Guest host Richard Syrett welcomed Rock 'n' Roll author R. Gary Patterson for a discussion about the Woodstock Festival on its 45th anniversary as well as the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Woodstock was not the first rock festival (that distinction goes to Monterey), but it was the height of the counterculture and music of the late 1960s, Patterson explained, listing such rock luminaries as Janis Joplin and The Who. An estimated 400,000 young people attended the festival, forming a temporary city united by peace, love and music, he continued. Patterson shared a story about friend and bassist of the British rock group Ten Years After, Leo Lyons, who thought he and the band might get electrocuted during the infamous rain storms that fell during the event.
Patterson delved into the death of Woodstock headliner Jim Hendrix, who he described as overworked, under rested, and encircled by shady people. "We're not exactly sure what happened when he died," he said. Girlfriend Monika Dannemann maintains that she was the last person to have seen Hendrix alive, though her story is riddled with conflicting accounts, Patterson disclosed, noting that she called for an ambulance but was not at the house when it arrived. Eric Victor Burdon, vocalist of rock band the Animals, claimed Dannemann called him before summoning medical help, he added. Patterson explored the theory that Hendrix was murdered by manager Michael Jeffery, pointing out that a hospital examination revealed the deceased had copious amounts of red wine in his stomach and lungs but not a blood alcohol level to match.
Patterson was joined in the second half of the program by Bill Harry, Beatle historian and founder of the music publication Mersey Beat, for a conversation on the life, times and death of John Lennon. Harry traced his friendship with Lennon to their Liverpool College of Art days, shortly before The Beatles formed. He admitted to cancelling votes for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes so The Beatles would win the first Mersey Beat magazine poll. Harry also spoke about Yoko Ono's involvement in the occult and how she used it to manipulate Lennon, as well as Ringo Starr's grudge against producer George Martin, who chose a session drummer's track over Starr's version for the song "Love Me Do."
Phone Calls from the Dead
In the first hour, Epoch Times reporter Tara MacIssac talked about purported phone calls from the dead. She described research conducted by Dr. Imants Barušs at the University of Western Ontario which attempted to verify reports that deceased persons have communicated to the living through electronic devices. According to MacIssac, Dr. Barušs had partial success in replicating electronic voice phenomenon. "I guess what I came away from it with was that it is possible," she said.