Jimi Hendrix/Johnny Hallyday

[purple jim]

I am in the process of putting up calls for eye witness accounts of the October 66 tour on various Johnny Hallyday forums. We have the Olympia recording and photos of course but very little about Evreux, Nancy and Villrupt.
Who knows, we might get a few memories out of somebody, maybe a photo. Maybe a tape! (just dreaming).

[purple jim]

A guy on one of the forums saw the Olympia 66 show. All he can remember was that Jimi was whistled at as he went on (you can hear some whistles on the recording, though it's difficult if they are whistles of enthousiasme or derision).

More interstingly, one Johnny fan pointed me to this 1966 tour list which reveals that the Nancy venue was the cinéma Le Rio and on the 16th of October they played in Luxembourg.

Source: http://www.hallyday.com.fr/Son/Tournee/1966.html
<!-- / message --> <!-- controls --> http://crosstowntorrents.org/images/misc/progress.gif http://crosstowntorrents.org/images/buttons/edit.gif (http://crosstowntorrents.org/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=26033)

[purple jim]

So here is the eye witness account of the October 14, 1966 concert in Nancy, by Mr.Bernard Eyl. I received this thanks to an appeal that I posted on a Johnny Hallyday site:

"I can confirm that the concerts at Nancy, Villerupt and Luxembourg did take place.
At Nancy, the show was at the The Rio cinema, which seated about 1500 people. The show started much later than the scheduled 9pm.
Jimi was the first on, as the curtain rose. It was Long Chris who announced him from the wings, saying that he had seen Jimi in London with Johnny.
As soon as he started up, the hall went beserk, the girls screamed. Nobody had ever seen anyone with such a hair-do or heard a sound so powerful! He wore black trousers and a white satin shirt which was slightly open. Noel Redding wore a red sweater, however I don't remember what Mitch was wearing. Jimi had his white Fender Stratocaster. He played it behind his back or gnawed at the strings with his teeth. They played three or four songs. I remember "Land Of A Thousand Dances" and a Bob Dylan song, probably "Like A Rolling Stone". I'm not even sure that they played "Hey Joe". In any case, at no point were Johnny and Jimi on stage together.
At the time, Johnny was singing really strongly, he gave it everything he had and generally finished up bare-chested after having rolled around on the floor. The tension, already built up by The Experience, never let up because the excited crowd didn't even calm down during the sets by Long Chris and The Blackburds (Johnny's band).
The day after, my friends and I went round all the record shops trying to find his records but of course nobody had ever heard of him. For me it was a revelation and I followed his career right up to the end. Unfortunately, I never saw him again live on stage.
I think I already tracked down the review of the Villerupt concert but I can't find it anymore. I'll have to go back to the regional archives.
Johnny Hallyday did gloss up his encounter with Jimi. He didn't talk about it early on but as the years passed, seeing that the journalists kept asking him about it, he recounted a lot of silly stories (in my opinion) for example that he (Jimi) would sleep at his place when he was in Paris and vice-versa. He never spoke of that at the time and there's no photo. I really doute that they ever met after this tour.
Here also is the article from L'Est Républicain (15.10.66), the photo taken in front of a brasserie in Nancy after the concert (Johnny didn't take the stage until after 11pm!)."

http://www.noob.fr/upload/b4892_clubj.jpg (http://www.noob.fr/)
Here again is that very first photo of the band outside the plush Grand Hotel, Place Stanislas, Nancy.

http://www.noob.fr/upload/a63a1_nancy.jpg (http://www.noob.fr/)
The press cutting from L'Est Républicain, where Jimi is briefly mentioned at the end, with little enthusiasm:

"After an hour, everyone is exhausted, Johnny and the public. One forgets the number of songs performed, one forgets that there was a nine piece band, the "Blackburds" and that as support band we had seen "Chris" (a pale imitation of Antoine) and Jimi Hendrix, leading his band.
One forgets. The storm has passed."

[purple jim]

I received more details from Bernard Eyl at the Hallyday site.

"One of my friends waited for Johnny at the exit after the Nancy concert. Johnny went on foot to the upper room of the restaurant "The Foy", 1 place Stanislas. Nobody could get in (to see Johnny).
I maintain that there was no film camera during the concert. It would be surprising if only the restaurant scene was filmed at Nancy."
At 5 a.m. Johnny came out with his entourage avec the three members of The Experience and Chas Chandler.
The photo of The Experience was taken on October 15 in the afternoon, in front of the Grand Hotel, place Stanislas, where everyone had spent the night."

As Olvator tried to do, it would be better to move all this Hallyday info to a subject all of it's own. Can anyone do that?

[purple jim]

According to Univibes etc. who have spent many years researching this these are all the gigs they played on this short "tour", Luxembourg was a mistake by Noel, Villerupt is very close to the border with Luxembourg.

That said, I doubt that the Hallyday sites searched for what Hendrix researchers said about the tour dates. Hallyday sites do list Jimi supporting Johnny on the 16th at Luxembourg, the day after the Villerupt concert. This still leaves Noel the 17th for his day off.

[johanincr]

Has a recording of the Johnny Halliday concert or the 'grand finale' from 18 october 1966 ever surfaced among JHalliday collectors?
That would be my question to French Halliday fans.

Great thread btw!

[purple jim]

http://www.noob.fr/upload/caff5_olymp.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
http://www.noob.fr/upload/56c5e_olymp.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)

I'll put up a request for that on the Hallyday site but it is not known for sure that it was the climax of the evening.
According to the photographer Jean-Louis Rancurel (who took the above photos of all the musicians on stage together), it was during Long Chris' set.*
In Sean Egan's book ("Not Necessarily Stoned But Beautiful") Vic Briggs says that it was the conclusion of Brian Auger's set. He said that they had been booed all the way through their three numbers and the other musicians came on for the last song (planned or to just save face?).
Brian Auger told me (last week) that the it was at the end of the whole show (although his memory wasn't too sharp about this period).

*Source: Juke Box Magazine, October 1967 (translations of the most important paragraphs coming soon).

