Fans Attempt To Save Hendrix's Home From Being Demolished.

From a story on Miss Templeton's Horslips and Other Music, it appears that Jimi Hendrix's Seattle home is to be demolished, and that fans of his from all over the world are gathering there in an attempt to save it. Excerpt:

The boyhood home of Jimi Hendrix, widely considered to be the greatest of all rock guitarists, is to be destroyed next week after a failed attempt to turn it into a museum and community centre. Fans of the guitarist are expected to travel to Seattle from around the world to protest against the demolition. Friends of Hendrix, who died in London in 1970 after bingeing on sleeping pills, say that they will stand in front of the wrecking ball.

Reporting on this story gives me the exact opposite feeling of that when I reported on the unveiling of Philip Lynott's statue last week. What is going on in Seattle? Has everyone forgotten that Hendrix raised the bar to an almost impossibly high level for other rock guitarists to reach? Or has the hangover from the "grunge" period caused everyone to forget that there was music in that region before Nirvava and Pearl Jam? Listen to the tone and shake your head at the technique and feel behind songs like Little Wing, Third Stone From The Sun, Red House, Voodoo Child and the unforgettable Woodstock rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. In baseball terms, Hendrix was the late 1960s guitar-playing equivalent of Babe Ruth when he became a full time outfielder and outhomered every team in the American League in 1920, 1921 and 1922.

Sometime, sooner rather than later I hope, I'll get around to making my Top Ten Guitar Players List, and you can be sure that Mr. James Marshall Hendrix will be Number One.