I don't intend to start a flame war (honestly), but I did want to respond to
some of the more benign, sugar-coated interpretations of Joni's motives
behind the MOA comment with my far more critical one.
I bought MOA when it first arrived, and was immediately unimpressed with
Joni's attitude towards her audience, as exhibited in that moment. It left a
bad taste in my mouth from the beginning. Say what you will about the Van
Gogh comment, but it comes from a very conceited point of view, is delivered
with holier-than-thou exasperation, and is most definitely a "put down" of
the audience. No one has mentioned Joni's pained moans before launching into
the spiel, either, which sets it up as an obvious put down. Perhaps the most
remarkable thing about the whole episode to me is that Joni thought it was
worth having repeated ('til the end of time) on her album. Had I been the
performer, I would have been ashamed of my behavior that night and left that
comment in the can where it belonged.
My suspicions about Joni's disdain for her audience were confirmed in spades
the first time (finally!) I had a chance to attend one of her concerts. I
had first found Joni with the release of LOTC (or Clouds, maybe...I can't
remember now which was the first in my possession), devoured he songs, and
immediately elevated her to "favorites" status. I had all three of her
albums prior to Blue being released, and, when that came along, and, to some
extent, because of her connections to other "favorites" of mine (CSNY, James
Taylor), she went to the very top of my heap. Her lyrics were by far the
most interesting and well-crafted, and Blue struck a far more personal chord
with me.
In any event, due to where I had been living in the late-60s/early-70s, and
my age then (I'm 46 now), I never had the chance to see Joni until 1983,
during her WTRF Tour. I was *really* stoked! At about 1:00 in the afternoon
on the day of the show, I was stopped at a red light and was rear-ended (in
a small Datsun) by a Chevy Impala doing 30 miles an hour. I kid you not.
Fortunately, I saw him coming in my rearview mirror and locked my arms
against the steering wheel so as to push back hard against my seat. I had a
little whiplash, but my car was *totaled*, as you can imagine. Anyway, in
spite of being at the accident scene and then at the emergency room, my
excitement at the prospect of seeing Joni that night didn't diminish. At
about 6:00, I was finally able to begin the 1-1/2 hour drive (in a borrowed
car) to Boston for the 8:00 show.
Joni was to perform as part of one of my favorite series, the outdoor
Concerts On The Common, and the weather was beautiful. Joni came out late
(at about 8:30) to joyous applause and began to play "Song For Sharon." I
was absolutely beside myself, and thought, "Oh, man, this show is going to
be one of the best I've ever seen" (and I admit I wasn't very impressed with
the WTRF album, which had already been out for several months at that
point). Halfway through my *favorite* song, though, Joni abruptly turned and
walked off stage in a huff because some people were still getting back to
their seats from having visited the restroom or having bought a Coke at the
concession stand or what have you before she finally came out. I couldn't
F@$#ing believe it! You could have heard a pin drop in that outdoor venue at
that moment (Boston crowds were great then, and these people were her
*fans*!). She had been on stage for maybe 3 minutes, tops, when she walked
off. A stage announcer soon told us all was well and to stay put and that
Joni would be back in a few minutes. More than *an hour* later, Joni came
back on, played "Chinese Cafe," said, "Come back and see me sometime when
the lights are good," or some such total nonsense, and split. It took me a
*very,* *very* long time to forgive her for that. I don't care what her
emotional situation was at that time, or on that night, but it was
unforgivable prima donna-type behavior.
I know I told this story once before, when I first joined the list, but
thought it deserved repeating as another example to illustrate my point. I
love Joni's music again (I never didn't, to be honest), but I no longer have
any illusions that she is this wonderful, loving person. Maybe she's
changed, and is more grateful for her fans. I heard some nice stories of the
way she interacted with JMDLers at the Mendel. Plus, she seemed nice enough
when I saw my first proper Joni concert this spring. I'd really like to
think she's a better person these days.
"Boston Jim"
