Sunday, August 13, 2006
Unexpected
What a weekend! A great show with Linwood and Clarence at Chick Hall's. Two of the great bluesmen finally playing at a big hall at last. Nice reunion with Jeff Conlin. Glad to know he's doing well. It's a nice thing for people to come to support that show and there were a lot of people there who wouldn't normally come out.
Then on Saturday, went back to Chick Hall's to witness the legendary bluesman Joe Louis Walker & the Bosstalkers. I started listening to JLW when I was about 16 on B.B. King's "Blues Summit" record. Then I picked up his "JLW" and "Silvertone Blues," and I was astonished. How could someone so versatile (he has a great range of material) be so soulful and real? He said I'm going to play the blues Joe Louis Walker style, slow and hard." In addition, he also played a bit of rock n'roll, delta and many different genres you can think of.
Then Linwood introduced me to Joe. He did not even doubt my playing and asked me to play on stage with him. "Would you mind?" I asked politely. Joe replied nicely, "If I mind, I wouldn't invite you up." What an honor! Thanks to Linwood, I got to sit in with the talented multiple WC Handy award winner (Contemporary blues artist and Blues Band of the Year). What I thought was a mediocre solo turned out to be a crowd-pleaser. Many people came up to me afterwards and said many nice things. I could not determine how I played b/c I could not hear myself in the monitor at all. Apparently, Joe liked it and had a smile on his face. That means a lot to me, since Joe plays the harp himself and is very good at it.
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Then on Saturday, went back to Chick Hall's to witness the legendary bluesman Joe Louis Walker & the Bosstalkers. I started listening to JLW when I was about 16 on B.B. King's "Blues Summit" record. Then I picked up his "JLW" and "Silvertone Blues," and I was astonished. How could someone so versatile (he has a great range of material) be so soulful and real? He said I'm going to play the blues Joe Louis Walker style, slow and hard." In addition, he also played a bit of rock n'roll, delta and many different genres you can think of.
Then Linwood introduced me to Joe. He did not even doubt my playing and asked me to play on stage with him. "Would you mind?" I asked politely. Joe replied nicely, "If I mind, I wouldn't invite you up." What an honor! Thanks to Linwood, I got to sit in with the talented multiple WC Handy award winner (Contemporary blues artist and Blues Band of the Year). What I thought was a mediocre solo turned out to be a crowd-pleaser. Many people came up to me afterwards and said many nice things. I could not determine how I played b/c I could not hear myself in the monitor at all. Apparently, Joe liked it and had a smile on his face. That means a lot to me, since Joe plays the harp himself and is very good at it.
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