{"id":103,"date":"2015-05-20T01:54:43","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T01:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=103"},"modified":"2015-06-20T01:54:01","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T01:54:01","slug":"from-the-vaults-bbking-the-muleskinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=103","title":{"rendered":"From the Vaults: BBKing & the Muleskinner"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"On<\/a>

BB King on stage in the early 1970s<\/p><\/div>\n

Another King and a Muleskinner have left the building. \u00a0While we should feel sad that they are no longer with us, we should also feel a sense of jubilation for the mark they left in the music world.<\/p>\n

Though BB King passed away at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was never that far away from his sharecropper roots in Indianola, Mississippi. \u00a0I have listened to a lot of blues music and blues players over the years, but I did not really develop my appreciation for the blues until I met our former manager, Mike \u2018Zenith\u2019 Bennett. \u00a0To say Mike was a \u2018blues fan\u2019 is like saying \u2018Wisconsin is kind of fond of cheese\u2019. \u00a0When I became the station manager in 1997, one of my first jobs was to sort out boxes of mail that had accumulated when Mike was too busy being the elementary principal to keep up and our station staff had dwindled down to not just a \u2018skeletal\u2019 level, but down to \u2018a femur, a few ribs, and perhaps a skull\u2019.<\/p>\n

By chance, the first envelope I opened was from Blind Pig Records ( Blind Pig is a great name and they also have a cool logo – maybe that is why I picked it up) and featured Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers (Drive to Survive<\/i>). \u00a0The fact that I have accumulated most of Thackery\u2019s recorded output since then is a pretty good indicator of the impact that CD had on me. \u00a0I found that not only did I like the \u2018new\u2019 blues music being put out, I was also gaining a deeper understanding of some of the older, pioneering blues artists. \u00a0Zenith Bennett did a lot for WOAS-FM, not the least of which was to leave us with a very large collection in the blues genre. \u00a0Even on my last trek to Amoeba Music in Los Angeles in the summer of 2014, I was amazed at how many artists they had in their blues section that are also in the WOAS archives.<\/p>\n

I did not understand it at the time, but I now count myself fortunate to have been able to see BB King live at Hedgecock Field House at NMU when I was a student there. \u00a0I didn\u2019t know much about him but there were three things that compelled me to see him: \u00a01) I liked the song The Thrill is Gone, \u00a0<\/i>2) I had a night off from my own gigs, and 3) the ticket set me back fifty cents. \u00a0The college often sponsored concerts and lectures that were not dependent on ticket sales to pay the full cost, but even by early 1970s standards, fifty cents was one cheap date! \u00a0I may have been naive about the blues in general, but I laughed out loud when the two people sitting next to me in the Field House balcony left because they could not figure out which band member was BB King. \u00a0Of course, the amp at center stage with his fabled guitar \u2018Lucille\u2019 \u00a0hanging on it by its\u2019 strap was a hint: \u00a0his band played a couple of jump blues tunes to warm up the audience before BB himself took the stage but by then, more than a few people had left. \u00a0That was too bad because they missed a terrific show.<\/p>\n

When the band came back for the encore, I headed to the main floor because the door closest to my house was on the west side of the Field House, right by the stage. \u00a0I stopped 20 feet from the stage stairs to watch the encore and when BB came off stage, he started shaking hands extended to him as he made his way toward the dressing room. \u00a0I cringe now when I think about sticking out my hand and trying to come up with something cool to say, eventually mumbling something along the lines of \u2018Hey BB, you still got it\u2019. \u00a0For his part, he smiled and said \u2018Thanks, man\u2019 and moved on. \u00a0\u2018BB, you still got it\u2019? \u00a0He must have been all of 45 years old so I am not sure exactly what I was trying to say he still had, but I made a vow right then to not try and say cool things when I meet musicians. \u00a0\u2018That was great\u2019 or \u2018thanks alot\u2019 are about as deep as I get these days. \u00a0My other takeaway from my hand shake with the King was this: \u00a0He had enormous hands. \u00a0He always prefered to play leads and let his second guitarist play chords and I understood that after finding my hand swallowed up in his hand shake.<\/p>\n

Donny \u2018Muleskinner\u2019 Hawkins left us the same week as BB King and the local music scene has lost one its\u2019 crown jewels. \u00a0I met Donny in early 1976 when we both participated in the second Hootenanny benefit concert held at the Ontonagon Area High School. \u00a0We didn\u2019t perform together on that night, but sensing I was a little nervous sitting on the stage steps waiting for things to start, he offered me his hip flask and said \u2018have a little snort of this, it will relax you\u2019. \u00a0As luck would have it, I was in mid-swig when the stage door opened and then HS principal Lou Gregory stuck his head in the door, smiled and backed out when he saw us clustered on the stairs. \u00a0Sensing my mounting panic (Headline: \u00a0new school employee dismissed for tippling backstage at benefit concert), Donny said \u2018Don\u2019t worry, he\u2019s cool\u2019.<\/p>\n

Not long after my first Hootenanny, I was asked if I would be interested in filling the drum chair for local band Easy Money when Donny was on shift work. \u00a0I played occasional gigs with them and eventually succeeded Donny when he left the group. \u00a0I always enjoyed Easy Money gigs when Donny would show up and belt a few signature tunes like Black Slacks <\/i>or Muleskinner Blues<\/i>. \u00a0Donny not only had the pipes to sing anything from country to old time rock and roll, he had an amazing catalog of songs, many of which I heard the first time when we backed him up. \u00a0Donny would often sit in on the drums as well as sing. \u00a0Drummers love having someone sit in so they can visit the bathroom or the bar from time to time. \u00a0Donny would often say \u2018I am not much of a drummer\u2019 but the truth be told, he was a very original drummer and he had his own style of playing. \u00a0I am glad that I was never asked to sing or play like Donny when I joined Easy Money because I would not have been able to do either of those things. \u00a0Donny was an original and a talent whom we are all going to miss.<\/p>\n