This is my baby. You hear a man say that and you are waiting to see a picture of his son or his daughter, naw not for me. For me, it’s my guitar. I was born to play it and yeah, I died with it in my hands like it was my girlfriend. (Laughs) No, shit I was holding on to my guitar like if I died it might be able to save my life, bring me back better than ever, but it didn’t. But hell I’m sure you all knew that by now. Excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Johnnie Allen Hendrix, Jimi as I was known. Technically I’m seventy years old, not bad for an old man right? Come on you know you want to dance with me. (Laughs) My life ended at twenty- seven and there is nothing better than being able to come back, and talk to people. Tell them how it really happened ya know? The rise and fall of the great Jimi Hendrix. Shit, I don’t even know if I ever fell. Honestly I think I was on a high the whole way to my death cuz when you come from the shit I came from the only way to go is, well, up.
My life started in a bad addiction. See my momma was addicted to my daddy, my daddy was addicted to dope and for some reason it was a good idea to bring a child into the midst of all that bullshit and that was me. (Laughs) Yeah being raised by a junkie and a woman who only wanted to please him was not a pretty sight. I loved my momma but I felt sorry for her. I was a kid and like any kid I wanted love from my momma but I didn’t get it. I wanted my daddy to do shit that daddy’s do with they son and I didn’t get that either. I learned at a very young age that you can’t expect people to do the right thing because they are supposed to do, that ain’t how it works. My daddy would beat on my momma, that nigga would come home so pissed off and I would hear he trying to talk him out of beating her ass like you can talk logic into a man who is looking for dope, so either you got the fucking dope momma or your don’t.
