There is rare, very rare, extra rare, extra bonus rare, extremely rare, and there is "Oh my God, I'm being reborn" rare. This is the latter. Last week Lifelines posted the 6 February 1968 update on the obscure gig The Experience did at the even more obscure V.I.P. club location in Tucson, Arizona. The Lifelines team (well, actually just Luigi and myself) are proud to present photos (there are 9 in total) of that show. Above you will find the first visual proof of the actual event at the V.I.P. club. Lifelines own treasure hunter: Luigi Garuti. Image adjusting: Marco Mitch Catone and Ben Valkhoff. Continued here.

On Monday afternoon, November 7th, Ron passed away quietly at home, near Dallas, Texas. He had just turned 73.

Roger Mayer, Mitch, Jimi, Noel, Gates Pass, Tucson, Arizona, 6 February 1968.

Neal Smith [drummer with Alice Cooper]: “It was in the spring of 1968 after Jimi, Mitch & Noel played in Tucson Arizona at the Tucson VIP Club. Actually the VIP sold out and the promoter had to move the show to a bigger venue, a local bowling alley. After an incredible performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, they invited us back to their hotel room and we partied with them till the wee hours of the morning. It was a blast…” [continued here].

A blast from the past: Curtis Knight at my previous house in 1995. Curtis wanted to browse my photo collection to make a selection for the book he was working on. On this photo he only reached the Monterey Festival period, so he still had a long way to go that day. As it later turned he wasn't given the time to finish his biography. He died four years later.

Jimi had just finished entertaining (or fooling) an audience of about 20,000 people in Phoenix [sic], Arizona, when I phoned him. ‘Man, that Seattle thing is really something,’ he said. ‘The only keys I expected to see in that town were of the jailhouse. When I was a kid there I often nearly got caught by the cops. I was always gone on wearing hip clothes and the only way to get them was through the back window of a clothing store. I wonder if my old school teacher digs me getting the freedom of Seattle? She was a good looker, but she got me thrown out. I was talking to some chick during the lessons and this teacher got mad. I said: ‘What’s the matter, are you jealous?’ That’s the last time I saw her.' Continued here.

A very nice compliment on the new Foxy Papers #4 book release I found on the net: “Over all beautifully laid out. Excellent repro of the classic May 'Pop' mag from Germany, it had great photo lay out and wild psyche art touches. Many excellent photos that are new to me. Loads of stuff I've been wanting to read and stuff I never knew existed. And even a bit of hand written text I've never seen. Much of the Italian stuff that's been bugging me ever since Caesar taunted us with his lovely, but Italian language only publication is translated. It is going to take a while to get through all this. Many thanks to everyone involved - looking forward to the next one.”

To order this book go here.

A very nice project of the Music Heritage people in the UK: a map of England with many places connected to Jimi Hendrix and his career. “Discovering the life and times of Jimi Hendrix in the UK. We explore the people, places and events which helped to shape the man and the musician and discover how his time in the UK influenced his craft.” To explore the map go here.

Kees de Lange (left) and Co de Kloet after the radio recordings.

Dutch Hendrix connaisseur Kees de Lange and radio presenter Co de Kloet talk about the new Machine Gun CD and play several songs which inspirated Jimi's music. The 60-minutes program can be heard here. Note: all in Dutch language, but the rare songs make up for that!