Crosstown Torrents http://crosstowntorrents.org/ The Ultimate Jimi Hendrix Site. en Fri, 18 May 2012 09:13:52 GMT vBulletin 60 http://crosstowntorrents.org/images/misc/rss.png Crosstown Torrents http://crosstowntorrents.org/ R.I.P. Donna Summer http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6552-R-I-P-Donna-Summer&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 17:04:25 GMT http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57436280-10391698/donna-summer-dead-at-63/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_16...er-dead-at-63/ ]]> The Crosstown Bar MourningStar http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6552-R-I-P-Donna-Summer <![CDATA[Hear My Train a Comin': Jimi Hendrix Hits London]]> http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6551-Hear-My-Train-a-Comin-Jimi-Hendrix-Hits-London&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 21:09:46 GMT In July and August 2012 The Hospital Club celebrates Jimi Hendrix's life in London with a special exhibition showcasing his time in the capital. The exhibition includes a selection of jackets worn by Jimi, the original acetates of several of his recordings and for the first time back in London, the guitar he famously smashed up on stage at the Saville Theatre just before he left for the Monterey Pop Festival. Curated by EMP - a not-for-profit company dedicated to the exploration of creativity and innovation in popular music, Hear My Train a Comin': Jimi Hendrix Hits London will be open to the general public, offering the many visitors to the capital around the Olympics a unique perspective on cultural London.


http://www.thehospitalclub.com/club_...ix-hits-london


2012LONDON.jpg
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]]> Third Stone From The Sun billo528 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6551-Hear-My-Train-a-Comin-Jimi-Hendrix-Hits-London Lightscribe Anyone? http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6550-Lightscribe-Anyone&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 15:37:54 GMT Not quite CD cover art but CD art itself :). I thought I'd ask if anyone here designs lighscribe disc "art" for themselves for their CDs? I thought it might be fun to post or trade art if that's the case. I tend to try and find relevant photos of a gig (if possible) for live stuff and sometimes if a great photo has been provided for the CD cover, I'll just modify it for CD printing. I've attached a few examples (two Jimi shows and a Zep one). I'd love to hear if anyone else bothers with this medium :)!

Led Zepplin Shepperton Studios 2007 Disc 2.jpgHendrix LA Forum.jpgHendrix Vienna '69 Disc 1.jpg

Of couse lightscribe discs are monochromatic, so anything that's white or lighter in color takes on the color of the medium. I tend to burn on gold discs, so try to imagine the black and white renderings to actually be black and gold :)!
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]]> CD Cover Art jeffhmason http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6550-Lightscribe-Anyone help required http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6549-help-required&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 19:43:40 GMT anyone have one of these? Samsung BD-D5300 Smart Blu-ray Player Would like to know if they are good kit and worth getting with a 1080 TV anyone have one of these?
Samsung BD-D5300 Smart Blu-ray Player

Would like to know if they are good kit and worth getting with a 1080 TV ]]> Technical Issues Fenders Fingers http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6549-help-required <![CDATA[The boat that Hendrix's guitar built]]> http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6548-The-boat-that-Hendrix-s-guitar-built&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 06:47:18 GMT The Boat Project' is made up of more than 1200 wooden objects...]]> I would like to post you this link about:

The Boat Project' is made up of more than 1200 wooden objects donated by people across south east England.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/07/wo...html?hpt=hp_c3 ]]> Third Stone From The Sun Jimi_is_the_best http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6548-The-boat-that-Hendrix-s-guitar-built <![CDATA[Jimi Hendrix: A Brother's Story]]> http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6547-Jimi-Hendrix-A-Brother-s-Story&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 02:52:39 GMT "Leon Hendrix takes us back to the days before Jimi’s amazing rise to fame, beginning with their tough childhood in Seattle, when their fascination with science fiction and UFOs helped them escape a difficult family life. (Jimi insisted his family call him “Buster,” after Flash Gordon actor Buster Crabbe.) The author reveals Jimi’s early fascination with sound, from his experiments with plucking wires attached to bedposts to the time when he got in trouble for taking apart the family radio (“I was looking for the music,” he explained) to Jimi’s purchasing his first guitar—a Sears, Roebuck and Co. acoustic, from a neighbor." -amazon blurb


