording industry "Good Riddance" to their plethora of songs about one night stands and the misguided fortune (videos comprised of half naked women slithering over fancy cars, bling, plenty of imagery of fiat currency) that accompanies you with being "Number One". I need to refresh myself with pre-FTR material (except Blue) as I haven't listened to it for what seems like ages. Almost 4 am EST. Think I'll sleep til 1 pm again just cause Joni does it too...... "In the middle of this continent, in the middle of our time on Earth" Stay in touch... Mark in Florida. On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 3:00 AM, T Peckham wrote: > Hi Mark, > > I just happened to look in about five minutes after Rian posted the > challenge. It came to me right away because, of course, it's from the first > song on *For the Roses, *which was the first Joni album I bought. It > remains--if forced to choose--my favorite (with *Hejira* coming in a very > close second). > > I was aware of Joni but for some reason hadn't really picked up on > her--how I "missed" *Blue* when it first came out, I'll never know--but > the Stephen Davis review in Rolling Stone convinced me I had to hear this > album. (That was back in the days when RS, while sometimes wrong-headed, at > least had good writers who were passionate about music.) I just went over to > the JM library and reread it; it sounds a little dated here and there, but > it's beautifully written and still conveys the essence of the album and does > exactly what it's supposed to do: make me want to drop everything and just > listen to the record again. > > http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=257 > > As for Javex, I wondered for the longest time exactly what it was--not > sure when or where I finally read that it was just a cleaning > product--nothing exotic as I had imagined it might be! > > > On 4/26/08, Mark Angelo wrote: > > > > > > OK, I just looked it up on the internet. Yeah they are plastic bottles > > of Canadian Chlorox (bleach). I really need to brush up on my early Joni. > > When I was old enough to finally appreciate the musical direction she was > > going in instead of expecting more of the C&S formula as well as gain > > perspective in life to understand the social commentary that as she was > > increasingly writing about I pretty much stopped listening to C&S and all > > previous works. In fact I need to purchase them all again except for C&S as > > they were all albums I have long since lost somewhere in my many moves. > > > > Mark in Florida. > > > > On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 12:42 AM, Mark Angelo > > wrote: > > > > > That was fast Terra!! Now what exactly are Javex bottles? Canadian > > > version of Chlorox? And are they swirling in the gyre twice as big as the > > > continental US in the Pacific Ocean? > > > > > > "Plastics Make It Possible" ummmmmmmm yeah...... > > > > > > NP: Two Grey Rooms > > > > > > > > > On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 12:20 AM, T Peckham > > > wrote: > > > > > > > Too easy! :-) ;-) > > > > > > > > "I took my share down by the sea > > > > Paper plates and Javex bottles on the tide > > > > Seagulls come down > > > > And they squawk at me > > > > Down where the water skiers glide . . . " > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > Note to any and all govt. agencies who might be looking in: You can kiss > my sweet ass. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:59:08 +0200 From: "Marion Leffler" Subject: Night of the iguana I watched part of the film Night of the iguana on TCM last night. (It was on very late so I didn't make it to the end. I fell asleep much against my will, damn!). I hadn't seen either film or play before. I think Joni captured the essence of Shannon very well but I wonder why she left out Hannah? Oh well, one can't have everything. This morning I was surfing the internet and stumbled upon a Swedish website, www.lastfm.se . They have several groups and you can create your own radio. There is a Joni group/discussion list with more than 300 members whose average age is 27. I was surprised to find so many young people, I had the impression that most of Joni's fans are at least middle-aged. So I was prejudiced and I'm glad I'm wrong! So Bene, Odd and others in the Scandinavian region, if you don't already know about this website, check it out! (Of course, anybody can but the language is Swedish). Have a nice weekend, Marion ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:36:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Muller Subject: Re: Joni and birds For the benefit of Mark & others who may not know about it, there is a lyric glossary that defines terms like Javex Bottles and others. Makes for some interesting and educational reading: http://jonimitchell.com/research/glossary.cfm Bob NP: Stone Temple Pilots, "Piece Of Pie" ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 14:38:21 -0400 From: "Mark Angelo" Subject: Re: Joni and birds Bob, Thanks for the link. Indeed a useful site for Joni references in her lyrics. Just scanning it briefly, I noticed Reverend Pearson was missing "who threw away the vain old God" ... someone here may want to add that reference from "Shine". The poor man paid a heavy price for a lifetime's work when he decided to commit the "heresy" of casting away the idea of a 'hell". NP: One Week Last Summer (Shine) On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 9:36 AM, Bob Muller wrote in part: > For the benefit of Mark & others who may not know about it, there is a > lyric glossary that defines terms like Javex Bottles and others. Makes for > some interesting and educational reading: > > http://jonimitchell.com/research/glossary.cfm > > Bob ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:08:12 -0400 From: "Mark Angelo" Subject: "White Eyes Lies" I'm bored and blue so why not stir up some controversy? As I've said before the lyrics from "Shine" have mesmerized me, long before I heard them put to music. It's as if Joni is able to tell some shameful truths about mankind's respect for his fellow man and for the natural world of which he has tried to distance himself for so long, with disastrous consequences which most of humanity is still in denial (we