Experience Hendrix

[CraigB]

Went last night to the opening show of the 2010 tour in Santa Barbara at the Arlington Theater.
Some observations/opinion:

1)  I have never really been a fan, but Kenny Wayne Shepard as a live player has my respect now.  His set smoked everyone else's.  His tone was fantastic, and you could hear everything he played very clearly.  His singer was good too, but his stage presence was kinda corny at times, like he kept chopping down the imaginary mountain with the edge of his hand 

2)  Chris Layton, as always, is one of the best there is on the drums.

3)  Eric Johnson played a floyd-equipped strat, then switched to what looked like one of his signature models.  His tone was really nice, although his plexi sounded like there was a blanket thrown over it in contrast to his dirty rhythm sound.

4)  Living Colour are great performers.  The crowd loved them.  I will say Vernon Reid was playing a parker guitar thru a Mesa, a dual or triple rect., and while his rhthym and the signature Jimi licks sounded heavier than hell, when he started playing at shred speed, I couldn't hear anything he was playing, just a bunch of noise.  Bummer. 

5)  I liked the fact that David Hidalgo played mostly a tele, instead of relying on a strat like everyone else.

6)  I was disappointed that Joe Satriani's marshall had some sort of cone cry or blown speaker-certain notes were just excruciating to listen to.  plus out of everyone he played way louder, so some of the stuff he played was just mushy sounding.  Total bummer!

7) The Arlington is a FANTASTIC old theater.  All-in-all, with three hours solid of guitar royalty onstage, and seated third row, it definitely was a great concert.

Regards,
Craig

[Ritchie200]

Hey Craig,

Sounds like a cool all-star show.  I saw living colour back in the 80's when they were "big"....  I've never understood the Reid attraction.  Obviously talented, but his noise at speed can be achieved by any kid at the music store on Saturday.  He just never impressed me and I could never understand him being grouped into the Malmsteen/Satch/Vai/Angelo bunch - no comparison!

Did Satch have a lot of stage volume or was he mic'ed up loud?

Jim

[DummyLoad]

that's a show i'd definitely like to catch... glad you had a good time!  :-)

[EL34]

My girl friend likes Kenny Wayne better than SRV because Stevie was ugly.
That's her reasoning. 

 I like Vernon's rythym playing too, but can pass on his lead stuff.
Remember when they used to say Ernie Isley's playing was like Hendrix?
That one made me laugh

Yeah, I noticed that Eric's tone keeps getting muddier and muddier every year.

Too bad about Joe's tone and volume level

Does sound like a great show
Sorta like G5?

[Geezer]

Some audio that purports to be from the Santa Barbara/Arlington show

[CraigB]

Yeah!  Ernie Isley's playing does not remind me of Hendrix's.  At all.  

But, nothing against him, in fact, hats off that he's looking healthy and still out performing.  Same with Billy Cox, he's lost a bunch of weight, and his playing was tight with Layton.

You may be right Jim - maybe Satch's mike was just too hot?  He didn't seem phased by it at all, so maybe what he was hearing onstage was not what was coming out in front.

Geezer, that audio wasn't part of our show (thankfully, they didn't do anything that repetitive and long) but the pictures starting at 2:23 are.  In fact those look almost like the ones I took with my cellphone! 

[bnwitt]

Yeah!  Ernie Isley's playing does not remind me of Hendrix's.  At all.  

Well I don't think the concert is about anything but Jimi's family using Jimi's name to sell tickets and collect a portion of the proceeds.  So everybody sing..."In Jimi's name let's make some money"

[billcreller]

So it's all about hype and money when a certain name is used

[CraigB]

Well I don't think the concert is about anything but Jimi's family using Jimi's name to sell tickets and collect a portion of the proceeds.

I think it would be interesting to know how much the organization actually makes per show, and then how much is left to pay the musicians?  I doubt they are playing for free, so even at union scale, with all of those musicians, that would cost a pretty penny.  The Arlington only has 2,000 seats, and third row, our tickets were $70 apiece.  (I've paid more for upper atmosphere nosebleed seats.)  Of course, then you have all the people that run the theater, operating overhead, etc.  I don't think they'll be playing any baseball stadiums, just smaller venues.  So there probably isn't much "portion of the proceeds" left at the end of the day. 