complete at:
http://www.amazon.com/Jimi-Hendrix-A.../dp/0312668813 ]]> The Crosstown Bar woof http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6547-Jimi-Hendrix-A-Brother-s-Story Did Jimi Hendrix Really Plan to Join Emerson, Lake and Palmer? http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6545-Did-Jimi-Hendrix-Really-Plan-to-Join-Emerson-Lake-and-Palmer&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 17:36:57 GMT http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimi-hendrix-emerson-lake-palmer/ http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimi-...n-lake-palmer/ ]]> Third Stone From The Sun chez_when http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6545-Did-Jimi-Hendrix-Really-Plan-to-Join-Emerson-Lake-and-Palmer <![CDATA[RIP "Duck " Dunn]]> http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6544-RIP-quot-Duck-quot-Dunn&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 16:39:03 GMT We just lost another legend.............. http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/music/20120513/AS.Japan.Obit.Dunn/ Image:... We just lost another legend..............

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/...pan.Obit.Dunn/


]]> Third Stone From The Sun billo528 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6544-RIP-quot-Duck-quot-Dunn Philly http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6543-Philly&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 03:31:47 GMT ...just moved to Philadelphia w/the wife and babies and I'm wondering if there are any Hendrix-ophiles here and/or where to go to hear some good live music. Any suggestions? We're over in West Mt. Airy chilling. ]]> Third Stone From The Sun skizzle http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6543-Philly Jimi Hendrix Blu-Ray due 7-10-12 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6542-Jimi-Hendrix-Blu-Ray-due-7-10-12&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 22:36:15 GMT Acording to sources at Steve Hoffman The Berkely Concert film will be released july 10 2012.Hopefully it will include all the extra footage Exp... Acording to sources at Steve Hoffman The Berkely Concert film will be released july 10 2012.Hopefully it will include all the extra footage Exp Hendrix has been sitting on. ]]> New Releases Big Pete http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6542-Jimi-Hendrix-Blu-Ray-due-7-10-12 When Spock Met Hendrix http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6541-When-Spock-Met-Hendrix&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 21:48:49 GMT The Hendrix-related material doesn't come in until after 10 minutes. It was just a chance encounter, but still kind of interesting. The entire video lasts 15 minutes.



http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/...cosmic-moment/ ]]> Third Stone From The Sun Defender007 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6541-When-Spock-Met-Hendrix Are You Experienced Turns 45 Years Young http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6540-Are-You-Experienced-Turns-45-Years-Young&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 21:06:45 GMT Still incredible.... http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimi-hendrix-experience-are-you-experienced-turns-45-years-young/... Still incredible....
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/jimi-hendrix-experience-are-you-experienced-turns-45-years-young/ ]]> Third Stone From The Sun chez_when http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6540-Are-You-Experienced-Turns-45-Years-Young Lonnie Youngblood Talks About Jimi 2000 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6539-Lonnie-Youngblood-Talks-About-Jimi-2000&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 02:41:15 GMT From Experience Hendrix Magazine Spring 2000

By Steve Newton

IN LATE 1963, at the nondescript location of New York's Abtone Recording Studio, near the corner of Broadway and 55th, R&B singer-saxophonist Lonnie Yonngblood laid down a handful of tracks for Fairmonnt Records, a subsidiary of Philadelphia's Cameo-Parkway label. None of those songs ever made it onto the charts, or earned respectable airplay, but the sessions were legendary because they featured a 21-year-old guitarist who called himself Jimmy James. Four years later this same player would would take the world by storm under the moniker of Jimi Hendrix.

After Hendrix became about as famous as you can get, the recordings from the Lonnie Yonngblood sessions-almost certainly the very first studio recordings Jirni ever made-became the source of innumerable album releases. Together, the two musicians collaborated on 13 tracks over the course of a handful of sessions. These included "Go Go Shoes" and its continuation, "Go Go Place" (Youngblood's wife was a go-go dancer at the time), "Soul Food (That's A What I Like)," "Goodbye Bessie Mae,''''Sweet Thang," "Fox," "Groovemaker," and three takes each of "Wipe The Sweat" and "Under The Table." Among those tracks there is nothing that comes close to being as dynamic as Hendrix's "Foxey Lady" or "Fire," but Youngblood-reached at his home in Little Ferry, New Jersey-says he's still proud of his recordings with Hendrix. "The one Jimi and I really liked the most was the one called 'Wipe The Sweat ' " he points out, "but you would have to hear it really from the original. See, some of those tapes you may have heard was doctored. If you are a Hendrix fan, you would know that right away. They got some people to try and play it like Jimi Hendrix, to even put more of Jimi Hendrix on the tape, and that was one thing that I found very distasteful about the whole project."

