Blues Society of Western PA - Newsletter

There are only a handful of national Blues stars that appear to enjoy the crowds as much as the crowds enjoy them. When you hook up with one of them, it is
something special. We continuously put these “stars” up on a pedestal. Some like it up there and stay. However, some just want to be one of the fans.

Guitar Shorty played just one day at the Heritage Festival in Wheeling, West Virginia. He was seen “hanging around” with the fans the entire three days of the festival. He went from one group to another. I first spotted him in the local Mexican Restaurant in downtown Wheeling. We mad eye contact. He smiled. I then went up to him and said, “I can’t wait to hear you play.” He extended his hand, we shook and he said, “I can’t wait either.” We do a yearly group photo of the Moondogs’ crowd. Shorty was asked to join. He did not grumble or complain. He simply said, “I’d love to do that.” The look in his eyes said that it was as much fun for him being asked as it was for us to have him in our picture. He made the after-jam two nights and enjoyed every minute. When he spotted Jeff video taping the jam, he walked right up in front of the camera and beckoned for Billy the Kid to come over too. Jeff got some great footage.
Michael Burks is of the same mold. He hangs in the crowd long after he plays. I have seen it take him an hour to walk one hundred feet because he was stopped so many times. When he talks to the fans, he is not looking around. He is paying attention to what they are saying. When a local Pittsburgh musician was going through some hard times, he would call Michael for advice. Michael helped every time the musician called and actually took the time to be a friend.

Watermelon Slim seems to be more at ease when he is in the crowd than when he is back stage. I saw him walk around the food booths saying, “Hi!” along the way until he decided on having an ice cream cone. He talked to everyone who came up. I spotted a Moondog T-shirt at Tampa this year. The man was seated about thirteen feet from us. I went
over to say, “Hi!” and introduce myself. During the conversation he mentioned that every time Watermelon Slim came to Pittsburgh that Slim would stop at his house. He relayed some of the stories that they
had swapped. I always take those things with a grain of salt. However, when Slim was setting up on stage, the man yelled, “Hey Slim.” Slim looked around until he spotted him. He yelled back, “Hey, Steve. How are you doing and how is Sandy?” The names are probably wrong but the story is not.

There are more performers like that but these three have really impressed me the most. I do not know about other genres of music and their stars. These guys are genuine and make me proud to be a Blues fan. Remember, it was Luther Allison who said, “Leave your ego, play the music, and love the people.”

-- Jim Weber