Happy birthday, Jimi Hendrix

ARE YOU A FAN? In honor of Jimi Hendrix's 60th birthday, which would have been Wednesday, the guitar god is honored in Jimi Hendrix and the Making of 'Are You Experienced?' (A Capella Books, $14.95) by Sean Egan, a behind-the-scenes chronicle of one of rock's most astounding debut albums. It includes interesting anecdotes such as the story behind the inspiration for Fire: Not accustomed to chilly London weather, Hendrix asked his manager's wife if he could stand next to her fireplace.

Celebrate, too, with Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight, an album that has never before been available in the United States. On Aug. 30, 1970, Hendrix wowed the crowd of 600,000 at an outdoor festival with All Along the Watchtower, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and an amazing medley of God Save the Queen and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A DVD of the concert also hit stores this month.

TALKING TURKEY: If, for ethical reasons, eating turkey today is not in your plans, you may want to join vegan pop star Moby and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals on their crusade urging folks to call the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line to voice their dismay. (Butterball has offered a holiday season answering service for cooks with questions for the past 20 years.) Or, call toll-free 1-888-834-3663, a service Moby and PETA started to offer free vegetarian "starter kits."

RADIO: Jazz lovers and John Coltrane aficionados will want to tune in to WUSF-FM 89.7 from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m today to hear A Love Supreme, a radio documentary on the late, great saxophonist making his landmark 1964 album. Hosted by rapper-actor Mos Def, the show features interviews with Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, an important composer in her own right, and musicians Branford Marsalis; Elvin Jones, who played drums on the album; and Wayne Shorter.

MORE MAC ATTACK: Last week we discussed the curious plethora of pop stars covering Fleetwood Mac's Landslide. How about covering an entire Mac album? A newly re-formed Camper Van Beethoven, fronted again by Cracker head David Lowery, has released Tusk, the band's nutty, song-for-song rendition of the classic double album.

BOOK: We mourned the death this year of musicologist, and Pinellas County resident, Alan Lomax. Now celebrate his life's work recording the music of the disenfranchised with The Land Where the Blues Began (The New Press, $21.95), Lomax's memoirs of traveling the rural South to record musicians such as Son House and Muddy Waters. A companion disc of the same name is available on the Rounder label.

ART EXHIBIT: "Becoming POP!" is an art exhibit with a musical twist on display at the University of South Florida's FAS Projects Gallery, in the Fine Arts Studios between the Contemporary Art Museum and the Fine Art Building on the school's Tampa campus. The group show from students in the USF Honors College includes life-size cutouts of Britney Spears and the Beatles, and odd multimedia items such as a toilet stereo, a CD disco ball and other curiosities. The exhibit is open Monday through Dec. 6, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

-- To contact Gina Vivinetto, e-mail gina@sptimes.com .

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