Beware Mr. Baker

"God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as he can."

Ginger Baker


At the age of 74 Ginger Baker gets by on daily handfuls of anti-depressants, stomach pills and pain killers. He has a morphine inhaler, for Christ sake. If I had a morphine inhaler I could better tolerate my job. He also smokes three packs a day. In his life he has broken most of his ribs, mangled one of his arms and had his front teeth smashed in. He has been diagnosed with a degenerative spine condition and the onset of emphysema.



In 1966, rock's first super group was formed. Cream. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker. Ginger was the drummer/madman.

They all had histories and reputations prior to Cream and when they formed the band the music world was blown away.

In 1962 there was a well respected group of musicians in England called Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, which featured Jack Bruce on bass. Ginger Baker replaced Charlie Watts in that group. Rock drummer royal lineage, although both men were heavily influenced by jazz. But you get the point.

Great story: One day Mick Jagger stopped by to perform with the group. Ginger Baker: "This effeminate little kid showed up, and I hated him. He was a musical moron." Baker and Bruce picked on Jagger, throwing in complicated jazz licks to confuse him.

Baker and Bruce went on to form the Graham Bond Organization. Pete Brown, poet and Cream lyricist says "what the Beatles were to the public, the Graham Bond Organization was to musicians."

And of course by this time Eric Clapton was already being celebrated with graffiti reading "Clapton Is God."

That is the magnitude of what Cream was.

The really cool thing about them was they were a power trio that emphasized instruments over vocals. In other words it was all about the music and they were devoted. Clapton said their devotion to the music was unfettered, extreme and beautiful with no outside distractions.

They imploded in 1968.

By the way I did not know Cream had a lyricist. I thought all the lyrics were written by Clapton/Bruce/Baker. I am just finding this out in 2013. How does this happen?

I watched a documentary last Tuesday night called Beware Mr. Baker. Ginger Baker now lives in a gated compound in South Africa with a sign just inside the gate that says Beware Mr. Baker, which is a fitting warning because this man is one of a kind.

A fearless, I am who I am, madman who has lived life at warp speed, made and lost fortunes and keeps on going.

The documentary was so powerful I had to watch it again on Monday morning, which coincidentally marked Ginger Bakers 74th birthday.

He was a close friend of Jimi Hendrix. When Hendrix died, Baker decided it was time to get clean so he took off for Africa to immerse himself in African drumming. His trip across the African desert and his residence in that country is legendary. He settled in Nigeria, set up Africa's first 16 track recording studio, and was accepted and respected by Africa's drummers.

That's how talent works.

Baker has a knack for blowing up his own life, and when things went bad in Africa he returned to England for a while. Instead of playing with Clapton he was selling drugs at the studio where Clapton was recording.

When that blew up he moved to Italy to get into olive farming. Then he moved to LA to take a shot at acting. Then he moved to Colorado where he could raise his polo ponies, a sport he became passionate about in Africa. Eventually he moved back to S.Africa and bought a farm. That fell apart and he settled in Tulbagh, S. Africa. He was forced to sell that property, his horses and his Range Rover and I do not know where he is now.

I hope he settles in my basement.

The documentary opens up with video of Baker poking the interviewer in the face with his cane. Drawing blood. The interviewer was going to contact people for the special who Baker did not want contacted. Baker responded rather directly.

He is consistently described by musicians as a virtuoso madman, the red headed madman and a force of nature, which is supremely evident when you watch him play. He is also described as the pioneer rock drummer for whom there was no context, no archetype.

The father of the drum solo.

When the names John Bonham and Keith Moon are brought up, Baker is immediately dismissive. Bonham and Moon were considered rock drummer Gods. When their names are mentioned to Clapton he is immediately dismissive as well saying they were not even close to being in Baker's league.

Watching footage of him playing in this documentary convinces me that Clapton and Baker are being honest.

And his eyes. My God, those eyes. So many shots of those eyes wide open with lunatic glee.

I was thinking about the gated compound thing. Hunter S. Thompson lived in what he called his fortified compound. Owl Farm in Woody Creek, CO. I think some people are so supremely talented that they must exist alone. Mere humans cannot engage them.

Although their existences were different. HST's compound was a social affair, always teeming with writers, actors, politicians, intellectuals, madmen and partyers. But ultimately it was his refuge. Baker is protecting himself from the world and from soul-less idiots.

Still, there is a common thread there.

At the age of 14 Baker was blown away by an album called The Quintet Of The Year, also known as The Massey Hall concert. A live recording of the only time that Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus and Max Roach played together.

Unbelievable.

That triggered his addiction to music and virtuosity.

Phil Seaman, a talented British jazz drummer was his next influence, teaching Baker technique and turning him on to African drumming. He also turned him on to heroin which Baker said made him fearless so he could play with the wild abandon that he did.

At one point Baker, with tears in his eyes, describes Clapton as "The best friend I've got on this planet and always will be."

He says the four major influences on his playing were Elvin Jones, Phil Seaman, Art Blakey and Max Roach. He says they all became dear friends and "that is worth more to me than anything in the world." Again, he says this with tears rolling down his cheeks.

My point is he comes across as a crotchety old bastard in this documentary but there is sensitivity there. No one knows what makes a human what they are and no one is qualified to judge.

Then again when the interviewer asks if he considers himself a tragic hero Baker says: "Tragic hero? Why don't you go on with the interview and stop trying to be an intellectual dickhead."

Beautiful.

Ginger Baker organized  drum battles with his heroes and they are mind blowing to watch. Two drummers playing against each other and eventually with each other. Virtuoso percussion exquisiteness.

When Baker returned from Africa nobody wanted to play with him. He was shunned. So much so that he placed an add in a music magazine saying "drummer looking for work."

His son said in the documentary that Baker should never have had a family. That without a family he could have focused everything on the music and that he wasn't much of a dad. His son plays drums and they have played together a lot, but at one point Baker told his son that he just doesn't have it, he'll never be as good as his father and he should pack it in.

His first three wives alternate between affection and exasperation when talking about him. Even his current wife, when asked if Baker is a good step dad to her kids hesitates for a very long moment before answering yes.

A complicated man emotionally.

In 2005 Cream played reunion concerts at the Royal Albert Hall which were legendary. Baker earned upwards of $5 million for the concerts and promptly blew it on 24 polo ponies that he had flown from England to S. Africa.

The man complains about being eternally broke, but he is his own worst enemy.

Near the end you see Baker in his stable and it is a gentle and a tender scene. He says: "Horses don't let you down, nor do dogs (he owns many dogs). They all know who I am."

That says it all to me.

By the way, when Baker bloodied the interviewer's nose he was pissed. He says "Ginger Baker just hit me in the fucking nose" and you see him screaming at Ginger.

But later on upon reflection he says: "This just proves that the madman is still alive and well. Beware."

Johnny Rotten says something along the lines of: "If being unsociable is what is required for Ginger Baker's music to be as good as it is than so be it. If you can't understand that, it is your problem."

I was all over the place with these words. I didn't get across what I wanted to get across but that is indicative of the kind of life this man has lived. It is sprawling, it is epic, it is legendary.

Twisted as he is, he is an inspiration.