From The Ridiculous To The Sublime

Two more takes on Hey Joe. I posted an amazing "I'm not your trained monkey" version that Hendrix did for the BBC awhile ago, but here's more. First, a bunch of stupid looking white guys from 1967 nearly destroy a perfectly good song. David Crosby should have realized it wasn't his day when that thing crawled on top of his head to shit on his lip. Then, Marc Ribot sits in with uber-geeks Medeski, Martin & Wood and gets so far inside the same song that, somewhere in there, time ceases to exist.

And Yet Great Beauty Exists

I went looking for something gorgeous tonight to remind myself that all is not shit. John Zorn's Masada compositions, in which he explores his Jewish roots and makes ample use of Sephardic scales and rhythms, often have an epic feel. If 4,000 years of truth, pain, and joy can be conveyed through music, this is what it might sound like. The top videos are his Electric Masada band, with Zorn doing an utterly transcendent Ornette Coleman sort of thing on part one, and Marc Ribot playing like a man possessed in part two. Throughout, there is a wonderful subtlety that infuses the entire band. Below is the Masada String Trio, being beautiful and traditional.