RIP Buddy Miles

Buddy Miles got me into collecting records. I think I first became aware of Buddy Miles when I picked up a copy of "Expressway to Your Skull" at the Ashby flea market in Berkeley. I got the record based on Jimi Hendrix's liner notes, and was pretty blown away when I first dropped the needle on the wax. My next Buddy Miles record had to be his live album with Santana. At that time, Jimi Hendrix's drummer and Carlos Santana live in a Hawaiian volcano was my shit. To me, that was the power of vinyl. That wasn't a record you'd come across when browsing CDs. Back in 1994 I didn't even know if Buddy Miles was alive. Meanwhile, I scooped up every Buddy Miles record I came across. Eventually, while going to SFSU, I taught myself HTML by putting together a Buddy Miles website complete with a flame boarder and lots of blinking text. I even contacted his manager and tried to make it official.

I got a chance to see Buddy around '98 at the Maritime Hall here in San Francisco. I think the show was during the week and there weren't too many people, but everyone in attendance was a fan. I was a little surprised to see how big he was and how hard it seemed for him to walk. At one point, I remember some guy handing Buddy a big nug of bud. Buddy picked it out of his hand, put it in his shirt pocket, and said, "Thank You."

In remembrance of Buddy, I'm sharing two tracks that I picked up solely because of him. First is John Mclaughlin's "Marbles" and "Sirens" from the only John Mclaughlin album I own. Carlos and Buddy covered those tracks in that Hawaiian volcano. Secondly, I'm sharing a track from Funkadelic's album "Hardcore Jollies". Buddy plays drums on "Coming Round The Mountain." This is the only track I'm aware of that Buddy did with George Clinton and crew. I could only imagine what that recording session was like.

RIP
Marbles/Sirens by John Mclaughlin from Devotion
Coming Round the Mountain by Funkadelic from Hardcore Jollies