"Wipe The Sweat" actually has quite a wild boogie-blues intro, which reminds one a bit of Stevie Ray Vaughan circa 1985. "It's great isn't it?," enthuses Youngblood, "I see that you know [the music]. Well now, if you take that intro, and you take the intro on 'Go Go Shoes', those are the things that would tell you about Jimi Hendrix and what he was really about as far as R&B was concerned. I mean he had so many creative ideas, you know.

"And we had another thing called 'Goodbye Bessie Mae', that was Jimi and I singing harmony on there. Jimi was singing the low part: [sings] 'Goodbye Bessie Mae, baby now don't you cry'-sorry I forgot the words ... But that was what we really liked, along with 'Wipe The Sweat', 'Go Go Shoes', and 'Under The Table', those tracks. It was only about six original tracks, but there were [various producers] trying to get 'Segue One' and 'Segue Two' , and the crap that they did to it, man, tryin' to put on other guitars that sounded like Jimi. Aww, man."

Youngblood figures that countless have been sold, in various guises, using those original sessions as the selling point; titles such as Two Great Experiences Together (Maple Records, 1971), The Genius Of }irni Hendrix (Trip Records, 1972), Rare Hendrix (Trip Records, 1972), and Roots Of Hendrix (Trip Records, 1972) are among them. He's tried suing various parties to get his fair share--or any share-of the proceeds from the Youngblood/Hendrix collaboration, but has grown resigned to the fact that it's impossible to keep up to all the bootleggers and rip-off artists. "If you go after one person, then they're not there no more, and if you go after another person, they're not there no more. They've got so many different coverups. And ain't nothin' I can do about it. I stopped bein' angry and stuff, I'm busy just tryin' to enjoy life. And plus with the new CD out, that's the most important thing I got goin'. I got a new traditional gospel CD out, entitled In The Garden, and it's sellin' pretty good outta the trunk of the car, so ... that's basically where I'm comin' from now. I'm just tryin' to stay alive man, and at this time in my life I'm very very grateful and I'm happy that I'm still alive, and that things are goin' good for me." (Youngblood says that interested parties can call him direct at [201] 440*1268 if they want to order his new CD.)

Born in southern Georgia, Youngblood discovered his love of saxophone through the music of Louis Jordan of whom his mother was a big fan. At 18 he moved to the Newark, New Jersey area to join the Pearl Reeves-Paul Farana Trio, paying his R&B dues up north while Hendrix was doing the same down south. Youngblood's first recording was an instrumental version of the R&B song "Heartbreak," which became a regional hit, and that success led to spots as a band leader with Faye "Atomic" Adams ("Shake A Hand"), Buster Brown ("Fannie Mae''), and then, in '59, Baby Washington ("The Time"). After touring the country with Washington, Youngblood started up his own band and became popular doing college dates through the northeast, so much so that he was christened "The Ivy League King." While Hendrix was honing his chops with Little Richard, Youngblood worked at making his own name, even opening for Chuck Berry at one point. His musical career was put on hiatus after he was drafted into the army, but after a short period of service he returned to his home in Harlem in '63, and there he found Hendrix, who had been discharged from the paratroopers, for medical reasons, the summer before.

Nowadays, Youngblood claims to be known by many in his stomping ground as 'the Prince of Harlem', and keeps busy working everything from birthday parties to funerals. He has a steady Saturday gig at Sylvia's soul food restaurant at 126th and Lennox Avenue in Harlem. But he doesn't pull out those old tunes that made him an underground legend among diehard Hendrix devotees. "I don't do them live now," he says, ''because I'm 60 years old, and I don't have that type of mood now. I do R&B, but basically I'm working with an organ player, a keyboard player, and a drummer, and we work all the supper clubs in New York. We work all around, we do a lotta corporate parties, and we do a lotta private things, and we do a lot of social jobs where we work dances. And we do a lotta churches. So I'm busy 12 months out of the year."

Although he doesn't perform the music that Hendrix played back in '63, Youngblood feels it has a distinct place in the evolution of the rock icon. But how did the young Hendrix actually react himself to Youngblood's compositions back then? 'Mmm," he ponders, "Well, Jimi was a professional. And so whatever he played, he put his heart into it. It's just that Jimi wanted to take it a step further. Lemme tell you what Jimi told me one night. He came to me one night and said, 'Man, I tried something, you gotta try it man, because it is so great.' Jimi had been out hangin' out with some friends, and had taken a tab of LSD. And I told him, I said, 'You know, I could never do that because I'm scared to death of anything that might make me hallucinate.' I always wanted to be in control. He said it wasn't like that, but I never would try that, and Jimi just did his thing, man. I believe that when he did that, it helped him to take his music to where he wanted to take it, open up his head. 'Cause if you examine the titles of some of Jimi's original things that he wrote and created, he would have to be in another place to come up with 'Third Stone From The Sun' and 'The Wind Cries Mary' , all that good stuff, man. And [at first] I didn't even like it, but after I listened to it a while man, I fell in love with this stuff. I thought it was just fantastic."

