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Rolling Stone magazine March 19, 1970

 
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blahblahwoofwoof



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PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:04 am    Post subject: Rolling Stone magazine March 19, 1970 Reply with quote

Rolling Stone magazine March 19, 1970

Hendrix: The End of a Beginning Maybe

Hendrix raps on politics, dope and reuniting with the Experience It
was a New York winter day, frozen and gray and violently blustery.
Indoors, out of the fearful cold, people seemed somehow gentler
toward one another -- strange in New York City -- as if it was
enough to battle the elements, no need to battle each other.
Inside his manager's neo-turn-of-the-century apartment, on a sofa
near the radiant fireplace, sat Jimi Hendrix, in a gentle, almost
reticent frame of mind. The light snow had begun to fall. You could
see that through the narrow slits where the curtain allowed the
merest sliver of daylight and street scene to penetrate into the
gloomy dark room.

On the same sofa, and on a richly upholstered chair next to it, sat
the members of Jimi Hendrix' new band. He had broken up the old
Experience (Noel Redding on bass, Mitch Mitchell, drums) at some
indeterminate point during the fall. He had been living and jamming
with an all-purpose crew of musicians -- everything from older black
gentlemen from the South who played blues guitar, to a band of avant-
garde jazz/space musicians under the general leadership of a flute
player named Juma -- and talking about coming up with something new.

That avant-garde/blues/rock & roll experiment faltered at some point
along the way, and Hendrix announced a new band with the same
instrumentation as the old Experience: it would have Hendrix singing
and guitaring, Buddy Miles on drums and vocals, and Billy Cox, an
old Army buddy of Jimi's, on bass. The new band was called the Band
of Gypsies.

By various accounts, they sounded pretty tough. The sound was not
much different from the Experience; and, yes, they were still
working up their repertoire; and there were early complaints about
Buddy Miles' lengthy stretches of singing. But when they played
Fillmore East, they dazzled everybody, including Bill Graham, who
said he thought they had played perhaps the best set he had ever
heard in his hall.

Off to a great start -- and then, just like that, Hendrix dropped
the Band of Gypsies. Or shelved them, anyway.

Now he had a new band to which he was going to devote his principal
energies, as his number one thing. He had decided, through his
publicity agent, that the time had come to rap about changes he was
going through, about his new band, and about anything else that came
up.

First, the news: the other two cats in his band are Mitch Mitchell
and Noel Redding, from the original Experience. The Experience is
back together again, and everybody's pals, and no hard feelings.
Considering the attrition rate among rock and roll bands during the
past year, this has approximately the news value of a trial
separation between Dick & Liz. But this was the big news Hendrix'
press agent was eager to get across, so this is what we started on,
as Michael Jeffreys, Jimi's manager, brought on wine and booze.

The original plan (as described) was a rap with Hendrix. The actual
circumstances brought together half a dozen people to rap in the
flicker of a fireplace, on a day when Hendrix seemed just happy to
listen to the others.

Then, too, there's the matter of Jimi's own personal terms of
communication. To some question -- precisely what it was cannot be
recalled -- Hendrix answered: "Start with a shovel, wind up with a
spoon." A beautiful punch line. Does anybody know the joke?

Conversation went slowly at first -- throughout, for that matter --
and to goose it, I brought up the issue of the Black Panthers. One
thing that's been written of Hendrix over recent months is that he's
forming closer ties with black militant groups, possibly the Black
Panthers...

That was about as far as I got before Hendrix laughed aloud. "I
heard about that too. In Rolling Stone. Tell me all about it." He
opened his eyes wide and grinned.

We thought the reporter who wrote our story had gotten his
information straight from Hendrix.

"The thing is," said Mitch Mitchell, in his precise British
accent, "we got the White Tigers."

All three of the Experience laughed privately among themselves. It
was a private joke.

So it's not true about Jimi and the Panthers?

"No, man," he said. "Listen: Everybody has wars within themselves.
We form different things and it comes out to be war against other
people and so forth and so on."

Jimi Hendrix does not aim for one color or groups. He digs all
colors and all peoples. He wants that known.

Does that mean he doesn't relate personally to the Panthers?

"It isn't that I don't relate to them..." he said, and then trailed
off in contemplation.

Did he mean he doesn't feel part of what they're doing?

"I naturally feel part of what they're doing. In certain respects.
But everybody has their own way of doing things. They get justified
as they justify others, in their attempts to get personal freedom.
That's all it is."

Hendrix is with them, then?

"Yeah. But not the aggression or violence or whatever you want to
call it. I'm not for guerrilla warfare."

