Buddy Guy was born in Louisiana in 1936.  He was self-taught on the guitar, using a home made 2-string “diddley bow” guitar.  He was so naturally good that he started playing with bands in Baton Rouge in the 1950s and learned how to play the blues by the likes of Muddy Waters.

Early on, Guy began to record with such labels as Chess Records.  He would later claim that such labels actually held him back from playing his signature style which was passionate and electrifying, often with dazzling guitar solos.  His record labels thought he was just noisy.  Eventually he broke free from these restraints and came to be the performer that we know today- full of life.

Buddy Guy was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame particularly for his signature style, which influenced many musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Rod Stewart.  Guy and Hendrix became friends and hung out together during the 60s.  Hendrix would even leave his own shows early so that he could go catch Guy performing at a club.  He would record his performances so he could study them and learn from them.

Although Buddy Guy is in his 70s, he still delivers high-energy shows.  He is known for wandering around stage during his shows.  He even will wander into the restroom doing a guitar solo and visit with guests.  He is known for playing his guitar with things such as drumsticks and beer bottles.  He would play the guitar behind his back, or even while tied up by his ankles in the rafters.

Buddy Guy owns a popular club in Chicago; Buddy Guy’s Legends.  He is known to still show up from time to time.  He loves to find and promote up and coming talent.

Epistle 13 – The Hula Hoop Craze

George Carlin believed man was created so he (or she) could create plastic. George was almost right. Man was created so he could create plastic so somebody could make a long tube so somebody else could stick two ends together in a 4-foot circle. And make a bloody fortune. It was called a Hula Hoop and every kid could make it go around his waste by wiggling her (or his) hips like a Hula dancer but without the grass skirt.

Except me. Some kids could even make them go around their arms and necks and knees. A few wiggles of my hips and the damn thing just lay stupidly around my ankles. That wouldn’t have been so bad except Hula Hoops were neon pink and everyone knew you didn’t just walk into the middle of it by mistake. Maybe I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have hips. Or a backside either. Actually, I was a stick figure with hair. But even so, once again I was not part of the mainstream, as my childhood chums went blithely down the sidewalk with a 4-foot plastic ring whirling about various parts of their anatomy.

So what’s my point, you ask? Where’s the emotional scarring in that? The Hula Hoop craze couldn’t have been that big a deal, could it?

Well, no, it wasn’t. But it was the first of many social trends from which I was cruelly excluded. Take the sexual revolution, for instance. Now there’s one trend a person could really get excited about, so to speak. Free love and all that. Women boldly inviting themselves to “your place or mine”. Where was I during all that? It must have been your place because it sure as hell wasn’t mine.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was the great economic boom when everybody got filthy rich. Except me. Why was I left out of that one? I’m just as greedy as the next guy. In fact, greed and lust were my strong points. How could I be a true Boomer and miss so much of the fabric of our generation?

What cosmic force shaped your destiny? Wealth? Lineage? An SAT score?

Mine was the Hula Hoop.

We Will Win