Three generations strive to emulate her

NEW YORK CITY - I saw Joni Mitchell perform live only once, at Toronto's Riverboat in the epicentre of the '60s. I sat in the audience lost in the moment as Joni laid down her ethereal magic. The slim blond from Fort MacLeod was singing about the enigma that is love and desire. Her honest and literate lyrics spoke to all of us.

Mitchell evolved into a multi-faceted, uncompromising artist. A singer, musician and painter, she's a hard-loving, cigarette-smoking rebel and sage, and we love her for it. I'm inspired by her, as are three generations of musicians.

Mitchell is the recipient of countless awards and accolades. She's won multiple Grammys, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. She received the Billboard Century Award, and the Order of Canada.

How much do we worship Joni? Prince, Tori Amos and countless others covered A Case Of You. Laurie Anderson's latest album, On a String, echoes Mitchell's plaintive vocal stylings. Janet Jackson sampled a big chunk of Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi on her album, Velvet Rope.

Guitar god Jimmy Page is quoted as saying: "She brings tears to my eyes. What more can I say?" This Flight Tonight became a rock anthem in the hands of Nazareth. Elvis Costello, k.d. lang, Stevie Wonder and Sarah MacLachlan are slated to contribute to a Joni Mitchell tribute album.

Lilith Fair was a playground for Joni wannabes; however, Mitchell's oeuvre is the result of years of experience and her mastery of voice, guitar, piano, lyrics, and arrangements. Many of today's angst-ridden confessional singer-songwriters try to emulate Mitchell's style but succeed only in offering a pale imitation of her genius.

Mitchell's extensive body of work is being honoured at Symphony Space in New York in Wall to Wall, a 12-hour music marathon on Saturday. The entire 12-hour program will be broadcast live on a New York FM radio station and on a live audio stream at www.wfuv.org. The event will explore Mitchell's continuing legacy of music. Participants include a diverse group of artists, encompassing pop, jazz, classical, international music, cabaret, poetry, and singer songwriters. Laurie Anderson, Garland Jeffreys, The Mingus Big Band, Joan Osborne, Martha Wainright, Ute Lemper, Gail Ann Dorsey, Suzzy and Maggie Roche Elliott Sharp, Luciana Souza and myself are among the 50-plus artists performing. The performance is free, but expect to see long lines around the block. The event is Symphony Space's annual gift to New York.

The producers of Wall to Wall asked us to pick two songs of Joni's that we'd like to perform, and that was a difficult, if not an intimidating, task. I scoured the Internet for lyrics and flashed back to all the times I got lost in the intricate textures of Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

Mitchell has produced 21 albums over 30 years. Her uncompromising journey and interpretations of divergent styles keep music critics and her hard core fans enamoured.

Mitchell's evolution from folk to pop, jazz, and world music has firmly entrenched her outside the restraints of the mainstream. The Circle Game was a karmic journey. Woodstock was the anthem of her generation. The Jungle Line from the The Hissing of Summer Lawns was a foray into what would become world music.

CBC's Life and Times aired a biography earlier this month. It will be repeated on PBS April 2.

Mitchell's take in the show on the dark self-indulgence that some artists experience is so true. "Depression is sand that makes the pearl. There is that possibility in that mire of an epiphany."

Mitchell has always been conflicted about her success. At times she felt she "deserved every bit of it" but "felt a little whorish about selling her soul." In a now infamous Rolling Stone interview, Mitchell expressed her disillusionment with the flesh factory that the music industry has become. Mitchell said the business "was calculated for sales, it's sonically calculated, it's rudely calculated and I'm ashamed to be part of the music business." She also called the music industry "a corrupt cesspool." She claimed her latest album, Travelogue, was the last thing she was going to record.

Mitchell has always had issues with the industry and how it stifles creativity, but don't count her out. She's the mistress of reinvention and word has it a new creative incarnation is looming on the horizon.