When Jimi Hendrix sent his Fender Stratocaster up in flames at the end of his historic performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, it was the ultimate in mind-blowing rock & roll spectacle, a brilliant grandstand play by a consummate psychedelic showman well schooled in the show-stopping high jinks of great rhythm & blues entertainers like T-Bone Walker and Little Richard. It was also a profound gesture of affection and gratitude.
“I could sit up here all night and say, thank you, thank you, thank you. . . . I just wanna grab you, man,” Hendrix told the adoring crowd. “But, dig, I just can't do that. So what I wanna do, I'm gonna sacrifice something here I really love. Don't think I'm silly doin' this, because I don't think I'm losin' my mind. . . . But today, I think it's the right thing. . . . There's nothing more I can do than this.”
Read Full Article »