Still Got the Blooz. Ya, always – An iconic hunk of American culture [rooted in slavery!], the blues is still with us, and will be ’til the end. It expresses all the emotions, even the complex, mixed feelings and, in doing so, makes us feel better. It’s fun and [relatively] easy to play.

For me, singing and playing blues music is to experience untrammeled joy. Blues is also serious in a socio-historical sense – Today I listened to Howlin’ Wolf and Son  House —Immediately my mind goes to the whole milieu, the history that produced these extraordinary artists. As the music helps us with our emotional expression while helping us just feel good, it also carries a more serious current, one that’s been with us from the beginning of our so-called nation: the stupendous crime of slavery. Add the equally horrendous crime of trying to eliminate all the native people from the land [and mostly succeeding], and you’ve got, in a nutshell, what built the great United States of America. Should we feel guilty about enjoying the blues? …maybe . But we’re here, now. Other than what we’ve been given by Native Americans and slaves, we seem to be in a cultural wasteland.

When I was growing up, I latched onto black music with everything I had. It was real American culture. What else was there? Join the army? Fight for “freedom”?  One of the great ironies of the whole situation is that the music invented out of abject misery, of slavery, should end up being such a big part of our [white people’s] cultural identity. Who would Keith Richards be without slavery? Who would I be? Feel guilty? Yes. But try to understand, and face, what it really means to be an American. The twin “legacies” of slavery and genocide aren’t things of the past – they’re still here.

What can I do about it? How do I live? Whew!  Yeah, the blues means all that to me, and more, and I’ll keep playing it because… well I don’t really know how to do anything else, and it is a big, maybe the biggest , part of american culture. Perpetuating it is important, even if I’m just a poor white boy… So, come out and share my joy [and my guilt?], as we jam away on the blues at the Blue Monday Jam Session at the Legion. Let’s get cultured! [And, yes, the blues is HAPPY music!]

Monday, August 13: Blue Monday rolls on at the Richfield American Legion, 6501 Portland Av. S., Richfield  7-ish

Ah, yea – And let’s don’t forget that most important act: love, baby, and compassion”    – Willie