The O'Zone — The Left Handed Ghost: A Visitation
The big old house was empty for a change; everyone else was home for Thanksgiving. He sat by himself in the room they said he could crash in.
Times had been tough, His mother passed, the eviction, the lay off, his Stratocaster had been stolen, and then the band…He was just grateful for a warm place to stay, even if it was just ‘til the end of the year.
The day before, the lawyer brought his mother’s Martin D-28 by. He was tuning it up left handed the way he was used to. He got the strings back on, upside down, some might say. But before he could tune it, there was a knock at the front door. He went to see who it was, but when he opened the door, nobody was there. He looked up and down the street and down on Colfax, nobody…just the wind.
He shrugged and went back inside. He made some tea and went back to his room to finish tuning his guitar. He got back to the small bedroom in the big three story Victorian house and picked up the Martin, expecting to tune it up, only to find it was already tuned. Perplexed and just a bit startled, he KNEW he hadn’t tuned the guitar. Somebody must’ve stepped in and tuned it, but no…nobody else was in the house.
He went into the living room and found some albums lying on the coffee table. He had just been in the room to answer the door, and they weren’t there then.
“Who’s here?!” he called out, “Hello!”
Nobody…He picked up the records to put them away and recognized two of them, but he had never seen the third one. He walked over to the stereo to give it a listen…He hadn’t heard any of these songs. He knew most of his music, but this one?
He hadn’t heard these songs before; the first was “Freedom,” uptempo, energetic, and the second was “Drifting.” Aptly titled and beautiful.
Just then, from his room, he heard the guitar playing…
“All Along the Watchtower”.
“What the actual hell?!”
He opened the door, and the music stopped, and the guitar was nowhere to be seen. This was creeping him out!
Just then, the song was on the record player, picking up where it had left off, but now his Mom’s Martin was playing along! He ran back to the living room and saw a figure sitting in a chair with his back to him, playing the acoustic guitar part that Dave Mason played on the album.
He almost fainted when the guy stood up, and with a voice that he had heard on records and in movies.
“Hey man, this is a sweet guitar. You’re left handed?” the man asked nonchalantly. He turned and smiled.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he added when he saw the young man fighting off disbelief and shock.
“You better sit down, you don’t look too good.”
A GENERATIONAL MASTER
Every decade or two, a musician rises and becomes the influence of a new generation. Sometimes, they not only influence musicians but also the listening public. The second group of influences leads that musician into historic/social prominence.
Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane are examples (these are just a handful; there are plenty of others). These are all also jazz musicians. I could easily mention Chuck Berry, Elvis, and the Beatles, but I was attempting to draw a lineage from John Coltrane to Jimi Hendrix.
Suffice to say, they both influenced and changed people who played the same instruments. They made a mark on the public consciousness, as well. Jimi came up in R&B, Blues, and Rock, but his influence was and is as pervasive as any musician before him. When you come across the inevitable top ten guitarists lists, Hendrix is usually at the #1 spot. Many people weren’t even born during his zenith, or if they were, they never saw him live. I saw him twice in my teens.
First at Red Rocks in September 1968 (Soft Machine opened the show), then on my birthday, June 29th, 1969, at the Denver Pop Festival at the old Mile High (previously Bears) Stadium. The Red Rocks show stands out to me as better. His band at the Pop festival was more or less a pickup band, although it was cool hearing Jimi with conga players.
I wish I could have seen the Band of Gypsys. Of his recorded output, Electric Ladyland stands out to me. Especially the track below, but having said that, his interpretation of Dylan’s iconic standard (“Watchtower”) is an exercise in chill, taste, and genius.
The mini solos the sweet effects (dig the wahwah) and his VOICE…YEAH. Dave Mason’s acoustic, but THIS! THIS! EPIC!
The best thirteen minutes thirty-nine seconds he ever made.
MADE FOR LIFE
“Once you’re dead, you’re made for life.” – Jimi Hendrix
Jimi died at the age of 27, and since his death, his fame has magnified, and he has achieved a status that death bestows on those “gone too soon”. He is, in essence, a guitar saint. So his comment is tragically prescient and ironic.
Others had seen him or felt his spirit at Electric Ladyland Studios, yet others felt him at other places…so why here on St. Paul and Colfax in Denver???
“I’ll tell you why I’m here…I know you’re struggling, and I know you’re afraid of living on the street. Use that as motivation.”
Jimi continued, “If you’re very stubborn, you can make it. Never give up. It’s frustrating, but it’s all part of learning.
Embrace your mistakes, practice all the time. Enjoy playing”
Jimi smiled kindly. “Rely on yourself. It has to come from inside. Learn chords first, play rhythm before you paint colors with solos.
When you get into the business, be original; that will get you noticed. Don’t lose yourself and forget why you are playing
Get the music you hear in your head out through your guitar.”
“Thanks, man, I really appreciate…” The called-upon Denverite replied.
But by then, Jimi was gone. A guitar case with a left handed white Stratocaster inside lay on his bed with a receipt signed ...Jimi
I opted for this poem from Sekou Sundiata as opposed to one of my own…Happy Birthday James…
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