"There's a saying:" "Wherever you go, you'll meet someone from Kokkola." "Some folks even claim that when Columbus came to America - a man from Kokkola came up to him, trying to sell him squirrel pelts." "So, is it true?" "Who knows, but I believe in it." "It really illustrates the attitude we have in this region." "It's Thursday morning, 9:08 a.m." "This is Radio Keskipohjanmaa." "I'm your host, Ismo Vähäsarja." "Our guest this morning is the American blues artist Eric Bibb." "You're back in Finland, with the Wentus Blues Band." "Everything okay?" "Everything's great." "These are friends from quite a long time ago." "And it's always nice to have such wonderful local guides - as well as musical friends." "When did you first meet?" " We're friends from way back." "We got to know each other - and they're familiar with my material." "And we keep each other updated, we send each other music." "It's a wonderful group." "I wouldn't mind doing a whole tour with Wentus." "Look at this sign here..." " "Wentus"." "Yeah, that's the one." "We had the first rehearsal with the band in my parents' garage." "And we didn't have any name." "So Axel threw out:" ""Let's call ourselves the Wentus Blues Band."" "Since we rehearsed here in Wentus." "So we've had that name for 20 years." "Here it is." "Now that works..." "Alright!" "I think we have a good spirit." " Me, too." "As always." "We've been rehearsing here for almost 20 years." "In this room?" " Yeah." "We were out last weekend with Sven Zetterberg." "Played two gigs with him." " Great." "Give him my love." "He's going to be in the big concert." " Yeah, at the opera house." "Hey!" "Welcome." "It's been a long time..." "long time." "How're you doing?" " Fine." "And you?" "I'm hanging in there." " It's good to see you." "How've you been?" " You know, hanging in there." "It's our "birthday", 20 years together as a band." "Happy birthday." "I'm 83 now." "And I'm holding on." "The rest are coming tomorrow." "Barrence Whitfield, Louisiana Red and..." "Lazy Lester." "Lazy Lester?" "I'm gonna kick his ass." "We're sure glad we could get you here for this event." "Glad to come." "You kids played behind me - better than anybody ever played behind me here." "What town is this?" " Helsinki." "Nice town..." "Nice ladies." "Ladies..." "Well, you never get too old to look, boys." "We played some cool gigs over here." "What do you think?" "How're you doing?" "I know this voice..." "Alright." "Hi!" " Hey, man." "How're you doing?" "You made it." " Yeah, I made it." "Of course." "This is Pekka." " Nice to meet you." "And Hiding." "Remember him?" " I do." "How're you doing?" "Hey, how're you doing?" "Good to see you, how've you been?" "Fine, how've you been?" "You look great." "This is the first place I ever came outside the States back in 1984." "It's quite different here now, too." " I didn't get here until '88." "It was a ball, I loved it then." "I thought I had landed on the moon." "All I can say is that my band members, when they first got here - they didn't know what fooling around was until they got here." "How are you?" "Looking good!" " Oh well, you know..." "I knew that was going to happen." " Have you met Eddie?" "I've never met him before." "This is the first time I'll meet Louisiana Red and Eddie." "But I'd love to see the reunion of those two guys." "They haven't seen each other in 50 years." "Red once said about a song where the band didn't follow him at all..." "And after the song people were clapping - and Red said, "My wife keeps telling me I should rehearse - but I don't believe in rehearsing!"" "When I'm 83, I want to be doing what you're doing." "If you take care of yourself, you will." "Ain't no sweat." "You're only as old as you feel." "And I never feel old." "I don't have time to feel old." "You've got to keep moving, or you'll freeze in your tracks." "From hotel to hotel, from town to town..." "That's a bluesman's life." " Home is where you lay your hat." "My home is the highway." "Eddie, you look good!" " Thank you, man." "Remember me and you and John Lee Hooker up in Detroit - at the Harlem Inn?" "That goes way back, don't it?" "I'm still playing the blues, I just got back from a tour in the States." "Hey, man." "Nice to see you." "Welcome." " Me, too!" "This is my baby, here." "Wonderful to meet you." " How're you doing?" "This is definitely a..." "Wake up!" "Wake up, little Susie..." "I haven't seen you, Uncle Eddie, since I was like that..." "Boys, I'm glad to see you." "It brings my mind back now." "Hey, Eddie, tell us about what kind of kid Red used to be." "We want to hear the real story." " He was something else." "I was a very dangerous boy." " What with that playing..." "Playing man, doggone it..." "I asked Red:" ""Where did you learn all that?"" ""Listening, listening."" " I was just going around..." "You