| I must have been about 16 or 17. I was a guitar | | | | was always disappointed. Freddie King, sadly, |
| nut by then. I couldn't play much, but I was a fan; | | | | became a disappointment. |
| a big fan of guitars. Any music on TV was | | | | Roll forward over 30 years. |
| carefully screened to see if any serious guitar | | | | Freddie King is no longer with us. He died a few |
| players were involved. I was into rock music, but | | | | short years after the TV show I saw. But I have |
| I had enough understanding of the genre to know | | | | never forgotten that one single performance. |
| that most of the stuff I loved to listen to had | | | | I was in a music store in Bristol (near where I |
| evolved from the blues. | | | | live), looking for a Christmas present for my wife. |
| One of the pre-requisites of my blues education | | | | This is a bit of a ritual for me now. I go and |
| was a late night program in the UK, called the Old | | | | brave the crowds at the Mall, looking for |
| Grey Whistle Test, I am ashamed to say that | | | | something for my, wife, and end up in a music |
| although most of the music (I now know) was | | | | store. It happens every year. As luck would have |
| great, I turned my nose up at most of it. I could | | | | it, I had found something for my better half, and |
| just about tolerate a keyboard or piano, but brass | | | | was just looking at the shelves to see if there |
| instruments were most definitely for pansies. You | | | | was anything from my youth, when I came upon |
| couldn't get more removed from rock and roll | | | | the DVD section. I like the DVD's more than the |
| than a trumpet or a trombone! | | | | CD's to be honest. Live performances of artists |
| I digress. | | | | long lost to me are one of the shining lights of the |
| One night, I saw that the OGWT roster had | | | | modern age. |
| someone called Freddie King on. I had heard of | | | | So I was browsing through the DVD's and what |
| him, because I had heard of most people. I may | | | | did I see? Yes, you've guessed, some archives of |
| have barely scraped through my traditional | | | | the OGWT. I wasn't even thinking of Freddie King, |
| education, but at my Rock n Roll studies, I was | | | | but on one of the DVD's, there was Freddie, listed |
| definitely an A grade student. | | | | in the credits for, yes, Boogie Funk. I nearly wet |
| So, Freddie King was on offer, and I felt I had to | | | | myself. Do you ever get moments of pure |
| give the man an airing. So I tuned in. A big man | | | | excitement and anticipation? I did in the shop. |
| our Freddie. He was introduced, and after a brief | | | | Needless to say, I bought the DVD, and rushed |
| pause, started cooking with an instrumental | | | | home. |
| number called Boogie Funk. | | | | Freddie King's performance was almost exactly |
| I was awe struck. | | | | how I remembered it. The excitement was the |
| I loved it. This guy was something else. | | | | same, the energy was the same. I had |
| Over the months (and years) that followed, I | | | | discovered a window to my adolescence. Freddie |
| searched every record store I knew for Freddie | | | | played a Gibson ES 335 guitar (I think) and played |
| King albums, seeking out this tune; Boogie Funk. | | | | a pivotal blues boogie. Just for me. |
| And could I find it? No. I bought several albums of | | | | Freddie, I am sorry that I lost you for all those |
| Freddie's, and was always disappointed because it | | | | years. You were lost, but never forgotten. And |
| was not on any of them. I thought I had | | | | now you are back, I am yours again for ever; a |
| misheard the name of the track, so I looked for | | | | fan again! |
| anything that might have been that track, and | | | | |