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.