In 2005, I found the following in Hard Rock Cafe website (Key West, Florida) : telegram dated 10/21/69 sent by Jimi Hendrix to Paul McCartney. The message reads, "We are recording an LP together this weekend in NY. How about coming in to play bass… peace, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Tony Williams." Today, still looking for a shot of this amazing document, I just found the telegram is on display in Hard Rock Cafe Prague (Czech Republic) accompanied by a response saying Paul is away on holiday.

Well, if someone from this group plans to visit Prague (or knows a friend in the city), PLEASE, send me a shot ! I need to find out as I have doubts about that story. Thank you !

For now, the only picture we've got is really too small :



YM

Thanks. Now THAT would have been an album! Too bad

I wish they could find the home movie Jimi made of Syd Barrett on the tour bus.

Thanks to Hard Rock Cafe Paris, I received a better shot of the telegram. That was true !!!



Credit : Hard Rock Cafe

YM

someone should try to call the phone number LOL

That is very cool...!

_____________________________________________________

What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

This weekend? Thanks for the heads-up!

Hmmmm... that is funny. I am finally watching MADMEN on AMC, DVRing on Sunday mornings, and this week one of the "jobs" was trying to sell telegrams, which I thought was odd/intersting.... anyway.... one of the "pitches" for telegrams was "Phone calls are for a moment, but Telegrams are forever" ......I kind of rolled my eyes at the notion, because I never have used a telegram, proably never will... but ... looky... there it is.... AS ADVERTISED.

Telegrams are forver, just like the ad lady said back in 1963 on the 2008 TV show

Wow, that must have been a session!
Hendrix, M. Davis and f§$%& great Tony Williams.

If it really happened, - did they record it or respectivly did anything leak out from that meeting of the gods?

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Max'sKansasCity
"Phone calls are for a moment, but Telegrams are forever"

I'm not used to US telegrams but it seems there's something wrong about this one which may be fake. Is there someone from States who could help on this case ? Thanks !!

YM

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CousinC
Wow, that must have been a session!
Hendrix, M. Davis and f§$%& great Tony Williams.

If it really happened, - did they record it or respectivly did anything leak out from that meeting of the gods?

According to Alan Douglas, Davis cancelled at the last minute, demanding money first.
Then Tony Williams called and wanted money because he had heard that Davis got money. Douglas added that Hendrix was kinda relieved and said "I didn't wanna do it anyway."

As great a bass player that Paul is, I'm not sure that free flowing improvised blues jazz rock was his thing (yeah he's done a bit now and again but he practises it all). I can't see him doing that Noel Redding stuff.

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Yazid Manou

I'm not used to US telegrams but it seems there's something wrong about this one which may be fake. Is there someone from States who could help on this case ? Thanks !!

A friend from States wrote : "It looks totally legit to me."

YM

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Yazid Manou

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Yazid Manou

I'm not used to US telegrams but it seems there's something wrong about this one which may be fake. Is there someone from States who could help on this case ? Thanks !!

A friend from States wrote : "It looks totally legit to me."

YM

Glad you found an expert, I have never sent one, heck I never even saw one.

Do people still sent telegrams? Anybody here ever get one/send one?

Telegrams are still used and the classic use in the music industry is when some other artist likes something you have done , so they telegraph you, "Nice job Lad" or similar.

I have received emails a couple times from my musical heros and they had me high as a kite for days. One of my fantasies is to get a telegraph from Keith or Mick. Something like "Nice job on that cover of Let it Loose" , or nice mandolin on Thomas's record, something like that. Nothing wrong with dreaming a little bit! peace

"I have received emails a couple times from my musical heros and they had me high as a kite for days."

could you tell us a little bit more ?
sounds good !

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Naturalust
Telegrams are still used and the classic use in the music industry is when some other artist likes something you have done , so they telegraph you, "Nice job Lad" or similar.

