– In Celebration of Jimi’s Birthday, November 27, 1942 –
Ride Shotgun with Monster Mike On A Hard-Core Psychedelic Road Trip To Experience Hendrix At The Forum On 4/25/70!
As told by Monster Mike, Tribal Chieftain, who practiced Lugosi, Karloff and Lorre impersonations with Westchester High School friend, classmate, and future SNL icon, Phil Hartman.
“Ok, here’s the brain dump on the Hendrix concert; but first here are the players – my roommate in the Westwood apartment was six foot six; so I’ll call him “Big Bill”. He knows lots of smugglers and was one of my main connections. “Bob”, originally from Inglewood, but lived in the Santa Cruz area, lived in the last house up a four mile road in Aptos – up above the Hobbit walk place – small world. He was also a big time dealer and good friend of Big Bill. “Nancy”, very pretty, was my date for the concert, but into downers; ugh!
Here’s The Whole Story: Jimi Hendrix is playing at the Forum and I can’t miss the most awesome rock guitar player ever.
Saturday night and I’m doing my usual pre-concert ritual for tickets, good tickets of course. I have a standing offer to supply whatever mood enhancers for the person and his or her friends who will supply me with 2 tickets. Whatever they want I’ll get and supply all night and into the next day. Boom! I get two excellent tickets in a group of 10 friends – floor sets, 16th row! This is going to be memorable. Three weeks before the concert and I can hardly wait.
One week before the concert and my roommate Big Bill needs to go to our friend’s house in Santa Cruz so the two of them can make a major Afghan primo surfboard hash deal. Only one problem Big Bill’s car isn’t working – and the only way he can get to Bob’s place in the Santa Cruz Mountains is for me to drive. This all should be done for my timely return to see Jimi.
I got the tickets and how can I miss the best guitarist in the world?
We make the drive to Santa Cruz on Monday and on Tuesday Big Bill and Bob take off to exchange a couple hundred pounds of the best Afghan surfboard hash between a couple of unknown persons. I spend the time with Bob’s girlfriend and his sister, getting high and just enjoying the beautiful mountains. Big Bill and Bob don’t return until Thursday night, but they do return with 20 pounds of the best mind-zonking Hash in the world. We partake of the goods just scored until early Friday morning finally going into a sleepy bliss.
No early risers back then, breakfast is at noon. Then back to the consumption of copious amounts of Hash. By 2:30 pm the 5 of us have consumed another ounce and a half of zonking city. Needless to say the buzz is mind boggling. OK, I’m not thinking straight, but all the time I keep saying I’ve got to get back to Los Angeles for the Hendrix concert tomorrow night.
I can’t miss this gig. It’s going to be epic.
Now “Big Bill” isn’t going to the concert nor anyone else in this group. I barely know what’s
going on, but I do know Big Bill wants to stay and kick back in the mellowness of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Even though I know all of this, we all drop some white double dome acid.
What am I thinking? Must be too high to not join the party. By 4 pm it’s on – it’s full adventure time.
Now it’s 6 pm and hallucinating like crazy, but if I don’t go now I’ll never go. Big Bill keeps trying to talk me into staying. I gotta’ go. Big Bill has no other way back. We leave.
This is a 6 and a half hour drive, we’ll be carrying a couple pounds of the Afghan Hash, and what the Hell am I doing? I’m going to see Jimi! What else! Yes, he was that good.
We make it back to the apartment about 1 am the day of the concert. This was the wildest drive I’ve ever driven. Between the road, the lines on the road, constantly moving and the fictitious animals running across the road, I have no idea of how we made it. I do remember the rainbows going in every direction from the oncoming headlights. So beautiful, and so many, but so distracting. Who wants to watch the road when the colors are so mesmerizing? Don’t know how many times Big Bill had to tell me not to brake for some non-existent animal or person.
Luckily only one gas stop and a couple of stop lights were encountered. Hard to tell red, green, yellow, purple, blue, or whatever. One thing is for sure, I wasn’t going to fall asleep on this trip. Too many things going on and too numerous to relate to – plus the over-riding desire to see the best guitarist ever.
After a quick respite I get up, eat, and start calling my date and the others to gather the list – the mood enhancer list, that is. It’s 3 pm and the concert is starting soon, but nothing will stop my experience tonight.
Got the list together, pick up my date, and meet up with the concert friends to pass out the mood enhancers. My date, Nancy, voluptuous and just plain pretty, besides being a first date, is not quite as interested as I thought in the concert. She wants to take 5 or 6 reds. These are downers. Like drinking a 5th of whisky. UGH! No fun. A pretty rag doll. I do more of the popular-at-the-time Double Dome. Large amount.
Finally at the concert! And what a concert! Voodoo Child is the best live rock song ever. The first notes just suck you in. Besides being in Psychedelic Heaven we partook of the newly acquired surfboard Hash. Even Nancy falling asleep couldn’t dampen the atmosphere. How does that happen, guess you’ll have to ask her. Wish the concert never ended. Musical bliss, especially
when one’s senses are enhanced by mind altering substances.
Concert ends, I take Nancy home, she finally partly woke up, good riddance, and go to a friend’s house to enjoy the rest of the mood enhancers. Pass out more to those who wished something more. More of that Afghan smoke. Get home sometime Sunday; while it’s still daylight.
Now that I think about it, I’m lucky to have made this concert, I drove a lot of times on psychedelics, but this has to be the most epic I ever experienced; as much of the drive was a hallucination on some other planet. But like I said, nothing was going to stop me from seeing Jimi at the Forum!
Amazing surviving some of those times.”
Amen, Brother.
Happy Birthday Jimi!
And thanks for Rockin’ our world.
Lookin’ forward to seeing you in the next one!
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