Although Hendrix hadn't gotten close to approaching his creatiye peak during these sessions, Youngblood recalls that Hendrix lived and breathed music,first and foremost. "He was like one of them music fanatics," says Youngblood, "he liked to practice. And see, when Jimi took a job with me, he didn't have an amplifier. My wife and I took our money out of the bank and went and bought an amplifier so Jimi could make the jobs. Then I had to go by his hotel room sometime and pick him up, get him up outta bed and stuff like that.

"He was a carefree guy, continues Youngblood, "but we knew that he had the potential to be something. We just didn't know what it could be, because he didn't want to sing! We'd have to like force him to sing. So he didn't like bein' out front, , cause he was basically sorta shy. See, when Jimi was workin' with the group, Jimi was 'Jimmy James'. I don't know where that James thing came from, except for the fact that he loved Elmore James, and some of the other people out there. But when he recorded and we looked in the Billboard or Cashbox and we saw this number-one record by Jimi Hendrix-J-i-m-i-that was shocking, but we knew that was Jimi because nobody sounded like that but him."

Even after Hendrix had made it to the big time with his psychedelic blues-rock, he returned to visit Youngblood. Youngblood claims that the reunion resulted in a jam session at the Record Plant. One of their meetings from this era was captured in an onstage photograph from' 69, the same one that would grace the cover of the Two Great Experiences Together album, which actually spent four weeks on the Billboard chart upon its release in '71. "A lotta people don't know this here," informs Youngblood. "Jimi came to see me up at Small's Paradise in Harlem. I looked up one night and here is a guy with a big wide hat on-if you ever see the picture on that album, that's the week he came-with a pair of white pants, and the sash around his waist, and that big hat. I was on the stage playin' and Jimi got up there with me and started playin' , man, and we tore the joint completely out. And at this time now I'm sniffm' cocaine-it's a silly thing, but back in them days we did it; youth and good sense, they don't travel on the same road. It wasn't particularly Jimi's choice of drugs, but we were cool to it. Anyways, we were in the car gettin' high together and talkin' and stuff and he said, 'Man, you know, I'm goin' away, but when I come back, we're gonna put together a band that will play our music: gospel, blues, and jazz.'We was gonna do these three things in the concept of this band. I was very excited about that, but then he said something that disturbed me to death, I'll never forget the night he told me that. He said, 'Lonnie, man, a lotta crap has been goin' on in my organization.' He said, 'A lotta heads gonna be rollin' , and we gonna reorganize.' And I thought that was was very disturbin', because he never told me what he was talkin' about, and neither did I even ask him, because-hey, that was a helluva statement. I told him, 'Be careful with that, man,' because that was heavy, and I didn't take it no further." It wasn't long after that meeting that Youngblood heard the shocking news that, on September 18, 1970, Hendrix had died in his sleep from an inhalation of vomit, due to barbituate intoxication. Since his days with Hendrix, Youngblood has released 12 albums, performed in Italy and Germany, and basically just kept chasing the music rainbow. He says that he's been blessed, but it hasn't always been pretty; he's had his own serious battles with drugs.

Considering the enormous fame that Hendrix achieved, especially since his passing, it's perhaps easy to overplay his personal importance to old friends and fellow musicians. But Youngblood claims that, even if Hendrix had never gone on to godlike status, he still would have remembered him. "Sure I would because, you know, when you play with an exceptional musician who can really set you on fire, you don't forget people like that. I had a few people like that in my lifetime. And plus he was a nice guy, he was a funny guy. He had a personality that was Jimi Hendrix, that was all his." He sure became something that was phenomenal and brought some joy and o pleasure to millions and millions of people, including myself. I mean, 'The Wind Cries Mary' and 'Third Stone From The Sun', whew, I listen to that and it just blows me away! I don't know where that stuff came from, I just know that it was somewhere deep down in his guts."

