rare jimi

everybody's got their favorite jimi. there's jimi with the perm and the ruffled shirts, fresh from london, humping his guitar when he solos and lighting it on fire and all that rot. and then there's jimi as black hippie with the headband around his afro, all tight pants and empassioned bravado. jimi -- always a mesmerizing visage regardless of which one you're casually observing.

this is my favorite jimi: steeped in the blues, blacker than thou, doing funky dance steps in a hard-touring chitlin circuit r&b outfit. (too bad there's no footage with him when he was with little richard...) i love this jimi especially because so many seem to have forgotten how bluesy he was, how close he was to those roots.

this is the oldest known film clip of jimi, in a live performance of the song shotgun with junior walker and the all stars. you can't miss him. he's in the back on the left, totally in step with his upside-down backwards guitar.