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April 14, 2020- I have updated this answer to include information about recent burials for those who have died as a result of complications from COVID-19 on Hart Island.Hart Island, 2010 (Hart Island (Bronx) | Wikiwand)In March of 1968, a pair of children playing in an abandoned, Greenwich Village tenement in New York City discovered a young man dead on a cot, surrounded by beer bottles and religious handouts.[1] There were no obvious signs of foul play. He had no identification. The body was unknown and went unclaimed.After failing to locate his next of kin, authorities declared the man dead from hardening of the arteries — a common side effect of longtime heroin abuse — and buried him in a mass, unmarked paupers’ grave on the Bronx’s Hart Island alongside other unidentified bodies and indigent souls who had fallen on hard times.[2] And somewhere — although nobody is sure exactly where — on that island that once housed a woman’s psychiatric asylum, a men’s prison, and patients quarantined during an outbreak of yellow fever in the 1870s, is the final resting place of Peter Pan, Disney child actor Bobby Driscoll, the unlucky soul who died alone in an abadoned Greenwich Village apartment.[3]Eerily barren, the tiny uninhabited island of Hart Island sits in the shadows of Manhattan's looming skyscrapers - a short distance but a far cry from the bright lights on Broadway across the harbor. Hart Island has seen a series of incarnations since its birth; from serving as a psychiatric institution and hospital for tuberculosis patients, to an American Civil War prisoner camp.The Top 10 Secrets of Hart Island, NYC's Mass Cemetery - Untapped New YorkBut perhaps its most fascinating legacy has been its function as America’s largest mass burial site (and the largest tax-funded cemetery in the world), where more than a million unclaimed and unidentified bodies have been buried since 1868, when the island was first purchased by the city.[4]British cartographers labeled the island Hart Island, because of its shape.[5] The 131-acre island, only a mile long and 0.25 miles wide, is located at the eastern tip of the Bronx, just off the west coast of Long Island Sound, and became a part of New York City even before its present day boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.[6]Thomas Pell, a physician from England, came to the New World and purchased a substantial amount of land from the native inhabitants in what is now The Bronx and Westchester County.[7] The year was 1654, and Hart Island was included in Pell’s purchase from Chief Wampage of the Siwanoy people.[8] The exact amount Pell paid for the land is unknown, though some rumors state it was nothing more than a cask of rum.The island's first public use was as a training ground for the United States Colored Troops in 1864.[9] During the final months of theCivil War, the Federal government used the Island as a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. An internment camp for only four months, 235 out of 3,413 captured Confederate soldiers were housed on the island.[10] Their remains were relocated to Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn in 1941.[11]During a yellow fever epidemic in 1870, a part of the Island was used to house persons confined to isolation.[12] In the later part of the 19th century the Island was home to a charity hospital for women, as well as an insane asylum.[13]Abandoned NYC: Hart Island's Crumbling Women's Lunatic Asylum - Untapped New YorkHart Island was purchased by the City in 1868 from the Hunter family of the Bronx for $75,000.[14] The following year it was established as the City's public cemetery for the burial of those persons who died indigent or whose bodies went unclaimed. On April 20, 1869. Louisa Van Slyke, an orphan who died alone in Charity Hospital at the age of 24, became the first to be buried there.[15] During the first year, 1,875 burials were performed.Photographer Jacob Riis began his photographic journey at the Potter's Field on Hart Island. He described it as follows:One free excursion awaits young and old whom bitter poverty has denied the poor privilege of the choice of the home in death they were denied in life, the ride up the Sound to the Potter’s Field, charitably styled the City Cemetery. But even there they do not escape their fate. In the common trench of the Poor Burying Ground they lie packed three stories deep, shoulder to shoulder, crowded in death as they were in life, to “save space;” for even on that desert island the ground is not for the exclusive possession of those who cannot afford to pay for it.[16]First photos taken by Jacob Riis, 1890 (The Top 10 Secrets of Hart Island, NYC's Mass Cemetery - Page 5 of 10 - Untapped New York)In 1895, the Department of Corrections.established a Branch Workhouse for aged and infirm men, narcotics addicts, and short-term inmates.[17] In the early 1900s, the Department also established a reformatory at Hart Island for young offenders aged 16 to 30, known as a "Reformatory for Misdemeanants."[18] In 1914, reformatory prisoners were transferred to another location off the Island in order to rectify the lack of segregation between adolescent and adult inmate programs. The jail was used to house aged male prisoners and overflow from other City jails.[19]During WW II, the Island was turned over to the Navy for use as a disciplinary barracks for Navy, Coast Guard and Marine personnel, with as many as 2,800 servicemen in custody.[20] In fact, probably the closest WWII ever got to the shores of America came when three German soldiers surfaced in a U-Boat near Long Island.