MIDNIGHT SON
A Tribute to John Lee Hooker
In 1975, John Lee Hooker came to Alaska for the third year in a row to celebrate the Summer Solstice with Gary "Alaska" Sloan, a gifted blues harp player who lived in Anchorage. Although John Lee was a legendary blues man who began his career with the classic hit, Boogie Chillun', in 1948 and continued to establish his reputation in the 50's and 60's, he had slipped under the radar and was all but forgotten in the 70's except for a few hardcore blues fans.
On June 21, 1975, at the request of my friend Gary Sloan, I brought my camera to the Boogie Man's concert in Anchorage and was content to take whatever pictures my friend wanted. Much to my amazement, a few minutes into his first set, John Lee motioned for me to join him on stage with my camera. He kept playing to me and pushing the musicians out of the way, yelling "He knows what he's doin'. He knows what he's doin'."
I was on a makeshift platform clicking away at 1/15th of a second in a dimly lit National Guard Armory on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska, and feeling like I was at the center of the universe. At the same time, my heart was breaking, watching the 'Crawlin' Kingsnake' in all his black silk glory playing his heart out to a raucous crowd of lumberjack-hip kids who had no clue who he was.
John Lee doesn't show up again on discographies until 1980 when he was featured in The Blues Brothers movie. Then in 1989, his tribute album, The Healer, featuring Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raite, was released to popular acclaim. During the 70's, he never stopped playing gigs with the same level of energy and grittiness that made him famous and established him as a blues legend earlier in his career. For this reason, I honor him and pay him tribute.