(Other QUI QUI) Dopo Noel Redding, nel 2008 è scomparso Mitch Mitchell, trovato morto nella sua stanza d'albergo, sembra per cause naturali. Era l'ultimo Jimi Hendrix Experience in vita. Lo stesso anno, a pochi giorni di distanza, è morto anche Buddy Miles. L'unico in vita, della Band of Gipsy, è rimasto Billy Cox. Praticamente la verità di quei momenti è stata ricercata fino all'inizio del 1991, andando a risentire i sanitari che accorsero alla chiamata, sempre in forma privata e di inchiesta giornalistica. Io vi anticipo il mio parere, in ogni caso.
Chas Chandler stava presenziando alle registrazioni del secondo album, ma come
disse agli amici, alla fine, sua moglie aveva partorito da poco e jimi era
circondato da un codazzo di gente con cui entrava in studio di solito dopo la mezzanotte. Visto l'andazzo me ne lavai le mani e lasciai perdere. Anche altri amici che lo avevano conosciuto a Londra nel '66, quando lo rividero dopo il suo rientro a NY, circondato da ragazzette che lo tiravano per le mutande e scrocconi e profittatori di ogni sorta, pensarono che la carriera di Jimi avrebbe finito per durare poco. Quindi per riassumere: credo che non ci sia molto da aggiungere, quando uno è in balia di scrocconi e ragazzette isteriche (fino a girare un filmetto porno, uscito nel 2008 in Dvd), droghe di tutti i tipi e generi, esibizioni dal vivo in una serie interminabile, tutte una uguale all'altra; plateali gesta rituali sul palco, come lo sfasciare la chitarre e bruciarla. Il contrario di quello che un musicista serio, oltre che geniale, avrebbe dovuto fare. Cioè trovare un valido manager, concentrare l'attività dal vivo in poche esibizioni ma valide, e programmare una serie di registrazioni da far uscire con continuità, senza preoccuparsi troppo (figuriamoci l'ossessione), di essere sempre il numero uno nell'innovazione del suono e delle sovraincisioni, aggiungendo magari anche qualche valido pezzo acustico, nello stile del blus urbano, di cui Hendrix era certamente validissimo esecutore. Poi iniziare una serie di progetti con altri musicisti di differente impostazione, in modo da originare dischi basati su orizzonti sonori anche distanti dai suoi. La sua produzione dimostra che tutto era stato raggiunto in un vertice non più toccabile; occorreva una svolta verso il blues e il jazz, lasciandosi alle spalle le sceneggiate che tanto attirano l'attenzione dei ragazzetti ai festival pop (ho davanti l'immagine di Eric Clapton che si mette a sfasciare la sua chitarra per far scena; ce lo vedete a vent'anni, nonostante avesse suonato qualche mese con gli Yardbirds, definiti da lui dei clown, per voler assecondare il grande manager fabbricasoldi, e finiti come gruppo al festival di Sanremo?). Insomma, il genio va regolato, almeno quel tanto che basta, altrimenti tutto va a fuoco. Non so come sono andate le cose quella notte, ma se non era quella, sarebbe stata un'altra notte: qualsiasi giorno avrebbe potuto essere l'ultimo per uno che viveva in quel modo. Fine per me. Una nota: ho notato che le donnne che hanno girato attorno a questi divi del mondo giovanile, sia pure con un buon numero di eccezioni, sono riuscite a tirarsi fuori da tutto e a mettersi sui binari di una vita normale, cioè non sbalestrata come hanno condotto la loro esistenza per un periodo sia pur breve, ma che avrebbe potuto bruciarle. Oltrettutto, la maggior parte di loro non erano nemmeno in grado di capire esattamente cosa era in grado di fare il loro idolo: per loro, come per i tanti ragazzetti di ieri e di oggi, l'idolo è tale e tale resta, fino al prossimo nuovo prodotto commerciale. Se prima di essere sostituito muore, allora finirà per sempre appeso alle pareti della loro stanza, come poster, o dipinto sulla maglietta, o sulla copertina di un libro sul mobiletto del salotto, una volta cinquantenni, come me.
Chas Chandler stava presenziando alle registrazioni del secondo album, ma come
disse agli amici, alla fine, sua moglie aveva partorito da poco e jimi era
circondato da un codazzo di gente con cui entrava in studio di solito dopo la mezzanotte. Visto l'andazzo me ne lavai le mani e lasciai perdere. Anche altri amici che lo avevano conosciuto a Londra nel '66, quando lo rividero dopo il suo rientro a NY, circondato da ragazzette che lo tiravano per le mutande e scrocconi e profittatori di ogni sorta, pensarono che la carriera di Jimi avrebbe finito per durare poco. Quindi per riassumere: credo che non ci sia molto da aggiungere, quando uno è in balia di scrocconi e ragazzette isteriche (fino a girare un filmetto porno, uscito nel 2008 in Dvd), droghe di tutti i tipi e generi, esibizioni dal vivo in una serie interminabile, tutte una uguale all'altra; plateali gesta rituali sul palco, come lo sfasciare la chitarre e bruciarla. Il contrario di quello che un musicista serio, oltre che geniale, avrebbe dovuto fare. Cioè trovare un valido manager, concentrare l'attività dal vivo in poche esibizioni ma valide, e programmare una serie di registrazioni da far uscire con continuità, senza preoccuparsi troppo (figuriamoci l'ossessione), di essere sempre il numero uno nell'innovazione del suono e delle sovraincisioni, aggiungendo magari anche qualche valido pezzo acustico, nello stile del blus urbano, di cui Hendrix era certamente validissimo esecutore. Poi iniziare una serie di progetti con altri musicisti di differente impostazione, in modo da originare dischi basati su orizzonti sonori anche distanti dai suoi. La sua produzione dimostra che tutto era stato raggiunto in un vertice non più toccabile; occorreva una svolta verso il blues e il jazz, lasciandosi alle spalle le sceneggiate che tanto attirano l'attenzione dei ragazzetti ai festival pop (ho davanti l'immagine di Eric Clapton che si mette a sfasciare la sua chitarra per far scena; ce lo vedete a vent'anni, nonostante avesse suonato qualche mese con gli Yardbirds, definiti da lui dei clown, per voler assecondare il grande manager fabbricasoldi, e finiti come gruppo al festival di Sanremo?). Insomma, il genio va regolato, almeno quel tanto che basta, altrimenti tutto va a fuoco. Non so come sono andate le cose quella notte, ma se non era quella, sarebbe stata un'altra notte: qualsiasi giorno avrebbe potuto essere l'ultimo per uno che viveva in quel modo. Fine per me. Una nota: ho notato che le donnne che hanno girato attorno a questi divi del mondo giovanile, sia pure con un buon numero di eccezioni, sono riuscite a tirarsi fuori da tutto e a mettersi sui binari di una vita normale, cioè non sbalestrata come hanno condotto la loro esistenza per un periodo sia pur breve, ma che avrebbe potuto bruciarle. Oltrettutto, la maggior parte di loro non erano nemmeno in grado di capire esattamente cosa era in grado di fare il loro idolo: per loro, come per i tanti ragazzetti di ieri e di oggi, l'idolo è tale e tale resta, fino al prossimo nuovo prodotto commerciale. Se prima di essere sostituito muore, allora finirà per sempre appeso alle pareti della loro stanza, come poster, o dipinto sulla maglietta, o sulla copertina di un libro sul mobiletto del salotto, una volta cinquantenni, come me.
Altro docu here http://www.movshare.net/video/tjcxrofu3lyum
Una nota particolare va indirizzata a Monika Dannemann, la modella che era con lui al momento della morte, che però, fino all'ultimo ha sempre sostenuto che quando giunse l'ambulanza jimi era vivo e lei entrò nell'ambulanza sedendosi di fianco a lui: Kathy Etchingham, (a detta di Burdon e Chandler, ma anche Harrison e Page, Kathy era stata molto legata a Jimi, e ha continuato a volergli bene anche in seguito. Sembra che il giorno della presentazione del Sg. Pepper, ci fosse anche lei, quando Jimi si esibì da solo nell'attacco del pezzo iniziale, facendo un gran baccano, che fece voltare tutti i presenti.), continuò a farla inquisire, asserendo che Monika aveva avuto parte nella morte di Hendrix. Fu di nuovo sottoposta a un Trial giudiziario per falsa testimonianza ma il giudice decise di nuovo per il suo rilascio, pur condannandola per aver sostenuto che sull'ambulanza Hendrix era vivo. Due giorni dopo, il 15 Aprile 1996, fu rinvenuta morta dentro la sua auto, vicino al cottage dove viveva, e Uli Roth, il vecchio leader degli Scorpions, (una celebrità nella sua città), che viveva con lei, entrambi tedeschi, affermò che aveva ricevuto molte minacce di morte, dalla morte di Hendrix. Nel 1995, l'anno prima del suicidio, aveva pubblicato un libro sulla sua esperienza con Jimi Hendrix: The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix. La copertina mostra una foto di Hendrix presa da lei proprio il pomeriggio prima della sua morte.
