Originally published November 4, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified November 4, 2007 at 2:01 AM

A touch of Hendrix

There's something strange and fascinating about fingering the facsimiles of Jimi Hendrix artifacts that come with the book "Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience"

By Patrick MacDonald

Seattle Times music critic

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JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

Hendrix writing lyrics for the "Electric Ladyland" album at the Record Plant in New York City, 1968. A facsimile of the notebook in which Hendrix was writing accompanies this photo in the book. The original notebook is part of the Experience Music Project's permanent collection.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

Above: The black-and-white cover photo from "Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience" shows the Seattle-born rock prince of swingin' '60s London in all his psychedelic sartorial splendor.

ULVIS ALBERTS

Ulvis Alberts Jimi Hendrix and his stepsister Janie backstage at the Seattle Center Arena on the night of Hendrix's first concert in Seattle, Feb. 12, 1968. Janie Hendrix is co-author of the book and CEO of Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix, the organizations that control the Hendrix legacy.

Fragments of an electric guitar, hand-painted by Jimi Hendrix and smashed by him at a concert in London in the summer of 1967. From EMP's permanent collection.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

"I think things are getting a little better," Hendrix writes to his father on a postcard from Munich in 1966, telling him of the formation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. This is the first note home that he signed "Jimi" instead of "Jimmy."

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A page from one of Hendrix's drawing notebooks, one of eight pages from a reproduction in the book. The original notebook is in the EMP collection.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

Showing drawing talent at an early age, Hendrix titled this sketch "Daddy Sleeping, 1st Pose," and labeled it "Feb. 7, 1958." Ten years later, almost to the day, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played its first show in Seattle.

PETER RICHES

A photo that's not in the new book, taken Feb. 12, 1968, backstage at Seattle Center Arena. Music writer Patrick MacDonald, wearing a peace-symbol necklace, psychedelic tie and horn-rim glasses, watches as Jimi Hendrix tunes his guitar before going onstage for his first hometown show. At the time, MacDonald was working for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and was editor of the University of Washington Daily.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

The reproductions of tickets from Woodstock look and feel like the real thing, like most of the facsimiles in the book.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A rough draft of the lyrics to the first single Hendrix wrote, "Purple Haze." Surprisingly, the book's reproduction is not crumpled like the original. The book also has a reproduction of the handwritten lyrics to a song called "West Coast Seattle Boy," which was never recorded.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

Hendrix often wrote notes and lyrics on hotel stationery, testimony to how often he was on the road for concert tours.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

More lyrics written on hotel stationery, on the road.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

"Destined to become 67's foremost soul exponent." Little did they know.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A flyer for a Hendrix/Buddy Miles appearance at Madison Square Garden.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A letter from Jimi Hendrix to his father Al, describing his feelings about the 101st Airborne.

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A cartoon drawn by Hendrix in 1958, showing domestic strife, something Jimi had seen his share of.

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There's something strange and fascinating about fingering the facsimiles of Jimi Hendrix artifacts that come with the book "Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience" (Atria Books, $45).

It's a little macabre, like sifting through the personal possessions of someone long dead.

But it's also a little thrilling, like reaching into a display case at Experience Music Project and picking things up, such as Hendrix's diary, notebooks, drawings and letters. The reproductions in the book look and feel amazingly real.

Photos of almost all of the objects have appeared in previous Hendrix books and articles, and it's always been fun to read his handwritten words and see his artwork. But to handle copies of the original postcards, letters and drawings is a tactile experience you can't get from a printed page — kind of like a pop-up book for Hendrix fans.

Most of the book's well-chosen pictures have been printed before, too, including Hendrix family photos. Jimi's father, Al Hendrix, freely shared those with fans and journalists, including me, allowing a photographer friend of mine to make copies of them at his home in 1968. Mr. Hendrix also let me read Jimi's postcards and letters, the same ones that are reproduced in the book.

The book's text, attributed to Janie Hendrix, Jimi's stepsister and CEO of Seattle-based Experience Hendrix, which controls the Hendrix legacy, and John McDermott, who works for Experience Hendrix, is straightforward, dry and not revealing. There's nothing new, no inside information at all. Janie Hendrix doesn't even relate her personal memories of the few times she met Jimi or saw him perform, perhaps because she was a little girl at the time. The result is a startling sense of detachment in the text. Janie and co-author McDermott refer to their subject as "Hendrix" most of the time. Presumably, Janie went to his funeral, but it is noted dispassionately in one simple sentence.

She never deals with family turmoils, either, before or after Jimi Hendrix's death, or the long and costly fight to gain control of Hendrix's music, which brings in more money now than it did when he was alive. The text, most of it drawn from the late Al Hendrix's memoir and McDermott's two previous Hendrix books, is almost entirely skipable, especially if you've read other, more comprehensive and factual Hendrix books.

But it's fun to see a copy of the program for the Experience's Saville Theatre performance in London in June 1967, showing Apollo and the nine Muses; an invitation to the opening of Electric Lady Studios, Jimi's recording studio in New York City in 1970, showing a naked woman breast-feeding a toddler; and all those Hendrix drawings and writings.

The book also includes a 70-minute CD of a short but electrifying early Experience performance, some fine bluesy studio improv and a charming interview.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

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