No Moss

Unfortunately, no Stones turned up at
Hubert Sumlin's gig last night at the Silver Dollar. No Keef, no Ronnie, no Mick (whose 62nd birthday it was).

I was pretty sure something would happen, seeing as the Stones have a solid history of playing a small club gig every time they've been in town. And the Silver Dollar is about the only place they haven't popped up. They've done The Palais Royale, RPM, The Horsehoe, The El Mocambo. Seemed like the planets were aligning, with Hubert in town and Mick's birthday and all, and it was an early show, doors opened ay 6, show at 8.

Hubert, god bless 'im, took full advantage of the hype, not saying whether Keith or anyone else would show up, but hinting that there'd be some kind of surprise in store. The place was packed. And hot. And sweaty. I don't think I've ever experienced a hotter show. Tim, from the band, had reserved a ticket, as had I, which was great because the line-up was down the street. I almost didn't get in. I had to take two cracks at convincing the doorman that I had a space inside waiting for me. What neither Tim nor I realized was that this reserved us a table. When I got in, they showed me to the table, which had my name on it, and the other spot at the table was reserved for Tim. Thing is, neither of us had arranged this. It was just pure coincidence.

Didn't matter anyway, as we ended up maintaining spots right in front of the stage, at Hubert's feet, as it were. If Keith showed up to jam, we wanted to be able to count his wrinkles. Maybe catch a pick. It was a real sweat-fest though. No ceiling fans or anything. Despite the disappointment that no special guests showed up, it was a pretty good show. Can't say Hubert's band was overly impressive. The guitar player was pretty good, but not outstanding. I think the drummer was new, radar always up for cues from the other musicians.

As for Hubert, he doesn't have the fretboard fire he used to have, but then again, the man is 73 years old. With one lung, as he reminded us a couple of times. Still, he showed a few flashes of his old strength. It was great to be able to see one of the true architects of the electric Chicago blues guitar sound. This guy's sound helped shape the music of Howlin' Wolf, he played with Muddy Waters, and he even played on a few Chuck Berry sides. Last night he did Little Red Rooster, Sittin' On Top Of The World (twice!), You've Got To Help Me, Smokestack Lightnin', Got My Mojo Workin' and a few other chestnuts (or shoud I say, Chess-nuts).

I must say, I've always had a much greater appreciation for blues guitarists who play with that strength in the fingers, like they put 100% conviction in every note they play. Every bend is a manifesto. Every slide is a testament. The fast, flashy, smooth guys are great too, although speed demons leave me cold more often than not, but it's guys like Hubert and Albert Collins, the guys that attack the notes with a different degree of intensity, whether it's a seven-note salvo or just one simple phrase, they infuse it with every fibre of their being. It's like they're squeezing every ounce of feeling out of the strings. I really need to dig deeper into the blues guitar archives, and get to know more of the legends. I have several compilations on CD, and I'm fairly aware of the major songs by B.B., Muddy, Wolf, Albert Collins and a few others. But I know very little of Albert King, Freddie King, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, etc.

So anyway, in spite of the lack of surprise guests, it was still nice to be able to pay homage to one of the great blues guitar legends. Rock on Hubert.