Jimi Hendrix Book Marks His 80th Birthday

Not sure what Janie Hendrix would have to say of value in such a forward, as she was a small child at most when things all went down with Jimi. As she’s already, sadly, has Eddie Kramer on the Hendrix Legacy tit, churning out every last bit of anything Hendrix did that was recorded as “new” Hendrix records, you might as well go whole hog and have Kramer spill his guts for the forward speaking in glowing terms about Jimi’s genius, all the while stabbing him in the back in collaboration with Hendrix’s “sister,” who could actually give a flying fart about the man and the indescribable, and unscalable heights that are to be found on his still astounding sonic masterpieces, that he, himself, released. Everything about Experience Hendrix, LLC is about the making of whatever money can be squeezed out of Jimi’s legacy and has nothing to do with their stated goal of keeping Hendrix’s legacy alive. You don’t do that by diluting an already astounding legacy with inferior recordings of Hendrix rehearsing and working on song parts that he was later to properly record, and labeling them as “new” recordings, often to a new, young audience who’ve never heard “Are You Experienced” and who’s only exposure to Hendrix ‘s music are these bastardized practice recordings on “new” records. Eddie Kramer is really the only living person who was there, worked with Hendrix, and was, in that sense, close to him. While he may not have legal rights to Hendrix’s work tapes, as someone who was a key figure in the creation of Hendrix’s actual releases, he should have been doing everything he could to protect Hendrix’s legacy, which is, in a sense, partly his own. But instead, he partnered with Janie Hendrix in selling Jimi out. I was astounded and disgusted by his participation with Experience Hendrix, LLC., and every time some new “product” like this comes out, the sickening treachery of it all comes back again. By the way, if you’ve never “experienced” one of the “Experience Hendrix” tours, I advise against it. The company attempts to legitimize the tour by getting the good will of many wonderful players to participate, and I believe their credibility is what makes the tours successful. I believe that many of these guitarists have a true devotion to Jimi and have taken much influence from him that can be displayed in these shows. But sadly, they’re also willing to include many guitarists who have nothing to do with Hendrix’s sound or style and do their best to simply use a Hendrix song structure to create music that has nothing to do with the man himself. While I did highly enjoy a few of the featured performers who did their best to pay tribute to Jimi, I found myself more and more frustrated and disgusted as the night wore on with players who had no business being there but were simply used to turn the night into a by-the-numbers rock blowout. To make matters worse, they used Billy Cox minimally to try to further legitimize the show, but didn’t really integrate him into songs where he had actually played on the original recordings. Everything presented by “Experience Hendrix” LLC is a tragic farce propagated by his own family to rape his talent after his death.