Like the Expressway, 60 was Miles Limit

Buddy Miles, who drummed for Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Stevie Wonder, and David Bowie amongst others, died at the age of 60. Miles is credited as one of the first artists to fuse psychedelic rock with soul, blues and jazz, but is best known for "Them Changes," the Buddy Miles Express' 1970 hit.

His career highlight?

"All the shows were bad-ass," Miles told Seconds magazine in 1995. "It was the highlight of my life, and I had a good time playing those shows. That was vintage James Marshall Hendrix."

That's all well and good. But you're probably wondering what's my favorite highlight of his career. Easy. He was a California Freakin' Raisin. Do you know how many raisins exist in the world? Do you know how many made it to the California Raisins? Do you know what the chances are for him to become The Raisin? No... I didn't think you did know...

His finest work:

Asked by Seconds how he would like to be remembered, Miles said: "The baddest of the bad. People say I'm the baddest drummer. If that's true, thank you world."

What does this "bad" talk mean? Fortuitously, President Bush answered that question for us yesterday while honoring the Boston Red Sox:

But I do want to quote him (Manny Ramirez). He said, "When you don't feel good, and you still get hits, that's when you know you're a bad man." (Laughter.) I don't know what that means. (Laughter.) But if bad man means good hitter, he's a really bad man, because he was clutch in the World Series and clutch in the playoffs.

I think we may have misunderestimated Buddy Miles.

[BBC]