[stplsd]

So here is the eye witness account of the October 14, 1966 concert in Nancy, by Mr.Bernard Eyl. I received this thanks to an appeal that I posted on a Johnny Hallyday site:


Merci beaucoup! Formidable! Great to hear Bernard's memories, and to hear that this audience was enthusiastic for Jimi, as well as at the Olympia. Also a much better quality picture that the one that's usually seen - any chance of a more complete photo? Nice to see the text, which paper this came from and the date (I previously thought this was a memory from a much later publication due to the style). Any info about Luxembourg? Still looks pretty doubtful to me;-)


confirms that there was a gig at Luxembourg. This was listed in an article in the authorative (and French) Juke Box Magazine. The full article is on Ayler's site in the Ezy Reader section.

I checked out the article and it was only published in 1997, rock mags are not known for their attention to detail and I'm afraid this is no exception, it lists Reims as the gig instead of Villerupt! Reims is a long way from Villerupt (half way to Paris!), and Villerupt is only 3 Km from Luxembourg? and Nancy is not far. It does have some interesting tidbits I've not heard before, as when it claims Johnny took Jimi to the Tchoo-Tchoo night club at Plessis-Robinson, on the outskirts of Paris, where Jimi jammed - with? it doesn't say and unfortunately no date is given? but by it's position in the article it would appear to be between the 15th & the 18th Also the info (new to me) that after the Olympia gig Johnny, Mickey Jones, Chas & Jimi spent the rest of the night at the Whiskey A-Go-Go? Any more details on these two would be nice. There is much new info (to non-French speaking readers at least) in this interesting article, but it will take a while to get through it all - if ever;-)

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="10" Day="15" Year="1966">Saturday 15 October 1966</st1:date><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p>
L'EST RÉPUBLICAIN, (page ?): “‘A Lightning Visit With Johnny Hallyday’ [14 October, Cinéma Le Rio, <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy]</st1:place></st1:City>, by Alain Ganassi: A respirator. Behind it, two blue, piercing eyes, bloodshot from fatigue: that’s ‘Johnny’. It is <st1:time Hour="10" Minute="0">10 o’clock</st1:time>. His new agent (he started two days earlier) and his new ‘crew’ (they came with a tour bus: 28 people) are starting to get restless. Why the respirator? A cold, a terrible cold, but yesterday in <st1:City><st1:place>Evreux</st1:place></st1:City> at his first show since his rest cure he almost lost his voice. Why the delay? First his 9,500,000 French francs Aston Martin which broke down… So he contents himself with the Bentley of Jean-Pierre Bloch, his secretary. And then it was a difficult road was a difficult road: lots of traffic, it rained, and to top it all, the windscreens of the Bentley broke down. Anyway, Johnny came to play in Nancy before Paris, where he will play in a 'Musicorama' at the Olympia with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll [& JHE!], with the seven latest songs which he recorded last week in London, and of which most were written during his stay at the clinic after his suicide attempt. This man is difficult to approach. There is a lot of talking, perhaps too much. His blue eyes are fixed at one point, somewhere out in infinity. He needs time. He needs a rest. "Your turn in five minutes," his agent urges him. The door shuts with a slam, we need to give Johnny time to get dressed. A lightning visit which leaves us with a bitter sad after taste. In just a few minutes time Johnny will sing on stage "Noir, c'est noir." <o:p></o:p>
‘He Ends His Show Bare Chested!‘<o:p></o:p>
The button of his shirt jumps off, the white necktie is already in Johnny's hands. The theatre roars. Sweat is carving the face of the blonde young man as if it needs to be sculptured. He throws the necktie in the audience. Within fifteen minutes his shirt is soaking wet. The next twenty minutes he finishes his set of songs bare chested, using his muscles to mark the last bars. Johnny has the place turned upside down. He has told his 1,500 fans in <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City> who are packed in the large hall: "I haven't been in <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City> for three years. I have such good memories so here I am." They have applauded. He has played his major hits: "Les Coups", "Le Penitencier", etcetera: they have given him a standing ovation. "La Fille A Laquelle Je Pense", he almost cried the song, the song he wrote in the clinic after his suicide attempt, for Sylvie [Vartan]. The crying has died, the cheers have exploded. Fifteen hundred people (only young people were in the theatre) said to him: "We are here". He drops to the floor as if to say: I loved her, one can make a mistake. When he gets up again, he snapped at the microphone... "Our love has left us". A young girl jumps up, and throws a bouquet of roses on the stage. Johnny picks up one rose. He ends his show with it. The microphone gets broken. He doesn't need a microphone. He doesn't even need to sing. His body serves as a voice. The sweat is pouring. Half of the audience has stood up. Hands are waving, they are deaf because of the noise, by the shouting, by the drums. The spectacle is complete: the girl with the long hair who, sitting in her chair literally is getting into a trance, the old lady who greedily makes picture after picture with her small camera with flash until "gorilla's" put a stop to it! And then, see the police sergeant. He is exhausted, like Johnny and the audience. Nobody knows how many songs he has played, they have forgotten that he has a band of nine musicians, that they have seen "Chris" (a poor imitation of Antoine) in the first part of the programme, and Jimi Hendrix heading his own band. <o:p></o:p>
They have forgotten that the storm is over.<o:p></o:p>

[stplsd]

