Trailer: https://bit.ly/369aUMj

It’s every bit as good as they say it is.

Can’t say I was eager to see it, being burned out on Questlove, he’s everywhere, then again white people see him as safe and they won’t let anybody else through the door so it’s Questlove’s responsibility to get the message out, one that would otherwise go unheard.

Now if you were alive back in ’69 and hailed from the New York area you know the Harlem Cultural Festival wasn’t as big a deal as they make it out to be. But it all comes together at the end of the film where it is stated that it’s part of black history, and black history is erased, and truly people should know about this series of concerts. And 1969.

This is why all those white people are angry.

Now the sixties were turbulent. But after Kent State many licked their wounds and went back to the land. In the eighties the boomers sold out. And in the nineties Clinton oversaw a decade of prosperity. But not for everybody, it’s never for everybody. And in the twenty first century, it all started to crumble. It wasn’t until the teens that people came to realize there was deep economic inequality, they ended up without jobs, or low-paying service jobs, meanwhile the old jobs went to China and Mexico and they were working like dogs to try and make ends meet. The underclass. That’s who both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump appealed to back in 2016, which seems like ancient history today. No one was listening to the underclass, they’re still not listening to the underclass, even though there are more of them than there are of richies. Which is one reason the rich people live behind gates and fly private, they want to be safe, because one day they might be attacked, in the midst of a revolution. Don’t think it can’t happen, look at 1/6.

But 1/6 was mostly about middle and upper middle class people. The underclass couldn’t afford to go to D.C., they didn’t have the bread and they needed to go to work. But now that people of color are going to supersede the number of white people, all hell is breaking loose. Like climate change, they told us for years it was going to happen, and now it finally is, and with the loss of their majority white people are freaking out, they want to protect their way of life, and they certainly don’t see the people and activities in this film as their way of life.

The sixties are now a blur, all lumped together. But ’69 was a critical year. It’s when all the faders were pushed to the maximum. With music, with politics, it was exciting to be alive, and underneath all the talking and performances in this film you’ll find a sense of optimism, and the truth is today so many are pessimistic. The death of George Floyd ignited a bomb that had been lying in wait, from long before Ferguson, but white people equate it with 1/6, they see no difference. Now let me see…one group is fighting for equal rights, the other to take down the nation because they believe it’s going in the wrong direction, they want Trump and his power to maintain. Ergo the voting rights bills. They’re trying everything to keep their finger in the dike, because in truth they’re very afraid, it’s all about fear. There’s no progress. There are bogeymen, but in truth this is the last line of defense, either the people of color are stopped now or it’s over. Thus you have that lawsuit saying not enough Asians get into Harvard, they’re turning affirmative action on its head. What about the white people? They don’t want to sacrifice. And now this is blown up in the name of critical race theory, even though it’s just a theory and isn’t in schools to begin with. Never underestimate the need of people to maintain the status quo, no one can sacrifice in the U.S. anymore, especially white people with money. As for those without cash, they’re told immigrants are taking their jobs when this is patently untrue, immigrants are doing the jobs they refuse to do.

So the complaint about all music documentaries is they don’t show complete songs. To the point where most docs are now essentially concerts. I can see enough of this on YouTube. But I did want to see some of the musical acts so I tuned in.

They start off with Stevie Wonder. Who knew he was such a great drummer? And the performances continue but the history of 1969, the black experience in 1969, is depicted concurrently, which makes the film much more watchable. They show complete songs, but the story doesn’t stop, there is footage and talking heads and it’s like a school class you never had.

The surprise of the show is Nina Simone. Whew! She sings a song about white backlash that is so powerful, so straight to the heart, anybody can get it, even if they are white. And she sings/reads a poem that talks about fighting back and this is exactly what the whites were afraid of back then and are still afraid of today. What if the oppressed stop worrying about the law? What if they take matters into their own hands? The rioters flipped the script, they decided to move fast, take over the country, that was 1/6 in a nutshell, turn the U.S. into an authoritarian country where if you break the heinous restrictions you disappear, like in China.

