blackguitaristz asked me to repost this so here it is.

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I've been a JH fan since I heard his 1st single...



...Hey Joe. He's the main reason i'm a guitarist today.


In 1967, I met Jimi Hendrix. Here's what happened...


Hendrix had recently returned to the States after conquering England.
A buddy and I cut out of school to hang around the...



...Cafe Au Go Go on Bleeker Street in The Village to see if he'd be there rehearsing.

Across the street from the club was a walk-down bar called the Tin Angel.
We happened to look through the plate glass window and saw this guy with all this hair.
Looked at each other and agreed it was him. Luckily, across the street next to the club was a poster store (The Infinite Poster) where I was able to grab a pen and some paper. As soon as he walked out, about 5 or 6 girls that were walking by mobbed him. He spoke very quietly and politely to each one of them while we waited our turn.

Here's something i'll never forget. One of the girls asked him for some little trinket he had attached to his vest. He told her, "That was a gift from someone. How would you feel if I gave away something you had given me?" Good answer.

Finally my time had come. I honestly didn't know what to say and barely muttered how I enjoyed his music and when the new album was coming out. He gave me an answer (can't remember as I was nearly passing out) shook my hand and signed the paper (Be Groovy, Jimi Hendrix) i'd handed him. He said it was a pleasure meeting us and vanished across the street and into the club. We just stood there in stunned silence for a few moments confirming that this actually just happened.

Talk about 2 kids that had a "rep" around the school from then on...



...Untouchable.


And that's how you play productive hookey.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 3/29/07 13:25pm]

WOW... what a cool story

Great post!

I'm going to tag this post with a Jimi Hendrix encounter much more interesting than mine.

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The Night I Met Jimi Hendrix by Thom Lukas

(first published in Rock Beat, USA)




On the inside cover of Electric Ladyland, the third album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, there's a candid backstage photograph of Hendrix surrounded by a group of teenagers. If you look closely, you'll see the back of my fifteen-year-old head....



About a dozen of us were caught by the police while trying to sneak into Hunter College Auditorium where the Experience was scheduled to perform on March 2, 1968.

Back then, I was a high school sophomore and certified Hendrix freak. My copy of Are You Experienced? had almost worn thin from constant play. So when I found out that he'd be playing at Hunter College in New York City as part of a tour to coincide with the release of Axis Bold As Love, I made plans to be there and take pictures with my new camera.

Unfortunately, the show sold out before I could get a ticket; but I decided not to let that stop me.

Hunter College is in a huge building on East 68th Street along with Hunter High School, which takes up one square block. My high school (all boys) used to have dances with Hunter (all girls), so I was fairly familiar with the layout of the building.



When I arrived, it seemed as though half the New York Police Department was guarding the two-man entrances to the auditorium. I made my way around the block and found an alley where the garbage dumpsters were left. At the end of the alley was a door which just happened to be unlocked and unguarded.

Stealthily, I proceeded upstairs and began roaming the classroom corridors toward my destination. Even though the halls were well lit, it was eerie being in an empty school building. The hall clocks began to look like giant eyes that were monitoring my progress.

"Stop right there," the booming voice of a policeman demanded. I froze on the spot.

"Do you think they're gonna call our parents?" worried one of the kids in the classroom where we were being detained. "They've got our names and phone numbers," he reminded us.

"Hey, I think the dressing rooms must be right next door," someone else said after looking out into the hallway. "There's a bunch of cool looking people out there." I took a look for myself. Standing about 15 yards away, wearing a turtleneck shirt and blazer, was Chas Chandler, Jimi's manager.

Chandler, the original bassist for the Animals, had done for Jimi Hendrix what Brian Epstein did for The Beatles. He had taken Hendrix from obscurity, in just over 18 months. He had set Jimi up in London, investing nearly everything he had (at one point he even sold five of his six guitars to finance a lavish party introducing Hendrix to the British press), in order to make Jimi a star. Chas's gamble had worked nicely. Soon, the New York Times would call Hendrix "the black Elvis."

I couldn't pass up this chance to use my camera. When the other kids in the room saw me taking photos, they started to gather at the door as well. The next thing I knew, Noel Redding, Jimi's psychedelic, Beau Brummel-like bassist, was strolling toward us. His golden brocade jacket, frizzed shock of hair, and round, wire rimmed spectacles gave him a surreal appearance. Following closely behind, drummer Mitch Mitchell cut an equally electric image with a friendly grin under a floppy purple hat.



Then Hendrix himself, guitar in hand, approached my clicking camera. Stepping right off the fish-eyed, infrared Are You Experienced? record jacket, he looked amazing.

Pausing for a moment, he stared obligingly into my camera lens. The policeman reappeared at that moment and proceeded to close the door on the bunch of us. But before it shut I heard Hendrix ask the cop what we were doing in there. It wasn't more than a minute or so later when he and his sidemen came into the classroom and told us not to worry. Jimi announced that he wasn't going to go on stage until we were let go without any hassle. Was this really happening!?

