Joni Mitchell newspaper interview 1/15/10

[Sadsack]

This is an excerpt from a long interview with Joni Mitchell that appeared in in the Jan 15, 2010 "Vancouver Sun", and here is the link in case you want to see the whole interview:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Full+transcript+Joni+Mitchell+interview+with+John+ Mackie/2447330/story.html

I've bolded the parts pertaining to her illness.


The Vancouver Sun

Division of Canwest Publishing Inc.





Full transcript of Joni Mitchell's interview with The Sun's John Mackie

By John Mackie, Vancouver Sun
January 15, 2010






Joni Mitchell.

Photograph by: Handout, Curve Communications




VANCOUVER -- Joni Mitchell was in Los Angeles, Jean Grand-Maitre was in Calgary and I was in the Vancouver Sun newsroom on Jan. 8, 2010, when they rang me up to 2:45 p.m. to talk about a ballet based on Mitchell’s songs, The Fiddle and the Drum. Launched in 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Alberta Ballet, it has since become a TV special and has toured across North America. We talked for 45 minutes, and Joni talks so fast I had to put it on “slow” mode to transcribe it from my digital recorder.
dissonant chords that I use, of modern grief, began to appear in the Hawaiian slack key culture......

Sun: What gives you an idea to write a song, do you write them in one go?
Mitchell: Listen to my songs and look for yourself. [chuckles]
Sun: Are you working on anything right now? You say you’re probably canning the idea of a box set, but are you working on a new record right now?
Mitchell: I’m very ill, I’m fighting for my life.
Grand-Maitre: We’re talking about a new ballet maybe, eh, Joni?
Mitchell: Yeah. We intend to do another one. But I’ve been very ill, so mainly I’m just trying to survive.
Sun: Oh really? I didn’t know that, sorry. How are you doing?
Mitchell: Well, nobody knows.
Grand-Maitre: Let’s stick to the ballet, John, ah?
Sun: Sorry about that. So what’s the new ballet?
Mitchell: We don’t know yet.
Grand-Maitre: We’re dreaming it, eh Joni? I think it may premiere in a couple of years, maybe in 2011-12......

Mitchell: Yeah. Right when we were working I said to Jean ‘I’ve got to go see the old folks,’ and took off when I was editing the ballet for television. I took off and went time to see them, and that was the last time I saw her alive. That was good, it was just intuitive that I felt an urgency to go and visit, so I did see her just before she died.
Grand-Maitre: We’re hoping that if Joni feels good, she’ll come and see the show in Vancouver as well, but it depends on how things go.
Mitchell: I’m doing my best. The trouble is what I have is accumulated from...I’ve taken a lot of diseases in my life, polio, chicken pox, scarlet fever, dengue fever, three kind of measles. All these things are viral and they stay in your system, so my body is like Afghanistan, it’s full of syndromes. It all pools into a disease called morgellons, for which there is no cure. It’s a complex infection. I can’t afford to get a flu on top of it or anything. I’m pretty fragile and it’s pretty uncomfortable.
Grand-Maitre: But if you’re not there, you’ll be with us in spirit.
Mitchell: Yeah. They wanted me for the Olympic opening, too. I’m trying to get well enough to make that. I’m trying herbs and all kinds of experimental stuff, because there is no known cure. You just have to experiment. There’s a lot of maintenance, self maintenance. I don’t want to dwell on it or anything, but I’m trying to get there.

It is interesting that Grand-Maitre tries to steer the conversation away from Morgellons, while it is very clear that Joni needs to talk about it.

And I wish she would...

Anyway, that is so much the way my friends and family deal with it (or don't deal with it, more precisely). Ignore it and it will go away.

SS

[Sadsack]

YouTube - Joni Mitchell - Big yellow taxi (live)

I just watched/listened and cried.
I grew up on Joni, appreciated and agreed with all she stood for. In addition to being a phenomenol musician, she is an incredible artist.
She COULD be a spokesperson for us, but it looks like the people around her are trying to minimize/get her off the subject. God, I know how that feels.

"Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone"

How prophetic.

SS

[weredIgo]

It all pools into a disease called morgellons. Does she know something we don't?


Claudia

[Kritters]

Someone should contact her and find out if she knows about this forum. Chicken pox (herpes)...polio, scarlet fever, etc. OMG....She sure has the full monty.

