A Perfect Union of Contrary Things

by Maynard James Keenan

The piece would need a bit of editing before it would be published the next September, but in the meantime, Maynard received a second assignment. Editors at the San Diego publication Hypno: The World Journal of Popular Culture were impressed enough with the Gracie draft that they suggested he try his hand at a similar piece for their magazine. His choice of an interviewee, he realized, was a long shot, but he was prepared. Maynard had imagined the things he would ask her for a long time, their conversation should he ever have the chance to speak with her. “I told them if I was going to interview anybody,” he would explain, “I’d like to talk with Joni Mitchell.” His open-ended questions allowed Mitchell to speak at length of her unconventional chord progressions, her melodic structures and alternative tunings. Their dialogue branched in unexpected turnings and illuminating tangents from the synesthesia of color and sound to the mathematical basis of a Mozart composition to the way minor chords resonate with the rhythm of the soul. “I think she was comfortable speaking to me because I was an artist,” he explained. “I didn’t come in with an agenda. She was able to just talk stream-of-consciousness about music and process rather than having to jam sound bites into a predetermined format.” Published in Hypno’s October 1995 issue, the three-page spread was illustrated with photos of Maynard and Mitchell, their hands clasped, their smiles wide as if caught by the photographer mid...