Friday, January 29, 2010

Gary Gold on Jimi

Gary Pig Gold on Jimi Hendrix PDF Print E-mail
Written by Gary Pig Gold
Friday, 29 May 2009 18:38

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Believe it or not, the very first "real" concert I was ever allowed to attend as a wee Canadian tyke was The Jimi Hendrix Experience at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, May 3, 1969.

I'd already been a fervent fan for a couple of years, having spent most of my Grade 8 art class making swirly sketches of Jimi in charcoal. Plus the Are You Experienced? album was right up there – almost – with Monkees Headquarters on my 1967 Most-Played List.

Fast-forwarding, Christmastime '68 was spent, between runs down the local tobogganing hill, digging all eight vinyl sides of The White Album AND Electric Ladyland and, most likely as a direct result, my gym-class rhythm section and I were just starting to assemble our very own semi-power trio when word filtered along the groupvine that the Experience were planning to stop by our very neighborhood in a few months as part of their possibly-Farewell World Tour. image
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In a word then? WOW

The Electric Ladland covers - American one with Jimi, the British on Polydor with the naked women, only available in America as an import


My most-trusted pal Ric scored two tickets in the Gardens' nosebleed section and I fibbed to my parents that we were off to a hootenanny (!) for the evening. Yet no sooner had we approached the venue that word began a'buzzin' that our hero had just been busted for carrying a batch of non- pharmaceutical mood enhancers into Toronto Airport. Hmmm… image

Undaunted, we climbed skyward to our seats, sat on sonic needles and pins-ah through both opening acts (the pretty cool Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys, whose big hit "Good Old Rock n Roll" my little band was already struggling to learn, followed by none other than, uh, Fat Mattress) til the one and only Jimi Himself sauntered on stage, miraculously only a few minutes late.

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Now considering all the man had already been through that day I guess it was no real surprise the evening's set consisted of mainly down-cast tunes a la "Red House," though Jimi did graciously treat the teenage throng with a quick encore full of that fabled, fiery Foxey Purpleness of yore.

And then, suddenly, he was gone. Experience and all.

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James Marshall Hendrix returned to town briefly that December however, just long enough to be completely exonerated of all narco-charges ("Canada has just given me the greatest Christmas present ever!" he exclaimed to the Toronto Daily Star), but I suppose one could question if, or why, that life lesson ultimately went unheeded. And I suppose it does say something that out of all the delicately detailed minutiae forever etched upon my grey matter concerning that momentous concert forty long, long Toronto May’s ago, I can still most vividly recall EXACTLY what Jimi was wearing (all Harlem-Asbury chic all the way!), what I was wearing even (don't ask), the appropriately brilliant weather, the commuter train Ric and I snuck on after we told our parental units we'd just be folking around ...hell, I even remember the proto-Bowzer moves Cat Mother & Co. deployed whilst performing their one hit wonder!

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But do I recall a single sliver of the sounds and/or stylings of the Noel Redding-fronted Fat Mattress performance of that same, utterly magical night? No sir, I do not. Which reminds me: Mr. Redding himself passed onward and upward to that great big Gardens in the sky six years ago May 11th.

And the moral, perhaps, to this all? Well, I still find myself revisiting Electric Ladyland on almost as regular a basis as I do the Monkees’ Headquarters. So you see some things, I guess, shall never change.


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This article Copyright 2009 Gary Pig Gold. Originally published on Lost In The Grooves

To read more about Jimi Hendrix on Gemmzine go to http://tinyurl.com/BuzzyHendrix

Gary Pig Gold's home page is here: http://www.garypiggold.com

Last Updated on Saturday, 30 May 2009 21:00

Joplin at Woodstock

Janis Joplin live at Woodstock - 40th Anniversary Edition PDF Print E-mail
Written by Joe Viglione
Thursday, 04 June 2009 11:46
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Janis Joplin on Woodstock.com - Site Launched by Columbia Sony/Legacy and Woodstock Ventures

