Reading, Writing and Listening

How I Spent My Summer

A pair of song sparrows serenaded me this morning while I took in a first sip of coffee. The cool air signaled the end of summer and the turning toward autumn, my favorite time in New England. Before we flip the page, here is a brief reflection on summer reads and listens.

Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffee

I’m wrapping up my summer reading with this biography.  I first discovered the lyrics and music of Joni Mitchell growing up in southern California in the 1970s. Likely, I heard Big Yellow Taxi or Help Me on the radio as my first introduction to her work. This led me to the Moby Disc record store, where, over time, I acquired her entire catalog. Yet, this book revealed so much I did not know about this free-spirited searcher from the plains of western Canada. Her affliction and perseverance with Polio as a child, her early career pregnancy and the decision to give the child up for adoption, and romances with Leonard Cohen, among others. Most significantly, I did not realize the power of her musical creativity through open tuning - a type of alternate tuning that makes your guitar produce a triad when you strum all of the open strings at once. In many ways, Joni is the Mozart of our time. What she created in her body of work is simply astounding.

Here’s a 1968 photograph of Joni playing guitar before David Crosby and Eric Clapton. They look and listen, and it’s as if Clapton, considered one of the greatest guitar players of all time, wonders, “How is she doing that?”

As her work progressed, it became clear to anyone paying attention that Carl Jung's work influenced Joni Mitchell. In an interview, she once stated, “My publisher gave me Carl Jung’s autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. I thought it was a good choice. The things that interest him are those that interest me—particularly synchronistic events. I kind of pick up where he left off.”

You can hear the influence, especially in her late 1970s Jazz period. She titled an album, Shadows and Light, includes references to “anima rising” and lyrics like “each so deep and superficial, between the forceps and the stone.” Yes, Jung’s work is working in and through her.

People will tell you where they’ve gone
They’ll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other’s just come to harm

Hejira, Joni Mitchell, 1976

Reckless Daughter is readable and a tad bit gossipy at times. Still, it is an immensely revealing portrait of a complex, significant figure worthy of attention for those of us seeking to find our paradise here on Earth.

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The Meaning in the Making by Sean Tucker

Tucker is a former pastor who is now a professional photographer and filmmaker based in the United Kingdom. His book The Meaning in the Making attempts to understand why human beings feel compelled to create. While his stint as a minister didn’t unfold well for him, mainly because his more progressive views were not embraced by the more conservative branch of Calvinist Reformed churches he served, it’s clear his theological and philosophical training informed his understanding of the creative process.

Psychology, Spirituality, and Theology weave together personal stories to grasp the hidden desire to make. The making might be a painting, a novel, a speech, or even a garden. His central thesis is that the entire universe bends toward entropy, and every act of creation is an act of defiance to that evolving disorder. In many ways, the ideas here remind me of The Order-Disorder Paradox by Jungian Analyst Nathan Schwartz-Salant. Both books are attempts, acts of creation, to wrestle with a tension that we all intuit. Namely, life is a dance of creation, chaos, order, and disorder. Our experience of playing in this world is the very stuff of life.

Tucker is a gifted photographer and filmmaker. You might be interested in his YouTube Videos, which provide creative ways of exploring themes of meaning and making.

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The Music of Chris Smither

Chris Smither is an American folk/blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter. His music draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, and modern poets and philosophers. I heard him for the first time at the Nowhere Else Festival this past weekend, and since then, I’ve taken a deep dive into his music.

In the 1970s, he had a solid working partnership with Bonnie Rait, who recorded several songs, including “I Feel the Same” and “Love Me Like a Man.” After a 12-year hiatus due to his alcohol addiction, Smither rebuilt his career in the late 1990s. He’s been a steady provider of some of the finest finger-picking guitar music around.

Smither is what you might call a mid-level celebrity, known within the industry and riding just under the surface of popularity. He writes:

A lot of times I’m simply mistaken for someone else.

Once I was stopped by a guy on the (airport) concourse who said, “I know who you are! Wait! Don’t tell me! I’ll get it in a sec ...uh ...uh ...,” so I finally told him my name and he said, “No, that’s not it.” I just started laughing, because I really do know who I am.

That vignette gets at his humor, which comes through in his music and performances.

But his lyrics have a wisdom that can be deceivingly simple. Here are a few lines from the song Time Stands Stands Still.

Keep it simple, keep it clear. It’s what we like to hear.
She don’t argue, she don’t ever lie.
If I say it’s so, it’s so. She don’t want to know
If it’s a metaphor or something in disguise.
She let me know, a long time ago
It’s better to say just what I mean.
Truth to tell it can hurt like hell,
But it keeps me clean.

And later, he plays with the metaphor of blindness

I’ve been blind, she’s been kind.
She knows at times I forget to see.
Through a cold dark cloud,
An imaginary shroud or a shadow settles over me.
I once was smart, it was back at the start.

And then closes

My shadow often kicks me from behind.
I once was fast, in the distant past.
In a mighty demonstration of my will,
I kissed her twice at the speed of light.
Time stood still.  

Smither will turn 80 this fall. He’s a legend in Americana music. Bonnie Raith called him her Eric Clapton. If you like this vein of music, you’ll appreciate this Massachusetts-based artist.

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I’m packing for my fall Bicycling with the Saints & Sinners Tour. You’ll start receiving those musings soon.

Until then,

James Hazelwood, author and photographer, reflects on the ordinary mysteries of life in his work. His latest book is Dreaming as Spiritual Practice. His work can be found at www.jameshazelwood.net and www.jameshazelwoodphoto.com. His Photo a Day Instagram account is www.instagram.com/photoaday350