Mitchell hunched up his shoulders monkey-like and said, "Gor-illas?"

Hendrix, grinning and looking at the floor: "I got a pet monkey
called Charlie Chan." They all fell out laughing, the Panther issue
forgotten. Hendrix grabbed his knees, leaning low to gaze at the
burning logs.

Otis Redding, according to black business associates, had been
planning an all-black recording enterprise. Studios and production
and publicity and distribution. The whole thing, from the songwriter
to the customer. Otis had been heavily involved in the planning at
the time of his death. One of his goals was to bring older stars
who'd slipped some back onto the charts. Men like Fats Domino and
Chuck Berry, and others. But Otis had died and nobody had picked up
his plan. Did this sound appealing to Hendrix? He is one of the most
likely black musicians to front such an organization, in terms of
income and prestige.

Jimi objected to the idea on the grounds that it was restricted to
one race. "It's the same thing as being Catholic or something," he
began, then dropped it.

When Hendrix had been in court recently in Toronto on a dope bust
that had taken place months earlier, he had told the court that he
had "outgrown dope." What a perfect thing to say! That's what all
the good-guy reformed "dope abusers" who come around lecturing high
school kids and women's clubs always say. They saw the light. They
saw that dope was wasting their precious talents. They saw that they
didn't need dope. They outgrew it. Hendrix told the court he had
outgrown dope, and immediately, on the strength of years of
brainwashing, they reevaluated him. If he'd outgrown dope -- this
young fellow with his hair neatly cut, attired in sports jacket and
slacks -- then he must be a decent chap. Hendrix was acquitted.

Now he sat, cross-legged, in the quiet old splendor of this
Manhattan living room, wearing all the familiar Jimi Hendrix
costumery, a v-neck satin shirt of green, monumental wristwatch,
jeweled pendant at his neck, violet bell-bottoms and pink boots.

Had this familiar visage turned his head away from dope? Outgrown it?

"At least," laughed Hendrix softly, "stop it from growing."

General mirth, accompanied by side-of-the-mouth muttering among all
three of the Experience. More mirth. Laughter. Snickers.

Had he outgrown it?

Long pause, deep look on Jimi's face. "I don't know. I'm too..." He
has said this seriously. All of a sudden he flashed his little-boy
grin. "I'm too ... wrecked right now..." This was Hendrix the
comedian. This side of Jimi is the one people love. He does it all
with slip-second timing, a shrug, an eye cast downward, a slightly
over-accented word. It's the essence of his charm, and figures, in
many ways, in the way he makes music. "I'll have to check into it,"
he added, getting serious again. About dope. "Oh yes, it's true,
it's true. I don't take as much. That's what I was trying to tell
them." He didn't know much -- nothing, in fact -- about John and
Yoko's peace festival in Toronto, but said he'd feel comfortable
going back up there now, despite the bust. And anyway, he doesn't
like to worry about things that happened in the past. "My hang up is
getting hung up with things that happened in the past. I try not to."

Life has gotten less hectic for Hendrix during the winter. He'd
moved away from the house with all those musicians. "I was trying to
save more time for myself," he explained. "Where I could do more
writing."

What kind of writing?

"Mostly it's cartoon-type material. I make up this one cat who's
funny. He goes through these strange scenes, you know. You put it in
music, I guess. Just like you put blues in music."

Was this something like writing long compositions?

"Pieces. I guess that's what you call it. Yeah, like pieces behind
each other. Like movements, whatever you call it. I've been writing
some of those."

It would be simpler for Jimi if he knew how to write music, instead
of having to remember it as it comes to him. He's been meaning to
learn how to read music for a long time now. He needs it to express
the larger concepts he's carrying in his head.

"Yeah. I was into writing cartoons, basically. You listen to it and
you get such funny flashbacks." This dialogue comes through a lot
better in Jimi's own gauzed and sinewy voice, with all the
hesitation and musical jangles that come through in his speech, just
like when he sings. "The music goes along with the story. Just
like 'Foxey Lady.' I mean, something like that. The music and the
words go together."

How does he write his music? What methods does he follow?

"Most of the time I can't get it on the guitar, you know? Most of
the time I'm just laying around daydreaming and hearing all this
music. And you can't, if you go to the guitar and try to play it, it
spoils the whole thing, you know? -- I just can't play guitar that
well, to get all this music together."

He repeated his desire to learn to write music for all the different
instruments. He's thinking about getting down something big, that's
for sure. Someday.

