"Seasoned Performers"? Not one your life! After nearly thirty years as a professional entertainer I have darned well earned the title of "Old Bastard" and noone is going to take it away from me!!!*G*

As for strange gigs? Well, that would have to be the year that I spent playing every other Saturday in a little dive in the heart of Chicago's Uptown neighborhood called "The BOOZOOREY" (the middle syllable being the opperative one here). My old friend Mark Lee Dorroh booked it. He would do one Saturday as a solo. I would similarly do the next one. We would both perform on the third one. Then we would start the rotation over again.

At that venue (if I may use so dignified a word for such a wretched place)the question was not "Will a fight break out?". The question was "When?". If it started before midnight we could probably sing through it. If it started between midnight and two a.m. things could get a bit dicey. It was a four o'clock bar, so if the fight started after two a.m. (after all of the patrons from the two o'clock bars had come in) diving for cover was the only viable option.

Strangely enough there is no experience i've had before or since which has taught me more about focussing on the music and listening to the audience. It's amazing what you can learn when you need certain skills for raw survival more than for the performance.

Stephen Lee