MUNCIE EVENING PRESS - by Betty Harris:
“They came from all over for the show - Chicago, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, etc., plus a representative from LIFE magazine and another from Time. A lot were from groups, for sound expressed by Jimi Hendrix becomes a passion for those who play it. As Jack Hamilton of The Chosen Few said, ‘At one time music was all acoustical. Now there’s a new dimension. Hendrix is so skilled at making the guitar do its ultimate as he is a master of the electronics behind the instrument. He caresses it, bends and rips the strings. Did you notice how he had to tune after every song?’
“The evening began early for me. The jeep’s pink-striped curtains whipping in the wind, big, black-bearded photographer Mike Perry and his equipment-carrying helper Chic Brown, took me past lines and lines of patient waiters, then across town to meet the groups before the show began.
“Six hours on the road brought a tired bunch of musicians into Muncie. Believing Muncie to be closer to Cleveland (where they appeared Tuesday night) than it was. they were flying low when the police nabbed first Hendrix’ car, and a little later, the Soft Machine’s, Jerry Stickells who, has the often-frustrating job of road manager, driving Hendrix’ car, paid up and left. The Machine’s personal manager Tom Edmunston, talked his way down from a $75 fine to $18.50, but by the time they got there, Stickells was having visions of car wrecks, etc.
“The trip to the Holiday Inn was a dud. But back at the Old Barn a half-hour later - first a great head, then a small frame on one small scarf-tied, black-knee boot then another thrust itself through the doorway and Jimi Hendrix Experience had begun in Muncie... Redding’s a nut about the ‘telly,’ so it took some talking to get him away from the Holiday Inn. Hendrix was talking about his new ‘vet.’ [Corvette Stingray]
“Piled high on the stage of the long Teen America Bldg. were 14 amps, most of them Sunn 200s; Hendrix’ own Marshall amp’s from England; Voice of the Theater speakers and Sound City PAs. They cooled the show when they discovered the audience was so near the stage....
“Probably because his comments have been misinterpreted at times, Hendrix talks little. He seems to be away in a little world of his own, listening to music that others around him can’t hear. He likes to play music and record. He doesn’t like one-nighters very much ‘and all this stuff.’ Would like to meet ‘just people” a little more. He has a new record in his mind.. .nowhere near ready for playing yet, just in his head.”