Jimi Hendrix was probably the first rock artist that I developed emotional relationship towards. I was not fully aware of Hendrix until after he died, at which time I was three years old. My Father was a high school teacher in Shenandoah, Iowa, a small town in the southwestern section of the state. Shenandoah is where the Everly Brothers started their career, as they were quite an attraction on the town’s radio station.One of Dad’s students was so moved by Hendrix’s death that he made a very simple and subtle screen print of the guitarist’s profile. Underneath the lofty afro, the artist had blocked out the letters “Jimi,” just in case the viewer was unfamiliar with Jimi’s freak-flag mane.
I was so enamored with this display of artistic praise that I started to ask my Father about this character named Jimi. He explained that the subject was a famous guitarist that was so good that he could play guitar behind his back and with his teeth. He went on to explain, in no great detail, that the guitar player had just died and that the teenager wanted to express his memory of the musician.
The picture, which is much more amateurish than what you’re probably envisioning right now, held court on the walls of my bedroom for at least a decade after I asked Dad if I could have the print.
With my first piece of rock memorabilia now on my bedroom wall, I bugged the old man enough times that he bought me the Reprise Records’ “Back to Back Hits” single of “Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady.”
That led that led to Are You Experienced? and, well sir, I was pretty much done from then on. The elaborate psychedelic cover, the stark black and white photo on the back cover, the slowed down voice on “Third Stone From The Sun,” it all freaked my four year old mind out.
About the same time, my parents decided that they should test my Hendrix attraction by introducing a kid’s acoustic guitar for Christmas. Immediately, I picked it up, left-handed, and attempted to play it. I was immediately corrected and shown the proper way to hold the guitar.
It didn’t matter; Jimi was so far in my head that he’d fucked with my circuitry. To this day, I write with my right hand while instinctively play guitar with my left hand. This has made any idea of professional instruction worthless; any chords that I do know were made from plain-old dicking around.
The tragedy about Hendrix’s death is the potential that he had and the relatively little output that he released during his lifetime. Curiously, he was notoriously documented and I continue to be a relentless collector of these endless posthumous releases. Occasionally, I’ll come across something new to add to the regal regard that I already have for him. More often, it’s just a side effect of hero-worship and the illogical need to possess every single recorded piece of his legacy.
James Marshall Hendrix would have turned 65 years old today,
2 comments:
My intro to James Marshall was a bit weird... sometimes it's the end result, not the means, which matters. I'd loved Sting's "Little Wing" from Nothing Like The Sun, and being a good musicologist, wanted to know more. I discovered it was Hendrix, heard his version on a library's LP copy of The Essential Jimi Hendrix, dug it, purchased the twofer cassette of Are You Experienced and Axis, and that was all she wrote, my friend. Thanks, Jimi; you were one of the greats.
Seriously, I have ALWAYS thought that you were left handed since I never paid attention to you if you were writing something but always paid attention when you picked up a guitar or tennis racket. You learn something new every day, very cool.
Post a Comment