^<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
According to Univibes etc. who have spent many years researching this these are all the gigs they played on this short "tour", Luxembourg was a mistake by Noel, Villerupt is very close to the border with Luxembourg.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
01.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Year="1966" Day="13" Month="10">Thursday 13 October 1966</st1:date><o:p></o:p>
<st1:City><st1:place>Evreux</st1:place></st1:City>, Novelty Cinéma, Rue Chartraine, <st1:place><st1:City>Normandie</st1:City>, <st1:country-region>France</st1:country-region></st1:place>. JHE<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Concert: The JHE’s first performance, four ? songs (15 minutes)<o:p></o:p>
The tour was supposedly organised by Georgio Gomelsky, who produced Johnny's LP at Olympic in <st1:City><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:City>. It was a his “comback” (after fading in popularity and following an attempted suicide), to promote his new LP.<o:p></o:p>
Supporting: (Jean) ‘Johnny Hallyday’ (Smet)<o:p></o:p>
With The Blackburds and Long Chris (also Johnny’s song writer)<o:p></o:p>
Film: Hallyday was filmed [and possibly JHE] for French TV program ‘Cinque Colonnes a la Une’ (04 November)<o:p></o:p>
Audience: ~ 1, 000 <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Songs Mitch remembers:<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:time Minute="0" Hour="0">Midnight</st1:time> Hour (Steve Cropper & Wilson Pickett)<o:p></o:p>
Mercy, Mercy (Don Covay)<o:p></o:p>
Land Of A 1,000 Dances (Chris Kenner)<o:p></o:p>
Hey Joe [probably] (Billy Roberts)<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:date Year="1966" Day="22" Month="10">Saturday 22 October 1966</st1:date><o:p></o:p>
<st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p>
L’EURE’ ÉCLAIR(page ?) [The local newspaper, the JHE’s’ first review] ‘At the Novelty’, ‘A Memorable Evening with Johnny’ [13 October gig at Le Novelty Cinéma, <st1:City><st1:place>Evreux</st1:place></st1:City>] review by : “ […] Then Johnny Hallyday's band [‘The Blackburds] played in a "debauchery of sounds." After this deafening interlude, Johnny Hallyday’s latest “discovery” appeared [The Jimi Hendrix Experience]. He was a singer and guitarist with bushy hair. A bad cocktail of James Brown and Chuck Berry, who writhed on stage for a good quarter of an hour, sometimes playing the guitar with his teeth. He ended the first half of the concert, which was followed by a rather long intermission […]”
[Photo caption (of the wild audience reception ofJohnny): ‘Delirissima!...‘]
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Noel: “The musician’s coach took us to <st1:City><st1:place>Evreux</st1:place></st1:City>…Johnny Hallyday travelled separately in his Aston Martin. Before the gig we sat quietly and had a couple of smokes – hash and tobacco combined European style in big multi skinned joints – to calm our nerves. Jimi wasn’t used to smoking in this way and he always asked, ‘Roll me one of those big English joints, Noel. I can’t do it.’ I don’t think he ever sussed rolling those joints. We felt uncertain about how we’d be received, because we knew our sound was hard to categorise: a real mish-mash of influences, plus a few decibels thrown in for good measure. We needn’t have worried, our fifteen-minute, four song set got a good reception, in spite of the blown bass speaker, which forced me to plug directly into the PA. Good vibes for the best of beginnings. And more hash than I’d ever seen…”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
“It wasn’t until when we did our first tour in <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region> with Johnny Hallyday that I sussed out the guy [Jimi] was really good.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Mitch: “I don’t remember the first gig per se, but we did ‘Midnight Hour’, ‘Have Mercy’, ‘Land Of A Thousand Dances’, you know, the standards. We were only on for about fifteen minutes. Johnny Halliday was, and still is, sort of the ‘Elvis Presley’ of <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. You’d do [we did] these grubby little cinemas [three only], right out in the sticks, much worse than the cinema tours you did [later] back in <st1:country-region><st1:place>England</st1:place></st1:country-region>, real flea pits. He was treated like royalty, however – given the keys to the city and all that. We also got treated really well. We had to muck in together - you find out a lot about each other under those conditions, very quickly. Prior to that I hadn’t known anything about Hendrix and where he came from, musically or otherwise. There’d been the casual reference to playing with Ike Turner, The Isley Brothers or whoever, not name dropping, but those things gradually came out on the road. He was a quiet bloke – at least until he got on stage. It was on the first gig that we saw the whole other person, completely different from anything I’d seen before, even during rehearsals. I knew he played really tasty guitar, had the chops, but I didn’t know about the showmanship that went with it. It was like – ‘Whoosh! This man really is out front!’ I knew he wasn’t that comfortable about singing – in fact he was really quite shy about it and Chas had to push him to some degree. He took a while to convince, but not really that long. The showmanship – playing it behind his head, with his teeth etc. – was amazing. But even then it was obviously not just flashiness, he really did have the musicianship to go with it.” <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
“Those first gigs were strange though. We were on a tour bus, Halliday just turned up in his new Mustang [Aston Martin] or whatever. There were two English guys in Halliday’s band – Mick Jones [Guitar] later with ‘Foreigner’ and Tommy Brown who was the drummer from ‘Nero and The Gladiators’. They had worked together for some years, but they were the only other English guys, whereas the rest including a huge horn section were all French. On the first day on the road I got to sit next to this trombone player, and my French is non-existent and his English wasn’t much better. Anyway, I went through my suitcase, found this little piece of illegal smoking substance, and attempted to roll a joint, which I did very badly.<o:p></o:p>
The guy said, ‘Oh Meesh, you like?’ and I said ‘Well, you know, take it or leave it.’<o:p></o:p>
After that, every night in the wings, I’d get this little nudge – ‘Meesh, come with us’ and I’d go and have a smoke with the Halliday band. The atmosphere really loosened up and they really got to like Jimi and the rest of us. I’d worked in France before, but only TV things, so I had very little experience of French audiences. They don’t clap! You’d finish off a number and …silence. You’d think, ‘Christ, what’s this? Is it respect or do they hate us?’ <o:p></o:p>
On the first few gigs they didn’t know how to take us and didn’t really want to see us, but it seems that we were going down quite well – we’d have been told pretty damn quickly if they really had hated us. I think we did two nights [actually three] with a night off [actually two] in between…We did our fifteen minutes each night, that was all we were allowed and we didn’t know any more numbers anyway. We knew half a dozen numbers, maximum.” <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
02.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:date Year="1966" Day="14" Month="10">Friday 14 October 1966</st1:date>, <o:p></o:p>
Nancy, <st1:place><st1:City>Le Rio [cinema]</st1:City>, <st1:State>Lorraine</st1:State>, <st1:country-region>France</st1:country-region></st1:place>. JHE<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Concert (15 minutes)<o:p></o:p>
Supporting: (Jean) ‘Johnny Hallyday’ (Smet)<o:p></o:p>
With ‘The Blackburds’ and ‘Long Chris’ <o:p></o:p>
Audience: ~ 1,500<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Songs: unknown
Accomodation: Le Grand Hôtel, Place Stanislas
Film: (possibly here) B&W Johnny & crew with the JHE & Chas, blowing smoke-rings.
1st known photo of JHE (outside Le Grand Hôtel)<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Songs Bernard Eyl remembers:
Land Of 1,000 Dances
Like A Rolling Stone (possibly)