One result of his informal education in music is that most of the
Experience's songs have taken shape inside the recording
studio. "Foxey Lady" did, Hendrix came in with the lyrics, and among
the three of them, they developed the musical line and the bottom
and drum parts and the whole structure of it. This partly explained
why Hendrix was back with the Experience -- because they could
really work together that way -- despite the rumors of bad, bad
feelings within the group. (Noel Redding had said, some while back,
that he would never be part of a Hendrix group again. Now that was
forgotten. He and Mitchell said there had only been two major fights
in the three years of the Experience, and all they came to was a lot
of shouting.)

Redding: "Actually, the reason we work everything out in the studio
is so everything will get as live and as actual as possible."

Hendrix: "It's like 'Voodoo Child.' Somebody was filming us as we
were doing that. It was basically for the filming, we thought. We
weren't thinking about what we were playing. We did it like three
times."

Mitchell: "There's like a riff and we were just doing that..."

Hendrix: "Yeah, right, as they were filming us..."

Mitchell: "We were just doing it for the camera."

Hendrix: "It was like, 'Okay, boys, look like you're recording.' It
was in the studio and they were recording it you know, really. So it
was one-two-three and then we went into 'Voodoo Child.'"

Hendrix invented the words as he went along, and the whole thing was
improvised on the spot. It stuck. That's one of the versions on the
album.

If there are any definite plans concerning the release of the next
Hendrix LP, nobody was prepared to describe them. Hundreds of hours
of studio time have yielded hundreds of hours of music which could
possibly be included. On top of that, there are dozens of tapes of
live performances by the Experience, by the Band of Gypsies, and by
the Experience augmented with Juma and his avant-garde ensemble (the
latter taken at Woodstock). Hendrix is inclined to think that he
would not include stuff by both the Gypsies and the Experience on
the same LP. His immediate thought seems focused on two different
singles. One would be by the Gypsies, entitled "Sky Blues Today."

The LP, however, will not consist of individual tracks like singles,
but will be one continuous, sustained work. All three, Redding,
Mitchell and Hendrix, absolutely do not want singles released "out
of context" from the LP, the way "Crosstown Traffic" was pulled out
of Electric Ladyland for release. They all feel this was a mistake
on Reprise's part. A musical mistake; its sales are beside the point.

For the new album, they're planning on releasing a sort
of "introductory" single, which might have one of the album's songs
for its basic line, plus references to a lot of other things on the
larger work. They're working, as usual, with engineer Eddie Kramer
and longtime Hendrix associate Chas Chandler as producer.

On Electric Ladyland, Hendrix was listed as producer. What did that
mean, exactly? What had his role been?

"I don't know, really," Hendrix said, quite directly. "I haven't
found out yet. 'Cause I heard it, and I think it's cloudy. The sound
is very, you know, dusty."

Then that hazy, cloudy sound was unintentional?

"It got lost," he explained briefly, "in the cutting. Because we
went on tour right before it was finished."

It was reported that Hendrix had been rehearsing the Band of Gypsies
up to 18 hours a day. He laughed when asked about this. They did
play 12 and 14 hours some days, he admitted, but it wasn't
rehearsal, it was jamming for fun. They were grooving behind it. He
still digs playing with Cox and Miles, and they're still friends.
Hendrix repeated this a number of times.

What had happened to the Gypsies was that Hendrix had walked
offstage, right at the start of a major appearance, and hadn't
appeared with them since. This was at the January Moratorium benefit
at Madison Square Garden. They had barely begun when he stopped,
dropped his axe, said into the microphone, "We're not quite getting
it together," and walked off. This was precisely one month after
Bill Graham had given them his ultimate accolade. I asked Jimi what
had happened to blow the Gypsies apart.

"Maybe," he began, "I just started noticing the guitar for a change.
It's like the end of a beginning maybe or something. I figure that
Madison Square Garden is like the end of a big long fairy tale.
Which is great. I think it's like the best ending I could possibly
have come up with.

"The Band of Gypsies was outasite as far as I'm concerned. It was
just going through head changes is what it was, I really couldn't
tell -- I don't know: I was very tired. You know, sometimes there's
a lot of things that add up in your head about this and that and
they might hit you at a very peculiar time, which happened to be at
the peace rally, you know? And here I'd been fighting the biggest
war I ever fought. In my life. Inside, you know? And like that
wasn't the place to do it."

But anyway, what came of it is that the Experience was going to be
his main concern.

"We're in the process of, you know, getting our own thing together
now again. Like we'll have time scheduled in a way so there'll be
time on the side to play with your friends. That's why like I'll be
jamming with Billy and Buddy and probably recording, too, on the
side."

