superficial compared to the benefits from working the lower-class places. I played for a long time at The Saloon in San Francisco, and it was funky. But the people came to hear me, and they came to hear the blues because they needed it and liked It. And they were there night after night. And the blues and booze do seem to go together. One of the reasons is that most of the people in a blues environment have pressures on them—like poverty—that drive them to drink. And people who play blues don’t seem to feel like they’re under the same type of moral restraints other people might. So among blues players you don’t have the thing that drinking is bad. And like any other kind of music, it’s played in a night club, where people go to drink.... I’ve never been able to get along with a bunch of drunks even when I was completely sober.... We played in Chicago at this place called The Wise Fool’s. Behind the stage is a picture window out on the street. We were up there doing a sound check and I had my face to the window. This guy came walking up the street with a wooden chair, and I thought, “Now what’s this fool going to do?” And then he slammed that chair right through the window in front of me. There was glass flying everywhere, I got off the stage, and the doorman—a real tall guy—went running out and grabbed the guy who threw the chair. He had long hair, so the doorman held him off the “What does not serving you have to do with throwing a chair through the window at me?” And he said, “Oh I didn’t mean it personal, you just happened to be standing there.” ground by it till the police came. I went out and while he was dangling there I said, “Hey man, what’s going on?” And the guy explained that they refused to serve him. So I asked, “What does not serving you have to do with throwing a chair through the window at me?” And he said, “Oh I didn’t mean it personal, you just happened to be standing there.” The people who buy records and go to clubs are mostly younger people. Rock and roll is more a younger person’s thing, and there’s always an influx of new younger people.... In the late sixties, the blues became really popular for a while, but that larger audience was composed of people who became not blues fans, but fans of their popularity. There are always people who go to hear the music, but when a kind of music gets popular, there are always more people there to make the scene. They weren’t hooked on blues, they were hooked on what’s popular, which always changes. There’s a tailor shop in North Beach with a sign that says, “ Designer labels removed: $2.00.” I think they’re making a good point. But there’s a certain attractiveness in being a blues musician, because you know that there are some people who are really going to dig that. And it’s fun.... If I never made any money playing the guitar, I couldn’t keep on doing it, though. You have to work, because otherwise you feel like a bum. So I didn’t come here with the idea that all of a sudden I was going to announce to Portland, “Here I am!” and really start doing a bunch of hot shit. It’s more like having a job.... I just want to get a job established and have a place to work. What I’d like is to go into a jazz club and be really accepted, playing the blues. As far as I’m concerned, there’s the blues, and then there’s the branch of jazz and the branch of rock, with R&B right up the middle. I play a lot of songs with more than the standard twelve-bar blue form (“Try A Little Tenderness,” "Since I Fell For You,” “Lover Man”). Although there is a musical form associated with the blues, the basic thing has always been the feeling. But now there’s a particular thing called jazz, and everything else isn’t. I’d like to erase some of those lines. “ really want to play the blues” Sometimes I get real grandiose ideas, like cleaning up my personal act, concentrating on being healthy, on being a more attentive parent, on not spending money on alcohol. And at those times I sit around for hours practicing standards and dreaming about a real plush lounge job where I could quietly play “Moonlight In Vermont” and “Stardust” while the people didn’t pay much attention but it was clean and I was making some good money and relaxing. So I start rehearsing toward that, but before I do anything, either something comes up or I get the urge to start performing, and go out and get a job doing what I know best. Because most of the time, even though I like playing those standards, when I get in front of people I really want to play the blues. It’s like It’s my job—my calling. I feel like I was “hired” to play the blues a long time ago, and I haven’t been fired and I haven’t quit. My job is to get the blues out there, to turn people on to it, and to supply some of it to the people who already know about the blues but need a hit of live stuff. My “path” is to pursue the blues and the guitar. Some people go to India and study with a guru, some become president of General Motors.... My path to overcome the fear of death is by playing the guitar and singing the blues. I hope that by traveling that path, in time I’ll know a thing or two and feel better about life and death. See, to me there’s no difference between my music and my personal life.... The blues has many parts: one of them is sitting here talking, another part is raising the kids, another part is trying to make a living.... Blues is life. All the things you have to do in life are the ingredients, and the blues is the cake. Even if I had to quit playing to take care of the family, then that would be the blues too. Tom McFarland will play at The Sporting House Every weekend from Nov. 15. Have questions about stereo equipment Tired of listening to a sales pitch Want some straight answers Come to Mh® Audio 1710 N.E. 42ND 281-7848 hammered flutes ♦ gui piccolos ♦ books and ♦ recorders >♦ whistles ny varieties folk musics. ARTICHOKE MUSIC 11-6 • monday-saturday • 722 northwest 21st • 248-0356 guitars • amps • drums • sound systems • authorized music man dealer horseshoe music co. 2419 se 39th portland, Oregon (503) 235*7095 16324 sw bryant lake oswego (503) 635*6799 Clinton St. Quarterly 13
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