June 4th, 2009
by Joe Viglione

The 40th anniversary of Woodstock is revealing music that the world has waited four decades to hear. Imagine my surprise today when two discs each from Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Sly & The Family Stone, Johnny Winter and Santana were waiting for me in my mailbox. The official launch date is June 30, 2009, but what the heck, Gemmzine readers are going to get this critic’s perspective a month in advance. Readers can advance order the material on Woodstock.com so be of good cheer, and keep watching Gemmzine as Sly, Johnny, Santana and The Airplane will all get the treatment in the coming weeks.image

image The title track, “Kozmic Blues”, from the above pictured album, I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, has always been one of my favorite songs of all time. Written by Janis and her producer, the amazing Gabriel Mekler (y’know, “Born To Be Wild”, “Magic Carpet Ride”, 3 Dog Night hits, Etta James, etc.), the mix on the Woodstock live disc is tremendous. This was the horn band Janis wanted, not exactly her Blood, Sweat and Tears, but a lot closer to that end of the spectrum than fans of Big Brother & The Holding Company wanted. This was a huge leap, even for a superstar like Janis, and four decades later her musical vision is vindicated, the underrated studio classic gets packaged alongside the live performance by her classy band at this historic festival.
Joplin fans have been slighted over the years, her catalog as closely guarded as Fort Knox with even the underground tapes and bootlegs being pulled from the shelves and pushed deeper into the underground than perhaps any other series of “boots” by any other mainstream artist. Even the Columbia soundtrack to the film Janis Joplin was a double-edged sword…it provided rare early Joplin while depriving the fans of the all the actual music on the film. Some studio tracks were on the soundtrack instead of the actual soundtrack! (quote Ashley Judd in the film Double Jeopardy “Can you believe that?”) Whatever the reason it is time to rejoice because both “Kozmic Blues” and its live counterpart are delightfully sharp and totally exciting.image

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There was a soundboard CD of this material floating around in the esoteric record stores (see photo) and it was your typical soundboard, vocal heavy but so very necessary for the fans. Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock performance is out on DVD and audio, so many of the artists got facetime (well, eartime) on both Vol. 1 (the three record set) and Vol. 2 (the two record set) of the Woodstock vinyl albums on Cotillion/Atlantic lo so many years ago. A mixed and ready-to-rock full Woodstock set from the Kozmic Blues band along with a copy of the studio album is something that should've happened years ago...better late than never. But let me go back to the bootleg for one moment, despite the buzz/humm on the source tape and the distorted instrumentation I gotta say the driving chaos on the soundboard for the song “Summertime” is absolutely blazin’! It’s immense. By putting the dueling instruments in separate spaces the refined mix definitely loses the edge so essential to rock & roll; it is in the bootleg version for the purists who need all things Janis! The rendition on the Sony/Woodstock disc is beautiful, more in line with the tender reading from Big Brother on the “Cheap Thrills” disc, but trust me on this, same take, same moment in time, the ragged soundboard has a magic…as does its well-mixed counterpart. It's just that the bootleg has a more explosive magic.

Now for the hardcore collectors it gets even better. The versions of “Summertime” and “Piece Of My Heart” from Woodstock appear with different mixes on the “Box Of Pearls” 5 CD boxed set edition of I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! - along with an out-take of Bob Dylan’s “Dear Landlord” not on the earlier or this new Woodstock version of Kozmic Blues. There’s also a short audio commercial for the album tagged on. It’s actually quite terrific.

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image“Dear Landlord” appears on the JANIS 3 CD boxed set (different from Box Of Pearls) as does an outtake of “Summertime” as well as Ed Sullivan show live takes of “Raise Your Hand” and The Chantels/Three Degrees song “Maybe”. And for the true connoisseurs there is an outtake of Sam Andrews’ guitar playing for “Work Me Lord” found on the very first CD release of I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! So seek it out! Something that might show up on Boxed Set #3 if there’s any justice in the world.

An even stranger oddity is Columbia releasing a 45 RPM from Kozmic Blues, "Maybe" b/w "Wake Me Lord" (incorrect spelling of Work Me Lord on the label). That's eerie.

http://www1.gemm.com/item/JOPLIN-c-JANIS/MAYBE-l-WAKE--ME--LORD/GML275310707/

a previous copy sold in June because of this link!

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To sum it up, it’s just fantastic that Janis Joplin fans aren’t forced to set a VCR to grab one song off of a “rare” Woodstock night on VH-1 or other such silliness. There is a lot of Janis Joplin stuff out there, very hidden, but out there nonetheless and it would be great for Sony and Joplin’s estate to get all the good stuff together with specific liner notes and photos galore. Read my biography of guitarist John Till on Allmusic.com or Billboard.com to get a glimpse of the history of the man playing on the Woodstock show, and original guitarist Sam Andrew, who played on the Kozmic Blues album and all the earlier Joplin/Big Brother albums, can be found on Facebook…if he invites you in! Both are gifted axemen and the both give Janis that launching pad for her phenomenal sound, look and attitude. It’s all here on this Woodstock release, a studio aspect of the singer that has yet to be fully appreciated and a full live set from the grooving Kozmic Blues band. Like Three Dog Night said through the magic of producer Gabriel Mekler - “Celebrate”.