Would there be any new musical direction for the re-constituted
Experience?

"Well," Hendrix grinned at Mitchell and Redding, "I'll try to make
it more of an up." They all nodded. "We're going to go out somewhere
into the hills and woodshed or whatever you call it, to get some new
songs and arrangements and stuff together. So we'll have something
new to offer, whether it's different or not."

Their first gig will be in mid-April at the Forum in Los Angeles. In
mid-March they'll sequester themselves somewhere in England for that
one-month workout.

Precisely how Hendrix and his management managed to patch up the bad
feelings that reportedly undid the Experience in the first place was
not mine to discover. But Mitchell and Redding said they were quite
happy with the new schedule, which allows them time for themselves
and their own projects. Redding is presently completing his second
LP with Fat Mattress and may record further with them. But he'll not
take them on the road again. At present, Mitchell is touring with
Jack Bruce, Larry Coryell, and Mike Kandel, a sort of super-jam
band. He'll do a lot of this playing in the future.

Mitchell was talking about other musicians he digs. He is
particularly captivated by Tony Williams' drumming because it's so
entirely original to Williams.

But when you ask the Experience about their influences, they're all
quick to say they got where they are without picking up much from
anybody. They grant major similarities between the way avant-garde
jazzmen like Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler play and the sound of the
Experience in full flight. To Jimi, it has a lot to do with the
drumming. "That's where it all comes from, is the drumming," he says.

Mitchell: "Actually, in this group, the drummer and the bass
player's roles are very much reversed. Because Noel is like such a
good timekeeper that I don't have to be there with the drums. The
bass and drum roles can be switched around at any particular time,
at any particular moment."

Again, the undeniable parallel with contemporary jazz.

It's revealing to hear Hendrix talk about jamming in London last
year with Roland Kirk, jazz's amazing blind multi-horn player. Jimi
was in awe of Roland, afraid that he would play something that would
get in Roland's way. You can tell, by the way he speaks of Kirk,
that Hendrix regards him as some kind of Master Musician. As it
worked out, Jimi played what he normally plays, Roland played what
he normally plays, and they fit like hand in glove. As Hendrix tells
it. "Boy -- that Roland Kirk!" says Jimi, pursing his lips. It is a
fond memory.

A fond hope for Hendrix is that one day he'll form a band with Steve
Winwood. Simplest might be for Winwood to join the Experience. But
any way at all, Hendrix would love to be performing with him on a
regular basis.

Interestingly, while Hendrix retains his fondness for Dylan-
including Nashville Skyline, from which Jimi intends to record "that
one about the drifter" -- none of the Experience are especially
admiring of the Band. Hendrix allowed as how the Band definitely
have it together enough to take you on their trip, if that's where
you want to go. Mitch Mitchell asked with a small smile if the Band
didn't all have pipes and mustaches.

Afterward, Hendrix stood out on East 37th, shivering as the night
and the ice descended. The chill air had picked him up. This was not
like part of the formal interview trip, so he could just rap. He had
been amazed to see the stuff written about him and the Panthers, he
said, because that wasn't where he was at at all.

A younger black cat stepped up and said, "Hiya, Jimi!"

Hendrix shook his hand and said, "How are you, man?"

It was not certain whether this was an acquaintance of Jimi's, but
the other cat plunged right into it. "I saw your picture in the
Voice, man." he said. "With Devon."

"At the Moratorium," said Hendrix.

"That was far-out."

"Yeah," said Hendrix. His long black limousine pulled up to the curb.

"How's it going with the band, man?"

"That's what we were just talking about. It's going to be groovy."

"You got any records coming out soon?"

"Yeah, I think pretty soon. That's where we're going now. Gonna
listen to some tapes and do some mixing."

"Far-out."

He gave Hendrix another handshake and a slap alongside the shoulder
and told him that the next time he played the city, man, he'd be
there, and he'd dig talking again. Then he turned and walked down
the sidewalk puffing great clouds of breath/steam into the darkening
five-degree air.

Hendrix smiled wistfully, dropped the last reassurance that it was
going to be "the best arrangement for all of us, I guess, you know?"
The comeback of the Experience.

Another smile, another handshake, and he disappeared into the
limousine, behind the steamed over car windows. The limousine
expelled a huge cloud of exhaust. No one was willing to let the long
car break into traffic, and it was still waiting to get away from
the curb, in the same place, when I turned the corner, walking.