Simone is a revelation because she’s not that well known. But truly, the key performances are by Sly and the Family Stone, from back when you had to go to the show to see a band and an act could be so good live they could build a reputation and break through. That’s how Springsteen broke. Sly & the Family Stone had many more hits, but then they were at Woodstock and stole the movie, hands-down, they wanted to take you HIGHER! And Sly does the same routine in this flick and the audience responds just as eagerly as they did the same year on Yasgur’s Farm, this was the power of Sly, not Woodstock, he could do it anywhere. And when Sly and his band take the stage the whole place elevates, you can feel the energy, everybody else is just a performer, Sly and the Family  Stone are life itself, you can’t help but pay attention and that attention is rewarded.

Pops Staples is still alive and his family knocks it so far out of the park, with power, you stand at attention. Mavis still has this skill, she’s hiding in plain sight, I saw her open for Bonnie Raitt and was wowed, but she doesn’t get the attention she deserves.

And then there’s the Edwin Hawkins Singers. It was exactly this time of year when “Oh Happy Day” was a gigantic hit. I was burned out on it in ’69, but it’s still fresh today. Gladys Knight & The Pips sing the original version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” And the Fifth Dimension are finally contextualized. They were known for their hits, seen as white bread, but they definitely were not. And that’s another noticeable thing, everybody’s voice, everybody’s playing is SO GOOD! This isn’t CSNY at Woodstock, unrehearsed, this is what these performers do, and they nail it. And David Ruffin in a suit in the middle of a summer day singing “My Girl” just after he left the Temptations. And then there are the instrumentalists who surprise… Max Roach. Herbie Mann. Ray Baretto, who I only knew by name killing on the congas. Mongo Santamaria. Hugh Masekela performing “Grazing In the Grass.” B.B. King singing about the blues. You may not think you like gospel music but you will find out you do as you watch these performances, that’s the power of Mahalia Jackson.

And John Lindsay. When a mayor could still deliver hope.

And the moon landing.

That’s what’s shocking, everything that happened back then! All the assassinations of leaders saying what too many didn’t want to hear, from JFK to Martin to RFK…

As for the moon landing… Yup, we actually did it. Not that it wasn’t on the schedule for a decade, but we didn’t expect it to really happen. But it did! It was so thrilling, you were proud to be an American, we were certainly the greatest country in the world, then again there was that pesky Vietnam situation.

But there was a show during the moon landing and you’ve got people in attendance saying they don’t care, testifying that the government shouldn’t spend all that money on the space program, but the people. It’s the same story fifty years later. Except now the general mind-set is welfare is bad and if you even talk about reparations white heads explode.

White people are inherently afraid of black people. But are the tens of thousands in attendance all nogoodnik takers who are going to assault you, steal your assets and rape your daughters? No, they’re just people, trying to get along.

So you start watching “Summer of Soul” for the musical performances, but ultimately they play second fiddle to the commentary, the story, the history, the context. And there’s so much there it’s hard to comprehend it all, you’re assaulted with so much you didn’t know, that is uber-important.

Unless you lived through 1969. When young people learned from performers. When you could make it on minimum wage. When things were in flux and you truly believed life could work out right. There was no internet, no streaming media, but boy was society alive and kicking.

So you can go to a theatre and see this, or just pull it up on Hulu, which is what I did. It’s powerful on the small screen, and the pictures are so good you can’t believe the film has been sitting in cans for fifty years.

There’s plenty we can learn, more black history please. Education is the key to peace and harmony. And I’m not talking about teaching to the test, but a film like “Summer of Soul,” which is so well done you can’t help learning more than a thing or two.

So it’s a long weekend and you’ve got the time, pull up “Summer of Soul” whether you’re black or white, whether you’re a music fan or not. Marvel at the trumpet work of Cynthia Robinson. Feel the power of the music and the power of the people. RIGHT ON!

“Days of Rage: An In-Depth Look at How a Mob Stormed the Capitol”: https://nyti.ms/3yhpxJM

This needs to be on Netflix. Right on the homepage, for a month. Distribution is king, and Netflix far outstrips the reach of the “New York Times.” But most people will never see it.

