| Photo Information |
Copyright: Reed Radcliffe (rlrad)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 99 W: 9 N: 215]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-g.gif) (830) |
| Genre: People |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2003-08-31 |
| Categories: Event, Action |
| Camera: OLYMPUS C3030Z |
| Exposure: f/2.8, 1/50 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Map: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2009-03-23 5:04 |
| Viewed: 192 |
| Points: 0 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
This image was captured on Memorial Day weekend in 2003 - the event was The Big Muddy Blues Festival, it was a great annual event that brought big name blues artists to St. Louis for free. These shows were incredible. They were two or three days of several bands on four stages. The main (Budweiser) stage always had the headline acts, usually some real-deal blues man from Chicago or the Mississippi Delta.
In 2003 the main act for the fest was Bobby "Blue" Bland, a blues singer from way back. He was backed up by Bennie Smith and the Urban Blues Express (a local St. Louis act until Bennie died last year) and this group, The Chicago Blues All Stars.
I got some signatures in my blues book this day. Bob Margolin is the white guy on the left. How can a fat, old white guy be a "real deal" blues man, you ask? Well, Bob Margolin was a 1970's guitar prodigy. He also had a thirst for the blues like no other white kid at that time. When he spent 7 years playing guitar in Muddy Waters' band, they nicknamed him "Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin. He put together a crack band of blues players in 2003 and we didn't know what we were in for. The band this day was Bob Margolin (MySpace link) (on left, lead guitar), Mookie Brill (center, bass), the great Carey Bell (right, harp, deceased 2007), Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (hidden behind Bob, drums), Pinetop Perkins (not pictured, piano) and Hubert Sumlin (not pictured, guitar). During the jam, Johnnie Johnson (he was the piano player in Chuck Berry's original band, deceased 2005) joined on a few numbers. This was about 400 years or more of collective blues experience and knowledge, four centuries of paying dues to play the blues. Well, you know what we, the St. Louis cheap-ass, free festival going people got, right? We got a lesson in the blues, an afternoon of steady rollin', harp drenched, rockin' Chicago Blues. It was stupendous, most of the folks in the crowd had no idea what they were experiencing. I sat rapt, unbelieving, and almost forgot to take the pictures. Most of the ones I got were awful, I was paying no attention to the camera. I couldn't. The music was just too good, the experience was too rare, I knew I would never again see this much blues on one stage.
So that's why the sky is blown out. I guess I could've spent some time filling it with sky blue sky, but the sky is not the focus - it is these bluesmen. When ever you get a chance to see Bob Margolin - tell him you saw him on the web. |
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