CLIPS AND COMMENTARY FROM CANADA'S BEST KNOWN UNDISCOVERED OLD WHITE BLUESMAN

Wednesday, November 23, 1994

Kim Wilson

The Silver Dollar Room. Kim Wilson is in town and I’m wondering if I’m going to be able to schmooze my way into this big ticket show. Reggie the doorman has been waving me in the last few times (and I was on a lot of guest lists before that). Now I even made a failed attempt at salvaging a newsletter file for him and he did say he’s buying me a drink (I don’t know if this means permanent free access to his venue. . .) I wait until after 11 thinking I’ll get there after the first show – even though I would have loved to hear the whole show. As it turns out, Morgan Davis played an opening set and Kim played on long show till almost one. I guess I got to hear most of it – Kim is the best (I had Peter Sidgwick come to check it out and he brought Jim Galloway). Gene Taylor was playing his ass off. I spoke to him afterwards and he asked after Lorraine. I particularly wanted to hear Kim do “Tigerman” and still don’t know if he did. I walk up to the front of the club and there’s no sign of life except for a tiny satellite dish next to a CBC minivan. As I walk in they’re live on the air following the 11 o’clock news and Kim is watching himself on TV. They cut to the entertainment reporter and after he says his piece they go back to the studio. But they cut back to the club to fill out the end of the show and Kim looks up at the TV screen and sees that he was still on the air…so he just stretched out his harp solo …maybe trying a little too hard for the cameras and even going a bit off pitch – the minute the camera was off, he backed off a tiny bit and he was right in the pocket again.