Sunday, November 15, 2009

Joni


I think for any female growing up in the late 60's and early 70's Joni Mitchell was a touchstone. More for some than for others. I was one who knew of her, but really "found" her in the early 70's and never looked back. I sat down last night and did the Netflix "Roku" stream thing of "Woman Of Heart And Mind", a documentary on Mitchell's career. It uses interviews with her at different points in her career and appears to have had her cooperation, at least on some levels. It is, however, pretty blunt about some of her, shall we say, less popular choices. I'm thinking some of the jazz -influenced work and when she refused to be pigeon-holed into the "blonde hippie goddess" thing and broke out into experimental grooves-like "Hejira" and other work. Her pregnancy and choosing to give up her child for adoption are discussed and she comments on the "Little Green" saga-so her flaws aren't glossed over. It's a fairly revealing film and includes lots of concert footage I had not seen before and I count myself as a "Joni-phile". The conversations with Graham Nash are revealing and I had not seen him discuss her at any great length before. I didn't know what to expect of the film going in, but ended up entertained, intrigued and informed.

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