Jimi Hendrix Near and Far
By Steve Herte
I'm
gradually getting used to the crowd at the office, though I must
admit some of the voices are difficult to listen to. But I will
survive. Our new fiscal year has begun with new challenges and
responsibilities. I'm going to make this short because yesterday my
new tulips and hyacinths arrived and because of the rain I was unable
to plant them. As soon as I finish this I'm changing into my
gardening clothes and get it done. I was able to put the amaryllis
into their dark pre-winter confines though. As for Friday, it was an
adventure and fun. Enjoy!
Jimi:
All Is By My Side (Open
Road Pictures, 2013) - Director: John Ridley. Writer: John Ridley
(s/p). Cast: Andre Benjamin, Imogen Poots, Hayley Atwell, Burn
Gorman, Ruth Negga, Tom Dunlea, Ashley Charles, Clare-Hope Ashitey,
Oliver Bennett, Laurence Kinlan, Danny McColgan, Amy
De Bhrun, Aoibhinn McGinnity, Robbie Jarvis, Andrew Buckley, Jade
Yourell, Ger Duffy, & Demetrice Nguyen. Color, 118 minutes.
Forty-six
years ago in a music room of Cathedral Prep Seminary in Queens I
heard our Senior band play two pieces, “Apache” by Jerry Lorden
(originally recorded by the Shadows), and “Purple Haze” written
and recorded by Jimi Hendrix. At the end of their performance I ran
onto the stage and asked the lead guitarist, Frank Buccello, where
they got that amazing song. He told me and I became an instant fan of
Hendrix. I bought all his albums and was horrified to learn that he
had been performing for two years already but was virtually unknown
in America. I reveled in his unique sound and mastery of Les Paul’s
invention.
Then
in 1969, my friends at Manhattan Community College were all abuzz
about the three-day music festival happening at Woodstock and that
Hendrix was the closing act. At that time I had neither the money nor
the spontaneity I have today and, looking back, would not have liked
the mud and the rain. Then one day I was in the student lounge of the
“B” building and my friend Vivian comes over to me sadly tells me
Jimi was dead. “I know you’re a great fan of his and I thought
you’d like to know.” I was crushed. He was 28.
This
new biopic was released last year in Canada and then in Stockholm and
took until the end of this year to be released in New York. It starts
in 1966 with Jimi (Benjamin) playing at the Cheetah Club in New
York’s Greenwich Village and getting admiring looks from Linda
Keith (Poots). She sees his immense talent and how it’s wasted in
this tiny club filled with people who are not even paying attention
to him. She, as Keith Richards' girlfriend, decides to use her
influence to make Jimi well known and get him into the right circles.
She has Chas Chandler (Buckley), the bassist for the Animals, hear
Jimi perform and he immediately wants to manage for him. He would be
leaving the Animals soon and is eager to try his hand.
After
Chas convinces Jimi to go to London with a promise of meeting Eric
Clapton (at that time considered a god of guitar playing), Chas stays
with Jimi, getting him gigs. And, good to his promise, introduces him
to various people, including Clapton (McColgan), at another club
where Eric is performing. Jimi asks if Eric would let him jam with
him and Eric agrees to Chas’ suggestion. Eric introduces Jimi with
a slight smirk and Jimi plugs his guitar in and begins a fantastic
wailing jam that the rest of the group picks up easily. Eric’s jaw
drops, he unplugs his guitar and goes backstage where Chas meets him.
“You didn’t say he was f—ing good!”
Going
from club to club, Jimi meets Kathy Etchingham (Altwell) who will
become his girlfriend (to the annoyance of Linda), but who will also
learn that no one girl can ever be Jimi’s “girlfriend.” He then
meets Ida (Negga), a young black woman who introduces him to Michael
X, a man of Caribbean extraction, who tries to convince Jimi that
he’s only being used by the white population and that he should
play for his people. But Jimi counters that they’re all his people
and follows it with the show-stopping line,“Hey, when the Power of
Love beats the Love of Power, all will be cool.”
By
now Jimi has met Noel Redding (Bennet), who will become his bassist
and the budding group is looking for a drummer. Two drummers are up
for the position and with a coin toss Mitch Mitchell (Dunlea) gets
in. The group is formed. Chas introduces Jimi to Michael Jeffery
(Gorman), the current manager of the Animals, who takes over and gets
them a slot at the Monterey Pops Festival. After an embarrassing gig
at a club where Brian Epstein was in attendance, the Jimi Hendrix
Experience is slated to open at the Sayville Theater in London. Jimi
arrives late and brings a record into the dressing room. It’s “Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by the Beatles. He plays the
opening cut for the others gives them their keys, cues and
instructions for when his solo will be. “Paul McCartney (Duffy) and
George Harrison are in the audience. Won’t it be insulting?” “Not
if we don’t F it up.”
The
group plows through an exciting version of the song, Paul’s mouth
forms an “O” and the audience is on their feet in a standing
ovation at the end. It’s the only entire song played in the movie
except for Jimi’s version of “Wild Thing” at the end.
Andre
Benjamin is Jimi Hendrix. I never doubted him. He
even learned to play guitar left-handed for the role. He has Jimi’s
voice and mannerisms down pat, sounding like he was in a drug-induced
haze most of the time. But when he had something to say, at one point
Linda comments, “It’s really annoying that sometimes you can be
so damned profound.”