Kritts

[Jo]

Thanks SS, at least she got to mention it i guess.

I noticed wrong diagnosis have a morgellons entry at last:
Morgellons Disease Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatments and Causes - WrongDiagnosis.com

What kind of global direct action can we take? You guys draw some M fiber art on the Whitehouse and we'll draw some M fibre art over 10 downing st.

What say you?

seriously, we need just one crazy stunt to kick things off.

Jo xxx

[jonsi]

I grew up on Joni Mitchell too!

I understand her frustration with this disease. I see her try to talk about it and no one wants to listen, not even to her!

I've been there. I got this 7-8 years (more?) ago and I went crazy trying to explain it to my friends and family.

Now my old friends are coming back and ask questions about what I went through and how come I am "normal" now.

Now I meet new friends and try to explain what I went through.... This is a heavy disease if you know what I mean. It's hard to explain.

I've posted on what has helped me find my path to better health. Check out my homeopathic/natural, www.tbmseminars.com , turning off the tv/mediia & concentrating on good music and what makes us feel good, spiritually...

I believe that Joni Mitchell will get through this "Morgellons" and I can't wait to hear the music she kicks out once she gets better

My favorite Joni song:

YouTube - Joni Mitchell - Carey

In the white light,
~jonsi

[Sadsack]

Did Joni sound "cured" to you? She sounds desperate and scared to death. I hope she sues this bastard out of existence. He must be stinkin' rich off of people misery!!! And when did she EVER say she's had Morgellons 20 years??? This guy is a CRIMINAL! And the Morgellons Research Foundation is located at OSU??? WTF??

Joni Mitchell Successfully Treated For Morgellons Disease CareMan's Weblog
Joni Mitchell has revealed publicly that she has had Morgellons disease for the past 20 years. I have spoken with hundreds of Morgellons sufferers during the last three years, so I have a glimmer of how much this gifted singer has suffered. Joni said she has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Doctors, pharmaceuticals and every other kind of health-care practitioner imaginable over the years in many different countries including some of the best Doctors and hospitals in the USA as well.
All she got was worse. Until now…

