The majority of musicians performing at Holyoke's Waterfront Friday, Aug. 3, had yet to "experience" life outside the womb when the man they will honor that evening—James Marshall Hendrix, best known for fronting the Jimi Hendrix Experience—passed away.
Despite the fact that Hendrix's works are scarcely featured on radio or music television today, show producer Nona Hatay reports that recruiting local artists for such Jimi jams is a far from daunting task. And once these bands plug in and take a turn at the legendary left-handed axeman's tunes, she adds, it is patently obvious that none of them are winging it.
"Believe me, the spirit of Hendrix is alive and well, and I'm amazed at the great awareness they have of the music and its depth," she proclaims.
A photo artist who worked in New York City in the '60s and San Francisco in the '70s, Hatay has more than 200 of her works on display at the Hard Rock Cafe, including images of James Brown, Tina Turner and Frank Zappa.
But it was one particular photo shoot with the infamous feedback-fueled Fender Strat-wielder on May 18, 1969 that spawned images that would recur throughout her life's work, which includes two books and helping to organize Hendrix festivals across the globe and in her own back yard. "We brought Hendrix's music to Northampton Center for the Arts last year and it was a great success," she recalls.
Like the 2006 Experience, this year's Waterfront show—which features performances by Jim K, Drift, Circus Mind and Groove Pavement, among others—will be laden with lights, film, dance and exhibits. Favorite acts that night, as determined by the audience, will be invited to larger-scale Hendrix homage at Pearl Street Nov. 10.
In other news, it would hardly be news to learn that a musician was copping some pot prior to a performance. But kitchen pots, pans and silverware?
"Yeah, our drummer, Dave Nelson, plays what he calls kitchen percussion, complete with pots and pans, even spatulas and a sap bucket," says Jack Brown, rhythm guitarist for the Gypsy jazz quartet Swing Caravan.
"We all say his wife is a very patient woman," adds guitarist Matthew Shippee, "for all the missing pots, I mean!"
This Friday, Aug. 3, the Caravan crew swings by one of its favorite haunts, Mocha Maya's in Shelburne Falls, for a free 8 p.m. performance. Full disclosure: Brown inks the Advocate's "Cinema Dope" column. I've always wanted to ask him: Between the name Jack Brown and your links to theater and music, you must get people asking if you're the love child of Jack Black and Jack White?
"Actually, er… no," was the answer. "You're the first."
Moving right along… on the heels of the recent L.A. Film Festival, Fox's Searchlight Pictures arguably became the highest-profile entity to sing the praises of Northampton's Young At Heart Chorus, reportedly shelling out just under $2 million to secure rights to the Young At Heart documentary.
"It's a big deal, and the film is beautifully done with plenty of scenes from downtown 'Hamp, Florence, Chicopee and more," says F. Alex Johnson of the Drunk Stuntmen, who has toured Europe with the Young-sters and appears in the movie. The Chorus celebrates the release of its latest studio recording, Mostly Live, at the Iron Horse this Sunday. The previous evening, Aug. 4, finds the Drunk Stuntmen performing at the Deerfield Land Trust Farm Fest on Mill Village Road.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
