For many of us, Joni Mitchell provided the soundtrack for our lives -- along with other great Canadian singer-songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Robbie Robertson. Her poetry, unique sound and insights captured us in her classics, such as "Both Sides Now," "River," "A Case of You," and "Blue."
But her music has constantly evolved.
For Back Lane Studios' Extraordinary Women event for October, presented in partnership with the Revue Cinema, we're screening a documentary, "Joni Mitchell, Lady Blue," which offers a wealth of archival footage and highlights Joni's changing styles.
We're thrilled to have music historian, producer and professor Rob Bowman and author and former Toronto Star world music columnist John Goddard as guests for our post-film discussion.
Says Rob about the extraordinary Joni: "Over the years, she developed at least six different voices, used 51 different guitar tunings and composed some of the most intimate and complex songs in history. Fifty-eight years after I first heard her and fell in love with her music, I am still learning new things about her art.”
John, co-author of "Rock and Roll Toronto," a cheeky guide to the city's 1960s rock-and-roll sites, uncovered new information about Joni's life in Toronto, which he'll share in our discussion: "When she was 20 years old, penniless and pregnant with a daughter she would later give up for adoption, Joni Mitchell lived in a rooming house at 504 Huron St., a few blocks west of the Yorkville coffeehouse district. Giving up her daughter proved an excruciating decision for Mitchell, expressed in one of her most celebrated albums."
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