Happy Birthday Joni Mitchell!

http://suetierney.tumblr.com/post/132723848374/happy-birthday-joni-mitchell-i-am-so-glad-you

The Official Jonifest 2015 Tshirt

I have a couple of these left.  Contact me at sem8@cornell.edu if you would like one.  $20.00 plus shipping and handling.

SFJazz Day 2, Part 1: Access

I'm really dragging this out ... my last post was two weeks after the event and now here I am a month and a half out and still haven't finished my tale!  So to remind you, I'm describing my four-day journey to San Francisco May 7 - 11 to attend the fantabulous Gala Event at the SFJazz Center honoring the Great Joni Mitchell for her career and influence on jazz music.  At the time this event was scheduled, Joni Mitchell was scheduled to attend and be the guest of honor with seats at the dinner at $100,000 a plate, and tickets to the concert starting at $1,000 up to $25,000 a seat.  This is the yearly fundraiser for the Jazz Center and although lowly people like me and probably you would have to dream about being able to afford such extravagances, there are obviously A LOT of people in San Francisco who can afford such a thing.  When I heard about the event, I contacted my great friend, Les Irvin, webmaster of JoniMitchell.com to say, that if for any reason he got comp tickets to this shindig, I would like to be first on the list.  I was even willing to cough up a $1,000 for a seat in the balcony, if possible.

Well, much to the sadness of all who adore Joni, on March 31 she fell gravely ill and there was obviously no way she would be in attendance.  When the call came from Les that he indeed did get comp tickets, I thought, well even though she won't be there, I've never been to San Francisco, and I just got a nice tax return that can pay for my hotel and plane ticket.  So I started planning the trip.  I called a couple of Jonifest friends who live in the San Francisco area and we started forming a mini-fest around the event.

So after Day One of walking around the general area of Market Street, I woke on Friday, May 8 and walked down to Starbucks which was off the lobby of my hotel.  There was a long line of people, obviously on their way to work (the hotel was a couple of doors down from Twitter corporate) and I waited on line craving coffee, still trying to wake up.  All of a sudden a very tall barista ran from behind the counter and out the front door after a culprit who had just grabbed a bunch of drinks and whatever he could fit in his pockets ... the barista guy came back calling to his manager "well at least that time I got two drinks back!!" Clearly this grab and run tactic is an every day occurrence.

Twitter Corporate, Market St, San Francisco

And this brings me to a sad fact about Market Street, and many other of the streets I walked down in San Francisco.  The homeless.  My God, they were everywhere.  There was one elderly lady who I saw several times standing near the subway entrance just yelling at people as they walked by "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, please give me money, I'm hungry."  There were several people laying on the street, some with signs, one fellow who seemed blind, sitting with his dog on the curb, playing a boom box and asking for money.  A very very drunk sad woman crying with her friend who was also very drunk or high on something sitting right in front of Twitter.  Wow. I did throw some money in baskets but not much I'm sorry to say.  I found out later that San Francisco has a very liberal view of homelessness, and sleeping in the park in front of City Hall seemed to be something that people did on a regular basis.  You can find out more about this here: The Homeless of San Francisco.

City Hall, San Francisco

I got a text from Les, who had just arrived at San Francisco airport asking if he could stop at my hotel room so he could get ready for the Gala there.  Of course!  Les Irvin is another one of my best friends I met with a mutual adoration of Joni Mitchell.  Les and I go way back to the origins of JoniMitchell.com and the Joni Mitchell Discussion List in the mid-1990s.  We've attended many Jonifest gatherings in the years since then and he has graciously given our guitar and piano transcription database a home on JoniMitchell.com.  He should get all the credit for the comprehensive presence of Joni Mitchell's legacy on the internet.  Although, a more humble person you would never meet.  Case in point ... when he arrived he took his tuxedo out of his suitcase (the dress code for the event was Bohemian Black Tie) and told me that the jacket cost 99¢ at his local Goodwill.  He had brought the jacket to a menswear shop in Colorado Springs and asked one of the gentlemen there if he could get away with wearing it.  He was assured that it was a great jacket that fit him to a T and congratulated him on the great bargain!!

Les and I went to a great diner across the street from the Hotel Whitcomb and had some cheeseburger deluxes and gabbed for about an hour and a half.  Good Friends, you and me!!

