Hard to say if he would've been out 'til quarter to three, but there's no doubt that I'd still love him if Jimi Hendrix had made sixty-four. Born November 27, 1942, today would have been that day.
Back in 1969, long before I'd heard of Belltown, or become quite so Bent, I was already very familiar with Seattle's favorite son. I took this picture of Jimi at the third of three shows he did at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, on June 1st of that year.
I went to the first show on Friday. He stopped playing after about 30 minutes or so because of a bad hum in his amp - some sort of electrical problem. I don't remember much about Saturday's show, but I'm pretty sure I was there. The third show, a make-good for Friday's buzz-out, was one of those nights. A big moon coming up over the Diamond Head crater, gates open to all comers, Jimi in all his glory, and I had my very first SLR and a cheap telephoto lens.
I thought today would be a good day to break out this old image and remember an extraordinary man who left us too soon. And, as Paul McCartney (the other left-handed cultural icon born in '42 - he turned 64 last June) suggested in his song*, we'll open a bottle of wine and remember Jimi on his birthday. Luckily, like Paul, we got older too.
*While this song, like most Beatles songs, is credited to Lennon and McCartney, When I'm Sixty-Four was one of the first songs McCartney wrote, while he and John were still the Quarrymen.
Nice connections. Very entertaining. I had no idea!
Posted by: The County Clerk | November 28, 2006 at 12:02 PM
Oh my goodness! I was at a Jimi Hendrix concert at the Waikiki Shell in 1969 or perhaps in mid 1970, unfortunately though I fell asleep on the grass - too much of a little pill that was popular in Hawaii at the time.
Love him.
Posted by: anna maria | November 30, 2006 at 08:08 PM
I was at the first concert and the third concert.
The first concert was great and then Jimi said something about it wasn't happening so come back and we will do it again. He did go play at the Hawaii State fair after the gig. I had friends that had a band from the North shore, he played with them that night. Jimi gave one of the guys a guitar.
Yes It was truly a magical night for the third concert. at the Waikaki Shell, a great outdoor venue. Yes the Moon was full that night, but you left out that the Moon was rising over Diamond head going into a total eclipse while Jimi played. This concert was no accident, he planned it :) After the concert everyone went to Tantalus to see the conpletion of the eclipse. I will never forget that night. Jimi gave us a gift. Texas
Posted by: Judy Green | January 30, 2007 at 09:21 PM