Chamblee54

This content was published July 1, 2018. … I woke up one Sunday morning, and started to look in my archive. I found a post from July 2009, Genius And Heroin Part One. The G&H book had been mentioned in a couple of blogs, The Page 69 Test and The Page 99 Test. Both of these blogs are still publishing seventeen years later. The idea is to critique a book by what is on page 69, or page 99.
Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell is a book I took hostage from the Chamblee library. A journalist had a series of interviews with Joni, and concocted a book out of it. Maybe a look at pages 69 and 99 will give us some text to go between the pictures.
On page 69, Joni is a young lady, performing in Miami Beach. She has had a baby, left her husband, and is trying to make it as a musician. One night in a club, David Crosby saw her, and saw the future. The two became a couple, which did not last very long. Joni and David went to California, where David introduced her to some buddies in the music business. David produced Joni’s first album, and apparently did not know what he was doing. Both of them moved on.
On page 99, Joni has put out her second album, and is gaining momentum. It is 1969, and America is in turmoil over Vietnam. The author, David Yaffe, goes into some detail about the mood of America in 1969. Mr. Yaffe was born in 1973. Why does he discuss the mood of 1969? Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in April 1940. “Line of men waiting in alley outside city mission. They are waiting for the meal which will be served at 5:00 p.m. Dubuque, Iowa” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah