Eric Clapton and his music

Q: You have three young daughters.

A: All under the age of six. I also have an older daughter who is 22, and she's fine, established in her life. And these young ones, they are very angelic and they are very distracting. For this festival, they left me alone for two weeks, home on my own so I could work on stuff. Beyond trying to play anything coherent, I just sat there with an electric guitar and practiced bending [the strings]. Because otherwise I don't play at home unless I'm amusing them.

Q: You've also managed to get Robbie Robertson out of hiding this weekend. You went to play with The Band at their house in Woodstock in 1968. How did that go?

A: Robbie and I first met at a friend's house in [Los Angeles in the '60s], and I knew that I met someone that I would want to know through my life. He was a serious guy, a great musician. He was out there in some respect, and I wanted to be around him, and see what was going on. We went up there [to Woodstock, N.Y., where Robertson and the Band lived in 1968]. I met with the guys. They didn't play. They showed me around Big Pink, their clubhouse. Maybe they jammed a little bit, I don't think we did anything serious. It was more getting to know one another. And through the years Robbie and I have stayed in touch, and played on a few things. At one point we tried to collaborate to write in the early '90s. We spent a couple of months woodshedding; there are loose ends there. So Robbie coming to play is a good way for us to get in tune again. George Harrison was very similar to Robbie in some respects. They obviously love music, but it's a very divergent appreciation. [They also love] movies, literature. And playing live is not very much a part of his life. And it was the same with George. George found it in the end very difficult to approach the live stage. And I'm not sure how Robbie feels about that. But if he's anything like me, I'm sure he has a yearning for it. There is that thing in all of us. There's something that comes off with the night, the stage, the audience. As much as you rehearse, it's all an act of God.

Q: Yet I'm amazed you sit in with the Band, and nothing musical came of it?

A: We were all having too much fun. There was no one around. At that time, it seemed to me there was no one in control of the Band. That was another thing that appealed to me about them, and the way they ran their affairs, was that apart from Albert [Grossman] in the background there, I don't know who their manager was. They made their decisions. They were grown-ups. I still felt I was in and around other musicians who were led where they were supposed to go. We really weren't in control of our own destinies. The Band appealed to me because they seemed to know what they wanted to know. And they were like men. In the same way the blues guys were men. And I wanted to be a man. Through the late '60s and early '70s, I'd see those guys on tour, and we’d get up and sing and play with them, and hang out. It was never taken very seriously.

Q: Did you enjoy "The Last Waltz" [the Band’s farewell concert in 1976, in which Clapton, Bob Dylan and a host of greats performed]?

A: I did, yeah. A fantastic event. I loved it.

Q: The backstage scene must have been unbelievable.

A: Unbelievable. The wildest party I'd ever seen. And everybody there was the right people to be there. There wasn’t anybody there where you went, "Who invited him?" Most of the things I've been to, there are maybe two people I want to see, and there are a lot of people I want to hide from. But everybody there… it was great, great meeting.

Q: Was the music up to snuff?

A: For me, Muddy [Waters] and Van [Morrison] steal the show. Van doing ["Caravan"] with the leg kicks. Some of the greatest live music you'll ever see.

Q: I take it you've seen the movie?

A: [Laughs]

Q: Did the movie match up with your experience?

A: I have to say I was pretty off my head. I think a lot of us were. But the music stood up. The Band had their chops up. And whoever was off their head, it didn’t show, because they put it together so well.

Q: You brought Cream full circle [with the 2005 reunion tour]. Is there anything more going on with you and that band?

A: I never close the door on anything. There is always going to be a valid reason to re-approach things, as long as everyone is alive. What if I went bankrupt and I was on the skids? I'd kind of hope that one of those two guys would say, "Let’s put together a benefit for Eric." So there’s always going to be a reason to go back to it.

Q: But you don't see any new music being done with Cream?

A: No, I don't. Because my selfish reasons are that after doing this here in Chicago, I don’t want to do anything for a while. Robbie and I will probably kick some things around. And that probably won't even start till next year. I really want to be with my family for a couple of years. And if I've got something left to say … I'll probably go on the road again. But I don't want to make any plans now.

Q: The music industry must be depressing to you now, though.

A: I think it's finished. I think it's had its day. I don't buy CDs anymore either. It's gotten to a middle ground for me now, where the things I found really interesting from the past, they're hard to find. You can get only a certain amount on iTunes, and you can't get vinyl. It's obsolete. I don't know where it's going and I don't care. Because as far as I can see there has always been a handful of people dedicated to making music with their hands, and as long as that's alive, I'm happy. I will probably live long enough to see that continue. Maybe that too will die, but I won't be here.

Q: You've done so much to nurture the blues. Do you think it will carry on?

A: Oh, sure. There is no shelf life for that. It's classical music now. It's on another level with the music of the great masters. It's very important. It touches people in a way that classical music touches people. It's on the same level.

Q: But are there new people coming up to keep it going or will it survive only in the recordings?

A: Both. There will be a certain element preserved and enshrined, but as a language it will continue to flourish, because the people who understand the language know how to put it into any kind of music you can play. It's possible to use that root to embellish rock, pop, jazz. It doesn't have to be strictly uniform. It can be applied in different ways.

Q: Would you say that's the key part of your legacy: shedding light on the blues and bringing it forward?

A: It's always been important to me to point out where it comes from, not just music, but anything. I get a little concerned when people don't look back far enough. The punk thing worried me because it was a deliberate attempt to wipe out the past, the roots of music. It was a purely political move. It's dangerous. And I think that's why it was so exciting to people, the kind of revolution it symbolized. Thank God certain people carried on through it and ignored it. In a way it was necessary, but it could've wiped out the origin of where we come from.

