Text:

The head of the music industry department at USC played back to back with Hendrix at the Monterey Music Festival cuz this guy worked in music promotion in the 60’s so he was working that festival just hanging out messing with guitars and everything. Hendrix was soundchecking onstage before a show and so was this guy, the head of the department I mean, and they just started jamming together. I know him pretty well but everyone talks about it. He’s super casual about it too so it’s pretty hard to know exactly what happened. Some people say he played during Hendrix’s actual set. Other people say it just happened before the show.

Background:

I think people talk about it because this guy has been in the music industry basically since the 60’s as a pretty big figure in lots of genres of music. He was brought in by the supreme court to determine if the merger Liveation and Ticketmaster was legal, he was part of that committee, so he’s a pretty big deal. I guess it makes sense that people would play him up. It’s a testament to this guy’s experience and knowledge that he played with Hendrix, like it validates him or something. He told it to me himself actually.

Context:

He’s the professor for two important music production classes at USC, so anyone who’s serious about the business will take him at some point if they’re smart. I guess word just gets around eventually. I know I told a bunch of people just because I was excited to know something cool about this guy. Some other people already knew when I told them though, so there’s that.

My Thoughts:

I like this story because it’s the first one I’ve encountered in my collection so far which seems to have a high truth value that the premise of the story – the music industry department head playing with Hendrix – is validated by the person himself. However, the details are fuzzy which allows for variation in how the story is told based off of the teller’s belief in the subject. My informant clearly idolizes this man as a prominent member in her field, and therefore it’s important to believe that this man played with Hendrix as proof that he’s accomplished and worth learning from.