Russell, my old school-friend landed in New York last Wednesday, and by Thursday evening found himself a seat in the BB King’s Blues Club – the first meaningful thing he did in the proverbial ‘city of lights’. What else to expect from true blooded blues fan, grown up on a steady diet of Lightning Hopkins and Guitar Slim.

New York NY has numerous night clubs. There are jazz clubs, dance clubs, strip clubs: you name it. Russell chose the BB King’s Blues Club of all New York nightclubs, over Marquee and Chelsea and even Broadway, and it turned out to be a dream-come-true in more ways than one.

 He was treated to a great Southern style buffet reminiscent of the segregation years - the menu reminiscent of the Saturday night fish fries in the small cotton plantation towns- and none other than Bobby Bland on the bandstand. What followed was an evening to remember. The Mississippi blues-meet-RNB Soul backing band struck the first chords before the legendary Bland embarked on a sugar sweet solo leading to the timeless classic ‘I Pity the Fool’.

 When Russell left the New York nightclub about two hours later, he felt initiated. He has experienced the blues - not through cassettes and tapes and YouTube videos, but by seeing real people doing the real thing; he got a feel of the sweat, the pain, the pleasure, the fever and the fret that go into the making of the music.