Q: But the Chicago blues stuff you admired was pretty punk too, very in your face. They were the punks of their day, in a way.

A: I think Buddy would fit that. But he'd also tell you about all the guys that came before him. The thing with the punk movement was, they didn't want any of that stuff. It was all dead. It was calculated.

Q: What was your response to punk?

A: Stick to your guns and do what you love. Clearly, I was one of the people targeted with "assassination," along with Phil Collins and anyone else popular during that period. The thing to do was to keep going, and believe I was doing the right thing. But I was fearful. I was worried about meeting some of them. There was such antagonism. I’m sure there were people in the middle of it all like Joe Strummer of the Clash who did like the music from before. But I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn't want to meet Johnny Rotten. I didn't want to meet people in confrontation where I’m marked as dead. I was scared. And I've never really understood or was motivated by hatred or anger. Blues when it was played at its most aggressive can be about anger. But it's a much more compassionate setting.

Q: You titled one of your albums "Journeyman," which is a modest way to look at your role in all this. Do you believe that?

A: Yes, it's comfortable. I'm just a water carrier. I like that. It makes sense to me. It's more fun, the responsibility is a little less severe. I'm just trying to turn the light on.

http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2007/07/exclusive-eric-.html

2Primal Scream:

Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival takes place Saturday (28 July) at Toyota Park, in Bridgeville, Illinois. Beginning at 1:30PM EST (10:30AM PST), MSN Music will host a webcast of the event. MSN Music is currently featuring a Q&A with Eric, a festival lineup, and videos from the first festival in 2004.

http://music.msn.com/crossroads
http://music.msn.com/crossroads/interview

Очень интересное интервью. Я бы даже сказал увлекательное. Начал читать и не мог оторваться -- на работе :) Мне особенно понравилось, как он про Блумфилда высказался.

2The Word:
Он про Майка всегда с огромным уважением говорил.

Clapton, pals bring huge guitar show to Bridgeview

July 25, 2007
By Vickie Snow Staff writer
Eric Clapton and 20 of his guitar-playing friends are having a little party in town this weekend.

Only some 28,000 guests have been invited.

The Eric Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival doesn’t happen every year and it isn’t a 30-city tour.

There’s only one festival and this time it’s coming to the Southland.

On Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Clapton will be joined on stage by Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmie Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, Robbie Robertson, Johnny Winter, Albert Lee, Doyle Bramhill II, John McLauhglin, Sonny Landreth and John Mayer.


In addition to blues and rock legends, the fest offers plenty of diversity with Willie Nelson and Vince Gill bringing country to the table and Los Lobos and Robert Randolph & the Family Band providing Tex Mex and danceable tunes.


The ladies aren’t left out either. The lineup also includes Sheryl Crow, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Susan Tedeschi, appearing with the Derek Trucks Band.
Hosted by Bill Murray and presented in partnership with Chicago’s Jam Productions, the second-ever, all-day concert festival is designed as a bit of a free-for-all. Artists will play half-hour sets of their own and join in surprise collaborations.


Clapton and Steve Winwood are likely to pull out “Had to Cry Today” or another track from their 1969 Blind Faith album.


As the risin’ sun is goin’ down at Crossroads, fans also might catch Clapton jamming with Guy, King, Vaughan, Sumlin, Cray and Bramhill II as he did at the first Crossroads Festival in 2004.


“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” festival producer Scooter Weintraub said on the phone from New York recently. “There are going to be spectacular collaborations and a few things you will never see again.”


Musicians will appear from noon to 11 p.m., but he recommends fans show up early.


“It will be organized so the big draws are on early as well as late,” Weintraub said. “They will be showing their faces early on.”


Before the music starts at noon, fans can check out rare guitars, interactive exhibits, demonstrations and performances in the Guitar Village just outside the stadium field.


“We’re really trying to create a festival atmosphere with an old-school ethic,” Weintraub said.


Although the concert is sold out and the main floor is general-admission seating, he expects the “mature, listening-musicians’ crowd” will lend to a more relaxed atmosphere than, say, Lollapalooza.


This year’s festival is a scaled-down version of the first Crossroads Festival, a 3-day affair in Dallas that drew 60,000 fans.


“It was a bit all over the place,” said Weintraub, who also produced that first event. His recording of it is one of the world’s top-selling music DVDs. “It worked but was a bit too sprawling and very expensive.”


To create a more intimate vibe this year, the 28,000-capacity Toyota Park was chosen over larger sites such as Grant Park or Soldier Field.


“We looked all over and Toyota Park just seemed right,” Weintraub said. “It’s the right size. And the energy feels more contained than a football stadium.”


For the second Crossroads, sweet home Chicago was a logical locale.


“The initial idea was going to be a very blues-based fest,” he said. “Then we broadened it and added jazz, country, rock, Tex Mex.”


Perhaps the summer’s hottest ticket ever, the festival sold out in 14 minutes. A limited number of extra tickets went on sale Friday. Officially sold for $90, tickets were priced at $900 or more via various online sources.


Proceeds from the festival benefit the Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol addiction in Antigua that Clapton opened in 1997. Details about the facility and its programs are available at www.crossroadsantigua.org.

Вообще приятно, что будет Робби Робертсон, который мне очень нра.

2Primal Scream:
Мне тоже. Красивые песни пишет. Они же много лет дружат.

Надеюсь, что выйдет DVD.

2Primal Scream:
Даже и не сомневаюсь!

Очень интересно будет посмотреть.

Фестиваль в полном разгаре, на сцене - Sonny Landreth

Клэптон вышел поджемовать...