Just when you think there can surely be no more Hendrix material left in the vaults of.. well who ever owns or has their sticky fingers on this stuff these days, along comes another part of the ever evolving story of James Marshall.
Given that his 'Experience/Band Of Gypsies' was to amount to just 3 years it's difficult to get the mind around just how much stuff this man created. It seems like every waking moment of the mans life was recorded over those tumultuous years.
The latest in the line of archive material is this weeks announcement of 'The Miami Pop Festival Documentary, 1968' with unseen footage.. and er... "home movies taken by Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell, while sourcing an extensive archive of photographs, drawings, family letters and more to provide new insight into the musician's personality and genius".
This feature length docu-film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 4. The same day also unveils a new album naturally, "Jimi Hendrix Experience: Miami Pop Festival", which includes songs "Hear My Train A Comin'" and "Tax Free", "Fire," "Hey Joe," "I Don't Live Today" and "Purple Haze" recorded at the Festival.
Regardless of whether the fascination with the worlds greatest rock guitarist turns out to be any sort of revelation remains to be seen and the DVD/CD/Vinyl's likely main destination will no doubt be in those Hendrix completest collections, numerous as they may well be.
What is interesting though is the festival was originally planned as a two-day event, organised by Michael Lang the man who brought you Woodstock by the way, and the second day Sunday concert was rained out leaving everyone all dressed up and nowhere to go which in turn inspired Jimi to write the superb and haunting "Rainy Day, Dream Away." which appeared on Electric Ladyland album 6 months later in October 68.
It also happens on that fine Saturday in May a 15 year old lad borrowed his Dad's home cine camera and captured a small part of the festival on 8mm movie film. After a few shots of some swans (?) we then see brief shots of Arthur Brown, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer and Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention.
So from a 15 year old vantage point, which is not that great, he was down the front fighting it out with a view between the audience heads and shots over and through stage construction of his heroes, most of which are now long gone.
What a defining moment this must have been for a 15 year old. There's no sound, just the edited clatter of the movie projector running, as it would have been very rare for someone outside of a professional to own a sound camera in 1968.
So here is Andy Seipos short home movie capturing a moment of history at the Miami Festival on that bright sunny Saturday afternoon, and like ghosts of another time they silently play on captured by the young Andy.
This won't be on the DVD.
