Michael Hart Fine Art

Jimi Hendrix Photo

The Jimi Hendrix Photo Story

It was January 1968, and I was playing in a somewhat well-known rock band in Houston. In all honesty, we were trading on the name of the original band, with only one remaining original member. A former member, who owned the rights to the name, had brought three of us in from the band I joined upon arriving in Houston in late May of the previous year.

He was going to law school and working part-time at H&H Music in their Sharpstown Mall location, where the tickets for The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s upcoming shows at The Houston Music Hall were due to go on sale on Saturday morning. We decided to traipse on over on Friday night to ask him if the tickets had come in yet. He replied in the affirmative, saying they had just been delivered. This is how I shortly found myself in possession of a front-row seat for the performance on Sunday evening, February 11th!

The Night Of Concert

There were three opening acts, the first of which was a local band called The Moving Sidewalks, which featured on lead guitar a Lee High School senior by the name of Billy Gibbons. During their set, they proceeded to play ‘Purple Haze!’ Well, that took some chutzpah! But Hendrix was impressed, and I have seen a photo of him with the band backstage, everyone smiling.

I showed up with my Pentax H3V 35mm camera and grabbed some shots during the show. One of which, I humbly submit, turned out pretty damn good. To the best of my recollection, Jimi was playing ‘The Wind Cries Mary’ when this was taken.

I am most fortunate and thankful that I have managed to keep this negative over the past 56 years of moves, house fires, and floods. Amazing.

The Ticket Stub