Joliet Blues Man

I was pretty excited when I heard that a new blues club opened up in a far southwest suburb of Chicago. Last Friday night I was treated to one of the best blue shows ever. T-Bird Huck.  I previously hung out at a club that was cool. This one is even better. The manager, Sterling loves the blues and the other place got rid of the number one fan of the blues, Mike.  It is a dimly lit venue that holds just about 100 people. The staff is very friendly and accommodating. I asked Linda, our waitress for some paper to write this article. She came back with a whole legal pad and pen. She is my favorite pirate or should I say wench she was dressed as one of those because it was the Halloween weekend.  I cannot comment on the quality of cocktails served because I only drink non-alcoholic drinks such as cranberry juice. All drinks are $2 each. They should be at least 4 bucks considering the quality of entertainment that plays there every Friday night.  

T-Bird Huck is an often misunderstood Blues Man. He credits Howlin Wolf as his inspiration. The Bird man told me a story about how a friend and he went to HW’s house and knocked on the door. He was about 20 years old at the time.  The Wolf’s wife answered the door and invited the two of them in. He blabbered something about that HW is the greatest and he was his biggest fan. HW’s wife asked them to sit down. She went and disappeared for a minute and in walked Howlin Wolf.  Greetings were exchanged all around and after that first meet they become friends. T-Bird opened up for Howlin Wolf on numerous occasions and considered him a close friend. T-bird eyes watered when he told me about going to Howlin’ Wolf’s funeral. If it had not been for that knock on the door we may not have had this great blues artist.

T-bird picked up his Telecaster, plucked that guitar and strutted across that stage just like I envision that little red rooster he was singing about. Jimmy (keys) Caleca provided an amazing Hammond M 3 counterpoint to T-Bird’s guitar wizardry. (I never thought I would ever write that word “counterpoint” in a blues post.) Ben Smith, Bassman and Kalbo held the rhythm section in very tight.   I swear T-Bird was channeling the wolf during his performance. It was jammed packed with emotion and a bucketful of pain and absolutely the best rendition of “Little Red Rooster” ever. It is amazing the artistry that the Chicago land area has. It happens all the time around this town. I just wish I was able to hear them all, but I got to sleep once and awhile.  

T-Bird is a musician who absorbs guitar licks like a sponge and plays them in an entirely different blues style. He is a musician’s musician.  During his performance of “Boom, Boom” his shadow fell on a blank wall and that shadow looked like a profile of Stevie Ray. John Lee Hooker and all the “Kings” were manipulating his vocal cords.  Muddy had his right hand and T-Bone held his left.  He performed that song with such intensity and fury that it seemed like some of the candles dimmed in reverence to those departed souls.

“My Own Fault” is a song that is played and played and played over and over again. It has been beat to death.   T-Bird’s version was beyond compare. It sizzled. He sang it like it was the last song he would ever sing. The emotion he bought to this song was as if he was pleading for his life in front of the woman he scorned and she is standing over him with a meat cleaver ready to strike. The thing about T-Bird is the songs that are not his, become his as soon as he picks the first note.  He packs 2,000 pounds of creativity in each and every version and presents them to the audience as an audio delight of raw beauty. He is the Picasso of the Blues.

T-bird plays a damn wicked guitar. He also plays a gut wrenching, full throttle, damn the torpedoes type Mississippi saxophone (Harmonica).  Oh almost forgot, he does a great impression of Vito Corleone from “The Godfather” movie.

You can see and hear T-Bird, Jimmy Caleca and Ben Smith, every Friday night at the D’Blue Room. It is located behind the House of Hughes 201East Maple Street (RT 30) New Lenox, Illinois. 1-815-462-9000 Call ahead to find out who is playing Saturdays, there is always a different act. $5 buck cover pays for the band. It is

worth it, every penny. 

"Jimmy's Blues"  Video has Doug "Rifleman" Horan on bass

"If your Rocking I'm Walking!!!"

Terry "Gatorman" Lape

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"BLUES ME OR LOSE ME"

A Friday Night in the Blues Capital

Last Friday night my "hey let's go hear some blues buddy" Jim and I picked up LV Banks and headed to Kingston Mines. http://www.kingstonmines.com/ Magic Slim and the Teardrops were playing in the south room and Joanna Connor was in the north room. They play one room (Magic) for an hour then everyone goes over to the next room for an hour (Joanna). Back and forth it goes until 4am. They start at 9pm. We caught two sets of Magic. I pulled into my driveway at 3am. It was a long Night.

