Bridging Rainbow’s
On July 30th 1970 in a horse pasture just above Dairy Road on the slopes of Haleakala, the volcano the makes up 75% of the island of Maui, Hawaii Jimi Hendrix played a free concert which became known as “The Rainbow Bridge Concert”. A film of the concert was directed by Chuck Wein and released the next year.
The ‘Rainbow Bridge’ concert was the penultimate performance by Hendrix in the United States; his last was two days later on August 1st 1970 at his final concert of his ‘Cry of Love’ tour in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hendrix died less than two months later on September 18th in 1970 in London, England.
That little bit of rock and roll history brings us to today some 38 years later. Via email I received a letter from a gentleman in Hawaii who is planning on staging another ‘Rainbow Bridge’ concert this summer. The concert “will be a benefit to bring awareness to the formation of a United States of Africa.
A group whose mandate is; “the formation of a United States of Africa must immediately be brought into the public debate worldwide and among Africans themselves” according to the gentleman in Hawaii. He also states in his email; “this concert and documentary film on the event will go down in history as the first one with Jimi Hendrix did.
I am already gathering sponsors and making the initial contacts as well as getting Live Nation on board to make sure it happens.” He has a tentative lineup which includes several major name acts as well as Leon Hendrix, Jimi’s younger brother, and Randy Hansen, a world renowned Jimi Hendrix interpreter. Hansen does a Jimi Hendrix tribute that is so spectacular that Jimi Hendrix’s father Al was moved to tears when he first saw it.
The reason I was contacted is that I used to book Randy Hansen and had the good fortune to have worked with Jimi Hendrix in California in 1968. There are websites that have a story I wrote about Jimi Hendrix and Randy Hansen.
That was how the gentleman found my name and I directed him to Hansen’s management company in Seattle. Since I’m a writer I was offered an opportunity to help with the documentation of the concert and film and plan on doing so if it all comes together.
I find it interesting that after this long ‘Rainbow Bridge 1’ might bridge time and merge into ‘Rainbow Bridge 2’ via Leon Hendrix and Randy Hansen; two men who are ultimately connected to Jimi Hendrix. Personally I think Jimi would like this. He was a wonderful musician who loved to play and make people happy. If these two ‘Rainbow Bridges’ can bring smiles and social awareness to world issues I’d say Rock On!
To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net.