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MORE JANIS

900 Nights

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Pearl: Legacy Edition

Joplin, Janis - Pearl: Legacy Edition CD Cover Art
Last Updated on Sunday, 14 June 2009 11:04

Buzzy & Joe on Jimi Hendrix

Buzzy Linhart & Joe Viglione on Jimi Hendrix PDF Print E-mail
Written by Joe Viglione
Saturday, 23 May 2009 14:12

Remember to click on the photos and DVD covers to find tons and tons of Jimi Hendrix products and rarities in Gemm.com itself.

Http://tinyurl.com/buzzyhendrix is the direct link to this article

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Buzzy Linhart appeared on the CD Voodoo Soup. Here's a photo of Mr. Linhart at Newbury Media in Wilmington, MA. Buzzy was in Boston with his keyboard player, the legendary David Maxwell. He recorded at Newbury Media on the song "Temptation" for Tennie Komar (ex of East Orange Express, which later became the Pure Prairie League). Tennie's interview is on Gemmzine, put her name in the Gemmzine search. So Tennie Komar has something in common with Jimi Hendrix: Buzzy Linhart playing vibes on her album. Tennie has something else happening on the disc: Yves Frulla from Celine Dion's band is playing on a CD with Buzzy Linhart...talk about legendary keyboardists.

Photo by Joe Viglione. (C)2007 All Rights Reserved.

INSIDE THE LEGACY OF JIMI HENDRIX
By Joe Viglione and Buzzy Linhart

Imagine sometime in the future when the music of Jimi Hendrix will be public domain (as the works of Edgar Allan Poe are now) - when people will be free to take his amazing intuition, inspiration and feelings down different avenues with what ever new technology is available. Exploring the life and music of Jimi Hendrix as it currently stands in 2005 is a full timejob.

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Whether you are listening to the beautiful instrumental, "The New Rising Sun", from the 1995"Voodoo Soup" album put together by producer Alan Douglas or "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" that appears on the 1997 release "First Rays Of The New Rising Sun"produced by Eddie Kramer, Jimi Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and John Jansen, or comparing those two discs to the 1971 release "The Cry Of Love" - all three versions of Jimi's "final album" having many of the same tracks, those performances going through new mixes with new technology, and sometimes, different sets of ears.While listening to all the musical information these various producers have made available it is hard to retain each nuance of the guitarist's magic - there is just so much remixed material to absorb, study and consider. And if you think cataloguing the music of Hendrix available to fans is a daunting task, what about the volume of text material being issued that discusses his short life? The Jimi Hendrix fan base is strong --- and rabid! Thus the release of the book "Jimi Hendrix: The Man,The Magic, The Truth", by former UPI reporter and Hendrix friend Sharon Lawrence, has caused the usual stirs in that world.

imageDescribed as "the definitive"account of Jimi Hendrix by publisher Harper/Collins, readers should be advised that, although author Lawrence was clearly a close confidante of Jimi's -the 352 pages may include important information, butcan hardly be considered the "definitive" account. There is some insight regarding the persona of Ed Chalpin, the man who has perpetually licensed the PPX tapes and who signed Jimi to a recording contract in the 1960s. Lawrence speaks with him on the phone and quotes Chalpin as saying "They've killed him" in regards to the passing of Jimi on September 18, 1970.The author also notes that she received a call from Monika Dannemann in 1991 - who Lawrence describes as"the woman who let Jimi die."
Since Jimi's death has become as much of a discussion as his music - that event unfortunately walking hand-in-hand with the art- this article explores information previously unavailable about that tragic incident - and how ithas all impacted what the artist was expressing.

