So you have some diverse passions—music, film, etc. Where does baseball fall into that?

Baseball, to me, is just a mystical, magical game. It makes no sense. The defense has the ball, and if you get me and you and seven other people, and put in Clayton Kershaw—we’ll win. We’ll win half the games, you know? Pitching is the game. Also, it’s divided by nines and threes—nine men, three outs, sixty feet, ninety feet, and it’s a game of infinite time. It can go on forever. I find it incredible—the ultimate chess game. It’s funny that people, you know, they see it and they don’t go into the depth of it. I’ll take somebody to a ball game, and I’ll say, “Watch, we’ll see something today that hasn’t been done before,” and it happens every game. Just some little thing you’ll never see. The ball will get lost under first base. It’s so fascinating to me. And it’s not a combat sport. No one knows the game, I’m convinced. No one really knows what to do. You’ve got to look four innings ahead. You’ve got to be a genius to really manage and pull it off. The Cubs almost lost the World Series because of terrible management, I thought. Terrible. They’ll win again because there’s so much talent.

Who were you most excited to see this year at Jam Cruise?

The Meters, more than anybody in the world. I’ve known George since ’64. They’re the best band that’s ever lived as far as rock bands. I mean, the tunes they wrote, everybody ripped them off. Everybody is influenced by them. They’re my favorite rock band of all time. They’re The Meters. There’s nothing better. They never got their due, never.

And this kid Washington, Kamasi Washington. He really takes some chances. I need that. That’s what I grew up on. That was my thing, 50 years ago. I got to hear all the masters. I was in New York, and it was just unbelievable. New York ’67—John Coltrane, Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker, Skip James, Son House, George Carlin—all of it was a dollar. Everybody. Those days are gone.

Nothing is a dollar in New York anymore, that’s for sure.

I lived there in the ‘60s—three different places. I remember I paid $28 a month and never locked my door. Never locked it. I lived on 34 W. 9th for a year, and today, if you don’t lock your door… [Laughs] It was a different world, man. I feel sorry for you guys. You know, the inncence is gone. You’re born into it—everything is thievery and lies. I’m all for mythocracy at all times, but have some laugher in it, you know? [Laughs]

Who would you want to see, dead or alive, who you’ve never seen?

It’s gotta be Hendrix.

I got to play with him twice and see him about six times. He was smokin’.

What was he like to play with?

We were on the Atlanta Pop Festival. I just did a movie, it’s called Electric Church, this Jimi Hendrix movie. I think it’s out now. I was interviewed about it. He would not quit talking about Blind Willie McTell. And I lived on the street where Blind Willie McTell lived, and he was so enthralled by him. I told him that [Willie] worked at this barbecue place, and I saw him, but I didn’t know who he was. We ate there every Sunday. And there was Blind Willie McTell. I had no idea—I was 12. But I know I saw him. Hendrix was just was the nicest, lowest-key cat in the world. And I know Billy Cox well, his bass player. He tells me stories that are just hilarious. They were crazy. To me, [Hendrix] said, “Man, on my best night, I’m just a bad Freddie King!” That’s really humble, man. He was very humble. He had no idea how good he was. And you know what? He was gonna go record with Miles and Sun Ra, which would’ve been amazing. But Miles was putting a band together with McCartney, Jack DeJohnette, and Jimi Hendrix. And McCartney swears he never got the text, or the morse code. He said he would’ve done it. And that would’ve been the super-band of all time.

I don’t even know what that would’ve been.

[Laughs] Well there’s no given. You got four Michael Jordans on one team—you can’t win. Who knows if the chemistry would be, right? And Jack playing drums. I mean, Jack can play funk—he can do anything—but I wonder what he’d play in that situation, with McCartney play-ing bass, you know? It would’ve been something. It’s rumored, always. I don’t know if that’s true—it could be urban legend. But I’ve heard it so long, and so many times, I believe it to be true. “If it sounds good, it’s true.”—Donald Trump. [Laughs] Lincoln was wrong you can fool all the people all the time.

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