as a species are capable of deception, as are a great many other species which enable them to survive, however, we are arguably unique in our capacity to self-deceive. We're so busy being cell-phone zombies or indoctrinated with television propaganda we don't have time to worry about the suffering we have wrought upon our fellow man but more just as importantly upon our fellow flora and fauna we have evolved with and from (well the fauna anyways). In Shine she does not mince words, she keeps metaphors to a minimum, and simply states the obvious so eloquently which everyone is so busy avoiding in her songs dealing with man's relation with man and with the natural world of which he has tried to control and conquer. These lyrics, there are so many, are quite damning IMHO of the Western culture and the paradigm we find ourselves in, and of the Caucasian race for that matter: I feel like Geronimo I used to be as trusting as Cochise But the white eyes lies He's out of whack with nature And look how far his weapons reach! To me she is once again praising the wisdom of the native American Indians, as she has done in countless songs before, and their respect and the "holiness" they endowed the Earth with, it's air, it's water, it's earth, it's many living things. But she is accusing Europeans and their descendants (Americans, Australians, etc.) of being duplicitous as they were some 200 hundred years ago here and even earlier in Central and Southern America and having caused the genocide of millions and millions of native American peoples. "But the white eyes lies" - I don't see any other interpretation of this, there is purposely no ambiguity. The white man, and his paradigm of looking at the natural world and for that matter other races as something to exploit. Her reference to "look how far his weapons reach" speaks to America's obsession with the military as in the real world power, "might is right", is what matters to preserve a lifestyle that is unsustainable and depends on the the continuing (muted) screaming of native trees, animals, and peoples on continents too far to be "real" to us - out of sight, out of mind. I think she is saying with that sentence that the white man understand that the ends justify the means, whether it is cloaked as "Good Ole God Bless America (here we are still worshiping our own ego)" or "terrorists" or "criminals" or "them". He will rationalize it as "manifest destiny" or whatever fits current socially accepted standards. Anything will be done to preserve the Western (European-American) paradigm and the New York City - London - Tel Aviv axis will be maintained and will prosper at all costs, damn the consequences to the rest of the planet. It is a sweeping criticism of Western imperialism, of which America is simply continuing that maintained by our British forebears, of a paradigm in which "economy" and notions of being prosperous and "nature" are necessarily at odds with each other, a belief system that has placed chimpanzees, which share 99 percent of our DNA, on the verge of extinction. (This particular as well as clear-cutting of forests, the lungs of the Earth, is actually more complex, as races on all continents destroy their own homes in an effort to survive and make copies of themselves). But to those burgeoning industrialized countries such as China and India, they've played the game for so long and now they are actually at the stage of attaining the faltering American Dream, who is going to necessarily slap them and say "Sorry, it's been real but the party's over", no more McMansions or Buicks (quite tellingly China's number one selling car) because now you are using the limited resources we need in ever increasing amounts since you tried for so long to be just like us. it is no accident that the US has chosen to use spent nuclear waste, depleted uranium, to "blanket" huge swaths of the Middle East. When exploded, it forms dust so minute it is easily breathed into the human body where it remains for years, emitting radiation and disrupting cellular functions, causing cancers and deformities, especially in the young, whose DNA is replicating much more rapidly. Not to mention other life forms. And it has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, the same age as the Earth itself. "The white eyes lies" ... you won't hear our Military acknowledging this, in fact it is increasingly known that the cluster of maladies known as Gulf War Syndrome, affecting troops returning from Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq is almost certainly caused by DU. But never mind, scream the Ad Empires, "Buy this, buy that!!", and Americans have thus far have been indoctrinated to distract themselves with notions that happiness can be achieved with acquisitions from their Shopping Mall Regimes. "And look how far his weapons reach!" The exploded dust can be caught up in winds and blown far, far away. Depleted uranium is quite simply a nuclear weapon. But I fear the weapons of which she speaks which reach so far have even more devastating and immediate consequences. And I think of "Iran Kitty" and Admiral Fallon's resignation and the increasingly negative light in which Iran is cast by the MSM (I canceled my TV subscription over 6 months ago, as what they reported and what I observed became increasingly absurd to me) and "Iran Kitty's" increasing alliance with Russia and China and it's dropping of the US dollar for oil trade. (See "Iran Oil Bourse" and Saddam did the same thing shortly before US invaded Iraq). And bad, bad, (at least that is what the propaganda is) "Iran Kitty" would complete a US quest for controlling the world's largest known oil reserves in a triangle containing Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. But that is stating the obvious, and it shouldn't be done...right? Anyways, that's my sobering take on those verses in the context of the song "This Place" from Shine. Anyone with a different (or similar) take on the verses? Oh and I am far past the stage of being outraged or even surprised by any of it as I once was any longer - "If I had a Heart I'd Cry" though ... Mark in Florida. ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2008 #30 ******************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe