Red House: Jimi Hendrix, New York Pop, Randall’s Island, 1970

Every several years I rediscover this version of Red House, which features some of the best guitar soloing I’ve ever heard in my friggin’ life. It starts with Hendrix saying, “Fuck off man, let me talk…”, and then he and his guitar have a serious conversation about the birth and death of the universe. Eric, Jeff, Doug and I sat together many-a-time in our living room on that fifteen-seater couch spinning vinyl, getting ready to hit the town, or coming back from a night on the town looking to take the party to a new level, and we’d drop this Hendrix compilation on the turntable:

jimi hendrix concerts

Then came the “Fuck off man, let me talk…”, then the respectful, reverential shifting of attention into full focus, then this:

Random (yet awesome) stuff I stumbled across this week

First up, “Last Day Dream” by Chris Milk. A very short film simply described as “A man watches his life pass before him.” Produced for the 42 Second Dream Film Festival, Beijing China 2009. Thanks to Ze Frank for the heads-up. Something about death moves me. Loved Six Feet Under, loved this video.

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Next, a song. On YouTube, but no accompanying video footage. Not to worry. Jimi’s extended guitar solo is well worth it. In fact, in my opinion this is the best guitar solo in the history of rock music. That’s right. The best ever.

Finally, a talk given at Google Headquarters in 2007 by Jon Kabat-Zinn. If you have an hour and the interest, this is one of the best introductions to mindfulness meditation I have ever come across. Brilliant.