Found at Bellascribe: Joni Mitchell & Charleston

From a post by the often-missed Peg Alford:

I learned Joni Mitchell played and temporarily stayed in Charleston, this after one of those synchronicities of three: (1) out in Big Sur, seeing again some of those well-known photos of Joni, and Graham Nash, at Esalen, and I think maybe the Monterey Pop Festival (here’s one of them of Robert Altman’s); (2) seeing a vinyl copy of (the excellent) Hejira for sale at Mole’s Record Exchange; (3) watching, DVD, Copying Beethoven — it was okay, bordering on not — which made me think of Joni Mitchell’s song for Beethoven “Judgment of the Moon and Stars.” (Not unsurprisingly, there’s a YouTube video for the song here.) After these events, I re-watched the PBS American Masters DVD, Woman of Heart and Soul, and was struck anew by the fact of her going on her own, solely, as a young woman around the country playing at these unknown places, which she’d also booked herself. I liked how she talked about a “tempering by fire.” How she was an only child but had “chosen many brothers along the way.” How she called music she wrote later out in Laurel Canyon “kitchen songs.” Her reply to young aspirants who ask for advice, “Do you want to be a star or an artist?”

Always an important, if under-valued, question.

Comments

[jmsloop]

I hate to be sound contrarian here, but it's an undervalued question for a reason--it creates an "either/or" that in fact disallows the "living at the intersections" in your previous post.

I don't think Joni Mithcell was or is a simple person, but that question, asked so many times, seems to imply that one can't want both, or one sometimes, and one another. One could do this in a variety of ways (e.g., want to "be an artist"--whatever that means--and hope that conditions work out so that your art is appreciated and you become a star), produce art sometimes and pop at others (one could think of Springsteen's Nebraska as his art project, and good ole Kelly Clarkson claims her new album is an "artist" album, not made to be a big seller), or one could have a variety of impulses.

I suppose that ultimately the reason I don't like the question is that, regardless of the fact that one can provide either answer or say "both," the way it is asked most often implies that one answer is expected and that the only "correct" answer is "artist."

[peg]

Hey, Dan, thanks for the link! The missing is mutual.

@jmsloop: I know what you mean--why not have it all? Joni Mitchell discusses in the documentary, from which the question comes, examples of decisions made for purposes of being a star such as being out doing publicity sort of things that undercut the solitude and kinds of self-care things needed to create. I guess I'd say it's hard to always be "on" and then try to turn everything "off" to go within to get the "art" you need to be a "star." You'd have to watch the movie! Poor paraphrasing on my part: I'm sorry, Joni!!

[Daniel]

It doesn't matter how you answer that question publicly. It matters how you answer it to yourself, and you'd better goddamn answer it.

The world is full of people who want to be writers, but don't want to write. The airwaves are filled with people who want to be stars, and since they don't give a shit about anything else, they're easy to package, market and ship.

Does the occasional artist slip through to star status? Sure. But count to me the people who started out intending to be stars and became artists later. I'm sure examples exist, but the exception doesn't disprove the rule.

It's about WHAT YOU WANT. If you make something that satisfies you and pays your bills, is that enough? An artist can be happy with that. But if you want to be a star, that's NOT enough.

How can you miss the essential practically of the question, John?

What I don't like is this naive sense that pervades the culture, telling us that you can be both. Well, statistically speak, YOU JUST CAN'T. It's like a business plan that's based on winning the lottery.

And because we don't draw those distinctions, we have to listen to a bunch of shallow assholes like Britney Spears talk about whatever they do as if it's an artistic process. No, it's a commercial process that has zero to do with art.

[peg]

I see you feel strongly about this, Dan! Good points. I especially like "It's like a business plan that's based on winning the lottery."