Songs Noel remembers:<o:p></o:p>
(from one of these gigs but he confuses it with Paris)
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Bert Berns, Solomon Burke & Jerry Wexler)<o:p></o:p>
Mercy, Mercy<o:p></o:p>
Hey Joe
L'EST RÉPUBLICAIN (<st1:date Year="1966" Day="15" Month="10">15-10-66</st1:date>):(page ?): “‘A Lightning Visit With Johnny Hallyday’ [I][14 October, Le Rio, <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City>], by Alain Ganassi: A respirator. Behind it, two blue, piercing eyes, bloodshot from fatigue: that’s ‘Johnny’. It is <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="10">10 o’clock</st1:time>. His new agent (he started two days earlier) and his new ‘crew’ (they came with a tour bus: 28 people) are starting to get restless. Why the respirator? A cold, a terrible cold, but yesterday in <st1:City><st1:place>Evreux</st1:place></st1:City> at his first show since his rest cure he almost lost his voice. Why the delay? First his 9,500,000 French francs Aston Martin which broke down… So he contents himself with the Bentley of Jean-Pierre Bloch, his secretary. And then it was a difficult road was a difficult road: lots of traffic, it rained, and to top it all, the windscreens of the Bentley broke down. Anyway, Johnny came to play in Nancy before Paris, where he will play in a 'Musicorama' at the Olympia with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll [& JHE!], with the seven latest songs which he recorded last week in London, and of which most were written during his stay at the clinic after his suicide attempt. This man is difficult to approach. There is a lot of talking, perhaps too much. His blue eyes are fixed at one point, somewhere out in infinity. He needs time. He needs a rest. "Your turn in five minutes," his agent urges him. The door shuts with a slam, we need to give Johnny time to get dressed. A lightning visit which leaves us with a bitter sad after taste. In just a few minutes time Johnny will sing on stage "Noir, c'est noir."
‘He Ends His Show Bare Chested!‘
The button of his shirt jumps off, the white necktie is already in Johnny's hands. The theatre roars. Sweat is carving the face of the blonde young man as if it needs to be sculptured. He throws the necktie in the audience. Within fifteen minutes his shirt is soaking wet. The next twenty minutes he finishes his set of songs bare chested, using his muscles to mark the last bars. Johnny has the place turned upside down. He has told his 1,500 fans in <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City> who are packed in the large hall: "I haven't been in <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City> for three years. I have such good memories so here I am." They have applauded. He has played his major hits: "Les Coups", "Le Penitencier", etcetera: they have given him a standing ovation. "La Fille A Laquelle Je Pense", he almost cried the song, the song he wrote in the clinic after his suicide attempt, for Sylvie [Vartan]. The crying has died, the cheers have exploded. Fifteen hundred people (only young people were in the theatre) said to him: "We are here". He drops to the floor as if to say: I loved her, one can make a mistake. When he gets up again, he snapped at the microphone... "Our love has left us". A young girl jumps up, and throws a bouquet of roses on the stage. Johnny picks up one rose. He ends his show with it. The microphone gets broken. He doesn't need a microphone. He doesn't even need to sing. His body serves as a voice. The sweat is pouring. Half of the audience has stood up. Hands are waving, they are deaf because of the noise, by the shouting, by the drums. The spectacle is complete: the girl with the long hair who, sitting in her chair literally is getting into a trance, the old lady who greedily makes picture after picture with her small camera with flash until "gorilla's" put a stop to it! And then, see the police sergeant. He is exhausted, like Johnny and the audience. Nobody knows how many songs he has played, they have forgotten that he has a band of nine musicians, that they have seen "Chris" (a poor imitation of Antoine) in the first part of the programme, and Jimi Hendrix heading his own band.
They have forgotten that the storm is over.
<o:p></o:p>Noel: “In <st1:City><st1:place>Nancy</st1:place></st1:City> we extended our pre gig brain modifications. I introduced the band to the uppers ‘Captogan’ and ‘Preludin’ I knew so well by now. I rationed everyone to half a tablet, knowing that a whole one would keep us up all night. After that, before gigs, it was ‘Hey, Noel, got any of those tablets.’ And because I’d finished my course of clap pills and could drink again, it was up, down and sideways.”
<o:p></o:p>
Bernard Eyl [fan] from a 2010 interview by 'purplejim': The show started much later than the scheduled <st1:time Minute="0" Hour="21">9pm.</st1:time>
Jimi was the first on. As the curtain rose, Long Chris announced him from the wings, saying that he had seen Jimi in <st1:City><st1:place>London</st1:place></st1:City> with Johnny.
As soon as he started up, the hall went beserk, the girls screamed. Nobody had ever seen anyone with such a hair-do or heard a sound so powerful! He wore black trousers and a white satin shirt which was slightly open. Noel Redding wore a red sweater, however I don't remember what Mitch was wearing. Jimi had his white Fender Stratocaster. He played it behind his back or gnawed at the strings with his teeth. They played three or four songs. I remember "Land Of A Thousand Dances" and a Bob Dylan song, probably "Like A Rolling Stone". I'm not even sure that they played "Hey Joe". <o:p></o:p>
Johnny gave it everything he had and generally finished up bare-chested after having rolled around on the floor. The tension, already built up by The Experience, never let up because the excited crowd didn't even calm down during the sets by Long Chris and The Blackburds. The day after, my friends and I went round all the record shops trying to find his records but of course nobody had ever heard of him.
<o:p></o:p>
03.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:date Year="1966" Day="15" Month="10">Saturday 15 October 1966</st1:date><o:p></o:p>
Villerupt, Salle des fêtes [funtion hall], Hôtel de Ville [Town Hall]<st1:State><st1:place>Lorraine</st1:place></st1:State>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. JHE<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Concert (25 minutes), six songs (Jimi broke a string after the fourth song)<o:p></o:p>
Supporting: (Jean) ‘Johnny Hallyday’ (Smet)<o:p></o:p>
With ‘The Blackburds’ and ‘Long Chris’ <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Song/s: unknown<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Mitch: “We did actually go over time one night [Villerupt] and got our wrists slapped.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Noel: “After our <st1:country-region><st1:place>Luxembourg</st1:place></st1:country-region> [actually Villerupt] gig we had a day off to look forward to. We got drunk together after the show and at half twelve we crawled into the coach, set off and promptly ran out of petrol. Was it cold! Mitch grabbed Chas’ raincoat for himself and went to sleep. Chas, Jimi and I huddled together and tried to keep from freezing through the long, long night.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
04.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:date Year="1966" Day="18" Month="10">Tuesday 18 October 1966</st1:date><o:p></o:p>
Paris 9ème Arrondissement, Theatre de l’Olympia, 22 Rue Caumartin, Région Parisienne, <st1:country-region><st1:place>France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. JHE<o:p></o:p>
Concert (15 minutes)<o:p></o:p>
Tape: Recorded by <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> 1 (radio) for the program ‘Musicorama’<o:p></o:p>
Supporting: (Jean) ‘Johnny Hallyday’ (Smet)<o:p></o:p>
With The Blackburds , Long Chris and The Brian Auger Trinity<o:p></o:p>
Introduced by Lee [U]Halliday [sic] (Johnny’s cousin’s American boyfriend’s (later husband) stage name , from whom Johnny Hallyday [sic] took his stage name)<o:p></o:p>
Fee: Ff 3,375<o:p></o:p>
Audience: ~ 2,500 <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Killing Floor (5)(<st1:City><st1:place>Chester</st1:place></st1:City> ‘Howlin’ Wolf’ Burnett)<o:p></o:p>
Hey Joe (6) (Billy Roberts)<o:p></o:p>
Wild Thing (1) (John ‘Chip <st1:City><st1:place>Taylor</st1:place></st1:City>’ Voight)<o:p></o:p>
Jimi also played on unknown song/s in <o:p></o:p>
the finale before the intermission - unreleased<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Chas: “He was one of the all time great manipulators of an audience. As a performer he was unbelievable. You’ve never seen a guy stick an audience in the palm of his hand the way Johnny did. He had that marvellous nerve of doing nothing at the right time except pose. The tricks became part of the Hendrix Experience.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Noel: “We were required to rehearse for the big <st1:City><st1:place>Paris</st1:place></st1:City> gig. This meant sitting around all day thinking too much, getting terrible nerves and feeling ill. At least when roaming around outside, our amazement kept our minds off the impending show. I spent some time with Brian Augers ‘Trinity’, but was getting to know my nerves pretty well by the time we were due to play. As it turned out our three numbers – Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, Have Mercy and Hey Joe – [Actually - Killing Floor, Hey Joe and Wild Thing] went down a bomb. Talk about relief. We got merry at the theatre, then headed off to a big party in a posh downstairs club and got drunker and more stoned, with the uppers keeping us raving. Suddenly it was <st1:time Minute="30" Hour="6">six thirty</st1:time> in the morning. We just managed to pack up the gear in time to drag it to the airport, complaining constantly and dreaming of a roadie. But we laughed and joked. High on our success, we could handle anything.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Mitch: “The main gig on the tour was the Paris ‘<st1:City><st1:place>Olympia</st1:place></st1:City>’, a big vaudeville theatre, not really a rock audience at all at that time.”<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
“I’ve been told that one of our sets [<st1:City><st1:place>Paris</st1:place></st1:City> l’Olympia] was broadcast on <st1:place>Europe</st1:place> 1. It seems unlikely [it was - but when?], but Halliday was massive, so his set might have been broadcast, and it’s just possible ours was as well.”<o:p></o:p>

