Magic Slim
It has been a very long weekend for me. It was a tremendous amount of fun. I am sort of sad to say this, but in a way I am glad it's over. I am dead tired, but it was really worth it. I guess I don't bounce back as well as I did in my younger days.
Friday night, I headed up to San Francisco to Biscuits and Blues to see Magic Slim and the Teardrops. The first time that I saw Magic Slim was in 1983. I've seen him more times than I can remember or count. There is a very simple reason. He always has an excellent band and he always puts on a great show. Friday night's festivities were no exception.
I took BART into the city. After a ten minute walk and dismissing about a dozen bums looking for spare change, I arrived at the club shortly before the show started. I took a seat at the bar.
It was a very good show. Slim really tore it up during the second set. He played several standard tunes and he also mixed in a handful of self-penned songs from his most recent CD. There is nobody quite like Magic Slim. He has his own inimitable and very unique style. He can take often heard songs and make them his own. They always come off sounding fresh. He is also a human jukebox. It seems like he knows about a million songs and he always plays at least one song that I've never heard him play before. I really dug hearing him cover Johnny Christian's, "(If You Got To) Love Somebody" and Little Milton's "The Blues Is Alright." I think he is virtually untouchable on those really slow blues tunes that drag like a long slow freight train pulling out of the railroad yard. His guitar solos have plenty of room to breathe and his razor sharp guitar playing slices a hole right into your soul. He's like the old school players that never really seem to hit a wrong note. It always seems to come out sounding absolutely perfect.
Before I knew it, the time flew by and the night was over.
For the first time this weekend I would say, "this may have been the best show that I've seen all year long."
No comments:
Post a Comment