Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Happy Birthday, Allen Toussaint
Where does one begin to list Allen Toussaint's accomplishments? The thought of compiling a comprehensive list at this early hour (7:59 AM) is too much for a man still on his first cup of coffee. For some reason, this is the first thing that came to mind, so I'm running with it.
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4 comments:
Fantastic...
One of my all-time favorites. My greatest memory was when he performed at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago back in 2006. I went with a good friend and we had our tickets at will call. We arrived a couple of hours early to get our tickets before grabbing dinner and the staff let us in the building to pick them up (will call window was not open at that point). As we walked through the lobby, we heard Allen and his band going through their sound check. One of the staff said we could go in to the theater as long as we didn't bother the musicians. After we went in, Allen looked over at us and smiled and asked if we would like to hear anything. We were stunned. He and the band then launched into a cool boogie-woogie style instrumental. Pure joy. When it was over, he looked at us and asked "how was that?" Well, Mr. Toussaint, it was freakin' excellent, thank you very much. We took off for dinner after that, but I will always remember how nice he was and how much joy he brought in his playing that night (and all the other times I have seen him).
Very nice!
I've only seen him once, but the guy is a national treasure.
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