Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix’s 18 August 1969 performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair has been characterized as an expression of transcendent political resistance as well as crude anti-U.S. drivel. Drawing on Hendrix’s own archive of recordings, writings, interviews, stage banter, and especially live performances, this article analyzes Hendrix’s artistic engagement with the United States national anthem by locating his Woodstock Banner as a central moment in a two-year fascination with the song, brought to a close only by Hendrix’s untimely death. It presents the anthem as an artistic vehicle for Hendrix’s political musings, a thoughtful engagement with current events, and as commentary responsive to Hendrix’s immediate environment and expressive of his aspirations for the nation of his birth. Insights offered here include the roots of Hendrix’s Banner performances as ornaments to the Civil War eulogy “Taps,” the plural construction of the Hendrix Banner and an account of the aesthetic development of his anthem arrangement, the value of his recorded stage banter for understanding Hendrix’s Banner politics, the impact of the film Woodstock on Hendrix’s renditions, and the use of the Banner during Hendrix’s final 1970 “The Cry of Love Tour” as part of a closing anti-war set and call to action for the psychedelic citizen.

Rock and pop musicians attired in military uniforms belong to our collective visual memory of the popular music scene since the 1960s. There has been a tendency to overestimate the subversive and erotic appeal of the uniformed look; subversion and fetishistic eroticism need not have been all that 'rock military style' involved. In challenging a-priori psychological or semiotic approaches, a note is made of discrepancies between what military-styled stars wished to express by their look and what their audiences assumed was its purpose. A general characterization of 'rock military style' is followed by analysis of the 1960s guitar hussar look of Jimi Hendrix and the 21st century camouflaged survivor look of Destiny's Child. Elucidation of the motivation behind their respective versions of 'rock military style' is achieved through utilization of personal statements in interviews, song lyrics, and contextual evidence linked to the histories and philosophies of Pop Art and aesthetics, current events and the cultural and social histories of particular groups. Differences and similarities between Hendrix and Destiny are noted, which include gender-specific attitudes toward the use of uniforms and military textiles as decorative devices, male status display and female empowerment, as well as anxieties about mortality.

El objeto de estudio de este trabajo es el Arte Psicodélico, más concretamente el diseño gráfico -los carteles de conciertos y carátulas de discos- asociado a los sonidos del llamado rock ácido o rock psicodélico de los años sesenta. La psicodelia -el uso de drogas alucinógenas- surge a mediados de esa década en Estados Unidos como una de las facetas de la contracultura hippie, y se extiende luego al Reino Unido, donde se enmarca dentro del fenómeno conocido como “Swinging London”. 

El término psiquedélico fue acuñado por el cientifico Humphrey Osmond en 1957 y significa “manifestación del alma o de la mente”. Será un adjetivo que se aplique a aquellas obras inspiradas en, o relacionadas con, la experiencia producida por el uso de drogas alucinógenas, como el rock psicodélico. Era un sonido totalmente nuevo, que desafiaba la estructura básica de la canción pop y empleaba instrumentos nunca antes utilizados. Este tipo de música induce un cambio en la representación visual de la industria musical, como se demuestra estudiando las carátulas de discos y los carteles para conciertos: convertidos en materiales de creación artística, se vive un nuevo entendimiento de estos objetos, y su importancia ha ido creciendo desde entonces. Este trabajo estudia la evolución estética del diseño gráfico musical de la década de los cincuenta a la década de los sesenta, poniéndolo en relación con un contexto histórico muy especial y con el surgimiento de una música radicalmente nueva.

El desarrollo en la creación de pósters para los conciertos es comparable a la época del modernismo. El póster deja de ser funcional, casi contradiciendo su propia razón de ser: ya no solo debe aportar información sobre el grupo, el lugar y la fecha de un evento musical, sino que se presenta como un lienzo en el que distribuir dicha información con un lenguaje completamente nuevo, a veces indescifrable, inspirado en el tipo de música que se va a escuchar en el concierto. Los carteles se conforman a partir de formas suntuosas de influencia modernista con una imagineria onírica, como influjo del surrealismo. Las formas se fusionan con las nuevas tipografías y se desenvuelven por el espacio de manera orgánica, con colores vivos y contrastados. Como artistas psicodélicos americanos destacan los conocidos como “The Big Five”: Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, Víctor Moscoso y Rick Griffin. En Inglaterra la producción más importante fue la de Michael English y Nigel Waymouth como colectivo “Hapshash and the Coloured Coat” y la de Martin Sharp.