Les Irvin

Les informed me that there was a good chance that we could get into the rehearsal for the SFJazz event that was starting around noon.  After lunch we walked over to the SFJazz Center and talked to a woman who was at the side entrance who escorted us to the security desk.  Les talked to the security guard and it turned out Les was on the access list.  The guard called the SFJazz PR manager, Marshall Lamm.  Marshall came right out to introduce himself and was very cordial, and happy to escort us around the facilities.  He brought us to the auditorium and the band was already out getting ready for rehearsal.  Marshall said we could sit and listen but asked us not to take pictures.  We thanked him and sat down, looked at each other and high fived!  We were in!  Not so fast, Marshall walked up again about a New York City minute later and said "I'm sorry, you have to leave right now!"  Oh well, I guess somebody was not happy with us being there.  As a consolation prize, Marshall showed us the dressing rooms, hoping we could talk to Laurie Antonioli, the jazz vocalist, who had just released a critically acclaimed collection of Joni Mitchell songs called "Songs of Shadows, Songs of Light." Joni had hand selected Laurie to perform at this event and Laurie had emailed us several times before we arrived hoping to get to meet us.  Laurie wasn't there yet so we ended up back on the street walking past the grand memorial to Joni, eventually ending up at a cappuccino bar.  It was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the Big Event!  More about the big night in Part Two!

SFJazz Joni Mitchell Tribute

Day 1: My trip to San Francisco for the SFJazz Tribute to Joni Mitchell

I apologize for the time it took me to finally sit down and write up a review of this amazing event that I traveled 3,000 miles to witness.  Since I got home on a long redeye flight after 4 days in the fabulous city of San Francisco, I've been a virtual zombie, sleepwalking through work and idly passing my time knitting and watching Netflix.  After all these many years I've finally realized that my INFP personality becomes flattened by glitterati, outlandishness, and sensory overload!  Back to my peaceful life and I have to cocoon till I get my wings back.

David Rea and Joni Mitchell

I did accomplish one thing since my trip back and that was a new chord chart for an unreleased song by Joni Mitchell called Play Little David.  This song was written for her friend, David Rea, who played guitar behind her many times while she was on the cafe circuit.  He also accompanied her in this video from the CBC television show "Mon Pays, Mes Chansons" [1966].  I think this picture is from the Mariposa Festival in 1966.  

ImagiKnits, San Francisco

So my arrival in San Francisco on Thursday, May 7th was uneventful.  I had a nice hotel on Market Street called the Hotel Whitcomb which was in walking distance of the SFJazz Center.  When I googled the Hotel Whitcomb this site came up about the ghosts that live in it, which I quickly disregarded (i ain't afraid a no ghosts ... ).  When I came to my room on the 6th floor I noticed it was at the end of a long hall near the EXIT to the staircase.  Now, I'm not sure why I immediately thought of a CSI episode where they called this type of hotel room "murder central" because of the location of the speedy exit.  I'm quickly disregarding that thought too as I watch too much TV involving autopsies!!!  I'll let you know right now that I saw no ghosts and I was not murdered (which means I am not a ghost!!)  Although I did see some sights in this neighborhood on my way to a fabulous knitting store called ImagiKnit, where I browsed heavenly for a long time and then bought about $100 worth of yarn.  I also saw the following items - 1) a sign in a beauty parlor window that said "Our haircuts get you laid!" 2) A skateboard riding German Shepherd and 3) the SFJazz Tribute to Joni Mitchell on the building across the street from the Center.  Here are some shots:

After my very long walk I got back to my hotel room and went to bed early ... after watching an episode of Bloodline (including autopsies) on my Kindle.  

More on Day 2 tomorrow. 

Don't Believe What You Read In The News

If you are a Joni Mitchell fan, I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that the news is lit up with reports of her health.  Conflicting reports put her either in a coma, or alert and recovering nicely.  Either way she has been in the hospital since March 31 and is under the care of a top neurosurgeon at UCLA Medical Center.  A Gala Celebration of her career at the San Francisco Jazz Center on May 8 (which I am attending!) announced yesterday what everyone guessed, that she will not be attending.  The bottom line is, we don't know what her diagnosis is, we don't know what the prognosis is, and we shouldn't believe 99% of the speculation in the news.  A couple of the news items say things like "she has no family" and "she started as a street singer" or my favorite one "she's the highest paid singer in the business."  Boy would she laugh heartily at that one.

So instead of talking about her illness, I would like to share with you a great speech that Joni gave at the Commonwealth Club of California on Earth Day 2005.  At the time she was promoting her compilation, The Beginning of Survival, which highlights some of her more political songs.  After hearing this speech, I ordered this disc, and have been listening to it in my car all week.  Incredibly thoughtful and piercing songs including The Three Great Stimulants, The Reoccurring Dream, The Beat of Black Wings, Lakota, and Ethiopia.  The refrain from Ethiopia is such a soul searing message on the survival of our planet:

Little garden planet
Oasis in space
Some hearts hurt
They can hardly stand it
Famine phantoms at the garden gate ...

