This Sunday's Times publishes 4 letters in the Arts and Leisure section disputing the Rockwell piece. The fact that they published four means they got an awful lot of mail about it.
Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/19/arts/19MAIL.html oh hell, here are the letters: (NY Times requires registration bull****. Let'em sue!) January 19, 2003 Joni Mitchell; Simon Russell Beale; 'Oz' head of Her TimeTo the Editor: Re "Joni Mitchell's Long and Restless Journey" by John Rockwell [Jan. 5]: Like Mr. Rockwell, I was taken aback at first by Ms. Mitchell's new album, "Travelogue." Her voice is indeed ragged, and the orchestral arrangements are admittedly slick. On repeated listening, however, the experience is transformed: the raggedness becomes musical, raspy, accompaniment to a completely brilliant and as-yet-unheard kind of mega-hip muzak. The work is ahead of its time and difficult to take in quickly; I will not hold Mr. Rockwell to his comments five or ten years hence. LISA CUNNINGHAM Manhattan Moving On To the Editor: John Rockwell is right that Joni Mitchell shows a new side in "Travelogue," though it is a side we at least glimpsed in her album "Both Sides Now" and in her performances on Herbie Hancock's 1998 "Gershwin's World." As president of the board of Dance Theater Workshop, I also agree that the side of Ms. Mitchell that Mr. Rockwell admires is lovingly captured by John Kelly in the performance piece-homage he has performed there and at other venues. It's probably also true that "Travelogue" ultimately won't stand up against, say, "Court and Spark" or "Hejira" in the greatest-Joni-Mitchell-album-of-all-time competition. It is, after all, a revisitation of places she has taken us before, this time with full orchestral accompaniment. But I have to take issue with Mr. Rockwell's characterization of the record as "pretty terrible." I think it is pretty terrific, and the more you listen to these two CD's, the better they get. Joni Mitchell has moved on. John Rockwell doesn't like where she's gone, but I hope that he doesn't discourage too many of her other fans from joining her. MICHAEL J. CONNELLY Manhattan A Painter of Note To the Editor: I agree that Joni Mitchell's "Travelogue" poses problems for the listener, the biggest being that, lovely as the music is, there is not one song that is preferable to Ms. Mitchell's original versions. But I would strongly disagree with John Rockwell when he categorizes her paintings as "really naove." It seems to me that for the last decade or so, Ms. Mitchell's musical output has been overpraised and her painting has not been given the recognition it deserves. SANDY FERBER Rego Park, N.Y. Truly `Longtime' To the Editor: I was angered by John Rockwell's mean-spirited assessment of Joni Mitchell's "Travelogue." He calls himself a "longtime admirer," but seems to be like all the other people who were fans of the Joni Mitchell of the early 70's and then ditched her when she began to become something else. In my mind, Joni Mitchell did not change much at all: her music and lyrics continued to be personal and poetic, insightful and moving. Joni Mitchell's "imagined public" exists, and if Mr. Rockwell is no longer a fan, it is his loss. RICK KAYE Manhattan
