mUSIC bLOG 7

JIMI HENDRIX

Week One

Well today, I decided I would test out some of my skills on writing HTML code to create my weekly music blog. So for these next few blogs, I will be giving you the story line and history of the legendary rockstar and guitarist, Jimi Hendrix using computer programming haha!

• Birth and Childhood

Jimi Hendrix, born as "Johnny Allen Hendrix", came to life on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington. Jimi was born into the lives of two very young parents, his father Al being 23 and his mother Lucille being 17 at the time. As Lucille was pregnant with Jimi, Al was sent off to fight in World War II leaving Lucille to deal with the baby by herself. As Al was away, Lucille found a lot of help from grandmother Nora as well as from Lucille's sister Delores. He was the first to be born of his other four siblings, Leon, Joseph, Kathy, and Pamela. Three of children, Joseph,Kathy,and Pamela faced serious health issues. When Al returned home from war, Jimi was now three,and Al had finally met back up with Lucille. Soon though, he found that a few of the children were now in foster homes, or up for adoption. The two parents would fight and argue A LOT! Much of this fighting could've possibly been explained by the constant abuse of alcohol. Jimi had later told media that many times, he would hide in the closet and cover his eyes to keep from seeing his parents fight. He grew up in a very impoverished family, moving all around Seattle. At the age of nine, Jimi's parents had gotten a divorce, and his father Al had won custody of himself and Leon. Sadly, seven years later his mother passed away from cirrhosis of the liver. Al taught the two boys how "men" deal with their sadness, by drinking shots of whiskey.

The Teenage Years and Early Adulthood of Jimi Hendrix

At the age of 15, Jimi had purchased his first guitar from a friend family friend for five dollars! All throughout high school, Jimi would practice hours and hours on end to perfect his playing. His brother Leon has told many that Jimi would sit in his room all day and practice playing the same couple of notes for the whole time. He was very devoted towards his music, and used this to get away from all the pain and suffering he had suffered in his earlier years. Jimi would listen to many famous rock and blues musicians of the day, such as: Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters,Howlin' Wolf, and B.B. King. In his mid years of high school, Jimi had been in and out of a couple of bands that would play around in local bars. One time, Jimi's guitar had been stolen so his father Al bought him a brand new Silvertone Danelectro, painted it red, and had Jimi's first girlfriend's name "Betty Jean" put on the guitar. About a year or so before Jimi was to graduate, he was expelled from Garfield High School by racist faculty members, for holding hands in study hall with a white girl. In 1961, Jimi was given the choice to either be sentenced to two years in prison, for riding in stolen vehicles or to join the army. Jimi quickly joined the army and was assigned to the 101st Airborne. Time shortly showed that he was not cut out to be a soldier, sleeping during duty, not always being properly dressed, playing music on base, and not being a very accurate marksman. For these things, as well as protecting his guitar, he was laughed at and once beaten. Soon, two men Raymond Ross and Billy Cox befriended Jimi. Over time, Billy Cox and Jimi had formed a very tight-knit friendship and started a band The Casuals while still in the military. Soon after, private Hendrix's Captain, Captain Batchman had him discharged from the military for obviously not being cut out for the service.

Week Two

Musical Career (Brief)

In 1966, Jimi was introduced to ex-Animals bassist, Chas Chandler. Chas saw some extreme talent in Jimi that no one else at the time would take advantage of. So shortly after, he brought Jimi to London, where Chas helped form a band for Jimi, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The band consisted of guitarist and lead singer, Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell, and bassist Noel Redding. Soon after the band was formed, Jimi was given the opportunity to play on stage with one of his favorite bands, Cream. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was extremely successful in the UK, but found it tougher to top the charts in the United States. In June of 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played its final show. Then, bassist Noel Redding announced to the public that he would not be playing for the band anymore, as well as drummer Mitch Mitchell taking a break from the band. Soon after, Jimi had hired bassist Billy Cox, his old army pal, and Ed Shaughnessy filled in for the two men. The band was then renamed to Gypsy Sun and the Rainbows. The next huge and upcoming event in music was Woodstock. Jimi was ready for Woodstock, but he became very nervous when he heard how many people he would be playing in front of. If he kept his spot in the middle of the show, he would be playing in front of the max crowd of 400,000 people. When he heard this, he asked that his band play at the very end of the show, only playing in front of 30-40,000 people now. Near the end of his playing time at Woodstock, Jimi created a sense of awe to those still at the show when he played "The Star-Spangled Banner" on his guitar. Being in the years surrounding the Vietnam War, many found this very patriotic and inspiring.