Una nota del vostro croniquer: ho incontrato tramite amici comuni Uli a Vienna. Ricordo che in quei giorni, più di 5 anni fa, c'era una festa incredibile attorno a lui, che lavorava per una esibizione al teatro lirico della città, dove lui è un vero e proprio beniamino. Usava una nuova chitarra che un amico gli aveva adattato nella forma e nel manico, e faceva uso di una serie di feeder e dubbing dal vivo, che gli permettevano una completa polifonia (non ebbi il coraggio di confessare a nessuno che a me non piaceva un granché, anche perché temevo di essere linciato sul posto). Uli e tutti i suoi amici, sono comunque persone riflessive, ospitali e deliziose, ma quando cercai di portare il tema sulla tecnica di Jimi e avvicinarmi alla sua povera ex donna, Monika, ci fu una sorta di silenzio attorno a me. Quindi cambiai subito rotta, capendo che la strada era off-limit. Conservo comunque un ricordo di grande giovialità non ostentata, e di vera simpatia, di quei pochi giorni.
Piccola curiosità: durante una tappa all'areoporto di Parigi, Hendrix e BB, Brigitte Bardot si incontrarono e sembra certo che ebbero un fugace incontro in una stanza d'albergo vicino l'aereoporto, nel 1968. Lo stesso anno, presso l'Hotel Mayfair, grazie all'addetto stampa dei Beatles, Derek Taylor, John Lennon incontrò Brigitte Bardot; ma John, nervoso, aveva assunto LSD prima di incontrarla, e non fece una bella impressione alla star (John, in un libro di memorie, ha ricordato: "ero sotto l'effetto dell'acido, e lei stava uscendo"). Ricordiamoci che BB nel '68 era un sogno di tutta una generazione.
Probabilmente, una parte di verità potrebbe venire da questa pubblicazione, che risale ormai al 2000, cioè a 30 anni dai fatti "The Covert War Against Rock", Published by Feral House, 2000. Il settimo capitolo, che riguarda la morte di Hendrix lo trovate al link sotto, e si intitola: I Don't Live Today: The Jimi Hendrix Political Harassment, Kidnap and Murder Experience , che si traduce con: Non vivo oggi: il perseguitamento , rapimento e uccisione experience, di Jimi Hendrix. by Alex Constantine
http://crosstowntorrents.org/showthread.php?t=864
Lo riporto qui in inglese, poi lo tradurrò quando avrò tempo. Comunque si può usare il traduttore di google.
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Traduzione mia dal Chapter seven from the book: "The Covert War Against Rock", Published by Feral House, 2000
(riporto questo lungo capitolo in italiano perché è illuminante sul tipo di ambiente che all'epoca (ma oggi è anche peggio), si poteva imbattere un geniale, talentuoso quanto ingenuotto ragazzotto o ragazzotta, che da qualche sperduto paesino o grande città dell'America, finiva a New York o Los Angeles, in cerca di fortuna nel campo del Pop o tra le muse di Hollywood; e per far capire come funziona la "Macchina della celebrità", come è stata definita dagli studiosi di sociologia).
"Non credo che per un minuto che lui si sia ucciso. Quello era fuori questione."
- Chas Chandler, Produttore di Hendrix
"Credo che le circostanze della sua morte sono sospette e penso che lui sia stato assassinato."
- Chalpin Ed, Titolare dello Studio 76
"Sento che è stato assassinato, francamente. Qualcuno gli ha dato qualcosa. Qualcuno gli ha dato qualcosa che non dovrebbe avere."
- John McLaughlin, chitarrista, Mahavishnu Orchestra
Lui non è morto per un overdose di droga. Non era un out-of Dope Fiend-control. Jimi Hendrix non è stato un drogato. E chi vorrebbe utilizzare la sua morte come un avvertimento a stare lontano dalla droga dovrebbe mettere in guardia la gente contro le altre cose che hanno ucciso Jimi: -stress di trattare con l'industria musicale, la follia di essere sulla strada, e soprattutto, i pericoli di coinvolgere se stessi in un radicale, o anche impopolari, movimenti politici. COINTELPRO era fuori a fare di più che prevenire una minaccia contro il sorpasso comunista degli Stati Uniti, o permettere al movimento Black Power di bruciare le città. COINTELPRO era fuori per cancellare la sua opposizione e rovinare la reputazione delle persone coinvolte nel movimento contro la guerra, il movimento per i diritti civili e la rivoluzione rock. Ogni volta che la morte di Jimi Hendrix è addossata alla droga, si realizza gli obiettivi del programma dell'FBI. Non solo calunnie sulla reputazione personale e professionale di Jimi, ma riguardo la rivoluzione dell’ intero rock dei '60.
-John Holmstrom. "Chi ha ucciso Jimi?" (1)
-John Holmstrom. "Chi ha ucciso Jimi?" (1)
Come la musica dei giovani e della resistenza cadde sotto il cursore di fuoco della CHAOS war della CIA, è probabile che Jimi Hendrix- l 'interventista, pacifista, il "Black Elvis" degli anni '60- sia stato un bersaglio.
Agenti del FBI patologicamente nazionalista hanno aperto un fascicolo su Hendrix nel 1969 dopo la sua comparsa a numerosi vantaggi per "sovversive" cause. Il suo insulto più tagliente allo stato è stata la partecipazione ad un concerto di Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale e gli altri imputati del processo Sette cospirazione Chicago (Chicago Seven conspiracy trial (2)), " [le Black Panthers]", ha detto a un reporter per una rivista per giovani ", non uccidere nessuno, ma per spaventare [funzionari federali ].... so che suona come la guerra, ma è quello che sta per accadere. Deve essere una guerra .... Tu vieni alla realtà e ci sono alcune persone malfide in giro e vogliono che tu sia debole, passivo e pacifico in modo che possano semplicemente sovrastare e plasmare come gelatina sul pane .... Bisogna combattere il fuoco col fuoco. "(3)
In tour in Liesburg, Svezia, Hendrix è stato intervistato da Tommy RANDER, reporter per il Gotesborgs Tidningen. "Negli Stati Uniti, dedi decidere da che parte stai," ha spiegato Hendrix. "Sei o un ribelle o come Frank Sinatra." (4)
Nel 1979, gli studenti universitari del giornale del campus di Santa Barbara University (USB) hanno presentato istanza di rilascio di file dell'FBI su Hendrix. Sei pagine pesantemente inchiostrate da cancellature a pennarello sono state
rilasciate ai giornalisti studenti. (Le cancellazioni delle informazioni, è stato spiegato era perché "attualmente e correttamente classificate ai sensi della Executive Order 11.652, nell'interesse della difesa nazionale della politica estera.") In appello, sono state consegnate ulteriori sette pagine agli studenti UCSB. Il file ha rivelato che Hendrix era stato immesso sul federal "Security Index", un elenco di "sovversivi", destinati ad essere radunati e messi in campi di detenzione in caso di emergenza nazionale.
rilasciate ai giornalisti studenti. (Le cancellazioni delle informazioni, è stato spiegato era perché "attualmente e correttamente classificate ai sensi della Executive Order 11.652, nell'interesse della difesa nazionale della politica estera.") In appello, sono state consegnate ulteriori sette pagine agli studenti UCSB. Il file ha rivelato che Hendrix era stato immesso sul federal "Security Index", un elenco di "sovversivi", destinati ad essere radunati e messi in campi di detenzione in caso di emergenza nazionale.
Se le agenzie di intelligence avevano i loro motivi per tenere d'occhio Hendrix, non avrebberoo potuto scegliere un uomo migliore per quel lavoro che agire sul manager di Hendrix, Mike Jeffrey. Jeffrey, per sua stessa ammissione era un agente dell’ intelligence, (5) nato nel sud di Londra nel 1933, il figlio unico di lavoratori postali. Ha completato la sua formazione nel 1949, e accettò un lavoro come impiegato per la Mobil Oil, è stato selezionato per il Servizio militare nazionale due anni dopo. Jeffrey, per i punteggi elevati nelle materie scientifiche lo hanno fatto preferire al Corpo Istruttivo dell’esercito.. Ha quindi firmato come soldato professionista, iscritto alla Sezione Intelligence e, a questo punto la sua carriera entra in una fase oscura.
