Helper Boy Howie's Mom Got To Jam With A Young Jimi Hendrix

Listener Howie, who also worked on our show many moons ago, recently got married to his high school sweetheart. They've known each other for years, and came back into each other's orbit a few years back.

Well, when you've known someone a long time, you get to know them and their family--and the stories that seem to come along with every gathering. We all have them--famous moments where our respective families had a brush with a celebrity, or some other spotlight moment.

In the Dwyer combined family, we have a long-standing story where we almost married into the Capone crime family. My mom would use it as an example of how things "Could have been" when I left my clothes on the floor, or didn't do some other chore assigned to me. "You're lucky we're not Capones, or you'd be in real trouble..."

Well, back to Howie. His mother-in-law had told this story for years, and, always with a grain of salt, was believed to be mostly true. An anecdote where the idea was as strong as the facts...

The story goes that when she was younger, and living in Alabama, this up-and-coming guitarist came to play a show at the local coliseum with his band. Jimi Hendrix had a few records out, and the show was a hit. After the show was over the band came to a local watering hole and she got to meet Hendrix and even got to perform with him when he played a few songs with the band there.

A great story, one that got passed down through the years and told at probably every family event. We all have that story--and this one was a great one.

Howie and his new bride were going through some storage boxes recently, and sent these photos along to me. It turns out the found a program from the very show she was talking about all those years ago! And, upon further inspection, Hendrix appears to have autographed the program from her! Feast your eyes on the photos of the Hendrix signature on this keepsake discovered after 50 years!

Howie