If one watches it, at least we can agree on the facts, pictures don’t lie. Then again, I’d expect the right to accuse the “Times” of doctoring the footage. But the truth is many on the right will see this video as a triumph, just as it is. And that is what is scary. That we had a demagogue who cooked up a lie that the election was stolen and now most Republicans believe this. Even worse, elected Republicans refuse to create a commission to study the insurrection. This would be like high school seniors breaking into the College Board to gain access to the SATs and administrators then saying the invasion should not be addressed, that it’s best to just move forward without investigating the how and the why. How do we protect the Capitol in the future?

Protection. It is clear, when there are enough law enforcement personnel on duty the rioters are turned back. Why weren’t there enough there? Why was preparation so poor, why did it take so long for reinforcements to arrive? We need to investigate procedures, actions of individuals in power, but we must see this riot as a harbinger of what is to come. It’s not the end, just the beginning. Just like Capitol police, all law enforcement agencies involved didn’t think there was any danger, most Americans believe there’s no danger in the future. They’re just plain wrong.

We can start at the top, with the Supreme Court. The same man who won’t investigate January 6th single-handedly made sure the makeup of the institution is skewed right and not representative of the public at large. As far as the court system saving you? Hell, the Supreme Court just said voting restrictions in Arizona were cool, on a 6-3 basis, split on party lines. In other words, you can’t count on the last resort. And even though the right dominates in the judicial system that’s not enough, you’ve got these rioters taking matters into their own hands.

As for Trump himself… You needed a power-hungry imbecile like him to focus the white rage. After all, what do these rioters want? White power. There’s hatred against everybody of color and Jews and Asians and it’s worse than a loyalty test, it’s a birth test.

Honestly, I thought I’d seen enough. I delayed watching this video. But when I did, I was drawn in and horrified. Furthermore, it’s like these people never went to high school, never heard of the concept of your PERMANENT RECORD! Talk to rock stars, it’s different from the way it used to be, because everybody’s got a camera in their pocket now, bad behavior does not go unchallenged, you think first, try to act responsibly. And it’s the smartphone camera that caught footage of George Floyd being killed, but the people in this video are proud to be recorded, they’re so ignorant as to believe there will be no consequences, some are now scrubbing their feeds, but it’s too late, the “Times” already captured the video.

And since this video was created by the “Times,” it’s considered untrustworthy by not only the right, but so many on the left. Trump did a good job of sowing discontent over the news business, but the Fourth Estate is all we have left. And the truth is the “New York Times” and the “Washington Post” are in competition, and competition breeds excellence, they’re each trying to top each other, and that’s great for our society. As for cable news…watch it, there’s no reporting, they just quote the “Times” and the “Post,” the “Wall Street Journal” isn’t even close.

Meanwhile, the media outlets tell the truth and it makes no difference. It’s in plain sight, this is the ultimate gotcha video, but it doesn’t matter. There’s a belief if the truth outs that’s all that’s required, but that is patently untrue.

Rust never sleeps, nor do the Republicans or these rioters. Republicans have an unequal advantage in the Senate, they represent far fewer people than Democrats, it’s tyranny by the minority, and they want to institutionalize it.

And it gets worse, the city of New York just undercut faith in elections with its bungling of the mayoral vote. Once you stop trusting the institutions, it’s over. Done. And we’re at the precipice. Why bother to have any elections if the side that loses doesn’t accept defeat.

Well, the Democrats accept defeat, but not the Republicans, and now they’re instituting voting laws to ensure they get and retain power. And what will the Democrats do? Play by the rules, accept their fate, while democracy is lost. I thought Democrats would revolt once abortion was made illegal, but in some states for all practical purposes it already is, there’s only one provider in the state and tons of hurdles, meanwhile the left is somnambulant.

What will it take for the left to take action? I’m thinking nothing. As long as they’ve got their flat screen, can make ends meet, they don’t want to get off the couch. The rich don’t want to risk anything and the poor are already demoralized, believing they’ve got no power whether they vote or not. Meanwhile, these rioters are middle class, they’ve got dough, and they’re not backing down.

It’s over folks. Will you stop being optimistic, stop looking for institutional solutions? They aren’t gonna let them happen! The United States is a laughingstock all over the world, but our country’s disinformation campaign keeps telling us the U.S. is the greatest country in the world, and if you challenge that, want change, want to improve it, you’re unpatriotic.

