Personality Parade

In junior high and high school, I used to look forward to reading the Sunday Papers. Not to catch up on news, but to read the celebrity Q&A columns in USA Weekend and Walter Scott's Personality Parade in Parade. Then celebrity blogs came along. I read Perez Hilton (until it was all about Perez), then Pink is the New Blog (until Trent sold out). I'll pop into DListed occasionally, but I don't really get into celebrity blogs these days.

Last summer, I read a wonderful book titled Girls Like Us, which profiled three wonderful women of song: Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell. The book prompted me to dig out my old Joni Mitchell CDs (and buy a few more), and wound up listening to Mitchell almost exclusively most of the summer.

This morning, I took a look at USA Weekend's celebrity Q&A column, and lo and behold, there's a question about Joni Mitchell, submitted by someone who had read Girls Like Us:

Judging by how the columnist answered this, I wondered if they read the book at all, because if they had, they would know all this information was in the book. I feel sorry for the person submitting this question.

These days, these Q&A columns seem to be only for people who are computer illiterate. I wonder how long it takes them to dig up all this "insider" information. Somewhere, Joni Mitchell is cackling.

Winter Drive: A Mixtape

Tonight I made a mixtape that will accompany me on my trip to Ithaca tomorrow. The mixtape I have had for driving isn't suitable for the cold winter coming, so I made a new one which I call "Winter Drive":

"Soft As Snow (But Warm Inside)"- My Bloody Valentine
"Birthday" - The Sugarcubes
"Kim's Chords" - Sonic Youth
"Lazy Calm" - Cocteau Twins
"Unchanging Window" - Broadcast
"Lost Message" - Air
"Seeperbold" - Stereolab
"Clowns" - Goldfrapp
"Love Song" - Vashti Bunyan
"Winter Lady" - Leonard Cohen
"Song To Bobby" - Cat Power
"Guinnevere" - Crosby, Stills & Nash
"Riders On The Storm" - The Doors
"Shine" - Joni Mitchell

I was a little reluctant to put Joni Mitchell on this mix, since I spent the better part of the summer listening to her music, but I thought "Shine" fit well.