[21] (@Shawn Michael Carey shared that Uboats actually had come as close to 30 miles of the coast of Florida) They were taken into custody and imprisoned for a time on Hart Island.No burial ceremonies (not burials) have been held since the 1950s and there are no unique markers for each plot, with one exception - the grave site of the first child to have died of AIDS in New York City, who was buried in isolation.[22] The island is also a disposal ground for amputated body parts which are kept in boxes labelled ‘limbs’.[23]A marker over the grave of the first child with AIDS buried on Hart Island. The inscription “SC-B1 1985” stands for Special Child, Baby 1, 1985 (Hart Island | The Point Magazine)In 1985, 17 bodies arrived on Hart Island.[24] The island’s hardened crews, used to burying dozens of indigent people per week, recoiled. These pine coffins were different. They had died from a widely feared nascent disease called AIDS, an illness that at the time had a skyrocketing death toll.[25] The bodies were kept out of the trenches and instead quarantined in a remote spot on the island’s southernmost tip, buried deep in individual graves.[26]Although the city only buried 17 HIV-positive people there during 1985, they continued to do so well into the ’90s. The number of HIV-positive people buried there is estimated to be in the thousands, but city officials are reluctant to provide exact numbers because of longstanding criticisms of the island’s crude handling of deaths at the time.[27]Often people who were buried there had been rejected by their families for their HIV-status.[28] At the time, many funeral homes and graveyards refused to accommodate people who had died of HIV-related illnesses for fear of contagion.[29] Hart Island became the only possible resting place for many of these unclaimed and rejected bodies as well as for poor people who couldn’t afford to bury family members killed by the epidemic.The New York Times stated that “Hart Island could be “perhaps the single largest burial ground in the country for people with AIDS.”[30]Those buried aren’t just the homeless or those without family, but include those who can’t afford to have a funeral or were simply unclaimed by relatives within a month of their deaths. Around half of those buried across the island are thought to be identified children under the age of five who died in the city hospitals.[31]A Jewish playwright, screenwriter and director, popular during the 1920s and 30s, Leo Birinski was another public figure buried on the island.[32] According to his death certificate, Leo Birinski died on October 23, 1951 at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.[33] ]aIt appears that Birinski died in poverty and probably entirely alone (without any relatives or heirs). He was buried at Potter's Field on Hart Islan. in a mass-grave ("plot 45, section 2, no. 14").[34]Riker's Island inmates preform burials 1992 (The Journey from Death to Hart Island | Urban Omnibus)Since 1976, Hart Island has been operated and maintained by the Department of Corrections. Bodies are transported by ferry from the morgue at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital on weekday mornings, amounting to around 2000 a year.[35] Prison inmates from the Riker’s Island conduct burials several times a week, organized into 70 foot long plots that can hold about 150 adults each, or 1000 children.[36]It is the largest tax-funded cemetery in the United States and does not appear on official MTA or NYC Department of Transportation maps, although a DOT ferry provides transportation to and from City Island.[37] City agencies have repeatedly refused to talk about just how many HIV/AIDS victims are buried on the island, but a 2018 investigation by The New York Times revealed records from city hospitals that indicate the number could be in the thousands.[38]Somewhere between 850,000 to 900,000 poor, homeless, or forgotten people are buried there, making it the largest public cemetery in the world.[39] Yet , aside from the inmates working there, only a very few have ever visited this burial ground. While today most of the buried are identified, the historic island remains shrouded in mystery. Some of its burial records were destroyed in a fire in 1977, leaving several gaps during which no information is available.[40] Existing burial records can now be accessed through an online database set up by the city’s Department of Corrections, which manages the burial site.Family photo of Luigi Roma (Bones emerge on Hart Island, where inmates bury New York paupers)Annette Gallo was 10 years old when her brother Peter sent her a letter, from his orphanage to hers: “Last Wednesday morning something bad happened to papa.” Papa was Luigi Roma, their father, who had died from pneumonia and tuberculosis at Norwegian Hospital in Brooklyn. Their mother had died years earlier. No one bothered to tell his children when officials buried Roma in a trench in New York City’s potter's field.[41]Roma‘s descendants traced his burial to Hart Island, the potter's field in the Long Island Sound. Annette Gallo, whose father was buried on Hart Island, is now 94 and stricken with dementia so severe she no longer recognizes her daughter.[42] She spent much of her life searching for her father’s grave.For decades, family members were not allowed anywhere near the bodies of their loved ones — only through disinterment could they lay them to rest, off the island. Even after “closure” visits to the gazebo were gradually allowed, the island’s gravesites remained off limits.