As for the mob mentality… This is what you get when you have agitators like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and Donald Trump, they rally the people who get caught up in the action and leave their brains at home. Everybody else is doing it, it must be fine! I guess none of their parents ever asked them if everybody jumped off a bridge would they do so too? Parenting… Hell, there’s not enough of it, if for no other reason than both parents are working like dogs to make ends meet, and that there is in defense of their children, the teacher is wrong, not the student, it can never be little Finn or Madison’s fault. And if you’re rich enough, the rules don’t apply anyway, you live in a completely different America.

Technology got us here. Organization took place online, without new communication methods this never would have happened, it’s too hard to spread the word and get people motivated. But the truth is as guilty as Facebook is all it did was help amplify a prominent message, that white people should rule the country, people of color are takers and all immigrants should be looked at askance and the country shouldn’t let any more in.

The most important article you’ll read today is the one about Joe Rogan in the “Times”: https://nyti.ms/3wdgQyD It’s about his REACH! It far exceeds that of the “Times” or the “Post” or Fox News or MSNBC… This is the culmination of twenty five years of tech. Those in power didn’t want to admit it was true, that it was coming, that they were unprepared for it. The truth is all the tools of communication are essentially free to everybody, and you can build your own audience without the help of any traditional outlet, whether it be a record company or a newspaper. If Joe Rogan says it, I get e-mail about it, if the “New York Times” does…crickets.

Bob Dylan asked when we were gonna wake up. It appears never.

Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3w5Bpgk

NATHAN LA FRANEER

This is my favorite track on Joni’s debut LP “Song to a Seagull,” I never heard it until I downloaded it via Napster, it’s the story of Joni’s ride to the airport and the driver is named Nathan La Franeer. It’s a personal, intimate tale we can all relate to, the personal connects more than the general, remember that. Music today is made to gain an audience as opposed to creating something internal that resonates to such a degree it succeeds.

NIGHT IN THE CITY

It’s upbeat whereas so much of the material on “Song to a Seagull” is downbeat, never forget that Joni loved to kick off her heels and dance, have a good time.

MICHAEL FROM MOUNTAINS

The most well-known song on Joni’s debut as a result of its cover on Judy Collins’s album “Wildflower” released the year before. “Michael From Mountains” opened side one of Judy’s LP, “Both Sides Now” side two.

CACTUS TREE

Better known as the opening cut of side two of the double live album “Miles of Aisles.”

“She will love them when she sees them

They will lose her if they follow

And she only means to please them

And her heart is full and hollow

Like a cactus tree

While she’s so busy being free”

All the men want her, but she needs to go her own way, she needs to be free.

BOTH SIDES NOW

Turned into a hit by Judy Collins, Joni was now on her way. It’s the harpsichord in Judy’s version that puts it over the top.

CHELSEA MORNING

Written before the first album, once again the song was made famous by Judy Collins, and subsequently Joni recorded it, and yes, this is the inspiration for the name of…Chelsea Clinton.

SONGS TO AGING CHILDREN COME

Dramatically used in the funeral scene in the movie “Alice’s Restaurant.” Watch the clip, it will resonate, no matter if it’s a sunny day at the beach or you’re home alone depressed: https://bit.ly/3hv4sEV

I DON’T KNOW WHERE I STAND

My favorite song on the second album “Clouds,” it’s the best song I’ve ever heard about wondering if the other person feels the same way you do. You’re living in your head, afraid of alienating them, being too serious too soon, yet you can’t stop thinking about them.

“Telephone, even the sound of your voice is still new

All alone in California and talking to you

And feeling too foolish and strange

To say the words that I had planned

I guess it’s too early, ’cause I don’t know where I stand”

THAT SONG ABOUT THE MIDWAY

Joni’s breakup song to David Crosby, originally sung live to him and twenty others in a living room.

FOR FREE

And now we move on to the third LP, “Ladies of the Canyon.”

I first heard this song performed live by James Taylor just when “Ladies of the Canyon” was released. This was just when “Sweet Baby James” was breaking, Taylor was touring alone, just him and his guitar. I was visiting my now-deceased friend Ronnie in Boston, we got tickets to see James at the Sanders Theatre on the Harvard campus. Some songs, very few of them, are so good you catch them the first time through. I never forgot James singing “For Free” that evening, and stunningly, through the power of Napster, I found that exact concert, I’m listening to it right now, it took place on April 25, 1970, there were two shows, we went to the first.

