Jimi Plays Monterey

On October 16, a new release of Jimi Hendrix: Live At Monterey DVD and CD will available.

Tthe CD had been extremely hard to find in past couple decades due to the legal wrangling over rights to Jimi's music. Thanks to the Great, Great House of Guitars in Rochester, NY, I got an import CD of Jimi Plays Monterey in the early 90's.

D.A. Pennebaker's film, Monterey Pop Festival, as well as his filming of Jimi in Jimi Plays Monterey have been previously available on DVD.

The new release's "Definitive Edition" will allow you to view alternate camera angles of Jimi's performance. (Cool!)

An oft-told story behind Jimi's over-the-top performance is due to a rift between Jimi and Pete Townsend of The Who backstage at Monterey. Pete respected and admired Jimi for his playing and stage show. But both Pete and Jimi were going to use guitar-smashing as part of their act and Pete did not want to go on after Jimi. A coin-toss decided that The Who would in fact go first. The Who's own electrifying shows would certainly be a hard act to follow for nearly any musician or group in the spring of 1967.

Jimi Hendrix, however, was not just any musician. Jimi was a force of nature; a cosmic storm hurling atomic fireballs across the galaxy while other performers were shooting rubber bands at the moon. Jimi, as we know, enrapt the audience with his charm then began to set the world on fire one Stratocaster at a time with an inspired and other-worldly performance.

So to whet your appetite for the re-release of this historic performance...

The Wind Cries Mary and

Like A Rolling Stone, from Jimi Plays Monterey

I credit Jimi Hendrix 100% for piquing my interest in, and subsequent obsession with, Bob Dylan. In this version of Like A Rolling Stone, Jimi's voice inflects the taunting, bittersweet feelings behind lyrics of the song.

"How does it feel?!"