I biografi di Hendrix Shapiro & Glebeek riportano che Jeffrey spesso si vantava di "lavoro sotto copertura contro i russi, di omicidio, tortura e caos in città straniere .... Suo padre, raramente ha parlato di quello che Mike ha fatto, e forse ciò è indicativo della natura sensibile del suo lavoro, ma conferma che gran parte della carriera militare di Mike è stato effettuata in abiti civili, in 'borghese,' che era di stanza in Egitto e che egli poteva parlare russo. "(6)
C’era però, un altro lato altrettanto intrigante di Mike Jeffrey: Egli spesso ha accennato al fatto che aveva collegamenti con elementi potenti della mafia. Era risaputo che aveva avuto un rapporto professionale costante con Steve Weiss, l'avvocato che gestiva le cause e affari sia per la Experience Hendrix che per i Vanilla Fudge, anche loro amministrati da collaboratori provenienti dallo studio legale di Seingarten, Wedeen & Weiss. In un'occasione, quando il batterista Mitch Mitchell si è trovato nei guai con la polizia su una barca che aveva noleggiato e distrutto, i mafiosi dall'ufficio gestione del noto studio legale sono intervenuti, ottenendo che la cosa non avesse strascichi legali ulteriori (7).
Sin dall’introduzione dei jukebox e la conseguente lotta per accaparrarsene la distribuzione e noleggio, detta “guerra dei Jukebox”, la mafia ha sempre giocato un ruolo cospicuo anche nell’industria musicale Il mafioso Michael Franzene ha testimoniato in tribunale in seduta pubblica, alla fine del 1980 che "Sonny" Franzene, il suo patrigno, era un investitore occulto della Buddha Records. E’ da questa industria, che la inane, nasale, '60 apolitica "canzone Bubblegum e la musichetta dal nome omonimo, la famigerata Bubblegum music, è stata soffiata sopra le fantasie di accoppiamento degli allora adolescenti. Tra le iniziative più popolari della Buddah erano i complessini per deficienti 1910 Fruitgum Company e Ohio Express. Queste band condividevano uno stesso cantante, Joey Levine. Alcuni contributi culturali dall'etichetta Buddha: "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy", "Simon Says" e "1-2-3 Red Light".
[nota mia: la Bubblegum music è stata una invenzione creata a tavolino sia pure con il concorso di alcuni buoni costruttori di hit songs o anche solo one hit wonder. Tra questi, facevano base alla Buddha Records, Producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, ma anche dal di fuori, all’interno dell’industria cinematografica delle Major di Hollywood, i compositori hanno lavorato su questo breve ma prolifico genere musicale rivolto a pre adolescenti e adolescenti. Ricordo il “progetto Monkees”, nato nella mente di Don Kirshner, produttore e valido arrangiatore e creatore di hits, che coinvolge la NBC, potente casa di produzioni televisive per creare un complesso da anteporre ai Beatles. Con le parole del grande regista che diresse le operazioni, Bob Rafelson e dell’amico fraterno Jack Nicholson, che da tempo erano sulla scena della sunset strip, facendo base al Whisky a go go, dove frequentavano l’ambiente del nascente psychedelic rock e tutte le altre forme musicali che stavano eruttando dal magma della società giovanile dell'epoca: - agli inizi del ’65, dopo l’esplosione della beatlesmania in America, kirshner che produceva anche musica per le serie della NBC, venne fuori con l’idea di creare un complesso simile ai Beatles. L’annuncio sui quotidiani di Los Angeles e New York portò la mattina delle prove a una fila fuori dallo studio che arrivava a circa un chilometro di ragazzotti con capelli taglio Beatles. Alla fine, ne scegliemmo quattro, sulla base delle doti di simpatia, fotogenia e amalgama, indipendenntemente da quanto sapessero suonare o cantare che non contava nulla per noi. Così sono nati i The Monkees, e il film Head! e la serie televisiva, con tutta una sequela di hits di notevole portata, più una serie di esibizioni in cui si alternavano con quello che chiamavano Jimi il fenomeno, appunto Jimi Hendrix. La sigla della sitcom fu scritta dal giovane Bobby Hart, uno dei 5 cavalli da battaglia di cui si avvaleva Kirshner, Neil Diamond, Tom Boyce, Bobby Hart, Goggin, Carol King e Barry Mann. Ulteriore nota: per le canzoni della colonna sonora di Head! fu provinato l'allora sconosciuto Harry Nilsson, scomparso nel 1994, di cui da poco ci sono giunti i nastri originali, finiti su CD, una vera leccornia, ascoltare Nilsson con una sola chitarra o con qualche accordo di piano. Alla fine tutto fu gettato alle ortiche e i brani delle canzoni furono tutti scritti dall'allora coppia d'oro del Brill Building, Goffin & King, da sempre prolifici compositori per Don Kirshner e la sua Aldon Music (Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Bobby Darin, (al secolo Roberto Casotto), Connie Francis e molti altri). La vera e propria Bubblegum finisce attorno al 1972, con la nascita della funky e disco dance music, ma subito dopo, in Europa e poi in America, c’è un ritorno, con una serie di modifiche e adattamenti, che vedranno gli Abba e Donna Summer primeggiare nelle classifiche, sostenuti dal genio Giorgio Moroder, compositore scelto da Kubrik per la consulenza musicale per il suo ultimo film. Giorgio tra l'altro è altoatesino e parla "abbastanza bene", secondo me, anche l'italiano, comunque meglio del suo inglese krautato. Dire che Kubric l'ha consultato significa che il povero Giorgio, persona assai calma e di buon carattere, è stato sottoposto a uno stress di notevole entità, conoscendo le fisime ossessive del genio Kubric. Tutto per precisare che comporre e arangiare musichetta da hits non significa non disporre di talento e notevole competenze professionali e cultura musicale come nel caso di Moroder o di Battiato; semplicemente manteniamo distinti le due serie di considerazioni senza generalizzarle agli artisti che le scrivono, che devono pure comprarsi qualche villa con piscina, dopo aver fatto la fame, come spesso accade]
Nel 1971, Bobby Bloom della ‘ Buddha Records 'è stato ucciso in una sparatoria a volte descritta come "accidentale", "altre volte come “ suicidio", all'età di 28. Bloom ha apportato una serie di dischi solisti, tra cui "Love Don't Let Me Down", e "Count On Me". Aveva formato una partnership con il compositore Jeff Barry e in due hanno scritto canzoni per i Monkees, nel loro periodo iniziale. Bloom entrò nella Top 10 con la effervescente "Montego Bay", nel 1970. Altri imprese musicali gestita dalla mafia della fine del 1960 erano furono: Vanilla Fudge ("Hai Keep Me Hangin 'On", "Bang Bang"), (9) Motown Gladys Knight and The Pips, e Curtis Mayfield. (10) Durante gli anni '60 e oltre, la criminalità organizzata mise sotto controllo i lavoratori del settore attraverso l'Unione Teamsters. Anche l’autotrasporto era sotto controllo dei Mob, come lo diventarono le richieste per le concessioni degli stadi per le esibizioni canore. Nessuna rock band poteva fare i tour a meno che gli strumenti di una band non fossero stati consegnati al personale dell’ aeroporto. Se finivi per servirti di un qualsiasi aereoporto non controllato dai Mob, accadeva puntualmente che gli strumenti non giungevano a destinazione che molti giorni dopo.11
Parte dell’Intelligence o rappresentante della Mafia? Che Jeffrey sia stato l’uno o entrambi, ci sono prove evidenti che un connubio Mafia-Cia ha esercitato una notevole influenza nel settore della musica per decenni: ad un certo punto, Hendrix deve aver visto qualcosa che lo ha spinto a tirarsi disperatamente fuori del suo contratto di gestione con Jeffrey.
Monika Dannemann, fidanzata di Hendrix, al momento della sua morte, descrive le tattiche di controllo impiegate da Mike Jeffrey, i suoi tentativi di isolare e manipolare Hendrix, con le osservazioni circa l’evoluzione di questo gioco, nella consapevolezza che Jeffrey era un operatore sotto copertura, che cercava di dominare la sua vita e la sua mente. Jimi sentiva si sentiva sempre più a rischio a New York, la città dove era di casa, che aveva cominciato a sentire come una prigione per lui, e un luogo in cui doveva guardarsi le spalle tutto il tempo.
Nel maggio del 1969 Jimi è stato arrestato a Toronto per possesso di droga. In seguito mi ha detto che era convinto che Jeffrey aveva usato una terza persona per infilargli la droga addosso, come un avvertimento, per dargli una lezione.
Jeffrey aveva capito non solo che Jimi era alla ricerca di modi per uscire dal suo contratto, ma anche che Jimi avrebbe considerato che l'arresto di Toronto era un modo per ridurlo al silenzio .... Jeffrey non voleva che Jimi avesse amici che gli permettevano di ragionare su molte cose e dargli forza e autonomia. Egli preferiva che Jimi fosse più isolato, o frequentasse certe persone che Jeffrey poteva usare per influenzare e manipolarlo. (segue...)