“Now me I play for fortunes

And those velvet curtain calls

I’ve got a black limousine

And two gentlemen

Escorting me to the halls

And I play if you have the money

Or if you’re a friend to me

But the one man band

By the quick lunch stand

He was playing real good, for free”

This is how Hollywood works, how life works. You charge a fortune to the public, but if it’s a friend, you’ll do it, and you won’t ask for remuneration.

CONVERSATION

This is my favorite cut on “Ladies of the Canyon.” They have a personal relationship, they can talk, they connect, but he’s married to somebody else.

“Tomorrow he will come to me

And he’ll speak his sorrow endlessly and he’ll ask me, ‘Why?’

‘Why can’t I leave her?'”

THE ARRANGEMENT

“You could have been more

Than a name on the door

On the thirty-third floor in the air

More than a credit card

Swimming pool in the backyard”

This was the question in the sixties and early seventies, whether to sell out or not. Today everybody is looking to sell out, whether it’s the educated classes going to work at the bank or the lower classes going on reality TV or making records and doing whatever the suits tell them for the exposure and potential riches.

RAINY NIGHT HOUSE

“It was a rainy night

We took a taxi to your mother’s home

She went to Florida and left you

With your father’s gun, alone

Upon her small white bed

I fell into a dream

You sat up all the night and watched me

To see, who in the world I might be”

It’s about Leonard Cohen. He came from a wealthy family, although only Canadians seem to know this.

THE PRIEST

It’s the sound of the record, the changes, the relatively fast tempo that hooks you, but then the lyrics start to sink in. “The Arrangement,” “Rainy Night House” and “The Priest” all come in a row on “Ladies of the Canyon,” they’re almost a mini-album within the album, they’re so intimate and personal, you really feel like you’re in that rainy night house…

WOODSTOCK

Written by Joni, but initially cut and made a hit by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Joni famously didn’t go to Woodstock because she had a TV gig that David Geffen thought she might miss. Joni’s take is all about the meaning, introspective, whereas the CSNY take is in-your-face with stinging guitar, they’re the same song yet completely different. Matthews Southern Comfort ultimately released a soft rock version that sat in the middle of the two previous recordings artistically and had a huge hit, it went to #1 in the U.K.

THE CIRCLE GAME

It was already a youth group standard by time Joni cut it, everybody knew it, to be honest I never have to hear it again.

BIG YELLOW TAXI

An upbeat ditty with legendary lyrics that have become part of the fabric of the culture:

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”

And:

“Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”

As a result of Counting Crows’ (with Vanessa Carlton) 2002 cover everybody seems to know the song today, but prior to this I think most people had no idea the above lines came from a Joni Mitchell song.

And even Bob Dylan covered “Big Yellow Taxi,” not that he planned to release it, but when Dylan jumped to Asylum Records in 1973 Columbia released an album of outtakes in retaliation.

CALIFORNIA

It’s my favorite track on “Blue,” from before I lived here and still now. It’s a story, it’s a state of mind, a freedom.

“California I’m coming home

I’m going to see the folks I dig

I’ll even kiss a Sunset pig

California I’m coming home”

That “Sunset pig”? She’s referring to the police. Boy have times changed. Then again, they’ve recently changed back. The pigs were the enemy in the sixties and the seventies, and you called the police that, the youngsters were against them, if for no other reason than the kids were unjustly hassled. But then during the Iran hostage crisis public sentiment flipped, it became all rah-rah. And then there was the economic run-up but people were left behind, especially those of color, and last year they revolted against the police and now…there are two sides, you’re either for the pigs or against them. And no one truly wants to abolish the police, they just want to reform the system, add in some justice.

ALL I WANT

I sang it to myself on the drive home from my second date with Felice.

“I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you”

“All I Want opens “Blue” with a roar, at least compared to Joni’s previous albums. It’s a story. It sends a signal that this is not a conventional LP, but something personal, something different, commerciality be damned.

