'hIP trOPe'

'hIP trOPe' 9/12/14 I was talking with a friend the other night and somehow got goin' on some of the things I've seen bout peoples bein heard . It started with me tellin him about Art Tatum and how unbelivable this guy was/is . For alot of folks , if you don't compose music, your own music , then in a way you're just a musician , a hired gun or worse , a hack . To get the respect you have to 'create' somthing . Well Art Tatum got credit for very few recordings , choosing to do other peoples songs . But he made everyone of them his own . Turning them on their heads , playing 'em backwards and throwing in a few tunes on top of the original melody , just for fun . Twisting the song in such a rapid fire fashion that you could barely keep hold of the tune that started as close to normal sounding. So , through fantastic improvisation , created somthing altogether new . Like the first time I heard Hendrixs play 'All Along The Watchtower' , thinking wow, I never knew Dylan could sound like that .! Same thing with Tatum in his day , astounding everyone but especially the greatest musicians in the land . Incredible imagination that combined with a steel trap memory that allowed him to renavigate and delight every aspect of your notions about where this story was going or could ever end . On the listening front ; I went to see/hear 'Hawkwind' a few nights ago and had a good time . I had wondered what it would be like and found out that Nick Turner , the sax/flautist for one of the early versions of this storied band would be 'fronting' the show and was the only "original" member . The backing band didn't dissapoint playing with precission and studied abandon . The lead guitarist was another Brit , a hotshot all-round rocker named Nick Garratt who brought a band from (?) Portland to help with the Hawkwind ovure , playing loud and fast on those punkish anthems or slow and spacey on the more romantic , landscape tapestry pieces , like traveling the English country-side in a hot air baloon on acid . When it got loud the bass was the seismic thunder rattling the rafters . Then there was Arianna on , well she was a violin player with her band 'Hedersleben' , and got to stretch out on her fiddle a little in the set they did before coming back magically transformed into 'Hawkwind' , but the only stretching out she did with Nick Turner on stage was in a see-through jump suit , in a sort of comic juxtaposition with the 74 year old next to her in perfect mime of Anastasia from her strip routine of back in the day . With the band so intent on 'acting' and sounding like the original it made me wonder to what lengths will someone go in serching for the "AUTHENTIC" . ? On another but similar note , I saw a band on Jimmy Kimmel the other night and they were alright , I could look up their name but it isn't that important to my point . They were a kind of rock/pop band , heavy on the romantic voicings of the lead singer , and the whole band was white . BUT , they had 3 black vocalists backing him up , you know , doing the doo-wahs and repeating verse and doing what they're sposed to do , but wait a minute ... I've seen this same combo or formula about half a dozen times lately , mostly on late night TV like Kimmel or Carson Daly or some of the other ones . And I'm thinking here's another group searching for a sound that's authentic , maybe add a little soulfulness here with the Sisters cooing and swaying on the side . Maybe get a little 'sexy' with it . ?? Or maybe somebody told them it (their sound), needed somthing , more , I don't know but it strikes me as odd how many groups are using that 'soul' card to try and make it these days . Of course it's like deja vu all over again . And for a final thought ; Listening to a Brittany Spears interview the other night (on the Telly), I swear there was an 'auto-tune' on when she was talking , and then sombody turned it off . I don't know if it was Brittany's idea of a joke but once again I'm hit with questions about reaching for the 'authentic' and how far down what promised but lost road will some seeming desperate folks travel to find IT ??? Pax-On , MikL

