MICHAEL HEDGES DOING BUFFALO STANCE: CLASSIC OR DUD?

got into an argument last night with a friend over who was better, michael hedges or john fahey. for some reason.
my friend (a pro guitarist) haaaaates john fahey, loves michael hedges. give me a break.

I liked Hedges a lot in my teens, for some reason there was always concert footage of him on this one MPLS-STPL cable channel. Sorta completely forgot he existed! Though I remember sadness when I heard he died.

From what I recall he would probably be too fonky for modern sensibilities...

I heard his version of A Love Bizarre before I heard Sheila E's...still not sure which I like more.

there was always concert footage of him on this one MPLS-STPL cable channel

I remember this too! Was honestly never aware he died.

iirc Michael Hedges and Michael Hutchence died within just a couple weeks.

Back in college, the concert board put on a show of his (around 1991-2?). No one on the staff was interested or excited and it was pretty poorly attended (like 200 people in an auditorium with a capacity of ~1000). I was standing a couple feet away from him when he started stomping on the floor backstage (without warning, really) then began playing for a few seconds then walked out (still stomping), which was totally dorky and eyeroll-inducing. But within like two songs, he proceeded to win everyone over...it was an incredible show. The album I'd heard at the time (Taproot) did him no justice, since a cassette could never capture the energy and good vibes he emitted. And, really, he was super nice. It's really cool when you are surprised by a concert, and he completely won over even the hipster-est of the hipsters.

I hadn't listened to him since that show, but remember being super sad when I'd heard he died. He toured constantly, right? And obviously loved what he did for a living.

Oh, and to tylerw's friend's point -- I literally fell asleep when I'd seen Fahey play a couple years later. He was doing the electric slide thing at the time and it was after Jim O'Rourke. I was on a couch at the Empty Bottle and...totally conked out for at least 15 minutes. And I'm a fan!

I passed on seeing him live once at a festival because Emmylou Harris was playing at the same time. I figured I'd catch him at some point because he did tour so much. That was the summer of 1997. He died that December.

ha, yeah, i don't care one way or another, it was just that this friend of mine gets all "you wanna hear the way an acoustic guitar SHOULD sound, listen to Michael Hedges!" and i don't really want the acoustic guitar to sound like that all the time.

Oh, and to tylerw's friend's point -- I literally fell asleep when I'd seen Fahey play a couple years later. He was doing the electric slide thing at the time and it was after Jim O'Rourke. I was on a couch at the Empty Bottle and...totally conked out for at least 15 minutes. And I'm a fan!

― john. a resident of chicago., Wednesday, August 24, 2011 12:22 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

I was at that show too. He was playing an electric dobro on his lap, doing the slide thing, and using delay. I thought it was completely stunning. I hadn't heard much Fahey prior to that show, but it still sticks out in my mind as an incredible performance.

But Bernhard Günter's set (either than night or the next), THAT was when I fell asleep on the Empty Bottle's couch.