Documents detailing Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 arrest for destroying a hotel room in Sweden are set to auction in L.A next month.
The folder will be amongst the top lots in the Julien’s Icons and Idols: Rock n’ Roll sale, which also features property from the estate of Frank and Gail Zappa.
Behind the arrest is a tale of relatively mild rock and roll debauchery.
Having release their second studio album Axis: Bold as Love in December 1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience set out to promote the album with a series of gigs across Europe.
They arrived in Gothenburg on January 3 for a four-day tour of Sweden and Denmark, and instantly went looking for mischief.
After returning from a nightclub in the city, the band and their friends retired to the hotel room of drummer Mitch Mitchell to carry on the party.
When a guest in the room below called down to complain about the noise, night receptionist Per Manusson went up to the room to investigate – and discovered it had been completely trashed.
At the centre of the destruction was Hendrix himself, sat in a pool of blood having smashed the window with his hand. The police were called, and Hendrix was taken to a nearby hospital to get his hand sewn up, before he was arrested and charged with criminal damage.
He was then instructed to report to the police station every day until his court appearance on January 16, 1968, where he was fined 3,200 Swedish crowns.
The folder of documents from the case includes the arrest documents signed by Hendrix on January 4; a lengthy 24-page report include witness statements by Hendrix, Mitchell and a porter at the Hotell Opalen; and inventory of the damage caused; and a document preventing Hendrix from leaving the country.
The folder, which also comes with two photographs taken of Hendrix during his extended stay in Sweden, is expected to sell for $20,000 – $30,000.
The Julien’s Icons and Idols: Rock n’ Roll 2016 sale takes place in Los Angeles on November 4.