[stplsd]

That said, I doubt that the Hallyday sites searched for what Hendrix researchers said about the tour dates. Hallyday sites do list Jimi supporting Johnny on the 16th at Luxembourg, the day after the Villerupt concert. This still leaves Noel the 17th for his day off.

Why do you doubt that, we're searching Hallyday sites;-)? No info or gig mentioned just 'Luxembourg', when did this 1st crop up I wonder? If you read my post I think you'll see that the guys were not too sure about how many days/concerts they played, and also that they appear to have been drinking and smoking hash quite a bit;-)


Hey y'all, I am getting in touch with a guy who was at the Nancy gig of October 14 and he says he might have a press cutting. I've sent him a mail full of questions.

Nice one, sounds interesting

[stplsd]

I am in the process of putting up calls for eye witness accounts of the October 66 tour on various Johnny Hallyday forums.
Thanks, it would be nice if there was more info, you don't ask you don't get;-)

[stplsd]

There's few images of Jimi smoking with Johnny in this excerpt:
http://www.ina.fr/divertissement/varietes/video/CAF88031129/johnny-hallyday.fr.html (http://www.ina.fr/divertissement/varietes/video/CAF88031129/johnny-hallyday.fr.html)

Thanks, yes, this link only shows Johnny, briefly, in his hotel? room, but that's it. Do you think this is in Evreux?
And, possibly the smoke-ring blowing film that includes JHE was from this show? Anyone know where that comes from?

[thefrenchowl]

The French INA site don't list much of anything filmed prior to 1970 for some reason.

This is the Jimi search, my PC got no sound card so I did not watch any, maybe there's something in there...

http://www.ina.fr/recherche/recherche?vue=Video&startVideo=0&anneeStartVideo=1970&anneeEndVideo=1993

And thanks, Purple Jim for your efforts!!!

One thought: Johnny might have had a set in Luxembourg, but not Jimi's Experience???

... And Johnny name is not Jean Smet but Jean-Philippe Smet!!!

