The Youngest Hippie

I remember talking to my friends in school about Jimi Hendrix dying. Nobody knew who I was talking about. I was five years old.

Growing up the youngest of my family I was immersed in all sorts of music. My brother and sister got me hooked on the Beatles. I remember the first time I heard Jimi Hendrix growing up as I just remember thinking “What is that?!” as the tortured sounds of Voodoo Chile Slight Return hit my young ears. It didn’t sound like anything else I had ever heard.

Jimi Hendrix took his influences and made something like nothing else.

Being Shaped at a Young Age

I have vague memories of protests. At an early age, I got hints that maybe the government didn’t quite have its act together. We were late to swimming lessons the day Nixon resigned.

I remember Mohamid Ali getting in trouble for not going to Vietnam. The lesson?

You can push back. It has consequences, but you can push back.

Mohamid Ali, man talk about an original.

I wasn’t allowed outside when the Rolling Stones played at a football stadium that held 35,000. Yet, I snuck out and vividly remember a bunch of young men sitting in a station wagon (complete with wood paneling) and wondering why those dudes wouldn't roll down their windows as it…