[43] So did information on exactly where an individual was buried — the lack of a comprehensive database of the City’s death certificates made accessing this information very difficult. So family members not only had to come to terms with their loved one’s burial on a desolate island in the Sound; they also had to grapple with not knowing where he or she lay.Efforts to provide the public with easier access to the island have been facilitated by the Hart Island Project, which collaborated with British landscape architects Ann Sharrock and Ian Fisher, and hopes to transform the burial grounds into a public park.[44]Talks have been ongoing since 2014 regarding proposals to transfer the management of the burial site to the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation in a bid to:“create a public park where citizens could visit graves” and enjoy “beautiful views” from the island, according to the vice president of the Bronx's City Island Chamber of Commerce.[45]Historic buildings on the island continue to be torn down to make room for more burials. Should the park proposal for the burial site be approved, it will join a series of parks that were formerly cemeteries, including Bryant Park, Madison Square Park and Washington Square Park.[46]The Journey from Death to Hart Island | Urban OmnibusToday the Hart Island Project strives to preserve “the histories of people whose identities have been erased” and pay tribute to the “lost souls” of the buried on the island via the Travelling Cloud Museum.[47] The interactive online map outlines where any given person is buried on the island since 1980, according to their plot number, and the amount of time they have been there.[48]The developing archive aims to uncover the anonymity among the buried, inviting the public to contribute any stories they know about any of the names charted on the map, whether that be in the form of words, images, epitaph, sound or video, “so that no one is omitted from history”, the project states.[49]Everyday more than a dozen lost souls regain their identification. Some remain on the island with a headstone, while others are restored to their families and reburied on the mainland. The exact number of individuals may never be known, but the lowest estimates begin around 900,000. Hart Island is not just a mass grave, it is a sanctuary for unwanted children, those who died battling AIDS, those who died from poverty, exposure to the elements, or addiction or those merely forgotten by society and time.Why coronavirus burials are just the latest chapter in New York’s plague historySadly, it has been brought to my attention the preparation of large burial plots on Hart Island for unclaimed and/or unidentified individuals who have died as a result of COVID-19. In response to images taken by drones four days ago, the mayor and head of the department of corrections issued the following statement:Individuals buried on the island are “because their identity is unknown at the time of their death and a next of kin could not be located to arrange for burial services, because the individual’s family could not afford burial costs, or because the individual’s family preferred that their loved one be buried on Hart Island”. [50]Aerial images taken by the Associated Press showed a large trench on the island and about 40 coffin lined up for burial by workers.[51] Before the outbreak began, there were approximately 25 burials conducted a week on the island. That number has skyrocketed, with more than 50 burials a day. [52]May the island's newest occupants rest in peace, with the dignity that was denied them while alive.Footnotes[1] Oscars flashback: The tragic life and death of former Disney star Bobby Driscoll[2] Bobby Driscoll (1937-1968) - Find A Grave...[3] Bobby Driscoll - IMDb[4] This tiny New York island is actually the world's largest mass burial site[5] Islands of the Undesirables: Hart Island[6] The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide (Third Edition)[7] Hart Island: The Big Apple’s Mass Burial Ground of Unknown Dead[8] Wampage: Sachem of the Siwanoy tribe - Biography, Life, Family, Career, Facts, Information[9] United States Colored Troops - Wikipedia[10] Hart's Island Prisoner of War Camp[11] Confederate P.O.W.'s On Hart's Island Are Told Of Lincoln's Murder | Abraham Lincoln[12] Potter's Field Historical Resume Excerpts[13] http:// Hart Island, circa 1890 (This tiny New York island is actually the world's largest mass burial site)[14] Purchase of Hart's Island.[15] A Chance to Be Mourned[16] a Project Gutenberg eBook.[17] Potter's Field Historical Resume Excerpts[18] NYC Parole & New Hampton Reformatory Farms[19] McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated[20] Islands of the Undesirables: Hart Island[21] Dive to assess tanker sunk by German U-Boat off NY postponed[22] Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter’s Field[23] Hart Island | The Point Magazine[24] Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter’s Field[25] 7 New Yorkers Remember the Early Days of the AIDS Epidemic[26] Few folks know about this historic mass grave of HIV-positive people near New York City[27] Project Helps Locate Lost AIDS Victims Buried On New York's Hart Island[28] City Council pledges overhaul of public cemetery on Hart Island[29] AIDS Victims and Advocates Report Problems with Morticians[30] Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter’s Field[31] Unearthing the Secrets of New York’s Mass Graves[32] Leo Birinski - Broadway Cast & Staff[33] New York City's Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers[34] Potter's field - Wikipedia[35] This tiny New York island is actually the world's largest mass burial site[36] Bones emerge on Hart Island, where inmates bury New York paupers[37] Behind the Scenes Photos on Hart Island, NYC's Mass Burial Ground - Untapped New York[38] Dead of AIDS and Forgotten in Potter’s Field[39] Boroughs of the Dead[40] New York's Invisible Island of the Dead[41] Bones emerge on Hart Island, where inmates bury New York paupers[42] Storms, Nature Uncover Bones on New York’s Island of the Dead[43] Department of Correction[44] The Hart Island Project.