There's an Johnny's interview from the 8th of October 1966 here, so just prior to the tour:

http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF89016128/johnny-hallyday-a-robinson.fr.html

Patrick

[purple jim]

?
…possibly the smoke-ring blowing film that includes JHE was from this show? Anyone know where that comes from?

It is believed to be at the Grand Hotel. It certainly looks like an upper room at a restaurant and the ambiance looks like mid-day. Also, on that first photo of The Experience (further up the page) the Mitch has his sunglasses on, they are dressed identically to how they are in the film and the brickwork behind them matches exactly with that of the hotel.

http://www.noob.fr/upload/8eb43_jimi_.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Jimi & Mitch

http://www.noob.fr/upload/31e9b_mitch.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Mitch & Noel !

http://www.noob.fr/upload/981e3_le-gr.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Le Grand Hôtel, place Stanislas, Nancy, where all the groups had stayed.
Johnny was a massive star so it was normal that he should be staying at such a prestigeous hotel. He would also have a room reserved for himself and his team where they could eat undisturbed by gloating fans.
Jimi, Mitch and Noel must have thought, "Wow, big time!".

[enemal]

Hi all,

Funny that you're all discussing this, I just finished cheking out the Luxemburg gig. I was tipped off about those 2 Hallyday sites.

http://www.hallyday.com.fr/Son/Tournee/1966.html

http://www.johnnypassion.com/tournees/1966/tour_66.html

They both claim a gig on the 16th in Luxemburg. But they don't mention a venue, which is suspicious. Luxemburg is not a small town, so IF there was a show, there must have been proof of this by local press coverage. So far nobody has come up with a smoking gun, so as far as I'm concerned this gig didn't take place.

Case closed, as they say!

Cheers,

Enemal.

[enemal]

Hey Purple Kim,

Where do these images come from? Never seen them before...

Cheers,

Enemal.



It is believed to be at the Grand Hotel. It certainly looks like an upper room at a restaurant and the ambiance looks like mid-day. Also, on that first photo of The Experience (further up the page) the Mitch has his sunglasses on, they are dressed identically to how they are in the film and the brickwork behind them matches exactly with that of the hotel.

http://www.noob.fr/upload/8eb43_jimi_.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Jimi & Mitch

http://www.noob.fr/upload/31e9b_mitch.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Mitch & Noel !

http://www.noob.fr/upload/981e3_le-gr.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)
Le Grand Hôtel, place Stanislas, Nancy, where all the groups had stayed.
Johnny was a massive star so it was normal that he should be staying at such a prestigeous hotel. He would also have a room reserved for himself and his team where they could eat undisturbed by gloating fans.
Jimi, Mitch and Noel must have thought, "Wow, big time!".

[stplsd]

Many thanks for the interesting links Patrick


The French INA site don't list much of anything filmed prior to 1970 for some reason.

http://www.ina.fr/recherche/recherche?vue=Video&startVideo=0&anneeStartVideo=1970&anneeEndVideo=1993

I looked up this: Pop Music: Jimi Hendrix Memories 13/12/1972 - 02min16s
on the ina site, and the clip from Theatre d'Issy has the guitar mixed up front unlike any of the other vids of this I have seen, where the guitar is annoyingly way back in the mix - anyone got this [loud guitar] source for the whole concert [3 songs?] or is it just this clip?


http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF89016128/johnny-hallyday-a-robinson.fr.html

Patrick

Patrick, do you know why this is called 'JH à Robinson'? was it filmed at Plessis-Robinson? Any info on the supposed Tchoo Tchoo jam there? or the visit to the Paris Whiskey?

[purple jim]

Hey Purple Kim,

Where do these images come from? Never seen them before...

Cheers,

Enemal.

It's Purple Jim by the way.
The images are simply screen captures that I did from the film of Jimi and Johnny's smoke ring contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVb7xuASjlw
It says Paris but it could be Nancy, could be anywhere on that short tour of the North of France.

[enemal]

It's Purple Jim by the way.
The images are simply screen captures that I did from the film of Jimi and Johnny's smoke ring contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVb7xuASjlw
It says Paris but it could be Nancy, could be anywhere on that short tour of the North of France.

Purple Kim? Sorry, I hit the wrong button next to the 'J'!!!!

[thefrenchowl]

Hi STPLSD,

I'm in GB as you are!!! French OK, but no sound on my PC, so hard to follow these vids...

From what I can gather, these vids on the INA site are just small extracts of much bigger vids. I suppose you'd have to contact and PAY them to see the rest...INA stands for Institut National de l'Audiovisuel, sort of a "quango" for France!!! Site is hopeless, designed by charlots, takes me about 1mn to open any page...

I've also spent nearly 3 hours this morning trying to find 1966 Luxembourg news papers on line to check reports of concerts, result = ZILTCH, NUL, ZERO...

Small aparté: I only discovered Jimi sometimes in the fall of 68, but one of my uncles worked at the Faculté de Droit d'Assas and I can remember him saying he saw these "awful bands" at the law ball in 67...

Patrick

[purple jim]

http://www.noob.fr/upload/408c6_sans_.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)

From the book "Destroy 2000" by Johnny Hallyday himself.
So for Johnny it was:
- Thursday 13 October at Evreux ;
- Friday 14 at Nancy ;
- Saturday 15 at Reims ;
- Sunday 16 at Luxembourg ;
- Tuesday 18 at Paris.

and "he played "Rock Me Baby", "Have Mercy", "Land Of A Thousand Danses and "In The Midnight Hour" where he took off his shirt and smashed his guitar".:confused:

[purple jim]

Caesar Glebeek mailed me to say that he did in-depth research on the subject of Luxembourg some years back and found absolutely nothing to confirm a concert there.
It was obviously simply Villerupt.
I don't know what Reims is doing in there.
Johnny's word certainly can't be trusted, he is well known for his lousy memory and exaggerations.

[stplsd]

Johnny's word certainly can't be trusted, he is well known for his lousy memory and exaggerations.