Drug Use and Death

Jimi Hendrix has been known throughout the years for extended use of drugs and alcohol. In his fame, it has been reported that Jimi had also slept with a large number of women. Jimi used a wide variety of drugs, ranging from Marijuana and hashish, to LSD, even to some Amphetamines. There have been many recorded times, when he had attacked and fought with people after doing drugs or becoming drunk. He would take and use all these narcotics while he was on tour. One time, in May of 1969, Jimi was going through customs in a Canadian Airport. Next thing you know, he was caught concealing small doses of hashish and heroin in his bag. He was then arrested and charged for drug possession, but he later told the press that a fan had planted the drugs in his bag without him knowing. On September 17, 1970 Jimi was out at a night of partying. At 3am he was picked up by his girlfriend and brought back to her apartment. Early the next morning, Jimi Hendrix passed away. He had been brought to the hospital late in the night, as he was unconscious and unresponsive. Later it had been found that Jimi had taken 8 of his girlfriend's sleeping pills, when the daily amount was to only be half of a pill. The police were certain that he was unaware of this amount, because of the info on the medicine being written in a different language. The reported cause of death due to the pills and alcohol, was that Jimi had asphyxiated in his own vomit. This news shocked the world and many of his loyal fans. It's a shame that such a legend and inspiration died so young, but he will forever be remembered for his incredible artistry.

RIP Jimi Hendrix

photo credits: Jimi Hendrix Bio

and

Jimi Blog

Music Blog 6

This week I will be creating a new blog on another one of my favorite bands from the late 1960's and 1970's. The band I have decided to write about is one of the most well known bands to this day, The Doors! Some of their music has influenced many of today's singers and musicians 40+ years later. The Doors was an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1965. The band consisted of (lead vocals) Jim Morrison, (keyboard player) Ray Manzarek, (drummer) John Densmore, and (guitarist) Robby Krieger. Within two years, the band landed their first record company and sold their first album The Doors, which ended up reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 list. Not bad for a newly formed band! In this album, the band's first number one single, "Light my Fire", helped shoot the band up in the charts and become well known. When 1968 came around, The Doors produced their second number one single "Hello I Love You". Men and women around the world loved The Doors music and  the ladies went crazy for lead singer, Jim Morrison. Around the early 1970's, inspired on their rise to fame, the band produced another successful album L.A. Woman. Towards the end of their fame, they earned a spot to put one of their songs for the end scene of the movie Apocalypse Now. The song, "The End", is a very appealing song to me, creating a very mystical and hostile environment throughout. It went very well with the new and successful Vietnam War inspired movie. One of my favorite songs by the band was "Break on Through (to the other side)", one of the most popular rock songs of multiple generations.

It's very unfortunate that drugs and alcoholism had gotten to the lead singer over the many years. He had begun to go down the wrong path with the use of them, and from there on it was a steep downslope to his death. On July 3, 1971 Jim Morrison had been found dead inside his apartment bathroom, not responding whatsoever. The mystery of his death will always be around, because no formal autopsy was done, due to the belief that there was no foul play involved. Many originally believed that his girlfriend who lived with Jim, had been apart of it, but this theory has merely been dismissed. We've come to the agreement that with his chronic respiratory illness, coughing of blood, and from personal accounts stating that he had been drinking a large amount of alcohol and he had accidentally snorted heroin thinking that it was cocaine. All these factors combined turned out to be a gruesome and sad death for the world-renowned singer. He will forever be missed, as well as the legend he has left behind in his music. R.I.P Jim Morrison! 

Photos from: http://homepages.uwp.edu/buss0002/thedoors.html
& http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?GRid=740&page=gr

MuSiC bLoG 5

Sorry to all readers that I'm going out of chronological order, but I am drawn this week to Pat Benatar and Journey. I saw the famous rockers this weekend at the concert held at Cruzan Amphitheatre. The two groups played very well and blew many fans away! Pat Benatar was one of the first ever girl rockstars known to this day. Pat was inspired by many singers, including her largest idol, Liza Minnelli. Her career in music was like many others, working for pay from day to day just squeaking by, but soon she officially started her music career. She began singing and writing music in NY, where she soon met her second husband Neil Giraldo. The two moved off to Los Angeles and within a month, recorded and produced their first ever album together. The two rockers were bound for fame and ended becoming the second music video to ever be played on MTV when it first aired. But her husband, Neil Giraldo, was the first ever guitarist to appear on MTV.