While "The Last 24 Hours Of Jimi Hendrix" DVD says that the U.S. Government had interest in killing Jimi Hendrix - making it clear that from that product's point of view - that his death was a murder, Lawrence says with great emphasis that she believes his death was a suicide. image
GEMMZINE.com, in an exclusive interview with Jimi's friend, Buzzy Linhart, has information that the late Monika Dannemann killed Jimi at the request of the late Michael Jeffrey, former manager of Hendrix, The Animals, Genya Ravan and other groups. In order to get to the truth the devotee - the true Jimi enthusiast - needs to explore as many of the books and DVDs as humanly possible. Jas Obrecht and Al Hendrix's "My Son Jimi", Steven Roby's tremendous"Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix" and Eddie Kramer and John McDermott's equally excellent" Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight" are a goodstart, though none of them answer all the questions ina satisfactory manner. Lawrence's book is certainly compelling enough,but when she discusses the Toronto trial she limits her own testimony at that major event in Jimi's life to one paragraph. It leaves the reader wondering and wanting more. While Steven Roby includes testimony from both Hendrix and Lawrence in his book, an exhaustive and essential work, and though his book -like McDermott's, is a fun investigation and exploration of the music, it still has flaws. Lawrence glosses over "Jimmy James & The Blue Flames", a pivotal bridge from Jimi's work as a back-up musician to the formation of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The material on "Jimmy James & The Blue Flames" - a vital part of Jimi's career which featured future "Spirit" co-founder Randy California and future Utopia co-founder Moogy Klingman - is remarkably thin. At least a chapter or two on that phase of his life is essential to any biography. The author loves Jimi, and that comes through loud and clear, but her bias against Al Hendrix, Janie Hendrix, Leon Hendrix, John McDermott (a major forcein Experience Hendrix who gets dismissed with a meremention), Ed Chalpin, Michael Jeffrey, Monika Dannemann, Devon "Dolly Dagger" Wilson, pretty much most of the people in Jimi's life save a few, is a red flag. She lumps some of the heroes in with the villains. There's no doubt that Jeffrey, Dannemann and Chalpin had a negative effect on the artist, but then there's the catch 22 - the question which most feel is blasphemous: would Jimi Hendrix have emerged as the giant he is without the efforts of Ed Chalpin and/or Michael Jeffrey? Would he have gotten from point A to point B without those two? One would like to think that pure talent wins out, but we are talking about the music industry, a business which discards talent like yesterday's newspaper. Just look at how the tapes of Jimi Hendrix were treated prior to Experience Hendrix giving those masters and mixes the respect, in regards to properly cataloguing and storing them, that genius deserves.

imageLawrence is lethal when it comes to Al Hendrix, Jimi's dad, and maybe - if she's to get the benefit of the doubt -her insight there is not off base, but there is a glaring lack of objectivity in the book, and that is what weakens her story and makes us question her motives in regard to Al Hendrix. Roby,as well as McDermott and Kramer, give more meat in their writings- though all these books can't resist offering and mixing opinion with fact. At least Steven Roby makes the effort to give a Bibliography in Black Gold, and a book that reviews the books is what is really needed here. It is going to take a highly objective journalist to sift through the voluminous work that makes up the Hendrix audio and video catalogs as well as the variety of sources that give so many perspectives. Eric Burdon's 2001 biography, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", speaks kindly of Al Hendrix, and asks the pertinent question: Did Monika "dose" Jimi with wine and sleeping pills?
Proving my point - an over abundance of information with no clear line that provides something conclusive. Perhaps the most outrageous aspect of "JimiHendrix: The Man, The Magic, The Truth" is Sharon Lawrence totally dismissing John McDermott (and Steven Roby) but quoting a whacko obsessive fan from the a Hendrix Yahoo fan group. For a credible journalist to indulge the lunatic fringe, well, the transcripts of the Toronto trial would be a bit more informative than one of the nuisance fans who live vicariously through Jimi's music. It is devastating to Lawrence's credibility - she savages the memory of the late Al Hendrix and backs up her position with quotes from an utcase. Jimi Hendrix: The Man, The Magic, The Truth needed a little bit more emphasis on the performances and the recordings and less animosity. While the book has a wealth of positive material, the animosity does as much disrespect to Jimi's memory as those who hurt him while he was alive. A loving tribute to Jimi, Janis, Brian Epstein, Brian Jones and others is in ther are and succinct "No ONe Waved Good-Bye" edited by Robert Somma for Bostonian Barry Glovsky's Fusion Books.Al Aronowitz, Lillian Roxon and Lou Reed - three tremenous essayists, are far more sensitive in those 121 pages. Which brings us to the DVDs, and there are lots of them: Eagle Vision's "Electric Ladyland" identifies the solution to the dilemma discussed in this article. The DVD is part of their "Classic Albums" series and give some a renewed appreciation of the third album from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Engineer Eddie Kramer takes us through the music and the DVD makes you want to put the album on again. For those who truly want to remember Jimi Hendrix respectfully and stand in awe of his talent, something that creates new desire to heart he recordings again can only get a thumbs up. "Electric Ladyland" the DVD has me playing the album again, and is a DVD that will get repeated spins in this writer's house. Chrome Dreams "Jimi Hendrix: By Those Who Knew Him Best" and MVD's The Last 24 Hours of Jimi Hendrix are two interview discs. Steven Roby appears on "The Last 24 Hours" while Jimi's brother Leon Hendrix, respected journalist Al Aronowitz, Vince Martell of The Vanilla Fudge and others talk about Hendrix on "Those Who Knew Him Best." Between all the items mentioned is such a wealth of information that we won't have time to give you the transcript of Harvey Wharfield's WZLX interview with bassist Noel Redding, or the lecture Visual Radio taped by Wild Blue Angel director Murray Lerner. But this article will give you something very special - anexclusive interview - a conversation with Buzzy Linhart conducted on March 30, 2005.