“I am on a lonely road and I am traveling

Traveling, traveling, traveling

Looking for something what can it be”

We were seekers, we wanted something more.

“Oh I hate you some, I hate you some, I love you some

Oh I love you when I forget about me”

Priorities. You can choose from two lives, one of tradition, of structure, or one of art. Too often people want to combine the two, but you can’t. Which is why when you complain you can’t make any money as an artist you don’t get it. And if you’re an artist, you’re number one, always, chances are you can’t have kids, it’s so hard to make it, to sustain, total dedication is required…and you’ve got to want it really really bad.

“I want to be strong I want to laugh along

I want to belong to the living”

You can be alive, yet dead. I’d spent fifteen years in the wilderness, sixteen to be exact, believing if I just held on long enough I could meet someone, my life would work. Credit a ton of psychotherapy. Credit a strong constitution, but as I walked to my car from the restaurant that evening I knew my life was changing, FOR THE BETTER!

“I want to have fun, I want to shine like the sun

I want to be the one that you want to see

I want to knit you a sweater

Want to write you a love letter

I want to make you feel better

I want to make you feel free”

Oh, biology. You’re depressed and then you’re positively elated, you’re only upbeat, IT’S WHAT WE LIVE FOR!

“I want to be strong I want to laugh along

I want to belong to the living

Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive

I want to wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive

Do you want, do you want, do you want to dance with me baby

Do you want to take a chance

On maybe finding some sweet romance with me baby

Well, come on”

A CASE OF YOU

“Oh I could drink a case of you darling

And I would still be on my feet

I would still be on my feet”

WHAT A METAPHOR! Whew! Especially if you know Canada, with its beer stores, it all resonates.

“A Case of You” is like the Beach Boys’ “Til I Die,” an exquisite song no one ever talks about and then decades later you find out it’s everybody’s favorite.

“Just before our love got lost you said

I am as constant as a northern star

And I said, ‘Constantly in the darkness

Where’s that at?

If you want me I’ll be in the bar'”

Humor. It was unexpected, yet so real. Happens all the time, someone says something ridiculous and you want to turn to the camera and blow the whistle on them.

“On the back of a cartoon coaster

In the blue TV screen light

I drew a map of Canada

Oh, Canada

With your face sketched on it twice”

Coaster? BLUE TV screen light? Sketching a map of Canada? These are words/images you never encounter in a song, yet they set the scene, you can SEE IT!

“I remember that time you told me

You said, ‘Love is touching souls’

Surely you touched mine

‘Cause part of you pours out of me

In these lines from time to time”

Love is touching souls…THAT’S IT! You cannot hear these words and forget them. And when you’re in a relationship, you’re both the influencer and the influenced.

THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD

“The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in ’68

And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday

Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe”

Do you have to stand up and fly straight or…can you take the road less traveled, if you’re a romantic are you ultimately doomed? And then there are those who are anything but romantic, and I don’t mean flowers and kisses, but dreams, they’re so wedded to facts, reality, that I can’t relate to them.

WOMAN OF HEART AND MIND

It’s the best track on “For the Roses.”

“I am a woman of heart and mind

With time on her hands

No child to raise

You come to me like a little boy

And I give you my scorn and my praise

You think I’m like your mother

Or another lover or your sister

Or the queen of your dreams

Or just another silly girl

When love makes a fool of me”

She’s game, she’s ready, he’s living in fantasyland and he wants her to support him, as if she were his mother, talk to women, nothing turns them off more than when they think they’re your mother.

“After the rush when you come back down

You’re always disappointed

Nothing seems to keep you high

Drive your bargains

Push your papers

Win your medals

F___ your strangers

Don’t it leave you on the empty side”

Ain’t that life, you’re all excited, a ball of energy and then you crash. Life rewards those who persevere, who don’t go off half-cocked but find a proper path and stick with it. As for his actions, in the sixties and seventies we were worried about being left on the empty side, now America is all about the empty side all the time, it’s culturally bankrupt. As for printing the F-word… If I did that this e-mail would not get through spam filters, you can speak truth in art, but not business.

“I’m looking for affection and respect

A little passion

And you want stimulation, nothing more

That’s what I think

But you know I’ll try to be there for you

When your spirits start to sink”

She knows what she wants, she’s laying it out, but she won’t abandon him, not yet anyway.