I have received emails a couple times from my musical heros and they had me high as a kite for days. One of my fantasies is to get a telegraph from Keith or Mick. Something like "Nice job on that cover of Let it Loose" , or nice mandolin on Thomas's record, something like that. Nothing wrong with dreaming a little bit! peace

That is totally cool. I had no idea.... I might have to start sending telegrams... just for the fun of it...

hmmmmmm..... dumb question.... how do they work, are they by mail? do they charge by the word? Is this Western Union? Does one still say the sentance and then say STOP ? (ALL OF THIS IS ANSWERED IN THE NEXT POST)
e.g. sample telegram
[/b]
Will be home in time to start Lent STOP
Ready to some serious partying STOP
Please have plenty of booze for beforehand STOP
We will have a Happy Mardi Gras, get ready STOP

from article below-
Telegrams reached their peak popularity in the 1920s and 1930s when it was cheaper to send a telegram than to place a long-distance telephone call. People would save money by using the word “stop” instead of periods to end sentences because punctuation was extra while the four character word was free.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-15 13:31 by Max'sKansasCity.

Just looking at the web site it seems Western Union is all about send money not telelgrams... which I guess was a good business choice long long ago.

[wumt.westernunion.com]


Then I found this story...

[www.msnbc.msn.com]

STOP — Telegram era over, Western Union says
Instant-messaging of its day made obsolete by telephone, Internet

AP news 2/2/2006 2:30:26 PM ET
DENVER — For more than 150 years, messages of joy, sorrow and success came in signature yellow envelopes hand-delivered by a courier. Now the Western Union telegram is officially a thing of the past.

The company formed in April 1856 to exploit the hot technology of the telegraph to send cross-country messages in less than a day. It is now focusing its attention on money transfers and other financial services, and delivered its final telegram on Friday.

“The decision was a hard decision because we’re fully aware of our heritage,” said Victor Chayet, a spokesman for the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company. “But it’s the final transition from a communications company to a financial services company.”

Several telegraph companies that eventually combined to become Western Union were founded in 1851. Western Union built its first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861.

“At the time it was as incredible and astonishing as the computer when it first came out,” said Tom Noel, a history professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. “For people who could barely understand it, here you had the magic of the electric force traveling by wire across the country.”

In 1994, Western Union Financial Services was acquired by First Financial Management Corp. which First Data Corp. bought for $7 billion the following year. Last week, First Data said it would spin Western Union off as a separate company.

Telegrams reached their peak popularity in the 1920s and 1930s when it was cheaper to send a telegram than to place a long-distance telephone call. People would save money by using the word “stop” instead of periods to end sentences because punctuation was extra while the four character word was free.

Telegrams were used to announce the first flight in 1903 and the start of World War I. During World War II, the sight of a Western Union courier was feared because the War Department, the precursor to the Department of Defense, used the company to notify families of the death of their loved ones serving in the military, Chayet said.

With long-distance rates dropping and different technologies for communicating evolving — including the Internet — Western Union phased out couriers in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

By last year (2005), only 20,000 telegrams were sent at about $10 a message, mostly from companies using the service for formal notifications, Chayet said.

Last week, the last 10 telegrams included birthday wishes, condolences on the death of a loved one, notification of an emergency, and several people trying to be the last to send a telegram.

“Recent generations didn’t receive telegrams and didn’t know you could send them,” Chayet said.

Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse Code, sent the first telegram from Washington to Baltimore on May 26, 1844, to his partner Alfred Vail to usher in the telegram era that displaced the Pony Express. It read “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?”

“If he only knew,” Chayet said of the myriad of choices today, which includes text message on cell phones, the Internet and virtually free long-distance calling rates.

“It definitely was an anachronism,” Noel said. “It’s amazing it survived this long.”


=======================================================
No more Kodachrome... no more telegrams



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2012-02-15 13:34 by Max'sKansasCity.

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tomk

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CousinC
Wow, that must have been a session!
Hendrix, M. Davis and f§$%& great Tony Williams.

