It’s been a while since I’ve done this…

Since last writing I rented The Complete Monterey Pop Festival DVD set from Netflix. It was fun to watch the original movie again. The Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who segments really hold up, and the Ravi Shankar one is just stunning.

The extra disks were good too. One was the complete Otis Redding set and the complete Hendrix set, both of which had been released as separate theatrical releases in the 80’s, if I’m not mistaken. The third has some of the outtakes from the movie, and I’m still working through that disk. Hoped to see something cool in the Electric Flag performance but it was rather disappointing.

Since I last wrote I’ve seen a couple of good live shows too… in mid-December I saw Mike Stern with Richard Bona, Bob Franchesini, and Dennis Chambers at Yoshi’s in Oakland, and last Saturday, February 3, I saw the great Wayne Shorter quartet (Danilo Perez-piano; John Pattituci-bass; Brian Blade-drums) at the Marin Center in San Rafael. Next Saturday I’m going to see Robben Ford play with his brothers, The Ford Blues Band, at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz.

I’ve also been going to blues jams in Redwood City, Pacifica, and Princeton-by-the-Sea, and some jazz jams at the Domenicao Winery Tasting Room in San Carlos, as part of an effor to find other people to play with… and posting “guitarist seeking” ads on Craig’s List. Last week I finally joined a band, and we’ll be playing our first gig next Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, at a place in the Santa Cruz Mountains called the Brookdale Lodge, which apparently has an actual brook running through the center of the dining room, and supposedly is haunted.