From: owner-onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org (onlyJMDL Digest) To: onlyjoni-digest@smoe.org Subject: onlyJMDL Digest V2009 #27 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 Wednesday, January 28 2009 Volume 2009 : Number 027 ========== TOPICS and authors in this Digest: -------- RE: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet ["Richard Flynn" Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Welcome Laurie. Does your magazine have anything to do with the Elizabeth Bishop poem? By the way, everyone, the non-bootleg DVD of "The Fiddle and the Drum" comes out in the US next month: http://www.amazon.com/Fiddle-Drum-Various/dp/B001NJ916Q/ - -----Original Message----- From: owner-joni@smoe.org [mailto:owner-joni@smoe.org] On Behalf Of Michael Paz Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 3:42 PM To: Laurie Fuhr Cc: joni@smoe.org Subject: Re: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Hi Laurie Welcome to the list! What a great story! Thanks for sharing it with us. I love the fact that you got to play pool with her. Better you than me cause I really suck at pool. I hope you enjoy your time with us. We need more musicians on this list. Hopefully you will get to enjoy a Jonifest gathering with us. Two are in the planning. One in So. California and one down under. You can see some of the past antics on the JMDL website. Best Paz in New Orleans Michael Paz michael@thepazgroup.com Tour Manager Preservation Hall Jazz Band http://www.preservationhall.com On Jan 27, 2009, at 1:23 PM, Laurie Fuhr wrote: Hi JMDListers, Just signed up for the list so I would like to introduce myself! My name is Laurie. I'm a songwriter, poet, I play upright bass in a rockabilly band, and I am managing editor for a lit arts magazine (www.fillingstation.ca ). I am also the receptionist at Alberta Ballet. Joni's on my mind a lot lately - I hear the music through the floor as our dancers practice and practice for The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet. I am excited to discover this listserv and talk to some other fans. I don't want to come off like a big commercial, because I'll be talking about the ballet and the CD and stuff, so I need to tell you right off that I was a huge Joni fan before I ever started working here!! Joni's writing has informed my own writing a lot, and I didn't realize Alberta Ballet had a Joni Mitchell ballet until I came on board. So it's been a thrill to play even a small part in such an amazing work of art and to meet Joni. I hope it's cool to share that experience with you because remembering it has been a source of pleasure for the past few months. At the Banff Centre for the Arts showcase of Fiddle in the fall, I thought I wasn't going to get to meet Joni. I saw her hanging out with the dancers at the post-reception, but I had no real reason to bother her, and couldn't think of anything special to say, so I didn't. I did shake her hand at one point when she was standing with Jean, our Artistic Director, outside the dining building, but that was all.. that was pretty exciting anyway! But I think I was shy partly because I've met my heroes before sometimes without good feelings after - I used to think Adam Duritz from Counting Crows was among the best songwriters ever, and at 17 I thought I was in love with him, silly girl that I was. I spent lots of time on the Counting Crows listserv talking about his songs and dreaming about meeting him. I learned to play guitar listening to August & Everything After. And I used to think someone who could create wise, heartfelt music absolutely had to be wise and heartfelt, but it isn't always the case; 2 out of 3 times I met Adam, he was generally unkind and sarcastic to the crowd around him behind a venue after a show, having no real wish to be there. I can't blame him entirely, fans act like weirdos at times.. but then again, I don't think he knew how to handle it compared with someone like Joni. Joni has no fear, she has poise and control.. plus fewer crazed females asking her to sign certain body parts probably helps! But I did get to meet Joni, and was completely stunned at how genuine she was. How calmly and easily she communicates with those around her. How she treats everyone like a normal human being, and elicits the same behavior in others towards her. And how many stories she tells, about musical friendships in the 60's, her insight into how it really was, and about her own music, religion and spirituality, everything she's been thinking of hard.. it just flows from her lips, and is always interesting and engaging. I finally met her later in the evening at Banff Centre. Joni came into the little campus pub and was looking to play pool, so I asked her to be my partner. What an amazing pool player Joni is!! Good thing I was on her team, not playing against her! When she sets up that LA rack, you're either on her side or you're in trouble. Thank you Joni for humouring me with a game, even though I seem to have lost all my Northern Alberta, smalltown, nothing-else-to-do-all-night pool skills! Joni tells a lot of stories when she's playing pool, so that was definitely worth the embarrassment of poor performance. (We won 4 out of 5 games anyway thanks to Joni!). Outside in the cold, having a cigarette, she mentioned too was that she's not completely happy with the music industry's treatment of its artists. I told her she should go independent like Radiohead, they did really well that way - but she told me that instead she was planning to sell her ballet soundtrack exclusively through Alberta Ballet. That blew my mind. Not sure if her people are going to allow this to happen, but if it does, she'll be lucky she's got a big fan working here, because I'll work extra hours if needed to get her music out to people who will love it! ('Shine' sold something like 60,000 copies though so I wonder what they'll