Jimi' Hendrix' s Legacy: My Life

Jimi Hendrix's Legacy: My Life

by Armando Ortiz

   A few days ago I downloaded the new Jimi Hendrix out-take and rare tracks box set, West Coast Seattle Boy. The current list of albums I was sampling was set aside and Jimi, once again, took center stage in my life. After listening to all of the tracks and loosing myself in the guitar solos and funky bass beats, I realized that I had spent around 5 hours listening to the box set. That got me thinking about how much I have heard his music throughout the year and how many hours in total I might have spent in my life listening to his music. The peak of this year's "Jimi Experience" was back in August when I visited his memorial, which is located about an hour south from Seattle.

   The signs of his impact on this earth are everywhere, yet sometimes we don't acknowledge the signs. Considering that we are always being inundated with advertisements and commercial jingles that keep us in a state of hypnotic trance, its hard to notice that Hendrix is still out there resonating in this world among people that choose to take the road less traveled. One of my most memorable and deepest subconscious experiences that I had while living in South Korea, back in 2001, was seeing a giant poster of Hendrix every time my friends and I went out to the local bar that was located in Sinchon. Directly opposite to the entrance of the bar, that was located inside a basement, was a poster of him. Every time one walked into that place, one was confronted with the image of Hendrix. As if it was intended to welcome every person into the bar. He was there, the see it all, the prevailing god of the bar where we got drunk, passed out, sneaked a hand down some girl's pants, and even pretended that we were the only cool people there. But Hendrix was always there, reminding us of his presence, he'd been to the promised land and back. I was too young back then to truly appreciate his artistic genius. In fact, I never imagined I'd be taking a side trip to visit his memorial site nine years later.
   Visiting his memorial is one of the more memorable things I did this year, and up to this point in my short lived life. I was greeted by flying purple martins that swooped down and captured the insects that jumped off from the ground. Every step I took, as I walked across the grass, made tiny insects jump up causing the martins to fly low in preparation for their snack. It seemed fitting to see that even purple birds made their home near Jimi's memorial. After circling his memorial and trying to take it all in I realized that I wasn't the only person who'd been touched by his music, but that he had managed to magically resonate in the lives of the other people that were there visiting him.
   While I was there I saw a family from Australia, that had made the side trip. Then I saw a long black limousine pull up and a man that looked like the incarnation of one of the many 80's rock bands stepped out of the limo. He walked up the memorial, and  put up a cardboard sign that read, JIMMY rocks WE MISS YOU. He took a couple of pictures and then hopped into the long car and left. Then big white truck pulled up. A big diesel truck pulling a trailer. The license plates read Alberta, Canada. The door opened and a man that looked like a construction worker stepped out. He reached into his truck and pulled out two dozen white roses. He walked up to the memorial, stopped,  took a deep breath and said, "I can't believe I am actually here!" It made me wonder how special it was to be so close to Jimi, but at the same time how my experience, wasn't as singular as I once thought it to be, and that's the magic of music, literature and art. It touches everyone in some way. The message does transmit and it is absorbed.
  I've spent hours listening to different Hendrix albums, but it wasn't until this year that things finally clicked. His songs like "Room Full of Mirrors," and "1983," had never touched me. Never had I carefully thought through the lyrics. As my first blog post I want to dedicate it to Jimi Hendrix, a man who's music has touched countless of people on this small earth. His message of love and self realization is still felt and will keep being heard for generations to come. Ultimately my goal is to transmit similar energies through this blog. Energies that have tapped into the everlasting flow of time, where the ancient teachers, artist and musicians forever resonate and become one with the earth, time, and the universe.