If anyone knows anything about Chicago they know that parking anywhere in Lincoln Park Friday night is nearly impossible. Let me rephrase that, if you want to park in a parking garage for 20 bucks go ahead or park illegally, but be prepared for about $150.00 parking ticket. Recently the city of Chicago sold all the parking meters to a private company. The new company raised the fees. What they forgot to do was increase the size of the coin boxes. The company cannot empty the cash fast enough and the city has issued more tickets than usual. I have friends that live within a ten minute walk of the Mines. Their house is in a very expensive area of the city. In this area of town you cannot touch a property for less than 1.5 mil. Pete and his wife always invite me to visit. My favorite reply is, "Where do I Park?” They solved the problem. Now when I come over they let me park on the apron of their garage. In Chicago almost everyone has an alley and the garages empty into the alleys. parking in that spot saved us money. We piled into a cab that was driven by a guy from Somalia. In Chicago cabs are driven by guys from Somalia. It is a rule. We took a cab because it was raining. Short 5 minute ride 10 bucks. Wild and short just like a tilt-a-whirl.

Kingston Mines has very tight and large security. His name is BJ. I do not know why people connected with the blues use initials instead of names. You know LV, BJ, BB. I told BJ that we were with LV. BJ gave us a free pass. The Mines charges a $15 cover. LV saved us $75. We entered through swinging doors and there it was the infamous Kingston Mines. The place is not much of a show palace. It’s just a bar, bunch of tables and some Mississippi river boat scenes on the walls, but it is the most famous blues club period. Frank the emcee climbed the three steps up to the stage and explained about fire rules, dancing and his dad doc. Doc And LV go way back and have not seen each other for 20 years. Doc started the mines about 200 years ago. I’m just kidding Doc, about 60 years ago. If there was a blues kingdom Doc would be King. He is BLUES royalty. The list of musicians he employed during those past years are as thick as a Chicago Phone book. Name one that's not on the list.

Magic Slim is a very large man at about 6 and 1/2 feet. When Magic saw LV he smiled from ear to ear. LV and Magic gigged together in the mid 60's. LV told me later about a woman they were both involved with. I do not know if that's true or not. Sure sounds like a good blues story.

John McDonald, Magic's guitar player, and my "hey let's go hear some blues buddy” Jim struck up a nice lengthy conversation. John told Jim that the group is on the road for three months and home for two weeks. Then that cycle repeats. That is a grueling schedule. They are a hardworking bunch.

Magic’s band took the stage. I listen to a lot of blues bands and in my opinion can tell from the first four beats if the group has been schooled in the blues. Magic’s band has three college professors and each member holds a Doctorate Degree with a discipline in Bluesology. Magic's band kicked and kicked it hard. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Magic was escorted to the stage. He sat in a bar stool mid stage. Mike, the goups manger, handed him his guitar while Magic settled back. BOOM that “workweek waiting for Friday night” note hit. The blues lovers went nuts. He knocked it out of the park, he shoots he scores (insert here all catch phrases you have ever heard to describe excellence in performance).

Believe me when I say,” Magic is traditional West Side Chicago blues”. He makes the guitar sing as much as he does. I’ll quote Magic and say his favorite catch phrase “I ain’t lying.” He is well worth the cost of admission and is very approachable. He is one of the old school blues men. As we say in the business he is “THE REAL DEAL.”

.Blues Me Or Lose Me,

Terry “Gatorman” Lape

CD "Mark of The Gator"

Chicago to Memphis to Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, Mississippi

Ground Zero Blues Club

Owners Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett

I am sharing a trip I made to Clarksdale with my blues friends in the Chicagoland area as your contributing correspondent from Memphis. I hope you enjoy the visit.

This week we venture south from Memphis down old 61 Highway (a topic of the famous Mississippi Fred McDowell song) to play at Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. This place is a converted cotton grading building and warehouse where samples of cotton from growers were assembled and graded upstairs by holding them up to a skylight in the roof. Now the upstairs area is furnished with nice apartments which are available for rent. It is known as the Delta Cotton Company apartments and here's the link:

http://www.groundzerobluesclub.com/apartment.php

The downstairs area is a big juke joint replete with rustic delta food and furnishings and graffiti on every surface of the place. It is a warm, inviting place to play the blues.