Here is a link to the speech: Joni Mitchell: Earth Day 2005

You can post messages to Joni at two sites:  WeLoveYouJoni.com and Twitter with the hashtag #ThankYouJoni, which will appear at the SFJAZZ website.  Plus you could also "send up a prayer, wondering who is there to hear ..."

Sue

Joni Mitchell Instructional Video: I Don't Know Where I Stand

This link will bring you to the video and chord sheet for IDKWIS at JoniMitchell.com:

I Don't Know Where I Stand

Joni Mitchell Instructional Video: I Don't Know Where I Stand

This is my eighth instructional video for the album Clouds.  I only have one song to finish, Tin Angel, where I will be using the tab of my good friend, Pat Hillis, from Toronto.  Pat and I corresponded early in the mid-90s about deciphering Joni's alternate tunings, but didn't get to meet in person till we attended the 2013 Luminato Festival Tribute to Joni at Massey Hall. We had so much fun that weekend, it was almost as if we had been friends forever!  I love that.

My newest video is I Don't Know Where I Stand.  This song is deceptively simple, but has a lot going on ... not only the incredible melody, but the poignant lyrics and a trumpet solo!!  I was lucky to hear an old recording of Joni from 1967 during a cafe concert where she warned the audience that this song contained a trumpet solo, as she said "just to warn you so you don't wonder, what is she doing?"

This video will be housed at the Guitar and Piano database at JoniMitchell.com soon.

We Love You Joni

JoniMitchell.com created a page where fans can post their get well messages to Joni.  All you need to do is post your message on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #WeLoveYouJoni and your message will be posted here.  You can go to WeLoveYouJoni.com to read the messages from fans all over the world.

Her website posted earlier today that "Joni remains under observation in the hospital and is resting comfortably. We are encouraged by her progress and she continues to improve and get stronger each day." 

Thank God, I'm sure we are all happy to finally get some news.  

LA Times: Singer "fainted" but is doing fine

Thank goodness, we can all relax now, hopefully!!

LA Times Update

Joni Wordle Get Well Card (made from the #jonimitchell twitter feed today)

Joni Mitchell has been hospitalized ...

Breaking news a little under an hour ago that Joni Mitchell was found unconscious in her home today around 2:30 pm PST and was rushed to the hospital.  She was alert in the ambulance and is now in intensive care, presumably at UCLA Medical Center, which is the closest hospital to her home in Bel Air.  TMZ was first to report and said that she was in serious condition.

Just frantic with worry right now, but the best thing to do is send out prayers and healing vibrations to this wonderful gifted person ...

I want to knit you a sweater, I want to make you feel better ...

Variety article here

I have also been following the twitter feed for #jonimitchell

I hope there is good news soon, Sue

Early Joni Mitchell performances on "Let's Sing Out"

A focus of my research on Joni Mitchell over the last couple of years has been her early unreleased songs.  The series of performances in recordings and videos during what I call her "cafe days" are priceless.  On some of the episodes of Canadian music show "Let's Sing Out" her name is still Joni Anderson. OpenCulture.com recently presented all of her performances on Let's Sing Out in one youtube video.  You can see the accompanying article here.  Enjoy this amazing video!!  At barely 22 years of age, it is quite amazing how accomplished she is, not only in her musicianship, but the quality of her songwriting.

Songs included:

October 4, 1965
I Was Born To Take The Highway
Blow Away The Morning Dew with host, Oscar Brand (traditional song)
Favorite Color
Me and My Uncle (written by John Phillips)
October 24, 1966
Just Like Me
Urge for Going
Night In The City
Blue on Blue
Get Together, with the Allen-Ward Trio (written by Dino Valente)
Prithee, Pretty Maiden with Oscar Brand (written by Gilbert and Sullivan)

Enjoy!! Sue

French Interview with Joni from 1991

My first post talked about the Steve Klein custom built guitar that Joni owns with I Ching symbols in the fret board, and also the symbol the Wanderer on the top of the guitar.  Here is a great French interview with Joni from 1991 when she was in the process of releasing the album Night Ride Home.  At time 28:02 in the video, Joni demonstrates two songs, Night Ride Home and Cherokee Louise, on the I Ching guitar, and also talks about the guitar itself.  Enjoy!

Notice, guitar players, that she talks about her Tuning numbering system while demonstrating the tuning for Night Ride Home!  If you want to learn more about her numbering system, read an explanation at the JoniMitchell.com Transcription page by Howard Wright here.

