Joni Mitchell Tribute:
Andras Jones
&
Gabriel Gordon
with David Goodstein
David Goodstein (tissue box percussion) & Gabriel Gordon (guitar & vox)
Photo by Erik Christopher Lopez
From ANDRAS JONES: Today we begin the release of our tribute to Joni Mitchell featuring (mostly) members of The Wild Honey Orchestra.
When I tell my fellow musicians we did a Joni Mitchell tribute, everyone’s first comment is some variation of, “Her songs aren’t easy”.
That’s a truth that is far more than the sum of its parts.
I can’t say this was the most energetically difficult and emotionally gut wrenching Pop Oracle I’ve ever hosted. Not even close. What I can say is that I have mostly healed from the trauma of being boo’d by a theaterful of Mirah fans in 2007, and being hornswoggled by the management of a band from Boston who I loved in 2005 but I have not, as of this writing, yet healed from the wounds of holding space for the great Ms. Mitchell and her acolytes at Starburns Industries on March 22, 2018. Though I am sure I will, and probably be the better for it.
Was it worth it? Oh, I absolutely think so.
Let’s start with the last piece of the puzzle, the Joni-styled R8B theme, performed by KP Hawthorn on vocals over the guitar and synths of Gabriel Gordon. Scott Taylor and Skyler Blake of Olympia’s The Hard Way raised the bar with their Buffalo Springfield-styled R8B theme and KP and Gabriel just raised the bar even higher.
Gabriel Gordon is the great revelation of this session for me. He was the last one aboard. Signing on just a day before the session and he definitely put his stamp on the show. I was still trying to convince All Day Sucker to do a Joni tune (and failing) when their drummer/vocalist David Goodstein (who plays the heck out of a box of tissues on this song) called and suggested Gabriel. I have a feeling that’s one of those moments I’m going to remember for a long time. I was driving on Sunset having just left Syd Straw’s place after a wonderful afternoon of doing nothing. A perfect Hollywood day.
Gabriel, who was the last one in, as the performer of the Pop Oracle answer to my question, was also the first one chosen. I didn’t notice until I wrote our names together the sync that Gabriel is my brother’s name and so, to have us united, under the spell of our Empress/Mother/yoni/Joni card for one of our vernal equinox episodes, feels particularly rich.
During this segment I talk with Kaitlin Wolfberg & Emily Elkin about how I’m not cool and, over the course of the episode I think, like the musicians in attendance, you’re going to get to experience the flavor of that lack of cool. And if you think that’s cool, then this is the show for you.
I’ll close this opening with my divination cocktail from the morning of the show…
The Wolf That Lives In Lindsey
Of the darkness in men’s minds
What can you say
That wasn’t marked by history
Or the T.V. news today
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes
His sister loved a thief
And Lindsey loved the ways of darkness
Beyond belief
Girls in chilly blouses
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes
For derelicts or ladies of the night
They’re weeds for yanking out of sight
If you’re smart or rich or lucky
Maybe you’ll beat the laws of man
But the inner laws of spirit
And the outer laws of nature
No man can
No, no man can
That raids and runs
Through the hills of Hollywood
And the downtown slums
He gets away with murder
The blizzards come and go
The stab and glare and buckshot
Of the heavy heavy snow
It comes and goes
It comes and goes
© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC,
Crazy Crow Music / Siquomb Music Publishinghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gXiQou1dIc