[45] City Island Chamber of Commerce[46] Beware of Zombies: The Grim Origins of Washington Square Park[47] The Hart Island Project.[48] The stark island mass burial site off of New York for the city's dead[49] The Hart Island Project (USA)[50] New York rules out mass Covid burials but admits 'devastating' Hart Island pictures are ‘unclaimed’ victims[51] As Morgues Fill, N.Y.C. to Bury Some Virus Victims in Potter’s Field[52] Why coronavirus burials are just the latest chapter in New York’s plague history

They loved him!!!Jimi Hendrix arrived in England on September 24, 1966. Three days later, he jammed for 2 songs with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker - Cream - at the London Polytechnic on Regent Street, a spot where the power rock trio had a regular residency. Many VIPs from the British industry and other artists were in the audience. Jimi Hendrix blew everyone away.Just 72 hours after first setting foot on British soil, Jimi Hendrix became the most talked about artist on the London scene.In the video above, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker discuss the impact Jimi Hendrix had after arriving in London and jamming with Cream.Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton (Cream)Chris Stamp and Kit Lambert (managers of The Who) saw Jimi Hendrix perform. They were so impressed, they asked to manage him.When they were told by Chas Chandler, the former bass player for The Animals, that Jimi already had a manager and a producer - “me” - Lambert and Stamp asked, “well does he have a record label?” They were told, ‘no, not yet’. The managers of The Who then formed Track Records and signed Jimi Hendrix as their first act, just so they could have a chance to work with him.Jimi Hendrix and The Who (Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle & Keith Moon)All 4 of The Beatles attended some of Jimi's earliest England shows. Members of The Monkees, and others, have said John Lennon was talking Hendrix up at parties, and to friends, before any of them had heard of him.Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr first saw The Jimi Hendrix Experience on January 11, 1967 at the Bag O’Nails in London. But they were already well aware of him before that.Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr outside of 34 Montagu Square in 1965.Jimi Hendrix lived in Ringo Starr’s apartment at 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone, London. It was subleased by Jimi’s manager. Hendrix moved in at the start of December 1966, just 9 weeks after arriving in England.Jimi Hendrix stands outside of 34 Montagu Square in early 1967.Jimi Hendrix, Kathy Etchingham (Jimi’s girlfriend), Chas Chandler and Lottie Lexon (Chas’s girlfriend) moved into the flat.Jimi Hendrix at 34 Montagu Square.In the 2 photos below, Ringo Starr, Maureen Starr & Jimi Hendrix are photographed in the living room. Both photos are taken from the same angle, a year and a half apart.Ringo and Maureen Starr in the living room of 34 Montagu Square.Jimi Hendrix in the living room of 34 Montagu Square.It’s the same apartment where Paul McCartney created several Beatles demos in 1965, including “Eleanor Rigby” & "I'm Looking Through You" from the Revolver album.Jimi Hendrix chillin’ in the living room of 34 Montagu SquareJimi and Kathy took up residence downstairs with Chas and Lottie on the ground floor. The monthly rent was £30.During this time Jimi wrote “The Wind Cries Mary” after an argument Kathy regarding her lack of cooking skills.Jimi, Kathy, Chas and Lottie moved out of the flat a few months later after complaints from neighbors about the noise.Shortly after Jimi moved out, Cynthia Lennon and John’s son Julian moved in. The Lennon’s were divorcing and John intended to live in their previous home, thus the need for Cynthia & Julian to move.John changed his mind a short time later, and reversed the arrangement. Cynthia Lennon and Julian moved back out. After that, John Lennon and Yoko Ono moved in.When The Jimi Hendrix Experience released the single, “Purple Haze” in February 1967, Paul McCartney wrote the following review for Melody Maker.“Must be Jimi Hendrix. So, Jimi freaks out and sounds all the better for it! It’s breaking out all over the place, you know. I thought it would be one of those things that people might keep down but, it’s breaking through all over. You can’t stop it. Hooray. This is a good record too. I really don’t know whether it’s as commercial as ‘Hey Joe’ or ‘Stone Free’ I bet it is though. Probably will be. Fingers Hendrix. An absolute ace on the guitar. This is yet another incredible record from the great Twinkle Teeth Hendrix!”Beatles manager Brian Epstein outside of The Saville Theatre.The Saville Theatre in London was owned by Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles. He used to book rock concerts on Sunday nights. Jimi played several shows there.Jimi Hendrix backstage at London’s Saville Theatre.The Beatles used the Saville Theatre to make their “Hello, Goodbye” music video.On December 8, 1967, Yoko Ono performed her The Fog Machine: Music of the Mind there.It included a projection of her film Bottoms (Film No. 4) in the men's room during the concert.All of The Beatles were at the Saville