Sue

JoniMitchell.com Instructional Videos

In November of 2011 I started a project where I created instructional videos for my tablature at JoniMitchell.com.  I decided to start with the album Clouds.  This album has, of course, the iconic song Both Sides Now, arguably Joni's most famous song.  There are also many other great songs on this album including Chelsea Morning, That Song About the Midway, and The Gallery.  As of today my most viewed video is definitely Both Sides Now with over 16,000 hits, and Chelsea Morning coming in second with 10,500 hits.

My goal in doing these videos, and the tabs to begin with, is to make Joni Mitchell's guitar style accessible to her fans who feel they can't play her songs because they were too hard, or they were in "those weird tunings."  I hope that, if you've ever felt this way before, you can find my tabs and videos will help you to get past these myths and learn how to play some of the most beautiful songs in the world.

You can find these videos at the JoniMitchell.com website on the music tab, where you would select The Guitar and Piano Transcription Database, and select the album Clouds.  There are several other transcribers who have tabbed out these songs, as you can see, but if you select the version of Both Sides Now that I transcribed, you will see my video over the tab.  Below is the video from my YouTube page, which I provide a link to in the sidebar to your right.

To date I have all the songs from Clouds completed except for I Don't Know Where I Stand and Tin Angel.  Of course, I don't do a version of The Fiddle and The Drum because that song is performed a cappella.

Thanks for checking out these videos, and please give me feedback or suggestions!

Take care, Sue

A STARTling Revelation I (dreamed I) saw in Joni Mitchell's Woodstock

This blogger author of … Sharp Elves Society … Jane Austen Shadow Stories, Arnie Perlstein, tweeted me his most recent essay on his take of Woodstock, which I found fascinating!!   I thought some here would find it intriguing too …

http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-startling-revelation-i-dreamed-i-saw.html

He references watching this video clip of Joni singing Woodstock at the 1970 BBC In Concert performance (also known as the Pink Dress Concert).  I can see Joni Mitchell as the herald of a new age, can you?

6th Annual Joni Mitchell Tribute, Ithaca NY, March 7 2015

Actually it started much earlier than 6 years ago, but Ithaca loves Joni Mitchell.  Patti Witten, my friend, and a wonderful singer/songwriter, came up with an idea to have an Only Joni Open Mic at a local coffee shop called Juna's Cafe.  To make a long story short, the first open mic was standing room only with people having to be turned away for signups.  The first person to perform pretty much set the stage for the next several years of Joni Mitchell tributes in Ithaca.  Joe Gaylord, a local blues musician, played The Wolf That Lives In Lindsay in the correct tuning, and insisted on audience participation during the wolf howling section.  What a night!  So here we are, two open mics and 5 annual tributes under our belt to March 7, 2015.  Again, a full house.

Joe Gaylord is now our impresario, and has coordinated all of the Joni Mitchell tributes at the Community School of Music and Arts.  All proceeds go to their scholarship fund for music and art students at the school.  

The performances this year were all solid, with deep tracks and crowd favorites, but the theme to me this year was harmonies.  Here is the setlist:

