Wednesday, October 27, 2010

All I Want For Christmas - Is a Freddie King Guitar!


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I must have been about 16 or 17. I was a guitar nut then. I could not play much, but I was a fan, a big fan of guitars. All music on television has been selected carefully to see if any serious guitar players were involved. I was into rock music, but I had to know enough understanding of the genre that most of the things I loved to hear was developed by the Blues.

One of the conditions of my blues education was a late-night program in the United Kingdom, called the Old Grey Whistle Test, I amto say, ashamed that although most of the music (I now know) was great, I dipped my nose at them most. I could only tolerate a keyboard or piano, but brass instruments were most definitely for pansies. You could not get more trombone away from Rock and Roll as a trumpet or!

I digress.

One night I saw that the ÖGWT roster was someone named Freddie King. I had heard of him because I had heard from most people. I can barely have scraped through my traditionalEducation, but to my Rock n Roll studies, I was definitely an A-class student.

Said Freddie King had to offer, and I felt I had to but the man is a breeze. So I tuned to a great man of our Freddie. He was introduced, and after a brief pause, the cooking began with an instrumental number called Boogie Funk.

I was struck awe.

I loved it. This guy was something else.

Over the months (and years) that followed, I was looking for any record store I knew Freddie King albums, search forthis tune, Boogie Funk. And I could find it? No, I bought several albums of Freddie's and was always disappointed because they did not one of them. I thought I would have questioned the name of the track, so I was looking for something that could have that track, and was always disappointed. Freddie King, was unfortunately a disappointment.

30 Roll Forward of years.

Freddie King is no longer with us. He died a few years after the TV show I saw. But I have never forgotten that a singlePerformance.

I was in a music store in Bristol (near where I live) looking for a Christmas gift for my wife. This is a bit like a ritual for me. I go and brave the crowds at the mall, looking for something for my wife, and at the end of a music shop. It happens every year. As luck would have it, I had found something for my better half, and was only seen on the shelves if there's something in my youth, when I came to the DVD section. I like the DVD's over CD'sto be honest. Live performances by artists long gone for me one of the luminaries of the modern age.

So I was browsing through the DVD's and what I saw? Yes, you thought some of the archives ÖGWT. not even think I was Freddie King, but on the DVD's, it was Freddie, listed in the credits for, yes, Boogie Funk. I almost wet myself. Do you sometimes have moments of pure excitement? I have in the store. Needless to say, I bought the DVD and fellhome.

Freddie King's performance was almost exactly like I thought. The excitement was the same, energy was the same. I had a window to discover my youth. Freddie played a Gibson ES 335 guitar (I think) and played a crucial Blues Boogie. Just for me.

Freddie, I'm sorry I lost you in all these years. They were lost but never forgotten. And back now, I am yours forever, while a fan again!

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