Theatre on June 4, 1967 to see The Jimi Hendrix Experience.The Beatles waiting to see Jimi Hendrix play June 4, 1967Jimi opened his show with The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” just days after the album came out - with The Beatles sitting right there in the first row!The Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Saville Theatre on June 4, 1967.Jimi Hendrix backstage at the Saville Theatre on June 4, 1967.It is often reported that the above photo was from Jimi’s Hendrix June 4, 1967 performance at the Saville Theatre. Hard core fans of the Fab Four will note that Paul McCartney has a mustache in the photo, but was known to have shaved it off by June 1967. So this photo is likely from a different Hendrix concert earlier that year.It makes sense that the first time all 4 Beatles were seen out together to see Jimi Hendrix perform, it would be reported in the papers.Perhaps the photo is from Jimi’s January 29, 1967 performance at the Saville Theatre. That show was just 3 weeks after Paul & Ringo first saw Hendrix. Just enough time to tell John & George. Then they all go together as VIPs sitting in the balcony at their manager’s theatre.Then, the next time they see Jimi Hendrix at the Saville Theatre, on June 4, 1967, there was no balcony for them. The Beatles were sitting right there in the first row.The Beatles wanted Jimi to appear in their Magical Mystery Tour movie. Hendrix agreed, but had to drop out because the filming coincided with his booking to play the Monterey Pop Festival in the USA. It was Paul who had first suggested to the American promoters that they book Jimi.In December 1967, Jimi Hendrix returned to the Saville Theater and again opened his show with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as seen in the video below.The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandThe 34 Montagu Square apartment that Jimi moved out of the previous year was in the news in 1968.John Lennon inside 34 Montagu Square in 1968John Lennon and Yoko Ono had moved in as The Beatles were recording their White album.Yoko Ono & John Lennon in 1968 at 34 Montagu SquareThe apartment was also where John and Yoko's “Two Virgins’ self-portrait was shot.Later that year, the apartment was raided by Scotland Yard’s drug squad.John Lennon being arrested and led out of 34 Montagu Square.This arrest would cause John Lennon problems with USA immigration in the 1970’s.In 1968, Jimi Hendrix selected New York City photographer Linda Eastman to shoot the cover and additional photos for his Electric Ladyland album.Linda Eastman, Jimi Hendrix & Mitch Mitchell (drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience)They did a photo shoot at the Alice In Wonderland statue in in NYC’s Central Park. Jimi was so happy with the results, he took the time to write out very clear instructions for his record label on what photos he wanted to use, and how he wanted the layout of the Electric Ladyland album to look.Dear Sirs,Here are the pictures we would like for you to use anywhere on the L.P. cover - preferably inside and back, without the white frames around some of the B/W ones, and with most of them next to each other in different sizes and mixing the color prints at different points, for instance.[Sketch]Please use cover picture with us and the kids on the statue for front or BACK COVER (OUTSIDE COVER) and the other back or front side, (outside cover) Please use three good pictures of us in B/W or color.We would like to make an apology for taking so very long to send this but we have been working very hard indeed, doing shows AND recording.And please send the pictures back toJimi Hendrix Personal & Privatec/o Jeffrey & Chandler27 EAST 37th ST. N.Y. N.Y.After you finish with them.Please, if you can, find a nice place and lettering for the few words I wrote named… “Letter of the room full of mirrors.” on the L.P. cover.The sketch on the other page is a rough idea of course…But please use ALL the pictures and the words - Any other drastic change from these directions would not be appropriate according to the music and our group’s present stage - And the music is most important. And we have enough personal problems without having to worry about this simple yet effective layout.Thank you.Jimi HendrixJimi explained to the executives how he wanted the inside and outside covers to look. He even adds text showing the placement of “Electric Lady Land” in the upper right corner with “The Jimi Hendrix Experience” written along the bottom.Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (original UK Album Cover)Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (original USA Album Cover)Both of Jimi’s record labels, USA & UK, ignored his requests and put out their own album designs. The UK version of Electric Ladyland featured numerous naked women. Some news reports called it pornographic and some shops banned it.Jimi Hendrix was not happy about all of the criticism he received for it.“I didn’t know a thing about the English sleeve. Still, you know me, I dug it anyway. Except I think it’s sad the way the photographer made the girls look ugly. Some of them are nice looking chicks, but the photographer distorted the photograph with a fish-eye lens or something. That’s mean. It made the girls look bad. But it’s not my fault.” - Jimi Hendrix (Melody Maker Magazine February 1969)In 2018, just in time for the albums 50th anniversary, Electric Ladyland was restored to Jimi’s original vision using the photographs of Linda Eastman exactly as he requested.The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (2018 50th Anniversary Cover)Linda & Paul McCartneyOn March 12, 1969, Linda Eastman became Mrs. Paul McCartney.Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney chatting in 1969.The above photo is a rare. It is one of the only ones known to exist with Jimi Hendrix and a member of The Beatles. It was taken on February 13, 1969 at a party in Bloomsbury, London, England, one month before Paul & Linda got married.As you can see in the telegram above, on October 21, 1969 Jimi Hendrix tried to recruit Paul McCartney to play bass with him, Miles Davis and Tony Williams in NYC. Could you imagine what that super group would have sounded like?Jimi Hendrix was a fan of The Beatles. In addition to frequently performing Sgt Pepper at shows, he also performed Day Tripper live on the BBC.Jimi Hendrix - Day TripperA 1968 jam session at The Scene Club in NYC was recorded by Jimi himself on a portable tape deck he had brought with him. Years later, it was released as an unauthorized bootleg album. On the recording, you can hear a very drunk Jim Morrison (The Doors) on the floor moaning a lot as Hendrix plays guitar and offers commentary as to what's going on. It ain't pretty.At the start of the recording, Hendrix can be heard playing the lyric melody to The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Turn off your mind relax and float downstream...Jimi Hendrix - Tomorrow Never KnowsPaul McCartney has frequently spoken about just how much he loved Jimi Hendrix and occasionally performs Foxy Lady on tour as a tribute to him.Paul McCartney - Foxy LadyIn 2010, an English Heritage Blue Plaque was officially unveiled at 34 Montagu Square in Marylebone, London. It was the first home John Lennon & Yoko Ono shared.Yoko Ono inside 34 Montagu Square in 2010.One could make the argument that the John Lennon Blue Plaque at 34 Montagu Square should have been more inclusive. Ringo Starr owned the flat, Paul McCartney wrote songs there, as did Jimi Hendrix who also lived there. Then came Cynthia & Julian Lennon, followed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who both lived and worked there.Maybe, a “The Beatles & Jimi Hendrix & John & Yoko” Blue Plaque would have been a better. Not to diminish or disrespect John Lennon and his legacy, but there was a whole lot going on at 34 Montagu Square before he moved in.Jimi Hendrix would move to 23 Brook Street in the Mayfair section of London. He received a Blue Plaque of his own there in 1997.Noel Redding (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) Kathy Etchingham & Pete Townshend (The Who)The apartment Hendrix moved into was adjacent to one German composer George Frideric Handel lived in for 36 years until his death in 1759.You can see his Blue Plaque to the right of Jimi’s in the photo below.Jimi Hendrix and George Frideric Handel Blue Plaques at 23 & 25 Brook Street.So what did The Beatles think of Jimi Hendrix?Well… just two months after Jimi arrived in London as an unknown, The Beatles had him living in their apartment with Ringo as his landlord. They were going to see him play as enthusiastic fans. All four Beatles, John, Paul, George and Ringo, went to see Hendrix play not just once, but multiple times. Paul was raving about him in the papers and calling America to tell promoters of the Monterey Pop Festival to book him. The Beatles even asked Jimi to appear with them in their next movie.I would say, it appears as if The Beatles liked Jimi Hendrix a lot, and he felt the same way about them. Hendrix & The Beatles were very connected. They were fans of each other's musical abilities, artistic works, in addition to being friends in real life.

He most certainly is.Here's why I believe so:My favourite Paul McCartney album is OFF THE GROUND.I see this album as the end of an era that began with MCCARTNEY II, then crystallized on TUG OF WAR. To wit, Macca shedding the band life of Wings and being his own free agent, as John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did when The Beatles ended.The 80s were a tough time for Macca—he re-began his solo career on a high with that creative — and now cult favourite — MCCARTNEY II disc and the five-star TUG OF WAR, but then had diminishing returns with TUG's companion album, PIPES OF PEACE, the soundtrack GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROAD STREET, and the wildly experimental PRESS TO PLAY.In a effort to “get back” to his roots, he released the Russian rock ’n' roll covers album CHOBA B CCCP, which kick-started his mojo again for 1989's excellent FLOWERS IN THE DIRT (with Elvis Costello) and finally OFF THE GROUND, his most perfect mix of rockers and ballads.It's interesting to wonder where he might have gone from there had his past not come a-calling:The Beatles’ ANTHOLOGY project. The ultimate “get back” for any former Fab. As Macca has stated, revisiting these old tracks - and recording “new” ones with George Harrison and Ringo Starr from John Lennon demos - got him back to thinking, writing and recording in the same — or similar — economical manner in which The Beatles used to create music.Thus:FLAMING PIE, from 1997, is probably Macca's most Beatles-infused solo album — evidenced with the very first McCartney/Starr co-write on “Really Love You,” as well as the drummer's prominent vocals on the rocking coda of the ballad “Beautiful Night.”On a more somber note, “Little Willow” was a piece written for Ringo's ex-wife, Maureen, who passed away in December, 1994.Elsewhere, the first time I heard “The Song We Were Singing” I swore it was a leftover from SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. And the title track is a nod to the gobbledygook way John Lennon claimed The Beatles were created!ANTHOLOGY and