Fact #118096
When:
Short story:
The official opening party for Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios, New York City, USA, is attended by Yoko Ono, Johnny Winter, Noel Redding and members of Fleetwood Mac. Patti Smith is invited but is too shy to go in.Full article:
Jim Marron (president, Electric Lady Studios) : We had a hard time getting him to come. I appealed to him directly, telling him that I had been breaking my balls trying to open this place for him. I said, ‘You can’t have an opening party for Jimi Hendrix’s studio without Jimi Hendrix.’ He complained about having to go on tour and I cut him off, asking what exactly - between him and me - it would take to get him to the party. He said, ‘Well, I have to leave for England after the party and I’ve never had a police escort to the airport …’ For me, that was simple. I knew a lieutenant in The Village police precinct who had been co-operating with me and I called him, asking for a favour… My connection said, ‘No problem, I’ll arrange for two motorcycles.’ With that, I got Hendrix to come.
Kim King (engineer): We made a tape of three finished mixes (of new Hendrix songs) to play at the party. It was played over and over that night.
Pat Costello (publicist) : We arranged it in two stages. We had the record business people come at five-thirty or six-thirty, and the music press come an hour and a half, two hours, later, to be sure that the straight record biz suits and ties were gone, so the rock writers could light up at will.
John Veneble (assistant engineer) : Just before Hendrix was to leave, I saw him in Jeffery’s office upstairs. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Boy, this guy doesn’t want any part of this tour.’ I couldn’t say anything, as Hendrix barely knew I worked there, but I’ll never forget that feeling. That was the last time most of us saw him.
Patti Smith : It was all too much for me. Johnny Winter in there and all. So I thought, 'I'll just sit awhile on the steps' and out came Jimi and sat next to me. And he was so full of ideas; the different sounds he was going to create in this studio, wider landscapes, experiments with musicians and new soundscapes. All he had to do was get over back to England, play the festival and get back to work…"
(Source : Interview in The Observer newspaper)
Eddie Kramer (engineer) : When we started recording at Electric Lady, there tended to be multiple choices of guitar solos. It’s quite a desirable problem to have, really - you’ve got six fantastic Jimi Hendrix solos, so what do you do? We did quite a lot of taking bits from each to get the best overall. But it was hard, because they were all valid. Y’know, Jimi would always want to go one better. He was never completely happy with everything he’d done … like all true artists, I think.
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Kim King (engineer): We made a tape of three finished mixes (of new Hendrix songs) to play at the party. It was played over and over that night.
Pat Costello (publicist) : We arranged it in two stages. We had the record business people come at five-thirty or six-thirty, and the music press come an hour and a half, two hours, later, to be sure that the straight record biz suits and ties were gone, so the rock writers could light up at will.
John Veneble (assistant engineer) : Just before Hendrix was to leave, I saw him in Jeffery’s office upstairs. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Boy, this guy doesn’t want any part of this tour.’ I couldn’t say anything, as Hendrix barely knew I worked there, but I’ll never forget that feeling. That was the last time most of us saw him.
Patti Smith : It was all too much for me. Johnny Winter in there and all. So I thought, 'I'll just sit awhile on the steps' and out came Jimi and sat next to me. And he was so full of ideas; the different sounds he was going to create in this studio, wider landscapes, experiments with musicians and new soundscapes. All he had to do was get over back to England, play the festival and get back to work…"
(Source : Interview in The Observer newspaper)
Eddie Kramer (engineer) : When we started recording at Electric Lady, there tended to be multiple choices of guitar solos. It’s quite a desirable problem to have, really - you’ve got six fantastic Jimi Hendrix solos, so what do you do? We did quite a lot of taking bits from each to get the best overall. But it was hard, because they were all valid. Y’know, Jimi would always want to go one better. He was never completely happy with everything he’d done … like all true artists, I think.