Review: Sony Legacy Releases






Review: More Sony Legacy Releases 






TV Review: Delitti Rock 
***SEE BELOW***






Gear Special: Jimi’s 1965 Maple Stratocaster 






Bob Levine On Rock Roadie BS 






Jimi Plays The Hollywood Bowl 1968






Photo Special: Jimi Plays Issy les Moulineaux 1967 






JHE Sound Check At Monterey Pop Festival 1967 






Loose Ends 






USoterica: Nick Mason On Jimi 






Until We Meet Again: The Last Weeks Of Jimi Hendrix 






UV Shop 






Ketchup This!



















Pages: 40






Word count: 15,637






Illustrations:  57

DELITTI ROCK: Jimi Hendrix Il Figlio Del Voodoo
RAI Due, 17 October 2011 – 53 min. – Rating: terrible


“Delitti Rock” (Rock Crimes) is an awful serial program on Italian TV that I skipped completely until now. The programs, so it appears, target teenagers with so-called “burning-revelation-reports” on the untimely deaths of the likes of Michael Jackson, Brian Jones, John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Luigi Tenco, and Jimi Hendrix.

Massimo Ghini, the presenter, looks very melodramatic (as well as tasteless and irritating) in his opening words during this episode on Hendrix. Ghini chose to open with a big glass of red wine in his hand, hinting at the (incorrect) red wine choking theory – central in this “Delitti Rock” program as well as in the delirious theories of the interviewees.

In the first five minutes, it’s claimed that Hendrix was found “lifeless” at the Samarkand Hotel on 18 September 1970 in a “totally dark” and empty room with “nobody else” around, of course surrounded by his own vomit (from the red wine, again) and transported to the hospital where he arrived dressed “in extravagant clothes” (in reality, Jimi was alive and naked when he was transported, as fully detailed in Until We Meet Again: The Last Weeks of Jimi Hendrix).

The program continues with interviews. Eric Burdon rants on about his suicide theory based on Jimi’s so-called “farewell letter” – “The Story of Life” lyrics, though Burdon never actually says so.

A goofball from Rochester (Jimi: “Really a strange town...”), New York, then presents his totally insane ramblings about absurd theories of a plot arranged in Seattle between Jimi’s family [now that’s a new twist!], manager Michael Jeffery, and his roadies to kill Jimi in London. Goofball: “Who nowadays controls Jimi Hendrix’s inheritance, has organised his assassination... The motive was the chance of controlling his property.“ BS.

The next talking head is Beppe Severgini, an Italian journalist living at the Samarkand Hotel in the eighties without even knowing who Jimi Hendrix was (verrryyy interesting indeed).

And finally we hear from writer David Henderson (equally convinced of the homicide theory, for which absolutely no evidence exists, and speaking quite critical of Monika Dannemann) plus ex-Animals roadie James Wright (portraying Jeffery as a gangster, Hendrix as a sex maniac, everybody else as complete fools, while insisting on the bizarre red wine down Hendrix’s throat as a killing technique used by Jeffery & Co.).

It’s only after 36 minutes of all these rantings that the episode offers viewers a 10-minute explanation of who Jimi Hendrix was. The only slightly interesting parts in Jimi Hendrix Il Figlio Del Voodoo are Alex Britti’s solo renditions of “Voodoo Child” (done as an instrumental) and “Angel.” As for the rest, file: X (terrible).

A. Tichy



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