Most people would probably never forget the sight of Jimi Hendrix walking through their front door—guitar in one hand, all his worldly possessions in a bag in the other—pausing only to say, “Hi, I’m Jimi. Thank you for letting me stay at your house for a while.”
And while that event actually transpired before the eyes of one Ernie Isley many moons ago, it is the memory of everyone who came to the door after his one-time house guest’s arrival that evokes some of the fondest memories of his Hendrix “experience.”
“I tell everybody we had the coolest doorbell in town,” Isley recalls with a laugh, “because our doorbell was Jimi Hendrix. Jimi would always have his guitar on and just imitate everything he heard—whether it be the Three Stooges theme on TV or an ambulance siren. So someone would knock on the door, and Jimi would make his guitar go ‘ding dong.’ Of course, before long, Jimi could do the knock and the doorbell on his guitar perfectly, and my brother Marvin would go answer it and find no one there… we’d all bust out laughing.”
The second youngest sibling in the musical family that spawned such of-the-era hits as “Who’s That Lady,” “It’s Your Thing” and “Fight The Power,” Ernie is quick to riddle such Hendrix homages with the qualifying statement, “Again, you have to remember—I knew Jimi the person, not the icon.”
In fact, as the firsthand history lesson progressed, it was revealed that Ernie and the brothers Isley actually encountered the eventual icon at a personal low.
“Jimi was broke when my brothers found him,” Ernie explains. “They were looking for a guitarist and heard there was this killer left-handed guy out there. But they had to get his guitar out of hock and even buy him a set of strings so he could audition. Of course, the audition itself took all of 30 seconds for him to get the gig once they got him all straightened out.”
For the first time since its inception more than a decade ago, Ernie Isley has landed a gig with the Experience Hendrix Tour—an annual event that is rounded out by legendary Band of Gypsys bassist Billy Cox, guitarists Steve Vai, Kenny Wayne Shepard and Eric Johnson and the band Living Colour this go-round, to name a choice few.
Not surprisingly, the 2010 incarnation has proved to be the most popular Hendrix homage to date, with early shows registering attendance totals high enough that organizers decided to re-launch the entire operation as a national tour proper—replete with a Nov. 4 MGM Grand at Foxwoods play. Tickets for the Jimi jam range from $20 to $45, and are available at mgmatfoxwoods.com.
*
In other news, the New England Doo Wop Society (newenglanddoowopsociety.com) returns to the Castle of Knights in Chicopee on Oct. 30 for a classic evening of buffet cuisine and golden oldies, including performances by Shades of Blue, Wide Variety and the Flamingos.
And lest anyone think their friendly neighborhood Crawler would forego any mention of impending holiday happenings, here are at least two opportunities to get your Halloween freak on this weekend.
The first, dubbed the Trick or Treat Boo Bash, takes place at the Headquarters Bar and Grill in Agawam Oct. 30 and features Grand Band Slam winners Triple X and Pallet with special guests the Voodoo Brothers and an assortment of raffles and giveaways. The second—also taking place on Saturday, Oct. 30—finds School For The Dead, Spouse and The Fawns unleashing their free Halloween “Frankenconcert” upon the masses at The Basement in Northampton. Please call (413) 786-7005 for more information on the former, and visit iheg.com on the latter.
Catch the Nightcrawler every Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. on the Steve Cantara Radio Show, WRNX 100.9 FM. Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 0071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.
