What?!?! Anyway,Jimi was THE true virtuoso of the guitar and a kind soul if ever there was one.He was a conduit........ I think I'll start my day with a little Voodoo Child.
Go rent the movie White Men Can't Jump. My Dad likes to brag to me that he saw Jimi (opening up for Janis Joplin) in Jones Hall when he first moved to Houston. That must have been some show. I watched a SRV special on PBS last night. Why do they always die? I wonder if the next Jimi/SRV is taking guitar lessons somewhere right now. Please hurry. We need someone else to pick up the torch.
I saw him in Ft. Worth at the Cow Palace I think (odd juxtaposition, no?) Sorry, don't remember much, the orange barrel sorta wiped that out. I do remember thinking that when he threw down his guitar, squirted it with lighter fluid and coaxed up the flames that it was a little sad, like that was a part of his act that the public demanded, de rigour and cliched; like back when The Who had to end every show by smashing up their equipment. I felt the same way about him playing with his teeth, you know he had to do it, every show, but it had nothing to do with his real genius. I believe that is one reason he moved on to the Band Of Gypsies rather than continue with the same 'show' he had been doing. Putting more of his soul roots back into his music and letting Buddy take over more of the showmanship. I think, like Beethoven, people will still be listening to Jimi 200 years from now. Part of the noteriety of Jimi And SRV was the innovation (though early on people called SRV a Jimi impersonator) There a thousand kids out there right now who can shred it but the problem is, it's not new, it's 40 years old. I saw Wes Jeans just rip up a show when he was 13 or 14 but you probably never heard of him because A. It's blues oriented and B. The Powers thar control the record industry make more money off of Britney, Hannah and that kind of crap. (Not that my era didn't have it's Bobby Sherman's.)
Yeah, I get that. Very depressing, isn't it? I wasn't referring to the next great blues guitarist. I'm sure there are plenty of them out there (like RMTex for instance ). Really, what I meant was, someone with a totally new inovative sound. A sound that we haven't heard yet. That's what I meant by saying 'pick up the torch'. I'd like to think that, somewhere out there, a 6th grader is in band and taking guitar/bass/keyboard/drum lessons after school who will one day revolutionize music forever. However unlikely, I'd just like to believe it will happen someday. Sooner rather than later would be nice.
Nah. I'm too old to consider to be the next great anything, unless we're talking about retirees! I have always felt that the greatest guitar player in the world is some guy or gal sitting on the couch, "shredding" like a mofo, in school or working a day job, and completely uninterested in playing onstage. Weird, I know, but that is what I've always felt. For every great guitar player you hear live, on a CD, on radio or on TV, there are at least 20 others just as good or better that you will never know.
That's just it...EVERYTHING in music has been done already. The only thing that musicians can really do these days is build upon or slightly alter what has already been done. Let's face it, unless a guitarist wants to do a show naked, there aren't many body parts that can be used to play a guitar that haven't already been used...
He was the best, no doubt. I would have loved to hear him do something with Miles Davis and it probably would have happened if Jimi hadn't died so prematurely. Deckard - did you ever see The Byrds or The Band?
<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/22eubaCUNJU"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/22eubaCUNJU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> I saw him live....
Well, probably somewhere along the lines of one of your other favorite bands, Starship. ...relax...I kid...
Bump, be sure all the kids out there listen hockey- Wayne Gretzky basketball- Michael Jordan baseball- Babe Ruth golf- Tiger Woods rock guitar- Jimi Hendrix
I sure hope he wasn't in the condition I was at that time. I just can't picture your dad at a Hendrix concert, but then people don't believe me when I tell them what I was doing back in the bad ole days.
Thank god! I was NOT a Starship fan. The Airplane were fantastic. I saw them more than once, with a riot happening at one concert, when the power was turned off. I made off with part of a barricade. (one of the triangle thingys) My favorite show was Buffalo Springfield, Strawberry Alarm Clock (yes, billed before a far superior band, although they were not bad), and the Airplane. Paid $3 or 4 bucks and ended up in the middle about 5 rows back. Yes, saw them both... the Byrds at least twice. Saw the Band play with Dylan at Hofheinz Pavilion in late January, 1974. Anyone else?
Man, Hofheinz is a great place to see concerts. I don't know why they don't book more of them in there. I saw the Grateful Dead play there in 1977...10th row.
Until September 10, 1967 at around 3 AM he was living la vida stoned-ah... He lived in the Haight Ashbury district of San Fran (the "crash pad" was three doors down from the Grateful Dead at one point) ... and would hitchhike back and forth from there to Houston over several years... In fact he'd gotten in trouble with the wrong crowd, had run-in's with law, and lied to his mom that if they'd move out to Cali' he'd get away from the drug culture... oops... she bit. He got worse, and at his lowest was eating out of trash cans, stealing to sell it to make his high, then he got into the dealing crowd... He even smuggled stuff from Mexico in a 1957 convertible 'Vette for someone... He was lost to say the least. Very much God's doing that he wasn't sent to prison for a long time... in fact the night he accepted the Lord he walked out of a raid in progress... something unheard of... drove home in an lsd "fog" seeing 14 sets of headlights for every 1... almost listened to the enemy telling him to just drive off a cliff... But God got him home safely... He had other plans. When I hear those stories of his past, It's hard to imagine. He's been nothing but a God-fearing, respectable man all of my life... In fact the doctor didn't find out that he'd done heroin (twice OD'd and lived), smoked who knows how many pounds of weed, popped methamphetamines and other pills, and dropped at least 100 hits of lsd until after I was born... that doctor was amazed he could have kids. Dad had gotten Hepatitis from an infected syringe at one point, and was dying when he came (back) to God. He would go every week for a blood test, and every week they would tell him it was worse. His eyes and skin were yellowing from jaundice... but one day at a prayer meeting when he asked God for that "next" promise , he was also healed... To look at him now you'd think he was always just a preacher man. He met my mom in 1969 while holding a revival for her home church in FL. Anyway you should print this out, or just maybe go talk to him about it all some time... he doesn't glory in his past though... he believes the best testimony is to have always been a consistent believer... but he glorifies God by telling what God delivered him from whenever he can... It's still the only "one step" program out there! So... I'd say unless you saw Jimi much after that date (9/10/67), dad was probably just as in the "condition" as you were. God is good. I never new that man. I was sure prepared for "street" things well in advance though. He taught me well. BTW- for the record, I own the "Jimi Hendrix: The Ultimate Experience" greatest hits collection on cd... I like "Fire" probably the most... next to the SSB...
