Cleveland – The Joker let the promoters at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have it for being schmucks – on live tv, no less – but the negative chin music came only after he gave the crowd an impressive resume of how a blues man from Big D paid his dues.
The edited version in the Press Room sounded like this:
“You know the blues got pregnant, and they named the baby rock and roll,” he reminded his audience, attributing the remark to Muddy Waters. But he mentioned that he knew Howling Wolf well and played in Buddy Guy’s band – in Chicago – for several years.
And then he gave a detailed version of what it was like to come to San Francisco in a VW microbus with five bucks in his pocket, which he spent on a ticket at the Fillmore to see the Butterfield Blues Band. Looks like he was just beginning to pay his dues. Good story.
This is what a class act looks and acts like, folks. Get a load of it.
For a Dallas boy long gone, it brought mist to the eye and a lump in the throat, and it reminded one to remember. Hey, folks, Big D is a man’s town full of grown-up boys and girls. They don’t take no jive, live, at five, or anywhere it really counts.
Bravo!
So mote it be.
- The Legend