Vale: BB King.

I'm not sure when I first became aware of BB King, but I suspect it was in my Blues Brothers days when I'd hang out with Rob and listen to vinyl by artists like Solomon Burke and Sonny Terry. I do remember being captivated by those sweet little licks he'd play. Nothing flashy, nothing difficult, but no excess either. Every note told a story, and the story was the blues.

I saw BB King only once, sometime in the 80s. What a great show! I would have loved to have seen him again, and again, but it wasn't to be. And now it's too late.

If you haven't read his autobiography, I recommend that you do so as soon as possible. He truly was poor, being the son of a sharecropper, picking cotton as a child and basically living alone from the age of ten. He had a real tough start to his life, but it speaks testaments to the man that he did what he did from those humble beginnings.

Last night I played two BB King albums back to back and raised a glass of red wine to his memory.

He was 89.

I Remember When I Was Young.

When I was younger and the world was still black and white and dinosaurs ruled the earth, I used to venture out on the weekend to see live bands.

There ain't nothing quite like the feeling of watching musicians on stage and letting their music flow over you. Several bands from that era stand out in my mind. Tinsley Waterhouse Band was a group of blues players. They were the first band I ever saw where I recognised the rhythm section locking in - drums and bass thumping and driving the whole thing. Another was Reverend Blues and the Blues Messengers. John Santos (ex-Kush) was their musical director, and boy, did they have a great horn section.

Around the same time I used to head down to Carlton to see Tansey's Fancy, a Sydney group who specialised in folk. I suppose now it would be called Medieval World music.

None of these ever became household names, although I recently learned Mara from Tansey's Fancy is still performing, teaching and is doing quite well. But these are the artists who defined that period of time for me.

I've seen Collard, Greens and Gravy a few times (and they are excellent) but generally I'm out of touch with the live blues scene. Are there any great blues bands playing in Melbourne these days?

Faking The Blues.

This week I read an interview with a blues artist I've never heard of before, Eugene Hideaway Bridges. I still haven't had a chance to hear his music, but it was a pretty cool interview. And he said some really interesting things. But there was one quote I especially liked.

"A fake blues is like listening to Dick Van Dyke play an English person in Mary Poppins."

Which is true. You can tell when someone is faking the blues - the same as you can tell when a writer is faking science fiction, or any other genre for that matter. It just doesn't ring true.

Which comes back to 'write what you know.' And know its history.

Mayan Blues.

And so the Mayan apocalypse came and went with barely a blip on the radar. It was a bit of fun, counting down the minutes, but ultimately I don't know anyone who actually took it seriously. Or at least I don't think I do.

Here in the afterlife, things are pretty much the same. The list of stories to be written on my wall is largely unchanged, the stack of books waiting to be read seems larger, even though I get through a couple a week, and most TV is still rubbish. Thank goodness for DVDs.

I've been listening to a lot of old blues. B.B. King, Taj Mahal, James Cotton, Johnny Copeland, Stevie Ray Vaughan - just to name a few. Seems appropriate in this post apocalyptic world.

Remember, the blues ain't nothin' but a feeling.