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Having collected Jimi Hendrix music ever since "Purple Haze" burst on my radio - for the better part of thirty eight years, it never ceases to amaze when the guitar master's music perpetually sells on eBay -sometimes at ridiculous prices. There are 6,209 items mentioning Jimi's name on eBay as I write this, 1:36 AM on March 31, 2005. That's a stunning amount of music. But there's lots more that you won't ever find on eBay. When taping Little Walter for this writer's TV program, Visual Radio, the famous disc jockey told this journalist that he recorded many Little Richard concerts, including one with Jimi Hendrix on Revere Beach! Little Richard performed on a bill with Don & Dewey and Maxine Browne. Jimi Hendrix played guitar and Little Walter recorded the event. Not only that - he broadcast it on MIT's WTBS (now WMBR). The only known tape of Little Richard with Jimi was actually broadcast on college radio in the 1960s! As I had interviewed John McDermott of the Jimi Hendrix Estate for an article on the packaging of the Hendrix 4 CD Boxed Set, I phoned up Mr. McDermott and invited him to hear the rare recording at Little Walter's studio. The three of us listened to the playback from the radio broadcast tape, the dub, and we actually got to touch the original master reel-to-reel tape! It's amazing, opening with The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There", "Lucille", "Send Me Some Lovin'", and five other tunes - Little Richard with the unmistakable sound of Jimi Hendrix on guitar. Hopefully Little Richard will authorize its release. Akarma Records, a division of the Italian Comet Records label, re-released the interesting Little Richard album "Friends From The Beginning" which claims to have Jimi and Richard together. It's a good Little Richard lp, but others dispute any input from Hendrix - Steven Roby stating that Jimi appears only on the single "I Don't Know What You've Got" b/w" Dancin' All Around The World", John McDermott's" Setting The Record Straight" citing the only appearance being on the 45 "I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me" Parts 1 & 2 - the A side that Roby mentions. It's a dilemma, sifting through the fact and the fiction - and while not judging Sharon Lawrence, a true fan will find more info in "Setting The Record Straight" and "Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix", so they are a good place to start. The definitive book has yet to be written - but thanks to the internet, eBay, and the lasting power of Jimi's music, more will be written, studied and explored. One idea is for a journalist and fan to take a look at what is currently on the table - aswe're doing here - and merging those reflections with information from someone who was there back in the day- someone who knew and who jammed with Jimi Hendrix. The tentative title of that work - a study of the recordings and insight from one of Jimi's peers is: "Third Stone From The Seventh Suns" Metronome readers have - with the above information and that which follows, a taste of the proposed book which is (C)2005 Joe Viglione & Buzzy Linhart - as is this article. Buzzy Linhart played with Al Kooper and Jimi Hendrix at Steve Paul's THE SCENE, a recording of them performing Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" is on a well known and very expensive double lp Hendrix boot leg,"Hoochie Koochie Man". Buzzy also worked with Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell putting vibraphone on the song "Drifting" which appears on all three variations of the "Cry Of Love" sessions. Buzzy:" I first met Jimi at the Cafe Au Go Go at the middle of a rehearsal with Hendrix and John Hammond Jr. We were just stopping by to pick up a couple of drums or something. This was a pivotal evening for me because as I approached the Cafe Au Go Go, the famous drummer Muruga (of Weather Report fame)was exiting the club - Muruga told me to get inside and hear the greatest guitarist in the world. I went down the dimly lit stairs into the showroom of the Cafe Au GoGo and turned the corner into the big room and saw Jimmy James & The Blue Flames and John Hammond Jr. rehearsing for an up and coming show. It was a trio with the addition of John Hammond Jr. fronting the group, creating a quartet (this was before Buzzy's partner, Moogy Klingman, and Spirit's Randy California would join The Blue Flames).The Steven Roby book Black Gold says on page 50 - that" Jimi found a loft on Hudson street with room mates Buzzy Linhart, Roger McGuinn and David Crosby..." Buzzy clarified Mr. Roby's information:" (It was on) Greenwich and Reade St. above the United Egg Company - we were on the third floor - The Seventh Sons had a rehearsal loft - Jimi came to it many times, David Crosby came many times, Roger McGuinn came many times, but they weren't room mates. It was the Seventh Sons' rehearsal loft and party place." From 1966 to 1968 Buzzy Linhart was in the band The Seventh Sons - featuring Buzzy on vocals, guitar and vibes, drummer Serge Katzen and bassist James Rock. Flute player Frank Event off made the Seventh Sons a quartet. They produced an album but only limited material found release on the legendary ESP label.