If it really happened, - did they record it or respectivly did anything leak out from that meeting of the gods?

According to Alan Douglas, Davis cancelled at the last minute, demanding money first.
Then Tony Williams called and wanted money because he had heard that Davis got money. Douglas added that Hendrix was kinda relieved and said "I didn't wanna do it anyway."

Lol I already imagined it that way . .

I was in Prague shortly before that Hard Rock Cafe opened. Wish it had opened a little earlier so I could have seen that telegram firsthand.

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Title5Take1
I was in Prague shortly before that Hard Rock Cafe opened.

Same for me, I came to Prague in 2008 and I wanted to visit the Hard Rock Cafe (to buy a T-shirt as I do for each city !!) but they only opened the shop when I was there. The cafe was still under construction and was goind to be opened just few weeks later !

Steven Roby, Jimi Hendrix expert and author or "Black Gold - The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix" (2002) and "Becoming Jimi Hendrix - The Untold Story Of A Musical Genius" (2010) said :

"It's not really a telegram sent by a US company like Western Union - it would have their logo. It' a cable, any early version of a fax."

YM

I just talked to Alan Douglas. He doesn't remember the cable at all but said it's quite possible and the Paul McCartney idea sounds vaguely in his memory. He said Jimi was always in his office. The general idea would be Jimi to play with Tony Willams. They had no bass player at the time. Then Miles would have added trompet later on and bass overdubs by Jimi. Jimi could also have send the cable with help of Alan's secretary. He doesn't remember that cable episode but agreed : it may have happen. For sure, we have the cable now to prove it !!!!

Now, I'm waiting comment from Paul McCartney

YM

Hey Max, telgraphs have not gone the way of Kodachrome yet. There are still several companies who offer that service including one called American Telegraph. So my dream of one from Mick is still alive and well. whew! peace

Keith Jarrett on keys and you've got yourself an even better band.

Even though it would have been very cool for Jimi, just a chitlin circuit guitar player from a couple years back, to be able to call on Sir Paul's musical GIANT-NESS, I can't help think that this cable wasn't just one of Alan Douglas's cocaine dreams. peace

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Naturalust
Hey Max, telgraphs have not gone the way of Kodachrome yet. There are still several companies who offer that service including one called American Telegraph. So my dream of one from Mick is still alive and well. whew! peace

Well.... I am rooting for you to get one.
Now be sure to do all the things one is supposed to to get one..... like ... ummmmm..... win a Grammy or Oscar..... or ummmm..... maybe you send him one or.... write a song for/about him, maybe something like "thinks like Jagger"... or "sings like Jagger".... or "moves like Jagger"... oh wait

Let us know when you get it.

ok so Paulo did not play but what happened to the record project ?
Dead at 27... what a mess. I can imagine dozens of great Jimi's stuff.

"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

Alan Douglas was a piece of work and Jimi felt very bitter about him just before his death.

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stonesrule
Alan Douglas was a piece of work and Jimi felt very bitter about him just before his death.

Oh dear, look what Alan went and did after Jimi died... eg, Crash Landing and Midnight Lightning with sessions musicians overdubbed on. Ugh!

Yeah but Cry of Love and War Heroes were my first two Jimi records, I didn't know that Alan Douglas had anything to do with them and I still loved them to death. I've heard all the stories about his timing with Hendrix involvement leading to a highly resented role as curator of his recorded works. I'm sure there are two sides to that story.

Worked with him (AD) years later on the MTV video for "Are You Experienced" , he seemed a nice enough fellow and was certainly enamored with all things Hendrix. I got alot of cool stories from the fellow about Jimi (I was basically a big ball of endless questions). The only thing is, I am having a bit of trouble remembering all the stories, it was always 4:20 PM around Mr. Douglas as I recall...at least when he was reviewing the new video and mix of AYE. nuff said, probably too much. peace