I’ve never shared a link to one of my own pages of past newspaper writing here as its own blog post however, the response in just the couple of days since I originally added this almost-30-year-old story to this site, and then mentioned it on social media, has been kind of amazing. It really seemed to touch people, and that’s about as good a response as it gets.
A quick bit of explanation: In what seems now a lifetime ago, I did a phone interview with the great bluesman Buddy Guy, and the surprise turn in our conversation, which actually eluded me in the moment, went on to crush me emotionally, and humble me considerably in the many years since.
Back then, I was a brand-spanking-new newspaper writer working for pennies at an Asheville, N.C., indie weekly, and set loose to talk with a legend. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and stumbled into what would be a life-changing experience for me, a guy who then thought himself pretty damn worldly and fairly compassionate to boot.
Well, oops, no. Not by a considerable stretch, actually.
As a piece of writing, the original piece fell far short of its source material’s potential, something I attempted to correct when including an expanded version of the story as part of my 1998 master’s thesis three years later. In re-typing this lengthy piece over the last few days (the original file was long vanished, left on some bygone computer’s trashed hard drive), I made some additional tweaks. I hope that means I’m still progressing in this writing thing …
An online friend asked me a few weeks back about seeing this piece after I had mentioned it in passing as part of some broader music conversation, and I didn’t have it then in any form to share, else I don’t think I would have undertaken this lengthy transcription. I’m glad for all that effort now, upon re-reading the final version. It kind of gets to me, too.
I make no bones about it: This is pretty good stuff. It’s much more than just about Buddy Guy, the musician, though that would certainly be enough, as he is a god among we mere mortals. It’s much, much more than just about music, too, though again, that’s a pretty fine subject itself to settle upon.
It’s about, ultimately, well. It’s about us. Me, a bit, directly. Also, you. All of us.
The picture below is a link to the story. Give it a click.
