November 6, 1998

Posted November 06, 1998

"Joni Mitchell:Painting With Words And Music" aired today via USSB in Canada and PPV Viewers Choice in the U.S. (The concert will be repeated a few times on the 8th and 10th). If you missed this program, the concert will soon be available for sale on home video.

Mitchell's intimate performance, attended by her fans and celebrity friends such as Rosanna Arquette, who introduces the evening, k.d. Lang, Joaquin Cooder, Natalie Imbruglia, Bijou & Mackenzie Philips, Graham Nash, Darryl Hannah, John Densmore, among others, was taped on the Warner Bros. lot in May of this year. Featured in the October 31st issue of Billboard magazine, in the only interview Joni has given about this PPV-TV special, she says: "I designed the set we play on...It brings together my artwork and my songs with an audience in the live, in-the-round setting of a soundstage. So it's an intimate evening of my painting and music."

Joni's manager, Sam Feldman, mentions to Billboard that Eagle Rock Entertainment, the producers of the special, were the company that "...was willing to give (Joni) complete creative control."

I know from my contacts that Joni spent over 200 hours working on this special. And it's now ready for broadcast.

This is a fabulous show! Joni's performance is top notch, the set is gorgeous and the unique lighting arrangement makes the theater a magical circle, which is full of Joni's longtime fans. It's a very special video that should be in every Joni-phile's collection.