1. Joe Gaylord, voice and guitar - Rainy Night House and Moon At The Window.  Joe always captures the soulful feel of Joni's songs, and I love that he jazzed it up on MATW.  Beautiful tune!
2. Me! Sue Tierney McNamara, voice and guitar - I played in FFCGAC tuning.  I Don't Know Where I Stand and an unreleased tune, Go Tell The Drummer Man written around 1966-67.
3. Joannalyn Delacruz, piano - Joannalyn played a medley of Come In From The Cold and All I Want. An emotional and creative performance. 
4. Kara Eaton, voice and piano, with Donald, bass - Kara is one of our courageous students of Joni's music and played The Boho Dance from Hissing of Summer Lawns.  Donald backed her up with a great driving bass line.  
5. Laura Peters, voice and Sergio Pedro, guitar - Laura and Sergio performed the crowd pleasers Both Sides Now and Big Yellow Taxi.  Laura's voice was lovely and Sergio was faithful to Joni's guitar style.
6. Christine Evans, voice, Timothy, guitar, and Eric Miller, piano.  Christine and Eric are regulars at the Tributes and are fondly remembered for their authentic version of Woodstock a couple of years ago.  Eric brought his beautiful Wurlitzer electric piano to simulate the sound from the Ladies of the Canyon version.  This year they played See You Sometime, with Eric superb on piano, and Amelia, with Timothy doing an incredible job on electric guitar, reminiscent of Pat Methany from Shadows and Light. Christine's voice was just like a bell as usual.  So happy they were here again for this year's concert.  
7. Five 2 consists of Uniit Carruyo, Charisse Lucente, and Yvette Lucente.  This trio of amazing women sang Circle Game and Carey with some of the most beautiful harmonies I have ever heard. They really hit it out of the park.
8. Molly MacMillan, jazz pianist and also a regular at the Tribute concerts, always performs yeoman duties of backing up many of our artists on piano.  Kudos to Molly for doing that, but her own performances are also very memorable.  This year she played Trouble Child and a fantastic version of The Jungle Line with audience participation of ughs and ohhs led by Sue Terwilliger.  Colleen Kattau also helped out with harmonies on Trouble Child.  
9. Joe Crookston, a wonderful folk/bluegrass musician from Ithaca was invited by Joe Gaylord to participate in this year's event.  Joe won Album of the Year by the International Folk Alliance in Memphis, TN.  Joe played a stirring version of Woodstock on dobro.  He mentioned later that "Joni Mitchell is hard!"  I've heard many a seasoned musician express the same sentiment after preparing for our tributes!
10. Rachel Ozols is a senior in vocal performance from Ithaca College and appeared in the opera, "Little Women" as Jo at Ithaca College in February.  Rachel performed I Had A King with piano accompaniment.  Her voice was spectacular!
11. Patti Witten returned to the Tribute after a two year absence and brought with her cellist Sera Smolen to do a haunting rendition of Hejira.  We were traveling with Patti and Sera ... 
12. Alice Saltonstall, a wonderful singer, and another regular at the Tribute sang one of my favorite songs, I Think I Understand.  One of many performances on this night that recalled Joni's admonition that you must "sing in character." Alice achieved this exquisitely.  Sera Smolen added cello and Molly MacMillan on piano to add to the suspense.  
13. I think the most creative act of the night was Ephemera.  This group of women perform improvisational jazz a cappela and they mentioned in their introduction that they attended a workshop with Bobby McFerrin.  They opened their improvisational piece with Shadows and Light and improvised through about 5 more songs, including Come In From The Cold, Woman of Heart and Mind, and Chelsea Morning (i'm forgetting a couple others).  So creative and powerful.  
14. Colleen Kattau, another regular performer, played guitar and was accompanied by Mike Brandt on bass as they sang the two bookends of the album Hejira; Coyote and Refuge of the Roads.  Colleen always plays in the correct alternate tuning and actually thanked the Joni Mitchell Database authors for their work!  Mike really channeled Jaco Pastorius in this set.  Great songs, great musicians.  
15. Sally Ramirez is a very accomplished singer and actress (she revealed that she was a nurse on the Young and the Reckless!) and she graciously helped Joe Gaylord and I advertise the Tribute on the Nonesuch folk radio show on WVBR the week before the Tribute.  Sally sang amazingly on Blue and Carey.  
16. Sue Terwilliger, a wonderful guitarist, closed the show with a beautiful version of River, and called up Molly, Colleen and a member of Ephemera to do harmonies on the finale, Tea Leaf Prophecy.  The audience joined in with the refrain "study war no more."  

Alas, my favorite night of the year was over, but I loved every minute and so did the sold out crowd.  Thanks to Joe Gaylord for doing the heavy lifting to get this Tribute off the ground year after year.  The Joni Mitchell fans in Ithaca are forever grateful.  

Welcome to The Wanderer

This blog was created to give me a space to journal about the incredible experiences I've had and continue to have researching the life and art of Joni Mitchell.  Call it obsession but since a young age I've been completely entranced by the beauty and honesty of Joni Mitchell's art, including her music, her painting, her philosophy on life, and her intensity of spirit.

My involvement in this search for Joni Mitchell has brought me friends, bold adventures, hours of frustrating and sometimes richly rewarding scrutiny into her method of guitar playing, and also a place to meditate about my own life, the sometimes lonely, sometimes transcendent, revelations that have brought me to where I am today.  Not all of these experiences, outwardly or inwardly have been about Joni Mitchell, but about my life, and what it means to be honest, courageous and willing to take the path no matter where it leads.  

The Wanderer refers to the I Ching symbol of the 56th Hexagram.  The book says "Strange lands and separation are the Wanderer's lot."  The feeling this meditation conveys is one that reminds me of the song Hejira, where she sings "I'm traveling in some vehicle, I'm sitting in some cafe, a defector of the petty wars, that shell shock love away ..."  Joni Mitchell is a frequent reader of the I Ching and even had its symbols carved into a guitar she had custom made.  You can see the image below, with the symbol of the Wanderer on the top left of the sound hole.  

This is my first post ... I hope to continue to be able to write about this incredible journey as it unfolds.