Cinque anni dopo la morte del virtuoso, Crawdaddy ha riferito che gli amici di Hendrix dicevano che si sentiva "sempre più infelice e confuso, prima della sua morte. Buddy Miles ricorda 'più volte si è lamentato del suo manager." Il suo roadie capo, Gerry Stickells, ha detto a Welch, "divenne frustrato ... per tutta quella gente intorno a lui." (13) Hendrix era ossessionato per i guai che Jeffrey gli aveva procurato, facendo sapere lati riservati della sua vita e carriera. Le finanze della band sono statie interamente controllate dal management e sono state depauperate,trasferendole in un paradiso fiscale delle Bahamas un trust chiamato Yameta Co., fondata nel 1965 da Michael Jeffrey tramite una filiale della Banca di New Providence, con i conti presso la filiale Naussau della Banca di Nuova Scozia e la Banca Chemical di New York (14). Una parte consistente dei guadagni della band infatti era stato prosciugato da Yameta in modo liscio e senza che nessuno si accorgesse di nulla Le banche dove Jeffrey aveva aperto dei conti, sono state ufficialmente incaricate di riciclaggio dei proventi di droga, un tema universale della CIA , attività contro la mafia, di cui spesso è complice per motivi top secret. (La Banca Chemical è stata costretta a dichiararsi colpevole di 445 reati nel 1980, quando un'indagine federale ha rilevato che i funzionari avevano omesso di segnalare le operazioni che sapevano trarre da traffico di stupefacenti. (15) La Bank of Nova Scotia fu un investitore chiave della Banca di Commercio e di credito internazionali, BCCI, una volta descritto dalla rivista Time come "l'operazione più pervasiva di riciclaggio di denaro al punto da creare un vero e proprio supermercato finanziario", con legami con i gradi superiori di diversi governi, la CIA, il Pentagono e il Vaticano. (16 )
[Per inciso, la BCCI, fu al centro di una serie di traffici finanziari ad opera di esponenti del governo socialista Craxi, con al centro la figura di Nerio Nesi, all’epoca uomo della BNL, poi in seguito divenuto deputato per il PdRC di Bertinotti. Strano? Per capire un bel poco sulla vicenda Mani pulite e BCCI, Bnl ed esponenti della finanza bianca e rossa, che potete leggere su scribd anche qui
La Connessione Svizzera ].***************************************************************+
Hendrix murdered by his manager, says former aide
Star 'stuffed with pills as part of insurance scam'
By Sadie Gray Sunday, 31 May 2009
The rock legend Jimi Hendrix was murdered by his manager, who stood to collect millions of dollars on the star's life insurance policy, a former roadie has claimed in a new book. James "Tappy" Wright says that Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffrey, drunkenly confessed to killing him by stuffing pills into his mouth and washing them down with several bottles of red wine because he feared Hendrix intended to dump him for a new manager, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
In his book, Rock Roadie, Mr Wright says Jeffrey told him in 1971 that Hendrix had been "worth more to him dead than alive" as he had taken out a life insurance policy on the musician worth $2m (about £1.2m at the time), with himself as the beneficiary. Two years later, Jeffrey was killed in a plane crash.
Hendrix died in September 1970, aged 27. An ambulance crew found his body in the Samarkand Hotel, west London, in the room of a woman called Monika Dannemann, whom he had known for only a few days.
Hendrix was alone in the room, lying on his back, with the gas fire on and the door open. There was no record of who had called the ambulance. His inquest recorded the cause of his death as barbiturate intoxication and inhalation of vomit, and recorded an open verdict.
Describing the night of Jeffrey's confession, Mr Wright wrote: "I can still hear that conversation, see the man I'd known for so much of my life, his face pale, hand clutching at his glass in sudden rage." Wright claims Jeffrey told him: "I had to do it, Tappy. You understand, don't you? I had to do it. You know damn well what I'm talking about. "I was in London the night of Jimi's death and together with some old friends... we went round to Monika's hotel room, got a handful of pills and stuffed them into his mouth... then poured a few bottles of red wine deep into his windpipe. "I had to do it. Jimi was worth much more to me dead than alive. That son of a bitch was going to leave me. If I lost him, I'd lose everything."
John Bannister, the surgeon who dealt with Hendrix at hospital, has said he was convinced the star had drowned in red wine, despite having very little alcohol in his bloodstream. "I recall vividly the very large amounts of red wine that oozed from his stomach and his lungs and in my opinion there was no question that Jimi Hendrix had drowned, if not at home then on the way to the hospital," he wrote in 1992.
"I don't believe for one minute that he killed himself. That was out of the question."
— Chas Chandler, Hendrix Producer
"I believe the circumstances surrounding his death are suspicious and I think he was murdered."
— Ed Chalpin, Proprietor of Studio 76
"I feel he was murdered, frankly. Somebody gave him something. Somebody gave him something they shouldn't have."
— John McLaughlin, Guitarist, Mahavishnu Orchestra
He didn't die from a drug overdose. He was not an out-of-control dope fiend. Jimi Hendrix was
not a junkie. And anyone who would use his death as a warning to stay away from drugs should warn people against the other things that killed Jimi—the stresses of dealing with the music industry, the craziness of being on the road, and especially, the dangers of involving oneself in a radical, or even unpopular, political movements. COINTELPRO was out to do more than prevent a Communist menace from overtaking the United States, or keep the Black Power movement from burning down cities. COINTELPRO was out to obliterate its opposition and ruin the reputations of the people involved in the antiwar movement, the civil rights movement, and the rock revolution. Whenever Jimi Hendrix's death is blamed on drugs, it accomplishes the goals of the FBI's program. It not only slanders Jimi's personal and professional reputation, but the entire rock revolution in the 60's.
—John Holmstrom. "Who Killed Jimi?"(1)
As the music of youth and resistance fell under the cross-hairs of the CIA's CHAOS war, it was probable that Jimi Hendrix—the tripping, peacenik "Black Elvis" of the '60s—should find himself a target.
Agents of the pathologically nationalistic FBI opened a file on Hendrix in 1969 after his appearance at several benefits for "subversive" causes. His most cutting insult to the state was participation in a concert for Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden, Bobby Seale and the other defendants of the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial,(2) "Get [the] Black Panthers," he told a reporter for a teen magazine, "not to kill anybody, but to scare [federal officials]....I know it sounds like war, but that's what's gonna have to happen. It has to be a war....You come back to reality and there are some evil folks around and they want you to be passive and weak and peaceful so that they can just overtake you like jelly on bread....You have to fight fire with fire."(3)
On tour in Liesburg, Sweden, Hendrix was interviewed by Tommy Rander, a reporter for the Gotesborgs-Tidningen. " In the USA, you have to decide which side you're on," Hendrix explained. "You are either a rebel or like Frank Sinatra."(4)
In 1979, college students at the campus newspaper of Santa Barbara University (USB) filed for release of FBI files on Hendrix. Six heavily inked-out pages were released to the student reporters. (The deletions nixed information "currently and properly classified pursuant to Executive Order 11652, in the interest of national defense of foreign policy.") On appeal, seven more pages were reluctantly turned over to the UCSB students. The file revealed that Hendrix had been placed on the federal "Security Index," a list of "subversives" to be rounded up and placed in detainment camps in the event of a national emergency.
If the intelligence agencies had their reasons to keep tabs on Hendrix, they couldn't have picked a better man for the job than Hendrix's manager, Mike Jeffrey. Jeffrey, by his own admission an intelligence agent,(5) was born in South London in 1933, the sole child of postal workers. He completed his education in 1949, took a job as a clerk for Mobil Oil, was drafted to the National Service two years later. Jeffrey's scores in science took him to the Educational Corps. He signed on as a professional soldier, joined the Intelligence Corps and at this point his career enters an obscure phase.
Hendrix biographers Shapiro & Glebeek report that Jeffrey often boasted of "undercover work against the Russians, of murder, mayhem and torture in foreign cities....His father says Mike rarely spoke about what he did—itself perhaps indicative of the sensitive nature of his work—but confirms that much of Mike's military career was spent in 'civvies,' that he was stationed in Egypt and that he could speak Russian."(6)
There was, however, another, equally intriguing side of Mike Jeffrey: He frequently hinted that he had powerful underworld connections. It was common knowledge that he had had an abiding professional relationship with Steve Weiss, the attorney for both the Hendrix Experience and the Mafia-managed Vanilla Fudge, hailing from the law firm of Seingarten, Wedeen & Weiss. On one occasion, when drummer Mitch Mitchell found himself in a fix with police over a boat he'd rented and wrecked, mobsters from the Fudge management office intervened and pried him loose.(7) Organized crime has had fingers in the recording industry since the jukebox wars. Mafioso Michael Franzene testified in open court in the late 1980s that "Sonny" Franzene, his stepfather, was a silent investor in Buddah Records. At this industry oddity, the inane, nasal, apolitical '60s "Bubblegum" song was blown from the goo of adolescent mating fantasies. The most popular of Buddah's acts were the 1910 Fruitgum Company and Ohio Express. These bands shared a lead singer, Joey Levine. Some cultural contributions from the Buddha label: "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy," "Simon Says," and "1-2-3 Red Light."
