July 17 is the 17th anniversary of Mark Hannon’s passing. It’s amazing to me how quickly the years have passed. I miss Mark, and think of him often. He loved life so much that sometimes it’s still hard to get…
Blog Archives
Goodbye, Lonnie Brooks
I went to my old friend Lee Baker Jr./Lonnie Brooks’ funeral service today. In the mid 1970’s, when I was starting to get involved in the Chicago blues scene, I was aware of Lonnie Brooks, and had seen him once or…
Posted in Uncategorized
James Wheeler
I’m not sure how long I’ve known James, probably somewhere between 25-30 years. I first met James when Frank Pellegrino hired him to play with us at the Monday night blues jam at the Kingston Mines. He was not particularly…
Tagged with: blues, harlan terson, James Wheeler, Otis Rush, Rosa's Lounge
Posted in Thoughts on the State of the Blues
Posted in Thoughts on the State of the Blues
Goodbye, 2014
It was a very good year, and I want to thank everybody who helped to make it that way. Thanks to “Sax” Gordon Beadle, Andy Lösche, Tad Robinson, and Alex Schultz for bringing me to the Dubai Jazz Festival in…
Tagged with: Alex Schultz, Andy Loesch, Dave Specter, Gordon Beadle, Old Town School of Folk Music, Tad Robinson
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted in Uncategorized
40 Years of Misspent Musicianship (or, I Fool Around With Matches and Dynamite)
I came across this recently. It’s an old article, but I’ve encountered this person’s editorializing before. http://racetraitor.org/blues.html (an interesting concept in itself) Go ahead and check it out. Did you? Are you back? Alright, then. Things have changed in the last…
Tagged with: blues controversy, harlan terson, white blues
Posted in Thoughts on the State of the Blues
Posted in Thoughts on the State of the Blues
To Hell and Back
Home sweet home. After 14 hours of travel on three planes, I get to finally unwind. Good thing after not sleeping well for four nights in Hell. Hell, Norway, that is, a very lovely little town near Trondheim. Nice blues…
A week in the life of a working musician
I played last night at the Sin City Blues & Soul Revival in Las Vegas with my old friend, singer extraordinaire Tad Robinson. Tad told me this joke once: “How do you get a musician to complain? Give him a…
Posted in Thoughts on the State of the Blues
Goodbye, Joe
Last Sunday, I learned of the passing of two friends. Neither event was unexpected, but it does cause one to stop and reflect. First, learned of Mike’s passing. I was copied on an email from Bobbie, his significant other. It…
Posted in Uncategorized
Shawn Pittman
I had the pleasure last Thursday of doing a gig with my friend, drummer Jon Hiller, and his friend, guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Shawn Pittman. Shawn is from Oklahoma, and currently resides in Austin. The gig was for Friends Of The Blues in…
Harlan Lee Terson 