Joni Mitchell: What a Wonderful Surprise at Newport

Joni Mitchell at Newport

What a wonderful surprise that Joni Mitchell gave us at the Newport Folk Festival Sunday evening. 

For the first time since 1969, the revered Canadian singer/songwriter returned to Rhode Island with her voice and electric guitar at the ready and played a historic set to close this year’s festival. It was her first full-length public concert in about two decades.

Credit goes to singer Brandi Carlisle for bringing Mitchell and her popular music back to the performance stage. The Fort Adams crowd was filled with elation as the 78-year-old legend gave new meaning to many of her iconic songs such as “Both Sides Now,” “Help Me,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “A Case of You,” and “Both Sides Now.”

As Mitchell sat in a Louis XIV-style chair on the festival stage – likened by many as a throne – wearing a beret, a grey-toned satin pants ensemble and decked with glittering beads and sunglasses, she began her set with a group sing-a-long to “Carey,” one of the chestnuts from her 1971 album Blue, regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time. The group included Carlisle and Wynonna Judd. 

Later, Mitchell’s set included “Amelia,” about Amelia Earhart, which she penned for her jazz-inspired 1976 album Hejira as well as a long, electric guitar solo interlude on the 1974 tune “Just Like This Train” from Court and Spark that reminded everyone of her keen sense of jazz phrasing. Despite having gone through health struggles in recent years, recovering from a 2015 brain aneurysm that required her to re-learn how to talk and walk, the elder Mitchell looked in good spirits on this evening – surrounded by friends – and her 13-song set showed her strength of will is second to none.

Looking back, one of my set favorites was Mitchell’s lower-register interpretation of the Gershwin classic “Summertime,” from the 1935 opera Porgy & Bess. The husky sound of Mitchell’s voice brought to mind that of Nina Simone, another wonderful interpreter of the Gershwin aria. Listening with great interest, there was a determination that couldn’t be denied in the sound of Mitchell’s voice in this classic tune.

Mitchell’s set ended with “The Circle Game,” which she performed more than half a century ago in Newport.

“After all she’s been through, she returned to the Newport Folk Fest stage after 53 years and I will never forget sitting next to her while she stopped this old world for a while,” Carlisle, who sang backup for Mitchell, wrote on Twitter.

Indeed, Mitchell has looked at life from both sides and, now, she’s come full circle in this one memorable evening.

Mitchell’s memorable set list included: “Carey,” “Come In From the Cold,” “Help Me,” “Case of You,” “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Just Like This Train,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” “Amelia,” “Love Potion #9,” “Shine,” “Summertime,” “Both Sides Now,” and “The Circle Game.”

On Sunday, Mitchell’s eternal songs echoed with a sense pride and joy spread that transcended across generations. Long may she live – and may her songs continue to shine brightly among the music canon.

Cover photo: Courtesy of Newport Folk Festival YouTube video.

Videos: Courtesy of YouTube.

Remembering Claes Oldenburg: He created playful and monumental art out of everyday objects.

Claes Oldenburg:
Giant Shuttlecocks, Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, Kansas City, Mo.

I was saddened to learn of the recent death of Claes Oldenburg, the Swedish-born American sculptor, who delighted in creating large replicas of everyday objects. They were designed to be playful and monumental, and yes, they are all gigantic in stature and attention grabbers.

The 93-year-old Oldenburg’s public art installations include: a diaper pin, badminton shuttlecocks, a spoon and cherry, a clothespin, an ice cream cone, even an old-fashioned typewriter eraser. These visual art works and others just as playful and monumental created by Oldenburg dot the urban landscapes of many major U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Seattle.

It wasn’t until I caught a glimpse of Corridor Pin, Blue in 2013, during a visit to the de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, that I realized I had seen many of Oldenburg’s public art installations during my U.S. travels this millennium.

I’ve seen the Giant Shuttlecocks on the pristine front lawn of the Nelson-Atkinson Museum of Art in Kansas City, the Spoonbridge and Cherry that highlights the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center, and the Typewriter Eraser, Scale X at the Olympic Sculpture Garden in Seattle. Since moving east, I’ve also seen another version of Oldenburg’s Typewriter Eraser, Scale X at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., too.