La revolución del póster pronto influye en el desarrollo de las carátulas. En los años cincuenta la cubierta de un disco solía contentarse con ofrecer una fotografía del artista muy sobria y su nombre con una tipografía muy simple. En los años sesenta hay un cambio sustancial con los avances tecnológicos y el influjo de las visiones del LSD. Formalmente en estos diseños encontramos influencias de la fotografía de las vanguardias o la cartelería de la secesión vienesa. La carátula adquiere una importancia que no había tenido nunca antes y empieza a ser realizada por pintores y diseñadores con conciencia artística.

From the early 20th Century until the early 1970s, the neighborhood of Hogan’s Alley housed Vancouver’s African Canadian population. Adjacent to Chinatown and Strathcona, with a large Southern and Eastern European population, this neighborhood developed a reputation as a premiere entertainment district, where visitors and locals alike downed bottles of bootlegged liquor and ate fried chicken to the sounds of Jazz and Blues music; others gambled, and indulged in prostitution. The wealthier West End of Vancouver, whose residents happened to be some of the neighborhood’s best clients, looked down on the community and its establishments. Hogan’s Alley and its residents suffered persistent prejudice, ‘otherization’, double standards, and discrimination by the City of Vancouver. Through the surreptitious use of zoning bylaws the City ensured that the residents of Hogan’s Alley would remain impoverished and lacking basic infrastructure standard in the rest of Vancouver. Eventually, racist, mono-cultural, and elitist sentiments combined with Modernist urban planning objectives of slum clearance and urban renewal. These schemes justified burying this multi-cultural hub underneath the Georgia Viaduct on-ramp.

Problematika významu progresívnej hudobnej kultúry so zameraním na psychedelický rock a kraut-rock v rámci tzv. kontrakultúry je vo vedeckej monografii reflektovaná z viacerých interdisciplinárnych, kulturologických a filozoficko-estetických hľadísk – skúma vzájomné vzťahy a prieniky hudby, životného štýlu s filozofiou, resp. svetonázorom a politickými východiskami kontrakultúry daného obdobia. Odborná reflexia témy sa pohybuje od uchopenia kontrakultúrnych fenoménov vo všeobecnosti až po jej konkrétne prejavy v tzv. kraut-rockovej subkultúre vo vtedajšej Nemeckej spolkovej republike (v komparácii so situáciou vo svete).

The article examines the harms caused by the way how the prohibitionism has been approaching
the human relationship with psychedelic substances, which has led to the necessity of promoting a clinical
and political debate, carried out through the First Seminar about Psychedelic Drugs in Rio de Janeiro. Based
on such debate, the text introduces a terminology about psychedelia and presents some historical aspects of
two psychedelic drugs – LSD and MDMA – that raise doubts about reports regarding the advent of new
hard or inherently dangerous drugs. Relying on minimizing damages as a paradigm and guideline of care
policies, the seminar highlights the urgency of acknowledging the individual (set) and environmental (setting)
aspects when determining the quality of the drugs users' experiences.

Resumo
O artigo problematiza a produção de danos pelo modo como o proibicionismo vem abordando a
relação humana com substâncias psicodélicas, que levou à necessidade de promoção de um debate clínicopolítico,
realizado através do Primeiro Seminário sobre Psicodélicos do Rio de Janeiro. Com base em tal debate,
o texto introduz uma terminologia sobre psicodelia e apresenta alguns aspectos da história de dois
fármacos psicodélicos – o LSD e o MDMA – que colocam em xeque notícias de surgimento de novas drogas
pesadas ou perigosas em si mesmas. Apostando na redução de danos como paradigma e diretriz das políticas
de cuidado, o seminário ressaltou a necessidade urgente de se dar relevo aos aspectos pessoais (set) e
ambientais (setting) na determinação da qualidade das experiências de usuários de drogas.

Let's enjoy some extreme trips to the far side of our daily life.
You will first meet Lord Byron and his "Manfred", and then Robert Schumann and his own "Manfred" sung here by Dennis Laubenthal in German.
Then I will take you on a complete retrospective of "Prison Break," including the fifth and final season.
The next stop will be in Germany and you will discover the great music of Franz Graw in his CD "Wir kaufen die Welt" and his reflection on globalism. It is refreshing to have imperialistic globalism exposed without any bombs, Kalashnikovs and other killing devices.
We will then move to the BBC, hence to Britain and discover the series "Criminal Justice" and its two seasons, in fact, two cases of miscarriage of justice even if in the end the innocent man is freed and the not guilty woman is sent to prison for five years. That's British Brexit justice.
And to conclude I will take you to the music of the Grateful Dead, "Shakedown New York," as a tribute of the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock and they (who is they, who knows?) have announced they will celebrate this event grandiosely.