Tag Archives: Jimi Hendrix

Ghouls? What?

Ghouls – An Editorial by Dawoud Kringle

“The howling of ghouls is a familiar howl drawing you to the abyss.” – Rumi

For those of you who did not grow up on Vincent Price movies like I did, a ghoul is a malignant djinn from ancient Arabic folklore, and introduced into European folklore in the 18th century. Ghouls are notoriously well known for defiling graves and eating the corpses.

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A Homage to the Legendary Jimi Hendrix

Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery)

Jimi Hendrix1983, A Merman I Should Turn to Be – Composed & Performed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience
Recorded for Electric Ladyland, 2 LP set released in October of 1968

Hurrah, I awake from yesterday
Alive, but the war is here to stay
So my love, Catherina and me,
Decide to take our last walk through the noise to the sea
Not to die but to be reborn,
Away from lands so battered and torn
Forever, forever

Oh say, can you see it’s really such a mess

Every inch of Earth is a fighting nest
Giant pencil and lipstick tube shaped things,
Continue to rain and cause screaming pain
And the arctic stains from silver blue to bloody red
As our feet find the sand, and the sea is …
Straight ahead, straight up ahead

Well it’s too bad that our friends,

Can’t be with us today
Well it’s too bad
The machine that we built,
would never save us’, that’s what they say
That’s why they ain’t coming with us today
And they also said
It’s impossible for a man to live and breathe underwater
Forever, was their main complaint
And they also threw this in my face,
they said: Anyway…
You know good and well it would be beyond the will of God,
and the grace of the King (grace of the King) (Yeah, yeah)

So my darling and I make love in the sand,

To salute the last moment ever on dry land
Our machine, it has done its work, played its part well
Without a scratch on our bodies and we bid it farewell
Starfish and giant foams greet us with a smile
Before our heads go under we take a last look at the killing noise
Of the out of style, the out of style, out of style …oooh…

I can vividly remember the first time I heard a song by Jimi Hendrix on the radio (FM radio, mostly). It was the Spring of 1967 and the song that erupted from my speaker was “Purple Haze”. That opening two-note riff and the chorus of “Scuse me while I kiss the sky” were almost too much for my 13 year old mind to deal with.

I was astonished by it and felt like Jimi Hendrix had come from another (psychedelic) dimension or planet! I became a Hendrix fan-addict right then & there and remain that way more than 50 years later! The Jimi Hendrix Experience (with Noel Redding & Mitch Mitchell) recorded just three albums in around two years before Mr. Hendrix’s untimely demise in September of 1970, just before his 28th birthday.

For me and many Hendrix fans, all three albums are essential masterworks. Aside from being one of the most singular, pioneering and brilliant electric guitarists of all time, Jimi Hendrix was also a great songwriter, singer, producer and performer.

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Jimi Hendrix

MFM and DBDBD Salute the Memory and Legacy of Jimi Hendrix on His 75th Birthday

Jimi HendrixText By Dawoud Kringle

On Monday, November 27th, 2017, the musical world celebrated the 75th birthday of one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix.

To say that Hendrix was innovative is a gross understatement. In the short three and a half years of his career in the limelight, before he tragically left this world, Hendrix’ accomplishments are staggering.

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Book Review: John Kruth’s contribution to the world of Beatles literature

John Kruth bookAuthor: John Kruth
Title: This Bird Has Flown: The Enduring Beauty of Rubber Soul, Fifty Years On
Publisher: Backbeat Books

Book Review by Dawoud Kringle

The Beatles have earned the title of musical legend. Like them or not, there is no denying that their influence and accomplishments have been nothing less than monumental. As such, volumes have been written about them. So, if one dares assume the mantle of “Beatles Biographer”, one had better be ready to make a real contribution to an already formidable (and densely populated) lexicon.

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Film Screening: “JIMI: All is By My Side” by John Ridley

 JIMI: All is By My SideVenues: AMC Empire (234 42nd Street, NY 10002) & Landmark Sunshine (143 E Houston Street, NY 10002)
Date: September 26, 2014
Ticket Phones: AMC Empire: 212-398-2597 & Landmark Sunshine: 212-260-7289

When filmgoers watch JIMI: All is By My Side, which opens on September 26 in 16 American cities, they will explore musical and narrative nuances rarely discussed in conversations about Jimi Hendrix’s career. The film, which stars André Benjamin (Outkast) and Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), was written by Oscar-winner and directed by John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). Ridley tapped Grammy-award-winning music producer Danny Bramson (Almost Famous, Lord of the Rings) as producer and music designer and the two of them fastidiously interpreted the soundscape of the era in a way that will tickle music buffs of the period.

“The film takes place in that lost or underserved year in Jimi’s life,” explains Bramson. “We were well aware of the Hendrix Estate’s long standing reluctance to allow any of Jimi’s original songs for an unauthorized Hendrix themed film. Thus, we never sought out Jimi’s hits that came once he departed Heathrow for the Monterey Pop Festival. The musically fertile environment of John Ridley’s story allowed me to interpret Jimi’s development from playing second lead guitar with Curtis Knight in New York then forming his first group and gigging afternoon performances at the Café Wha?, onto his arrival in London at the height of it’s musical enthrallment with the indigenous American Blues. With the Hendrix standard songs out of the equation, we chose a musical design as an interpretation of Jimi’s development as a guitarist principally, and the English musical and cultural zeitgeist that informed, inspired, and propelled him. The creative challenge was staggering, underscored with the incessant personal responsibility to get it right.”

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