Due to the release of what is supposed to be the final final unheard cache of Jimi Hendrix recordings, People, Hell & Angels, worldwide interest has been stirred in a tantalizing bit of memorabilia currently residing in the collection of the Hard Rock Cafe in Prague: A 1969 telegram from Jimi Hendrix inviting Paul McCartney to record with him, Miles Davis and jazz drummer Tony Williams in New York.

The telegram, seen below, was sent to the Apple offices in London on October 21, 1969:

“We are recording and LP together this weekend in New York STOP How about coming in to play bass STOP call Alan Douglas 212-581 2212.

Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams.”

Imagine that…

Beatles aide Peter Brown replied on Macca’s behalf, informing Hendrix that McCartney was on vacation and would not return for another two weeks (This was around the height of the “Paul is dead” rumor and a pissed-off McCartney was holed up with his family on his farm in Scotland trying to escape that mess).
 

 
Below, The Jimi Hendrix Experience covers “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band”(I think just two days after it was released and with more than one Beatle in attendance)—this is probably as close as we’ll ever get to knowing what this supergroup might’ve sounded like:
 

 
Thank you kindly, Michael Simmons!

 
By now you’ll have probably heard Luna Lee’s cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” on the gayageum. Now have a listen to Luna’s scintillating version of Stevie Ray Vaughan‘s classic “Scuttle Buttin’”.  Ooft.
 

 
With thanks to Woody Mcmillan
 

 
This Devo video used to be widely known, but the Jimi Hendrix estate refused to allow it to be used after a certain point, saying it was insulting to Jimi (which it kind of is, I can see why they think that, but still, why deprive the world of this greatness?!). I used to have it on Laserdisc, but when that same collection came out on DVD, this clip—one of the best things on it—was missing.

From an interview with Devo’s Gerald Casale in Ear Candy:

Ear Candy: Speaking of de-evolution, why didn’t the Hendrix estate give you permission to put the “Are U Experienced” video on the DVD?

Gerald Casale: Further de-evolution. You understand that the consortium of people that now represent the Hendrix estate are basically run by lawyers; the lawyer mentality. Lawyers always posit the worst-case scenarios. Though that video was loved for years by anybody who saw it including the man who commissioned it—Chuck Arroff—a luminary in the music business who still claims to this day that it was one of his five most favorite videos ever; they [the lawyers] didn’t get it and assumed we were making fun of Jimi. That’s like saying “Whip It” makes fun of cowboys. This is so stupid it’s unbelievable.”

This high budget clip, one of only two Devo promos to be shot on 35mm film, was produced by group and Rev. Ivan Stang, founder of The Church of the Subgenius. I especially like the part where Mark Mothersbaugh has the big eyes of Margaret Keane’s paintings. Apparently this particular video also marked the first use of the “morphing” video effect.
 

 
We’ve featured this footage of Jimi Hendrix in the past here on DM and it’s one of my favorites, so I thought I’d share it again on the occasion of Hendrix’s 70th birthday.

Royal Albert Hall. February 24, 1969.
 

 
This image of Jimi Hendrix playing the accordion in his boxers has been making the rounds on Facebook for about a week. In fact,  Weird Al Yankovic tweeted it yesterday quipping: “In case you ever needed proof that Jimi Hendrix was cool.”

I’m 99.9% certain it’s a photoshop job, but it’s still fun.

 
As you know, we’re fans of The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix, and we were quite delighted to see this amazing photograph posted by Micky Dolenz on his FB page. As he explains:

‘This is one of my personal photos from The Monkees 1967 World Tour…In honor of the 45th anniversary of the first concert that Jimi Hendrix appeared with The Monkees~

And what a concert that must have been.
 
Via Micky Dolenz
 

 
Reportedly this photo was taken some time in September of 1970, right before Hendrix passed away.

Via If Charlie Parker Was A Gunslinger

 
This sloppy, yet powerful set from The Jimi Hendrix Experience was recorded live at the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden on January 9th, 1969.

Killing Floor
Spanish Castle Magic
Magic Fire
Hey Joe
Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Red House
Sunshine of Your Love

Hendrix dedicates the performance to the American military deserters.
 

Jimi Hendrix at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival by Linda McCartney

On Friday September 18, 1970, Frank Reynolds announced:

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience is over. The acid rock musician died today in a London hospital, apparently from an overdose of drugs. During his short career, Hendrix flailed his electric guitar into some of the most unusual sounds of an unusual music. A report now from ABC’s Gregory Jackson.”

Interesting to note that the footage shot by ABC of The Jimi Hendrix Experience onstage at the Miami Pop Festival in May of 1968, seen here, apparently only shows up in this news report. It’s considered one of the “holy grails” by Hendrix bootleg collectors.

According to a fan who diligently tried to track the footage down, it’s been listed as “lost” in the ABC archives since 1973, along with a host of other unseen footage that the network shot of Hendrix, perhaps even some of the legendary Electric Ladyland sessions. Tragic!
 

 
McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters born ninety-nine years ago today, at Jug’s Corner, Issaquena County, Mississippi. The legendary Father of Chicago Blues and influence on artists from Jimi Hendrix to The Rolling Stones, Angus Young to Led Zeppelin

Muddy Waters had always wanted to be a great musician, as he once told writer Charles Shaar Murray for the N.M.E. in 1977:

“....ever since I can remember, this is what I wanted to be. Something outstanding. If I couldn’t make it in music, I’d be a big preacher, a great ball player.

“I didn’t want to grow up with no one knowin’ me but the neighborhood people. I wanted the world to know a lot about me. I thank God I got it through…”

Nearly thirty years after his death, Waters is still as relevant, and as important, as Murray summed up back in 1977:

“The reason that Muddy Waters is still a great and not just an honored ancestor, a museum grandaddy, is that no one can do it like Muddy Waters.

And somehow I don’t think anyone will.”

And here’s the proof, Muddy Waters at the Blues Summit in Chicago from 1974, with Dr. John, Michael Bloomfield, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and many more.
 

 
Bonus clip from ‘Beat Club’ 1970, after the jump…
 

 
Here’s something quite special…Burning Of The Midnight Lamp promo from 1968.

I’m on a little bit of a Hendrix roll. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in a psychedelic frame of mind lately and this Hendrix video is quite trippy.
 

 
Jimi Hendrix, Alfred E. Neuman and a foxy lady (no, it’s not Kate Pierson’s mom).

 
Illustration by Craig Swanson and idea by James Cennamo.

With thanks to Olin Monty!

 
Vancouver radio deejay and TV personality Jack Webster interviews Jimi Hendrix’s paternal grandmother Nora in 1968.

At the very beginning of the interview, she describes seeing her grandson perform for the first time at the Vancouver Pacific Coliseum earlier that year.

It’s unfortunate that Webster steers the conversation in the direction of Hendrix’s drug use. I personally would have preferred to hear more of Mrs. Hendrix’s amusing take on the Vancouver concert.

“The way he was picking that guitar. I don’t see how he could stand all that noise.”

“I knew he was musical, but I didn’t know he had that much music in him.”

Mrs. Hendrix had a musical background herself, having spent her youth in a touring vaudeville troupe as a dancer. Years later, she co-founded the Vancouver branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She died in 1984 at the age of 100.
 

 
Jimi and Band Of Gypsies play a scorching version of “Fire” on New Year’s Eve 1969 at the Fillmore in New York City.

Buddy Miles on drums. Billy Cox playing bass.

Happy New Year!