So, knowing what he does now about the undying legacy Hendrix would leave, is there anything Lonnie Youngblood would do differently as far as his experience with Hendrix goes? He gets a little flustered at the query, but then states what's on his mind. "I don't know ... I probably ... I might ... I might have went with him. 'Cause one day he came to me and he said, 'Man I'm goin't down to the Village, and we're gonna trip out, come on let's go.' And meanwhile, I got a car, I got an apartment, I got a family. I said, 'I can't afford to trip out, man, down in the Village,' and I didn't like the Village anyway. I said, 'No I can't do that,' and he said, 'Well man, I'm going down there and I'm gonna be trippin' out.' So he went down there, and the next thing I know, [Chas Chandler] and The Animals were down there walkin' the streets one night and they heard this great guy down there-even back then, Jimi was quite a show by himself-and I can imagine what went through their heads. They saw this guy, man, and the rest of it is history."

]]> Jimi Hendrix And Other Interviews RobbieRadio http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6539-Lonnie-Youngblood-Talks-About-Jimi-2000 Sad news from Electric Lady Studios http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6538-Sad-news-from-Electric-Lady-Studios&goto=newpost Fri, 11 May 2012 16:46:48 GMT
"Sad news today: Original studio manager of Electric Lady Studios, Jim Marron [pictured here at right with Hendrix & Eddie Kramer], passed away at his home last night. RIP Jim, and thank you for all that you did to establish ELS as the best damn studio on the planet. We'll take good care of her for you. xo"

Sad news indeed. Rest in Peace Jim.
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]]> Third Stone From The Sun Voodoo Kush http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6538-Sad-news-from-Electric-Lady-Studios Eric Barrett Talks About Jimi 1972 http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?6536-Eric-Barrett-Talks-About-Jimi-1972&goto=newpost Thu, 10 May 2012 17:23:30 GMT *From The Book: Hendrix: A Biography By Chris Welch 1972* Eric Barrett had been working with the Nice in England before joining the Experience... From The Book: Hendrix: A Biography By Chris Welch 1972

Eric Barrett had been working with the Nice in England before joining the Experience and touring the States and Europe. "I only a want to say good about Jimi," said Eric, who now lives in Los Angeles and works for James Taylor, Tony Joe White and Cat Stevens.

'I first met Jimi when I was working at the Saville Theatre with the Koobas. They were on the same show together. He seemed like a great guy to work for, although sure as hell it wasn't my ambition. But one night, after the Speakeasy had burnt down, I was in Blaises. Noel Redding came over and said: "I've been looking for you. Our roadie has freaked out in the States. We're going to Milan tomorrow. Do you want the job?" I said we would talk about it later.

I got home drunk at 4.30 a.m. Gerry Stickells rang at 7.30 a.m. and said: "Do you want to go to Milan?" 1 got up with a terrible hangover and went to the office. We caught the plane to Italy and they played at a the Piper Club.

This was back in '68. The equipment was in pieces because they had just finished a tour. After every number Jimi would scream at me. The amplifier tubes were shot and the power kept rising and falling all the time. Jimi kept screaming: "What's wrong?" I said, "I don't know. I'm leaving!"

'But Gerry told me it was cool. I said the equipment was no good, and Jimi apologized and said he didn't mean to shout at me. After five days in Italy I loved him, and realised what he was trying to do.

'We had to re-build the equipment. A guy from Long Island called Tony Francis, who was a genius with amplifiers built 'em up for us. I explained the problem, that Jimi played everything at number ten on the knobs, bass, treble, everything. I said the amplifiers were not lasting more than one show and they just burnt out.

Tony stripped it all down and built 'em up. He cranked everything up and one afternoon at a soundcheck Jimi tried it out. It worked!

'We tried Sun amplifiers, and Jimi just burnt them out. So we stuck with Marshalls. Jimi always used them, although Noel loved Sunn for his bass.

Jimi started out with 75 watts and ended up with six four by twelve Marshall cabinets, a four by twelve monitor, and four 100 watt Marshall tops, all souped-up and coupled-up through fuzz, wah-wah pedals and a Univibe! He had a special box of gadgets and the fuzz and wah-wah pedals acted as pre-amps.

If I tried to test his equipment, all I got was feedback. Jimi could control it all with his fingers, and I still don't understand to this day how he did it. It was all part of his genius.

We carried two dozen fuzz boxes and two dozen wah-wah pedals. We had so many spare parts - 13 guitars, and pieces of guitar that he had smashed. He would smash a brand new guitar - it didn't matter. He loved his guitars, and the older ones were never smashed. He enjoyed smashing guitars - it got his frustrations out and the kids went beserk. I really think he enjoyed it. Out of all the bits I'd build another guitar, and he'd go out and smash it again.