In 1971, Buddha Records' Bobby Bloom was killed in a shooting sometimes described as "accidental," sometimes "suicide," at the age of 28. Bloom made a number of solo records, including "Love Don't Let Me Down," and "Count On Me." He formed a partnership with composer Jeff Barry and they wrote songs for the Monkees in their late period. Bloom made the Top 10 with the effervescent "Montego Bay" in 1970. Other Mafia-managed acts of the late 1960s were equally apolitical: Vanilla Fudge ("You Keep Me Hangin' On," "Bang, Bang"),(9) Motown's Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Curtis Mayfield.(10) In the '60s and beyond, organized crime wrenched unto itself control of industry workers via the Teamsters Union. Trucking was Mob controlled. So were stadium concessions. No rock bands toured unless money exchanged hands to see that a band's instruments weren't delivered to the wrong airport.(11) Intelligence agent or representative of the mob? Whether Jeffrey was either or both—and the evidence is clear that a CIA/Mafia combination has exercised considerable influence in the music industry for decades—at a certain point, Hendrix must have seen something that made him desperately want out of his management contract with Jeffrey.
Monika Dannemann, Hendrix's fiancé at the time of his death, describes Mike Jeffrey's control tactics, his attempts to isolate and manipulate Hendrix, with observations of his evolving awareness that Jeffrey was a covert operator bent on dominating his life and mind:
Jimi felt more and more unsafe in New York, the city where he used to feel so much at home. It had begun to serve as a prison to him, and a place where he had to watch his back all the time.
In May 1969 Jimi was arrested at Toronto for possession of drugs. He later told me he believed Jeffrey had used a third person to plant the drugs on him—as a warning, to teach him a lesson.
Jeffrey had realized not only that Jimi was looking for ways of breaking out of their contract, but also that Jimi might have calculated that the Toronto arrest would be an easy way to silence Jimi.... Jeffrey did not like Jimi to have friends who would put ideas in his dead and give him strength. He preferred Jimi to be more isolated, or to mix with certain people whom Jeffrey could use to influence and try to manipulate him. So in New York, Jimi felt at times that he was under surveillance, and others around him noticed the same. He tried desperately to get out of his management contract, and asked several people for advice on the best way to do it. Jimi started to understand the people around him could not be trusted, as things he had told them in confidence now filtered through to Jeffrey. Obviously some people informed his manager of Jimi's plans, possibly having been bought or promised advantages by Jeffrey. Jimi had always been a trusting and open person, but now he had reason to become suspicious of people he didn't know well, becoming quite secretive and keeping very much to himself.(12)
Five years after the death of the virtuoso, Crawdaddy reported that friends of Hendrix felt "he was very unhappy and confused before his death. Buddy Miles recalled 'numerous times he complained about his managers." His chief roadie, Gerry Stickells, told Welch, "he became frustrated...by a lot of people around him."(13) Hendrix was obsessed with the troubles that Jeffrey and company brought to his life and career. The band's finances were entirely controlled by management and were depleted by a tax haven in the Bahamas founded in 1965 by Michael Jeffrey called Yameta Co., a subsidiary of the Bank of New Providence, with accounts at the Naussau branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Chemical Bank in New York.(14) A substantial share of the band's earnings had been quietly drained by Yameta. The banks where Jeffrey opened accounts have been officially charged with the laundering of drug proceeds, a universal theme of CIA/Mafia activity. (The Chemical Bank was forced to plead guilty to 445 misdemeanors in 1980 when a federal investigation found that bank officials had failed to report transactions they knew to derive from drug trafficking.(15) The Bank of Nova Scotia was a key investor in the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, BCCI, once described by Time magazine as "the most pervasive money-laundering operation and financial supermarket ever create," with ties to the upper echelons of several governments, the CIA, the Pentagon and the Vatican.(16)
BCCI maintained warm relationships with international terrorists, and investigators turned up accounts for Libya, Syria and the PLO at BCCI's London branch, recalling Mike Jeffrey's military intelligence interest in the Middle East. And then there were bank records from Panama City relating to General Noriega. These "disappeared'' en route to the District of Columbia under heavy DEA guard. An internal investigation later, DEA officials admitted they were at a loss to explain the theft.(17) Friends of Hendrix, according to Electric Gypsy, confiscated financial documents from his New York office and turned them over to Jimi: "One showed that what was supposed to be a $10,000 gig was in fact grossing $50,000."
"Jimi Hendrix was upset that large amounts of his money were missing," reports rock historian R. Gary Patterson. Hendrix had discovered the financial diversions and took legal action to recover them.(18) But there was another factor also involving funds.
Some of Hendrix's friends have concluded that "Jeffrey stood to make a greater sum of money from a dead Jimi Hendrix than a living one. There was also mention of a one million dollar insurance policy covering Hendrix's life made out with Jeffrey as the beneficiary." The manager of the Experience constructed "a financial empire based on the posthumous releases of Hendrix's previously unreleased recordings."(19) Crushing musical voices of dissent was proving to be an immensely profitable enterprise because a dead rocker leaves behind a fortune in publishing rights and royalties. Roadies couldn't help but notice that Mike Jeffrey, a seasoned military intelligence officer, was capable of "subtle acts of sabotage against them," reports Shapiro. Jeffrey booked the Experience for a concert tour with the Monkees and Hendrix was forced to cancel when the agony of playing to hordes of 12-year-old children, and fear of a parental backlash, convinced him to bail out. As for the arrest in Toronto, Hendrix confidantes blame Jeffrey for the planted heroin. The charges were dropped after Hendrix argued that the unopened container of dope had been dropped into his travel bag upon departure by a girl who claimed that it was cold medicine.(20)
In July, 1970, one month before his death, at precisely the time Hendrix stopped all communications with Jeffrey, he told Chuck Wein, a film director at Andy Warhol's Factory: "The next time I go to Seattle will be in a pine box."(21)
And he knew who would drop him in it. Producer Alan Douglas recalls that Hendrix "had a hang-up about the word 'manager.' " The guitarist had pled with Douglas, the proprietor of his own jazz label, to handle the band's business affairs. One of the most popular musicians in the world was desperate. He appealed to a dozen business contacts to handle his bookings and finances, to no avail.(22) Meanwhile, the sabotage continued in every possible form. Douglas: "Regardless of whatever else Jimi wanted to do, Mike would keep pulling him back or pushing him back....And the way the gigs were routed! I mean, one nighters—he would do Ontario one night, Miami the next night, California the next night. He used to waste [Hendrix] on a tour—and never make too much money because the expenses were ridiculous."(23)
The obits were a jumbled lot of skewed, contradictory eulogies: "DRUGS KILL JIMI HENDRIX AT 24," "ROCK STAR IS DEAD IN LONDON AT 27," "OVERDOSE." Many of the obituaries dwelt on the "wild man of rock" image, but there were also many personal commentaries from reporters who followed his career closely, and they dismissed as hype reports of chronic drug abuse. Mike Ledgerwood, a writer for Disc and Music Echo, offered a portrait that the closest friends of Jimi Hendrix confirm: "Despite his fame and fortune—plus the inevitable hang-ups and hustles which beset his incredible career—he remained a quiet and almost timid individual. He was naturally helpful and honest." Sounds magazine "found a man of quite remarkable charm, an almost old-world courtesy." Hendrix biographer Tony Brown has, since the mid-'70s, collected all the testimony he could find relating to Hendrix's death, and finds it "tragic" but "predictable":
"The official cause of death was asphyxiation caused by inhaling his own vomit, but in the days and weeks leading up to the tragedy anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that Hendrix was heading for a terrible fall. Unfortunately, no one close to him managed to steer him clear of the maelstrom that was closing in. Brown sent a report based on his own investigation to the Attorney General's office in February, 1992, "in the hope that they would reopen the inquest into Jimi's death. The evidence was so strong that they ordered Scotland Yard detectives to conduct their own investigation." Months later, detectives at the Yard responded to Sir Nicholas Lyle at the Attorney General's office, rejecting the proposal to revive the inquest.(24)
The pathologist's report left the cause of death "open." Monika Dannemann had long insisted that Hendrix was murdered. At the time of her death, she had brought media attention to the case in a bitter and highly-publicized court battle with former Hendrix girlfriend Kathy Etchningham. On April 5, 1996, her body was discovered in a fume-filled car near her home in Seaford, Sussex, south England. Police dismissed the death as a "suicide" and the corporate press took dictation. But the Eastern Daily Press, a newspaper that circulates in the East Anglian region of the UK, raised another possibility: "Musician Uli Jon Roth, speaking at the thatched cottage where Miss Dannemann lived, said last night: 'The thing looks suspicious. She had a lot of death threats against her over the years....I always felt that she was really being crucified in front of everybody, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.' Mr Roth, formerly with the group The Scorpions, said Miss Danneman 'is not a person to do something to herself.'" Roth threw one more inconsistency on the lot: "She didn't believe in the concept of suicide."