Hey Joe ; Jimi 'does' Miami Pop

(A word of , perhaps caution ; "Jimi 'does' Miami Pop" is intended as more than a double-entendre .) Never one to shy away from pyrotechnics on stage , when Jimi played Miami 'Pop' festival on March 18th , 1968 he had his usual bag of tricks and a few more in store . As an avid fan of his from day one , or when I first heard 'Fire' on the car radio while traveling with my family to visit relatives in Pennsylvania , I've semi followed the release of many recordings made by various people , including Jimi back in those halycon days . I know much more about the music now and the history behind it , including the 'bizzness' end of it . Always the boring stuff that most folks could care less about but with Hendrix the story of the money is like a cloak and dagger mystery . Not only did Jimi seem indifferent and above such worldly concerns , he signed so many contracts as to give the nerdiest of tax attourneys a headache and left a shit-pile of feduciary concerns for the Hendix family to sort out after he passed . There's an assumption that Jimi was just getting high and doing what he wanted and that is partly true . But he was not completely irresponsible and did fix one obligation by turning it into an opportunity in the form of the Band of Gypsy recordings . Also , I've always thought Jimi had something he was trying to say about money and things and if not an outright 'teaching', at least a suggestion on how we should treat all the 'plastic' people and bussiness men , who walked down the street so confident that their world was secure . Jimi know better and throughout his short time in front of us he spoke calmly of freeing ourselves from all the materialistic chains that others placed on us . Spoke softly but played loudly and continuosly about it . Actually, Jimi seemed kinda bored with it , as the way seemed so simple to him and I think he was also frustrated by having to deal with all the hang-ups and questions so much . And his playing often reflected this attitude of disdain , as on the stage at this Miami racetrack that day . I wouldn't say Jimi's playing was hackneyed , maybe 'off-hand' is a better way to put it . Perhaps he's showing his boredom with what he feels are old songs and maybe taking the opportunity to snub the cynical record co. execs who had sent their techs to capture what they must've viewed as "a can't lose , pure golden chance" to cash in on their latest electric guitar god . But Jimi had been here before , since before the days of ice and knew that the hand that grasps never catches the sweet Bird of Paradice . He presents a loud , feedback laden set that may have been good enough for the concert goers that day , although judging from the footage I've seen and the polite applause seem to have wandered in tourist style , on a break from the Republican Convention . It obviosly wasn't deemed worthy enough to put out back then and I have to admit , if I'd have heard this at the time , my opinion of Jimi Hendrix would've suffered . It's been noted elsewhere that this recording does nothing to change our perceptions of Jimi , sort of given a neutral charge but I would suggest that his playing (poorly), in such a throw-away fashion is a message to consider as one of importance , 46 years later . Yes , he rushes through these songs , rarely taking the care to tune or even act very concerned about timing as he seems to be clashing with his peppy sidekick drumer ,Noel and the riff between Mitch and Jimi can be felt in every uncaring beat of the bass or body language in photos that measures how little comradery either of them felt . Jimi's mind may have been distracted also by being about a step , hop and spin away from going into the studio and creating his masterpiece , 'Electricladyland' . But this concert was about rehashing old shit and getting it out of the way . Jimi sounds like he's playing a fuzzy Gibson through most of the show and amps up the rock side , giving less slinky atistry then expected and more of , well , you paid to see a rock show and that's what I'll give you . Slightly less than a year from the warm , orgasmic love fest that was his homecoming out in Monterey , Ca. , Jimi's playing can be seen as a rascally trope on 'expectations' and the bizzness of crowning 'Rock-Gods'. Such is the casual and destructive manner that he treats fame and all it incumbrances that a dropped ending to a song or a rushed intro seems hilariously caustic to me . When Dylan objected to being labeled a 'prophet' and spokesperson for the generation and claimed he was just a song and dance man , intent on 'entertainment' he struck at the crux of the challenge for artists to this day . He too was being less than honest but just wishing that damn camera would go away for a while . Now a-days it's on all the time but almost to the point where nobody is singled out that dramatically . Much to the chagrin of people who make a living selling other peoples art , the stakes have gone up and the work of selling more difficult . I'm not sure who Janie Hendrix is but I want to thank her on behalf of all those who only want more 'Jimi' to bang their heads to . But also for those of us who felt more deeply the messages of Love that he wanted to inspire , this concert is meant to be heard . There's a thick Karma it expresses about who we are and the roads we continue to follow . And perhaps shows us something unexpected and revelatory form this master of blues guitar communicator , something human about the man , Jimi Hendrix . Uh, thanx .?

Thoughts on a New Orleans groove .

