Happy Birthday Jimi Hendrix
It was on November 27, 1942, that one of the greatest guitarists was born. That guitarist was Jimi Hendrix, and there has not been any other musician that has put a spell on me. For me, I was spellbound sometime in the fall of 1986. I was a fourteen year old boy, at the Lincoln Mall in Lincoln Rhode Island staring at this poster of the man that I later found out to be the late-great Jimi Hendrix. For me, it was love at first sight, and I spent the next two years telling everyone who would listen to me that I was a huge Hendrix fan, and when they would ask me what my favorite song was I would pull a Sarah Palin and say, “all of ‘em”.
You see, I was attracted to the image before I ever heard a song. Later on, I would be introduced to Purple Haze and for some weird reason immediately upon hearing the song for the first time I knew it was Jimi. I saved my money so I could by his cassette tapes. I bought any magazine that had his image. I would browse the record store aisles for any of his cassette tapes, and I even bought a Fender Stratocaster.
The first cassette I bought was “Smash Hits” which I wore out after 5 years. I owned several more of his albums and cassettes, “Are You Experienced, Axis Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland”. I bought his VHS performance at the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967, and until this day I can’t explain this strong connection I have to Jimi. However, I know that not a day goes by in my life that I don’t miss him, which is ironic seeing that I was born two years after his death.
He died on September 18, 1970 at the age of 27 years old which means that he has been dead for more than he had lived, but — to me — he is merely frozen in time. He will forever be this beautiful soul 27 year old who had a flare for fashion and an eye for the ladies. Although Jimi had a huge stage presence, he was very shy. I am very shy, although I have a larger than life internet reputation.
Jimi is someone that I look up to. I wish I could play the guitar like him. I wish i could get the women that he could get. I wish I could have his intellect, his charm, and his boldness. More importantly, I wish I could garner the love that he had and still has from the millions of people that see the same thing in him that I can see.
The internet is full of nothing but positivity towards a man who lived in a racially segregated time in our Country, and in a little way I think the love I have for him is bound by the fact that as a black man the love he garners from white people validates my blackness which is something that I struggle with every day. So, on this day, let’s celebrate the birth of this great man and not focus on him not being here on Earth — or focusing on what could have been. Let’s pretend to focus that God graced us with his presence as a loan to be passed on for future generations.
I love you Jimi, and I will never stop loving you and your music.