Devon Wilson, another Hendrix paramour, in Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell's view, "died under mysterious circumstances herself a few years later."(25)
Red, Red Wine
Was Hendrix murdered while under the influence? Stanton Steele, an authority on addiction, offers a seemingly plausible explanation: "Extremely intoxicated people while asleep often lose the reflexive tendency to clear one's throat of mucus, or they may strangle in their vomit. This appeared to have happened to Jimi Hendrix, who had taken both alcohol and prescription barbiturates the night of his death."(26)
Evidence has recently come to light clarifying the cause of death—extreme alcohol consumption aggravated by the barbiturates in Hendrix's bloodstream—drowning. Hendrix is said to have choked to death after swallowing nine Vesperax sleeping tablets. This is not the lethal dose he'd have taken if suicide was the intent—he surely would have swallowed the remaining 40 or so pills in the packets Dannemann gave him if this was the idea—as Eric Burdon, the Animals' vocalist and a friend of Hendrix, has suggested over the years.
Hendrix was not felled by a drug overdose, as many news reports claimed. The pills were a sleeping aid, and not a very effective one at that. The two Vesperax that Dannemann saw him take before she fell asleep at 3 am failed to put him under. He had taken a Durophet 20 amphetamine capsule at a dinner party the evening before. And then Hendrix, a chronic insomniac with an escalated tolerance level for barbiturates, had tried the Vesperax before and they proved ineffective. He apparently believed nine tablets would do him no harm.
At 10 am, Dannemann awoke and went out for a pack of cigarettes, according to her inquest testimony. When she returned, he was sick. She phoned Eric Bridges, a friend, and informed him that Hendrix wasn't well. "Half asleep," Bridges reported in his autobiography, "I suggested she give him hot coffee and slap his face. If she needed any more help to call me back." Dannemann called the ambulance at 18 minutes past eleven. The ambulance arrived nine minutes later. Hendrix was not, she claimed, in critical condition. She said the paramedics checked his pulse and breathing, and stated there was "nothing to worry about."
But a direct contradiction came in an interview with Reg Jones, one of the attendants, who insisted that Dannemann wasn't at the flat when they arrived, and that Hendrix was already dead. "It was horrific," Jones said. "We arrived at the flat and the door was flung wide open...."I knew he was dead as soon as I walked into the room." Ambulance attendant John Suau confirmed, "we knew it was hopeless. There was no pulse, no respiration."(27)
The testimonies of Dannemann and medical personnel at the 1970 inquest are disturbingly contradictory. Hendrix, the medical personnel stated, had been dead for at least seven hours by the time the ambulance arrived. Dr. Rufus Compson at the Department of Forensic Medicine at St. George's Medical School undertook his own investigation. He referred to the original medical examiner's report and discovered that there were rice remains in Hendrix's stomach. It takes three-four hours for the stomach to empty, he reasoned, and the deceased ate Chinese food at a dinner party hosted by Pete Cameron between the hours of 11 pm and midnight, placing the time of death no later than 4 am.(28) This is consistent with the report of Dr. Bannister, the surgical registrar, that "the inside of his mouth and mucous membranes were black because he had been dead for some time." Dr. Bannister told the London Times, "Hendrix had been dead for hours rather than minutes when he was admitted to the hospital."(29)
The inquest itself was "unusual," Tony Brown notes, because "none of the other witnesses involved were called to give their evidence, nor was any attempt made to ascertain the exact time of death," as if the subject was to be avoided. The result was that the public record on this basic fact in the case may have been incorrectly cited by scores of reporters and biographers. Tony Brown: "Even [medical examiner] Professor Teare made no attempt to ascertain the exact time of death. The inquest appeared to be conducted merely as a formality and had not been treated by the coroner as a serious investigation."(30)
In 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky (1996), Bill Henderson describes the inquest and its aftermath: "Those who followed his death....noticed many inconsistencies in the official inquest. It has been an open and shut affair that managed to hide its racist intent behind the public perceptual hoax of Hendrix as a substance abuser....As a result, millions of people all over the world thought that Hendrix had died that typical rock star's death: drug OD amid fame, opulence, decadence. But it seems that Hendrix could very well have been the victim not of decadence, but of foul play."(31)
Forensic tests submitted at the inquest have been supplemented over the years by new evidence that makes a reconstruction of the murder possible. In October, 1991, Steve Roby, publisher of Straight Ahead, a Hendrix fanzine, asked, "What Really Happened?": "Kathy Etchingham, a close friend/lover of Jimi's, and Dee Mitchell, Mitch Mitchell's wife, spent many months tracking down former friends and associates of Hendrix, and are convinced they have solved the mystery of the final hours." Central to reconstructing Hendrix's death is red wine. Dr. Bannister reports that after the esophagus had been cleared, "masses" of red wine were "coming out of his nose and out of his mouth." The wine gushing up in great volume from Hendrix's lungs "is very vivid because you don't often see people who have drowned in their own red wine. He had something around him—whether it was a towel or a jumper—around his neck and that was saturated with red wine. His hair was matted. He was completely cold. I personally think he probably died a long time before....He was cold and he was blue."(32)
Henderson writes: The abstract morbidity of Hendrix's body upon discovery may indicate a more complex scenario than has been commonly held. Hendrix was not a red wine guzzler, especially in the amounts found in and around his body. He was known to be moderate in his consumption. If he was 'sleeping normally,' then why was he fully clothed? And how could the ambulance attendants have missed seeing someone who was supposed to be there? The garment, or towel, around his neck is totally mysterious given the scenario so widely distributed. But it is consistent with the doctor's statement that he drowned. Was he drowned by force? In a radio interview broadcast out of Holland in the early '70s, an unnamed girlfriend answered 'yes' to the question, 'Was Hendrix killed by the Mafia?'"(33)
Tony Brown, in Hendrix: The Final Days (1997), correlates the consumption of the wine to the approximate time of death: "It's unlikely that he drank the quantity of red wine found by Dr. Bannister.... Therefore, Jimi must have drunk a large quantity of red wine just prior to his death," suggesting that the quantity of alcohol in his lungs was the direct cause.(34)
The revised time of death, 3-4 am, contradicts the gap in the official record, and so does the revelation that Jimi Hendrix drowned in red wine. While it is common knowledge that Hendrix choked to death, it has only recently come to light that the wine—not the Verparex—was the primary catalyst of death. Hendrix was, the evidence suggests, forced to drink a quantity of wine. The barbiturates, as Brown notes, "seriously inhibited Jimi's normal cough reflex." Unable to cough the wine back up, "it went straight down into his lungs....It is quite possible that he thrashed about for some time, fighting unsuccessfully to gain his breath."(35) It is doubtful that Hendrix would have continued to swallow the wine in "massive" volumes had it begun to fill his lungs.
One explanation that explains the forensic evidence is that Jimi Hendrix was restrained, wine forced down his throat until his thrashings ceased. All of this must have taken place quickly, before the alcohol had time to enter his bloodstream. The post mortem report states that the blood alcohol level was not excessive, about 20mg over the legal drinking limit. He died before his stomach absorbed much of the wine. Jimi Hendrix choked to death. That much of the general understanding of his demise is correct, and little else.
The kidnapping, embezzling and numerous shady deceptions would make Jeffrey the leading suspect in any proper police investigation. And his reaction at the news of Hendrix's death did little to dispel any suspicions that associates may have harbored. Jim Marron, a nightclub owner from Manhattan, was vacationing with Jeffrey in Spain when word of the musician's death reached him. "We were supposed to have dinner that night in Majorca," Marron recalls.
Jeffrey "called me from his club in Palma saying that we would have to cancel....I've just got word from London. Jimi's dead." The manager of the Hendrix Experience took the news completely in stride. "I always knew that son of a bitch would pull a quickie," Jeffrey told Marron. "Basically, he had lost a major property. You had the feeling that he had just lost a couple of million dollars—and was the first to realize it. My first reaction was, Oh my God, my friend is dead."(36) But Jeffrey reacted coldly, comparing the fatality to a fleeting sexual romp in the afternoon.
