Acid-free rock

>> '60s survivor Frank Marino isn't a reincarnation of Hendrix. Or a tree, for that matter

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

At the helm of Mahogany Rush, guitarist Frank Marino played the famous California Jam and Texas Jam in the '70s and the Monsters of Rock Festival in the '80s. It seemed that this Montrealer was being tailored for immortal rock status but then just dropped off the radar in the grunge-laden '90s.

Chalk it up to hydroponic pot, the Gap's latest line of embroidered denim, or just the new breed of youth hooked on hippydom, but Marino is returning to the stage poised to release a new album, Eye of the Storm, largely to an audience that have never even seen him before.

People with an itchin' for extended guitar solos and "jam-outs" have logged over 80,000 hits on his Web page, and if that's not enough proof of his new success, his upcoming show at the Spectrum will play host to hundreds of people flying in from all over the U.S., Sweden, Denmark, Japan and Italy to celebrate his return.

"It really blows my mind," says Marino, "that these people are taking time and money out to come see my coming-out show. We are going to be having a special party for these people just to say, 'thanks for coming.' I still can't believe it."

Riding on the crest of success of bands like Phish and Gov't Mule, and fellow old-schooler Carlos Santana, Marino's brand of new psychedelia seems to have arrived at just the right time. "In the early days it was really about the 12-minute esoteric psychedelic acid rock jam thing, and I've kind of returned to that format because it's just natural for me. I'm not trying to be somebody I'm not. I'm a guy from the '60s."

The '60s thing has been with Marino throughout his entire career, for better or for worse. The now-famous story that Marino has been unable to shake throughout his career was perpetrated by a journalist at Creem magazine. Up there with the "Stevie Nicks taking cocaine up the ass" myth, the legend goes that Marino figured himself to be Hendrix reincarnated. But Marino, who is now a committed Christian, insists that this Creem journalist was just smoking some bad banana peels. "I'm so sick of that story because it makes no sense. Somebody said I took over the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, which is ridiculous. It's been really detrimental, because people just think I'm a Hendrix knockoff. It makes me feel like an Elvis impersonator."

Alright, he's not Hendrix, but the million-dollar question is, "Are you still dosin', dude?'"

"I did huge amounts of acid in the '60s but I haven't touched anything, including alcohol, since 1968, because I got really screwed up on it. I mean, how do you think I came up with the band name Mahogany Rush? I was actually talking about the rush of turning into a tree--that's how screwed up I was!" :

At the Spectrum on Friday, June 2, 8pm, $23.50+taxes