I Think I Just Saw History

I think we can all agree that the holidays is a time for taking from others what they can't purchased but can't actually enjoy. And in that spirit, I last night got a call from my good friend Richard Baines who lives in Collingwood (okay, as much as you can live in Collingwood...TAKE THAT, COLLINGWOOD!). He'd bought tickets for a show that evening at Hugh's Room , righteously sponsored by Big City Blues Magazine and which I wasn't able to score tickets to as it had sold out. Well, Rich couldn't make it down from snowy C-Town because of the storm that had speedbagged the region the night before. So he gave them to me!

I went to the show with my friend Vlad from People's Poets. The show was amazing. Bobby Rush opened and put on a show that could've been followed by an hour of CPAC and still left you feeling stoked. Then David "Honeyboy" Edwards took the stage (slowly 'cause he's 93...that's right, fucking 93!) and methodically ripped the room apart. Eventually, Rush got back on stage and they brought the whole thing home flawlessly. It was trippy seeing cats who couldn't be uncool if they tried. Here was someone who wasn't playing the blues or trying to convince you he was a blues man. Here were some genuine blues men who lived and breathed it. Let's hope some of that coolness rubbed off on me. Or at least that they weren't infected with my uncoolness.

N.