Almost immediately we breathed a collective sigh of relief while moving forward to get autographs, or just to stand next to the star.

There were so few of us in that classroom/holding cell that getting close enough to ask a question was no problem. While all of the other kids were asking for autographs or looking on with dumbfounded expressions of disbelief, I made up my mind to ask Hendrix a question.

"Excuse me, but is it true that there's a feud going on between you and Little Richard?"

I'd read a magazine article about Jimi that sensationalized an incident that had happened while Hendrix was guitarist in Little Richard's band in 1963. The piece explained how one night after a performance Richard had fined Hendrix $20 for wearing a wild looking shirt.

Hendrix gave me a penetrating look - apparently to judge whether or not I was being serious - then he started to laugh. "Where did you ever get an idea like that?" he wanted to know. Now I was really on the spot, all eyes were focused in my direction. I answered that I'd read it in a fan magazine, and there was more laughter. So much for my debut as an investigative reporter.



But for me, in just that short space of time Jimi Hendrix went from being a rock superstar to a regular human being with a sweet personality and warm sense of humor. "You can't believe all that stuff you read," he cautioned in an ironic tone. "Richard and I are still friends."

I asked if I could hold his guitar, and it was passed into my admiring arms. It was a Gibson Flying V, the same type of guitar used by one of Hendrix' idols, blues great Albert King. After a few moments I handed the instrument back to Hendrix and asked if it was okay to take a few photos. "You better be quick, 'cause we've gotta go on soon," he answered. I managed to click off about half a dozen close ups of Jimi, Mitch and Noel before Chandler hustled them - with a reassurance that we'd be let go without any trouble.

Although I didn't get to see Hendrix perform live until a few months later, being behind the scenes at Hunter College that night left an indelible after-image. I remember it as if it had happened only yesterday.

http://www.artistwd.com/j...endrix.php
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This reason why I kept this article outside of the insight it provides, is because I was at that Hunter College concert.

Great sounding show and Hendrix was on fire that night.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Wow, what a great story! My boyfriend would be jealous to read it,as JH was a huge influence on him as a guitarist. Jimi is definitely still here in spirit.

That's a great one! Not many people got to meet him while he was famous; there just wasn't time.

I met a lot of stars growing up in LA, but I was always so much more excited to meet musicians.

Actors usually need lines & makeup to make them good, so meeting them is often disappointing. When you meet Pierce Brosnan you're definitely not meeting James Bond!

But musicians (the good ones, at least) create their own image and their own greatness. Meeting Jimi was probably just that. You actually met the guy from the record.

Jimi had an amazing common sense, too. I can just hear him saying that: "that was a gift from someone, how would you feel...?" He's not scolding the girl, but he's teaching her something.

NDRU said:

Yeah, that was awesome. He has always seemed wise beyond his years to me.

Awesome thread. Where is that Jimi autograph now, tA?

Thanks for sharing your story...

Wow tA... thanks for sharing that story. I did not know you had met Hendrix and seen him in concert too! If I had the chance to meet anyone from the past, or any musician for that matter, it would without a doubt be Hendrix, that guy was like an angel who came down to earth for a little while to give us a little glimpse of heaven.

I've been on a major Hendrix trip lately, buying up all his rarities that I did not have, like cd's from the Authentic Hendrix online store, The Experience Hendrix Box Set, and reading "Black Gold."

I can't imagine how incredible it would have been to meet him and see him in concert. Thanks for sharing.

-- Emilio

Great story!!

Thank you so much for posting it!

Thanx Aud. I wanted u to re-run this since folks were saying they didn't know that u met the "Magic Man".

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Thanks.

Just a lucky break of being in the right place at the right time.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

banks said:

Thanks.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

vainandy said:

Thanks Andy-O.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

cubic61052 said:

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

this single sleeve is about the coolest piece of jimi memorabilia i've ever seen.

if my mom ever saw it, i think she'd literally levitate.

sextonseven said:

Well, this would go into the pile of my Hendrix screw ups.
Right along side of having tickets to...



...this show and not going.


The weekend after the experience, some friends and I went to Jones Beach to hang out. I took the autograph to show it off.
Bad move. When I got home and looked in my beach bag, it was gone.

Sometimes when I think of these 2 incidents...



...


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

MikeMatronik said:

You're most welcome.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

emilio319 said:

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Nothinbutjoy said:

You're welcome.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

blackguitaristz said:

It was pretty life-altering.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

NDRU said:

Even as a teenager, that was very enlightening.
It gave some insight to his character and a lesson in how to relate to people.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

Anx said:

I wonder if the folks from The House of Oldies remember how much I bugged them about this single before they had it in stock.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

A bittersweet ending to a great story.

as many times as i shook this brotha's hand, it was the one that probably shook jimi's... hence why i needa to get ta pickin' and maybe some guitar lessons

IAintTheOne said:

Although I wish his hand shake carried the power of...



...a Vulcan Mind-Meld, no such luck.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

yeah that's a drag but im still gonna need some guitar lessons

IAintTheOne said:

Me too. I might have to take Dr.Phil up on his offer.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431