The
music in this movie is typical Hendrix, but sadly, thanks to his
estate (they got way too greedy), none of it is his creation. They
forbade the use of any of his hits in the film. We only see his
disappointment that “Purple Haze” didn’t even make the top 100
on the American charts. We never hear it. The characters are well
played, although I thought Ashley Charles made Keith Richards look
way too handsome. The “F” word is bandied about freely and this
is probably the only movie where this is appropriate, so judge
wisely. There are also scenes of drug use, with LSD and pot being
consumed. The only violence is when Jimi jealously beats Kathy with a
telephone receiver, and a news clip of Buddhist monks immolating
themselves is shown.
It’s
an excellent film. I now feel as if I’ve seen and heard Jimi
Hendrix. The only drawback is that the movie flips between being a
biopic and being a docudrama, with news clips and television
interviews, which became slightly annoying when I wanted to hear more
Jimi. On the other hand, the soundtrack included songs like “Itchycoo
Park.”
Rating:
4 out of 5 Martini glasses.
Miller’s
Near and Far
65
Rivington Street (bet. Allen and Eldridge Streets), New
York
Knowing
the capabilities of my camera, I still fall for intriguing pictures
of restaurants on Opentable.com. Miller’s is one of those. But its
menu was just as intriguing. Not having had too much experience in
dealing with the named streets of New York’s Lower East Side, I
used Googlemaps to get an idea of what this restaurant looked like on
the outside and thus make it easier to find. To my surprise, the
exterior matched that of an old rusting diner I once saw in a sci-fi
film. But I said, “What the heck” and went.
The
name of the place is etched into the glass of the only door. Inside,
it resembles a diner in décor, but not in kitch. The ceiling is a
series of infinity illusions in pale green and white. Likewise, the
two end walls are painted pale green and white respectively. If there
are 10 tables, it’s a lot, and there are stools lining the open
kitchen.
The
young man who would eventually become my server greeted me
enthusiastically (forgive me, he introduced himself and I forgot his
name – good reason to return). He gave me my choice of tables, and
I chose one against the near wall under the light. He then presented
the single card food menu with drinks, wine and beer on the reverse
and left to get me a glass of water.
I
learned that there is indeed a “Miller.” Christopher Miller
opened the restaurant in 2013. The Near and Far part comes from his
knack of combining East and West in his cuisine. Taking that into
account I ordered the cocktail “Shiso Cool” not only for its
clever name, but also for the ingredients – Plymouth gin, cucumber
and Shiso tea. It was refreshing and interesting. The young lady who
served the cocktail complimented me on my pale green shirt and tie
combination and I had to confess I wore what I wore because it
matched the décor of the restaurant. She loved it.
In
the absence of the appetizer I had seen on the website – green
Buffalo frogs legs with a pickled ramp ranch dressing – I chose the
charred octopus – in a salad with citrus yoghurt, hearts of palm,
frisée, sliced fingerling potatoes in a sherry vinaigrette and
garnished with home-made potato chips. I marvel every time I have
octopus and it’s tender. I even liked the potatoes. But the
slightly salty, delicate little chips on top made the dish.
The
wine list was very reasonably priced and I chose the 2012 Michael
Sullberg California Pinot Noir/Gamay varietal. It was strange to be
drinking this lovely wine from a non-stemmed glass but, considering
the venue, it was appropriate. And . . . it worked well with my meal.
The
other dish that attracted me to this restaurant was still being
served and I ordered it. The Uni Pappardelle – homemade squid ink
pasta made with sea urchin emulsion in a cream sauce and topped with
toasted breadcrumbs – was amazing. The lighting added a slightly
greenish tinge to the normally black pasta, the cream sauce added a
sweet accent to the usually acrid squid, and the uni also sweetened
the dish.
The
restaurant was filling up rapidly and I was currently sitting at a
table for four. I agreed to shift to the other single table when they
needed mine. My server was the ultimate host, and didn’t mind
chatting every now and then. That’s how I learned that we both went
to the same combination of colleges, Manhattan Community and Hunter.
(No not at the same time. That would have been too strange.) But
really, it’s a small world.
The
only dessert available came with the meal and I wouldn’t have
refused it anyway. It was Peanut Butter and Jelly Panna Cotta –
blueberry compote and chopped peanuts over custard made from thick
cream, egg white and honey. It was lovely. I even commented on the
tiny size of the blueberries.
I wasn’t in the mood for a coffee,
but an after dinner drink was not out of the running. The second
young man who had requested I relinquish a table brought over a
choice of two cordials. I chose the Fernet Branca because I’ve
never tasted it before. It’s an Italian cordial, somewhat like an
amaro. I researched it and found out that among the known ingredients
are aloe, gentian root (probably where it gets its purplish color),
rhubarb, gum myrrh, red cinchona bark, galanga (a blue variety of
ginger) and zedoary (white turmeric). The taste? It was most unusual,
somewhere between medicine, crushed plants and bitter mud. Helene
would not have liked it. But I found it to be fun.
I
felt so at home at Miller’s. I met the entire staff (including the
Chef, who checked up on his dishes) and they were wonderful (both
staff and dishes). I’ll have to call ahead the next time to make
sure they have those frogs legs.
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