    I dj'd a 'Fat-Tuesday' party and tried to  pick the best songs I could to not only rock the house but to
display the wide variety of down grooves that eminate from that special place on the globe . It was tough,
and a bit rushed as I only dreamed this up a week before , although I've listened to and lived much of
what I wanted to play/say from long ago .  I knew that Professor Longhair would have to open with Tipitina for  representing not just the spirit of The Big Easy but for what he's passed on through the likes
of Allen Toussaint and Dr. John .  With the Neville Brothers carrying the heart and new street bands with
ties to old school sounds like the Dirty Dozen  and Rebirth , not to mention young lions like Trombone
Shorty filling the body of what is funky about New Orleans R&B .  I wanted to highlight Louis Armstrong as I built steam to more modern innovations with the brass band format as well as pay homage to the spiriual side with sounds that reach back through the Islands to Mother Africa .
     To hear just this was enough for one set , too much to digest but that it touches your soul , the heavy,
changing rythmns , polyphonic is what they may call it but does not describe they inner awareness that
this music can awaken .  To hear it and know , deep down that this is true ;  that we live as much as we
are able to Love , and can receive only as we are able to give . That inside comune is the begginning to
sharing with everyone .  Shango ,ma Ra '  . 
    That's all I wanted to say for now .  Not that many people attended ;  too little notice given and too
many other things going on .  Also , perhaps too little known about what an avant / old school Fat Tues.
party minght sound/look like .  Still , we few had a great time in a fantastic space , and danced like there
was no tommorow ...  as though it were forever Now .  I do this to keep that sharing going .
    I'm going to post the first set and should say there were directions I took based on my present intellect combined with my best but limited intuition . Many other artist made it into the later
sets and some were reused for the pandimonium they lent to the ebb and flow of the sound . I hope you enjoy it .
        I called this group of songs/artists  ;  Avant/Tradional  ,  which is what great music does , building on what's been given , but saying something new .   This music runs about 1.5 hrs.

       * Professor Longhair -  Tipitina  ,  *  Dirty Dozen B.B. -   Mardi Gras in New Orleans  , 
* Fats Domino -  medley,  Go to the Mardi Gras ,  Walkin' to New Orleans ,  Blue Monday  ,
* Curley Moore -  Get Low Down  ,    * Lee Dorsey -  Everything I do gohn' be funky  , 
* Allen Toussaint  -  Last Train ,  Tequila ,  West End Blues  ,  * Dr. John -  medley,  Rockin' Pneumonia ,  High Blood Pressure  ,  * Buckwheat Zydeco -  Ma'tit file  ,   * Wild Tchopatulas'  -
Hey Hey ( Indians Comin' )  ,  * Dewey Balfa -  Pine Grove Blues  ,  * Dixie Cups -  Iko  Iko  ,
* Neville Bros. -  Voodoo  ,   *A. Toussaint -  Egyptian Fantasy  ,  * Carl Le Blanc -  On Super Sunday   ,   * Dr John -  My Indian Red  ,   * Charles Sheffeild -  It's your voodoo working   ,
* Wyclef Jean -  Carnival  ,  * King Sunny Ade -  Sunny Ti De Ariya  ,  * Raices Habaneras -
 Eleggua   ,   * Dr, John - Litenie des Saints   .

   It's been said that we do not see the world as it is ,  we see things as we are  .  Be as deep and as
joyfilled as you possibly can .  Find your fun 'and ' your soul in the music .   PEACE ,   Mikl

Monterey 'Pop' Fest and reflections on Jimi (bellybutton window redux)

