Baby boomers are not aging gracefully. I went to a Johnny Winter concert last night. Never have I seen so many overweight, 50+ and probably divorced men together at the same time in one room in my life. It was bizarre. And the music? Loud, discordant, like the whole point of it was to see how much punishment your eardrums could take. No wonder they had to help him out on stage. He’s not blind, he’s dizzy. His inner ears were destroyed years ago. And one other thing. I know he’s been doing this a long time, but the guy never moved – never showed any sense of rhythm at all. No tapping toes, no bobbing of the head – nothing! He’s probably deaf.
Now granted, it’s been awhile since I went to a blues concert or heard it live. When I was in college I used to hang out in bars where they played the blues. Usually these bands featured one extraordinary guitarist and if they were any good they could usually pack the house. And I know this guy was at Woodstock. But I also revere people like Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, ect. and I think that’s what blues is/are. The blues is singing. Yeah, you got a wailing guitar and preferably a mouth harp, too – notably missing from last night’s performance. Well, last night you couldn’t hear anything except cacophonous noise with a backbeat. That ain’t blues.
No comments:
Post a Comment