Jimi Hendrix Played Monopoly to Win, Says Sister
Jimi Hendrix's sister and estate manager recalled how her late brother played Monopoly to win with the family.
Jani Hendrix revealed the information in a new interview in support of the recently released Jimi Hendrix album Both Sides of The Sky. “It’s funny – here we are 50 years later and we are still listening to his music,” she told Billboard. “But this was a kid in his twenties who created this music that has lasted decades. And of course there’s a lot of wisdom and genius that came with it. But he still had a boyish quality. He definitely had a great sense of humor. Like when he came home, he liked to play Monopoly; he loved to be the little shoe, and he would buy up all the slum properties and gradually put motels and hotels on them. And he was out for blood; he wanted to win."
She noted that her older brother was fun to be around. "He’d make jokes at the dinner table," she recalled. "I was little, so I’d be sitting by his elbow and he’d say things under his breath and I would laugh, then the rest of the family would be like, ‘Well, what did he say?’ And he’d look at me like, ‘Shhh!’ He had a very kid-like quality about him. He was fun, and you can hear that on this album.”
The guitar legend's sense of humor reminded Jani of their father, she said. “You hear a little bit of that on this album with stuff like ‘Lover Man,’ where he included a little mix of Batman and Peter Gunn, which was the first song that he learned how to play,” she explained. “So in a sense, it’s a moment that brings in the roots of his beginnings. And he was a big fan of Batman. He used to chase me around the house in a big black cape singing the Batman theme!”
“Jimi’s soul was sweet and genuine, and he had such a passion for not only his music but other peoples’ music as well," said Eddie Kramer, who produced Hendrix during his lifetime and continues to work on posthumous releases. "If somebody was playing with soul and with fire, he wanted to be there with them. I remember going to [New York venue] the Scene and seeing Jimi standing on a table, hanging from the pipes that hung below the ceiling, cheering on a band that he thought was just so cool. That was him.”