It was the summer of 1972. I was working in Midtown Manhattan as a union projectionist at the corporate headquarters of MCA Universal at 445 Park Ave. It was a 15 minute walk over to Wolman Skating rink where the Schaeffer music festival was going on. I was already into the blues, having seen Freddie King and Howlin’ Wolf at the Café Au Go Go in Greenwich Village a few years earlier. Seeing B.B. live playing his cherry red Lucille was something I will never forget. That ringing blues guitar and that hear at your smile were contagious. I remember working my way around after the show and ending up somehow face-to-face with B.B. King, who was sitting on an amp case I’ll never forget him, shaking my hand, his grasp, rough and big and warm and the glee in his eyes.
I was so inspired by him that I went over to Manny’s music store on 42nd St. and bought a 1972 Gibson ES 330 with a Bixby cherry red just like his, along with a Fender Twin Reverb amp. Both were brand new and each cost me the better part of $500. I was making three dollars an hour so it was quite the investment.
I’ve been chasing the blues ever since.
I got to see so much music during my year living in New York City when I was 19 to 20 years old, but shaking B.B. King’s hand was definitely a high point.
“Thumb Out” Book One of my memoir trilogy “The Spaces Between” is available now
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