© theotherpress

A Chat with Joni

Kate Abel
OP Contributor

S ince I was in my early twenties, I have loved
everything Joni Mitchell. Many of us know
“Clouds,” one of several songs she made
famous. For me, the song holds special mean-
ing. At home in England one miserable
Saturday afternoon, I borrowed one of my
brother’s record albums, and there in my par-
ents’ front room, fell in love with Mitchell’s
words.

All of her songs are stories, and if you listen
well, they'll stay with you forever. I bought all
her albums, listened to every song, but still I
didn't know Joni at all. I knew she was
Canadian, that she loved Canada, and that a
lot of her songs made reference to bumping
logs and rivers to skate away on. I was
intrigued. I started looking at Canada more
closely, and 19 months after first borrowing
that album from my brother, I was on a
Canadian Pacific plane,
Vancouver.

I first met Mitchell in about 1991. She was
headed for Los Angeles through Vancouver
Airport, where I worked as a ticket agent. I
didn’t see her at first and a colleague pointed
her out to me as she walked by. My heart in
my mouth, I approached her and very politely
asked her for an autograph. I couldn't resist
telling her I had every album she'd ever made,
and she was genuinely delighted. It was just
perfect. Yes, I gushed, she’s my hero!

Over the next couple of years I met her
again briefly as she passed through the airport
on her way to Los Angeles. She looked quite
pale and walked
very slowly. She had
a recurring problem
with polio she had
suffered as a child,
but never asked for
help and always
had a smile for any-
one who recognized
her.

At last, in 1997, I
got to speak with
her again. I mean
really speak with
her. I was working
over on the USA
side of the airport,
when someone
mentioned that
Joni Mitchell was booked on the same flight I
was working on as a boarder. I walked down
toward the gate in time to see Mitchell study-
ing her boarding pass. She was wearing a long
skirt, a fringed suede jacket, and suede boots.
Over the jacket was draped a southwestern-
patterned shawl. She looked every bit the
Mitchell we see on her album covers. Seizing
my chance, I quietly walked up to her and
asked if I could be of assistance. To my relief,
she laughed and said, “Yeah, you can tell me
where I can go have a cigarette!”

I showed her to the blue-hazed smoking
lounge, empty except for one lonely smoker in
the far corner. As she thanked me and sat
down, I asked her if I might sit and chat with
her for a while.

“Of course,” she said. “Sit down and have a

emigrating to

Features

I started looking at
Canada more closely,
and 19 months after
first borrowing that

album from my brother,

I was ona Canadian **

Pacific plane, emigrat-
ing to Vancouver.

 

smoke with me.”

We talked. I mean we talked. 1 didn’t just
prattle on while she feigned interest. We actu-
ally had a conversation. I felt like we had
known each other for years. Of course from
my point of view, I knew her well, but she
seemed genuinely interested in what I had to
say. I told her about my coming to Canada,
and how she had played an important part in
my getting here.

I asked her about some of the songs she'd
written, especially “Green,” “The Magdalene
Laundry,” and “A Case Of You.” I wanted to
know if they were based on her experiences, on
people that she had met. She told me that
Ireland’s Magdalene Laundry was a place she'd
heard terrible stories about. Young girls were
sent there simply because they were too pretty
and men looked at them a certain way, or they
had been raped by parish priests and made
pregnant. She had to write about it, she said,
so that the girls who had suffered through it
wouldn't be forgotten. The story has since
been made into a movie—“The Magdalene
Sisters” —released in 2002.

Surprisingly, Mitchell started to talk about
the daughter she had given up for adoption in
1965 and had just been reunited with. She was
so happy about it. She was planning to see a
lot more of her daughter now that they'd been
reintroduced. I had never thought to ask her
about it—it seemed too personal—but she
had no hesitation in telling me. She asked who
my favourite singers were. Apart from her, of
course, I told her I
liked Michael
McDonald. She
laughed and said
she had done a
couple of songs
with him. He has
the quietest
demeanour, the
softest voice, and
then suddenly he
starts to sing and
huge voice

seemingly
out of nowhere,
she said. In her
carry-on luggage
she had some art-
work that she was
doing for the cover of her new CD. We talked
about vinyl records vs. CDs and just about
anything else that came into our heads.

Just then, the door opened and my colleague
called over to me, “Are you coming to help
with this flight, or should we start without
you?” I laughed and said, “Oh, I’m way too
busy to do any work, just get on with it!” I
knew that my talk with Joni was over. As I left,
I thanked her for letting me chat with her.
“You made my day!” she said to me as I left. “It
was great talking to you. I sure hope you don’t
get into trouble.”

I love her even more now. I’ve met her and
shared a conversation with her. Even though
she may not know me from Adam, for that
one afternoon she made me feel that I was a
friend, as well as her biggest fan.

comes

Page 20 e hittp://www.otherpress.ca

October 15, 2003

 

 

 

Contact the Student Services
Centres at Douglas College.

We provide:

® Career information and resources

® Counselling — career, personal,and
educational

@ Peer support and assistance

®@ Services for First Nations students

@ Services for students with disabilities

e@ Women’s Centre

 

 

You are not alone

The Students’ Union’s Pride Collective
provides resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered students at the college.

The Collective meets Thursdays at 4:30.
All lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered,
questioning and allied students are welcome.

Douglas Students’ Union

Canadian Federation of Students Local 18