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Buzzy: "I was playing Cafe Au Go Go after The Seventh Sons fell apart and left me with just an acoustic guitar... and I had an offer to open for who ever the acts were at Cafe Au Go Go - opening for acts like Blood, Sweat & Tears." Steve Paul saw Linhart performing at Cafe Au Go Go and brought Buzzy to his club, The Scene, to open for acts like B.B. King, The McCoys with Rick Derringer, and other acts from the day. Buzzy remembers Jimi at The Scene: "...most nights, about show time, if he wasn't recording, Jimi would be sitting at one of the best seats in the house - and many of those evenings we often ended up in jam sessions. One night I was sitting by the side of the stage watching whom ever and someone came over and said" Buzzy, Jimi's going to play, will you play drums?", and I said Yes. I believe that was the same night that Noel Redding announced he was leaving the Experience.

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He was very sad and got very drunk and kind of messed up the bass parts - which is one of the reasons that recording has not been used more often." It has found release on the Jimi Hendrix double disc bootleg "Hoochie Koochie Man" which sells for about a hundred dollars on eBay IF you can find a copy. Sharon Lawrence claims Jimi committed suicide, The Last 24 Hours Of Jimi Hendrix claims it was apolitical assassination because of the Black Panther movement, etc. "That could have been a red her ring put out there by Michael Jeffrey" Buzzy surmises, as Devon Wilson a.k.a. Dolly Dagger, told Buzzy "Please - you must tell everybody that Jimi was murdered. He had been drug free for months." Supposedly she was drug free as well as Hendrix and Wilson reportedly entered and left treatment together. Says Buzzy, "I'll personally never forget Jimi looking at me from the antique barber's chair in the Electric Lady lobby - spinning around - slowing down exactly on the third spin, holding up a Marlboro saying "Now if I could just quit this I'll have beat everything." It was really cool - it happened that way - I believed him when he told me that, and to hear just a day and a half later people claiming that" once a junkie always a junkie" etc. really rank led me. This was the evening of the day he went back to England for the last time. (It took about six hours to get to London from New York, so night turned in today with the time change.)Thoughts from Buzzy when Jimi passed away on September 18, 1970 "I was sitting in my living room with John Hammond Jr.- we had just jammed on a couple of songs - harp and guitar - when we flipped on the radio. It happened to be on the news and the international news report came on saying "the greatest guitarist in the world has died in London." I turned to John Hammond and said" that's got to be Hendrix." And the next part of the report confirmed it. We didn't know what to say, but being just 20 blocks or so from Electric Lady we just probably jumped a cab down to the studio. At Electric Lady somebody said there was a phone call for me. I picked up the telephone on the receptionist's desk and it was Dolly Dagger (Devon Wilson) telling me I had to believe her. What she told me was that Jimi had called her the day or so before and told her that he had been up for days. He had talked to his doctor in New York City and the doctor said "You've got to get some sleep" - the doctor said "Do you want me to call in some sleeping pills for you to a doctor I know in London?" Jimi said" No, that's OK, there's Tuinols in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom here." They agreed that Jimi- having a great tolerance to this type of drug -would need to take 3 capsules. But this turned out to be the German Tuinols which were the EQUIVALENT of three a piece, so they turned out to have the potency of 9 capsules." (It's been reported by Sharon Lawrence that Jimi took 9 capsules, but what he took was the German equivalent of nine capsules - and Monika must have known this. If she wasn't sure she should have said something.) It overdosed him into sleep lying on his back and he choked on food, he asphyxiated. "Remember", Buzzy made clear, "this is what Devon told me." Weeks or months earlier - not the night before -but it clicked with the someone in the know after September 18, 1970, a band member or crew member made a bad mistake when he decided to take a nap on a large couch in Michael Jeffrey's opulent office - third floor of Electric Lady studios, New York City. It's the kind of a sofa where when it is facing this large fireplace - the giant back of the sofa - you can be sleeping there and if someone didn't think to look they wouldn't even know you were in the room. This particular crew member claims to have over heard a discussion between Monika and Michael Jeffrey during which he told her that it was only a matter of time till he - Michael -assured her that he would be taking back the business from Jimi and would she help by poisoning him.

