The Beat Club ca 1967

Jimi Hendrix comes in at 19:15 and The Who close the show – quintessential performances well worth wasting precious minutes of your life for.

The Fibonaccis: Purple Hazed

One of Los Angeles's first wave of new wave bands (1981-1987)—art punk is what Wiki calls them (I don't hear the punk)—prefiguring the lounge era's appetite for Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Henry Mancini, John Barry, with the exotica of Martin Denny and Esquival (territory later explored by Combustible Edison, Oranj Symphonette among others). The Fibonaccis took their version of exotica and fed it through a Casiotone adding a few more spoonfuls of whimsy and retrophilia. Theirs was a post-war kind of psychedelia crossed with the spirit of Weill and Brecht on laughing gas. The quality of musicianship was high and inventive, and singer Magie Song, while of limited range, brought to the table the right amounts of theater and levity.

Their best expression of the concept may be in this version of Purple Haze, certainly worthy of a spot on your iPod:








Download: The Fibonaccis, Purple Haze

Much more of their catalog available for free download at their website, fibonaccis.com

What Hendrix (might've) said

As said Abe Lincoln in the popular meme, The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity. My own cursory Googling reveals many claims of the below quote as indeed Hendrix, which could represent a thoughtful consensus or just sloppy research. While Hendrix was no doubt a genius and capable of turning a clever phrase, on this one color me skeptical. Still, whoever is the author it's worth repeating. (For some reason it was paired with this rather unsagely image): 

The image below may prove that all greatness begins with a nerd––Jimi in the military at 19:

Here's Hendrix's first TV appearance from 1965––see him working it a little harder than everyone else. There are no small roles, only small players.

A year earlier Hendrix bent some strings for the Isley Brothers and made an indelible impression on budding guitarist and little brother Ernie Isley.



The classic period most of us remember:

The vid I originally posted no longer allows embedding. Here's a looser (now doubt stoned) performance from Woodstock in 1969:



And lest you think Hendrix is no longer relevant, the latest album release of his tomb-raided material just topped the charts.

And this: Prepare to fall in love––Hendrix on the gayageum (!). No lemon or "O" faces, no ecstatic head tilts or spandex, just funky as s**t playing that's tighter than J-Lo's yoga pants. Here name is Luna Lee:



More Luna Lee covers here.