As are most people in the 'rock' / 'beat' world, really, especially after such a long, wild time, & even at the time as everyone was living for the day if not tomorrow! Noel's knowledge of France at the time would have been rudimentary and being so close to the border may well have seen signposts to Luxembourg just prior to their arrival in Villerupt. Johnny may well have got his information from Noel via his diary ... etc... Where did Reims come from though? and the interesting article you gave us seems to have got much of it's info from Johnny's book?
Tchoo Tchoo gig? - Possible?
Paris Whiskey?

Great research, articles, photos, interview though, please keep it going, most important, the 'French connection' is quit poorly researched/represented (outside of France?) considering it's importance to Jimi's story.

There also appears to be some kind of connection via Poland & possibly Chekoslovakia via Barclay records?

[purple jim]

Bernard Eyl did go back to the regional archives to find these reviews of the Villerupt gig. So thanks to him again:

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad162/jimicoltrane/lerpublicainlorrain1710.jpg

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad162/jimicoltrane/estrpublicain171066.jpg

(Ayler has already posted this in the 60s/70s newspaper articles section).

[stplsd]

Tommy Hemdrix!

[purple jim]

Here are my translations:

"Of the two parts of the show, the first was the "calmest". Long Chris openned the show, followed by a black man, Tommy Hemdrix, who, after a bit of trouble with his guitar strap, put on a good display, contorsioning then playing his instrument…with his teeth."

"Long Chris, who fancies himself as a redeemer, was whistled as he played his folk songs. It was just too soft. On the other hand, the crowd were won over when a certain Jimmy, an American looking like a Papuan, discovered by Johnny in a London suburb, put on a quite remarkable display on guitar. Not satisfied with playing the guitar behind his back, the "virtuose" went on to play with his teeth. He must have been hungrier the night before at Nancy where he broke a string as he began his performance. But that didn't stop him…
"My head's pounding!" said a technicien. Attracted by the noise, a crowd had gathered in front of the town hall. The concert could also be heard from the balconies of the nearby council flats."

[purple jim]

Check this out. A Johnny Halliday EP autographed by Jimi, Mitch and Noel in a café on Place Stanislas, Nancy before their second ever show at the Rio cinema.


http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad162/jimicoltrane/1-2.jpg

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad162/jimicoltrane/3-1.jpg

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad162/jimicoltrane/4-1.jpg

Source : Jukebox Magazine
... and a big thank you to Yazid Manou for all this!!!

[purple jim]

Here's a translation of Yazid's above article for Jukebox Magazine:

To begin with, it's a classic story: two young girls, Jocelyne D. and her sister go to see the Johnny Halliday concert at the Rio cinema in Nancy on October 14th, 1966. Under her arm, Jocelyne has an E.P. by her idol: "Je L'Aime". The idea is to get the record autographed by Johnny.
After the concert, the girls head for place Stanislas because they have been told that the musicians are in a café there. When they arrive, they do find Long Chris and Micky Jones. However, to their surprise, also present are one of the support acts for the tour: The Jimi Hendrix Experience and their manager Chas Chandler. This had been the band's second ever concert, after Eveux the night before. Unfortunately Johnny is not around but a determined Jocelyne obtains the autographs of all the musicians present!
This is the first time we have had the chance to see this windfall of autographs and they are on a Johnny Halliday record! Do you realise: Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Chas Chandler, Long Chris and Micky Jones! At the top of the sleeve, Jocelyne has written her name and Jimi Hendrix did the same (as did Redding). Jimi put a little heart and "Love" whereas Noel added "Bass". The four others signed with bold signatures. One little anecdote, apparently randy young Jimi asked for a kiss but Jocelyne refused because he had acne!
In October 2010, Jocelyne's daughter Valérie contacted me in order to get an evaluation for this little treasure before putting it up for auction. I couldn't possibly give her an estimate of its worth as it is simply priceless. Never have we seen an autographe of Hendrix on a record by Johnny! Decidedly, there is an historic connection between Jimi Hendrix and Nancy: we already know that first ever photo of The Experience, taken on October 14, 1966 by Jean-Claude Monnet (I possess the black and white original) and in 1993, at the time of Halliday's 50th birthday, we discovered the first filmed images of the Experience taken at a restaurant by Claude Goretta's team (for his documentary "Un Roi Tristee" - A Sad King) fwhich featured the famous smoke-ring blowing competition between Johnny and Jimi. There is still some doubt as to the exact location of this event but Nancy remains the most probable.
This record must feature the very first autographs of the legendary trio...and how about if we could get Johnny to autograph it, 45 years later!?

Yazid Jimi's Back Manou

[Fenders Fingers]

Thanks for the translation PJ.

[stplsd]

Fantastic, many thanks PJ

[Yazid Manou]

Here's a translation of Yazid's above article for Jukebox Magazine
Thank you very much purple jim.

YM

[purple jim]

Hallyday has a new album out which includes a tribute to Jimi titled "A mon ami Jimi Hendrix". In interviews he is trying to make it seem that he and Jimi were very close, inventing all sorts of things.He recently said that Jimi played on his 1964 recording of "Le Pénitencier" ("House Of The Rising Sun"). He needs help.

[Ezy Rider]

I think he needs money :-)

Great stuff all this, many thanks everyone!

[dino77]

Mmmmm get a life, Johnny.

He he, it's wonderful how a great deal of Jimi's pre-fame musician friends claim things in retrospect. "I knew he was a genius man, he was my greatest collaborator, we could have it man." So they put him down for him style of playing and dressing, put him in the background so he would not to upstage their own lesser talents ("play "chink-chink-chink" real quiet on my record, friend!").

[soccertackle14]

whereas Noel added "Bass".
Haha. So typical of Noel I can't help but laugh. Why he agreed to jump on as bass player I will never understand. Amazing he stayed on for as long as he did. Thanks for the translation, all very interesting stuff.

[Yazid Manou]

Hallyday has a new album out which includes a tribute to Jimi titled [I]"A mon ami Jimi Hendrix".
The tribute song is titled "Guitar Hero".

YM

[Yazid Manou]

Breaking News !

