Steve Vai – “Blue Powder” (Live At The Astoria)
This video codified in me an appreciation for Steve Vai as a wiley acrobat and aural prestidigitator. It also left me feeling a little sad. He reminds me of a awkward pimple-faced kid at a party – uncomfortable and receding from engaging others. In a corner he finds a guitar. When he picks it up and begins to play he stops the party. All attention is focused on him. He finds this immensely gratifying. When he finishes he gets stroked by kudos almost universally. Then the rest of the party breaks into it’s groups, people re-engage each other. The kid sits alone again. Maybe he drifts off to a room and plays alone with a headphone amp. As he grows as an individual and as a musician, he will lean to engage the other members in his band. Music can be about solo lines – but as soon as the performer appears, the music suffers. I think this person could make music again (he did with Zappa) if he played WITH a band instead of on top of a bed of silk that tickles his ass while he masturbates.
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