***

Two and half weeks later, I received a phone call from Hendrix'
publicity person, suggesting that Jimi had a lot more to say. Too
late, too late. The story as written was already laid out in the
newspaper. But was there any important news? Well, yes, there was.
As it turned out, Noel Redding decided to take a tour with Jeff
Beck, so Hendrix would be using Billy Cox -- his bassist with the
Band of Gypsies -- in his place. Otherwise, everything was pretty
much the same. Redding would likely return to the group later. So it
was still actually the Experience, and could I adjust the story I'd
written accordingly?

(RS54 - March 19, 1970)

JOHN BURKS
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 235
Location: London

PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for those articles, enjoyed them.

Can someone illuminate me - what is a theragran? Is it a drug or some kind of bread roll!?

Anyone tried tequilla in milk? Is it nice? the nearest I've had are brandy alexanders although not first thing in the morning.
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Whoppie Git



Joined: 17 Oct 2005
Posts: 38

PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Georgina wrote:
thanks for those articles, enjoyed them.

Can someone illuminate me - what is a theragran? Is it a drug or some kind of bread roll!?


theragran?

is that mentioned in the article?

that was a good read, learned a lot

did noel tour with jeff beck?................didn't know that
anyone know more?
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
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Location: London

PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes-sorry it's in the other article. Jimi had for breakfast. With tequila flavoured milk! I was wondering what it was..
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blahblahwoofwoof



Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 171

PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Georgina wrote:
thanks for those articles, enjoyed them.

Can someone illuminate me - what is a theragran? Is it a drug or some kind of bread roll!?

Anyone tried tequilla in milk? Is it nice? the nearest I've had are brandy alexanders although not first thing in the morning.


Glad you two liked the articles.

Theragran is a synthetic man-made form of vitamin B12.

Hendrix was drinking what is commonly referred to as a "Dirty Mother". You can make them with or without Kahlua, or substitite brandy for tequila; not my favourite drink by any means.

Maybe Hendrix had too much chili. Laughing

Quote:
(b)Why is tequila [or milk] preferred to water for reducing the burning sensation due to chili consumption? (3 pts)

Tequila and milk are organic solvents and more capable of solubilizing the very lipophilic capsaicin. On the other hand, capsaicin does not mix with water at all and when water is imbibed, the capsaicin is "pushed" into the tongue even more.

http://www2.umt.edu/medchem/teaching/key.htm
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Georgina



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
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Location: London

PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that bbww, good to get an accurate picture of what they're talking about-it's hardly surprising Hendrix was so thin then!

I never head about the Jeff Beck thing either-I know Noel was in Fat Mattress, and a band for a while with Leslie West from Mountain. He also formed a band with Eric Bell from Thin Lizzy later on a did a couple of albums and several tours with them. But never heard of the Jeff Beck tour.
I have his book, so I'll check it out.
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Georgina



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah maybe he had too much chilli-they say also he had stomach ulcer so maybe it was to relieve the burning senstation.. anyway its trivial really hardly the most important question you asked Hendrix if you could have a one to one with him! Laughing
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blahblahwoofwoof



Joined: 28 Apr 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoppie Git wrote:

did noel tour with jeff beck?................didn't know that
anyone know more?



According to Keith Dion (former producer for Noel Redding) Noel did indeed either record or tour with Jeff Beck.

Quote:
From Keith's bands website..

Being caught up in the swinging '60's music scene in London had it's benefits. Through his associations with being in one of the world's top groups, Noel has since recorded and or performed with the likes of Jeff Beck, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page to name a few. These relationships continue to this day with recent projects and dates being completed with members of the Kinks, Thin Lizzy, Traffic, Mountain and many others.

http://www.corsicaband.com/Noel_Bio.html


You could probably e-mail Keith at Info@corsicaband.com if you want a more definitive answer.
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blahblahwoofwoof



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Georgina wrote:
Yeah maybe he had too much chilli-they say also he had stomach ulcer so maybe it was to relieve the burning senstation.. anyway its trivial really hardly the most important question you asked Hendrix if you could have a one to one with him! Laughing


Right. Laughing BTW, I have no idea what I would ask him. I would be tongue-tied for sure.

Who knows, maybe he actually liked the taste of tequila and milk, I've heard of stranger drinks.
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Georgina



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah I'd been tongue tied for sure-then I'd probably leap on him -but I guess that's a chick thing Laughing

Perhaps he would be glad he missed that one!
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blahblahwoofwoof



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It would be a chick thing to jump on Jimi, but it wouldn't be a chick thing when I jump on Shakira. Laughing
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