My most sincere condolences to all of Jimi's immediate family that I personally know well; Nancy, Julie, Brent, Tajuana, and those extended members whose names escape me, but are no less important (I'm just horrible with names).

It would take 100+ pages to cover the last 47 years in detail, so there's a ton of omissions here... 

The time and location were perfect. 1976, San Fernando Valley, my first day of 8th grade at Byrd Jr High. There was an incident on the PE field that I refused to stand-down from, Jimi came up to me introducing himself and Scott Spencer, asking if "those assholes were fucking with me?" After an affirming "fuck yeah", they both immediately took my side and prepared for battle, no other questions asked. We were then corralled by faculty and taken to the school office, where we were informed that we were being dismissed for the day. Nancy (Jimi's mom) came and got us. Apparently we had almost started a race-riot.

We could've easily turned out Manson notorious, fortunately we didn't. Here's the Reader's Digest highlights: 

We were artists and skaters, those were our first common bonds. We quickly became known as the "Toxic Trio"...Jimi with super-charisma, me a critical thinker, and Scott with vision. Three of a perfect pair.  Scott moved away soon after that and we were relabeled the "Toxic Twins".  We then aligned our common passions; Skating pools and pipes, rocking out, chasing tail, and partying until the sun went down the next day or so... we became absolutely inseparable for years.

Then came the girls..."moisties" as Jimi was fond of saying. And as Nancy had mentioned previously, everything changed after that. I started dating Kim McCraney in '81, while Jimi played the field. Melody showed up with Scott Spencer one night in '84, Jimi instantly stole her heart with a wink and that sheepish grin/smile he was known for...oh and he did it standing in a doorway, while Melody was in a car across the street. Melody actually went home that night and broke-up with her then boyfriend. Jimi had that effect on most people. He didn't even have to try. If he actually had to try, he'd pour it on so thick that you'd become powerless from his charm, irrespective of his true intentions, and regardless if you realized them or not. That same charm and his gift with the ladies almost got us killed three separate times during the decade of our wild adventures. But those are other stories for other times.

We've lived in North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Sepulveda, and at some point we lived out on a dirt road in Northridge (superior st), with 3 other Jim's - me, Jim Hobbes, Jim Tibbs, Jim Westerman, and Jim Wells. We lived with biker gangs, drug-trafficker's, and another time we lived at Vanowen & Kester with 3 crack-addicts. 

There was the Humboldt connection, the Venezuela connection, the Louisiana connection, the Missouri connection, and the psycho-priest Stan Adams. More guns, more ammo, more motorcycles, and more crazy stories for other times.

Music-wise there was our the first go-nowhere band Afflicted - more of a lesson of what not to do in a band then an actual band, we made a bunch of noise in the garage for a while. Then came the the musically-influential period where we had jam sessions with Greg Rolie over at Sound City (with Craig Chaquico and Ross Valory), and in Burbank with Randy Rhodes and Rudy Sarzo. We met Paul Marciano (Guess) who introduced us to Lindy Goetz, he was the manager for a strange band called What Is This?  We hung out with Lindy and he introduced us to the band he managed, 9 months later they changed their name to Red Hot Chili Peppers. They held super-epic after-parties following Wong's West shows, and for two years we never missed a party. We got extremely deep musical enlightenment from Willie Bobo - changing our lives forever as we then went different directions artistically; Jimi preferring the edginess and lifestyle of Thrash/Speed metal (Savatage/Motorhead), whereas I began studying Calypso/Flamenco styles (Chick Correa/Return to Forever) and Funk (Parliament Funkadelic/James Brown/Tower of Power/RHCP). We performed together last at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, CA with Greg, Craig and Ross in 1984 during the production of Greg's eponymous solo album...and while our individual parts never made it on the album, I'd love to believe that Greg or his wife may still have those tapes.

It was largely due to those influences that we started to grow distant around that time. I had become entrenched in studying, world-traveling and working, Jimi with continued partying and trying to get Hemloch launched. Those that knew us closely at the time could cite other forces; but we came to the decision that those events/names/places shall remain buried. That was a very, very bad period in life for both of us, as well as our families & friends... All.100%.Because.Of.Us. (we mutually ceased mentioning those times around 1999)

Our children kept us grounded...well they kept me grounded, Jimi... semi-grounded. He loved his children, not so much their momma's, but he loved his kids like nothing you could ever imagine. Give him the chance and that's all the conversation would entail. He had grand plans for when things "finally get straightened out".

