LEON HENDRIX & THE BAND OF GYPS

Jimi Hendrix's little brother, Leon Hendrix, 56, begins guitar lessons and records his debut album after he claims Jimi's sprit ghost came to him as a purple flame one night in bed.

From The New York Times:

"I could see Jimi up there, beckoning," he recalled. "He was saying, 'Come on, baby brother. It's time. You're ready.' Since then, I feel like he's sanctioned me to carry on his musical legacy."

"Sometimes if I'm playing, I'll ask Jimi to help me," he said. "I'll say, 'What do I do now?' And he tells me, 'Reach for it.' "

"Here's how it all started," he explained during a recent interview in New York. "I was laying in bed, and a purple flame came out of the sky and set the whole room buzzing. My whole body started shaking, and I had an old guitar in the corner that some lady traded me for some dope. The flame knocked all the dust off the strings and I just reached over and grabbed it, and ever since I've been playing like a madman possessed."

He says he summoned his brother's spirit and is now booking club gigs, teaming with the drummer Buddy Miles, who played in Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies. ... Mr. Hendrix admits that he has none of his brother's technical wizardry, although he adds that he is constantly improving.

"When I'm onstage, I see all these people looking at me expecting another Jimi, but I won't play none of his tunes," he said. ..."They offered me 20 grand a night to play Vegas, but they want 'Purple Haze' and 'Foxy Lady,' " he said. "I just can't play that stuff."

And after a lifetime of living the blues - including foster homes, drug addiction and other hardships - Mr. Hendrix, 56, says he finally has a reason to sing them: he was recently cut out of his brother's $80 million estate.