Have You Ever Been…

I awoke to sirens blaring this morning at 5:10. With foggy brain, I deduced that it may be tornado related. I turned on the radio and lit a smoke. The weather guy broke in and gave me the word. It was a tornado warning but by that time, it had already passed; ten miles down the road. By doing the math I figure that if the tornado would have come through the front door, the sirens would have woke me just in time to get my head caved in. Ignorance is bliss they say.

I was visiting with fellow guitar geeks Pat and Noah Talburt (father and son) over the weekend. We got into a discussion of “the best Jimi Hendrix album”. After much thought, my vote was “Electric Ladyland”. Noah put in a DVD of “Classic Albums-Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland”. It’s a documentary about the making of the record. Some cool interviews with engineer Eddie Kramer, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding and others.

I was very interested in seeing drummer Buddy Miles and organist Mike Finnigan (both underrated, both great singers also) talking about “Rainy Day, Dream Away”. I’ve always loved that tune, it has a great, loose feel, like the worlds hippest lounge act. Buddy has the coolest shuffles, he has the ability to play with the time and enhance what the other players are doing rather than command where they go.

Anyway, since I was up early, I listened to the whole disc. It’s great music for a storm. Violence and sweetness, sunshine and rain. The title song sounds like Marvin Gaye meets Curtis Mayfield on Neptune. Other gems are both versions of “Voodoo Chile” (I like the first, slower one better), “All Along The Watchtower” and “Come On”. Great record.