"Now why didn't I think of that?"
Posted on 07/30/2005 9:37:15 AM PDT by Rodney King
Jimi Hendrix pretended to be gay so he would be discharged from the army, according to claims in a biography that has used his military medical records.
The rock legend said he left the 101st Airborne Division aged 19 in 1962 after being injured on a parachute jump.
But Room Full of Mirrors by Charles R Cross says army records show he was discharged for "homosexual tendencies".
Mr Cross says Hendrix had a legendary appetite for women - he even had an affair with actress Brigitte Bardot.
But he had told a base psychiatrist at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, he had fallen in love with a fellow soldier, the book claims.
Mr Cross says the star enlisted in the US army to avoid being sent to jail after being arrested in stolen cars in his home town of Seattle.
He did not leave because of objections to the US role in Vietnam, but simply because he wanted to play music, according to the biography.
Hendrix avoided being sent to Vietnam and concentrated on music, becoming one of rock's most revered guitarists.
He became a star in 1966 with psychedelic rock hits such as Hey Joe and Purple Haze, and a legendary live performance.
Room Full of Mirrors is being published to mark the 35th anniversary of his death from a sleeping pill overdose in London in 1970.
"Now why didn't I think of that?"
You can't. "All Along the Watchtower" is my favorite Hendrix cut.
There might be better lead guitarists than Hendrix, there may be better rhythm guitarists than Hendrix, but nobody was better at switching between lead and rhythm than Jimi.
Is it thanksgiving season already? It's the only time I hear that tune now.
Do you have a source for that?
Maybe not but real women do 
We do it all the time.
Beggin' your pardon, me'am.
Funny thing is, most people had left before he performed but my pals and I liked to party to Hendrix' music. We stayed. It was something.
Ah yes, Ten Years After, another favorite of me and mine once upon a time.
You bet, it was eerie when he played the Star Spangled Banner. It was really something.
What some will do to get out of the Army...
They should have shortened the name to the Allman Brother Band...
Yep, his father said it in a documentary on VH1. It was also his inspiration for that Saturday Night Special song.
Hey, the Bros are still pretty good. Especially once they got rid of Dicky Betts. I know, I know, he used to be pretty good, and wrote some decent songs. But I was at a show back in Raleigh several years ago, and I was like, "guys, Dicky sucks", and my buddies were like "dude, you don't know what you are talking about" and I was like "yes, I do", and a month later, Greg had kicked him out of the band for sucking.
The combination of Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes isnt' exactly shopped liver.
Doc Watson is a great guitar player, but Scruggs style was based on the three finger banjo style, so it's got a different sound. And since Scruggs is primarily know as a banjo picker, it surprises some folks when they find out that he was a helluva guitar player.
He was also a big influence on early rock & roll.
BTW, bluegrass is one word.
Not in Kentucky. ;)
Actually, comparing bluegrass to rock is a bit unfair as the styles are completely different. If you really want fast, no one is second to Dennis Agajanian. One also has to consider Spanish Flamenco style as being a more difficult style to learn and play. Since this thread was about Hendrix, my comments were originally intended to be about Rock guitarists and not guitarists in general.
BTW, Hendrix said his favorite guitar player was Billy Gibbons.
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