FLAMING PIE set the template for how Paul McCartney would approach recording from then-on: no half-measures, no short cuts, and perhaps most significantly, a gradual cutting down on the marijuana intake, which Paul now freely admits was blunting his creativity and writing edge. (More on that later.)Sadly, PIE would turn out to be the last disc released in wife Linda McCartney’s lifetime---she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, and died in April, 1998.Suffice it to say, her passing devastated Paul; his anchor, his rock, his lifelong lover was gone, and he was understandably lost. His kids closely looking after him, his first project after her death was another exercise in “getting back”:With RUN DEVIL RUN, Macca endeavoured to forget his blues with the raucous rock and roll of his youth, including “All Shook Up,” “I Got Stung” and “She Said Yeah.” Macca's take on Chuck Berry’s “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man” is definitive for me.(The video is a United Nations-like hoot!)That and the faithful “No Other Baby” were released as singles.Still the world's leading songwriter, he wasn't shy to add “Try Not To Cry,” “What It Is” (which reads like a rock and roll elegy for Linda), and the tongue-twisting title track in the hopes that they'll one day be remembered as classics.Paul had entered his elder statesman phase. Like Bob Dylan, Elton John, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, he no longer felt the need to make albums to storm the charts with and get countless hit singles from…he was doing it to please himself.DRIVING RAIN was indeed released to please himself……and his new bride.Whose odious name will not be mentioned in this post.Despite — or perhaps because of — the new Mrs. McCartney’s influence on Paul's outlook, this album has always been a tough sell for me. I admire and respect it now, but it took a long time for me to get there. At one point, I officially dubbed it my least favourite Paul McCartney album — that’s right, I valued it less than more historically-derided discs such as WILD LIFE, BACK TO THE EGG and PRESS TO PLAY.I eventually threw it away.Not proud of that.Usually there's two or three tunes on a McCartney disc that I absolutely fall in love with and can’t stop listening to. I had to struggle to find them here.I'd say the prize goes to “Your Way,” an infectious tune that would have made a great single over the ones that were chosen. Other highlights are the sweet “Your Loving Flame,” the strange and quirky “She's Given Up Talking,” and the eastern-flavoured “Riding Into Jaipur,” which George Harrison would have admired. Sadly, George passed in November, 2001, the same time DRIVING RAIN was released.The album sputtered to U.S. #26 and, even more shocking, an anemic U.K. #46 at home. It seemed I wasn't alone in not caring for RAIN at the time. After purchasing it again years later, my conclusion was that its songs needed to be lived with for awhile to be truly appreciated.I had no such issues four years later with CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD. Famously produced by Nigel Godrich, he had no problems telling his client if a song, vocal, or performance were bullsh*t. Believe me, Macca could have done with a lot more of this blunt honesty in his post-Beatles career, for CHAOS is a splendid blend of the professionalism of BAND ON THE RUN and the homey lo-fi qualities of MCCARTNEY and MCCARTNEY II.No shortage of highlights here: “How Kind Of You,” “Riding To Vanity Fair,” “Friends To Go,” “At The Mercy,” “Too Much Rain”…A special shout-out goes to “Jenny Wren,” slightly reminiscent of another “bird” tune, by The Beatles; “Promise To You Girl” and “Fine Line” are tastefully restrained rockers; Macca saves the best for last with the double outro of “This Never Happened Before” and “Anyway.” The latter is unbearably delightful, and had it been the last song Paul McCartney had ever recorded, it would have ended his career perfectly.As it is, CHAOS ranks right behind OFF THE GROUND as Macca's best album.I'm sorry he didn't continue with Godrich after this, as he went back to complete the disc he'd originally meant to follow up DRIVING RAIN with:Much more upbeat than RAIN (and flashier than CHAOS), MEMORY ALMOST FULL displays a Macca who sounds jaunty, lively, and in a celebratory mood!Mayhap it's that he was about to get a divorce from a particular harpy whom everyone had warned him about? Who's to say?Well, if you believe the Fab conspiracy theorists that if you rearrange the letters of the song “Mister Bellamy,” you'll get “M_ _ _ _ Betray Me,” a coded “f@ck you” to the woman in question, I suppose Paul’s to say!!In any event, the songs here, though rooted in the modern, show a man completely happy about his “Ever Present Past,” a thing that, as the most famous man in the world, you'd better damn well be comfortable about for the sake of your sanity. Head Beach Boy and Macca friend Brian Wilson would be proud of “See Your Sunshine” which sounds like a SMiLE track he forgot to write.Meanwhile, the celebrations continue on the toe-tapping “Dance Tonight”(check out the video with Natalie Portman);“Gratitude” thanks a certain someone for the good times; and raucous closer “Nod Your Head” is…how can I put this? It's a certain sex act…much like “Eat At Home” from RAM back in 1971. (Oh, Macca, you cheeky Jack the Lad, you!)Speaking of the past, Paul delivers an ABBEY ROAD-like medley on the second half of the album (all full-length songs) in the form of the sartorial “Vintage Clothes,” the effectively-literal “That Was Me,” the impatient “Feet In The Clouds,” the frightening side of celebrity on “House