Hendrix comes to Ottawa

[Basher]

OK you lucky Ottawa folk - The Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour, a travelling museum housed in an expandable 18-wheeler big rig rolled into your town yesterday. Here is the artivle from CANOE.ca:

Hendrix on wheels

Guitar guru museum rolls into town

By ANN MARIE McQUEEN -- Ottawa Sun

A third generation of fans are tuning in to electric guitar guru Jimi Hendrix, who would be turning 60 this fall had he not died prematurely in 1970.

"We've got baby boomers who grew up with Jimi, and we get the kids who grew up listening to their parents' records, and their kids," says Jimi's cousin Bob, four years his junior.

Bob Hendrix is accompanying the Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour, a travelling museum housed in an expandable 18-wheeler big rig, which rolled into town yesterday and will be parked at the Bluesfest until it ends Sunday.

The museum features replicas of Hendrix memorabilia from the unforgettable Butterfly costume to the Monteray Pop Stratocaster, the hand-painted guitar famously burned during 1967's Monteray International Pop Festival.

Hendrix's father Al, who never recovered after his son's accidental, sleeping pill-related death, charged his family with creating a viable, free-of-charge travelling museum to ensure Jimi's legacy lived on after clarifying rights to the estate in 1995.

Bluesfest is the Hendrix museum's only Canadian stop.

It also includes audio and video presentations, photos and a chronology of Jimi's career. That short-lived career, which included many notable performances, including Woodstock, and the release of four official records, began when Jimi's dad bought him a $5 acoustic guitar when he was 13.

Hendrix, who never knew how to formally read or write music, instead showed his talent by instinct and an incredible ear.

Just like his dad, Hendrix, who loved to draw, played baseball, football, baseball and joined the U.S. Army before getting a medical discharge and returning to music, is remembered by his cousin and childhood playmate as quiet and unassuming.

"I don't think that you could find anyone who met Jimi Hendrix who didn't like him," said his cousin. "He was a really nice guy."

The Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour truck will be parked behind Confederation Park, in front of the Rideau Canal on Queen Elizabeth Dr., until 3 p.m. today.

It will be then be moved inside the Bluesfest, on Laurier Ave., where it will sit until Sunday. Admission is free.

[bouche]

I wonder if Hendricks will be going?

A picture of Hendricks beside Hendrix's guitar would be priceless, almost Ebay worthy.