scott

she was the first person I saw as I stepped off the Lakeshore Limited into Chicago's Union Station. The first person I couldn't take my eyes off. Everyone called her cowboy, I never knew her real name. I saw her again on several occasions - I never said two words to her.

she was Martin's girl. Martin was an incidental student of philosophy at the University of Chicago - having come to Chicago to play Blues and drink himself to death. A multi-instrumentalist I would often discover Martin blowing jazz on a trumpet in the stairwell of our dormitory - he liked the acoustics. there was something ferocious about the way he played Blues Harp (harmonica). It was Little Walter playing with Muddy Waters who first cupped a Blues Harp to a microphone ........ the swooping lines and percussive honks are somewhere between an electric guitar and a saxaphone

there is this thing that Blues musicians do that is called cutting heads - it's a bloodsport. basically, if you think you are better than the guy blowing onstage you get up and play and let the crowd decide who is best. I've seen Martin start playing from the back of a Blues joint, walk up onstage and blow everyone out of the room

[Edited on Nov 02, 2005 1:45PM]