But first, let’s recollect last Wednesday night.  Alvin Youngblood Hart brought the bayou to Boulder again, infusing the air with all that is Delta.  He also brought out a respectable number of musicians.  First, Jenn Cleary strolls in, followed by Al and Mary Chesis who were accompanied by guitar great, Joe Sciallo (I hadn’t made his acquaintance before, but was well aware of his reputation).  I’m fortunate to call Al and Mary friends, so of course it was wonderful to get to see them and hang out on the other side of the stage.  However, when I saw Otis Taylor walk in, I momentarily forgot my companions’ names.  I’d not met him before either.  Big night for me.  I also managed to finally locate my valor and approach Alvin, something I’d been too terrified to do the two previous times I’d heard him.  He was very solicitous and didn’t yell at me once!  I have no idea what in the world so quaked me about him, but we’re tight now (although he doubtfully doesn’t remember my name).   He promised me an interview his next time through town.  Let’s hope I don’t screw it up.   I could spend weeks watching and listening to him, without benefit of sleep or nutrition.  Well, maybe just some more ribs like the ones Pat King made that night and brought around for us.  [FUTURE MEMO TO DAN REGARDING PAT’S RIBS NEEDING TO BE ON THE MENU.  NOW.] 

I’ve been listening to Teresa Lynne’s Mistress of the Blues, and will tell you more about it very soon.  For now, however, it’s rocking my world!  Her cover of Muddy’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You” is so far beyond seductive that I’d have to make up a new word for an accurate description.  Any suggestions?

 
Lionel Young kind of got something wonderful started here last week with his recollections of the jam with Steady Rollin’ in Memphis.  So, now it’s Al’s turn.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.  Oh, and by the way, BOB’S COMING!!!

 
Margolin Memories From Al Chesis:

It was the late 1970's and we were a group of high school kids, doing what high school kids do; some of it good...some of it not so good. But we were into the blues. We listened to as much as we could get our hands on, but we especially dug the Muddy Waters stuff on the Blue Sky label. They were new albums back then.
 
When we heard Muddy was playing at Gaston Hall at GeorgetownUniversity,
we knew we were going. My friends and I were a little too young to get into the clubs Muddy frequented in DC, like his week-long runs at the Cellar Door, but we always caught his concerts.
 
The band came out and played a few songs then Jerry Portnoy would introduce Muddy and bring him up. He used to sit on a stool then and play the meanest slide around. Bob Margolin, Pinetop Perkins, Jerry Portnoy, Guitar Jr., Calvin Jones, and Willie " Big Eyes" Smith anchoring the rhythm section .It was the toughest, deepest blues I'd ever heard. Muddy was always stationed between Bob Margolin and Jerry Portnoy back then, Bob on Muddy's right and Jerry on the left.  The crowd was really responsive and Muddy came up at the end and did a couple of encores. Then at the end, Pinetop came up and played “Pinetop's Boogie Woogie” with no accompaniment from the band. It was a magical night. Soon after that I went out and bought my first harmonica.  I saw Muddy's band later on without this line-up in California, and it just wasn't the same.
 
The DC blues scene was happening then, and it kept on going a few years after that, based around clubs like the Cellar Door, Desperados, and the Childe Harold.  I guess Bob Margolin thought so too. I'm pretty sure he called D.C. home back then as his band worked up and down the Atlantic coast in the early 80's.  You could catch him and bands like the Nighthawks, Tom Principato, or Danny Gatton on any given night. You could also see Chicago blues legends like Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and James Cotton and others at Desperados on their travels from Chicago. It was a fairly small and intimate venue to catch blues legends of this stature. When he wasn't playing there, Bob used to hang out at Desperado's sometimes.
 
A few years later, when Stevie Ray Vaughn was starting to hit with his first album "Texas Flood," I went down to see the hotshot guitar player everyone was talking about at an eerie place called the Wax Museum. There were life-size figures of Presidents and other famous people to add to the atmosphere. It was an old wax museum, but it was a swingin' nightclub before it closed down. My buddy told me how Albert Collins cruised through the crowd playing guitar and doing shots a few weeks before with his long guitar cord.
 
Of course, Stevie Ray impressed, but at the end of the night he pulled Steady Rollin ' up for the last rockin' set. I can't remember too much of the specific songs they played, but that was 25 years ago and it left a big impression on me. It was happenin'. Maybe somebody has a cassette tape of it somewhere.
 
For me, it's an honor to get to play with Bob and dig into the deep blues I love
and have been listening to most of my life. When you listen to him, you are hearing an authority on all the great blues guitar styles. Of course Muddy is there, but there are also the King Family ( BB, Albert, and Freddie), T-Bone, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Robert Nighthawk, Luther Tucker, and the list goes on. It's like going to BluesCollege, and I learn a lot every time we do a gig together.  Al Chesis
 

Thank you very much, Al.  For those of you newer subscribers, here’s Blues Letter #11 in which I discuss the wonderful club Al mentions, Desperados, and the fact that Al and I were at some of the same shows, although we didn’t meet for another 25 years.  And now if you’ll excuse me, thanks to Al flooding my memories today, I’m going to go shed abundant tears in her memory.  She was a great club (within #11 is a link to musical history being made there, but has expired; I’ll find that account again; it involves George Thorogood and Jimmy Thackery).  http://www.bouldershomeoftheblues.com/News11.html

MEMO TO SHARON KING

Dear Sharon:

I hope you had a lovely vacation.  I’m sure you earn it on a daily basis. 

While on that note, would it be possible for you to keep me informed as to when Dan will be out of town?  I have lately been noticing a considerable decrease in my tenacity in keeping up with what’s going on with his schedule; I assume my analytical self has figured out it’s a losing battle, and something tells me you’re the more dependable source.  Any chance you can keep abreast of new musical developments for me as well?  Sure would make my life easier. 

Gratefully yours,

Honey

 
Dear Honey,

Got your memo…feel your pain.  But I'm confused.  I was told by a very reputable source that you are truly psychic – a veritable mind-reader – that you know what's happening without even a word.  Oh yeah, it was Dan who said that.

Here's to ESP.

Best,

Sharon