Taj Mahal – aka Henry ST. Clair Fredricks – once said this incredible mouthful – “Particularly with the blues, it’s not just about bad times. It’s about the healing spirit. “
A group of 92128 characters were able to access some of this healing at the San Diego Blues Festival recently and we were informed that she caught the Cady and left him a mule to ride; we were counseled to take a giant step and be natch’l.
Most important we were given a chance to stop being so white and to tuck into some East African food or a plate of red beans and rice spiked with a hot link. Our folks lined up an array of folding chairs and enjoyed the spectacle. We were delighted to watch our old contemporaries dancing without rhythm and eating and drinking without remorse. At 77 years, Taj is really an ambassador of what we now call World Music and you can hear the sounds of Africa, the Caribbean and Mississippi all at once as he growls and finger picks straight at ya. Taj just, “plays to the goddess of music-and I know she’s dancing.” So were all of us aging hippies.
It wasn’t all about Taj. The idea of “fusion” – the great variety synthesized- was also a comment on the squad of old friends that occupied our line of folding chairs. From left to right we had a super volunteer, a print and film maven, yours truly, a library scientist, a school administrator and a city manager that had coalesced into a posse. We were a group that epitomized the blues in the way that Wynton Marsalis once described blues music…”affirmation with elegance.”
We have fun together and take care of each other.
Blues music is the trellis upon which most of the significant American music is arrayed. Bluegrass, jazz, rock and roll, gospel and spiritual music all carry the blues bloodline. Cryin the blues is something most of us have done in our day and it resonates.
So we had a chance to hear the blues together and deepen the soul of the 92128 group. Let’s close with BB King, ” blues is the tonic for what ails you.” We feeling’n good now!
Olio Folio 