I myself have had a number of homes. I loved the television show Cheers, because it reminded me of Larry Blakes. Many years ago, when there was always a designated "Blue Monday" party, I could go there and find my front row center table waiting for me, along with my Guiness. I sat there every Monday for eight years, with five other Blues lovers, or a hundred, listening to great Blues. Many of the performers there have gone on to be Blues "stars", playing festivals and arenas. They were the family that I had my Blues meal with every Monday. I learned Blues history, sitting in front of people who were living it and making it. I saw Otis Rush, Lonnie Brooks, Gatemouth Brown, and of course Robert Cray, Joe Louis Walker, Nick Gravenites, Mark Hummel. The experience of having those people in my home was phenomenal.
My first home was of course Eli's Mile High club. that was the place I waited to enter. While many young people want to be 21 so that they can legally drink alcohol, I wanted to be 21 so that I could get into Eli's Mile High Club. I knew if I could go there, I could hear Mississippi Johnny Waters, Sonny Lane, Mark Hummel, Sonny Rhodes, and any other great artists who happened to be in town. Once I made 21 and was allowed into my first home, this Blues heaven, it became the place of my Sunday nourishment. Seeing Bobby Murray, Pee Wee, Sonny Lane, and Francis Clay weekly, was a privilege that has sustained my life. Of course there were fights, and drugs, and shootings, but that was a small price to pay for a young person who had not yet learned to fear.
Then musical dollars changed again. It was less expensive to have music that was not live, or music that was not Blues. Slowly, most of my other hang-outs closed. Troyce Key died. Many of us did what we could to keep the family together, but it was not the same. We searched for a new home in which our family could gather. We found the 5th Amendment. Identity was mixed between Blues and Jazz. Yet it became our new home because J.J. Malone, Mamou, and Country Pete McGill lived their Blues there. Like Eli's, we could pick our night and the artists we liked best. Like Preacher at Eli's, we could develop a relationship with our favorite waitress or bartender. Blues people like it when they don't have to order their drink because the bartender or waitress knows their order. When Norm walked into Cheers Coach or Sam or Carla knew to get his draft beer ready. So it is at any good Blues home. Unfortunately the economy took its toll on the 5th Amendment and it stopped featuring Blues. When that happened I was homeless for awhile, until Country Pete turned me on to the "A&C" club. For some of us, for me, the A&C was like finding your first home. In Blues, I searched for a "juke joint". I had the pleasure of finding two in Mississippi. The focus of a juke joint is the music and the atmosphere. It is not a fancy place, it is a funky place, but the music is good and the people are for real. The A&C club had the same feel as a Mississippi juke joint. I spent a wonderful few years there. You know you have a good home when you will not leave at midnight on Sunday and you have to be at work at 7:30 AM on Monday. Sadly, Ali and Carol then died within the same week. Ali's brother kept things going for awhile. The city and state regulations made things difficult. Finally, the A&C closed for good, and I was homeless again. Around this time I found myself hearing about another club, also on San Pablo Ave. It seemed to barely have a name, which is promising if a place is going to be a juke joint. I finally figured out where it was and made it down there. The dress code was a bit much for me, but I was willing to sacrifice all but my baseball cap to go to "The Silver Shelter". At this point it finally dawned on me that all my blues family members kept finding new homes with me. Eventually, we would all end up in the same place. After a good year or two, it planned to relocate.
By the time we made it down to the Lakeside, everyone else had found it already. The Lakeside is home now. A place to find consistently good Blues and R&B on Sunday nights. Like Eli's people who are in town and in the know will drop by and sit in. There is enough of a dance floor to get a little exercise. It encourages a crowd of people over 35. This makes it possible to have intelligent conversations with people who have experienced life and can appreciate the blues. They know about Willie Dixon, and they may even know about Lonnie Johnson. With the challenges of 2011, it sure is great to have a home again.
Rev. Adj
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