I saw Jimi Hendrix and bought everything Jimi until fakes cluttered the market,
and every guitar magazine was printing something about him every month.
I also dropped out of high school to get a factory job and buy a Stratocaster and Marshall with effects.
I never heard he left "I need help bad man" on his managers answer phone.
Jimi's girlfriend phoned Eric Burdon, who was also in Germany, and he came over to help.
I never heard before that Eric Burdon said he committed suicide.
Jimi used prescription sleeping pills from England, and took the same number in Germany,
only the German product was a few times stronger and his girlfriend couldn't wake him up.
The autopsy showed only those sleeping pills and some wine in his system,
and it was the fact he was transported sitting up with his head back, as much as vomitting, that killed him.
Jimi had been kidnapped at gunpoint and rescued by record company employees after gunplay earlier that year,
and he was just waiting for his contract to expire before he released any new recordings.
He died a very suspicious death.
At the time of his death he was the top grossing concert act in North America.
His relatives had to continue suing for over fifteen years before they could control any royalties.
I was at the local annual fair, where I bought the only hat I ever bought, an Apache style black hat like Jimi's.
When I woke up the next morning and was having a hot bath with a little transistor radio on,
it was playing "Rainy day, dream away", continuing with the 18 minute "1983, a merman I would be", and then "Still raining still dreaming",
the whole side of one album, and this was AM. After that, the announcer said we will continue our tribute to Jimi Hendrix.
I knew what that meant. I got out of the tub and laid on my bed, crying.
And I never wore that hat again.
Now I'm ready.
