h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Rome, Italy – May 22, 2007
Piazza Vittorio Emanuel II

Mrs. Phred located a concert featuring a Jimi Hendricks theme last night. The musicians were FMJO, a group of about 20 Italian performers that you might classify as talented big-band jazz. They were heavy on horns, with two drummers and a guitar.

The auditorium was about a two-mile walk north of the tourist area which ends at the big piazza with the twin churches. Crossing the streets in Rome is intimidating at times. When we found the auditorium and got our tickets, we still had time for a sandwich (paninni?) and a glass of white wine.

The huge auditorium complex had three or four different concerts going on simultaneously. The Hendricks crowd was dressed less formally in stylish Italian casual. There was an amazing amount of kissing going on in the audience before the performance. Men kissing women, men kissing men… Kiss-kiss, Hello, how are you? I’m so glad to see you again.

We missed most of the explanation of the work in Italian, but evidently a local composer, who performed with the group, had written several hours of orchestral music loosely based on the work of deceased American rock star, Jimi Hendricks. There were two guest performers. One was an electric guitar player who did a credible job of reproducing the discordant and distorted sounds of Hendricks. The other was a stylishly dressed male vocalist, who sounded very much like Hendricks at times.

When the music started and they played “Hey, Joe!”, I felt an electric shiver down my back. Most of the musicians got a chance to be featured sometime during the two-hour performance. They were all very talented. One trumpet player was amazing. Most of the performers and audience could not have been born when Hendricks died, yet they obviously recognized his favorites. You could close your eyes and see the sharp musical sounds as strange bright creatures with short lives...

For an encore the band came back and did “Castles Made of Sand”. We grabbed a taxi for a Mr. Toad's wild ride back to the hotel and some midnight gelato. The lemon sorbet was served in a real hollowed out frozen lemon. Mrs. Phred wonders why we don’t have stuff like this back home. I guess it wouldn’t be home, if we did, would it?.

On the other hand, back home Jimmy would set himself on fire and come screaming on stage sliding down a trapeze wire from the back of the auditorium...the band did not perform Jimi's freaky discordant version of "The Star Spangled Banner"...but they did "They called the wind Mariah"...

Ciao!

Make that Hendrix...

Will do .

My youngest son almost 18 had a very long Hendrix periode a couple of years ago - and it is still 'car music' when I sometimes take him to school in the morning. Both he and our youngest daughter 20 'discovered' 'our' music in the midle of their teens.

Amazing to have it all come back to you at fifty.

As far as I know there is an Italian guitarist who plays and composes inspired by Hendrix. Very famous in Italy he is, and we had Sig. S's brother buy a CD with him for my brother who loves a good guitar.

I've never been to Rome. Maybe next time we go visit Sig. S's parents who live close to Venice. (Should that be lives?).

Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Rock, the man who asked to meet Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton if he came to England. The man who blew Clapton off the stage when he jammed with Cream*

He was a mighty man all right

*A recently staret series on the BBC, The Seven Ages of Rock started with Hendrix in 1965, archive footage, contemporary and modern interviews with those who were there. Catch it if you can, it looks like a good one.

yay .. Hendrix ..

and that strange shiver happens every time ... the 'Hey Joe' shiver I call it ..

H

Jimi Hendrix. Those were the days.

Sounds like a great evening, Phred. Congrats to Mrs. P for locating the concert.

Voodoo Child. Little Wing. Bold as Love. All Along the Watchtower.

Billy Gibbons (ZZTop) was Jimi's fave blues picker at one point. The legend mentions that Jimi gave him a pink Stratocaster as a token of his admiration.

Traveller in Time with a faint memory of a BBC documentary
"Was he not on the BBC last night ? Or was that some days ago ? "