    I just watched 'Monterey International Pop Festival' and it was a blast . Not so much from the past ,
as Faulkner would say , 'the past is not gone , it's not even past' , but it was a 'gas' to see and hear the first
true rattling of the 'Rock' culture . We are still connected to it , just as a few years later we would rise in such numbers as to be labeled with the moniker "The Woodstock Generation". But this was 1967 and
nobody considered it all that important at that time . Otherwise we'd be the 'Monterey Pop' generation and the 8,000 , record setting people that attended the last day would be credited with much more than
the minor multitude could ever have comprehended .  And just to be correct , this was no 'Pop' festival ;
It contained elements of Pop , as it contained elements of Folk , but mostly it was a Blues scene that was
in the midst of American youth awakening to the creative potential of the music , combined with the LSD they had begun experimenting with and the harnessing of electrified instruments . Young people
felt the raw power at their fingertips and unbeknownst to the older generations (the"Great" one),        were crafting ,with wit the words to songs that vented feelings of 'Love', that were accecptable and easily ignored and anger , and alienation , over the stupid war and other perceived social/racial iniquities.
 This aspect of the flowering 'Hippie' culture was routinely noted in the moderate press of the time and was roundly criticized by politicians who were 'hawkish' or sided with the military efforts in Vietnam ,
as it never was officially a 'War' , and was part of the double-speak that young folks were decring as they
protested and 'dodged the draft . Our military's professional standing and separation from mass society
today is a direct result of the fire storm of disapproval that most Americans felt as the war dragged on and people ,(thus politicians) eventually realized those crazy long-haired kids were right . But I don't
want to bore you with these well established facts , and as the protesting done at Monterey was minimal as the musicians who crafted this 'scene' decided to focus on the music and creativity .
   Of course not all avoided speaking out , as with 'Country Joe and the Fish' and there was a young David Crosby beginning a career of thumbing his nose at authority . But for the most part it was just fun . And getting high , and music of uneven quality coming on in fits and starts . But it was the first of its kind , which today would probably be seen as a minor festival , much as it was then , but the money boys in the record industry noticed the headlines it created and the signing pandemonium and
big recording contracts soon followed . This too has been duly noted and practically every rock historian has traced the ensuing music money mania to Monterey Pop as the beginning of it all .
    Two unlikely stars were 'born' with few aware of the potential for their overnight greatness , by the
now famous names of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix . Perhaps Otis Redding should be added to that as
he was vitually unknown to the white kids . Janis had a superb , heavy blues band backing her  called,
'Big Brother and the Holding Co.  She was known to insiders as was the band via a few appearances
prior to the festival but it was definately a coming out party and she more than satisfied . She be unlikely in that she enbraced 'Black Blues' unashamedly and synched perfectly with the wild , screeching heights that Big Brother drove the electric blues to . Janis was also not that sexy looking but somhow through the force of her devil-may-care attitude became a liberating sex symbol for youth
who apprieciated her 'tell it like it is' gritty truth telling . 
     For Jimi , it was a homecoming where only rumors and a single hit of 'Hey Joe' gave any hint of who these few thousand people were about to witness . Jimi's sex appeal was apparent from the git'
as he was a good looking black guy with a showmans sense of wild , almost feminine dress . But nothing prepared the crowd for what the British had been seeing and hearing the past few months back
in England , where he'd been working out the kinks in his act with his newly aquired backing band called , The Experience . Noel Redding on drums was a fiery , free jazz styled muscian who flailed
along . Mitch Mitchell on bass did his best to add some rythmn but with Jimi adding his own base lines it was often impossible to tell Mitchell was even playing . This was electrified R&B but only in
the supersonic , psychedelic moden sense that everyone today has come to exspect . Then it was totally unexspected . And that's not to say that all of Jimi's secrets have been figured out . As John Phillips , of the Mama's and Papa's and the main organizer of Monterey Pop has pointed out , that even
though Jimi showed eveybody what he was doing , nobody could get the sounds out of their guitar that
he produced . Apparently Jimi was right when he later crated the words , 'they were still arguing about
me then'. But I progress , when to look at the influence Jimi weilded it is still being weighed . From
that time on Mick Jagger became much more flamboyant , trying to outrage as good as Jimi did ; Johnny Winter , perhaps one of the few American blues giutarists to rival Hendrix would eventually
'hump' or fuck his guitar while playing , and as intimated most guitarists of note who followed would
become somwhat imatative of Jimi's free flowing , hard-driving , sexy but pretty way of playing .
     I've seen Jimi play in other movies and at other concerts but I'd never made the effort to watch his
gig at Moterey . Even though it was perhaps the most moving recording I had heard back inthe day .
Seeing him perform Dylan's ,'Like A Rolling Stone' takes me back to a time when all things suddenly
became clear and still moves me as one of the more meorable experiences in sound . There's a way to
describe what he does but no telling the transcendant nature of how I feel on hearing this , somwhat
pissy rejection letter Bob Dylan penned as an anthem to fake or feigned love . And Jimi was such a casual player , he makes it look easy as the guitar is more of an appendage of his anotomy than some
instrument crafted of wood , plasics and metal . His 'act' throughout the show was highly sexual and
premeditated to disturb more than a few young ladies minds as the college crowd had never seen what
the 'chttlin circuit' demands from it's wannabe black artists , but Jimi laid it on heavy as this was definately his comen' out party . And how good it was to share , back then or even today .  One thing I'll add as a kind of comment on so called 'heavy-metal' stuff , is that even though Jimi played loud
he was always goin somwhere . I don't see any reference to the rythmn and blues in todays or yesterdays for that matter 'metal music' . And that's where Hendrix was rooted . So , even though it's
a nice gesture on the part of the metal folks I doubt Jimi would accept it as originating with him . He
minght even say somthing like , 'it don't mean a thing if it , no , maybe more like ,'music sweet music,
I wish I could caress and kiss , kiss ...'         Peace to all ya'll , and if any of the people who were actually at 'Moterey Pop' , June 17th , 1967 read this I'd like to know what you thought , or what you
think today . Did it change you or is it all just a part of the growing , Love thing ?

