Rihanna
During Buddy Guy’s January run of shows, he had a different act open for him each night. One night, the opener was a young girl from Iowa named Samantha Fish. When she finished her set, I was standing near the merchandise counter with about four of the clubs regulars. Although we are all hetero, we all came to the same conclusion- she was not doing herself any favors dressing like a sexpot on stage. I for one, appreciate the female form as much as the next guy, but, although she is a pretty good guitarist, and a very good singer, all anyone was talking about were her legs. I was reminded of this when I was watching the Grammy’s last week, and they announced that Rihanna was coming on after a commercial break. My first thought was that we were going to see a half naked bimbo singing in a few minutes. To my (and I am sure everyone else) surprise, she came out dressed very demurely, and sang great! The best performance I have ever heard her do.
The Theramin
In 2000, I was on the road with Brian Wilson. The question arose- How was the band going to play the Theramin parts on Good Vibrations? The Theramin is an impossible instrument to play onstage within the context of a band. One of the band members, a resident Beach Boys savant did some research and discovered a guy named Paul Tanner, a musician living in Austin, Tx. Who played the Theramin on the original recording. He contacted him and found out that Mr. Tanner had invented a mechanical version of the Theramin, which he called the Electro Theramin. He sent one to us and one of the guys in the band learned how to use it and played it every night on the tour. When the tour hit Austin, we invited him to come visit. He was a wonderful man. He passed away last week at the age of 95.
Jesse Jackson, Jr.
In the continuing saga of Illinois elected officials, we had a husband and wife team indicted at the same time this week! Jesse and his wife Sandi (an alderman) were indicted for a bunch of financial malfeasance. Jesse was nailed for spending $750,000 in campaign money on cool stuff like Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee memorabilia, an Eddie Van Halen guitar, and a 43,000 dollar Rolex! This is while he is representing one of the poorest districts in the state. His wife was only indicted on one count of stealing from the campaign fund. She will get off easy. Chicago politics- a great spectator sport!!!