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| Token dive bar men's room. It's the closest thing I'll ever get to CBGBs |
The night was early, so to speak, and the show wasn't about to get going for a minute, so I sat down vibed out to Deadrisk and did the typical thing a person illin' by themselves does in 2011. (do ish on their phone... check emails, Twitter, Facebook etc.) After a few minutes a gentleman sat down across from me at my booth. He said he needed to sit down because he was too close to the door, getting cold and needed to sit down. That's cool, no worries. He looked like one of those people that was a watering hole regular or just a guy that was "too old" for the club, so to speak. Now, when I say this I honestly mean it... he looked like Jimi Hendrix if he was still alive. He sits down and then takes a swig of his beer. I make polite conversation with him and laugh at a couple of his jokes.
I don't know what it is, but I have this uncanny ability to let people that I've just met tell me their life story. I honestly don't know what it is, but I've met many people for the first time and they just tell me everything about them. (Then someone will say, I've known them all of my life and I knew nothing about that.) I don't know if you'd say it's a natural talent or what. It just is.
I'm sitting there killing time and talking with this man named Alfonso, who sounded like he thought it was Blues night. (instead of local hip hop) We begin talking about the cold. I tell him I'm not originally from here, so I'm not really used to these harsh winters. He then tells me that he originally was born in the Bahamas and came to Kentucky when he was a young child. Growing up in Kentucky he started playing guitar and learned Blues, Jazz, Bluegrass and early Rock N' Roll. I asked him if he played the chitlin circuit in those days and he nonchalantly began to tell me about touring, playing in all sorts of dive bars and teaching Jimi Hendrix to play the guitar with his teeth.
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| Live on Stage before I hit the set. |
Yes, the 74 year old gentleman I was sitting with said he not only toured with Jimi, but he's the one that taught him how to play the guitar with his teeth. (one of his major signature moves) I reply with an, "Oh sh!t... really?!" He, although was proud of his past, didn't want to just brag and talk on and on about it. He pretty much left it at, it was what it was and he didn't mess with drugs or smoke. More than anything our conversation was of an elderly musician who had been through the ups and downs of life, music and everything else in hopes of teaching people like myself what to do, how to live etc.
Regardless of if he was who he was, I listened because he was right on so many levels and it was just so cool talking to this man and hear him talk about playing guitar. "I see these kids playing guitar and I'm sorry... I'll smoke 'em." HAHA If only it was Blues night, maybe he would have gotten on the stage and tore it up. Surprisingly he said he wanted to see me on stage and as the night progressed I had to do my thing therefor our conversation ended. I didn't get a picture of him, which I really regret, but I have a feeling with how he appeared to be a regular, I may run into him again.
The next morning I woke up and told my wife and some co-workers of my experience telling them about how, although it was a great conversation and he was a real cool cat, I wanted to believe him, but wasn't 100% sure. The day progressed, the sun set on Thursday and as I was home I decided to google his name. Below is the Wikipedia link and a excerpt from Jimi Hendrix's bio.
Hendrix Bio on Wikipedia
Hendrix had already seen Butch Snipes play with his teeth in Seattle and now Alphonso 'Baby Boo' Young the other guitarist in the band, was featuring this gimmick.[36] Not to be upstaged, it was then that Hendrix learned to play with his teeth properly, according to Hendrix himself: "... the idea of doing that came to me in a town in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There’s a trail of broken teeth all over the stage..."[37] They played mainly in low-paying gigs at obscure venues. The band eventually moved to Nashville's Jefferson Street, the traditional heart of Nashville's black community and home to a lively rhythm and blues scene.[38] After they moved to Nashville, upon learning there was already an established band by the name "The Casuals", they amended their name to the "King Kasuals".[39] While in Nashville, according to Cox and Larry Lee—who replaced Alphonso Young on guitar—they were basically the house band at "Club del Morocco".[40]
Crazy... simply crazy. Here in the middle of Indianapolis an unknown piece of Rock N Roll history lives and walks amongst us. But, like many of the stories that grace the pages of "Wax Poetics," when you look beyond the artist that is well known, you have the artists that taught and MADE that artist who they were or gave them their sound. (Example: James Brown - Clyde Stubblefield or Bobby Byrd) And as history has shown, many of these artists are simply "lost like tears in the rain" to quote "Blade Runner." This is why diggin'/record collecting culture is so important and cool. Despite being DJs, producers or collectors, we're honestly historians without a fancy degree. (if only I could use my record digging knowledge towards a library of sciences degree)
Do the knowledge!!!
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