remember this?" "Yeah..." ""Rockin' Red"." "We called him "Rockin' Red" back then." "Old John Lee said..." ""D-d-dat Rockin' Red can r-r-rock 'em dead!"" "Hey!" " Good to see you." "What's your name?" " Kim Wilson." "I thought so..." "Hey, Kim." "A Texas boy!" "How're you doing, man?" " I just got back from a tour." "In the States?" " A long tour." "Did you go down to Phoenix?" " I went down to Phoenix." "One night there." "And Bob joined me in New Mexico and Tucson." "Bob Corritorre." " You made a great record for him." "You liked that record?" " That's a killer record." "Alright, let's go!" " I hate to leave it..." "I need to take it to the room." "I need to take it, somehow..." "I'm gonna steal that guitar." "OK, let's go." "Here we are, without our instruments." "They're stuck in Stockholm." " Oh, no..." "The flight was delayed, and Tore was late." "It's a mess..." "This is the second time my guitar gets lost on the way to Finland." "So I don't have a guitar..." "Here we are..." " There's Tore." "Hi, how are you?" "You missed your flight." " I got a new one." "My guitar got lost and Tore missed the flight..." "But now we're here." "Welcome." " Hello." "How are you?" "Fine, how are you?" " Just fine." "Are you off from work?" "On vacation?" "I quit my day job, all I do is play music." " Great." "Since when?" " About a year now." "And that works for you?" "You're alive, but you've lost weight." "That sort of fluctuates." "Depending on how much I eat." "Is Lester going to play the harmonica, too?" "With Kim, tonight, too?" " No." "It's just you and Kim." "The first time we met was at the train station, in your home town." "Wasn't that when I was going to produce your album?" "No, for the Blues Party." " Big Calle and Little Pelle..." "Then bend it..." "Right..." "Want to try it?" "Play through it once?" "Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4." "Barrence represents the kind of vocal style I really love." "When I was a kid, my first idol was Little Richard." "After Snow White, from Disney." "But Little Richard was number two, and that shouting style..." "Screaming away..." "Getting the madness out over the stage." "And my mother would say when I played the records " ""Why do they have to shout, when they can sing so well?"" "And I'd go:" ""Mom, that's another style."" "But eventually she understood and got to like that style, too." "Yeah, you've got a good sound on it." "You know what George Smith would do..." "I used to be able to do it so fast." "Now I do the other thing..." "He would do that and the tongue at the same time." "I'm going to Greece on vacation after this weekend." "Do you think my girlfriend would like being with me there - for one week and I go..." "eight hours a day?" "I would save it for after the vacation." "Stop, for Christ's sake..." " I would save it for afterwards." "When you're alone in the car, it's perfect." "You might have an accident, but you're not bothering anyone else." "Driving..." "Try that one." " This won't fit me, though." "This one fits here." "That fits me there." "The other one's more comfortable, isn't it?" "Are you sure that's not your own one anyway?" "We're going 'round in circles here so much..." "It's yours, you just gave it to me." " That was another one." "This is the one I gave you, right?" " Here's another one right here." "That's the other one I gave you." "Where's yours?" "In your pocket?" "A lot of people say I copy after Muddy." "I don't copy him, the man taught me how to do that slidework." "In his house." "He used to tell his band:" ""I'm sitting up there in the wintertime with my coal stove - and teaching this guy how to slide."" "I'd like to send you a picture of me and him." "I'd like to see that." " I'm going to give it to you." "So I've been around him practically all my life." "Practically all your life..." "He's been an influence, yeah." "And Robert Nighthawk, too." "I've never met him..." " He taught Earl Hooker." "Earl Hooker is a legendary..." "Best slide player, ever." "Les has been a pretty big influence." "He's got that thing in his voice." "He's kind of the standard for that Louisiana music." "We never did have that crying music..." "It was just go out there and play what you feel - and feel what you play." "What about those dance halls in Louisiana?" "Thank you very much." "What do you think?" " Yeah, we can do that." "You're happy with it?" " Sounds good to me." "We've gotta fill little holes in it." "We can kick some dirt in it..." "Always keep an ace in the hole." "It was built in 1880... this place." "It's pretty old. 1880." "1880?" "Hey man, we were nothing but kids then." "Everything will be alright." "Two months before the concert, I got the shakes." "We had worked so hard to pull it all together - and I was still kind of nervous when we went on stage." "But as soon as we