Hendrix notes no. 1: The Prodigal Son

This series is inspired by the scene in the Monterey Pop documentary of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, where an unidentified woman watches the end of Jimi’s performance in stunned silence. She’s never heard or seen anything like this. Hendrix notes is an open question, a forum about all things Hendrix, not  the usual hagiographic account of a supernatural being, but a cyberplace to reasonably discuss his continuing influence.    
That's groovy, man.

Why the title Hendrix notes? Well, making Jimi Hendrix the guitarist of the day seems, for now anyway…too redundant, boringly so. I mean, really? What is there to say that you haven’t literally heard thousands of times? He’s passed into history that by definition, for a single figure, implies a clear narrative/story (what is history?) understood as a definitive statement of that biographical person’s experience in, and continuing effect on, culture; in Jimi’s case: music and pop culture. Don't we already know that story? 

I need another way in, a reason to be interested in writing about Hendrix....a mission. So, here is my mission statement: Hendrix notes is an open question, a forum about all things Hendrix, not  the usual hagiographic account of a supernatural being, but a cyberplace to reasonably discuss his continuing influence.

Let's begin with one view of the mythological Hendrix:

Example no.1. The return of the prodigal son. In the fleshing out of this biblical archtype: Jimi, after being rejected by the racist American music industry, goes to England where he finally, now an old man in his mid to late twenties, gets his chance to succeed in the enlightened neo-blues climate of 1960’s London. All the British guitar slingers creamed (I believe it) their tight bell-bottom blues genes. 

After this oversea success, Jimi is finally embraced in his home country of the USA, as the genius native son (a fact complicated by his being black, but also partly “Indian” since he can’t be too black in this now ancient 1960s story/myth). This return is symbolized by his performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

Does the above example seem simplistic to you? Plug in another artist's name and run the story in your head. Now?

To be continued ad infinitum.