When the list of “best” songwriters is put together it is never complete if it doesnt include Roberta Joan Anderson near the top. We know her as Joni Mitchell who celebrates her 76th birthday today. Her body of recorded work is stunning. Always pushing the envelope of melody and harmony…strange tunings that somehow work…stretching the definition of singer-songwriter in the late 20th century. What is your favorite Joni LP? For many its “Blue” and I can certainly understand why. For some its the ground breaking 'Hejira” or “Don Juan's Reckless Daughter”. For me though, it will always be “Court & Spark”. Her sixth LP and most successful commercially was released on January 1st 1974. My junior year in high school and a time when listening to music whether on the radio or on a stereo system was more important than almost anything else. The album was a departure from her more folk drenched records of the past. Using the talents of the Crusaders & Tom Scott & The LA Express the album explores more jazzy themes musically…even if her lyrics still cover the yin and yang of male-female relationships. The songs were magnificent…Court & Spark, Down To You, Peoples Parties, Trouble Child and Just Like This Train. The hits sounded better than almost anything else on the radio. With Tom Scott's sax wailing and John Guerin's funky drumming, Help Me and Free Man In Paris were tasty treats everytime they came out of you car stereo speakers. She even enlisted Cheech & Chong in a funny cover of Twisted, an Annie Ross song from the 50's to close out the record. This LP is outrageously good from top to bottom. Maybe not as iconically important as Blue but for me, it's an LP that I can listen to over and over and never get tired of. Thanks Joan…and Happy Birthday!
1974 was a great year for albums. Here are my other faves from that year in chronological order of release:
Wild Tales-Graham Nash
Planet Waves-Bob Dylan
Grievous Angel-Gram Parsons
Hotcakes-Carly Simon
Sundown-Gordon Lightfoot
What Were Once Vices, Are Now Habits-Doobie Brothers
Burn-Deep Purple
Pretzel Logic-Steely Dan
Living & Dying in 3/4 Time-Jimmny Buffett
A New Life-Marshall Tucker Band
Pure Music-Chase
VII-Chicago
Apostrophe-Frank Zappa
On The Border-Eagles
Live Rhymin-Paul Simon
Second Helping-Lynyrd Skynyrd
Diamond Dogs-David Bowie
Back to Oakland-Tower Of Power
Rags To Rufus-Rufus
Sheet Music-10cc
Walking Man-James Taylor
Before The Flood-Bob Dylan & The Band
Bad Company-
Caribou-Elton John
Stars & Stripes Forever-Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
On The Beach-Neil Young
Fullfillingness First Finale-Stevie Wonder
461 Ocean Boulevard-Eric Clapton
Phoebe Snow-
Welcome Back My Friends-Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Verities & Balderdash-Harry Chapin
Feats Don't Fail Me Now-Little Feat
Good Ole Boys-Randy Newman
Roxy & Elsewhere-Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
Crime of the Century-Supertramp
Dragon Fly-Jefferson Starship
Eldorado-ELO
Late For The Sky-Jackson Browne
Walls & Bridges-John Lennon
Streetlife Serenade-Billy Joel
It's Only Rock & Roll-Rolling Stones
The Heart of A Saturday Night-Tom Waits
It'll Shine When It Shines-Ozark Mt Daredevils
Mother Lode-Loggins & Messina
Souvenirs-Dan Fogelberg
Waitress in a DonutShop-Maria Muldaur
Cantamos-Poco
Sheer Heart Attack-Queen
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-Genesis
Heart Like A Wheel-Linda Ronstadt
Miles Of Aisles-Joni Mitchell
Where we all Belong-Marshall Tucker Band
Rufusized-Rufus
The State girls Volleyball and boys soccer tournaments get under way today. Wausau Newman is the only area team at state for volleyball. They play tomorrow morning vs Clear Lake at the Resch Center in Green Bay. Northland Pines is at state for boys soccer. They play Sturgeon Bay this afternoon at Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee.
3rd round football playoff games on Friday night include
Medford vs Menominee
Stratford vs Maple Northwestern
Amherst vs Chilton
Coleman vs Abbotsford
Gilman vs Edgar
Covers Of The Day (Happy Birthday to Johnny Rivers who turns 77)
Quotes Of The Day
“Stand back for a moment. Take a breath. The evidence against Trump is brutal. If he's guilty – and sure looks like he is – he was willing to undermine national security and foreign relations for an electoral advantage. And the GOP. Does. Not. Care. History will not be kind.”-Kurt Eichenwald
“If we can spend $6T on endless war, we can pay for Medicare for All. If we can spend billions in subsidies for oil companies, we can pay for bold climate action. If we can pass a tax cut which gave billions to wealthy elites, we can expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.”-Ro Khanna
“I’m just finding it more and more implausible that Trump only did this with a single country, #ukraine.”-Juliette Kayyem
“Of course he did it with every country he possibly could. There is a reason why Trump does not like multilateral negotiations. Can't shake down multiple countries at once. You need to extort them one by one.”-Elizabeth De La Varga
“This is the updated version of the “they were too stupid to conspire with the Russians” defense. It doesn’t deflect from criminal liability & it’s irrelevant to impeachment, which doesn’t require a federal crime be committed. “Joyce Alene
https://twitter.com/stevenportnoy/status/119213333…
“The Sixth Amendment only applies to criminal proceedings, and does not give you the right to confront anyone unless their testimony is relied upon by the government at trial.Rand Paul is misleading the public to try to justify unlawfully revealing the whistleblower’s identity.”-Renatto Marotti
https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/11918269434669…
“The RNC paid for robocalls to jam up the phone lines of Congressional Democrats”-Scott Steadman
“Many of the same oil and gas companies that misled the public on climate change to rake in more profits have already spent $92 million lobbying Congress in 2019. Our fight to guarantee a healthy planet for future generations must include bold campaign finance reform.”-Ro Khanna
“The extent to which the GOP will go, because it no longer believes in elections.
It’s NOT just Kentucky.
It’s NOT just this guy.
It’s THEM!
It’s who they are now.
It’s NOT fixable.
They simply cannot be trusted with power in a democracy. Pam Keith
”
https://twitter.com/dkelections/status/11921255103…