“You know the times you impress me most

Are the times when you don’t try

When you don’t even try”

Ultimately it’s these lines that stick out, that are most memorable. I have always lived by this, maybe because I’ve known people with assets, status and fame…and the truth is there’s always someone richer, better-looking and more prominent and famous than you, always! I mean if you don’t like me for who I am… Or as Prince put it in “Baby I’m A Star”:

“Hey, look me over

Tell me do you like what you see

Hey, I ain’t got no money

But honey I’m rich on personality”

But these aren’t the only Joni Mitchell lyrics I live by:

“We don’t need no piece of paper from the city hall

Keeping us tied and true no…”

That’s from “My Old Man,” off “Blue,” that’s my philosophy, I broke it once…to my detriment. Either you’re committed or your not, and a piece of paper doesn’t change that.

BLONDE IN THE BLEACHERS

People point to the tracks on Jackson Browne’s” songs from “Running on Empty” as the most accurate depiction of being on the road as rock stars, but…there’s more truth in “Blonde in the Bleachers.”

“The bands and the roadies

Lovin’ ’em and leavin’ ’em

It’s pleasure to try ’em

It’s trouble to keep ’em”

YOU TURN ME ON, I’M A RADIO

Yes, it was a mild hit, Joni was delivering what she thought the masses wanted but…it’s a delicious listen nonetheless.

BARANGRILL

It would be great with any lyrics, but Joni sets the scene:

“Three waitresses all wearing

Black diamond earrings

Talking about zombies

And Singapore Slings”

ELECTRICITY

Magic, as are “Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire” and “Lesson in Survival,” they seem like they were composed and recorded in the environment from the album cover…Canada, the country, introspective, meaningful, a place where the trappings are irrelevant.

PEOPLE’S PARTIES/THE SAME SITUATION

You’ve got to take them together, they run together on the LP.

“All the people at this party

They’ve got a lot of style

They’ve got stamps of many countries

They’ve got passport smiles

Some are friendly

Some are cutting

Some are watching it from the wings

Some are standing in the center

Giving to get something”

Hollywood is not the suburbs. They come to Los Angeles to make it, and some do, very few, and then you’re invited to parties and you’re thrilled to be included, it shows you’ve made it, but once you’re actually there, what are you going to do?

Giving to get something is the rule of business, the trading of favors, forget the patina of personal relationships, it’s called “show business,” not “friends business.”

“Photo beauty gets attention

Then her eye paint’s running down

She’s got a rose in her teeth

And a lampshade crown

One minute she’s so happy

Then she’s crying on someone’s knee

Saying laughing and crying

You know it’s the same release”

Break through and you’ll be privy to those from the magazines, those willowy models, ten feet tall and geeky…they were not the popular girls in high school and they’re frequently not that good-looking in real life and in truth they’re just girls, they’ve been in the spotlight, yet they don’t know how to act. Then again, it’s no different from male models…but there are many more 5’10” men than women. As for laughing and crying being the same released…I’ve never heard this said anywhere else, it’s “People’s Parties” that I attribute it to, and when I’m somewhere and someone quotes it to me, I smile.

“I told you when I met you

I was crazy

Cry for us all, beauty

Cry for Eddie in the corner

Thinking he’s nobody

And Jack behind his joker

And stone cold Grace behind her fan

And me in my frightened silence

Thinking I don’t understand”

The truth is so many feel uncomfortable, and the life of the party, like those models, they’re just acting out to overcome their anxiety. Joni’s admitting she’s crazy, and she is, as are most people, certainly artists. You want to be included, but once you are you want to run. Business people seem to be able to do this party hang so much better than artists.

“Send me someone

Who’s strong and somewhat sincere”

Especially in Hollywood, everybody’s on a journey, and oftentimes you’re just a waystation, they’ll use you and move on to someone more powerful, someone who can move their career forward, or embellish it.

“Caught in my struggle for higher achievements

And my search for love

That don’t seem to cease”

This is the essence of Joni Mitchell, of everybody trying to make it. Your career is primary, but still…you need the love, which is why all these playboy musicians get married, going on the road and screwing someone different every night doesn’t fulfill you, see “Blonde in the Bleachers” for instruction.