Joni mentioned she was so angry with most of her Doctors, since none of them knew anything at all about Morgellons. All of them took her money and gave her prescription drugs, herbs, potions and lotions. She said “Most of them are out for the money and pretend they know about Morgellons so she would come back for further help.”
Since Morgellons Disease was reported in the mainstream media in 2005, there has been no real progress made in discovering the cause, how Morgellons is contracted and transmitted, if it is contagious or if it is directly responsible for deaths other than suicides. Deaths are increasing exponentially and so is the level of infection in the global population.
The symptoms are right out of a science fiction novel. Most experience ‘brain fog’ (confusion like ADHD), severe depression, deep bone and muscle ache just like fibromyalgia, severe chronic fatigue just like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (many Morgellons victims sleep 10 to 16 hours a day and are still exhausted), multi-colored fibers grow from their skin that are coated in high-density polyurethane that will not burn until 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit is reached, and most bizarre, they experience animals that relentlessly move and bite the victim under their skin 24/7.
Morgellons victims loose their lives to this disease; MD’s and Dermatologist dismiss the symptoms as Delusions of Parasitosis (DOP), a subset of schizophrenia. The Medical Community treat their Morgellons patients much like HIV/AIDS patients were treated 30 years ago when that disease was new. The idea was simple; if it is not in the ‘book’, than it must be in your head. These victims are shunned by family and employers and are left alone without support and eventually become severely depressed, hopeless and suicidal.
Over forty US Senators and Congressmen has written letters to the Centers for Disease Control, including Senators Obama and Clinton requesting an investigation into this bizarre disease. The CDC began its investigation in Oakland, California at the Kaiser-Permanente Hospital in January, 2008 and was supposed to release its finding in May 2009. Inside sources now say it will be another year before the results are released. The funding for the CDC study was a mere $338,000; barely enough to set up the investigation. These same inside sources say that the remainder of the funding comes from the US Army.
A complete list of Morgellons symptoms can be seen at the Morgellons Research Foundation website.
In April, 2007 in the Journal of the American of Dermatology, Dr. William Harvey published an open letter to the Medical community regarding how Physicians should approach Morgellons disease.
In the past 5 years, there has been little financial resources to scientifically explore the cause(s) and treatment(s) to help Morgellons suffers begin to ‘get their lives back’. There are small pockets of individuals who are conducting their own Morgellons investigations with little or no funding. The Morgellons Research Foundation, located at Oklahoma State University, is severely underfunded and has expressed little interest in finding any relief for Morgellons victims, but rather focuses on discovering the cause of this mysterious new disease. Meanwhile, Morgellons victims search relentlessly on the Internet for some clue as to how to eliminate their suffering.
Worse, there is no spokesperson to bring to the public eye the incredible torment Morgellons victim’s experience. Most of the scientists that are willing to discuss Morgellons say that there could be as many as 10,000 new Morgellons victims every day in the USA alone. Most will not get diagnosed correctly and will be given a DOP label to labeled in their medical record for life as mental patients.
Included in this number of new Morgellons victims are celebrities, Senators and Congressmen and other public figures. Until one or more of them steps up and shares their Morgellons suffering with the world, the rest of us will remain asleep to Morgellons until each of us becomes the next Morgellons sufferer. Until a celebrity or public figure has the courage and conviction to publically announce their Morgellons disease and encourage mainstream science to fund and investigate Morgellons disease, the silent suffering will continue.
In February, 2009, it became public that Joni Mitchell has Morgellons. I found her manager in Canada and spoke with several people in his office. They were very pleasant and helpful, especially when I told them that I was sending her 8 bottles of NutraSilver without charge and that Joni should expect to heal dramatically in a few weeks. I waited and waited until Joni actually called me to say that many of her worst symptoms had either subsided or were mostly gone. She said she was beginning to feel “like herself” again and that her brain fog was clearing up and she could think clearly once more. She has since bought several hundred bottles for herself.
Many of her lesions have dried up and fell off. The lesions actually consume the skin pigmentation, so where the lesions fell off there are now white areas where the lesions used to be. Joni said she could live with that as long as the lesions did not return. While not yet symptom-free, Joni continues to heal and gain her life back. Joni has since moved away from her relentless suffering towards recovery which has made life easier for her.
As an expression of gratitude, Joni was gracious enough to send me an advanced copy of her up-coming ballet The Fiddle and the Drum. Not being much of a ballet fan, I really was not interested in any form of ballet until I actually saw Joni’s DVD. Joni and her team did an outstanding job creating this entertaining and enjoyable masterpiece. Joni’s singing and writing skills have been honed exquisitely for this very endeavor.
I am happy to have met Joni and I know that if she continues to take NutraSilver, her Morgellons symptoms will leave her alone and she can continue to create music and art for all of us to enjoy. Joni is a brave and courageous woman. I hope she decides to tell her story of how Morgellons disease nearly ruined her life; that she speaks up to publicly proclaim to the world that Morgellons Disease a real disease and perhaps she can lead the charge to raise significant money so real research can occur. In the mean time, Morgellons sufferers sit and suffer and wait.

SS

[Enviro Girl]

SS, thank you for linking this! Joni sounds like a great spokesperson, as do Louise Mandrell and Billy Koch. Any idea how to get a hold of Joni? I've got a potential 4-letter C word she needs to try and an explanation that she will be VERY interested in helping us make some noise about Time to organize, folks...
In the words of Twisted Sister: "We're not gonna take it ANYMORE!"

[dewdropsnsnowflakes]

Hey. I heard that the gab about Joni Mitchell being cured of Morgellon's by using Nutasilver was lies? What more do you know?

[belle9]

She seems to be saying that vaccines are causing this because they inject a virus into you and you develop antibodies to it, but who knows whether it remains or not. My doctor believes this is the result of a virus gone mad. I am a little younger than Joni Mitchell, but we had the Salk vaccine given in sugar cubes at outdoor events at school with local celebrities. My aunt, who is ten years older, got polio and now has difficulty walking. She didn't get the vaccine. She got rubella while pregnant and her daughter is deaf. Vaccines seemed like a miracle at the time. Perhaps they prevented one thing only to cause another. So many theories, so little time

Originally Posted by Kritters

Someone should contact her and find out if she knows about this forum. Chicken pox (herpes)...polio, scarlet fever, etc. OMG....She sure has the full monty.

Kritts