My Column, by Bruce Wasenius--July 2016

Last month I told the story of meeting the great Willie Dixon and mentioned the fact that I have never met a blues musician that wasn't a good person, actually, I think most of all the musicians I have met have been that way from Del Shannon and Wolfman Jack, to Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Delbert McClinton. The great guitarist Jimmy Rogers played the Surf Ballroom three times,over the years and thanks to the managment of the Surf at those times Bruce Christiansen and Kevin Schoenemen I was able to spend some time with him and emcee his shows. Jimmy had come North from Mississippi to play guitar with Muddy Waters and was a member of that band for a number of years.
On our first meeting he was kind enough to autograph a copy of his current cd for me before the show. He came back a couple of years later and we were happy to see each other and talk for awhile. I had to tell him that the cd he had signed for me had been ruined and I didn't have it anymore. It was the last night of the tour and he didn't have any copies left so he went into his case and pulled out his cassette of the Bluebird album, his working copy with all the titles hand written and got it signed by everyone in the band and then signed it himself.
The last time we saw each other he had his latest cd Ludella signed and ready for me. We talked a bit about his recording with Chess records and his time with Muddy Water. One of the nicest people ever, he passed away in 1997.
One more quick story more recently involving a fortunate to meet Arlo Guthrie a few years back after his concert at the North Iowa Area Community College. Going back more than forty years I have had people think that I was Arlo, even when our hair was still dark and without beards, at concerts in Mpls. or Ames several times, people asking me for my autograph even after several denials on my part. I had promised myself that if I ever had the chance to meet him I would ask him the question that had nagged me for years, so I asked him if anybody ever came up to him and said "hey Bruce"...now, he could have told me I was an idiot and to go away, instead he smiled and answered "not yet".
One more thing about that meeting, I am still receiving copies of my Postal Union newspaper even though I retired several years ago and by coincidence the front page had a copy of the lyrics to Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land, it was perfect and he signed it for me.
This summer holds lots of opportunities for enjoying some outdoor music, all over not just Iowa or the midwest but all over the country. Get out and enjoy your life.