To Be Continued.


YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE HIGH TO STAY AWAKE TOO LONG (and You Don't Have To Take Drugs To Be Paranoid) By Buzzy Linhart as told to Joe Viglione


One of the basic things we have to complete to even begin step one, we must once and for all establish the coroners cause of death. There are at least three different versions in three different books regarding this. It's hard to keep a clean laboratory when you're not starting out with the purest necessary elements.
a)if he died of drowning in wine, as one source (between the books, internet and DVDs) suggests, then why is that not mentioned in the coroners report in one of the other well known sources on the subject?
b)what Dolly Dagger (Devon Wilson) was upset about was the suggestions that Hendrix would kill himself.
c)if as Dolly said - this was a proud moment for him -(being drug free) - why would he go backwards? He had already bragged to me about it. All I can personally say as I sift through these files of immense proportion regarding Hendrix's death -and boasting a long list of authors - is that everything I see and read seems to contradict everything else. All I know is that the phone rang at Electric Lady studios and it was D.D. (Dolly Dagger) for me, she said, "Jimi had been awake for days but totally straight, but too excited". She said she was upset because the press was reporting "heroin overdose", she swore he was "7 months clean", something she and he had accomplished together, his plan to prove that he could play clean. His earliest memories of practicing and learning how to copy other people's licks were confused with a combination of alcohol, marijuana and most anything for awhile there. But if he were to prove that he was the king of the psychedelic gypsies, he'd have to do it not only better than anybody else, but completely clean. First he was my hero, then I was "dating" one of his girlfriends, and then he was gone. "Don't believe them" she sobbed "He played clean."

imageBUZZY ON DOLLY DAGGER:

Just a few months later (after Jimi's passing), Dolly & I went to see Taj Mahal at the Fillmore East, Taj solo on dobro accompanied by three tuba players. A hell of a show. I couldn't help but notice that she was looking tired and strained and looked sad even when she smiled. Everybody knew how bad she seemed to miss Jimi. And then just a couple of weeks after that she died mysteriously, under mysterious circumstances at the Chelsea Hotel, Manhattan, New York. She did tell me she didn't know if she could go on without him. I wonder whatever happened to her baby. She showed me a picture of a baby with lips like Mick Jagger - she claimed that it was Mick Jagger's baby, and you'd think so by seeing his face."

In Sharon Lawrence's book, JIMI HENDRIX: THE MAN, THE MAGIC, THE TRUTH, page 160, she claims Devon Wilson threw a party "both to celebrate Jimi's birthday and further her own desire to start an affair with Mick Jagger." Buzzy's recollections are startling - especially when one looks at the timeline. According to an article in VOODOO CHILE by Carmen Geddes: "Devon Wilson had fallen (or been pushed) from a window at New York’s Chelsea Hotel (in February of 1971), and in March 1973, Mike Jeffrey was killed in a plane crash on his way to find out who would be inheriting Jimi Hendrix’s British musical royalties."

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If Jimi Hendrix was murdered, which is the conclusion found in "Rethinking John Lennon’s Assassination - The FBI’s War on Rock Stars By Salvador Astucia, Part V, Chapter 12: Jimi Hendrix", it fits in with what our unnamed Hendrix associate told us - that he heard Michael Jeffrey ask Monika to kill Jimi. But Jeffrey (the manager of Hendrix) only went so far in discussing it during that overheard conversation revealed in the May 2005 issue of Metronome. Astucia goes back to the late Tony Brown's book: "Brown insinuates that Dannemann murdered Hendrix because she was jealous of his other girlfriends. Having stated that, Brown makes a compelling argument that Dannemann was, at a minimum, deeply involved in Hendrix’s death in some manner. She may have killed him personally, as Brown suggests, but I seriously doubt that she acted alone regardless of her role in the crime." Which gives more credibility to Devon Wilson's claims and the information from the person who was on the couch in Mike Jeffrey's office. Also keep in mind that Tony Brown was corresponding with Dannemann frequently until her death, April 5, 1996, while Tony Brown was working on HENDRIX: THE FINAL DAYS - that author having more access to Dannemann's ramblings over a longer period of time than perhaps anyone. Astucia notes that the suicide was "Two days after the court found her ‘in contempt’, Monika was found dead in her Mercedes car, asphyxiated by carbon monoxide." Tony Brown himself died on March 9, 2001. Which means the casualty list has grown quite long - Hendrix, Devon Wilson, Mike Jeffrey, Monika Dannemann, Tony Brown, Noel Redding, Chas Chandler and Al Hendrix. Astucia goes into great detail on "the real cause of Hendrix’s death" saying " Twenty-three years later, information emerged which strongly suggests Hendrix was murdered. In 1993 it was disclosed that Hendrix had not strangled on his vomit, but "drowned in red wine."