Ever since the 1993 discovery of the now famous film sequence of the smoke-ring contest between Jimi et Johnny Hallyday in a smokey room (after one of the concerts of the short French tour of October 1966) the doubt always persisted about the actual date and location of this scene. Was it in Nancy or Paris?
The film crew that had followed Hallyday was made up of four people: Claude Goretta (director), Raymond Vouillamoz (his assistant). Claude Fléouter (journalist), André Gazut (cameraman) and Michel Parbot (cameraman). They are all still alive and I was able to talk to the first three of those listed.
In 2006, the director told me, without hesitation, that the scene had taken place in NANCY (October 14th) and this has now been confirmed by Raymond Vouillamoz who also revealed to me another interesting detail. Jimi did not understand why he was not filmed during this tour as he did not know the crew was doing a documentary 'bout Johnny. According to Vouillamoz, Johnny had asked the crew to discretely film 10 minutes of Jimi's show! A 16 mm black and white film was taken with a Coutant camera. The precious reel of film was given directly to Jimi (who feared that it would never be sent on to him). Because the film reel was a negative, Jimi would have had to have it developped back in London.
So there we have it, a new rumour to verify in relation to this "lost film" (like with the "Axis" tape that Jimi "lost" in a taxi).

YM
ps : thanks a lot to Purple Jim for the translation !

[Fenders Fingers]

Thanks Yazid.
Something else to add to the "wants" / "find" list lol
Great to have the location confirmed, again many thanks for your efforts here.

[stplsd]

Yeah, many thanks YM, did anyone confirm it was in Le Grand Hotel, Place Stanislas?:-)

[Yazid Manou]

Yeah, many thanks YM, did anyone confirm it was in Le Grand Hotel, Place Stanislas?:-)
The images came from Nancy. The musicians were at restaurant in Place Stanislas. Café Foy.

YM

[Chelsea11217]

I am in the process of putting up calls for eye witness accounts of the October 66 tour on various Johnny Hallyday forums. We have the Olympia recording and photos of course but very little about Evreux, Nancy and Villrupt.
Who knows, we might get a few memories out of somebody, maybe a photo. Maybe a tape! (just dreaming).


Do you know where I can find photos and of the Olympia recording?

[dino77]

Do you know where I can find photos and of the Olympia recording?


Photos:
http://crosstowntorrents.org/gallery/browseimages.php?c=20

Audio recording:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set, buy it from Experience Hendrix or at a record store, cause downloading officially released music is illegalpopcorn1 .
http://www.jimihendrix.com/se/node/33

One unreleased track, Wild Thing, is available on this site.

[stplsd]

Johnny, a talented charmer, performer, as Jimi was, but just an interepreter and non instrumentalist.

[purple jim]

I came across this wider crop of one of those Olympia stage shots. You can see Mickey Jones on the right (with tamborine) and Vic Briggs just behind him.

http://www.noob.fr/upload/303b6_olymp.jpg (http://www.noob.fr)

[Yazid Manou]

In an article I wrote for the February 2011 issue of Jukebox magazine, I told the story of a Jocelyne, a girl who attended a Johnny Hallyday show in Nancy on 14 October 1966. She was 16 at the time. The show was opened by the Jimi Hendrix Experience as you well know. After the concert, she managed to get her precious Johnny Hallyday EP signed by no fewer than six musicians, including Jimi himself. I finished the article by musing "And what if she were to manage to add Johnny's signature to the record sleeve too, almost 45 years later?"

This is exactly what came to pass on 29 March, at the recording of a Taratata (famous french musical TV show) devoted to Johnny Hallyday, was broadcast yesterday evening on France 4 (and again on Friday 6 May on France 2 at around 1am). Presenter Nagui's assistant contacted me a week before filming to find an interesting and original angle linking one JH to the other JH. Nagui agreed to invite Jocelyne (who now lives in the South of France) to the recording. She was at last able to meet her hero, whom she hadn't seen since 1966. A few kisses later, Johnny was filmed signing her record sleeve beside Jimi's signature. All's well that ends well...

http://www.mytaratata.com/Pages/EMISSIONS_voir.aspx?TvShowId=448
Video 6 at 11.18

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j255/VLONK/IMAG1023-Copie.jpg

YM

[purple jim]

This record must feature the very first autographs of the legendary trio...and how about if we could get Johnny to autograph it, 45 years later!?[/I]

Yazid Jimi's Back Manou

Bravo Yazid!!party1

[RobbieRadio]

Interesting to see that Hendrix was already using the "Jimi" spelling of his name less than a month after arriving in England.

[dino77]

Interesting to see that Hendrix was already using the "Jimi" spelling of his name less than a month after arriving in England.


Linda Keith (I think) claims he used it in Greenwich Village before he even met Chas Chandler.

[Yazid Manou]

http://www.francesalut.com/2011/05/jimi-hendrixs-spotty-face-johnny-hallyday-and-an-autograph-45-years-on.html

YM

[pederpropell]

Fantastic story!!

PP

[stplsd]

Linda Keith (I think) claims he used it in Greenwich Village before he even met Chas Chandler.

This is an uncorroberated claim by Carol Shiroky

[kingshirker]

http://www.francesalut.com/2011/05/jimi-hendrixs-spotty-face-johnny-hallyday-and-an-autograph-45-years-on.html

YM

I wrote the piece at Salut! after seeing the story in my local paper in France (the Var edition of Nice-Matin) and speaking to Jocelyne and her daughter.

Many thanks to Yazid for his help. I am not sure that my follow-up adds to what he has posted here and written in the past, but here it is for those who may be interested.

http://www.francesalut.com/2011/05/jimi-hendrix-and-johnny-hallyday-kindred-spirits.htm (http://www.francesalut.com/2011/05/jimi-hendrix-and-johnny-hallyday-kindred-spirits.html)l

A couple of interesting comments have also been left at each posting, including someone recalling Noel reporting back from his first encounter with Jimi with the words: "I have just met a guitar genius."

[MourningStar]

... including someone recalling Noel reporting back from his first encounter with Jimi with the words: "I have just met a guitar genius."
cool! can we track down the Noel quote source?

[kingshirker]

cool! can we track down the Noel quote source?

I'd happily pass on any question to the man who posted the comment