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