I went to a blues Festival a while back. On the bill was Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, The Five Blind Boys from Alabama. It was an outdoor festival, with vendors selling BBQ chicken and ribs. It was a very cool scene. A freind of mine had back stage passes and was involved in a personal project to do portraits of blues legends. Since he had two passes, he let me come along.
I watched a lot of the show from the stage, enjoying some ribs and music. I decided to go back stage at some point an see if I could hook up with my friend. I found him just as he was getting some shots of Sonny Boy Williamson. He was setting up a shot of just his hands and needed me to hold the background. As I held the back ground I was transfixed by this legend's hands. Rich brown in color and with every line so much history. Every blues story that has ever been told could be read clearly by looking at his hands.
We hung out a little bit with Bo Diddley and some of his friends and band. I never joined the conversation. It was just fun to be a fly on the wall so to speak and sit and watch. I had met Bo and at some point got an autograph. It seems to me that blues music is the only music genre where you can get amazing access to some incredible people who are destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To top it all of they are still performing, and doing it as well, if not better, than they ever have. When Bo Diddley handed back the autograph he gave me, he told me - probably what he tells everyone when he signs an autograph - "Now you know Diddley, boy".
indeed.
As I was hanging around backstage. Which being an outdoor festival is kind of misleading. It was behind and to the right of the stage. The backstage area was only separated from the audience by a chain linked fence. I was hanging out, lying on the grass, and I noticed a older (maybe '75) black, Cadillac limo pull into the back stage area and just sit parked in the middle of the area.
I expected one of the performers to hop in the back seat after their set and speed away. I started to notice that one by one musicans come up to the back window and speak with whoever was in the back seat. It wasn't until Buddy Guy came over to the limo and had a longer conversation with the mystery limo passenger, that I noticed a hand come out of the crack in the window to meet Buddy's and shake it. It was a slender, arthritic hand jeweled in several different rings. I caught wind of Buddy's words that said, "John Lee".
I then realized the man in the back was John Lee Hooker and while he was not performing in the festival; he came to say hello to his friends. Or rather the other way around. He was holding court like the master he was and all the greats made a point of paying their respects.
The quinessential cool.
I remember another blues festival I went to. Performers that day included Joe Cocker, Dr. John, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and the Late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The concert was sponsored by the cigarette company Benson Hedges. They had a stand out in the front of the venue with all kinds of sample pack of their cigarettes. People were filling their purses and bags with the samples. How different everything is today and it strikes me that this happened only ten years ago.
I had been a fan of SRV for some time but never saw him play. The whole experience was fantastic, of course I was exhillerated at Stevie's performance.
My friend John was there, taking pictures of the performers for a publication. My girlfriend was supposed to go with me, but had broken up with me about a week before the concert. Oh, well what else are the blues for than a good man that had been wronged by a woman.
John had given me one of the pictures of SRV he took that day and it is wonderful. It is such a surreal experience, I have a picture (in a frame with an unused ticket stub) of the first and last time I saw a legend play).
I watched a lot of the show from the stage, enjoying some ribs and music. I decided to go back stage at some point an see if I could hook up with my friend. I found him just as he was getting some shots of Sonny Boy Williamson. He was setting up a shot of just his hands and needed me to hold the background. As I held the back ground I was transfixed by this legend's hands. Rich brown in color and with every line so much history. Every blues story that has ever been told could be read clearly by looking at his hands.
We hung out a little bit with Bo Diddley and some of his friends and band. I never joined the conversation. It was just fun to be a fly on the wall so to speak and sit and watch. I had met Bo and at some point got an autograph. It seems to me that blues music is the only music genre where you can get amazing access to some incredible people who are destined for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. To top it all of they are still performing, and doing it as well, if not better, than they ever have. When Bo Diddley handed back the autograph he gave me, he told me - probably what he tells everyone when he signs an autograph - "Now you know Diddley, boy".
indeed.
As I was hanging around backstage. Which being an outdoor festival is kind of misleading. It was behind and to the right of the stage. The backstage area was only separated from the audience by a chain linked fence. I was hanging out, lying on the grass, and I noticed a older (maybe '75) black, Cadillac limo pull into the back stage area and just sit parked in the middle of the area.
I expected one of the performers to hop in the back seat after their set and speed away. I started to notice that one by one musicans come up to the back window and speak with whoever was in the back seat. It wasn't until Buddy Guy came over to the limo and had a longer conversation with the mystery limo passenger, that I noticed a hand come out of the crack in the window to meet Buddy's and shake it. It was a slender, arthritic hand jeweled in several different rings. I caught wind of Buddy's words that said, "John Lee".
I then realized the man in the back was John Lee Hooker and while he was not performing in the festival; he came to say hello to his friends. Or rather the other way around. He was holding court like the master he was and all the greats made a point of paying their respects.
The quinessential cool.
I remember another blues festival I went to. Performers that day included Joe Cocker, Dr. John, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker and the Late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The concert was sponsored by the cigarette company Benson Hedges. They had a stand out in the front of the venue with all kinds of sample pack of their cigarettes. People were filling their purses and bags with the samples. How different everything is today and it strikes me that this happened only ten years ago.
I had been a fan of SRV for some time but never saw him play. The whole experience was fantastic, of course I was exhillerated at Stevie's performance.
My friend John was there, taking pictures of the performers for a publication. My girlfriend was supposed to go with me, but had broken up with me about a week before the concert. Oh, well what else are the blues for than a good man that had been wronged by a woman.
John had given me one of the pictures of SRV he took that day and it is wonderful. It is such a surreal experience, I have a picture (in a frame with an unused ticket stub) of the first and last time I saw a legend play).
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