Though we grew distant and our lives took radical different directions, we never truly grew apart. We talked often and still collaborated musically. Jimi would create a track, send it to me for the drum parts, I would send it back with further rhythm suggestions, etc.  Jimi would get a new DAW and send me the software license to run on my end. He taught me about FX-inserts, I taught him mastering. Among Jimi's possessions are certainly tracks and sound bites that we have worked together on over the last twenty years, whenever he settled in his current location and took a break from the daily-crazy that became his later life.

As Jimi's life turned even crazier, and his health began to deteriorate largely due to that crazy, the communications became more sparse, until one day he stopped calling altogether. Calls, emails, and texts to him would go unreturned. He wasn't communicating with any of our mutual contacts. We were all sure something fatal had happened. Then suddenly out of nowhere 6 years later, a phone call..."I'm back bitches!" he would often proclaim, explaining his absence over the last whatever-length of his crazy life he'd been gone.

This cycle would continue for another 3-5 years, then Jimi would go silent again.

We reunited for the last time on 26-MAY-2023. He had the surgeries, which went well despite him (his words), he was healing and doing great...walking, dancing, riding, things were definitely looking up.

Jimi, you changed my life, I can't imagine it any other way. You left lasting impressions everywhere you went, on everything and everyone you touched. I'm missing you dearly my brother. RIP. 💔 😢

I'm still waiting for that call..."I heard you missed me bitches, I'm back!"

Jimi...

You were my first real guitarist and put me on the Rock n Roll path I'm on now. From giving me my first guitar and then showing me how to play it. Went from guitar to bass cuz of you and my brother. 

Hemloch lives on! 

Thanks for the memories from little kids at 12 or 13 and beyond!

Nothing but Love is all I have to offer you.  Nothing but Love is what you gave!

You'll be sorely missed!

Jimi was one of the many loved cousins we all grew up with.  I remember that he had a beautiful smile and loved to tease and be funny around all the kids.  His mom and I were like sisters (and still are), and we've shared everything, especially our kids, grandkids. and great-grandkids.  God has always kept us all in his arms and I look forward to seeing him again.   Rest in peace, Jim.  We love you. 

Jimi was a very happy baby and always seemed to have a big smile on his face. He made friends very easily and knew almost everyone in the neighborhood and beyond. His greatest joy was playing his guitar. He was self taught and seemed to have a special ability to play anything he heard. As he got older ( junior high) he was harder to keep track of. We went through some rough times where he and I clashed but that finally ended and things were much better. We were back to talking things out. Jimi and his friends made a group of musicians and practiced in our garage. They were LOUD and I was very surprised my neighbors on one side did not complain more ( an elderly couple ) but they seemed to not to complain too much. Jimi loved the fact that he and his group got to play at a few of the clubs in LA and Hollywood ( Whisky-A-Go-Go and Troubador). His guitar was his best friend until he discovered Girls. After that the story changed. He was married three times and had three wonderful wives and three beautiful daughters. I'm sorry he didn't keep in touch with them better but he ( like his mom) did not do well at this. But they are very special people and are very much loved. We will miss him and his special smile and love. My You go with God Jimi .... He loves you too. 

From Jimi's Mom, Nancy Johnston

grief is a funny thing, people tell you “ they lived a long life “ and that’s true but sometimes it’s not fair, i wish we were more comfortable saying “ sometimes one lifetime isn’t enough “ “ sometimes it’s too early, sometimes death doesn’t feel like completion “ “ sometimes there is no finish line “ “ but sometimes, peace is better than pain “ i think honesty is important in death. maybe their life wasn’t a race, maybe it will never feel complete, and maybe peace was enough. 

i don’t have many memories that i can remember with jimi, but the ones i can remember do nothing prove how much he loved jordan, and the extra four kids he unexpectedly adopted too. i can go on for days about how many times he played his guitar for us, or how many times we busted our asses playing with him in the hammock, but the one that never fails to make me smile, my family was staying the night with jordan, amy and jimi, and back then i couldn’t sleep without this babydoll, tigerbaby, and i had forgotten it at home, i cried and refused to go to bed, but before i knew it, in comes my mom and jimi with tigerbaby.