I saw that show last night as it was broadcast by the local PBS station. Most musical award shows can be pretty bad, but this was much better than I expected. I enjoyed it.
Still, it was kind of shocking to see Joni Mitchell at 79 years. She suffered from a ruptured blood vessel in her brain in 2015 (called an aneurysm – how is that different from a stroke?), and she was hospitalized, in a coma, for some time afterwards. But considering all that, it was gratifying just to see her at all. She could walk (aided with a cane and a nearby wheelchair), talk, smile, and sing. She seemed all there. She appeared to be having a great time, and the crowd at the auditorium clearly loved her.
There was one odd moment when the dignitaries gathered on stage to formally present Mitchell with the Gershwin Award. Among others, Kevin McCarthy, the GOP speaker of the house was there. Most of those others got enthusiastic applause, but McCarthy was greeted by awkward silence. I doubt if Kevin McCarthy was ever a Joni Mitchell fan, but I don't doubt that most of the Joni Mitchell fans in the crowd were not fans of Kevin McCarthy. But that was just one brief moment, in an otherwise very good show.