Among other Oldenburg sculptures, Chicago, where the artist grew up, has an Oldenburg baseball bat and there’s a fruit bowl in Miami. Meanwhile, Cleveland has a giant stamp, and Las Vegas is home to a flashlight. In Philadelphia, there’s a 45-foot-high clothespin that is displayed across the street from City Hall.

Lo and behold, San Francisco is home to not only the giant diaper pin sculpture. It is also where Cupid’s Span, a 60-foot-high painted fiberglass and stainless-steel sculpture created by Oldenburg and Coojse Van Brugge, his wife and collaborator of more than a quarter of a century, dropped anchor and took up residence along the Embarcadero waterfront in 2002. It certainly changed the look and landscape when it premiered.

I’ve walked by and admired Cupid’s Span numerous times over the years, when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and photographed it from many different angles. Each time, it seemed, there’s something different about it. Once, I was lucky enough to capture the bow and area while it was covered in fog.

On the occasion of the unveiling of Cupid’s Span, Oldenburg told the San Francisco Chronicle: 

“At first there’s the man-in-the-street opinion, but then there’s the more nuanced response. 

“We don’t copy the objects we use, we try to transform them and we hope they go on transforming as you look at them. The idea of endless public dialogue – visual dialogue – is very important to us.”

In remembering Oldenburg, who died Monday at his Manhattan home, The New York Times wrote that the artist “revolutionized our idea what a public monument could be. In lieu of bronze sculptures of men on horseback, or long-forgotten patriots standing on a pedestal, hand over heart, orating through the ages, Oldenburg filled our civic spaces with nostalgia-soaked objects inflated to absurdist proportions. It is interesting that so many of his subject are culled from the realm of the home and traditional female pursuits. His sculpture of a lipstick case or a garden spade, his ‘Clothespin’ or nearby it, his ‘Split Button’ sculpture (a beloved meeting place at the University of Pennsylvania) – all are based on the type of objects that could be found at the bottom of our mother’s purses.”

Whether or not Oldenburg had a social agenda behind his public art installations didn’t matter to me. I found his Pop Art both visually colorful and admiring. And, as Oldenburg once explained to former San Francisco Chronicle art critic Kenneth Baker: “Just the fact that you can put up something beautiful and complex in a city is a social statement to itself.”

All photographs: © Michael Dickens. 

Novak Djokovic: Reflections On Becoming a Seven-Time Wimbledon Champion

As Novak Djokovic won his fourth straight Wimbledon Championships gentlemen’s singles title and seventh crown overall, which leveled him with his boyhood idol Pete Sampras, one quality among many stood out. He remained quietly focused – not to mention calm and cool – throughout the three-hour and one-minute final that took place on a sun-drenched, sold-out Centre Court Sunday afternoon. It was in stark contrast to his opponent, the chuntering Nick Kyrgios, who repeatedly lost his cool. You really didn’t expect anything else from the mercurial one, did you?

Yet, one can only wonder what if Kyrgios had kept his mouth quiet instead of incessantly chattering to himself, shouting at his entourage in his box, or at the tennis gods above – often using profanity-laced language not suitable for the ears of young eight-year-old Prince George of Cambridge, who was seated in the first row of the Royal Box in between his dad and mum, Their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Cambridge and Duchess of Cambridge. The Royal Box was also filled with plenty of tennis royalty, too. Among the notables were Hall of Famers Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Stan Smith, Chris Evert and Jan Kodes – all of them past Wimbledon champions from bygone years, back when decorum mattered. 

As it happened, Djokovic won the final, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3), for his 21st Grand Slam singles title, which moved him one ahead of Roger Federer and placed him one behind Rafael Nadal. It was a fitting way for the Serbian great to celebrate his eighth wedding anniversary with his wife, Jelena. His two young children, Stefan, 7, and Tara, 4, have been in tow throughout the Wimbledon fortnight, too. Nothing like keeping it all in the family, right?

