I am optimistic about the state of the list. While I agree that
we are in a trough of sorts right now, I think it's due in part to the
present state of the world, and in part to TLOG, like BSN, not having
"new" original Joni material. This list is a definite community,and
like all communities it occasionally manifests some discord, sometimes
seeks to establish a "government", etc.; but if it were a real town, it
would be a great place to live because of the people. There are a lot
of very generous and thoughtful people on this list, and I think they
are the ones who will turn out to be the permanent residents here.
Instead of working on a "zoning" ordinance, why don't we take on
a "public service" project? I'll throw out a couple of ideas. Jim
recently suggested we consider what should go in a Joni 4cd box set.
What if we instead consider what should go in an actual set (number of
cds to be discussed) of live, noncommercial Joni performances that
chronicle the "best of the best" in terms of her songs and best
available versions? I know the list has some made some trees in the
past, but this would be quite different, and Bob Muller not only is our
"resident" expert on Joni recordings, but also has an incredible
collection of her live performances.
Maybe we could start a new cd tree (and definitely not burden Bob);
maybe we might even be able to offer visitors to the JMDL homepage a way
to download two or three such songs as a way of getting them interested
buying Joni's albums.
Another idea is an actual gift to Joni from the list that would
allow each member to include something or to contribute in some way.
The cookbook was before my time here, but is a good example. How about
some cds from us (Jonifest-type performances?) in one of these boxes:
www.cleverwood.com/about1.htm
www.cleverwood.com/japanese_artists_price_list.htm ? Who knows what
that might lead to?
