Some things are better left unsaid.
I must be what ... one of the biggest Joni fans after a lot of you guys of
course. You guys that have seen, been with, live and breathe Joni. This
woman that we flock to, idolise. I watched the BBC1 "Hippie" documentary on
Wednesday and quite honestly I was disturbed at how appalling she appeared -
and I don't mean only from an aesthetic point. I'm unsure whether this was
old interview footage or smack dab up-to-date. Whatever. Like I say, I know
a lot of you guys have met Joni and know first hand how swell and warm she
is, but these presentations of her talking about the 60s' scene like some
old bag lady at the end of the row, and she did look puffed up and jittery
and nicotined out, did neither her nor the Wavy Davy chap from Woodstock any
favours. Were they purposely shot/edited in an unflattering pose/light? No,
Joni chose to be in front of the camera, with four-inch ash clinging to the
end of her cigarette. She careth not and why should she. Yet shouldn't she?
One minute we're watching as Graham Nash said, "a beautiful blonde sitting
in the corner with what looked like a Bible on her knee which was intriguing
enough", next we're faced with a ravaged old hippy queen. Her tone/manner
was that of a hardened wary woman who you'd imagine not to suffer fools
gladly, and fair enough. I had asked a lot of friends to watch the
programme. I can't imagine what they must have made of Joni and the other
"freaks" who were portrayed as oddball never-having-recovered-from-the-LSD
fallouts from the Flower Power Hour. "I mean the hippie thing may have a
beginning in time and an end in time but the true spirit of what was
beautiful was very brief." Maybe the producers found it in their TV
produceivenessishness to have to make a point. Dennis Hopper for crying out
loud! The very fact that she is introduced at the beginning as "the high
priestess of getting high and saving the world ... Joni Mitchell." I've
never had enough of Joni, especially in mainstream media, and will never get
enough. To quote Gordon M (I hope he doesn't mind); "I just wish someone who
understood Joni would do a documentary on her or at least use her comments
in context" Aye! Bottom line - she looked like you don't want to see your
best buddy looking. On the hippy movement as a whole Joni said, "It was a
beautiful flower that bloomed purely, kind of, in the moonlight for a moment
really." Joni, don't remind us. Some things are better left unsaid.
WtS
