Jimi Hendrix on the Water

I was eleven years old when I bought "Are you Experienced"?, my first Hendrix l.p.

I found it at a Woolworth's store in Miami where the tiny selection or records was right next to the guns and ammo section. I went there to buy a b.b. gun but I didn't have enough money, so the $3.98 sticker price was in my budget. I had my Father's turntable and speakers that I brought home that September from my summer in Ipwich ,Massachusetts. For the next 5 years I would bring that stereo system back and forth on the plane with me, leaving my LPs back in Florida (adding new records every summer at my Grandparents' house from my Dad's collection that I inherited).

Although I must have heard a song or two during the long drives I took in my Father's Cadillac as a youngster, nothing prepared me for my first experience (no pun intended!) of Jimi alone in my room with the speakers on the floor and my head planted in between. I'd never really listened to what he did with the guitar and vocals and totally out-of-fucking -space music that he created. After repeated listenings that afternoon I replaced my head with a cassette recorder (stolen or given to me by a 5th grade teacher) and made a bootleg copy that I would carry around for the next month in the top pocket of my dungaree jacket.

There was a canal in back of my house and for the next couple of days I would launch my canoe and paddle down the muddy waters playing that tape as load as I could before it started  to distort. The music seemed sinister, beautiful and ghostly echoing on the water. One day I invited Manny Rodriguez to find a joint and join me on an excursion with Hendrix. After school, we got to my house and took a cruise on the canal. This was probably my 4th or 5th time getting stoned, but mixing it with "Are You Experienced"? brought it to a significantly new level. I'll never forget the fuzzy warmth of the Marijuana as I listened to "3rd Stone from the Sun" and "Foxy Lady" bouncing for eternity atop the dark brown water.I ran that cassette into the ground and made another one afterwards that got me through a few more months. It would be a while before I fell in love with Punk rock and left Jimi behind for a while, but I'll never forget our early days together...