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Tag: Joni Mitchell

  • Joni Mitchell, 78, graces stage after nearly 2 decades away

    By Associated Press

    NEWPORT, RI: Surprise! Joni Mitchell is back onstage.

    The folk legend performed her first full-length concert on Sunday at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, The Boston Globe reported. Mitchell has contended with health complications since suffering an aneurysm in 2015, and her last full show was in late 2002, according to reports.

    Seated in a wingback chair and wearing a blue beret and sunglasses, Mitchell joined festival headliner Brandi Carlile and a bevy of other artists, including Wynonna Judd, Allison Russell and Marcus Mumford. It was Mitchell’s first Newport festival performance since 1969.

    This was, Carlile explained, a recreation of the “Joni Jam” musical gatherings that have brought famous friends like Elton John to Mitchell’s Los Angeles home in recent years.

    And Mitchell wasn’t there to just to sing. Halfway through the 13-song set, she played an electric guitar solo, which was her first time playing guitar in public since her aneurysm, Carlile said.

    The ensemble played Mitchell’s most familiar songs (“Circle Game,” “Big Yellow Taxi”) and a few of her favorites (“Love Potion No. 9,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”).

    After their rendition of “Both Sides Now,” Carlile was fighting back tears. Addressing the audience, she asked: “Did the world just stop?”

    NEWPORT, RI: Surprise! Joni Mitchell is back onstage.

    The folk legend performed her first full-length concert on Sunday at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, The Boston Globe reported. Mitchell has contended with health complications since suffering an aneurysm in 2015, and her last full show was in late 2002, according to reports.

    Seated in a wingback chair and wearing a blue beret and sunglasses, Mitchell joined festival headliner Brandi Carlile and a bevy of other artists, including Wynonna Judd, Allison Russell and Marcus Mumford. It was Mitchell’s first Newport festival performance since 1969.

    This was, Carlile explained, a recreation of the “Joni Jam” musical gatherings that have brought famous friends like Elton John to Mitchell’s Los Angeles home in recent years.

    And Mitchell wasn’t there to just to sing. Halfway through the 13-song set, she played an electric guitar solo, which was her first time playing guitar in public since her aneurysm, Carlile said.

    The ensemble played Mitchell’s most familiar songs (“Circle Game,” “Big Yellow Taxi”) and a few of her favorites (“Love Potion No. 9,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”).

    After their rendition of “Both Sides Now,” Carlile was fighting back tears. Addressing the audience, she asked: “Did the world just stop?”

  • Joe Rogan responds to podcast controversy, vows to ‘balance things out’ amid misinformation backlash

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: American comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan has finally opened up about the controversy related to his Spotify podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, saying, “I’m not trying to promote misinformation”.

    The 54-year-old star posted a nearly 10-minute video on his Instagram account to address the ongoing criticism surrounding his content after multiple artists removed their music from the platform in protest of Rogan’s podcast, where he has, among other things, suggested that healthy young people don’t need the COVID-19 vaccine.

    “Now, because of this controversy … Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify and Joni Mitchell and apparently some other people want to as well,” he said.

    “I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan, I’ve always been a Neil Young fan,” he added.

    Rogan, who said he agrees with Spotify’s recent decision to include disclaimers on podcast episodes discussing COVID-19, promised to make more of an effort to “balance out” the controversial opinions on his show.

    “My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so that we can maybe find a better point of view,” he said.

    Rogan added, “I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure what’s going on…”

    While Rogan pointed out that he has had medical professionals like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Michael Osterholm and Dr. Peter Hotez on his show as guests, he also admitted that he never expected to have millions of fans.

    “It’s a strange responsibility to have this many viewers and listeners,” he said. “It’s very strange, and it’s nothing that I prepared for and it’s nothing that I ever anticipated.”

    “I do all the scheduling myself, and I don’t always get it right,” he added. “These podcasts are very strange because they’re just conversations, and oftentimes I have no idea what I’m going to talk about until I sit down to talk to people, and that’s why some of my ideas are not that prepared or fleshed out because I’m literally having them in real time. But I do my best.”

    He continued, “If I pissed you off, I’m sorry. And if you enjoyed the podcast, thank you. … Thank you all the supporters and even thank you to the haters because it’s good to have some haters. It makes you reassess what you’re doing and put things into perspective and I think that’s good too.”

    Many of Rogan’s friends and supporters, including Dwayne Johnson, applauded his response to the controversy in the comments. “Great stuff here brother. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you,” Johnson wrote.

    The video comes days after Neil Young demanded Spotify remove his music from the platform after he claimed that Rogan was spreading misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on his podcast, reported People magazine.

    Joni Mitchell and Nils Lofgren later joined Young in having their music pulled from the streaming service.

    As per People magazine, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also called on Spotify to address the “serious harms” caused by COVID misinformation after signing an exclusive multi-year podcast deal with the company in 2020.

    To combat inaccurate information regarding the coronavirus and vaccines, Spotify recently announced plans to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19.

  • Joni Mitchell joining Neil Young in protest over Spotify

    By Associated Press

    NEW YORK: Joni Mitchell said Friday she is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young, who ignited a protest against the streaming service for airing a podcast that featured a figure who has spread misinformation about the coronavirus.

    Mitchell, who like Young is a California-based songwriter who had much of her success in the 1970s, is the first prominent musician to join Young’s effort.

    “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell said Friday in a message posted on her website. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”

    Following Young’s action this week, Spotify said it had policies in place to remove misleading content from its platform and has removed more than 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

    ALSO READ | Barry Manilow quashes rumours of removing his music from Spotify

    But the service has said nothing about comedian Joe Rogan, whose podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” is the centrepiece of the controversy. Last month Rogan interviewed on his podcast Dr Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation.

    Rogan is one of the streaming service’s biggest stars, with a contract that could earn him more than $100 million.

    Young had called on other artists to support him following his action. While Mitchell, 78, is not a current hitmaker, the Canadian native’s Spotify page said she had 3.7 million monthly listeners to her music. Her songs “Big Yellow Taxi” and “A Case of You” have both been streamed more than 100 million times on the service.

    In a message on his website Friday, Young said that “when I left Spotify, I felt better.”

    “Private companies have the right to choose what they profit from, just as I can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates harmful information,” he wrote. “I am happy and proud to stand in solidarity with the front line health care workers who risk their lives every day to help others.”

    There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Spotify.