...It was a long week. Help me out, Miles:
I work with a guy who said he saw Miles Davis when he came to Cincinnati back in the early seventies. He said it was 'pretty neat', and thought it was interesting to see Davis play with his back to the audience. I told him that I had heard Davis would play with his back to the audience in certain southern venues to protest racist policies, but another co-worker interjected, saying, no, Davis played with his back to the audience in order to focus, and to support the band. Again, another instance where I could probably dispel any wrong ideas with a quick google search, but, alas, it was a long week.
Oh, and if 'pretty neat' seems like an understated way for my co-worker to explain what it was like to see Miles Davis, please keep in mind that I'm writing from the midwest, where understatement and politeness is the order of the day for suburban liberal types. My co-worker would've probably described being part of a moon mission or meeting Jesus in the same subdued tone.
So, when I tell you it was 'a long week', you probably have a better idea of what I mean.
I saw Miles live in Detroit about (4)- (5) years before he died. Guy played maybe two-dozen notes in (2) hours. But still loved him. No back-turning, but he did point the bell of the horn toward the floor a lot--allegedly for tone. At one point he drank his own spit, which...can't say I expected that. Funny guy
ReplyDeleteI wonder why he drank his own spit. Was it like an Ozzy Osbourne kind of thing?
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