Experience Hendrix 3.18.2010/Friday Randomness

So, last night CByrd and I saw the Experience Hendrix show at the Chicago Theatre. Our seats weren't the best, in the balcony, second row, extreme stage left, but, hey, they were free.

I'm sharing my memories, but with a show like this, so many people on and off for 3 hours, I can't remember everything. If I don't mention someone on the performer list, I forgot what they did...take that as you will.

Shows like this tend to be a grab-bag. I mean, yeah you're seeing some of the greatest guitarists in the world play Hendrix music, but some of the performances hit home more than others. Add to that the quick in and out of the performers, and the sheer numbers, making sound a difficult balancing act. I'll just say this; the sound was VERY muddy, I don't know if that was because of where we were sitting, or the general mix, but I would guess both played a part. The bass tended to drown out everything, the vocals especially.

We started out with Chris Layton (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble), who handled the drums for most of the night, Billy Cox (Band of Gypsies, Jimi Hendrix Experience) on bass, and Ernie Isley on guitar. They started with "Stone Free," Cox handling vocals. Generally good, but I will fault Isley for this...whereas most of the guitarists on stage honored Hendrix by being themselves...Isley seemed to be trying to BE Hendrix. Right down to the outfit and the "tricks," (behind the head, between the legs, with the teeth, etc.) and it seemed to be a little...well, precious.

After that Living Colour took the stage, and they were fantastic, but, man, the crowd sucked. An attempt at a call-and-response for "Crosstown Traffic" just became sad. Corey Glover (vocals) and Doug Wimbush (bass) went WAY out into the audience to try to get people on their feet and singing along, but the old hippies weren't having it. Look, I know they went into a slightly different direction with the songs, folks, but they sounded like Living Colour, and that is exactly the way it ought to be, in my book.

The artists came and went pretty quick, no more than 3 songs each. Eric Johnson played exquisitely, as usual, but, being a guy known for his beautiful tone, the sound issues hit him hard. I couldn't even understand what he was saying between songs (granted, he is a mumbler). Susan Tedeschi joined him for a number on vocals, and that was nice. Johnson is such a genius, but so unassuming and kind of withdrawn on stage, he doesn't really come off as "dynamic." A missed opportunity, in my book.

Johnny Lang and Brad Whitford (Areosmith) came out and started off with "Fire" (the entirety of Living Colour and Tedeschi providing the "Let me stand next to your fire" back-up vocals), and, if I remember correctly, "Castles Made of Sand" with Tedeschi, again. Things started picking up. Nice set, with an appropriate amount of, well, fire. Lang's got a nice voice, can play well, and Whitford stepped out from his sideman image and really laid it down.

Then, the bomb dropped.

...And I mean that in the absolute best way.

I had thought Kenny Wayne Shepherd was a decent enough guitarist in the Stevie Ray Vaughan mold, but I always thought he had a way to go. Well, he's gone it. His set, with his regular vocalist, Noah Hunt, was THE moment of this show. Especially their set-closer "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" it was breathtaking. Shepherd and Hunt went after the audience, much like Living Colour did, but from an idiom, straight-ahead blues-rock, that the crowd was much more responsive to. Very few of the other performers threw out that much energy.

I felt very sorry for whoever had to follow that...And Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos - David Hidalgo was on the performer list that night, as well, but never appeared) didn't buck the feeling. Nice, pleasant, and utterly underwhelming from what we'd just seen. Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf) and Tedeschi joined in for a second number, and Sumlin, frankly, didn't come off well. The number seemed sloppy.

Rosas stayed on to play drums (with Layton) for Sacred Steel featuring Robert Randolph. Wow. Three pedal steel guitar, two drummers..."Purple Haze." Quite amazing. Randolph is quite a showman, and plays brilliantly. I'll have to try to find some of their stuff.

Joe Satriani played last, backed by Living Colour. Nice set, Joe is a great ambassador of guitar, and he's eloquent about Hendrix. The playing was up to his high standards, but didn't upset Shepherd as the night's MVP, for me. They wrapped up the "main set" with "All Along the Watchtower." Then Whitford, Randolph, Cox and Layton returned, along with a local 14-year-old guitar student (didn't catch the name...he was great, honestly), and did a jam on "Red House." Cox handled vocals.

It was a nice enough wrap-up, but I had expected a few more people to join in. They were there, as the entire company took a bow after the number...why not a few more people playing. I'd love to see Johnson and Satriani play off each other live. I also, to be honest, find "Red House" a pretty dull number to end such an evening on. I know it was a favorite of Hendrix, but it's just not very exciting for me, personally...

