Sunday - January 21, 2007
michael hedges video
This is such a great piece of music & it's
such a shame he's gone now. I forgot I had this video lying
around, so I figured I'd put it up here. I'm pretty sure you can find it on
YouTube now, too.
performance of Because It's There
There are a good number of tribute
sites dedicated to Michael Hedges, interviews with him, and lists
of tunings on the web. He, I think, was one of the gentlest souls
I've ever heard. Obviously, Breakfast
in the Field and
Aerial
Boundaries just simply blew me away. There
were people that played guitar in similar ways to what Michael Hedges was doing,
but when I was 13 or 14 I hadn't heard them. When
Watching My Life Go
By finally came out, he toured close enough
so that I could see him.
I initially saw him in Durham, NC. I can't remember the name of the venue, though. The poor guy that opened for him....! I don't remember his name, but he was not who everyone had come to see...so it was pretty painful for him. Hedges was great that night. I guess I was 16 when I saw him there in Durham. My parents had gone on a cruise or something, I think...so I bought a ticket and snuck over to Durham to see Michael Hedges (see, THIS is the kind of "trouble" I got into as a kid!). I remember it was snowing that evening. It was also the night of the suicide of the congressman from Pennsylvania who committed suicide on TV. I got lost trying to get home & I stopped for help from a girl who let me follow her back to the Interstate. I paid her back by nearly rear-ending her at the onramp! (It was snowing, remember?!?!)
I saw Michael Hedges again in Chapel Hill and then again when I was in college in Boston. The Boston show was at the Berklee Performance Center with Leo Kottke opening. Kottke came out for 5 or 6 encores at the end of Hedges' show. Man, it was fantastic. I saw so many good folks at the BPC. Ray Kurzweil gave our opening convocation when I was a Freshman. I saw Jean-Luc Ponty, Larry Carlton, Emmylou Harris, Allan Holdsworth.....all kinds of great people. I miss having something like that close by. (It was literally next door to my dorm!)
I still listen to all the Michael Hedges records.....all the time. It's so calming for me. Honestly, when I hear his soul in the airwaves, there's a sense in which it restores my faith in humanity. If he could have a soul like that, then life *is* worthwhile, I guess.
I initially saw him in Durham, NC. I can't remember the name of the venue, though. The poor guy that opened for him....! I don't remember his name, but he was not who everyone had come to see...so it was pretty painful for him. Hedges was great that night. I guess I was 16 when I saw him there in Durham. My parents had gone on a cruise or something, I think...so I bought a ticket and snuck over to Durham to see Michael Hedges (see, THIS is the kind of "trouble" I got into as a kid!). I remember it was snowing that evening. It was also the night of the suicide of the congressman from Pennsylvania who committed suicide on TV. I got lost trying to get home & I stopped for help from a girl who let me follow her back to the Interstate. I paid her back by nearly rear-ending her at the onramp! (It was snowing, remember?!?!)
I saw Michael Hedges again in Chapel Hill and then again when I was in college in Boston. The Boston show was at the Berklee Performance Center with Leo Kottke opening. Kottke came out for 5 or 6 encores at the end of Hedges' show. Man, it was fantastic. I saw so many good folks at the BPC. Ray Kurzweil gave our opening convocation when I was a Freshman. I saw Jean-Luc Ponty, Larry Carlton, Emmylou Harris, Allan Holdsworth.....all kinds of great people. I miss having something like that close by. (It was literally next door to my dorm!)
I still listen to all the Michael Hedges records.....all the time. It's so calming for me. Honestly, when I hear his soul in the airwaves, there's a sense in which it restores my faith in humanity. If he could have a soul like that, then life *is* worthwhile, I guess.
Click the image for a performance of Aerial Boundaries