Who2 Editorial Blog

Notes and Commentary from the Editors

Saturday, August 01, 2009

The Pineapple-Eatin' Days of Jerry Garcia

We had our two cars in an empty lot in East Palo Alto where they were both broken. Neither of them ran anymore but we were living in them. Hunter had these big tins of crushed pineapple that he'd gotten from the Army, like five or six big tins, and I had this glove compartment full of plastic spoons, and we had this little cooperative scene eating this crushed pineapple day after day and sleeping in the cars and walking around.

He played a little guitar, we started singin' and playin' together just for something to do.

Jerry Garcia, describing his early hippie music days in a great old 1972 interview with Rolling Stone.

Labels: Jerry Garcia

Posted by Mr. Holznagel at 8:00 PM Share on Facebook 0 comments

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Joaquin Phoenix Is Now a Hairy Belafonte

Here's a story we missed in October: Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix told reporters he was giving up acting. His new love? Music.

Following through, he appeared at the Las Vegas nightclub LAVO this weekend for a three-song set, looking like a cross between Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and Microsoft engineer Paul Allen. (Not to be snarky, but also: Bigfoot.)

Early reviews have been, well, mixed.

People.com has a cheery report. E! Online, that hotbed of distinguished rap criticism, calls him "Joke P." and adds, "instead of mad skillz, he brought sad skillz to the mic." The NY Daily News wonders if he's really serious at all: "The ever-present cameras have left many wondering whether Phoenix's foray into music is a drawn-out joke."

Those cameras belong to actor Casey Affleck, who says he's shooting a documentary on Phoenix's new career. That's led to speculation that Phoenix's new career is actually an elaborate, Borat-style deadpan joke.

Judge for yourself: grainy video follows.