Love Potion Number Nine

Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted...

I knew this guy...well, I didn't know him. I knew of him. Regardless, I liked him. I respected him. I wanted to be like him. I entertained the thought (this was long before I was actually going to have a kid) of eventually naming my kid after him, based on my admiration for what he did and how he did it. He just seemed like a really cool dude (actually, he still does). He is Lenny Kravitz.

I (like most of you, I'm sure) was first introduced to Kravitz in the early- to mid-90's with "Are You Gonna Go My Way". It was a pretty good song. He looked amazingly cool playing his Flying-V guitar in the circular room with people dancing all around and all the way up the balconies while he shook his dreadlocks about1.

Over the next few years, of course, he released more singles. Some were smooth, slow jams. Some still had the upbeat rock and roll element. I was also introduced to music that he made before the aforementioned break-out hit. It was all good, too. Somewhere along the way, it came to my attention that while Kravitz has a band he tours with, he records all (or at least most) of the instruments on the albums himself. The guitars, bass, drums, pianos, lead and backup vocals....all him.

I admired the crap out of that. It made me appreciate Kravitz more than the casual fan, I think. That was always something I have always wanted to do. I could easily handle the instrument-playing part of it. I just wasn't good at the song-writing aspect.

As the years rolled by, I bought a few of his albums here and there, and over time I slowly started to lose the appreciation. Everything I heard was slightly less impressive than the previous effort. The last album I bought was Baptism. There was not one song on that album that tickled my fancy. I think that last album was what sealed the deal. It was the final nail in the coffin. We had drifted apart, Lenny and me, and at that point that I realized it was over between the two of us. As a result, I still feel slightly disappointed - even when I hear one of his songs that I like - just because I know it will never be the same.

I wish him the best. He still seems over-the-top cool as a person. As a songwriter and a musician, though, we're just in different places2. Maybe we can still be friends.

1 The red suede vest with tails that flowed all the way to his feet, along with the platform high-heeled boots, I could have done without. I do, however, understand that while those things sound silly (and looked silly), it did fit the image that the video portrayed - a band whose coolness is stuck between "hippie" and "rock star". It didn't fit the (flannel shirt, ripped jeans, messy hair, "I-care-so-much-about-making-it-look-like-I-don't-care-what-I-look-like) style of the era, but still it seemed completely natural at the time. That was one thing Lenny Kravitz was (and still is) always good at doing...dressing to look cool, despite not dressing like anyone else.

2 His place being rich and famous and my place being in a sign shop.