January brings incredibly cold weather to Chicago (10 below zero wind chill today!!) and the one guy that could warm up any cold day anywhere. That would be the amazing Buddy Guy, who spends most of the month of January playing in the club he owns here (Buddy Guy’s Legends). For 4 out of the 7 nights of each of the January weeks, the epicenter of the Chicago music scene. There should be a rule in the music business that everyone who wants to be in a band and play in front of people should have to watch Buddy- to learn how a professional does it. Each night he proves that along with being one of the greatest living guitar players on the planet, he is also a master showman, spending almost as much time wandering through the club playing and singing as he spends time on stage. This almost always includes a trip outside (Remember- January- Cold) and occasionally a trip into one of the clubs washrooms- just to check that everything is clean and sanitary!
I had the opportunity last month to photograph him for the cover of Downbeat magazine. As per usual, he wanted to do the photo shoot at 10 AM- imagine a rock musician wanting to get up that early- and took great pride on the fact that he beat me to the club that morning. He was very gracious and did whatever was needed to get the shot we wanted
So, I won’t get much sleep for the next month, but it will be worth it!