Next, the three performers introduced "The Mitchell Effect." Noting that Joni has been covered by more recording artists than any single composer, with the exception of Mozart, we were treated to impromptu "interviews" of people on the street, including song clips of everyday people singing the lyrics to Joni's songs. It was really fun and good placing in the program. That was segued into Rebecca Jenkins singing Blue, with an honest and heartfelt interpretation of the song.
We then looked again to the monitors, where Angelica Huston and Joni's best friend, Charles Valentino, were expounding on Joni's virtues. Angelica said that she is "one of those people who makes you happy to be alive because you feel like she's always taking a big bite out of life." Charles said to Joni how much she deserved this honor, and that he and Angelica were going to have a dance in her honor. In the introduction to his next song, Brent says, "Michael, Willy, Richard, Carey, beautiful, beautiful Marcie, Cherokee Louise, Ron, Chikie, Lead Foot Melvin. With every one of these people, Joni Mitchell seems to have reintroduced us to some part of ourselves. And in the brevity of one song, she paints an entire life...like that." As he sang Shadows and Light, Hejira was somehow sandwiched between the beginning and end in a fluid, mellifluous way. Moving forward in Joni's career, the next subject was about charting new territories. Herbie Hancock was now on the monitor, talking abouthow he "happened" onto the Mingus album. He wasn't originally scheduled to be on it, but his friend, Jaco Pastorius, called him and said they were in the studio, and invited him to play. From that point on, he and Joni became friends. He says about Joni, "Her normal mode of conversation is so graphic and full of symbolism, just like her poetry. She speaks poetically." Wayne Shorter was on the monitor next, saying that she is a person who was willing to take chances, one of the few who were willing to put her career on the line. And by doing so, she proceeded to "break sound barriers." Rebecca Jenkins came forward to sing a really lovely version of "Two GreyRooms." Following that were humorous anecdotes, including the fact that Joni Mitchell has been the answer to 42 Across in the New York Times Crossword Puzzle, and her lyrics have stumped a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Stating that Joni Mitchell is an "icon," our eyes went back to the monitor for video clips of Joni references, including Chicago Hope,You've Got Mail, Down to You, and Robert Downey singing River on Ally McBeal. Another sandwich follows of Brent singing Sunny Sunday, pausing long enough for Anne Marie to powerfully recite the lyrics to TheMagdalene Laundries, and Brent finishing with the remainder of Sunny Sunday. It was a very powerful combination, with perfect timing. Finally. We are introduced to the Lady of the Hour, Joni Mitchell. She approaches the stage radiant in a two-piece Issy Miyake green and blue outfit. She is joined by Denise Donlan, the president of Sony Music, Canada. Before Joni can even sit down, she is rushed by Brent, Ann Marie and Rebecca, each offering a pack of her favorite cigarettes, American Spirits. All that is left is a light from an audience member, and she comfortably settles into her chair next to Denise. When asked about her "creative genius," Joni says she collects all kinds of ideas and stores them away, including a lot of cinematic ideas and short stories. She added that they always seem to "sort themselves out." She said as a child, she wrote in rhyme. When she was upset, it gave her a structure to work things out. As far as painting, she says, "I used to carry a sketchbook everywhere. Everytime I sat down, I used to draw what was in front of me. I used to sketch everything." She did this while "getting her craft together in a certain way." Joni continues, "I would draw the people at my concert before I went on. They would have to take the pen away from me." (So she could go on stage.) She says she has been approached several times to write a song for a movie, but she always ends up telling the whole movie, so they never use it. She calls herself a "musical illiterate," not knowing the "language," but she adds, "a sophisticated musical illiterate, kind of like an idiot savant of sorts." She says she likes to move around in keys, and gives "metaphorical instruction" to her players. She gives an example: "For instance, in Trouble Child, the piano player was just playing notes, and I told him to play a Japanese wave- it arcs up and then sucks down on itself. Whereas Wayne (Shorter) came to me the first time I played with him in London,he said, "It's like you're in Hyde Park, and there's a nanny and a baby, and the baby has a boat, and the wind is nudging it- (she makes a sound-do, do,do), it's nudging it, (do, do, do) I'm going to play it like that (do,do,do.) and I just thought, 'Oh, I love this guy!'"
