There's a new Jimi Hendrix album coming out March 9th, Valleys of Neptune. I'm being cautiously optimistic about it, but at least the title track is pretty decent. There are several remakes of previously released material which means probably that they are second rate versions that have been passed over several times since Jimi's death. We'll see.

I was thinking about Jimi on Martin Luther King Day. I was driving around with my ipod shuffle and Captain Coconut came on and I thought about how on my cruise the Red Hot Chili Peppers' version of "Havanna Affair" came up on my ipod as we were passing Cuba (thus making me the most rockin' dude on the cruise, but then we already knew that). See Captain Coconut (from Crash Landing) was originally called MLK, but the extremely white bread musicians called in to fix up Jimi's stuff had no idea what MLK meant. So they renamed the song Captain Coconut.

Anywho, as I was listening to Captain Coconut/MLK on Martin Luther King Day trying to figure out what the hell Hendrix was trying to do with that song, it occurred to me that times were so much simpler back then. Good and evil were so less difficult to identify. Though I'm probably viewing it through rose colored glasses. Today everything just seems infinitely more complex, and I have to admit, more wonderful in so many ways. I think Jimi would have been pleased.

Here is Valleys of Neptune (the song) as a free download if you want a taste. You can go on iTunes and pre-order the album if you'd like as I have. And in case you haven't heard the RHCP version of Havana Affair, it is awesome as well.

Hey TA...I found your board!

I was clicking through ebay today and ran across one of the "holy grail" skateboards from back in the day. If you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket, the bidding on this one was up to $1600.00 the last I checked.

TA was all over the Dogtown and Alva stuff while many of us had no clue as to what was really cool. My coolest boards from back then are the ones that some dipshit ripped off from under my nose while a couple of us were jumping into those pole vault mats down at North Field. I still wonder if I knew the thief and what ever happened to those boards. One of them was my trusty old G&S Fiberflex and the other was my brand new Sims Superply with Mids and 65mm Krypto Reds.

It never crossed my mind in the late 70's that someday those pieces of wood would be worth some decent $$$$ as collector's items. Of course, I don't think I would be able to part with any of my old stuff...I'm sort of a pack rat for all things skateboard and '67 VW squareback.

It just crossed my mind that Valentine's Day is approaching...hint, hint Mrs. TA