By Steve Gorman
The 11 minutes of footage of a man resembling Hendrix
cavorting with two unidentified brunettes in a dimly lit
bedroom is packaged in a 45-minute DVD distributed by Los
Angeles adult-film studio Vivid Entertainment.
Vivid, which also distributed the notorious sex tape of
actress Pamela Anderson and rocker Tommy Lee, among others,
said in a press release that its Hendrix footage was shot about
40 years ago in a hotel room and was unearthed by a rock 'n'
roll memorabilia collector.
Hendrix, considered one the greatest rock guitarists of all
time with such hits as "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze" and "Foxy
Lady," died in 1970 at age 27 in London.
"This new movie shows that Jimi Hendrix could have been as
great a porn star as he was a rock star," Vivid co-chairman,
Steven Hirsch, said in the release.
The film's authenticity, however, was immediately
challenged by some. The musician's longtime girlfriend during
the 1960s, Kathy Etchingham, told the New York Times after
viewing still photos taken from the footage: "It is not him."
"His face is too broad and nose and nostrils too wide for
Jimi," she was quoted as telling the Times via e-mail.
Charles R. Cross, author of the noted Hendrix biography
"Room Full of Mirrors," also disputed the identity of the man
in the tape, who sports a large Afro hairstyle and head band.
"It doesn't add up to Jimi," Gross told the Times, saying
he had encountered the film during his book research and
dismissed it, as have others, as a fake.
But Vivid said it consulted with several experts to
authenticate the footage, including Pamela Des Barres, author
of the book "I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie," and
Cynthia Albritton, better known as Cynthia Plaster Caster,
famed for making plaster molds of celebrities' genitals,
including those of Hendrix.
Both women appear on the DVD, titled, "Jimi Hendrix the Sex
Tape," offering their commentary.
"They both immediately had the same reaction: 'I can't
believe it, it's Jimi Hendrix,"' Hirsch quoted the two women as
saying when they first viewed the footage.
DEAL FOR RIGHTS
Vivid bought the tape from an individual distributor, Howie
Klein, who had approached Vivid after purchasing it from the
collector who found it, Hirsch said.
Hirsch told Reuters that private investigators hired by
Vivid's lawyers tracked down the man who claimed to have shot
the footage in 8-millimeter color film, and Vivid struck a deal
with him for rights to commercially distribute it.
"That's why we believe in fact that we own the copyright,"
he said.
Bob Merlis, spokesman for Experience Hendrix, the Seattle
company owned by the musician's relatives that controls rights
to his music, said, "We're in no position to verify" the tape's
authenticity. He declined further comment, saying only that
rights to Hendrix's likeness remain an unsettled legal issue.
Monroe
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Cynthia Osterman)
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