| September 21st, 2004 03:43 PM |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
Sorry NSC but this is something to watch if you can!
LONDON, (AFP) - "Jimi at the Marquee." The billing, not for a concert but for an exhibition of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia, triggers a four-decade flashback to the psychedelic era over which Hendrix reigned as a revolutionary rock guitarist. The exhibition opens here Saturday, on the anniversary of Hendrix's death in London 24 years ago at age 27.
"Jimi played at the Marquee in 1967," said Ted Owen, curator of the exhibition at the new Marquee Club in Leicester Square, close to Hendrix's old haunt of the same name in Soho.
"I tried to recreate the psychedelic feeling of the British clubs in the late sixtees," Owen told AFP.
Bathed in a somber light are black walls plastered with album covers and photographs of 1960s festivals like Woodstock (New York), Monterey (California) and Isle of Wight (England).
At Woodstock, Hendrix is forever remembered by his electric guitar rendition of the US national anthem, "the Star-spangled Banner."
It was at Monterey where Hendrix set fire to his guitar, an event seared in the memory of his fans, and the Isle of Wight was the last concert he played in Britain, weeks before he died in London on September 18, 1970.
The unique Hendrix guitar sounds drift through the air of the exhibition.
Hendrix is a rock icon from the age of "flower power," when masses of young people embraced drugs, free love and rock and roll in a decade marked by protests for civil rights and against the Vietnam war.
The exhibition features a portion of the 20,000 items of memorabilia, including Hendrix's flower-decorated Fender Stratocaster guitars, which were collected by American Bob Terry.
Terry, a devoted fan since he first saw Hendrix live, sold the collection last year to an anonymous American collector who is having it exhibited before selling it again.
Owen is co-founder of auction house Cooper Owen, which will organize the sale of the collection it estimates at being worth between eight million to 15 million pounds (12 to 22.5 million euros).
The items on display include posters and concert tickets, previously unseen film footage and photographs, album covers, copies of underground newspapers, and Hendrix's rainbow color clothes and Indian leather vests.
But it is the guitars which fuel the Hendrix myth, a self-taught musician who not only mastered the instrument but played it upside down, behind his head or with his teeth.
During the exhibition, fans will hear uncut versions of hits "Purple Haze", "Foxy Lady" or "Are You Experienced".
The exhibition offers 47 personal tape reels -- Jimi's own tapes of studio mix-downs, jam sessions or band rehearsals.
"Hendrix was usually to be found in the studio, working on songs, or inviting fellow musicians for impromptu 'jam' sessions -- all with the tape machines rolling," a statement from Cooper Owens said.
"The collection contains hours of recordings from Hendrix's prime, the majority of which is not only unreleased, but is of higher quality than most of what has previously been released," it said.
In four years, Hendrix reached international stardom and inspired other musicians. Some of his fans called him a demi-god or king of the guitar.
"He was like a hurricane when he hit London -- and influenced the likes of Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, John Mayall and Steve Winwood," Owen said in an earlier interview with the BBC.
"The exhibition will show how Hendrix came to dominate the scene," he said.
[Edited by VoodooChileInWOnderl] |
| September 21st, 2004 07:53 PM |
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| Soldatti |
Thanks for post it. |
| September 22nd, 2004 04:44 PM |
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| thejuf |
Jimi still rules! |
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