That rather begs the question, doesn't it?
Does anyone address the octogenarian bluesman by just the first half of his stage name?
I have to doubt it.
Surely he is addressed in full, like the famous mausoleum in India.
Such a love story exists with that white marble building, akin to that of the temple of Faustina and Antoninus Pius...
and such a love story between music and dancing and Taj Mahal, whose birthday will be two weeks before mine in May.
Here's a quote on that love, from the Savannah Music Festival program.
"Music is like theater to a lot of people - they're watching it. You can watch it, but you're supposed to participate. The audience is as much a part of the music as the musicians are. I do like it when they dance."
I love that last line!!!
That was one of the reasons I volunteered for this show - the promise of dance music!
I remember the first indoor concert I went to in California in the early 1980's.
Everyone had a ticketed seat, and everyone stayed in their seat.
That shocked me!
I was accustomed to the practice of having a ticketed seat, but most everyone I knew headed down to the bare floor in front of the stage to dance!!!
Tonight, I wasn't able to make it in front of the stage, but I tried to make sure the dim lighting in the back hallway shone on me as I danced, hoping he could see me.
After all, he likes it "when they dance" and I surely wanted him to be happy!
(smile!)
Tonight, I was one of three Greeters at the front doors, helping to guide the 1200+ patrons to the right entrance for their seats.
Yes, it was a full house at the Lucas Theatre tonight!!!
And guess who was there to greet me?
Tony Clarke!!!
That's him, standing and facing the stage with his grey head of hair and spiffy black suit, before heading toward me.
Lainie was holding our volunteer session in the seats, but that didn't faze him one bit.
He strode directly to me, took my outreached hand, then leaned in and said, "Hello, beautiful", before kissing me on the cheek!
Then he continued up to the sound booth to chat with them.
No one there knew that his greeting was his usual for me, on those occasions when a full-on hug was not possible.
Yes, he and I have had a special bond ever since I danced nonstop to his drumming, one night long ago, when he and Eat Mo' Music were playing at Jazz'd Tapas.
Good memories!
(smile!)
Right after that, I got Greeter Wench added to my list of volunteer duties!
I also caught the attention of a new fellow, Joe, who kept finding a reason to come and talk with me (where is this? where is that?) and catch my door from his post scanning tickets at the entrance.
Very nice!
He even followed me back into the concert area when I went back into dance, after asking me if I could show him a good place to watch the show.
That's about the time that Taj Mahal changed up from playing the bevy of guitars around his chair to standing and playing the keyboards.
That may have been for "Queen Bee", but it may have been "Giant Step (Outside Your Mind)", or possibly even "Lovin' In My Baby's Eyes".
I do know for sure that he was playing "Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue" when I was able to go in at 7:28 PM.
He'd been playing about 30 minutes by then.
I had stayed through "Ain't That A Lot Of Love", dancing and loving the blues!
The last one I heard was "She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride" - another blues number, on yet another guitar, with a bit of comedy to it.
I had to keep popping out, to check on the lobby, so I can't say which other favorites from his 60-year discography made the air dance, but he did manage to get folks on their feet by the end of his 90-minute run of continuous music!
Mighty impressive for a man of my parents' generation!
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