Hendrix on Hendrix

Books

Best Proof That One Can Talk While Playing Guitar With One’s Teeth

“Once you are dead, you are made for life,” said Jimi Hendrix in 1969, a year and a half before his sad departure. He’s thusly quoted in Hendrix on Hendrix (Chicago Review Press), Steven Roby’s third, truly fine book about the Master of the Stratocaster and the first in which Jimi does a majority of the talking. In this collection of most of the major interviews during Hendrix’s short but revolutionizing career, Roby shows the famously shy Seattle kid as a walking contradiction — voluble, self-effacing, outrageous, down-home, visionary and consistently fascinating. “I was schooled by radio and records,” Jimi says of his musical education. “My teachers were common sense and imagination.” He also indicates more than once that he was toying with a synthesis of rock and classical music — something he never got to do. Author/editor Roby will read from his book tonight, though he probably will not pour lighter fluid on it and torch it. The ’60s are so over, man. Book Soup, 8818 W. Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd.; Thurs., Oct. 11, 7 p.m. (310) 659-3110, booksoup.com. Also at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; Sat., Oct. 6, 7 p.m. (323) 660-1175, skylightbooks.com; Eso Won Books, 4331 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park; Tues., Oct. 9, 7 p.m. (323) 290-1048, esowonbookstore.com; Larry Edmunds Bookshop, 6644 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Wed., Oct. 10, 7 p.m. (323) 463-3273, larryedmunds.com. Like Jimi’s spirit, all events are free; book is $24.95.—Michael Simmons