Happy birthday, Jimi

Nearly every day I take the stairs in a certain stairwell in Medical Science Building II where I work. The hilly topology leads to the ground floor being called the fourth floor. I'm on the sixth.

Having used this stairwell for as long as I have -- five and a half years now -- I've long noticed details most people would pass by: a fluorescent tube being out, duct tape on the hand rail, that sort of thing. One thing I've started noticing this year lies between the fourth and fifth floors, in the middle of the first flight. In fact, it's so distinctive that I can't not notice it now.

What is it? A shoe print.

But not just any shoe print -- a shoe print in the eerie likeness of Jimi Hendrix. And not just any likeness of Jimi Hendrix, but the shot used on the memorial cover of Rolling Stone magazine, published October 15th, 1970, soon after his death September 18th, 1970.


Were I zealot, I might put flowers on this step. And a sign that said "Jimi" so people would know what the flowers were for. God knows people have done more with less.

But I'm not a zealot, so I'll just blog about it and invite you to check it out for yourselves if you're ever around here. And by the way, as of this Monday, happy 65th, Jimi. Requiescas in pace.