Ben Harper "Voodoo Child"

The Life Is Good Festival happens in Canton, MA this weekend. So this week's blog posts feature artists appearing on the bill.

I already knew Ben Harper was hungry.

He’d made it through a whole receiving line of fans, and had been extremely engaged and generous with his time, with each of the Meet-and-Greeters. He’s one of those guys who makes full, sincere eye-contact and seems to shut out the rest of the world when he’s talking to you.

But when he got to me, his Record Label rep, said “PJ is here to interview you,” and you could see him sink just a little bit, knowing that it’d be another 10 minutes or so before he’d get that burrito.

I was young. I was nervous. I had a list of questions. And I now know from experience, they were questions he’d answered 1,000 times before.

He was patient. He was kind. He tried to answer thoughtfully. And I now know from experience, that when he was asked the obvious question about Jimi Hendrix, he was on auto-pilot.

I asked him about his recent cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” and what was it about that particular Hendrix tune that drew him to it.

He talked about what a great and challenging song it is. Then he said:

“Hendrix had a lot to say about fantasy, fiction and . . . . . .”

He lost his train of thought.

“Fantasy, fiction and . . . . . .“

Nope, still not there.

“Fantasy, fiction and . . . life.”

In retrospect, I’m sure Ben had a great, stock line about Jimi Hendrix in his back pocket.

But the “. . . . . .” was mind wandering off to the food court. He couldn’t say “fantasy, fiction and burritos” so instead his mental gears ground to a halt.

So I jumped to the end of my list and asked him the obligatory question about “the next album,” thanked him for his time and let him go.

By this time, I was hungry myself.

Ben Harper And The Relentless 7 perform this weekend at the Life Is Good Festival.

Ben Harper "Burn One Down"

Do you ever meet someone new, and they just don't quite get your sense of humor?

It happens to me quite a bit. Maybe I'm just too dry or deadpan. But sometimes I'll crack a joke to a complete stranger or someone I've just met, and I think I'm funny. And I find myself on the receiving end of look that says, "Is this guy kidding or serious?"

I was backstage at a post show Meet & Greet with Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals. It was going to be my first big interview ever.

There were about 20 Fan Club members backstage too, all waiting for Ben to come out, to sign autographs. To try to not think too much about how I might screw this interview up, I tried chatting up the Innocent Criminals, who were quite warm and friendly.

But they were also very, very hungry. And itchy to eat.

They'd arrived at the Festival a little late, and hadn't had time to eat anything before their performance, and now they were ravenous, and ready to blow out of the Fan scene and have a late, late lunch.

We were not far from the food concourse, and the drummer was looking over the fence at the Lunch trucks.

"I can't wait to burn down a burrito," he said, to no one in particular.

"Oh," I picked up his thought. "Is that what 'Burn One Down' is about? Burritos?"

He just looked at me. He thought about answering, and then he just left my stupid/hilarious/ambiguous comment die there in the Meet & Greet courtyard.

Do you think this song is about Burritos? Or something else?