Spike
Rock & Soul Archaelogist
algernon said:
Thanks, folks. But now you've encouraged me to tell the rest of the story.
The person who told me the Son House/Rolling Stones story is a guy named Dick Waterman. I originally became aware of him in 2002 on a blues site that I used to frequent. This guy is steeped in the blues. He rediscovered Son House in Rochester, NY in 1964 and became his manager. He went on to manage many other blues musicians in the 60s. He also discovered Bonnie Raitt when she was still in college and was her manager for 15 years. He is now retired to Mississippi. At the time, I was trying to write a book and one day emailed him some questions about Mississippi John Hurt's performances at the Newport Folk Festival in the early 60s. He sent me back a very cordial and useful response.
The very next day, I was walking in Georgetown with my wife and she wanted to stop in an art gallery. I reluctantly agreed and walked in to find a magnificent exhibit of photographs of old blues musicians. As I looked more closely, I was startled to find that the pictures were taken by Dick Waterman. He always had his camera with him as he traveled with his clients in the 60s. The black and white photos were spectacular; he had a great eye and incredible access to the musicians. And they weren't all blues; there were great shots of Dylan in a polka dot shirt when he went electric at Newport in '65. And pictures of Joplin and Clapton, too. I was in heaven looking at these pictures.
As I looked, I overheard fragments of a conversation between the gallery owner and another man. It soon dawned on me: the guy talking to the owner was Dick Waterman. Have you ever communicated with someone on the Web that you don't know and randomly run into them the next day? Me either. It felt like a cosmic coincidence.
I worked up the courage to introduce myself. He immediately remembered our email exchange. We walked around the gallery and he told me the stories behind the pictures. When we came to one of Son House, I told him that I'd seen House at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969. That was my introduction to the blues. Dick had been there too as House's manager. He pointed out several pictures in the exhibit taken at that festival. That's when Dick told me the Son House/Rolling Stones story.
We spent an hour talking. At the end, my head was swimming. Here was a very wise man white man of incredible humanity who loved the blues more than I did. We had been at the same festival in 1969 and then just happened to be in the same little art gallery 33 years later. I felt like this cosmic coincidence had brought me into the presence of a spiritual master.
I had to buy one of these pictures. I decided on an iconic image of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt deep in conversation. They weren't selling individual pictures at the gallery so I told Dick I'd email him and he'd ship it to me directly. I never contacted him. I desparately wanted the photograph and it was worth every penny. But I had never spent that much for something to hang on the wall. My practical side overwhelmed my spiritual need.
A year later, I was in Borders and found a brand new book: "Between Midnight and Day; The Last Unpublished Blues Archive" by Dick Waterman. This magnificent book contains the photos from the exhibit. It was edited by the gallery owner. Bonnie Raitt wrote the preface. Next to each photo is a well told story by Dick. The Son House/Rolling Stones story is on p.42.
Thumbing through it is like walking through that gallery again. I highly recommend it. You can find it on this site: http://www.dickwaterman.com/
Spike
Note: Edited 2/10/06 to insert Dick's name after the cursing filter was lifted!
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