I think the family probably makes more hype $ on CD/DVD sales and Jimi's likeness on T-shirts, etc., but who knows?

Regards,
Craig

[tubenit]

Just my 2 cents worth .................

I saw Hendrix live in '69 and I think he had just released Axis: Bold as Love but I can't remember for sure.  I liked & owned all his albums/8 tracks up to when he passed away. All the other stuff they found and released after his death  hasn't "wow'd" me as much.

I don't think anyone else sounds like Hendrix (including Randy "what's his name" that tries to even look like him). Closest to sounding like Hendrix to me is Robin Trower on Bridge of Sighs which was somewhat similar to Band of Gypsy's sound to my ears. I think Trower captures that Band of Gypsy feel reasonably well. But even Trower doesn't sound like earlier Hendrix.

To have a show where everyone shows up and plays Hendrix stuff as a tribute makes sense. To have a show where everyone tries to be Hendrix doesn't.

With respect, Tubenit

[Ritchie200]

Gosh 'Nit, your such a hater!

I happen to like Randy whats-his-name!  And he is a nice guy and NOT a hater

In all seriousness, I read an article in one of the guitar magazines a few years ago about the Hendrix name, rights, etc.  If you were to believe it - and it was about 30 full pages of the magazine - when Jimi died, there was very little left that was his.  His contracts and financial obligations left nothing to his next of kin.  Little by little Jimi's sister and dad regained control of material, paid off debts, and satisfied contracts (financially).  It took them almost 20yrs to do this.  Are they being rewarded financially?  I'm sure they are, although Jimi's dad passed away a few years ago.  I don't think it is a bad thing that they have systematically remixed and re-released old material, remixed old live material and released them - both DVD and CD, and marketed "stuff" with his likeness.  I'd rather see it go to family, than Maria Cary's ex-husband...  Plus they have Eddie Kramer making sure the quality is there.  Somebody has to mind the store so no crap gets put out like Midnight Lightning again.

And hey, Randy what's-his-name (Hansen) is no diferent than all the Elvis impersonators, the Pink Floyd wanna-be's from Australia, and the Beatles impersonators (which I still don't know why anyone would want to impersonate the most over-rated band in the history of modern music....).  AND Randy does not go around saying "Jimi Hendrix, starring Randy Hansen"!!!  He's a nice guy that devoted his career to playing Hendrix AND his own stuff - no diferent than Stevie Ray or even Rod Stewart - for gosh sakes!!

AND, I've seen Barry Manilow...and YOU are no Barry Manilow!

Yer pal,
JIm

[tubenit]

I am sure Randy Hanson is a swell guy! And hopefully he and Barry are not friends 
 

Sorry for being so relentlessly critical and negative ....... just couldn't help myself. 
 

With unwavering affection for Hendrix, Tubenit

[CraigB]

Uh-oh, now look what I've started...

I agree that I'd rather see the family guide the direction of Hendrix's legacy.  But it's one of those "like it or not" things.  It is what it is.

All the other stuff they found and released after his death  hasn't "wow'd" me as much.

Me neither.  Of course, I can see the greedy record execs back then wanting to cash in on whatever was left to put out. 

On a sidenote, before the show started AND at the end, they were playing some Hendrix that I've never ever heard.  Some live and what sounded like studio recording.  And it was actually great sounding.  I wonder if this is some of the new material that is being released on the "new" album?

I don't think anyone else sounds like Hendrix

IMO, it's really the same thing with Kenny Wayne Shepherd.  He does indeed sound an awful lot like SRV, his tone, phrasing, everything.  I think he's taken his lumps over it, too...but I see it as influence, as opposed to being a ripoff.  We all pick up certain licks and tricks from others to use in our playing.