He always used a black Gibson Flying Arrow or a Gibson Les Paul for the blues. I've got his guitar and would never sell it, even if I was starving. The black Gibson has three big gold pick ups and was made for him left-handed. He used to re-string a right handed guitar left handed, and all the controls would be at the top. He couldn't play a left-handed guitar because the controls would be at the bottom.

How did Eric explain the 'downer' period for Jimi that set in after their early successes?

He might have been drying up with his material. He was the king guitar player. How would you feel if you were king and drying I up? As soon as he got some new ideas he was so happy.

One morning in Los Angeles - this was just before he got busted in Toronto - he called me up at midnight and told me about these great ideas. He said: "We'll only do two shows a week, and take a big top - like a circus - and we'll have it set up in the middle of a field. It'll hold a lot of people, but we won't charge them too much, and we'll use our own security so there won't be any police hassles".

A guy had designed the stage, which would revolve and have lifts. The stage would be like a TV set, with everybody sitting on couches as part of the set. He really wanted to do it, and I listened to him until 9.30 a.m. - his ideas were so interesting.

Two weeks later he was busted in Toronto for heroin and was completely upset. He thought he'd go down for ten years, and it wasn't even his smack. Some chick had thrown it in his bag. He wasn't feeling well when he left to go to the airport. He said he had a headache and the chick said: "This will help the headache." He never checked his bag.

All the years I was with him I never saw a needle at anytime. Sure he smoked pot, or he'd take an upper. But he wasn't a junkie. I never saw him do anything serious. At times he was taking acid, but it wasn't like a daily event. That phase passed in everybody's lives and went as quickly as it came. Yeah, acid might have changed his personality. I don't know - I've always been a boozer.

He was very worried by the bust and he didn't do anything for a long time. Gerry was with him when he got arrested. I had driven up to Toronto and saw everybody Iooking as if there had been a plane crash. Then they told me what had happened. But he got off and was completely cleared. He threw a press conference afterwards and said: "From now on it's all uphill. I'm going to go and play for the kids".

After that he did Woodstock, and got a six piece together with Mitch on drums, Billy Cox on bass and a conga player - Juma. They did Woodstock and a club in New York but he realized it was not the right formula. The other guys were just jamming, and not playing properly.

Buddy Miles was before Woodstock. They did three shows with the Band of Gypsies and they made an album. The only reports I had was that the organization couldn't carry it. They played on the Johnny Carson TV show, Jimi's amplifier blew up and he walked off stage.

Why did Jimi try the Band of Gypsies experiment? There was a point where Jimi got into Black Power and a lot of people were trying to turn him on to a heavy Black Power thing - but it didn't last long. They told him he should work with his soul brothers, so he tried it. But I think Buddy Miles and Jimi were both front line men. Buddy played guitar as well as drums and there was a personality clash that made the band impossible.

In 1970 we flew to the Isle of Wight. The night before, Jimi and I had been to the opening of the Electric Lady studios in New York. We were still drunk after leaving the reception, and the hostess woke us up in London. He hadn't played England for two years. The press were all there to meet us, and he was very happy. Two weeks later he died.

He had wanted to do so many things. All his plans were so creative. Cry Of Love was, recorded, he had his own studio and he wanted to get back to more recordings.

His one big problem was that if he wanted to play anything new the kids shouted for "Hey Joe" or "Fire". He'd get I really mad at that and say: ''I'm not a juke box!" If he tried to give them something new, they weren't ready for it, so he wanted product (albums) out first. Then they would know the new numbers.

I never really saw any changes in him during the time I knew him, except that he looked healthier. He looked much slimmer. If you remember the period of Lord Kitchener's Valet, his face was all broken out. But all that stuff about his hair falling out was a load of shit. He just had his hair short, for a change.

The way I remember Jimi was that he, always wanted people to share everything with everybody. He'd always introduce people to each other, and he always wanted the other guys in the band to get as much
publicity as he could. He was never selfish.

The only people who really knew him well were Mitch, Noel, Stickells and a few chicks.

His favorite bands were Chicago - he loved Terry Kath their guitarist, and Led Zeppelin and Cream. He played their albums a lot. His hero was Bob Dylan. I don't know if he ever met him. But he was his hero, and he did "All Along The Watchtower." He could never remember the words, he used to sing the first verse, four times.

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