Today’s excerpt is from “Lad on a Softened Stoop” “…Three bands were showcased that night at The Cellar. It was a special night. First, but not least, was Otis Rush, the accomplished Southside bluesman. The second act was the father of the Chicago blues, Muddy Waters. Both bands were on a rare foray into white suburbia. Muddy Waters almost overwhelmingly preferred to stay on the Southside. Glenn Reaper and Joe had seen him play there. Otis Rush played many of the Southside and Westside bars. Every so often, he played Wise Fools Pub on Halsted in the Near Northside where white kids, who were now digging the blues, could hear an authentic “down home” Chicago blues band without the risk of heading into the black ghetto. The third act was the reason Otis Rush and Muddy Waters had been persuaded to mingle with the white folks thirty five miles from the city and many leagues or far fathoms from the Southside. Three white boys from England had embraced the blues and turned the art form up a notch. The Chicago Blues establishment had monolithically approved. Not modestly but, at least, correct in color, the invading Brits called themselves, “Cream.” Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton had released one record, “Fresh Cream.” Their second album, “Disraeli Gears” would be released within a month. “Sunshine of Your Love” had not begun to plaster the airwaves. So how was Joe to know? Three guys from England stepped onto the stage. The three Brits started humming the intro to “I Feel Free.” How was Joe to know? He had caught the eye of some girl from Des Plaines, two towns closer yet to the city. She was a high breasted, willing beauty whose name he never caught. The two left for the parking lot and for the back seat of Sam’s Thunderbird. Years later, Joe would be justifiably belittled and ridiculed for missing Cream…” #IPOD #LadonaSoftenedStoop #FourFathers #book #authors
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 19:23:33 +0000
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