do when a landslide of requests comes in!! I don't think I can handle mailing out 60,000 :-) ). So I wanted to tell my fellow fans, because I have a bit of an inside track here sometimes, that Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Soundtrack CDs have arrived here at the Alberta Ballet office, and they look and sound wonderful!! Lots of great stills from the ballet with Joni's visual art incorporated, and our beautiful dancers looking lit from within. The CDs will be sold at our upcoming Alberta performance dates in Calgary (February 26-28 09) and in Edmonton (February 20-21 09). If there are any left, it looks like I will be able to fill orders here at the office, but only if there are any left once the performances have taken place. Please don't write me for a copy yet - I'll be sure to let you know when I have the go ahead to fill mail orders. It is amazing to think I am one of the only people (aside from manufacturers) who has seen these CDs! We should be getting DVDs pretty soon too. If you haven't seen The Fiddle & The Drum yet, you will be absolutely amazed that ballet can be so gripping and thrilling. It was the first ballet I had ever seen, and now I'm hooked. What a great surprise to find out that the art I'm working for isn't sleepy at all. Again, the ballet is taking place in Alberta, here in Canada. It is touring to a few places in the States too, but I'm not sure where and when - I think it's still in the works. When I know that I'll pass it along too. Tickets can be found through Ticketmaster. Regardless of whether or not you get to see the ballet, I hope you will take the core messages of The Fiddle & The Drum ballet to heart - choose peace over war, respect and protect the earth, and slow down to experience the joy of life! Laurie Laurie Fuhr | Administrative Assistant | ALBERTA BALLET | p: 403.245.4222 ext 521 | f: 403.245.6573 | laurief@albertaballet.com | www.albertaballet.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:00:56 -0800 (PST) From: Mags Subject: Re: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet welcome, Laurie, fellow Canadian and prairie girl. Tis me, Mags, from Winnipeg, hopefully, the rest of the prairie clan will chime in and give you a warm welcome as well. I wish the ballet would come here, to Winnipeg. Is there anyway of checking that? or asking them if they would do so? THere's a strong fan base of her work here, and I know it would be a huge hit. I was meant to go to the Banff Centre but was quite ill at the time, so I had to send my regrets. My friends got to go though, and they sat only a few rows behind Joni, and also saw her outside. Like you, they opted not to 'bother' her, as she looked like she was quite enjoying a little quiet tete a tete with some friends. I look forward to your future posts and insights, do chime in and dazzle us all with your meetings and talks of all things Joni. Lucky you for working at the ballet itself. I love contemporary dance, and this ballet looks to me like it falls into that realm of things. Beautiful and powerful stuff. Glad to see another Canadian on the list! prairie girl Mags in Winnipeg __________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Canada Toolbar: Search from anywhere on the web, and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now at http://ca.toolbar.yahoo.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:08:22 -0800 (PST) From: Mags Subject: RE: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet our new found friend Laurie wrote: Any listers in Western Canada? you betcha! Two in Sask, me in the Peg, Catherine in Toronto, Michael O'Malley in Quebec. I tried to host a Pegfest but there's no venue here to accomodate things in the way that I see it anyway. no idea why the borders are so wide on this, hopefully, it posts okay. welcome again,Mags who lives smack dab in the centre of oh Canada ;--) __________________________________________________________________ Connect with friends from any web browser - no download required. Try the new Yahoo! Canada Messenger for the Web BETA at http://ca.messenger..yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:11:11 +0000 (GMT) From: Joseph Palis Subject: Re : Paved Paradise Redux, and the Art of Being Joni Thanks for the link, Patti. Can't wait to read your review. One of the things I liked about John Kelly's attribution to Joni is her being a 'raconteur'. I like raconteurs. More like storytelling in the traditional sense. Joni is indeed a weaver of stories and seems to delight in making her audience experience the stories' little moments. I remembered being blown away by the clever wordcraft of 'Edith and the Kingpin' -- so precise yet magical at the same time. Sidenote: I had a Joni moment in class today when I talked about urban gentrification and mentioned to class about Joni's 'paved paradise' lyrics. Some smiled in recognition while others were furiously copying what I just said. Joseph in grey Chapel Hill np:B Claudine Longet - Ain't No Mountain High Enough ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:54:51 -0600 From: Robert Procyk Subject: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Welcome Laurie! I forgot to mention they had a cd for sale at the Saskatoon dates on the weekend, but I didn't even think of buying it, as I was frantically searching for a Fiddle and the Drum poster or two for my daughters' ballet teacher (they are 7 and 5 and thought they'd rock her world with a poster, and one for their room, but they didn't have any to sell or to steal off the walls!), and instead I ended up buying myself a t-shirt. The cds were 15 dollars I think. T-shirts were a reasonable 20 bucks or something. Rob ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:39:53 +0000 From: "Michael O'Malley" Subject: Re: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Hey Laurie, Great story! What fun ! I was at that performance in Banff in September, I happened to be on holidays there at the right time. So we could have met up ! Needless to say that it was a magical evening for me. I got to shake Joni's hand at intermission, but that was about it. She was so solicited by people, right and left. It must be hard for her to go out alone and just be a regular person sometimes, although I was impressed how cool Canadians are in keeping a respectful distance with her. So, does your band play dances? Are there jive and swing dancers out there? It's a pretty big scene here in Quebec, and learning to dance the Lindy Hop was one of the great things I did for myself as I turned the corner on 50. Mags was talking about a Pegfest Jonifest a few months back, but I'm not sure what's up with that. I'm sure she'll let us know if things develop. Anyway, I look forward to reading your posts. Welcome. Michael in Quebec ee _________________________________________________________________ How fun is this? IMing with Windows Live Messenger just got better. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/messenger.aspx ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:32:34 -0600 From: Michael Paz Subject: Re: Re : Paved Paradise Redux, and the Art of Being Joni LMAO!!! I smell "extra credit"! Paz Michael Paz michael@thepazgroup.com Tour Manager Preservation Hall Jazz Band http://www.preservationhall.com On Jan 27, 2009, at 4:11 PM, Joseph Palis wrote: Thanks for the link, Patti. Can't wait to read your review. One of the things I liked about John Kelly's attribution to Joni is her being a 'raconteur'. I like raconteurs. More like storytelling in the traditional sense. Joni is indeed a weaver of stories and seems to delight in making her audience experience the stories' little moments. I remembered being blown away by the clever wordcraft of 'Edith and the Kingpin' -- so precise yet magical at the same time. Sidenote: I had a Joni moment in class today when I talked about urban gentrification and mentioned to class about Joni's 'paved paradise' lyrics. Some smiled in recognition while others were furiously copying what I just said. Joseph in grey Chapel Hill np:B Claudine Longet - Ain't No Mountain High Enough ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:50:00 +0000 From: Jamie Zubairi Home Subject: Judy Collins on BBC4 right now It seems to be the whole 'In Concert' series.... Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Crosby & Nash.... she's already done Both Sides Now and Chelsea Morning.... - -- Feel like supporting a World Record Attempt while giving to charity? go to: http://www.justgiving.com/zooby Jamie Zubairi can be found for voice-overs at http://uk.voicespro.com/jamie.zubairi1 acting CV and showreel at http://uk.castingcallpro.com/u/81749 agent: http://www.pelhamassociates.co.uk 01273 323 010 http://www.jamiezubairi.co.uk Facebook me! Everest Blog: http://jamiezubairi.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:56:22 -0800 (PST) From: Catherine McKay Subject: Re: Re : Paved Paradise Redux, and the Art of Being Joni Man, don't you just love that kind of power? - --- On Tue, 1/27/09, Joseph Palis wrote: Sidenote: I had a Joni moment in class today when I talked about urban gentrification and mentioned to class about Joni's 'paved paradise' lyrics. Some smiled in recognition while others were furiously copying what I just said. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:09:56 -0500 From: "Jim L'Hommedieu" Subject: Re: Which 3 tracks from THOSL? Thanks to everyone who weighed in. I'm glad to see that every track was recommended because I think this is a desert-island disc. Unfortunately, there's a tie for the 3rd track. Instead of choosing, I'm donating the disc and buying a replacement. Jim L. Here are the results: In France They Kiss On Main Street: 3 The Jungle Line: 1 Edith And The Kingpin: 3 Don't Interrupt The Sorrow: 8 Shades Of Scarlet Conquering: 3 The Hissing Of Summer Lawns: 6 The Boho Dance: 4 Harry's House/Centerpiece: 5 Sweet Bird: 5 Shadows And Light: 3 I'm ripping only 3 tracks from "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns". which 3 would you pick? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:10:36 +1100 From: Mark-Leon Thorne Subject: Re: Joni Mitchell's The Fiddle & The Drum Ballet Hi Laurie. So nice to have you on board. Great to get your perspective too of working with such a fine outfit. I'll introduce myself. I am Mark and I am in Sydney, Australia. I am the administrator for the wallpapers section of the JMDL site. I have been on this list since around 1997. I am also the organiser for the upcoming JoniFest in Australia (first time south of the equator) called OzFest. I did some travelling around Canada and the US when I was a teenager and travelled through Alberta. Thanks to the good people on this list, I have a copy of The Fiddle and The Drum from the Bravo broadcast and have created my own DVD package of it. Amazing stuff. I, like Marion, was hoping for a world tour that would take in Sydney and have Ms Mitchell in the audience. She has only been here twice (you may know that she doesn't like flying); once for a small tour and once to promote CMIARS. The Alberta Ballet is just the kind of act they usually get for The Festival of Sydney but, alas, not this year. The festival is coming to an end this week. However, Neil Young performed at The Big Day Out (along with 75 other acts) to a crowd of 55,000 in 37 degree heat. If and when you get the opportunity to sell the CD by mail order, please keep us antipodeans in mind who won't get the chance to see the real thing. Welcome to the community. Mark in Sydney ------------------------------ End of onlyJMDL Digest V2009 #27 ******************************** ------- Post messages to the list by clicking here: mailto:joni@smoe.org Unsubscribe by clicking here: mailto:onlyjoni-digest-request@smoe.org?body=unsubscribe