You gotta have fun, fun, fun...
The Hat has been down
in the Mansions basement checking out the cardboard boxes and the old
suitcases. If you don't yet have boxes or cases, don't worry, they
will sneak up on you eventually. They may appear in the attic or the
spare room, under the bed or on top of the wardrobe. You just wait
and see. They have a purpose. This is where you put things that you
can't bear to part with, things that may come in useful one day and
things that will remind you of a precious moment that, in due course,
inevitably, you will not be able to remember. Your children will
complain that the house is turning into a museum but you will resist
– because this is Important Stuff.
The reason for the
rummage was a hunt for a particular concert programme. "Oh,
yes". I hear you nod. "I've got all my blues programmes in a
cardboard box somewhere...I must get them out one day, they must be
worth an absolute fortune...." well that's as maybe but what
sparked this hunt was the Magic Name......Johnny Winter.
The Hat was lucky
enough to see Johnny backing Muddy Waters in the late 70s – an
amazingly talented albino guitarist playing blues alongside the
legendary black blues icon. A moment to be savoured - and The Hat
kept the programme - in a cardboard box. Now thirty five years later
Johnny is coming on a short tour to the UK and is sold out almost
everywhere. I know someone who managed to secure virtually the last
two tickets at The Sage in Newcastle and I am so covetous I am
considering offering him my best friend Cozy the cat in part
exchange. Johnny was quite ill and has had some tough times in his
extraordinary career and now plays mostly sitting down - but then so
did John Lee and so does BB and it doesn't affect his talent one iota. He was internationally famous in his twenties and his back
catalogue is a list of some of the most famous names in the blues
world - and he is still sticking it to the man. Not long ago he
featured at Clapton's Crossroad Festival (checkout Highway 61
on Youtube) and just in 2011 he released yet another record which, if
you look at the small print, features Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks and
Susan Tedeschi amongst others...and so they continue to queue....
Of that distant
seventies memory, for The Hat, one feature overshadows even the
musicianship. Fun Was Being Had. Here were prodigiously
talented musicians, playing together, having a good time – and how
it flows off the stage and embraces the audience. This is the magic
of live performance and oftentimes the magic of a festival, outside
that sometimes severe cold clutch of a concert hall. The Hat has
written before about those never-to-be-repeated festival moments and
this Johnny Winter Programme Mullarkey jumped into his head when he
saw some recent photographs taken by the brilliant Tony Winfield at
this year's Scarborough Blues Festival. The sight of Messrs, Nimmo,
Amor and Siegal, (no slouch there) ripping it up in front of a live
audience and clearly having fun will have supplied everyone there
with a moment to put in their blues cardboard box and keep for ever.
You cannot buy these moments and they will be gone tomorrow.
The Hebden Bridge Blues
Festival last year - and the year before - seemed to have had enough of
those moments to fill several boxes and a suitcase. Whether you were
tucked into one of the Juke Joints, bouncing joyously to Boneyard or
Bonnie Mac; bonding in BarPlace whilst Ben Poole or Tom Attah got you
punching the air or even throwing shapes in front of the main stage
whilst Jenna Hooson lifted your lid, it didn't matter. What got you - every
time - was the good time. Bit of a no-brainer really. That may well
be the secret ingredient that the Hebden organisers have spotted and
bottled and a crucial part of the recipe that got them the Best
Festival award. This year looks to be another opportunity to collect
More Stuff for the Memory Box. A seriously smart and updated website
lists a seriously classy and enterprising line up of talent
and you can find it here...
http://yorkshirebluesfestival.co.uk/ .... Tell your friends what they are missing and go and have fun,
fun,fun...
Oh, and by the way, I
found the programme. It was in a cardboard box. It must be worth an absolute fortune....
Pip Pip!
The Man in The Hat.
Pic thanks to Tony
Winfield