started the first song, I was fine." "I wasn't nervous, I felt liberated when we went on stage." "You had us." " That I did." "It was a relief." "Not only because it was the end of all the work - involved in arranging things." "It was more about that this was the way we capped 20 years together." ""Here we are and we're going to do this together."" "Let's pretend it's Saturday night in New Orleans." "Good music is timeless and timely." "Right, timeless and timely..." "Because the time you get it is the time you want to hear it." "Nice song." " I just can't think of any other words." "The harmonica was my first instrument, the only one I know." "I'm going to keep on practicing on that tongue thing." "You really inspired me last night, man." "You got it..." "You just keep doing it..." "until you do it, you know." "When I first heard the blues it activated something in me." "It's been there all my life." "I don't know why." "Maybe that's why I can't..." "I can't play any other kind of music." "I can play soul a little, and that's really related to the blues." "So I don't know, something got activated in me - and it's still..." "It's still running." "That's what I want to say." "Kiitos!" "Thank you!" "We mustn't forget about the giants." "If they didn't do what they did many years ago - we wouldn't be here sitting, eating, talking, and having a good time." "So we must pay tribute and homage to the great Muddy Waters." "To the great Howlin' Wolf." "John Lee Hooker, Rice Miller." "To all those guys, and the legends that are here." "Like you, Mr. Louisiana Red." "I'm no legend, just a musician." " Amen!" "Whatever happened to the the band from Liverpool?" "The four guys?" " The Beatles." "They still going?" "The Beatles?" "Mick, you're from England, you should know." "Give a big round of applause to Louisiana Red!" "They're waiting for you." " You should be on stage." "I thought Lazy Lester was supposed to go on." "No, he went on ages ago." "Go on, I've warmed them up for you." "I'm coming, I'm coming..." "Can you find the way, Red?" " I hope so." "Louisiana Red, ladies and gentlemen!" "I've known you since the early 90s." "We've worked together and I feel full of respect for you guys." "I've been to your first rehearsal room - and it reminded me of where I grew up." "The same empty pizza boxes, beer bottles - and that smell..." "We have a little gift from the Swedish team." "Only part of it comes today - but I want you, Robban, as the master brain of the band " "when it comes to booking gigs and organizing " "I know that you're the Man." "Thank you!" "Milk!" "Albert King came in and they said, "We're a little short on the money."" "Albert King came back with a Thompson." "You know, with the round thing?" ""Okay, now:" "The money." "Yes, sir!"" "They got a Black Mambo." "That's the fastest snake." " When it turns its tail..." "It's faster than a human, they go like 17 miles an hour." "I like a crocodile." "I saw a big alligator." "The baby was on her back." "What a wonderful keyboard man..." "That's Pekka!" "Peewee, show me that." "You got a suit there, baby..." "What kind of suit is this?" " A pimp suit." "You always was a pimp anyway." " No, I never was!" "Oh yeah, that was the woman I used to have in New Jersey." "She was so jealous." ""You ain't going to play tonight."" "She took my Gibson Flying V - the anniversary model, the red one." "And put it in the bathtub and run water on it." "And that was the end of that relationship." "I ain't been back since." "I left my clothes and everything." "Mr. Eddie Kirkland!" "I want to thank you, because you all took care of the old man." "You looked out for me, got me to the plane on time - picked me up at the airport." "I appreciate all that, you know." "I've enjoyed these years that I've been working with you all." "And I hope for you ten years on down the road." "Thank you." "Thank you very much." "It's funny..." "I grew up in a home that always had music going." "Gospel music, blues, soul..." "And I started out in the church as well." "I sang in gospel choirs." "It was part of my upbringing." "I enjoyed it, and I always dreamt - of playing music in front of a whole group of people." "Ladies and gentlemen, give a big hand for Mr. Barrence Whitfield!" "Hey, Red!" "I want you to meet my parents." "How're you doing?" "Welcome to Finland." " Thank you, sir." "Hey, Dad, we're part of the family too, now." ""Sir Ole"." "Wonderful." "We're damn proud." "We're very proud of you guys!" "I'm not very good at speeches, but I just want to say..." "What a table of misfits we have here." "Some of the most beautiful misfits I've ever seen." "And I just want to say, happy 20th birthday - to Lazy Lester and the Wentus Blues Band." "And let's have 20 more, what do you say?" "Kim Vikman..." "That's me, with the sun in my eyes." "Here's Robban."