Posted on 9.27.07: Easily the most soulful and influential female poet-composer-performer of the late 20th Century (as well as the most emotionally arresting, elegantly phrased, bravest and saddest), Joni Mitchell spat out the blunt truth when Vulture‘s Tim Murphy asked why she’d recorded no new tunes since the days of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. “I … Read more
Joni Mitchell, 71, was rushed to the hospital this afternoon after reportedly being found unconscious, She was said to be alert in the ride down to “the hospital” (presumably UCLA or Cedars), but is reportedly in intensive care. I’ve spoken to a friend who was with her last week, and he said he sensed that … Read more
Taylor Swift did a duet with Mick Jagger last night during a Rolling Stones “50 & Counting” show at Chicago’s United Center. The song was “As Tears Go By.” The Stones always ask singers who are “hot right now” and doing something distinctive and different than what the Stones have always done to sing duets … Read more
You could be cruel and unfair and say that Taylor Swift‘s comments in a just-published Vanity Fair interview indicate that the 23 year-old singer is (a) a bit of a hair-trigger personality and (b) not exactly an embodiment of the phrase “still water runs deep.” One look at those shopping-mall eyes and you know she … Read more
Variety‘s Jeff Sneider is reporting that Taylor Swift, of all people, is “circling the role” of Joni Mitchell in a film version of Sheila Weller‘s 2008 book “Girls Like Us,” which will be shot under the aegis of Sony Pictures and Di Bonaventura Pictures. It’s an appalling idea because Mitchell’s manner and speaking style always … Read more
…like “Shadows and Light” were to somehow fly into Taylor Swift’s head while she’s walking her dog or taking a shower, she’d probably have an anxiety attack. Or she’d break out in hives. I was going to say that songs like this are way beyond Swift’s comfort zone, but I don’t know her repertoire all … Read more
Posted on 4.15.15: Joni, Greetings — I’m Jeffrey Wells. I’ve been a film columnist, reporter and critic for 30-plus years, and I’ve been tapping out a dailly column since ’04 — www.hollywood-elsewhere.com. I’ve never gotten to know or work the music realm like the movie business. Not professionally or politically, I mean, so I’ve never … Read more
Putting aside Travis Kelce’s unfortunate troglodyte behavior, which is a whole problem in and of itself and one that would give pause to any woman of brains and perception, he is now facing a deck of cards that will probably not pan out in his favor. For when his fame and power inevitably begin to … Read more
I’ve searched around over the years and have never found anything to dissuade me of the understanding that Joni Mitchell created the term “city of the fallen angels” (i.e., Los Angeles). Court and Spark, 1973. Taylor Swift would suffer cardiac arrest if she even tried to compose stuff of this depth and dimension.
Glenn Kenny on this morning’s “Don’t Hand Me That Crap” rant: “Wells is being unfair, maybe, and also maybe comparing apples to oranges. But he’s not wrong in certain respects. “Joni Mitchell sure knows a lot of fancy chords that Swift wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, and her lyrics have a more overtly literary … Read more
In yesterday’s “Week-Long Ear Bug” riff, I shared the following observation: “Taylor Swift does what she does very well or least very successfully, but Joni Mitchell’s eclectic mode of expression (or a facsimile) just isn’t in her. She’ll never get there. Mitchell’s stuff is alluring, sexy, sophisticated, nectary, lasting — Swift songs are candy.” In … Read more
Eight or nine days ago I listened to a newly released version of Joni Mitchell‘s “See You Sometime” from “Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975).” And it won’t let me go. I’m hearing it over and over…car, shower, writing, walking, shopping. The only way to discharge a pernicious ear bug is to … Read more