What an honor that must be like to be given that opportunity, for what is one of the most famous TV channels ever produced! She has produced many famous songs that range from mellow moods to hard rock and roll music! Some examples of her many well-known songs are: "In the Heat of the Night", "Love is a Battlefield", "Heartbreaker", "Hit Me with your Best Shot", "Invincible", and many more. Pat still sounds like her younger self to this day, touring around the globe with her husband and band. Well, the best of luck to ya Mrs. Benatar!

Journey is a five piece band that has truly rocked America! The band was started in 1973 in the San Francisco area. They began to play right away, but made their first appearance at a ballroom as a "backup" band on New Year's Eve in 1975. Shortly after, some record companies realized their talent so they hired them to make a record which had officially begun their careers in the music industry. But in 1977, they had just gotten rid of their original singer and picked up Steve Perry. As soon as Steve was brought into the band, the record deals got larger, they began to sell #1 hits, and even sell platinum records! Journey had shot way up in their rise to fame and they began to start touring the country, as well as the world. The band had reached their peak in the first few years of the 1980's, but in 1984 after finishing the Frontiers Stadium tour, the members of Journey decided it was time to take a break and call it quits for a while. A few of the band members such as Neil Schon and Steve Perry, decided to continue with their careers and work on solo projects. Many of these turned out to be successes, but nothing quite like the days of Journey. But about 7 years later, Neil Schon, Steve Perry, and Jonathan Cain had played a few songs together live and critically thought of getting the band back together. All agreed to get back together, except for Perry, saying he would return if the band manager was fired. So in 1995, Journey was all back together again to rock and tour the world! Throughout the next ten years, the band made many member replacements, including one of the originals and stars, lead singer Steve Perry. But in 2007 the band found a filipino singer on youTube with a fantastic voice. Shortly after, the band hired him and have been touring with the younger man ever since. An older Journey classic was played on the season finale of The Sopranos in 2007, when the "Don't Stop Believing" was played in the final scene. Millions of people across the globe were again connected to this song, and it was #1 hit on Itunes for weeks! But back to my concert experience, the band was awesome! The whole five piece group played incredibly well and had many dancing and singing to the lyrics like back in the good days. Journey is one of the most well known rock bands around and I think it will stay that way for quite some time!


Photos from: http://1019litefm.cbslocal.com/2011/01/21/80s-artist-pat-benatar/
& http://redriverpak.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/music-flashback-journey/

Music Blog 4

Today I have decided to talk about The Who since their songs have been stuck in my head all day! The band has been at the center of rock and roll since the mid 60's! The four piece band consisted of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon. They started out playing in small bars and clubs, and gradually worked there way up to arenas and stadiums. Their hard rock and "punk" style made them early icons in the music industry. Selling multiple albums going platinum and many #1 hit singles brought the band up in a ton of success. These four men seemed unstoppable, and would pull in fans across the world to their concerts. One time unfortunately though, before a concert in Ohio, fans had been waiting impatiently to get in. The seats weren't reserved, so the first people in the stadium got the best seats. But when fans then heard the band playing and thought they were missing the concert, when they were just hearing the band's soundcheck. The huge crowd started running for the doors and caused people to get trampled over. Around eleven fans were killed and over twenty-six were injured. 

A few of the band members were very, very inventive with their in-concert moves! And when I say that, there were some very remarkable things these guys would do. Some of these things that became huge hits later on were Pete Townshend's running and jumping to a slide across the stage, all while making a huge circle with his arm as he played guitar. This move became very well known to what is used alot in playing air guitar! His other signature move that became very popular was playing a song on stage and then smashing his guitar. He would literally smash it to pieces on stage! This may seem crazy that someone else was more ecstatic, but the true wild man was Keith Moon. He would go up on stage and have his drums be filled with water and gold fish swimming around! A few times, he would also put explosives in his bass drum and one time it even injured a few of the band members went he put 10x the amount of gun powder in than normal. Link to see explosion and craziness! Keith loved explosives more than a normal person, many think he had a disorder. He would stuff hotel room's bathrooms with explosives and cherry bombs and the hole bathroom would explode, costing thousand and thousands of dollars in damage. On his birthday one year the band was at a hotel celebrating Keith's birthday and as soon as you know it, he was getting chased by cops and he jumped in someone's car and drove it straight into the hotel pool! He was the kind of jokester that would stir up fun but causing alot of damage as well. Unfortunately, Keith used drugs and drank regularly which lead to his death due to an overdose on September 6th, 1978.  He is one of the world's most recognized drummers of all time! The band will forever be remembered and go down in Rock & Roll history!

Photos from: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=keith+moon+drumming&um=1&hl=en&client=safari 
& http://austintownhall.com/2009/09/25/ft5-rock-moves/ & http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the-who-challenge?before=1347917073