Of Wax,” and “End Of The End,” in which Macca writes out his own eulogy.Powerful stuff.Next came a pet project:2012’s KISSES ON THE BOTTOM saw Macca engaging his love for standards, both popular and jazz. The general consensus was that we were surprised he’d never done this sort of thing before! After all, this was the unashamed author of “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Your Mother Should Know,” “Honey Pie” and “You Gave Me The Answer.” I kept this in mind when listening, fully aware that Rod Stewart indeed shamelessly and pathetically released five albums (and a best-of!!) of standards—all soulless, interchangeable money-makers that really meant nothing to him (or label boss, Clive Davis). They made me lose a great deal of respect for the man. Fortunately, I knew Paul McCartney was too dedicated a songwriter to be lost in a cynical holding pattern like that.To prove it, he slipped in two of his own “standards”: “Only Our Hearts” and the standout “My Valentine,” written for Nancy Shevell, whom he married only months after the release of this album. Diana Krall, Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, and the London Symphony Orchestra are present as well, and I love Macca’s renditions of “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “The Inchworm,” and “We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me).”A year later, it was time to return to full-time songwriting:NEW was a terribly strong collection of tunes. Despite, or because of, four producers — Paul Epworth, Ethan Johns (son of Glyn), Mark Ronson, and executive producer, Giles Martin (son of George) — the album has a distinct uniformity about it. Everything blends together wonderfully: from the fast-paced opener “Save Us” (an instant concert favourite), to the bouncy title song (that sounds so effortless, you’d think Macca dashed it off while brushing his teeth), to the plaintive “hidden track,” “Scared.”Points of interest also include “Alligator,” “Everybody Out There” (another made-for-concert raver), “Get Me Out Of Here,” and “Queenie Eye,” a game Liverpudlian lads and lasses used to play in Paul’s youth.The greatest song, however, is arguably another tune that deals with youth, “Early Days.”(Another beautiful video for you to watch.)Freely speaking about the days of yore when he and John Lennon would roam around their hometown with “two guitars across our backs,” Macca has a dig at all the so-called experts — like me!! — who think they know it all about The Beatles and their personal lives and what they went through. “I don’t see how they can remember when they weren’t where it was at,” he sings with chummy but restrained anger and resentment, suggesting, with John sadly gone, his word is the final word.And why shouldn't it be?What gets to me personally though, is the bridge:“May sweet memories of friends from the past always come to you, when you look for them“And your inspiration, long may it last. May it come to you, time and time again.”That might be the most beautiful sentiment I’ve ever heard in my life.I want to cry when I hear that.And I usually do.All in all, NEW is proof of why, in Paul’s seventh decade of songwriting, he’s still The Master.And EGYPT STATION showed that Macca still wants to compete with anyone and everyone who makes music for a living.Ironic, then, that the album (properly) starts off with “I Don’t Know,” featuring a rare crisis-of-confidence Paul McCartney. We all have days like, “What am I doing? Where am I going?” and having absolutely no answers to these existential questions. The feelings — usually, thankfully — pass, and we get back to business, but they can knock you for a true loop. It’s oddly soothing to know that even Beatle Paul has off days!Same with the anti-bullying sentiment of “Who Cares?” Treading similar ground as 1982’s “Somebody Who Cares,” we find life is full of idiots and bullies always trying to bring you down and humiliate you—and who cares about you?“I DO!”(Emma Stone looks particularly cute in the video as a Raggedy Ann-type psychiatric patient. You can always count on Macca to make ridiculously entertaining vids!)“Back In Brazil” is the obligatory oddball track (with Macca setting a record, playing nine instruments on it!), but it’s closely followed by “Despite Repeated Warnings,” which abruptly changes from “grand Macca ballad” to rocking shuffle to big band swing and back again, all about a metaphorical mutiny at sea!The album’s basest tracks, however, are two horny sides of the same lusty coin: “Come On To Me,” is the mutual pick-up line, and “Fuh You” is…well, remember “Nod Your Head?” As a double A-sided single, Macca reminds us that rock and roll didn’t begin from the neck up…it started from the waist down!Significantly, EGYPT was Macca's first U.S. #1 album since TUG OF WAR!And that’s as good a place to leave things as any: again, Paul McCartney has absolutely nothing left to prove to anyone…but he keeps rocking anyway. Yes, he is definitely on a creative high, having slowly shaken off a few complacent doldrums since the early 90s…some self-induced, as he sings on EGYPT’s “Happy With You”: “I sat around all day, I used to get stoned/I liked to get wasted, but these days I don’t.”Apparently, in this confessional, the gradual lessening of his drug intake as he got older brought about a clarity he’d been lacking, which perhaps accounts for the successive brilliance of each disc in the fourth act of his professional life (Beatles/Wings/pre-ANTHOLOGY solo artist/post-ANTHOLOGY solo artist).All the better for us, as The Greatest Songwriter In The World is no doubt preparing for his next album as we speak.MAMUNIA!!!