Dave and Louis Myers - the two surviving members of The Aces in 1992 - jamming at Louis' apartment. Notice the Walkman recorder on the bed between them...I still have that tape somewhere...I sure wish I could find it!
Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers at B.L.U.E.S, c. 1992. (With Jim Shutte on drums and Bob Stroger on bass.) Smokey was kind of like a cross between Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters, and was one of my all-time favorite blues artists. He had the hard-to-define "thing" that's at the core of all the great Mississippi-rooted bluesmen of an earlier generation. On top of that, he was a genuinely nice and gentle man. And a snappy dresser, too!
Kansas City Red's last birthday party, at Rosa's Lounge, c. 1993. Red was another one who was a helluva nice guy, with a blues resume as long as your arm. He'd played drums with Earl Hooker and Robert Nighthawk and countless others in the early days, and his gigs around Chicago were loose, raggedy, and great. He was very sick at the end, so when Rosa's hosted his birthday party, the place was packed with old friends. I don't remember some of the people in the photo (if you do, let me know!), but among those I recognize and remember seeing there are Johnny Littlejohn, Howlin' Wolf's Memphis guitarist Willie Johnson, Eddie Shaw, Illionois Slim, Michael Franks of Earwig Records, Alex "Easy Baby" Randall, Jerome Binder, and I think it's Felix Wohrstein giving Red the cake.
Lurrie Bell and me laughing it up at the Chicago Blues Festival, c. 1996
L-R, Dave and Louis Myers of The Aces. In 1991, I got involved with a harp player named Eomot Rasun in a project to put a marker on Little Walter's unmarked grave. We had a dedication ceremony in February of 1992, and that night we had a Little Walter Tribute at Rosa's Blues Lounge. A lot of musicians and people who knew Walter were there, including Sam Lay, Honeyboy Edwards, and Dave & Louis Myers. Louis was a great harp player who had learned directly from Walter while he was a member of Walter's band (along with his brother Dave), so he got up and did several Little Walter songs, with Dave featured on bass. The Myers brothers, along with drummer Fred Below, were for many years one of the tightest and most respected units in blues. This night was the last time they ever played together on stage.
L-R, Scott Dirks with Jesse Thomas, 1992 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
In the early 1990s I struck up a correspondence with the great Texas bluesman Jesse Thomas, who was at that time the earliest recorded living bluesman (a distinction now owned by Henry Townsend I believe) - Jesse had first recorded in the 1920s, and then had recorded in every decade after that until his death in the 1990s. He was a great, great artist, who played creatively and musically in a number of different blues styles, and he was also a very humble, gentle man. I was honored to be able to share the stage with him.
L-R, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, the always pleasant Big Time Sarah, Big Smokey Smothers, Scott Dirks, at B.L.U.E.S in Chicago, c. 1992.
L-R, Derek O'Brien, Willie Smith and Jimmy D. Lane (both obscured), Jimmy Rogers, Kim Wilson, Pinetop Perkins, and Calvin Jones. This was a release party at B.L.U.E.S Etc. in Chicago for Jimmy Rogers "Ludella" album, c. 1992? This was an absolutely fantastic night musically, and as I recall there was hardly anyone there.
Another photo of Kansas City Red from his birthday party at Rosa's. Johnny Littlejohn is behind Red in the light blue suit.
Another photo Kansas City Red's birthday party at Rosa's - Johnny Littlejohn on guitar and Aron Burton on bass.
With the Sam Lay Chicago Blues Band, at Blues Harbor in Atlanta, GA. L-R, Sam Lay, Scott Dirks, Patrick Rynn (not pictured, Chris James on guitar.)