So that was a brief (?) rundown of the show. All in all, a great time, and well worth the effort to see. My question is...where was Doyle Bramhall II? He was on the roster to play last night, not a peep....Hmmm.

Tomorrow night...Alice in Chains at the Aragon. Looking forward to it, the new album is pretty fantastic. Ought to be a good time, and it's walkable from our apartment. Of course with the rain and snow coming, I don't know if that'll happen, actually.

The SDCC hotel experience is pretty much settled, we got a headquarters hotel this time! Just about 1 block from the convention center. This is exciting to me. It'll be nice to have our room so easy to get to before we go to dinner, or drinks, or whatever. Bottom line, this trip is starting to feel real and immediate now, and I cannot wait to get rolling...

I just need to save, save, save...I am a little behind on my "Convention Savings Plan." Nothing disastrous, but I always like to have, as I call it, "enough money so I don't ever have to worry about money" while I'm in San Diego. It just makes the trip easier and less stressful.

Let's see....what else to end the week?

I really need to get rolling, not only on learning lines for my new show, but continuing to read scripts for Stage Left season selection. More scripts have been added to the mix, and, while I'd rather see more eliminated completely as we do that, I've seen a few bright spots in the ones that have been added.

I plan to finish "Reason" this weekend....at least musically. Like I said, vocals are going to be a much longer process than they have been. I want to finish all the other tracks, and just LISTEN to them for a while, until lyrics and vocal lines organically start to emerge.

I also really want to try to see The Runaways this weekend. The movie may end up silly, but the reviews have been pretty good so far, and I've always liked that band. I really don't know if there will be time to see it, but I may scuttle out for a matinee at some point.

So, good weekend, everyone.

Lots Happening Today

Today is/was "hotel day" for the San Diego Comic-Con. This is, traditionally, a cluster of epic proportions. thousands of fanboys all trying to grab hotels within the same 5 minute span. Server crashes have become a regular occurrence.

Well, they changed the process this year, and while, on the technology side, things went much smoother, I cannot say my stress levels are any lower. This is mainly because I tend to have a problem with feeling like I'm not in control of a situation.

I should give a few details. I have a hotel reservation in San Diego for that weekend already, but it was quite expensive. The idea was to have something in place, ready to go, that would be significantly closer to the convention center than we have been. Our traditional hotel, the Doubletree Downtown, is a nice place, but about a mile from the convention center, and the Gaslamp district, which is the "nightlife" area.

I actually love the Doubletree, aside from a REALLY annoying room key problem in '08. The views are amazing, and it's clean. I don't even mind the mile walk to the convention. It was nice in the mornings, stop for coffee, feel the sun and stretch your legs before getting into the sardine can that is the convention center on SDCC weekend.

However, at the end of the day, having to walk, or take the shuttle (which ended up taking longer in most cases), back to the hotel, drop off our bags of convention swag, and then turn around and head back to the Gaslamp for dinner and drinks...well, I have to admit the back and forth got to me. Wore me out too. You're walking miles and miles in the convention to begin with. The idea of having a hotel a block or two away became really appealing.

ANYWAY, if we can get a decent place with the convention discount (which my initial reservation certainly did not include), it would save our group a significant amount. This is especially true in the fact our numbers have dwindled a bit.

Long story short (TOO LATE!), the new system is as such;

You send an e-mail to the hotel booking company, listing your top 12 hotels, in order of preference, and then wait "3-5 hours" for a response. Then you have 5 days to put down your deposit, with the rest due later on.

This is a great system on a lot of levels. In '06 and '08, I took it upon myself to book the room, and sit on the website trying to make things work. Drove me batty. However, I might prefer that to sitting here for hours not knowing where we're staying, or what the situation is.

I guess I'm a control freak.

I'm trying to put it out of my mind.

In that vein, I am trying to focus on this evening's festivities. CByrd and I are attending the Experience Hendrix concert at the Chicago Theatre. I'm fairly excited, as there are a lot of guitar players involved that I am very much in awe of, including Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Doyle Bramhall II and Susan Tedeschi. As well artists that really intrigue me like Sacred Steel featuring Robert Randolph.

Now, the fact is, I'm not a HUGE Hendrix fan. I respect him, certainly, I understand his importance, but I can't say that I'm one to bring up Axis Bold As Love and listen to it all the way through. In fact, the only Hendrix I own is a greatest hits package from a few years back. I guess it's all just a bit to "psychedelic" for me. I much prefer the "meat and potatoes" blues-based playing of, say Pete Townsend, Eric Clapton, or even Jimmy Page.

Still it's a chance to see world-class guitarists essay some of the greatest guitar songs of all time. I'm fairly excited.

And, CByrd, I'm 100% sure there will be singing, too...It won't all be instrumental.