The Effortless Brilliance Of Jimi Hendrix!
I came across an amazing documentary on Showtime last night – and it includes a brilliant live performance by Jimi Hendrix that must be seen to be believed!
Playing Guitar – With His Teeth!
Yes, Jimi plays the guitar with his teeth during the performance – but what is so incredible about this documentary is that it was shot just a few months before Hendrix died…
Key Art for the SHOWTIME documentary Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church. PHOTO: Courtesy of SHOWTIME
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church!
Showtime’s documentary captured Jimi’s performance at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in 1970, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered to hear him play at the so-called “southern Woodstock.”
Here is the trailer:
What’s amazing is that the festival footage was shot by “Can’t Buy Me Love” director Steve Rash, and it went unreleased after a deal to turn it into a documentary back in the ’70s fell through – so it sat undeveloped in his garage for decades!
The film is also a fascinating historical document, as it shows the racial unrest in the south leading up to the show – and how the “hippies” took over a small southern town with only one police officer!
Jimi Hendrix performs for a half hour, and it’s a “greatest hits” of all of his best songs, performed with effortless brilliance by Jimi…this is a great historical record of an amazing performer at the prime of his career…
And yes, HE PLAYS WITH HIS TEETH!
Since this show was on July 4th, Hendrix does his electric version of “The Star Spangled Banner”, but he also performed that at another big show:
Woodstock was the “Godfather” of festival shows, but Atlanta’s was just as big!
If you want to see more about Woodstock, you can read by story here:
There are a ton of great stories about the Artists who performed at Woodstock, especially about this incredibly talented singer:
Janis Joplin at Woodstock
no publication after December 31, 2009
Janis Joplin died the same year as Hendrix, and if you want to find out more about here, there is an incredible new documentary out right now!
You can read all about it by clicking on my story here:
http://johnrieber.com/2015/11/16/janis-joplin-little-girl-blue-documentary-rocks-greatest-voice/
For those who don’t know here, Laura Nyro was also an amazingly talented singer/songwriter, who performed at the legendary Monterey Pop festival:
For years, a myth existed that Nyro was boo’ed off the stage, but newly released footage shows that not to be true….you can read all about it here:
Festivals came to a horrific end after The Rolling Stones performed at Altamont, and Hells Angels killed someone in the crowd as part of their “security”:
The incident was captured in an incredible documentary as well, which you can read about here:
http://johnrieber.com/2012/12/16/crossfire-hurricane-censored-c-blues-the-stones-turn-50/
And finally, if the music and politics of that era are of interest, then you should check out this film:
“Medium Cool” was filmed during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the Director filmed his cast in the midst of the riots outside!
Read all about this film here:
Let me know what you think of Jimi’s performance on Showtime!