Remarkable Redemptions

1/5/12

Yea , it's been a while but the fog of New Years is beggining to clear and
it occurs to me that I could set my sights on the time at hand and stear a course
for the distant stars .Any new venture should start out with a clearing of the old
crap . Like before they sell any of the salvaged stuff from the fated Titanic they
should smudge it to remove any of the bad juju and ghosts from the very bottom of
Davey Jones' locker . But salt water is also good for this so maybe good vibes
already attached themselves to this historic junk but I'd be takin' no chances.
"Yea , it was midnight on the sea and the band was playen' Nearer My God To Thee,
fare thee well , Titanic , fare thee well , well' they wouldn't let Jack Johnson
on board , they said this boat don't haul no colored , fare thee well Titanic ,
fare thee well. Maybe they should've smudged the big boat before they left Liver-
pool . Or perhaps they could've changed their Karma by offering Big Jack a free
first class seat . But there was nobody in any position to do that who would've ;
Shoulda , coulda , woulda ! Not enough forward looking people to change what
happened that frozen midnight when the fixed mind-set of 'impossible to sink' ,
collided with the polarizing probability by tanglin' with an iceberg . No matter how much you paid for your luxury cabin that night it was gonna be a cold dunk
much you paid for the comforts of a luxury cabin

Follows Redemptions

Yea , so you're swimmin' around , mind you , gettin' ready to go into popsickle
shock , and I wonder if any of those soon to be (wealthy) ghosts , I mean I wonder
if they had any last regrets ? Or were they thinkin' how unfair it was that they
were here, freezzzzzzzzzzzzing to death while the likes of somone like Jack John-
sonnnnaahhhggg was back home , nice and warm and on dry land ? We'll never know ,
but it seems to me that we are still dealing with ssome of those same , unresolved
issues 100 years later .
I didn't start out to write about the Titanic or about the unfair treatment of
some past , great person of color . But sort of fell into it as I started thinking
about Jelly Roll Morton and the book I'm reading called ; Jelly's Blues .
I haven't finished reading it yet but feel it's worthy of a comment , least my
karma should land me in some improbable situation tommorow and I be swallowed up
by the waves of time and no one would ever know how much I hope that the authors
are right . You see , Howard Reich and William Gaines have written this remarkable
story with the premise in mind to redeem Mr. Morton from the ignominy of not only
denying his own African heritage but despising it in others . As reported by Ken
Burns in his docu-drama on 'Jazz' or Gunther Schuller in his landmark treatise,
'Eary Jazz' it seems that many reliable sources have painted the redoubtable Ferd
with a racists' brush . I'm only about half way through 'Jelly's Blues' and have
to say that for as racy as the authors have made Morton's early career , and
completely believable , the socio/economics of New Orleans and the middle-class
mullatto status of the 'Mouton's' feels a bit neglected . Even the anglecizing
of the French to the more acceptable 'Morton' shows a person who was highly
concerned about the perceptions of waspy white patrons and indicates one who
wouldn't hesitate to toss his family baggage under the bus if it meant he could
rise one step higher in his status and be 'priviledged' enough to entertain the
highest ranks of this racially segregated nation . Of course the French were not
so much worried about this when it came to wealthy men and what they did in the
bedroom . Supposedly the authors have access to a veritable , new mountain of
information on Morton's life and I'm guessing his thoughts but the title alone
makes me frown a little . Jelly's 'BLUES' . For to my understanding , he was not
playing the 'Blues' per se , and as their language and descriptions have all but
danced around the issue , Jelly Roll Morton's music was a heavy blend of the Rags and'Habenara and the classical and the disscordnant black keys (later in
his development) , all he seems to have done , to me, is partake in an aspect
of the blues but never actually embraced it . Even later , when Bessie Smith
taught the best piano men in the bizzness how to find those sad notes , Ferd
stuck to his road of playing some of the most baroque trills and complex , strict time rags any American composer had ever attempted to imagine . But it
was not the Blues . Not as we've come to know the blues by that or any of the other names that marketeers used to induce a music hungry public . Stomps , Jumps , Jigs , Rags , Hops , Trots etc. Still, he did use those blue strains
and created somthing along the way that can only be marveled at . Yet , I'm
wonderinging if this most proud man , even with a mountain of paper that records
his many ventures into that wilder , blacker world will be enough to convince
the skeptics that he was humble enough to at least level with his darker skinned
brothers , all the while smilin' that gold capped tooth with the half carat
diamond stud in the face of the 'whitey's' . I've still half the story to go ,
and all I can say is I hope so , I hope so .

Remarkable Redemptions