I met Jimi Hendrix at the Tanque Verde Swap Meet! That's right. This past weekend I went to the Swap Meet, located off South Palo Verde Road, and met the musician in the flesh. True, it was hot at 11 a.m., but with a cold bottle of water, my parasol and a lovely breeze, I had a great time checking out some of the cool, creepy and ridiculous stuff people try to sell and/or swap.

People usually think of old car parts, socks in bulk and little homemade crafts when they think of swap meets or flea markets. But because just about anyone with $12 can set up, vendors at the Swap Meet can sell and/or swap just about anything.

For instance, Bill is a vendor who sells discount sports equipment and discount porn – at the same concession stand.

Bill doesn't really sell "commercial" porn (whatever that means), but he has quite a collection of it. White, Black, Asian, Mexican, European, interracial, gay, lesbian ... you name it, he's got it. And for cheap. I'm talkin' $3.99 for a two-hour VHS tape or a four-hour DVD for about $8. Bill also has just about every T 'n' A magazine, excluding "Playboy" and "Penthouse."

In addition to back issues of "Penthouse," Vendor Don sells a lot of other stuff he's probably been collecting for decades. From Nintendo Gameboys (circa 1989) and comic books to toasters and hibachis, Don probably has more crap than all of the other vendors combined.

It was a little disturbing to see a DVD of Black Nurse Fantasies in the same window as a 22-guage CO2 pellet gun and a pair of deteriorating bear claws. But I did get a really cute purse for a dollar, so Don is cool in my book.

Speaking of weapons, for Kill Bill-esque Samurai blades, numchucks, stun guns, Chinese throwing stars and many, many knives, go to the "knife place," if you can handle the Vietnam vet vibe. (The website, sharpchoice.com, is pretty scary too.)

They even sell pellet guns from China which caution, "DO NOT SHOOT AT ANY HUMAN OR ANIMAL." Like I said, "creepy!"

If porn and weapons aren't your thing, there is plenty of other discount stuff like clothing, shoes, even Louis Vuitton and Confederate flag cell phone face plates and designer purse knock-offs. (Your girlfriend won't know the difference.)

For $5 or $8, you can get a really nice backpack to trek around Europe or the Amazon. Even furniture, appliances (some as hot as the Tucson sun, no doubt), and used VHS and DVD movies are ample.

Overall, most of the people, vendors and patrons alike, are very nice. The most interesting vendor by far was obviously Jimi Hendrix. No, he didn't come back from the dead, but he did show me two forms of ID.

Hendrix is actually a guy from Idaho born James Howard Hendrix who moved to Tucson two years ago to escape the cold. He doesn't play guitar, but he does play drums when not selling T-shirts, stoves and even kitchen sinks.

As for eating, Swap Meet food isn't all that appetizing, but the snowcones rock with plenty of flavors like cherry and piña colada.

The Tanque Verde Swap Meet is open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during various hours. Most folks show up either Friday or Saturday evening once the sun has gone down.

Even if you have nothing to swap, you could find something you might really want to buy. Plus, you'll never know what dead rock stars you might meet until you go.