Thi is what it feels like

I t was a New York winter day, frozen and gray and violently blustery. Indoors, out of the fearful cold, people seemed somehow gentler toward one another – strange in New York City – as if it was enough to battle the elements, no need to battle each other. Inside his manager’s neo-turn-of-the-century apartment, on a sofa near the radiant fireplace, sat Jimi Hendrix , in a gentle, almost reticent frame of mind. The light snow had begun to fall. You could see that through the narrow slits where the curtain allowed the merest sliver of daylight and streetscene to penetrate into the gloomy dark room. On the same sofa, and on a richly upholstered chair next to it, sat the members of Jimi Hendrix ’s new band. He had broken up the old Experience (Noel Redding on bass, Mitch Mitchell, drums) at some indeterminate point during the Fall. He had been living and jamming with an all-purpose crew of musicians – everything from older black gentlemen from the South who played blues guitar, to … [Read more...] about Hendrix: The End Of A Beginning, Maybe

While many fans are looking forward to superhero adventures like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman this summer, others have been waiting with bated breath for filmmaker Christopher Nolan 's latest, Dunkirk . Last month, the MPAA handed out a PG-13 rating for the film, which took some fans by surprise, since it's an epic World War II film, although most of his films have been PG-13. During a new interview that took place at CinemaCon last week, the filmmaker revealed that he feels more comfortable working within the PG-13 construct. Here's what he had to say below. "All of my big blockbuster films have been PG-13 . It's a rating I feel comfortable working with totally. Dunkirk is not a war film. It's a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. So while there is a high level of intensity to it, it does not necessarily concern itself with the bloody aspects of combat, which have been so well done in so many films. We were really trying to take a … [Read more...] about Christopher Nolan Explains Why Dunkirk Is Rated PG-13

D’Angelo performed live from New York’s Apollo Theater Saturday as part of the first-ever solo Versuz livestream , with the singer bringing out guests like H.E.R., Method Man and Redman during the 90-minute gig that explored D’Angelo’s entire catalog. Joined by trumpeter Keyon Harrold, D’Angelo opened the concert with an untitled new song before breaking into his rendition of Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin’,” which he previously covered on his 1995 debut album Brown Sugar . Method Man and Redman later joined D’Angelo’s livestream to deliver their verses from “Left & Right,” from the singer’s 2000 LP Voodoo , before Method Man took lead on his own “Break Ups 2 Make Ups.” D’Angelo’s set also featured hits and favorites like “Chicken Grease,” “Devil’s Pie,” “The Root,” “Brown Sugar” and a heavy dosage of Black Messiah cuts: “Sugah Daddy,” “1000 Deaths” and “Back to the Future” among them. View this post on Instagram … [Read more...] about See D’Angelo Perform With H.E.R. During Versuz Livestream

Janis herself has never sounded better on record, but it took me four full listenings to the LP before I could hear her. That’s how bad her band is. When (and if) you get hold of this record, my suggestion is that you listen really hard to how awful the backup is — everything from the arrangements to the level of musicianship. Those sons of bitches can’t do anything really right. The only answer is to get super-familiar with what they’re doing so you can ignore it. And then dig Janis. They can’t be that bad, you say? On “Try,” they stutter along like Stax rejects, thudding out a 16-to-the-bar quick-step so metronomic it defies you to pat your foot, let alone get up and dance. Janice sounds great, but — “One Good Man” contains perhaps the only instrumental blessing on the whole record, wherein Sam Andrew plays a tolerable bottleneck introduction and obbligato to Janis’ vocal. At least the rest of the band is relaxed on this track, even if they add nothing. (Disconcerting … [Read more...] about I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

The images couldn’t have been more different. The cover of the September 20th, 1969, issue of Rolling Stone showed a man and a child bathing in the nude in a lake, the essence of hippie gentility. A few months later, the photo on the cover of RS 50 [January 21st, 1970] was a grim antithesis: a huddled, anxious-looking crowd, shards of sunlight trying to poke through the mist. The cover line for the earlier issue – WOODSTOCK : 450,000 – was celebratory. For the latter, it was far more ominous: LET IT BLEED . By early 1969, multi-day festivals had become part of the rock & roll landscape. But as the magazine’s staff would learn, preconceptions about what a festival could be – or how wrong things could go – were about to go out the window. The publication’s coverage of Woodstock and Altamont tested the staff like never before – and proved definitively that Rolling Stone was a home for serious journalism, no matter the topic and no matter how close to home it hit. … [Read more...] about Rolling Stone at 50: Shaping Contrasting Narratives of Woodstock, Altamont