His odd behavior continued in the days following the death of Hendrix. He appeared to be consumed by guilt, and on one occasion "confessed." On September 20, recording engineer Alan Douglas received a call from Jeffrey, who wanted to see him. Douglas drove to the hotel where Jeffrey was staying. "He was bent over, in misery from a recent back injury. We started talking and he let it all out. It was like a confession."
"In my opinion," Douglas observed, "Jeffrey hated Hendrix."
Bob Levine, the band's merchandising manager, was perplexed by Jeffrey's response to the tragedy. First, Hendrix's manager dropped completely out of sight. "We tried calling all of Jeffrey's contacts....trying to reach him. We were getting frustrated because Hendrix's body was going to be held up in London for two weeks and we wanted Jeffrey's input on the funeral service. A full week after Hendrix's death, he finally called. Hearing his voice, I immediately asked what his plans were and would he be going to Seattle. 'What plans?' he asked. I said, 'the funeral.' 'What funeral?' he replied.
I was exasperated: 'Jimi's!' The phone went quiet for a while and then he hung up. The whole office was staring at me, unable to believe that with all the coverage on radio, print and television, Jeffrey didn't know that Jimi had died." As noted, Jeffrey had been notified and almost grieved, in his fashion. "He called back in five minutes and we talked quietly. He said, 'Bob, I didn't know,' and was asking about what had happened. While I didn't confront him, I knew he was lying."(37)
It was reported that Michael Jeffrey "paid his respects" sitting in a limousine parked outside Dunlap Baptist Church in Seattle. He refused to go inside for the eulogy.(38) Hendrix was buried at the family plot at Greenwood Cemetary in Renton.
Screenwriter Alan Greenberg was hired to write a screenplay for a film on the life of Jimi Hendrix. He traveled to England and taped an interview with Dannemann shortly before her death in April, 1996. In that interview, Dannemann sketched in more details of Jeffrey's skullduggery, which continued after Hendrix's death and has long been concealed behind a wall of misconceptions. On the Greenberg tapes, Dannemann denied allegations of heroin use, as do others close to Hendrix: "You should put that into the right perspective since all of the youngsters still think he was a drug addict.
The problem was, when he died, I was told by the coroner not to talk until after the inquest, so that's why all these wild stories came out that he overdosed from heroin." The coroner found no injection tracks on Hendrix's body. That he snorted the opiate, a charge advanced by biographer Chris Welch in Hendrix, is disputed by Jimi's closest friends. He indulged primarily in marijuana and LSD. The popular misconception that Hendrix was a heroin addict lingers on but should have been buried with him. One of rock's greatest talents was maliciously smeared by the press on this count.
At times, he public has been deliberately misled about Hendrix's drug habits. Kathy Etchingham, a former girlfriend, was deceived into giving an article about Jimi to a friend in the corporate media, and it was snatched up by a newspaper, rewritten, and the story that emerged depicted the guitarist as a violent and drug-infested lunatic. The editor later apologized in writing to Kathy for falsifying the record, but failed to retract in print.(39) Media swipes at Hendrix to this day are often unreasonably vicious, as in this transparent attempt to shape public opinion from London's Times on December 14, 1993:
Not only did [Hendrix] leave several memorable compositions behind him; he left a good-looking corpse. Kathy Etchnigham, a middle-class mother of two, who used to be one of Hendrix's lovers, still mourns his passing and is seeking to persuade the police that there is something suspicious about the circumstances in which he died. Quite why she should bother is hard to say. Perhaps she is bored. Hendrix, we are advised, "lived an absurdly self-indulgent life and died, in essence, of stupidity."
Close friends of Jimi Hendrix suggest that Jeffrey was the front man for a surreptitious sponsor, the FBI, CIA or Mafia. In 1975, Crawdaddy magazine launched its own investigation and concluded that a death squad of some kind had targeted him: "Hendrix is not the only artist to have had his career sabotaged by unscrupulous sharks and leeches." The recent memory of the death of Average White Band drummer Robby McIntosh from strychnine-laced heroin circulating at a party in L.A. "only serves to update this fact of rock-and-roll life. But an industry that accepts these tragedies in cold blood demonstrates its true nature—and the Jimi Hendrix music machine cranks out, unencumbered by the absence of Hendrix himself. One wonders who'll be the next in line?"(40)
On March 5, as if in reply, Michael Jeffrey, every musician's nightmare, was blown out of the sky in an airplane collision over France, enroute to a court appearance in London related to Hendrix. Jeffrey was returning from Palma aboard an Iberia DC-9 in the midst of a French civil air traffic control strike. Military controllers were called in as a contingency replacements for the controllers. Hendrix biographer Bill Henderson considers the midair collision fuel for "paranoia." The nature of military airline control "necessitated rigorous planning, limited traffic on each sector and strict compliance with regulations. The DC-9 however was assigned to the same flight over Nantes as a Spantax Coronado, which 'created a source of conflict.' And because of imprecise navigation, lack of complete radar coverage and imperfect radio communications, the two planes collided. The Coronado was damaged but remained airworthy; no one was injured. The DC-9 crashed, killing all 61 passengers and seven crew . . . ." There are [theories] that Jeffrey was merely a tool, a mouthpiece for the real villains lurking in the wings, that he was "the target of assassination."(41)
A quarter-century after Hendrix died, his father finally won control of the musical legacy. Under a settlement signed in 1995, the rights to his son's music were granted to 76-year-old Al Hendrix, the sole heir to the estate. The agreement, settled in court, forced Hendrix to drop a fraud suit filed two years earlier against Leo Branton Jr., the L.A. civil rights attorney who represented Angela Davis and Nat King Cole. Hendrix accused his lawyer of selling the rights to the late rock star's publishing catalogue without consent.
Hendrix, Sr. filed the suit on April 19, 1993, after learning that MCA Music Entertainment—a company rife with Mafia connections—was readying to snatch up his son's recording and publishing rights from two international companies that claimed to own them. The MCA deal, estimated to be worth $40 million, was put on hold after objections were raised in a letter to the Hollywood firm from Hendrix. By this time, Experience albums generated more than $3-million per a Ênnum in royalties, and $1-million worth of garments, posters and paraphernalia bearing his name and likeness are sold each year. All told, Al Hendrix received $2-million over the next 20 years.(42)
NOTES
1. John Holstrom, "Who Killed Jimi?" Lions Gate Media Works, http://lionsgate.com/Music/hendrix/I_ Dont_Live_Today.html.
2. John Raymond and Marv Glass, "The FBI Investigated Jimi Hendrix," Common Ground, University of Santa Barbara, CA student newspaper, vol. iv, no. 9, June 7, 1979, P. 1.
3. "Jimi Hendrix, Black Power and Money," Teenset, January, 1969
4. Tony Brown, Hendrix: The Final Days, London: Rogan House, 1997, p. 43.
5. On Mike Jeffrey's undefined politics, see: John McDermott with Eddie Kramer, Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight, New York: Warner, 1992, p. 180.
6. Harry Shapiro and Ceasar Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 120.
7. Bill Henderson, "IT'S LIKE TRYING TO GET OUT OF A ROOM FULL OF MIRRORS," Jimi Hendrix web page, http://www.rockmine. music.co.uk/jimih. html.
8. Fredric Dannen, Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Industry, New York: Times Books, 1990, p. 164-5.
9. Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 294. The Fudge once booked a tour with Jimi Hendrixs, per arrangement between the band's mobbed-up management and Michael Jeffrey, Hendrix's manager.
10. Dannen, p. 165.
11. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 295.
12. Monika Dannemann, The Inner World of Jimi Hendrix, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995, pp. 76-8.
13, John Swenson, "The Last Days of Jimi Hendrix," Crawdaddy, January, 1975, p. 43.
14. Ibid., p. 488 ff.
15. "Banks and Narcotics Money Flow in Suth Florida," U.S. Senate Banking Committee report, 96th Congress, June 5-6, 1980, p. 201.
16. Jonathon Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money, and the CIA, New York: Touchstone, 1987, p. 153.
17. Josh Rodin, "BANK OF CROOKS AND CRIMINALS?" Topic 105, Christic News, Aug 6, 1991.
18. R. Gary Patterson, Hellhounds on Their Trail: Tales from the Rock-n'-Roll Graveyard, Nashville, Tennessee: Dowling Press, 1998, p. 208.
19. Ibid.
20. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 473.
