A few years before moving to Chicago, I was still in high school, and the world was going through a major social and cultural change. I was part of a generation that was more educated than any generation in history, and we were questioning every "conventional" wisdom. The Beatles were leading the way. Haight-Ashbury was always in the news. Woodstock Nation was everywhere, and I was very proud to be a part of all of that. We all felt we were changing the world through "higher conciousness", and like many others my age at that time, I used a lot of the mind expanding drugs which were the catalyst to many of the social changes that were happening. I started getting high when I was 17. I had resisted that for a few years before I started, because of my fear of what it might do to me or my music.. but as time went on, more and more people I had deep respect for were using pot and psychedelic drugs, and none of them appeared to have any negative consequences...but they did have an awareness that I seemed to be missing. I wanted to be a part of what was going on all around me, and once I started my early drug experimentation, I learned a great deal. I learned a lot about myself, and what was important to me...nature, the world, other people, God, spirituality, and music...from those experiences. I thought that this was incredible, and that everybody should experience what I perceived as this gift, and so it seems obvious to me now, why nearly all the people in my life at that time shared my viewpoints, my beliefs, and my lifestyle. And life was great. Music was the vehicle that was at the forefront of many of the cultural revolutions at that time, so I felt I was in exactly the right place at the right time to make a positive difference. Hell, we (the members of "Woodstock Nation") were even able to bring to an end, an unjust and immoral war. And for a while, that entire reality seemed like destiny and fate, and I thought fate was kind, because it seemed like a very good destiny was unfolding before me...
Up to that point, I had experienced what felt like local celebrity status with the success of the band I had put together with my brothers. We had played mostly cover songs, many of them from excellent, but very obscure bands, and the public had responded in a very receptive way to our choices of repertoire, and to the few original songs we had begun writing and performing. After over four years of being in that band, my brothers had decided to go into a new business venture towards the end of 1971...the purchase of a huge old factory at the edge of town, which they converted into a nightclub. I began doing some side projects of my own, and had some success with them, playing some concerts at fairly large venues. I opened some shows for Cold Blood, The Soul Survivors, and The Chambers Brothers, who at that time were quite successful, and became friends with Lester Chambers, the oldest of the brothers, and the leader of that group. My association with Lester was my first real introduction to the blues as a musical genre. As my brothers new concert-club, The Shaboo Inn, became more and more successful, and more improvements kept being made to the stage, sound equipment, and lighting... national acts...mostly blues bands that played large clubs, began to appear there. One band that came to town, The Buddy Guy/Junior Wells Blues Band, had just finished making an album with Eric Clapton, who was a musician I was totally taken with...Clapton's successful band Cream, was one of my favorite bands...and I saw this band's arrival in my town as an opportunity to expand my horizons, especially since the band I had with my brothers was faltering, as the club became the new focus for them. As the members of this band pulled into the parking lot on the afternoon of their show, I approached Buddy Guy, introduced myself, and immediately asked if he needed a keyboardist...before I lost my nerve. He looked me squarely in the eyes and asked "Why...do you think you can cut it, boy?" And without even thinking, I answered "Yeah, I think I can cut it." His response to me was, "We'll see, because you're playing with us tonight." I stammered out a "Wow, thanks"...and asked him when I should get there. He told me, and then just turned and walked into the club. I was panicked. The show was a near sell-out. I had never even heard any of this guy's music, and I wasn't a blues player. But it was too late to back out now. That night I went onstage to play with them with absolutely no clue as to what they would do, or if I would know the songs they called. But they didn't even call songs. Buddy just glanced in my direction and said "this one's in 'G'...one, two three, four"...and they were into it. I played what I thought was right for what I was hearing...but I was very nervous and scared. After four songs, Buddy walked up to the mic, and asked the 1200 fans..."So what do ya all think of this young man?" The crowd roared its appreciation, and he smiled and then said..."I do believe we're gonna take this boy back to Chicago with us!" And the crowd went crazy....and I thought I was dreaming.
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