The black people in America still yet, have got to wake up to who he was. And it’s all on film and there’s still time to do it. And I think it’s going to happen. People are going to get hip to what he was into. But it just takes time, that’s all. . . . He made a quantum leap from being just another starving New York artist to being the toast of London, which hailed him as the Black Elvis. He was not only a brilliant and innovative player, but a riveting performer, and he took the Old World by storm. . . . I saw him out there with a bucket of paint, a paint brush, and two of his axes . . . the one he was going to sacrifice that night. I thought this is like some Navajo chief . . . burning sage . . . getting ready to commit himself to the forces. I wasn't until later that I discovered that there was a lot of Indian blood in Jimi's family. This whole scene I was witness to was an indication to me that there was much more to this man than I could fathom out in just one night. He was dogged everywhere he went. Even if he tried to escape the world of drugs, he couldn't. Lord knows I was doing a lot of drugs at the same time, but you've got to believe in angels on your shoulder in that case. . . .

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