Again nothing against Ernie Isley, but not sure why people would ever say, "Oh he sounds just like Jimi, don't you think?"

Best regards,
Craig

[bnwitt]

Well I don't want to sound like a hater    but I've learned from my many years on this earth that money makes it go round.  So let's say that the tickets are on average $45.  There are 20 concerts in March alone.  Say the venues average 2000 seats each and the Hendrix family only gets 10% of the take.  That's 40,000 tickets at $4.50 per and you've got $180,000 worth of income for one month while everyone else does the work.  You just allow the Hendrix name and image on the event.  I'll take that check in my mailbox any month as opposed to working for a living.  A three month tour and I've got over half a million dollars!  I can live on that until next year's tour for sure.  And that isn't even counting CD, poster and other memorabilia sales at the shows.  Pretty darn good gig just because my family member was someone.  As far as seeing the money going to the family instead of some huckster, yeah that's preferred but how about a charity to spread education on rock an roll or music in general or to help inner city kids.  I could go on and on with that list.  Warren Buffet has it right.  Money goes to charity, kids earn their own.

[Ritchie200]

Here is where the money goes - or a percentage...

http://www.jimihendrixfoundation.com/mission.html

Also note that the guy heading up the "Music for Life" portion of the many charities is none other than Randy Hansen. :shocked:

Nit, when I read your response, (with my bad old eyes...) I thought you said "Sorry for being relentlessly CRUEL and negative..."  Although.....

And for those who think Nit and I are feuding, we are just joshen'!  At least I think he is....

I need to dig out the old vinyl, but I think at last count I had over 50 Hendrix albums.  Tons and tons of bootlegs, many that I have never seen listed.  Like you guys said, once you get away from the original "official" recordings, it gets pretty thin on the studio stuff.  The live bootlegs varied greatly in quality.  Nobody sounds like Jimi (except for "nice guy" Randy Hansen - Nit!), and the Isley and Prince comparisons are maddening!  Like that saying goes, "I'm playing all the right notes, just not at the right time!"

Jim

[bnwitt]

Well it looks like the foundation is doing some good work but that page doesn't really say that all of the money from the tour after expenses is going to the foundation.  If it is, that's great.  I'm sure the foundation has payroll too.  I'd be interested in knowing how much of every dollar collected actually makes it to the charities.  That's always the best measurement of a charity's effectiveness.

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, me too.  Like you said - what makes the world go round!
Jim

[Dynaflow]

 I've seen randy a few times and watched a lot of his recent video's and I gotta say to my ear he sounds as close as anyone else to Jimi. He cops his tone pretty well and I think it should be remembered that even Jimmi didn't always sound like Jimi depending on how messed up he was at the moment. (meaning some performances were much better than others) I remember people always said Robin Trower sounded like hendrix, but I just don't hear that. Outside of using some of Jimmi's textures with like the Rotovibe and the strat/marshall connection I just really don't hear it. Robin's vibrato is very fast (not unlike say Blackmore) and he's a cleaner player than Jimi was IMHO. Far as Randy trying to look like hendrix, well maybe the way he dresses, he doesn't do it these days as much as years and years ago when I saw him, he was playing the whole Jimi rises from the grave sort of show (I kid you not, he had a smoke machine years ago put about a foot of smoke on the floor and he'd rise up out of it). These days yeah still does all the scarfs and bell bottoms etc, but lets face its hard for a guy thats 1) white 2) shorter 3) Right handed 4) has a really messed up grill to LOOK like hendrix.. :D But you know its all subject depends on what you hear, I like Randy, what can I say.. .:D

Regards,

Dyna

[Platefire]

Hay Tubenit

I didn't hear about your take on Hendrix's performance on that day back in 69??? Could you please comment!!

I use to be a huge fan but as I've got older have cooled off a bit on him. IMHO he had a very mis-used God given talent that kind of blew rock playing of that day out of the water and wrote new rules. I'll never forget the first time I heard his music---my mind was reeling--how could this be? I still get pretty shook when I hear the lead line to "All along the Watchtower". Platefire