Djokovic managed to shut out the temper tantrums and overcame all of the obstacles Kyrgios could toss at him – including the booming 130 mile-per-hour first serves that produced 30 aces and helped contribute toward the 62 winners the Aussie hit. He also took advantage of the 33 unforced errors made by Kyrgios. Meanwhile, Djokovic, whose head was in the right place, put together a steady, steely and, at times, brilliant shotmaking performance that resulted in 15 aces and 46 winners. His serve was broken just once. He outpointed Kyrgios 132-112.

After securing victory in his 32nd career Grand Slam final – compared to just one final for Kyrgios – Djokovic, as has been his custom after winning Wimbledon on six previous occasions, pulled up a few blades of Centre Court grass to munch on. Djokovic’s winning streak on grass had extended to 28 matches, a streak that began in 2018.

At least, to his credit afterward, Kyrgios showed he could be polite. He shared a good laugh with Djokovic as the competitors walked off the court and was courteous and gracious in accepting his runner-up plate from the Duchess of Cambridge, who is the All England patron.

“He’s a bit of a god, I’m not going to lie,” Kyrgios said during his on-court interview with the BBC’s Sue Barker during the trophy ceremony. Kyrgios also made a point of thanking the ball kids, who put up with his antics over the past two weeks. 

When the volatile and acrobatic Kyrgios, 27, was asked if he would return to the All England Club, he laughed at the thought and quipped: “Absolutely not. I’m set for life. Myself, my team, I think we’re all exhausted. We’ve played so much tennis. I definitely need a well-earned vacation after this. … Maybe, one day I’ll be here again, but I don’t know about that.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic, a member of the All England Club since winning his first Wimbledon title in 2011, definitely will be back. It’s like a home away from home for him. He also suggested that Kyrgios will be back, too. Say what you will, Kyrgios is good for box office and TV ratings.

“Nick, you’ll be back,” he said. “I know it’s tough to find consolation words after a tough loss like this, but you sowed why you deserve to be one of the world’s best, particularly on this surface.”

Djokovic added: “I never thought I was going to say so many nice things about you, considering the relationship. … It’s officially a bromance. Hopefully, this is the start of a wonderful relationship off the court as well.”

During his on-court remarks after lifting the Wimbledon champion’s trophy for the seventh time, the 35-year-old Djokovic got serious for a moment. “I lost words for what this tournament, what this trophy means to me, my family, my team,” he said. “It was the one that motivated me to play tennis. Then, he added: “It’s also a relief as well, considering what I’ve been through of course this year. It adds more value and more significance and more emotions, of course.”

A postscript

Novak Djokovic remains unvaccinated and, as such, he goes off to an uncertain future with the US Open looming next month. It’s likely he won’t get to play in the year’s final Grand Slam. That’s because the United States has a vaccine mandate that likely won’t be relaxed just for him. Currently, noncitizen nonresident internationals, such as Djokovic, aren’ allowed to enter the country if they aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

During his post-match news conference Sunday, Djokovic stood adamant about his decision not to get the required shots to be able to travel to the U.S. “Yeah, I mean, I’m not vaccinated and I’m not planning to get vaccinated,” he said. “So the only good news I can have is them removing the mandated green vaccine card – or whatever you call it – to enter [the] United States, or exemption. 

“I don’t know. I don’t think exemption is realistically possible. If that is a possibility, I don’t know what exemption would be about. I don’t know. I don’t have much answer there. I think it’s just whether or not they remove this in time for me to get to U.S.A.”

At the same time, despite Djokovic’s Wimbledon triumph, he fell four slots in the new ATP rankings, released Monday, from No. 3 to No. 7. That’s because the ATP Tour didn’t award rankings points for this year’s Wimbledon because of the tournament’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players, which Wimbledon enacted because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

Looking ahead, Djokovic’s future remains uncertain, he’s still unbeatable on Wimbledon’s famed Centre Court.

Photo credits: Courtesy Wimbledon video. 

A version of this blog previously appeared in Tennis-TourTalk.com.