The club is owned by famous actor Morgan Freeman and my old friend Bill Luckett, who is a fine attorney. I believe Bill is running for Governor of the state. He is an exceptionally friendly man who is often to be seen in the club with his wife on Saturday evenings, greeting folks and tripping the light fantastic on the old dance floor.

Jumping James Cunningham and Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms

After about an hour and a half ride through the verdant Mississippi delta, my brother and I arrived at the club and met our friend Walt, the club's superb sound engineer. We loaded in the gear and checked the sound as patrons arrived. This club, which I have played many times, most always has a good crowd of friendly blues fans and weekend revelers.

Eric Hughes and Leo Goff

On this night the Eric Hughes band was joined by my longtime friend Leo Goff, who is one of the few true geniuses I have been fortunate to meet in this lifetime. Among other accomplishments, Leo, known as the "freight train of pain" holds 5 land speed records, has lectured at MIT, worked for NASA, and spent a good part of last week rebuilding a 1959 Maserati engine in his shop. Not only is he a great bassist, but he can also rebuild your Ferrari for you or engineer some stuff to take you to the moon and beyond. Leo is currently being talked into building me a three wheeled motorcycle using eight feet tall airplane tires which I will drive down Beale Street on Wednesday bike nights.

Memphis Mike Forrest on his '68 Stratocaster

Ground Zero stage loaded with gear

The Leo Goff Signature Model bass by Barker

Leo is endorsed by the Barker bass company who makes his signature Leo Goff upright electric bass. It sounds tremendous and he plays it with a ferocious fluidity of manual dexterity.

Leo's inlaid signature

Eric Hughes on stage

James Cunningham on the drums

The Eric Hughes band took the stage, playing an assortment of original tunes and some classic old blues. The rollicking crowd danced, drank and ate from a menu of southern delights such as catfish and fried green tomatoes. This club is always fun. If you can't attend their shows they have them available as a live worldwide streaming feed to your computer. This month they will have Super Chiken, my old friend and band mate Butch Mudbone, more old friends Earl the Pearl and the Peoples of the Blues( I have been one of the "Peoples" many nights), and my buddy Blind Mississippi Morris who was seen in last week's blog. Also my friends in the fine Jimbo Mathus band will be appearing at the club and a fine blues jam is hosted there every Wednesday night.

Ground Zero is the crux of the blues happenings in this part of the delta. The live feed is available at:

http://groundzerobluesclubmusic.com/intro.html

Mike Forrest and Leo Goff

Dancers hit the floor before the set begins

Eric Hughes blows a tune on harmonica

Eric Hughes Band(photo by Jay Moore)

author, brother Jeff Tooms, Mike Forrest(photo by Jay Moore)

Razor Blade sits in for a couple of numbers(photo by Jay Moore)

During our last set our friend, Clarksdale blues man, Razor Blade sat in with the band for a couple of numbers. Razor has a great voice, is a local favorite and a sharp dresser. It capped off a great night of blues, dancing and a club full of friendly folks. Tourists from all over the world come to Ground Zero to experience some legitimate juke joint atmosphere and they are always welcomed with open arms by the friendly down home folks of the delta.

Eric Hughes(photo by Belinda Moore)

We were delighted to see our old friends Jay and Belinda Moore and we missed seeing our buddy Brian LaPrade who was down with a back injury. Get well, Brian! You could not ask for more genuine kind friends than these folks and they have become like members of my family.

Getting ready to pack up the show and head for Memphis(photo by Jay Moore)

Photo by Belinda Moore

Ground Zero is the real deal. It is located next to the Delta blues Museum and the area has several old time real juke joints. If you are a lover of the blues and want to see where it all came from, visit Clarksdale. The food, music and friendly folks will make you glad you came. Just don't linger at the crossroads and let a guy named Old Scratch tune your guitar and hand it back to you.

If you can find a way to get there, the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival is the undisputed destination of choice for true blues fans from around the globe.

Here's a link:

http://www.bluesandheritagefest.com/


©2009, Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms