Little Green and Joni's Blues

The Fiddle and the Drum                                                          production still

Great poetry, like great prose, stands alone and is moving whether or not the reader is aware of the conditions under which it was written. Joni Mitchell's work is like that, but her song "Little Green," in particular, takes on a new and much deeper worth the minute one learns its back story. Like so many of our best artists, Mitchell, who recently turned 71, has not had an easy life, but it is this pain and these experiences, coupled with her innate sensitivity and creativity, that make work so relevant to our lives: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/547779/the-story-of-joni-mitchell-s-life.html
   Mitchell continues to create, and she celebrated her birthday with a screening of a film of her ballet The Fiddle and the Drum: http://www.newsweek.com/joni-mitchell-marks-her-71st-birthday-war-ballet-paintings-and-conversation-284557