[Harp-L] Some of the Greatest Shows I’ve Ever Seen / Madcat

[Peter and Connie Ruth <conruth@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some of the Greatest Shows I’ve Ever Seen
(in chronological order)
     by Peter Madcat Ruth
     www.madcatmusic.net

Here are some of the most amazing concerts that I had the good  
fortune to attend :

Jr. Walker and the All Stars plus Major Lance - Regal Theater -  
Chicago - 1966...   My first trip to the Regal Theater.  This is when  
Shot Gun and Road Runner were hits on the radio.  Fantastic music!   
Fantastic stage show!  And Major Lance was a mindblowingly good  
dancer and singer.

Robert Pete Williams plus Mississippi John Hurt plus Mississippi Fred  
McDowell plus Big Joe Williams - University of Chicago - 1966...    
The real deal acoustic blues!

James Brown - Regal Theater - Chicago - 1967...   What a fantastic  
band!  It was a Thursday night.  We had school the next morning so we  
had to leave at about 4:00 AM before the concert ended!.  It was  
obvious why they called James Brown “The hardest working man in show  
business!”

B. B. King plus Albert King plus the Paul Butterfield Blues Band  
(with Buzzy Feiten on guitar) - The Electric Ballroom - Chicago  
1968...   All three bands were fantastic.  Mike Bloomfield and Elvin  
Bishop had already left the Butterfield band.  Buzzy had just joined  
the band and here he was on a bill with Albert King and B.B. King...   
He played his ass off that night!

Walter Horton and Johnny Shines - The Blind Pig - Ann Arbor -  
1973...   I actually heard then a couple of times in the tiny  
basement of the Blind Pig, which had room for about 30 people...

Muddy Waters plus Sky King - The Bottom Line - NYC - 1975...   Jerry  
Portnoy was playing harp for Muddy.  I (Madcat) was the harp player  
for Sky King.  Bob Dylan sat in with Muddy.  (Rob Paparozzi also  
attended this concert.)

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee plus Rahsaan Roland Kirk - The Bottom  
Line - NYC - 1975...  What an outrageous double bill!

Bob Marley - a high school auditorium - suburban Detroit - 1976...   
Bob Marly is great on recordings but SO MUCH BETTER live!  Also, he  
was a fantastic dancer!

Yank Rachell - Central Michigan University - Mt. Pleasant, MI -  
1988...   I was accompanying Yank that night.  It was some of the  
deepest blues I ever heard.