Electric Gypsy

Caesar Glebbeek co-authored "Electric Gypsy", and interviewed Buzzy Linhart, though Buzzy is not referenced in the book. On page 477 of that 1991 St. Martin's Press book the authors seem to draw a conclusion that it was an accidental overdose - but again - they quote Monika Dannemann on page 476 saying "there were other tablets in the cupboard which he could have taken if he wanted to do the job properly."They also consider the CIA, FBI, Black Panthers and manager Mike Jeffrey - which they dismiss.

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Classicbands.com notes that "In 1993, the investigation into Hendrix's death was reopened by Scotland Yard, but when no new evidence was unearthed, the matter was dropped." http://www.classicrockpage.com/ goes into even more detail saying "...a leading forensic scientist said at the time that the dose of sleeping pills was too low to be fatal in itself. The official cause of death rendered was "inhalation of vomit due to barbiturate intoxication". The site notes that "Both Noel Redding and Monika Dannemann believe in the "slight possibility" that Hendrix was murdered..." - which is interesting since Dannemann is believed to be the murderess.

The site also claims something interesting: "Jimi did have access to over 40 sleeping tablets at the flat, so if he wanted to commit suicide . . .)" Sharon Lawrence's book says that Monika Dannemann told her she had four packets of 10 pills and that one was opened with only 1 pill left. So Sharon Lawrence, Jimi's "dear friend" who slashes at Al Hendrix in the book,makes the ludicrous claim that Jimi made a "conscious decision" to take 9 tablets. Which means that Lawrence buys into one of Dannemann's many stories - the one Sharon Lawrence finds most convenient. As an outsider, one has to shake their head: this is Jimi's friend?? - believing one of Dannemann's stories - stories from a woman who killed herself two days after losing a libel trial regarding her information (or misinformation) about Jimi Hendrix? The only thing missing from Sharon Lawrence's book is the notion that maybe Jimi Hendrix took 9 pills while listening to The Beatle's "Revolution #9" while the voice says "#9, #9, #9". Absurd.

The Classicrockpage.com has more interesting bits: "As Redding says in his book, "Jimi died from choking on his vomit and that in itself should have been a preventable cause of death". Interestingly enough, in 1991 both Eric Burdon (who Dannemann called before calling the ambulance the morning of September 18, 1970), and Mitch Mitchell called on Scotland Yard to reopen the investigation into Jimi's death. In 1993, England's Attorney-General agreed and investigated before announcing that it "found no evidence to pursue the case further".

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Buzzy on Monika Danneman

The rumor is that Monika called a local celebrity's roadie and he warned her that she had to make sure her flat was completely clean of any drug residue or paraphernalia or they'd all be indicted for drug possession. They started talking about it, it got out of hand, and she was afraid to call or something.That was NOT from Dolly Dagger, that was New York City scuttlebutt.

Jimi Hendrix's Music in The Afterlife http://www.artquest.org.uk/ is a British website which features the Artlaw Archive - a program for visual arts and craftspeople. There they have a fascinating page called "Art After Death" by Henry Lydiate

Lydiate discusses famous legal battles, the (Andy)Warhol Foundation (1994), the Dali Estate (2001), Bacon's legacy (2002) and others. The site states:

"Consistent themes/issues emerge for artists who care what will happen to their works after death. For example, making a will and taking independent expert advice before doing so; choosing executors - especially ones who have nothing to gain from the Estate; ensuring that unsold works and personal archive material are carefully catalogued well before death; and taking particular care to decide on the possible merchandising of their images during the 70 years of their copyright remaining after their death." This, of course, was a major problem with the legacy of Jimi Hendrix, which makes his cause of death as essential as the fact that he had no written will.Keep in mind, in th