In the early 90s, I worked weekends with a friend who leased out a sound system to local bands and clubs. It was a great way to spend an evening: setup, help run the board, have a few drinks, breakdown and walk away with a bill in my pocket.

One of the acts we ran sound for, on a few occasions, was James Cotton at one of the local clubs. He was a finicky primadonna and constantly complained about the stage monitors, but his act was classic. He cracked me up and made me sad at the same time. His show was setup like a traditional blues act. He had the backup singers come out and do a few warm up songs, then intoduce James. He'd come out and do his thang. Then he'd retire and the band would close out the show.

When he was on, he was awesome. When he was off, he was staggering drunk and needed the mike stand to support himself; that was the depressing part.

But hey, I guess that's why they call it the blues. Check out ths classic Cotton number.

Can you dig it? Yes, yes. I knew that you could.