On the 80th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's birth (11/27/42), memory and legacy of America's unsurpassed guitar-artist (written 2011): I'm bouncing around in the back seat of a pal's car with a couple other high school wannabes, cruising through our leafy-green, cushy but staid Chicago suburb, when the most amazing music comes roaring out of the dashboard radio. We're not going fast – have no urgent destination -- but the music shakes us up. We've never heard anything like it before. Few have. It's early summer 1967. A crude, siren-like, … [Read more...]
Guitar heroes, virtual and actual
The phenomenon of Guitar Hero is unaccountable to most musicians. Why would anyone spend hours miming moves with a fake instrument when given similar time investment you could make music yourself, live, and with friends? Nonetheless, the game is the Christmas season's most highly anticipated music item. As for disappointing early sales reports for "World Tour," its just-released new edition, aren't sales down for everything, everywhere?Here's my flick at stimulating the music economy -- consumer alerts to recommended new cds by guitar heroes … [Read more...]