Jimi Hendrix reality TV footage to be released by his estate

“The Jimi Hendrix Experience” (The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimi Hendrix)

I’d watch that, if it isn’t horrible.

Candid, “reality TV”-style footage of Jimi Hendrix at home, backstage and “hanging out” will soon be released, according to the late musician’s sister.

The footage dates from 1969, when a camera crew followed Hendrix for a month, catching him both on and off stage. The Hendrix estate will release the footage in a DVD later this year, as part of a new deal with Universal Music Publishing Group.

[Click to continue reading Jimi Hendrix ‘reality TV’ footage to be released by his estate | Music | guardian.co.uk ]

and I wonder why the Hendrix estate is blocking the making of a bio-pic? Are they working on their own? or what?

Experience Hendrix have “10 more years of Hendrix music” in their archives, according to Janie. “Currently I am in the studio transferring tapes of Band of Gypsys performances that have never been released before,” she said, referring to Hendrix’s final band. The company plans to release at least two albums this year, and a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert DVD of the band’s Royal Albert Hall gig in February 1969.

The Hendrix estate has continued to block attempts to make a Jimi Hendrix biopic, most recently refusing to license any music to a proposed film starring Outkast’s Andre 3000.

“Electric Ladyland (w/dvd)” (Jimi Hendrix)

plus there is this:

Fourteen acoustic demo songs by Hendrix, recorded in 1968 and traded to a neighbour in exchange for milk and sugar, are to be auctioned in April. The battered, coffee-stained green box contains 1,800ft of quarter-inch tape, from when Hendrix was working on his third album, Electric Ladyland.

The songs mostly feature Hendrix playing solo acoustic guitar. Though he covers Dylan, he plays Tears of Rage and not the now-classic All Along the Watchtower, which appeared on Electric Ladyland. A few tracks include an unnamed harmonica player.

Hendrix gave the tape to Carl Niekirk, who owned a photography studio beneath the rocker’s Brook Street, London flat. “It was a constant stream of people coming and going and partying,” Niekirk told the Independent. As the flat and studio shared an entrance, the photographer would often have to let in Hendrix or his guests – including George Harrison.

One day, Hendrix asked Niekirk if he could borrow some sugar. When the photographer took it up, the rock star gave him the tape. “Because I asked him, he just gave it to me,” Niekirk said. “As simple as that.”

[From Jimi Hendrix’s acoustic Electric Ladyland demo tape to be auctioned | Music | guardian.co.uk ]

which took decades of legal wrangling before it could be released