In 2003, Rolling Stone published its 100 Greatest Guitarists issue.
No surprise, topping the list was Jimi Hendrix, and Pete Townsend wrote a gorgeous tribute, a reflection on that lightening flash made flesh for not quite 28 years.
I found this YouTube upload of an MTV production sometime ago, and have long thought to do an entry on it. It’s not a great video on it’s own, but what the MTV crew managed to do was capture so much of what made Jimi special, and what made him an icon for the era: the creativity, the destruction, the raw sexuality, the power, the rebellion, the poetry, the skewed beauty attached to a new musical form tethered to the black blues, while simultaneously reaching for melody and dissonance.
“Are You Experienced” is my favorite Hendrix tune, for it captures all of these strange and beautiful qualities, or as Pete Townsend writes, “What he played was fucking loud but also incredibly lyrical and expert. . . It was a high form of eroticism, almost spiritual in quality. . . . He made the electric guitar beautiful. It had always been dangerous, . . . Jimi made it beautiful and made it OK to make it beautiful.”
“Are You Experienced” reflects all these things, and this little video offers some of Jimi’s most magical moments.
Are You Experienced?
If you can just get your mind together
Uh-then come on across to me
Well hold hands and then well watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea.
But first, are you experienced?
Uh-have you ever been experienced-uh?
Well, I have.
(Well) I know, I know, youll probably scream and cry
That your little world wont let you go
But who in your measly little world, (-uh)
Are you tryin to prove to that you’re
Made out of gold and-uh, cant be sold.
So-uh, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced? (-uh)
Well, I have.
Uh, let me prove it to you, yeah.
Trumpets and violins I can-uh, hear in the distance
I think they’re callin’ our name
Maybe now you cant hear them,
But you will, ha-ha, if you just
Take hold of my hand.
Ohhh, but are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
There is a story that I frequently remember, when my life is moving slower than I would like.
Jermaine Jackson tells this story, and I heard him tell it around the time I was doing work in ‘write it down, and make it happen.’
Michael Jackson wrote a note to himself that read, “I will record the best-selling album of all time,” and he placed this on his bathroom mirror, where he read it every morning.
With time, Michael eventually released that album. “Thriller” remains to this day the best selling album of all time, the closest runners up lagging behind by over 45,000,000 albums. No other recording artist or groups comes close.
Unfortunately, the YouTube video I originally posted was pulled. I had two update choices: a live performance with an introductory note that I’d prefer not to see, or the official MJ YouTube upload that includes no video of Michael. I decided to embed the former with its personal dedication, but I’ve included a link to the latter. Both have their merits, for reasons that seem to me obvious.
“Indian music is like a river or stream that has come down to us through time, bringing nurture to man’s soul. From the past masters, this music flowed to my father and through him to me. I want to keep this stream flowing. I don’t want it to die. It must spread all over the world.”
“On 19 May 2009, Amnesty International held a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London calling for the commutation of Troy Davis’ death sentence. We recorded people’s messages of solidarity, which we are sending to Troy and his family.”
Update: “On May 20, twenty-seven former judges and prosecutors from across the political spectrum filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis.”
Click here for details, and for links to both the amicus brief and the original writ of habeas corpus.
After attending Harvard for what seems like a millennium, I discovered this past week that we have a DVD and video library full of treasures to be checked out for free.
Free being the keyword.
Oh, she’s a sharp one alright.
On this discovery, I made haste to peruse the offerings. (more…)
I read this week about Mia Farrow’s hunger strike for the people of
Darfur, a little after the fact as life has prevented me from being involved with too much other than the day to day.
As many of you know, the genocide in Darfur has been an important issue to me, well beyond the few entries on this blog, the needless slaughtering of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of over two million while the world turns a blind eye unconscionable to this writer.
So in my little corner here, I’ve highlighted articles by Nicholas Kristof, and at times promoted Ms. Farrow’s blog and photos to raise awareness, as well as the things I can do behind the screen, in the world.
Here is where the two come together in an unusual way. (more…)
Today I downloaded Sinéad O’Connor’s “Theology” from iTunes.
So far, I am mesmerized, but I’ve not listened to it through.
I briefly checked YouTube for links to send friends of some of the songs I’m enjoying (Psalm 33 and Something Beautiful), and I stumbled on this recent interpretation of Prince’s song.
No need to explain why I immediately posted as my YouTube find of the week.
The cello is my favorite instrument. I love its sonority, expressiveness, the emotional depths it attains when in the right hands.
Mstislav Rostropovich’s mastery of it, and his performance of Bach’s Cello Suites, go places few instrumentalists ever reach. Bach’s composition is one of the world’s greatest, and Rostropovich’s performance perhaps the most nuanced ever given. In a single lifetime, I could never tire of listening to Rostropovich play this cycle.
Rostropovich once said that no cellist should attempt to play the Cello Suites until they are at least sixty, as they lack the emotional wherewithal necessary to interpret the work. He carries all the emotional wherewithal and more into his performance.
This YouTube find of the week I find lovely for many reasons, the first being just watching the master play. Second, the sound quality is exceptionally clear. I assume this is in part because he is playing in a Romanesque Cathedral, its heavy stone walls and asp providing the perfect resonance for the cello and the intimacy of this composition in particular.
There are quite of few uploads on YouTube of Rostropovich performing parts of Bach’s cello suites; this one is a bit longer than most, coming in at a little over four minutes.
I very much enjoy the opening shots, which the other videos seem to omit.
Mstislav Rostropovich, Bach Cello Suite No. 3, Prelude.
How about getting off of these antibiotics.
How about stopping eating when I’m filled up.
How about them transparent dangling carrots.
How about that ever elusive kudo.
Thank you India.
Thank you terror.
Thank you disillusionment.
Thank you frailty.
Thank you consequence.
Thank you, thank you silence.
How about me not blaming you for everything.
How about me enjoying the moment for once.
How about how good it feels to finally forgive you.
How about grieving it all one at a time.
Thank you India.
Thank you terror.
Thank you disillusionment.
Thank you frailty.
Thank you consequence.
Thank you, thank you silence.
The moment I let go of it was
The moment I got more than I could handle.
The moment I jumped off of it was
The moment I touched down.
How about no longer being masochistic.
How about remembering your divinity.
How about unabashedly bawling your eyes out.
How about not equating death with stopping.
Thank you India.
Thank you Providence.
Thank you disillusionment.
Thank you nothingness.
Thank you clarity.
Thank you thank you silence.
“Indian music is like a river or stream that has come down to us through time, bringing nurture to man’s soul. From the past masters, this music flowed to my father and through him to me. I want to keep this stream flowing. I don’t want it to die. It must spread all over the world.” 
