"BLUE" JIMMY: GUITARIST/SINGER/BLUESMAN
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"BLUE" JIMMY: SRV. Those very letters send shivers up an' down my spine. They stand for STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN and as we celebrate his memorial birthday this week, I just wanted to say a few words about him.
BLIND DOG OZZY: More than a few ...
"BLUE" JIMMY: Rolling Stone Magazine, in their list of The Greatest 100 Guitarists Of All Time, lists him at # 12 behind legends like: Jimi Hendrix; Eric Clapton; Jimmy Page; Keith Richards; Jeff Beck; B.B. King; Chuck Berry: Edward Van Halen; Duane Allman; Pete Townshend and George Harrison. I find that a fair list but in my book, I rate him second to only Hendrix in sheer guitar virtuosity. Only a few of those guitarists, ( Clapton, Beck, King) tried to go onstage with him and SRV politely and respectfully held back so as not to show up his heroes.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Oh! But didn't you wanna see him go off?
"BLUE" JIMMY: I was always a fan of Classic Rock and Blues music thanks to my my older brother and sister's record collection which I plundered in elementary school. I was just a fan. I never had any idea I would actually play guitar until I heard SRV on the radio playing cuts from his 1983 "Texas Flood" album. This was completely different from the JOURNEY, STYX, FOREIGNER airfare I was hearing on the radio at the time. This was The Blues. Different from the B.B. KING or ALBERT KING albums I caught in 70's. Different from even the shows I caught on TV of Freddie King opening for Grand Funk Railroad and taking the Hard Rock legends to school on a nightly basis.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And Freddie King was badass!
"BLUE" JIMMY: SRV was different in that he was a one-man orchestra who could play lead, rhythm, bass lines, fills, string percussion and sing while wearing a cowboy hat, hand-tooled boots and psychedelic Texas gunslinger outfit all at the same time!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Damn!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Look at videos of some famous guitar heroes giving a guitar clinic which they are often obligated to do by the companies which supply them with all kinds of guitar swag. Even some of the greats will just play a few licks and tricks and bask in the applause which fans will give them because they are glad to hear anything. SRV could pick up a single acoustic guitar and play a whole concert with no band, no amps, no effects and no bulls**t. Watch his 1990 appearance on MTV's "Unplugged" if you need proof. I never knew a guitar could be played like this until I saw video of old Blues cats like Big Bill Broonzy, The Reverend Blind Gary Davis and Lightning Hopkins doing the same thing.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Sounds like two cats playing all at once!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I remember after hearing SRV, I took all my Summer job money (all of it) and went and bought a brand spanking new, Fender American Standard Stratocaster for $1,000 bucks and suffered for food and beer money all the rest of the year. Since then, I have gone through countless appliances, TV's, computers and a few automobiles. All gone. But I still have that Stratocaster and have played a lifetime of Blues on it.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And the neighbors ain't had a wink of sleep since!
"BLUE" JIMMY: That was his gift to the world. He took an old, dying art form known as The Blues and gave it to young boys like me in the MTV era who were looking for something real. Thank you brother Stevie, for making The Blues sexy and dangerous again ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... I'm getting a boner!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
BLIND DOG OZZY: Oh! But didn't you wanna see him go off?
"BLUE" JIMMY: I was always a fan of Classic Rock and Blues music thanks to my my older brother and sister's record collection which I plundered in elementary school. I was just a fan. I never had any idea I would actually play guitar until I heard SRV on the radio playing cuts from his 1983 "Texas Flood" album. This was completely different from the JOURNEY, STYX, FOREIGNER airfare I was hearing on the radio at the time. This was The Blues. Different from the B.B. KING or ALBERT KING albums I caught in 70's. Different from even the shows I caught on TV of Freddie King opening for Grand Funk Railroad and taking the Hard Rock legends to school on a nightly basis.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And Freddie King was badass!
"BLUE" JIMMY: SRV was different in that he was a one-man orchestra who could play lead, rhythm, bass lines, fills, string percussion and sing while wearing a cowboy hat, hand-tooled boots and psychedelic Texas gunslinger outfit all at the same time!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Damn!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Look at videos of some famous guitar heroes giving a guitar clinic which they are often obligated to do by the companies which supply them with all kinds of guitar swag. Even some of the greats will just play a few licks and tricks and bask in the applause which fans will give them because they are glad to hear anything. SRV could pick up a single acoustic guitar and play a whole concert with no band, no amps, no effects and no bulls**t. Watch his 1990 appearance on MTV's "Unplugged" if you need proof. I never knew a guitar could be played like this until I saw video of old Blues cats like Big Bill Broonzy, The Reverend Blind Gary Davis and Lightning Hopkins doing the same thing.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Sounds like two cats playing all at once!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I remember after hearing SRV, I took all my Summer job money (all of it) and went and bought a brand spanking new, Fender American Standard Stratocaster for $1,000 bucks and suffered for food and beer money all the rest of the year. Since then, I have gone through countless appliances, TV's, computers and a few automobiles. All gone. But I still have that Stratocaster and have played a lifetime of Blues on it.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And the neighbors ain't had a wink of sleep since!
"BLUE" JIMMY: That was his gift to the world. He took an old, dying art form known as The Blues and gave it to young boys like me in the MTV era who were looking for something real. Thank you brother Stevie, for making The Blues sexy and dangerous again ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... I'm getting a boner!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
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