21. Shapiro and Glebbeek, p. 477.
22. Swenson. In Crosstown Traffic (1989), Charles Murray reports that Hendrix "began consulting independent lawyers and accountants with a view of sorting out his tangled finances and freeing himself from Mike Jeffrey" (p. 55).
23. Henderson Web site.
24. Brown, p. 7.
25. Mitch Mitchell with John Platt, Jimi Hendrix—Inside the Experience, New York: St. Martin's, 1990, p. 160.
26. Stanton Steele, "The Human Side Of Addiction: What caused John Belushi's death?" U.S. Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, April 1982, p. 7.
27. David Henderson, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, New York: Bantam, 1996, pp. 389-90.
28. Brown, p. 164.
29. Henderson, p. 392.
30. Brown, p. 163.
31. Henderson, p. 388.
32. Ibid., p. 392.
33. Henderson, 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, p. 393. If the Mafia did indeed participate, Hendrix wasn't the first African-American musician to have a contract on his head. In May 1955, jazz saxman Wardell Gray was murdered, probably by Mafia hitmen. Gray had toured with Benny Goodman and Count Basie in 1948. His remarkable recording sessions of the late 1940s, especially with Dexter Gordon, brought him fame. Bill Moody, a jazz drummer and disk jockey, published a novel in 1996, Death of a Tenor Man, based on the life and death of Grey. "It's strange," a publisher's press release comments, "that 1950s Las Vegas, a town in which the Mob and corrupt police worked hand in glove, became the home of the first integrated nightclub in the country. The Moulin Rouge was owned by blacks and had the honor of being the only casino hotel in Vegas that allowed African-Americans to mingle with white customers. On opening night, Nat 'King' Cole and Frank Sinatra sat in with Benny Carter's band. The second night, Wardell Gray, a black sax player in the Carter band with a growing reputation, was beaten to death. The police said he overdosed and 'fell out of bed,' dying later 'of complications.' Some suspected Gray's death was the Mob's way of telling the African-American businessmen who backed the Moulin Rouge that 'this town isn't big enough for the both of us.' Gray's murder has never been investigated. It "hung over the Moulin Rouge like a storm cloud" and remains unsolved. The casino went out of business a few months later.
And the 1961 attempt on the life of soul singer Jackie Wilson has never been rationally explained. Wilson was shot in the stomach by a fan supposedly trying to "prevent a fan from killing herself." He recovered from the assault and went on to release "No Pity (In the Naked City)," and "Higher and Higher."
The Halloween, 1975 murder of Al Jackson, percussionist for Booker T. and the MGs, at the age of 39, also appeared to be a premeditated hit. Barbara Jackson, his wife, was the sole eyewitness. She told police, according to Rolling Stone, that she "arrived home on the night of the shooting and was met by a gun-wielding burglar who tied her hands behind her back with an ironing cord." Al Jackson, who'd been taking in a closed circuit telecast of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight, arrived an hour later. Any burglar would have collected valuables in the house and fled by this time, but he waited a full hour for Jackson to return home. Babara Jackson was freed from the ropes and the "burglar" ordered her at gunpoint to open the door for him. "After confronting Jackson and asking him for money, the intruder forced him to lie on the floor. He then shot Jackson five times in the back and left." (Rolling Stone, November 1975)
34. Brown, p. 165.
35. Brown, pp. 165-66.
36. McDermott and Kramer, pp. 286-87.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid.
39. Shapiro and Glebeek, p. 474.
40. Swenson, p. 45.
41. Henderson Web site.
42. Chuck Philips, "Father to Get Hendrix Song, Image Rights," Los Angeles Times (home edition), July 26, 1995, p. 1. Also named as defendants were producer Alan Douglas and several firms that have profited from the Hendrix catalogue since 1974 under contracts negotiated by Branton: New York-based Bella Godiva Music Inc; Presentaciones Musicales SA (PMSA), a Panamanian corporation; Bureau Voor Muzeikrechten Elber B. V. in the Netherlands; and Interlit, based in the Virgin Islands.
Branton negotiated two contracts in early 1974—signed by Al Hendrix—that relinquished all rights to his son's "unmastered" tapes for $50,000 to PMSA and all his stock in Bella Godiva, his son's music publishing company, for $50,000."PMSA and the other overseas companies were later discovered to be part of a tax shelter system created by Harry Margolis," reported the L.A. Times, "a Saratoga attorney whom federal prosecutors charged but never convicted of tax fraud. The tax shelter plan collapsed after Margolis' death in 1987, and also [prompted] complaints from the estates of other entertainment clients, including singer Nat King Cole, screenwriter Larry Hauben as well as from followers of New Age philosopher Werner Erhard, who allegedly stashed revenues from his EST enterprise in the foreign account."
http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2007/11/who-killed-jimi-hendrix-rock-culture.html
Riferimenti sul video, rockprophecy.com and join well done website
jimihendrixitalia.blogspot.com
0 secondi fa albertolo502 dice:
"La Hendrix Estate, l'imperio della sorellastra di Jimi."
Sono morti da tempo i suoi genitori, avvolti in una causa legale sul patrimonio di Jimi Hendrix, che solo alla metà del nuovo millennio si è dipanato. Tutto è finito nelle mani della sua sorellastra, che Jimi non ha mai conosciuto, e che da tempo sta ponendo in essere, tramite la società capogruppo, una serie di operazioni commerciali di dubbio gusto, su cui preferisco sorvolare. Dopo l'uscita di Valley of Neptune, il disco ripescato tra le centinaia di ore di registrazione giacenti nei Foxylady Studios,(ancora oggi utilizzati da numerosi artisti), che nulla ha aggiunto allo score musicale di Hendrix, sono in programmazione per gli appassionati una serie di uscite, che niente aggiungerano al mito di Hendrix, e non contribuiranno a conoscerlo veramente. Monika Dannemann nel 1996, l'unica a dichiarare che è salito con lui vivo in ambulanza, dopo una serie di processi intentati dalla rivale Kathy Etchingham, alla fine, si è suicidata all'interno della sua auto (Monika era allora legata con Uli Roth). In ogni caso, nelle parole dei molti che conoscevano bene Jimi, da tempo, ragazze, alcol, sostanze erano ormai parte della sua vita caotica, e gli sbalzi di umore e l'attività frenetica, avrebbero finito per consumarlo in fretta. Il suo produttore di allora, al tempo di Electric ladyland, Chas Chandler, che lo aveva portato in Inghilterra (perché a NY non combinava niente), dopo una serie di appuntamenti mancati, mi ha descritto il tipo di vita e ambiente che caratterizzava le sue notti di allora. Si alzava tra le 16 e le 17 del pomeriggio, verso le 20 usciva dall'albergo e si recava in uno dei soliti locali, dove assieme agli amici chiacchierava, mangiava, beveva e fumava. Le cose più belle sono accadute proprio a quei tavoli, con una chitarra qualsiasi, acustica, con battiti di mani e percussioni sui bicchieri. Poi si recavano in un altro locale, sempre in compagnia di un nugolo di gente e ragazze, e alla fine, verso le 2 di mattina, si decidevano ad entrare in studio, sempre seguito da uno stuolo di ragazzette e amici festanti. Dal momento che a quel tempo (è Chass che parla), mia moglie era incinta, e visto l'andazzo, gli dissi che non potevo più restare, e da quel momento, tutto il disco è stato praticamente prodotto da lui e dagli altri amici. Solo alla fine, sono state apportate una serie di rifiniture, in fase di post produzione. Che dirvi, Jimi era una persona timida, almeno nella definizione di Joni Mitchell, che l'ha conosciuto bene: Joni racconta che durante una sua serata, Jimi le chiese se poteva registrare la sua performance. Forse, l'amicizia che più è durata, ricambiata da stima reciproca, è stata quella con Arthur Lee, il leader dei Love, scomparso da poco. Arthur girava per Los Angeles e San Francisco con un cappello di tesa in testa, e con giacca in pelle scamosciata, con le frangette da moicano. Oltre ciò, è stato il primo a produrre un disco di Jimi, un vecchio 45 giri, passato del tutto inosservato. Arthur me lo ricordo bene, lunatico, introverso, mai un'intervista, mai una partecipazione a eventi tipo Monterey, pur invitato, e all'epoca molto accreditato, dotato di buon canto e di uno stile chitarristico tipico del Delta, riusciva a mitigarlo in un suono più dolce e smorzato, con una timbrica profonda e ben tagliata. Jimi lo aveva ammirato molto, e forse, per quelli come me, un rimpianto musicale resta il sogno di vederli assieme sul palco, due stili così diversi ma anche due personalità musicali nettissime. E pensare che Jimi, non faceva che assillare tutti, che il suo sogno era di formare una band con Steve Windwood. Ciauz.
http://www.rollingstonemagazine.it/video/i-migliori-colpi-di-hendrix
