Jimi Hendrix: The Man, the Magic, the Truth Review

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Jimi Hendrix: The Man, the Magic, the Truth ReviewWhile I applaud Ms. Lawrence for educating fans on the gross injustices within the Hendrix family and for having a commendable understanding of Janie Hendrix's psychological make up that is lost even on many who are within her orbit, there are some very serious credibility problems here.
While even the idle Hendrix fan knows Jimi was born in King County Hospital, (Now Harbor View) Lawrence states he was born at the home of a family friend.(Ouch) Jimi is quoted allegedly verbatum throughout the book but from some alledged tapes of interviews that no one has seen or heard and that Lawrence conveniently plans on destroying so 'no one can profit from them'.Meanwhile cigarette packs (yes, cigarette packs) and necklaces are being sold via ebay or to private collectors allegedly having belonged to Hendrix ,siting Ms. Lawrence as the previous owner and source of authenticity.
At one point she aledgedly quotes Hendrix as saying:
"The LSD passed around San Francisco was a fabulous discovery for me, I'd taken acid in London but...."
Aside from Jimi's use of the word 'fabulous' being at best incredulous, the fact that Hendrix had already tried LSD in New York in 1996 before going to England and subsequently Monterey is common knowledge among afficianados and again makes all of these alledged direct quotes questionable. Those of you who have listened to and read the hundreds of hours of interviews available through collectors, official releases and press clippings will also find some of the wording of these alledged quotes that the book, and the credibility of it's author are based on, extremely suspect. At one point Ms. Lawrence even offers an aledged quote from Hendrix's mother who passed away in 1958:
"Jimi baby" she told her son "I have to escape this"
While quotes like this can illicit an emotional response
from the average reader,they are clearly fictional. Throughout the book people close to Jimi are referenced but very sparsely quoted, if at all. I shared the recount of Jimi's trip to Berkeley as a small child (Pg.5) with Jimi's aunt Delores and she laughed openly and wondered aloud where people come up with these stories. This from a woman who was actually there and involved in planning said trip. While making a reference to Ernestine Benson and misstakenly referring to her husband Cornel as "Bill" , Lawrence again allegedly quotes Hendrix in lieu of an actual interview with the Benson's who are both still living and have incredible first hand insights having lived with the Hendrix's.
Lawrence's assertion that Hendrix committed suicide simply because his journal was left out is no less ridiculous than Jimi's adopted stepsister Janie's claim that Jimi didn't OD. Lawrence then stops just short of gleefully giving herself credit for Monika's suicide, but the jist is clear. This book is more than a bit narcissistic with Lawrence lauding herself as much as she does her subject. While proclaiming herself to be a close confident of Hendrix' the general consensus is that she wasn't around that much, if people even know who she is at all.
For a much more well researched and credible look into Jimi's life read Electric Gypsy or even more so , the new book Room Full Of Mirrors by Charles Cross. The Man, The Magic, The Truth, while very dramatic, is rife with glaring inaccuracies and is for the most part a novel about the author and her subject, not a biography or a reliable historical record. Unless these alledged tapes that are widely quoted throughout the entire book are made available, their legitimacy and the legitimacy of the book will forever be questioned.
Ray Rae Goldman
Archivist/Historian
James Marshall Hendrix FoundationJimi Hendrix: The Man, the Magic, the Truth Overview

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