My place in the world...

So I am real guilty of the butterfly effect. You know how it is, I sneeze and a Republican congressman gives a speech to a hate group. I don't know how it got this way for me to be so intricately involved and on the scene when things happen. As I scanned the paper today and deleted text messages from Bob Dylan accusing me of mere journalism I noted a couple of celebrity birthdays. Bo Diddley and Patti Smith are musicians and I have seen both in concert.

First Bo Diddley. It was 1989. The New Orleans jazz fest. I was standing in the crowd before Bo's set chatting with a guy who wore a pin that said press pass. Bo came out started playing and it was pure two chord sonic mayhem of the finest kind. The press pass guy whips out one of those big old camcorders (it was the 80s, things were worse that you could ever know) and starts filming Bo. This was back in the day before everybody had a combination video/recording studio/communications/Star Trek type device in their pockets and also it was a fact that not everyone liked to have their set recorded. There was no youtube and after about three songs Bo leans out over the audience larger than life and points a big stubby finger right at this guy next to me and says "you with that camera, get out of here." And do you know what? That guy did. Real fast. I was glad Bo do not think I was with him or anything because I would have hated to have him say "and you too." I'd have left. Bo was just the kind of guy who made you think you should do what he said. Anyway here is a grainy 35mm picture from that day. It this digital blogging age I would have taken photos of the guy with the camcorder as he fled.  Bo passed away in 2008.

This fall we went for a Chicago visit to see Katie and Peter. We went to the riot fest concert. It's a punk/alt kind of thing. I noticed as we saw various bands that the punk girl singers tended to sound like cats on fire. Not Patti Smith. She sounds like a full grown woman. Her music is not music I ever got really into but I should have. Good music is good music it does not matter what genre and I am luckly to have been blessed with broad tastes. Here's some photos of Patti.  She's 68 years old today