JONY! JONI! JONE!: With so many Joni...

JONY! JONI! JONE!: With so many Joni Mitchell impersonators out on the hustings (Julia Fordham, are you listening?), it’s time the original thrush of Laurel Canyon returned to the record stores. The arrival date--Feb. 19, when Mitchell resurfaces with “Night Ride Home.” Mitchell has billed it a collection of “middle-aged love songs,” which include “Passion Play,” “Cherokee Louise,” “Ray’s Dad’s Cadillac” and (with a nod to Wlliam Butler Yeats) “Slouching Toward Bethlehem.” . . . Despite weeks of denials, expect an announcement this week that Island Records president Mike Bone will become co-president of PolyGram’s Mercury Records label, sharing the job with Ed Eckstine, who’d been overseeing Mercury’s marketing and creative divisions. . . . And Prince unveiled his revamped band, New Power Generation, in an impromptu appearance at Minneapolis’ Grand Slam club last Sunday night. But apparently The Purple One is still smarting from the licking he took in the press over “Graffiti Bridge,” his recent movie-musical flop. When Minneapolis Star-Tribune rock critic Jon Bream was spotted at the club, he was ejected by Grand Slam staffers, who said Prince didn’t want Bream reviewing his concert.