I've had many over the years, but I'll list a handful to get started:

1) One of the last performances that Luther Allison did was at the Zoo here in Portland. Luther played the whole second set on harmonica and vocals only. They told the audience that he'd blown his guitar amp. Afterwards, he spent nearly an hour signing autographs, even after the place turned the lights out on him. He died just three weeks later. I ran into James Solberg at the Handys afterward, and he informed me that this was this first time they realized something was wrong with Luther. He couldn't hold onto the neck of his guitar that night and they thought he'd had a stroke, but he refused to stop the show. Truly a heartbreaking story and a display of what an amazing performer he was.

2) I met Philadelphia Jerry Ricks in Memphis. He gave me a lecture about how true blues can only come from the Delta or Chicago that went on for about an hour. I ran into him this past summer at the Waterfront Blues Festival and asked if he remembered me. Believe it or not, he started up with his same lecture right where he'd left off in Memphis! He's a character and I really love him for it.

3) Also this past summer at the Waterfront, I had the good fortune to spend three days visiting with Robert Lockwood Jr in a trailer we had set up backstage. Hearing his personal stories was simply wonderful. And the respect paid to him by other musicians was unbelieveable. Really great to sit in there while Robert, Jerry Ricks and Bowling Green John Cephas shared some old memories. Others that dropped by were Big Bill Morganfield, Eddie Kirkland, Carl Weathersby, Candye Kane and Terry Robb, just to name a few.

How about the rest of you? I could go on and on with my encounters, but I'd like to hear yours.

Slim

I hardly know where to start. Maybe I will begin with my hip father who took me to see Albert King in the 1960s on the "Born Under a Bad Sign" tour. I had been listening to the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Janis Joplin...but Albert's guitar just sliced right into the depths of my soul. I became a blues junkie for life after that concert. And I never missed Albert when he came to my town for the next 20 years!

Hearing Muddy Waters live in the 1970s also changed my life. I even had to get a new name.

More recently than that, I was completely knocked out at a concert in San Francisco given by Otis Clay and his Chicago Five around 1990. Unfortunately, Otis Clay and the Chicago Five departed ways before the first album was recorded for Rounder. The Rounder albums are nice, but don't come close to what Clay and the Five had going back then. "Live in Japan" comes closer.

Seeing Albert Collins in a small club was always a special experience.

I had several extremely memorable evenings in the basement of Larry Blake's Club in Berkeley in the early 80s listening to our greatest local "unknown" blues talent: Robert Cray.

I've seen BB King dozens of times since the 1960s, and never once have I been disappointed. One of the last times I saw him, he had a frog in his throat and could hardly sing. But he made up for it by playing some absolutely incredible stuff on the guitar and maintaining general good spirits with the audience.

Then I could get started with my nights at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco hearing blues from the likes of Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt...

Or the first time I ever heard a Robert Nighthawk record...

My partner told Hubert that I was a walking encyclopedia of the blues and probably knew more about him that Hubert did himself. I told him that this was quite an exaggeration and that I'm just a student of the blues. But for the next two days, anytime somebody new came into the room, Hubert immediately told them, "This is the man!! He knows all about me and is the person to ask for anything about the blues!!" Hubert constantly held on to me throughout the weekend, telling me stories and urging me to continue my studies into the music. "It needs to be told," he said and I agree. The man is simply one of the most friendly people you'd ever meet, hugging me so many times I lost count, including a massive hug on the side of the stage in full view of the audience as he thanked me over and over for bringing him back to Portland after a ten-year absence.

Artists of this talent that are as open and friendly are rare and few. He does not look away from anybody who addresses him and is quick to converse with all. Luther Allison and Luther Tucker were like this, too. And including Hubert in this list, you cannot ask for three better representatives of the music itself in their playing and their mannerisms.

I saw an interview with Hubert Sumlin somewhere not long ago that really impressed me. He came across as someone with a real love of the blues and sense of purpose as a blues artist. I recall that he said something to the effect that "There are things that Wolf and I wanted to do but didn't get done, and I am committed to keep working to get it done." (Don't take that as a quote! It is only the rough approximation that I remember.)

I am not too familiar with Sumlin's albums as a leader. Which would you recommend?

Hubert also has a tribute album to Muddy Waters coming out, most likely in May. It will be full of guest artists including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Paul Oscher and Sean Chambers. The title will be "About Them Shoes."