HELP ME

The breakthrough track, the one that made Joni Mitchell number one in the hearts of young women, then and forever.

FREE MAN IN PARIS

I always preferred this to “Help Me.” Yes, it’s about David Geffen, but everybody knows that now.

“The way I see it he said

You just can’t win it

Everybody’s in it for their own gain

You can’t please ’em all

There’s always somebody calling you down

I do my best

And I do good business

There’s a lot of people asking for my time

They’re trying to get ahead

They’re trying to be a good friend of mine”

There’s so much truth here, it’s astounding. No good deed goes unpunished. People are just using you to their own ends, no matter how friendly they act. And no matter what you do, people will be pissed, they think they’re entitled to leverage your power, your fame.

“There was nobody calling me up for favors

And no one’s future to decide

You know I’d go back there tomorrow

But for the work I’ve taken on

Stoking the star maker machinery

Behind the popular song”

The favors, they’re endless, that’s how business works. If you ask for one, however small, be prepared to be asked for one back, and you’ll have to do what you don’t want to, this is the essence of not only Hollywood, but straight business and politics. As for someone’s future…a manager has a responsibility, to the artist first and foremost, but many don’t act like that. As for the star maker machinery behind the popular song…”Free Man in Paris” is where these constantly quoted words come from.

“I deal in dreamers

And telephone screamers”

Yes, they yell on the phone and the next time they see you they’re cool as a cucumber, then again this behavior has been tamped down somewhat as a result of #MeToo. As for dreamers…that’s Hollywood to a “t,” and if you have any power at all, any status, you’ll be inundated with people selling you the solution to all the problems that will be instantly successful and don’t you want to help them and get rich in the process? No.

CAR ON A HILL

She’s waiting for him to show, will he or won’t he?

“He makes friends easy

He’s not like me

I watch for judgment anxiously”

Musicians, they make friends easily, that’s how they survive, that’s how they get gigs, talk about using people… But the front person, the solo artist, they’re oftentimes internalized and gun-shy, they’ve got social anxiety, they want friends so much, but if they reveal themselves will they be judged and rejected?

DOWN TO YOU

Never talked about, but a key track, an album track, that if you play the LP over and over again you’ll get.

“Everything comes and goes

Marked by lovers and styles of clothes”

You learn this as you age, and you can never accept it. People leave, people die, you get sick, trends change…

“Everything comes and goes

Pleasure moves on too early

And trouble leaves too slow

Just when you’re thinking

You’ve finally got it made

Bad news comes knocking

At your garden gate”

Do you see the glass as half-full and set yourself up for disappointment or see it as half-empty and are never disappointed…then again it’s harder to embrace and believe in the good stuff if you’re a pessimist, for fear it will soon disappear.

COURT AND SPARK

Words I hadn’t heard since I was in grade school, learning about the past, strange how Joni Mitchell resurrected them.

And this opening track is introspective and personal in a way that its follow-up on the album, “Help Me,” is not. It’s a risk, but Joni took it.

“He was playing on the sidewalk

For passing change

When something strange happened

Glory train passed through him

So he buried the coins he made

In People’s Park

And went looking for a woman

To court and spark”

It’s an analog to “For Free,” just a busker making a living, not a star.

“It seemed like he read my mind

He saw me mistrusting him

And still acting kind

He saw how I worried sometimes

I worry sometimes”

Famous women are gun-shy, mistrusting, don’t hit on them, don’t even approach them unless you too are famous or you’re introduced. And if you speak try to be friends first, after all the times you’ll impress them most are when you don’t even try, when you don’t even try.

Judy Collins was so upfront and honest she blew my mind. Judy talked in-depth about Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and also spoke about her alcoholism and her son’s suicide. I can see why Stephen Stills wrote “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”…and we cover that too! What a refreshing alternative to those who are snooty or reticent, you talk to Judy and you’re immediately her friend, you could see hanging out for hours, revealing each other’s truth. Judy’s already back to doing live gigs and is as vibrant as someone many decades her junior. I LOVED TALKING TO HER!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/judy-collins/id1316200737?i=1000527489216

https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/The-Bob-Lefsetz-Podcast