Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Boz Scaggs

I had a treat last night by going to see Boz Scaggs at the Peace Center in Greenville. It was a great show. But, let me go back a little first. I heard of him back in the early 1970's from my friend Sonny Smith. Sonny was very big into music. He introduced me to the music of a lot of artists, such as CSN, Todd Rundgren, and Carole King. He told me to check out Boz Scaggs, specifically the album "Moments". I did, and it was wonderful. A blend of rock, blues and jazz. When I moved to Fort Worth and working in the music dept. at Sanger Harris, "Silk Degrees" came out. It was one of the biggest selling albums in the 1970's. Hits like "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" were all over the radio. My personal favorite was "What Can I Say?". It was also the time that I was in love with Kare. It was a good time. When I heard he was coming to Greenville, it was a given that I was going to the show. Yesterday, I went to the box office to get a ticket. The girl at the ticket window was not to clear as to who Boz Scaggs was. She thought he was related to Ricky Skaggs. Last night, I went to the show. Most of the audience there were in the 50's and 60's. It was really a retro audience. The show started 30 minutes late, due to a medical emergency in the audience. Apparently, a woman fell in the balcony. Some folks in the audience got a little rowdy waiting for the show to start by trying to encourage them to come out by clapping and hollering. I think that might have been the result of selling liquor at the show. I have never been a fan of selling liquor at concerts. Once Boz Scaggs and his band came out, the audience erupted in applause. He started with "Lowdown", and it got better with each song. The music was a little blues, some jazz, and a lot of jamming. One of the big highlights for me was the appearance of Greg Phillinganes on keyboards. He has played keyboards for Eric Clapton for a lot of years, and I have him on video. He is a musical genius. It was a great show. I had wanted to get an autograph after the show, so I went to the stage door outside near the tour buses, and I was the only one around. Some folks were coming and going through the stage door, but no sign of Boz. I found out that some people had backstage passes, but I continued to wait patiently. As one guy came out, he asked me if I wanted his pass, and of course I said yes. I went into the stage door, along with two others. We thought it was very cool and began wondering around back there. A woman came up to us and told us that we needed to stand near the door and wait for them to come by. The drummer walked by, and then one of the horn players. We still waited. After a few minutes, the woman told us that Boz wasn't signing any more autographs and wasn't feeling well, and we needed to leave. That was a bit disappointing, but at least we were close. All in all, it was a good night. The music was great. It was as if I had gone back in time for a couple of hours. Thanks, Boz.

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