Hendrix tomb 8212; Better never than late

Fans making a donation will have their names inscribed on tiles around the edge of the tomb. For 25, they can buy a stone unearthed during the ground-breaking ceremony at the new memorial. Packaged in purple and gold, the stones are described in official literature as 8220;simple, but cool8221;, to 8220;look great with your rock 8216;n8217; roll memorabilia8221;.

For 250, you can have a CD-shaped piece of granite from the block used to make the mausoleum, bearing Hendrix8217;s 8220;authentic8221; autograph. And for an unspecified sum, companies and individuals will be able to buy space around the memorial in an exclusive 8220;Founder8217;s Circle8221;. The organisers hope record companies will subscribe.

Friends and former members of the Jimi HendrixExperience have attacked the project as crass and vulgar. 8220;It8217;s like Burke and Hare,8221; said Noel Redding, the British bass player from the group. 8220;This is the most awful thing I8217;ve ever heard. Why don8217;t they just leave the man alone?8221; Redding, who attended the guitarist8217;s funeral in Seattle in 1970, urged fans to have nothing to do with the scheme.

For the past 29 years Hendrix8217;s remains have lain undisturbed beneath a modest stone in Greenwood cemetery, next to his grandmother, after he choked to death following a drugs overdose in London at the age of 27.

But his family, which has run his estate since 1995, feel that a grander commemorative site is needed. His step-sister Janie, who controls their Experience Hendrix organisation, claims they are responding to public demand. 8220;We8217;ve listened to the cries of the fans,8221; she said, announcing the proposal to build the 27ft high stone and bronze memorial, with nine granite pillars supporting a domed roof. Under this will be a life-size statue of Hendrixplaying at his most famous gig, the 1969 Woodstock festival.

Kathy Etchingham, Hendrix8217;s British girlfriend at the time of his death, is incredulous. 8220;How many fans would demand that Jimi8217;s bones were dug up?8221; she asked, 8220;How many would send a request to the family, that his bones be disinterred and moved into some vulgar monolith with strangers8217; names attached all around on tiles they8217;re selling?8221;

Etchingham, who is married to a doctor in the suburban county of Surrey outside London, added: 8220;Jimi always said people would eventually wrap him up in cellophane and sell him, and he was right. If the family really cared for him, they would leave him alone. The next thing they8217;ll be putting his remains in a glass case, and taking him out on tour again.8221;

Support for the scheme, however, came from the cemetery management. It believes the mausoleum will raise the number of visiting fans from the current level of around 14,000 a year. Its spokeswoman, Laura Woolman, said a number were disappointed by thepresent gravestone. 8220;It8217;s just simple,8221; she said. 8220;All it has is his name and a guitar, and an inscription that says 8220;Forever in our Hearts8221;. And fans come and say, 8220;Is this it? There8217;s a kind of fan feeling that, boy, he deserves better.8221;

None of that is likely to placate fans who have bombarded the Internet with objections. One demanded a human wall of supporters to prevent the reburial. The mausoleum scheme has confirmed the fears of many of them, which began when the Hendrix family licensed an official Jimi golf ball and a Hendrix red wine 8212; the drink on which the star choked to death.

The Observer News Service